《The Fallen World : A Dungeon's Story》


 Prologue

    Prologue


    June 18, 2161


    Geostationary orbit above planet Earth, Sol System


    European Federation Starport Ad Astra


    Lieutenant Commander Alexandra Rousseau, of the European Federation Star Navy, let out a loud sigh as she looked at the vista in front of her.


    She was in the outermost layer of the Ad Astra spaceport, the old, but still serviceable, spaceport of the European Federation, one of the first of its kind to be tethered to the Earth below with a fully functional space elevator. Despite being well over a century old, and having the old ring architecture, as it was constructed back when artificial gravity was still a lab experiment, it was still one of the main hubs through which the European Federation¡¯s numerous trade goods flowed. Thousands of tons of state-of-the-art computers, terraforming systems, and a vast array of technologically advanced components were shipped each day to the space habitats and colonies dispersed throughout human space, while raw materials and precious metals flowed back to the planetbound industry below.


    It was also the second largest EFSN transit point. The freshly inaugurated ¡°Ortu Stella¡± Starport had recently overtaken it, and for good reason, as it was the first EuroFed Starport dedicated only to military use, in order to accommodate the expansion of the EFSN due to the escalating tensions with their nominal allies, the United Interstellar States.


    Alexandra looked longingly at the planet below through the armored glass wall, before smiling as she saw the vast array of bright, moving stars. Each of those stars was a ship or a station, from freighters to exploration vessels and battleships. Each represented the achievements of humanity ever since the first fusion thruster had been built and the hyperdrive had been designed.


    She froze as a commotion erupted in the hallway to her right. She turned just in time to see what looked like a freighter captain, recognizable by the general air of roughness and authority common to free traders in all of human space, pull out a pistol and promptly shoot the customs officer he was talking to.


    Alexandra barely had time to register what was happening before her training and neural implants took over. She threw herself down behind the row the seats she had been sitting on, kneeled, and in one swift movement pulled out her service pistol and opened fire.


    She might have been an engineering officer who specialized in code (although she had no less than three engineering degrees), but she did receive basic fleet combat training, and she had been in enough tough situations over her fifty years of service to have...acquired some programs from the EuroFed Marine Corps.


    The freighter captain ducked down as the magnetically accelerated tungsten pellet her gauss pistol fired hit the bulkhead, a few centimeters away from his head. He brought up his own weapon, before widening his eyes and ducking into the nearest docking airlock. Which, given the old, patchy freighter attached to it, was probably where he had come from originally.


    ¡°STOP WHERE YOU ARE! STATION SECURITY!¡±


    Alexandra got up and turned around to see three station security guards, their own gauss pistols unholstered as they charged forward. One of them, a serious looking brunette, briefly looked at her before running past her as she quickly summarized that Alexandra was unharmed.


    A great clang sounded throughout the room, and Alexandra turned around as the freighter undocked from the station. One of the guards shouted in his wrist communicator, stopping briefly to look at his colleague as she kneeled next to the customs officer and shook her head. He proceeded to yell even louder into his communicator.


    Alexandra turned her head as the freighter let out bursts of pressurized gas to get away from the station...right up until a set of heavy blast doors opened and a large laser turret popped out, quickly turning around and aiming at the freighter, likely followed by similar weapons all over the station. The security guard had evidently contacted the station¡¯s defense center, and they were less than happy about the death of one of their own. Alexandra wondered what the freighter captain had been thinking, as attempting to escape from one of the most heavily armed starports in the solar system would have been a suicidal proposition, even when the station security didn¡¯t have grounds to shoot you down on sight for murder. The freighter suddenly stopped accelerating, and Alexandra felt her hair stand up all over her body as the familiar sensation of a hyperspace field washed over her.


    NO! The station doesn¡¯t have a hyperspace shield. If he jumps...


    She just had the time to see a bright light before everything went dark.


    *****


    Alexandra opened her eyes, closing them nearly immediately as bright light stabbed through her eyeballs. She held up her hand in front of her face.


    What? How...How am I alive?


    She remembered the feeling of the hyperfield...then the flash. The freighter had activated its hyperdrive and taken a chunk of the station with it into hyperspace¡ªshe should have been vaporized. Hyperspace was pure energy, a literal dimension made out of radiation. Nothing could survive there without a hypershield¡ªeven the most heavily armored constructs were annihilated in a matter of seconds.


    She opened her eyes, more cautiously this time, to take in her surroundings.


    She was lying on her back, in the middle of a grass field. She saw a forest not far, and her ears told her there must be a stream somewhere.


    Was she back on Earth? No, that was impossible... She would be able to see the numerous ships in low orbit in the sky as moving dots of light, even in the middle of the day. And the colonies in Alpha Centauri and Epsilon Eridani weren¡¯t fully terraformed yet, and there was no sign of an atmospheric dome in the sky.


    She got up, and suddenly realized that she wasn¡¯t wearing her fleet uniform. She was in...a cotton outfit with leather armor on top?


    What. The. Fuck? She made her way to the stream she was hearing on shaky legs, and looked down into the water.


    Staring back at her was what she looked like in her early twenties, if she had started picking up medieval recreation as a hobby. She was wearing what looked like cotton pants and a shirt, accompanied by leather boots, a leather belt with...was that a sword? And a full set of light leather armor.


    All she could do was stare in shock. She hadn¡¯t been that old-looking, despite being over sixty years old (almost seventy really), thanks to rejuvenation treatments, but she¡¯d still looked like she was in her forties.


    She took a deep breath and focused. A system menu popped up in front of her, and she sighed in relief. Whatever had happened to her, her fleet implants were still online at least. She attempted to connect to a network, but failed, which meant that she wasn¡¯t on a human planet. Or at least, nowhere civilized. Even the lowliest of mining colonies had a full complement of communication satellites in orbit.


    First things first. Find out where I am, find civilization, and hopefully survive until I accomplish both.


    To that end, she unsheathed the sword she had woken up with. It looked...okay? She wasn¡¯t an expert in medieval weapons, but she had watched holovids on them, and the sword looked clean, wasn¡¯t chipped, and didn¡¯t look like it was made out of cheap pig iron. In fact, it looked like steel. A tentative finger touching and licking the bloody cut later, she¡¯d established that it was pretty sharp too, and that she didn¡¯t have the experience to judge it with her finger like they did in the holovids.


    Well, not going to find anything by staying here.


    She started walking.


    *****


    Alexandra looked at the town in near awe.


    After a few hours of walking, she found a road and followed it. It looked well kept, and roads usually led somewhere. Unless you were on Mars, but that was mostly because the auto-road builder drones had gone nuts in the 2130s due to a solar flare. After an hour or so of more walking, she arrived at a town.


    It looked as if it had come straight out of an adventure novel. She could see houses, orchards, and even some pens. Surprisingly, there didn¡¯t seem to be any agriculture going on, with no fields to speak of anywhere. Still, it looked beautiful...and very rustic. Most of the buildings looked to be made out of stone, and some were even made of wood. One thing that stuck out, however, was a large building in the center of town, a three-story monster made out of something that looked suspiciously like concrete.


    ¡°Ya okay there, lass?¡±


    Alexandra looked down from the building...and down...until she saw a tiny, heavily armored person standing in front of her, his hand holding up the visor of his helmet as he looked at her, concerned.


    Barely topping a meter, he looked positively tiny compared to her meter and eighty. However, he gave an impression of...denseness. But that might have been the fact that he looked like he was covered in metal. Heavy plate armor, she realized as she smiled and answered in standard English, as he had addressed her in that language.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m fine. Just a little bit lost I¡¯m afraid. I got lost in the woods, and, well, I was not expecting to get back to civilization so soon. In fact, I¡¯m quite relieved.¡±


    The dwarf¡ªor at least he looked like one¡ªsmiled. She had a sword and was in a medieval town, she might as well assume that there would be dwarves and elves. If she turned out wrong, she¡¯d apologize later.


    ¡°Aye, wouldn¡¯t want to get caught alone in the night in those woods. Ain¡¯t many dangerous monsters around, but there are some that wouldn¡¯t say no to some tasty human flesh. Ya an adventurer, young lady?¡±


    Alexandra continued smiling. She¡¯d discovered long ago that you usually found out more by playing along and asking questions than by stopping the person you were talking to, particularly if they thought you might be insane. And if her story didn¡¯t sound insane to a medieval dwarf, she didn¡¯t know what would.


    ¡°Well, I was hoping to be. Could you point me to a place where I might enroll? Like, say, a registration office please?¡±


    The dwarf laughed.


    ¡°This ain¡¯t one of the large cities, lass. There ain¡¯t a registration office here. Just go to the adventurer guild hall and ask at the desk to register.¡±


    The dwarf pointed at the concrete building.


    ¡°Oh. Thank you, sir dwarf,¡± said Alexandra.


    The dwarf laughed and waved her off before walking past her and into the forest. Apparently, he didn¡¯t think that being alone in the night in the forest applied to him. Then again, he was wearing enough armor to look more like a combat robot than anything else. Alexandra shook her head and walked off, towards the ¡°adventurer guild hall.¡± At least, given the reaction of the dwarf, she knew she was correct, there did seem to be different ¡°races¡± here, as he hadn¡¯t corrected her use of the title.


    She walked briskly through the village, refusing to stop and gape at every weird thing. If there was one thing she¡¯d learned from making her way through the maze that was FleetCom in Paris, it was that as long as you looked busy and walked with a purpose (preferably with a stack of papers or a folder filled with data chips under your arm), no one would stop you from going anywhere. Except the marine checkpoint at the central Command Room.


    She successfully made her way to the building uninterrupted, and opened the door.


    The view nearly made her gape.


    It looked just like an adventurer guild straight out of a book or anime. There was a desk, a bar, and tables and chairs scattered everywhere, with heavily armed people around them. A group of people were gazing pensively at what she assumed was a quest board. A few people looked at her, and she flushed as she realizing she was gawping. She quickly made her way to the desk.


    The woman behind the desk looked fairly young, somewhere in her twenties as well, with honey-blonde hair and quite a beautiful face with brown eyes. She was dressed in a cyan outfit topped with some form of beret with a feather sticking out of it.


    ¡°Hello! Welcome to the Nardria adventurer guild hall! What can I do for you today?¡±


    Dear gods, she looked genuinely cheerful. It must have been the first time Alexandra had met a receptionist who didn¡¯t look bored to death or dead inside. Even the receptionist AIs used by wealthy corporations and some militaries sounded slightly off and bored in their cheerful replies.


    ¡°Hello. My name is Alexandra Rousseau. I¡¯m here for information about signing up to be an adventurer...and well, information in general about adventurers, really.¡± She''d rather ask where the hell she was and what planet this was, but better to try to fit in, for now at least.


    The receptionist looked cheerful...right up until she mentioned her family name. Then, her gaze and tone became studiously neutral.


    ¡°I see. You are from the Eris Empire, correct?¡±


    Alexandra blinked and answered before she even thought.


    ¡°The what now?¡±


    The receptionist looked taken aback at her answer and gave a good-hearted laugh, warmth returning to her look and tone.


    ¡°Oh! Oh, sorry, with your name, I just assumed... Sorry, you must be from one of the villages around here, my apologies.¡±


    Alexandra was just confused, and the receptionist smiled.


    ¡°Sorry. Let¡¯s start with the basics. My name is Cassissa Elaria, but everyone calls me Cassie. Which is going to include you,¡± she said with a mock glare, eliciting a smile from Alexandra. ¡°And, well, since you seem to not have been that far from home before, the Eris Empire is...let¡¯s just say ¡®very arrogant,¡¯ and Rousseau is a common family name there. I thought you might be coming from it, so I overreacted. I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    Alexandra shook her head.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright. So, about my questions, Miss Cassie?¡±


    Cassie rolled her eyes.


    ¡°Cassie will do. I work for a living, thank you very much. And well, let¡¯s see... I suppose you¡¯ve heard a lot of stories about adventurers, the daring heroes that take on monsters, delve deep into dungeons, fight evil, etc. Let me start with this: most of what you¡¯ve heard is idealized bullshit.¡±


    She looked expectantly at Alexandra, who just looked back at her.


    ¡°Yeah, I figured that children¡¯s stories wouldn¡¯t exactly be true. The real world isn¡¯t exactly made out of good people fighting the good fight.¡± She¡¯d never heard about the adventurers Cassie was talking about, of course, but if her years spent in the navy had taught her anything, it was that most popular stories about idealized organizations were even less accurate than most legends, which was saying something.


    Cassie blinked.


    ¡°Fair enough. Anyway, adventurers, while most do have some ideals, are closer to mercenaries. They don¡¯t take on monsters because it¡¯s the right thing to do, but because they have bounties on them, and the materials they¡¯ll get from killing them are usually worth quite a bit of coin. They delve into dungeons for loot and treasure, and they hunt criminals and bandits purely for the bounties. There are, of course, some other reasons, such as getting more powerful¡ªwhich, by the way, you should take as universal here. EVERYONE wants to become stronger in this building, and that includes me. If you meet an adventurer that says no to more power, you probably need to start asking questions.¡±


    Alexandra nodded.


    ¡°More...power?¡± she asked cautiously.


    Cassie sighed, mumbling something about ¡°Nobles and their fucking information blackouts.¡±


    ¡°One thing that the good old nobility of our deaaaaar Asarian kingdom is trying to keep a lid on, is that adventurers don¡¯t only get money for killing monsters or going into dungeons. They get more powerful. Ever heard of people going into dungeons, and coming back stronger, healthier, and sometimes looking younger?¡±


    Alexandra politely nodded, although she had absolutely no idea what Cassie was talking about, making a note about the name of the nation she was in, which was quite the useful bit of information.


    ¡°Well, they aren¡¯t rumors or fairy tales. Everyone has mana, but a fact that nobles are trying to suppress is that the reason people¡¯s mana slowly goes down is that it is slowly...synthesized, or transformed, if you didn¡¯t know the word, into essence. Essence is...weird, but a simple explanation is that the more you have, the more powerful you are. You become stronger, faster, smarter, etc. This is usually measured by your level, which is just how much essence you have. Thing is, when you kill something, you absorb a fraction of their essence. That¡¯s one of the main reasons why adventurers happily fight monsters.¡±


    Alexandra tilted her head.


    ¡°Wait, wouldn¡¯t that work on humans as well?¡±


    Cassie froze, before leaning forward and whispering. ¡°Look, don¡¯t tell anyone I told you this. It¡¯s not supposed to be in the introduction things, but yes. When you kill someone, you do absorb part of their essence. The closer their race is to yours, like killing dwarves and elves rather than lizardmen, the more of their essence you get.¡±


    ¡°Okay... So, what about signing up?¡±


    Cassie smiled.


    ¡°That is pretty simple. What I need is three things. Name, level, and a payment of five hundred mana for various fees. Or, as most people do, you can pay fifty mana now, as interest, and five hundred later.¡±


    Alexandra thought for a minute. The interest rate wasn¡¯t bad, but she had no idea what mana was and if she even had any. She didn¡¯t know her level either.


    ¡°Hum...I don¡¯t know what my level is.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s simple, give me a second.¡±


    Cassie leaned to the side, rummaged in her desk drawer, and straightened back up, holding what looked like a green crystal tablet with a small spherical bump on it.


    ¡°Alright. Put your hand on the bump, and it¡¯ll tell me what level you are.¡±


    Alexandra obeyed, and a lot of information appeared on the tablet, as if it was a screen. Surprisingly, the information was also written in English, although most of it looked like gibberish. What did ¡°Matrix Rune Length¡± mean anyway?


    However, it seemed to impress Cassie, as she looked at the level number at the very top and let out a whistle.


    ¡°Wow, level 26. You must be one strong girl, Alex. I can call you Alex, right? You¡¯re not even going to be Clay rank, you¡¯re going straight into the Iron ranks with that. Hell, if you had better gear I¡¯d even put you in Steel straight away.¡±


    Alexandra just nodded as she asked if she could call her Alex, before asking her question.


    ¡°Excuse me? Clay rank?¡±


    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Cassie blinked.


    ¡°Oh, right, excuse me. Adventurers are divided into ranks that are a rough approximation of your fighting power. So basically, we look at your equipment, level, and for the upper ranks the quests you did in the past. Unlike what you see in the books, our ranks aren¡¯t F, E, and up the alphabet, or Copper, Silver, etc. Our ranks are, in order, Clay, the lowest, then Iron, Steel, Copper, Silver, Gold, Electrum, Silvarium, Mythril, Malachite, Orichalcum, Adamantium, Eternium, and last but not the least, Divinium. There used to be ratings within each rank, but those were abandoned for a multitude of reasons. Mainly because most adventurers were bitching to us about their rating being one lower than their friend, despite having done the same things. It was an administrative nightmare to keep track of and no one was happy about it, so it was dropped.¡±


    ¡°I see... So I¡¯d be jumping some ranks then?¡±


    ¡°Basically? Clays are little more than a random nobody with a sword, no offense. Irons are those with some levels or experience behind them. Steel are what you can start calling actual, professional adventurers. You¡¯d qualify on level alone, but you don¡¯t have any real gear. No offense, girl, the leather armor and the sword are quite good for Iron, but most Steel have at least some iron armor, or some magic items. Potions are also a must.¡±


    ¡°Okay...What next?¡±


    ¡°Well, I have your name, now the mana cost.¡±


    Cassie held out her hand, palm down, and Alexandra automatically grabbed and shook it. Cassie facepalmed, laughing.


    ¡°I meant use the payment crystal, you dummy!¡±


    Alexandra realized that Cassie had a blue crystal on her wrist, set up on a gauntlet nearly entirely covered in runes. Alexandra hesitatingly reached out, as she didn¡¯t know if she had enough mana to pay even the small fee.


    Cassie looked at something that appeared on her gauntlet as Alexandra¡¯s hand made contact with the crystal.


    ¡°Well, it looks like you have...1,120 mana in reserve. Want to pay the whole fee?¡±


    Alexandra nodded.


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    She barely knew this world and had no idea of how trustworthy this ¡°adventurer guild¡± was. The last thing she wanted was to shackle herself to an organization through debt, so she might as well pay it up fully now. She didn¡¯t really know how to gain more mana, but she doubted it¡¯d be that hard. She had a sharp intake of breath as she felt her energy being drained from her, as if someone had suddenly injected her with tranquilizers. The effect faded to a muted sense of tiredness in the center of her chest, and she felt...something, in the back of her mind.


    Cassie winced.


    ¡°Sorry, should have warned you. Mana transfers in the hundreds and above usually do this to relatively low-level people.¡± She looked at her gauntlet. ¡°Alright, all set, let me get your registration card and your badge.¡±


    She proceeded to pull out a small card, quickly filling it with what looked like a semi-modern pen. She then pulled out another, very ornamented pen, nearly completely covered in runes, and signed the card. The card flashed, and she handed it and the pen to Alexandra.


    Alexandra hesitantly took them before looking, unsure, at Cassie. It was obvious what she wanted her to do, but she had no idea of what that pen just did, and it looked magical.


    Cassie smiled.


    ¡°Come on, don¡¯t be afraid. It¡¯s just a mana signature, to confirm the card is rightfully yours. I¡¯m not asking for your soul or anything.¡±


    Alexandra realized that this must be the equivalent of giving your DNA and implant code to a bank to open an account. The ¡°mana signature¡± was their way to authenticate people. She promptly signed, and the card, once again, flashed. Cassie smiled, recovered the pen, and looked the card over one last time before handing it over to Alexandra with a smile.


    ¡°There you go! As for your badge...¡±


    She leaned to the side again, rummaged a bit, and pull out a medallion on a chain, evidently made to be worn as a necklace, and pressed it to another crystal slate, this one a deep blue, that was already on her desk when Alexandra arrived. She picked up a pen with a strange tip and wrote on the slate. The medallion turned an iron-like color, and Alexandra, in stylized letters, appeared on it. She grabbed the medallion, which shone like the card did, and handed it over to Alexandra.


    ¡°Alright, just push your mana into it, and it¡¯ll be linked to you. You do know how to push your mana into it, right?¡± Cassie asked as she saw Alexandra¡¯s confused expression.


    She sighed as Alexandra shook her head.


    ¡°All right. You need to close your eyes and feel inside of you. You should feel a fire in your torso, right at the center of your upper chest. Then grab that fire, and imagine you are slowly pushing it through your hands...¡±


    Alexandra followed the instructions. She found the fire, and it felt...imposing, powerful, and also...like there was something greater behind it. A tenuous link to something else. She thought about investigating it later, and slowly pushed it through her hands. A light pierced her pupils, and she opened her eyes to a smiling Cassie.


    ¡°There you go! All done! Welcome, Iron-ranked adventurer Alexandra Rousseau!¡±


    She gave her a mock salute, and Alexandra instinctively answered with a parade ground snap, which instantly froze Cassie. She shook her head, muttering something like ¡°Her life before the guild isn¡¯t any of my business,¡± before smiling at Alexandra, who was flustered at her slipup.


    ¡°Alright. Now, I¡¯d recommend finding a party to join¡ªit¡¯s easier to take on quests with allies. Alternatively, you could just do some solo missions, although I wouldn¡¯t recommend it. Anything else?¡±


    Alexandra thought about it...then sighed. She was out of her depth, and Cassie might be able to help her. She leaned forward and whispered to her.


    ¡°Look, I...I need some help. But not officially.¡±


    Cassie¡¯s face went neutral again.


    ¡°The guild will not tangle with the law¡ª¡±


    ¡°No, not that kind of help!¡±


    Cassie looked at her for a second, reading her face, then relaxed.


    ¡°Alright, then what?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m...I don¡¯t know how to tell you this, but I¡¯m...not of this world.¡±


    Cassie simply stared at Alexandra, her face inscrutable.


    ¡°Look, Alex. You seem like a nice girl and you¡¯ve been pretty nice today, but I¡¯m not a gullible idiot. Do you seriously expect me to believe that you¡¯re an extradimensional? Since you¡¯ve been nice today, I¡¯ll let it pass, and forget you ever said that, if you get out of my view right now.¡±


    Alexandra didn¡¯t know what extradimensional exactly meant, but she was pretty sure she was included in it.


    ¡°But¡ª¡±


    ¡°Oh, for fuck¡¯s sake! Get the fuck ou¡ª¡±


    ¡°Wow, what¡¯s going on here?¡±


    While Cassie hadn¡¯t raised her tone, her furious expression had caught the attention of a curious adventuring party. A woman wearing purple robes and holding a staff topped by a purple sphere, who Alexandra assumed was some kind of mage, came forward with her teammates. She was quite well endowed, her robe clinging tightly to her curves for some reason, and had long, raven-black hair surrounding a fairly white face, missing the tan of most adventurers in the room. Her purple eyes looked in turn at Cassie and Alexandra. The medallion she was wearing was a strange, off-color gold. Having seen some fantasy materials when playing video games, Alexandra assumed it was Electrum.


    Cassie sighed and looked at the woman.


    ¡°Hey, Berth. Sorry to worry you, but this woman¡±¡ªshe pointed at Alexandra¡ª¡°is starting to slightly piss me off. She¡¯s insisting that she¡¯s an extradimensional.¡±


    The mage looked at Alexandra.


    ¡°Look, girl. Cassie doesn¡¯t really take well to jokes like that. You should apologize. She¡¯s had a long day, and she isn¡¯t up for this kind of prank, alright?¡±


    ¡°But, I am from another world!¡±


    Alexandra couldn¡¯t help it. If there was one thing that pissed her off, it was being called a liar. She knew the logical course of action would have been to apologize, go do some quests, and then mend her relationship with Cassie (it never pays to anger bureaucrats, especially the ones that virtually sign your paychecks and decide if you go up in rank or not), but she just couldn¡¯t stop herself.


    Cassie¡¯s gaze became harder, and Berth looked at Alexandra with an almost pitying gaze.


    ¡°Alright girl, I will test you out to see if you¡¯re an extradimensional. If you aren¡¯t, you must promise to leave Miss Cassie alone. Do we have a deal?¡± she quickly said, forestalling a probably scathing reply from Cassie.


    Cassie sighed and waved her hand angrily as Berth looked at her, muttering ¡°Whatever.¡± Alexandra offhandedly thought that she¡¯d probably mutter under her breath a lot less if she knew Alexandra¡¯s implants allowed her to hear even the faintest of conversation perfectly, if she was close enough.


    Alexandra nodded, and Berth came forward and landed a hand on her shoulder. Alexandra felt a warmth suffusing her as Berth softly said something that made no sense, even to her translation systems. It felt like when she had moved her mana around, but reversed, flowing from outside her to her...core? For lack of a better word, at least. Then suddenly, the warmth was gone, and Berth was staring at her, eyes and mouth open wide in shock.


    Cassie looked at her, worried.


    ¡°Berth? Berth, are you all right?¡±


    ¡°Holy Divines! She¡¯s for real! She¡¯s an actual extradimensional!¡±


    Cassie whipped her head around and stared at Alexandra, mouth agape. Alexandra was still confused as to what ¡°extradimensional¡± exactly meant to these people, but this took a background place compared to sudden concern as muttering sounded throughout the common room, with adventurers getting up, looking at her, and walking towards the desk. Berth¡¯s astonished outburst had gathered quite a bit of attention.


    Cassie looked at Berth again, then turned towards a younger girl dressed exactly like her, evidently one of her colleagues, who had made her way over to investigate the commotion.


    ¡°Go! Go get Guildmaster Erik! Now!¡±


    The girl nodded and ran off. Alexandra opened her mouth, but Cassie held up her hand, forestalling her.


    ¡°Later. I¡¯ll apologize for my rudeness, but right now this is too important. Wait until the guildmaster gets here. This is way above my pay grade.¡±


    A few seconds later, with a growing group of adventurers assembling a few meters away in an arc (more out of respect for Berth¡¯s team than for her or Cassie, Alexandra realized), a graying man who looked to be in his late fifties burst out of a side door, quickly followed by the other guild girl.


    ¡°Yes? What¡¯s so urgent?¡±


    Cassie got up and gestured at Alexandra and Berth.


    ¡°Guildmaster Erik, sir! This woman here came to register in the guild, and claimed to be an extradimensional! I did not believe her, but Miss Berth here tested her, and, well, according to her...she is!¡±


    Erik looked surprised and slightly disbelieving. He looked at Berth, who nodded, and made his way to Alexandra.


    ¡°Don¡¯t move, girl,¡± he simply said, before muttering under his breath, ¡°This better not be a joke.¡±


    He grabbed her shoulder, and Alexandra felt the same warmth as when Berth had tested her...except that it seemed greater, more powerful, somehow. Erik let go of her shoulder, looking like he¡¯d been hit by lightning.


    ¡°Dear Gods...¡±


    He promptly turned towards Cassie.


    ¡°You, her, in my office, right now. Berth, I¡¯ll thank you properly for your help.¡± He upped his tone. ¡°And the rest of you, back to whatever you were doing! I will personally kick the ass of whoever tries to pester Dominique about this! Am I clear?¡±


    A lot of subdued nods from the assembled adventurers answered him, and the guild girl, who Alexandra guessed was Dominique, smiled in thanks at the guildmaster. Cassie bowed at the guildmaster¡¯s order as Berth simply nodded, grabbed Alexandra¡¯s hand, and dragged her behind her as she made her way to the door the guildmaster had erupted from.


    *****


    ¡°So, Miss Rousseau, do you know why you are so special?¡± asked Erik.


    They were sitting in his office. It was fairly large, with a sizeable carved desk made from a wood Alexandra didn¡¯t recognize, with a crimson carpet covering the floor, and a vast amount of what looked like trophies scattered on the walls. Some looked like trinkets, others were weapons and objects that practically thrummed with barely contained power. The biggest, however, was a giant Adamantium (if she didn¡¯t miss her guess) double axe that was directly behind the guildmaster¡¯s seat.


    Alexandra shook her head.


    ¡°No, not really. I know that coming from another world would be quite unusual, but your reaction, and the test you used on me, imply that there¡¯s something else to it. After all, I doubt you read through my mind to confirm the fact.¡±


    Alexandra mostly knew that that was the case because her fleet implants had some rather...violent protocols for if someone attempted to access her memories, although it was more expected to be via someone jacking into her neural interface than actual magic mind reading.


    Erik smiled, pleased.


    ¡°Good, good! You know how to use your brain, that¡¯s excellent.¡± He laughed at her outraged expression. ¡°Calm down, I¡¯m not patronizing you, but you would be surprised how many extradimensionals acted stupidly in the past...and usually got themselves killed, equally stupidly.¡±


    He looked at her for a second, stopping to let it sink in, before picking back up again.


    ¡°In any case, the fact that you¡¯re an extradimensional is interesting, but not really because you¡¯re from another world. Many extradimensionals have arrived in our world over the millennia, but despite all of the miracles your kind talk about from your technologies and civilizations, the ones who talk about it seem to have very little practical knowledge on how to actually recreate it. Although, to be fair, some have been instrumental in the progress of our own technology, and are considered heroes in several nations for their accomplishments. No, the reason most consider extradimensionals truly exceptional is because of your mana.¡±


    Alexandra blinked.


    ¡°Excuse me?¡±


    ¡°Well, you see, it is quite simple. You do know that normally, most people lose mana over time, mostly due to essence synthesis?¡±


    Alexandra nodded, and noted down the ¡°mostly due to essence synthesis¡± in her reminders on her implants, as it implied that there were other causes.


    ¡°Well, not extradimensionals. In fact, extradimensionals continuously gain mana. Allow me to explain. Most places where life is possible have ambient mana, enough for people to absorb and live off of. However, to truly accumulate mana, they need more than this. This is where mana acquisition comes in. There is a multitude of ways to acquire mana, but it boils down to this: you can cultivate, which is a process that speeds up the process of absorbing ambient mana, although it usually requires great concentration, and you also need a cultivation technique, which are restricted or really expensive to buy and learn. You can also, which is the choice of most people, absorb mana from potions, mana stones, and even coins. Since mana is used as a currency, most normal people consider it a waste of good money. The last widely available solution is dungeons. When people head into a dungeon, the ambient mana concentration jumps up astronomically, which allows the people inside to actively regenerate mana at insane rates, and allows them to cultivate at truly ridiculous speeds. However, dungeons are fraught with danger, so they are not recommended if you just want some mana.¡±


    ¡°You, on the other hand, don¡¯t need any of this! In fact, you are able to passively generate mana, wherever you are and whatever you are doing, at rates that ridicule even that of adventurers dungeon delving. This is what makes you truly special, as you will continuously grow more and more powerful and have virtually unlimited mana. It makes you the perfect adventurer, so to speak. Not even mentioning that you technically never run out of money as well.¡±


    He chuckled, shaking his head.


    ¡°All of this means that you are quite exceptional. Now that means several things: first, I need to report you to the central guild headquarters. Second, you don¡¯t need to go looking for a party¡ªeveryone probably knows that you¡¯re an extradimensional by now, and they will want to try and recruit you, to latch on to your rising star. Third, and this is the problematic part, you will gather attention. The kind you¡¯d rather avoid. There are powerful entities and entire countries that will pay fortunes to have you captured and force you to swear loyalty to them. In fact, this very kingdom might put immense pressure onto you to do just that, although they do try to be subtle about it, as angering the adventurer guild is not done lightly, and angering an extradimensional that might rise to be a legend even less so.¡±


    Alexandra tilted her head.


    ¡°In my experience, forcing someone into service is hardly a good idea, and will usually end with a knife planted in your back.¡±


    Erik laughed.


    ¡°In your world, I suppose it would be very true. Here? Less so. There are contracts and oaths that will force you to obey them once signed, no matter how much you loathe them or what you have to do. Additionally, most organizations that do this aren¡¯t stupid. They will do everything to capture you and ensure that you swear a binding oath, but once that is done they will do everything so that you truly support them, showering you with riches, powerful artifacts, men, women, whatever it takes so you support them wholeheartedly. I can already see from your face that you know what the problem with that is.¡±


    Alexandra nodded, horrified.


    ¡°Power corrupts.¡±


    ¡°Exactly. The extradimensionals that become like this either go insane from their bonds or become monsters, thinking themselves untouchable and above mere mortals. They become, for lack of a better word, spoiled, and an outright danger to everyone around them, expecting all to obey them at a moment¡¯s notice. They¡¯re even worse than the less savory members of the nobility, and that¡¯s saying something.¡±


    ¡°I see...¡±


    ¡°So, I cannot legally keep you here. Oh, I could do it in practice, as I am far more powerful than you currently are, but I do not want to. Mostly because it would go against my principles, but also because it would send a signal to everyone that the adventurer guild is trying to do what I just described to you, and it would end very badly.¡±


    Alexandra nodded. It would be like if a large interstellar corporation kidnapped a genius that had just made a phenomenal scientific breakthrough back home. Some countries (especially the Martian Republic) had a tendency to ¡°nationalize¡± that kind of talent, but if a corporation were to do the same, half of the superpowers in human space would be up at them and tearing them apart in a matter of days.


    ¡°The best that I can do is to give you some advice and have Cassie here keep an eye on you. She might not look like it, but she¡¯s a level 109 Silvarium-ranked warmage, so she¡¯ll be more than able to keep you safe. She¡¯ll help you find a good party that¡¯s about your level. She¡¯ll also serve as your bodyguard, more or less, as long as you are within the city. She, unfortunately, cannot formally join you on adventures, but your teammates should be enough to help you out in the wild, where those who wish you harm will have a harder time finding you.¡±


    ¡°Right...¡±


    If she were being honest, Alexandra would have preferred having an entire platoon of marines to hide behind, maybe with a starship overhead decked out in void-to-surface weaponry to cover her, given the number of people that apparently wanted to capture her. However, she didn¡¯t have those on hand, so a group of adventurers used to fighting monsters and hunting down bandits sounded about what she needed. She had no idea what a warmage was, but it sounded badass, and Cassie didn¡¯t look like the type to take shit from anyone, so that was a plus as well.


    ¡°Well then, dismissed!¡±


    Alexandra walked out of the room and into the hallway, followed by Cassie, sighing deeply as the door closed.


    ¡°Well...this is going to be interesting.¡±


    Cassie smiled coldly.


    ¡°Oh, you have no idea. Dibs, by the way.¡±


    Alexandra raised an eyebrow, but Cassie simply smiled enigmatically, before motioning her towards the door leading out of what passed for the guild hall''s administration wing. Alexandra shrugged, and opened it, walking into the common room once more.


    And froze.


    Everyone was looking at her. Although the adventurers had evidently decided to take their guildmaster¡¯s warnings seriously, and Dominique was left relatively alone, they were all ¡°nonchalantly¡± hanging out as close to the door as they dared, in the apparently universal fashion of people trying too hard to not appear as if they were waiting for something, and ending up doing the opposite. Alexandra had the distinct impression of being a red, dripping chunk of meat tossed in the middle of an arena of starving leopards.


    Then Cassie stepped out from behind her.


    ¡°Alright, so our dear new recruit here needs a party. Anyone interested?¡±


    Alexandra¡¯s last thoughts were a stream of expletives that would have made her old drill sergeant proud before the horde closed in.


    *****


    Alexandra staggered out of the guild hall, exhausted. Thanks to Cassie, she¡¯d been able to join a nice party. Or at least, they seemed nice, and they were of a high enough rank (Copper) as to be able to protect her, without being so far out of her league that she¡¯d be a spectator in combat. For some reason, Berth had said dibs, quickly followed by several highly ranked party leaders, until Cassie had given them all a wide smile, which had elicited a storm of muttered curses across the room. It wasn¡¯t until Dominique had helpfully informed her that they were calling dibs on having first chance of taking her into their party once she (apparently inevitably) outpaced her current party, that Alexandra understood why.


    As Alexandra neared the inn she had been told to rent a room in, she stopped. Cassie wasn¡¯t behind her anymore, and all of her combat instincts, honed through the solar system¡¯s (and beyond) most disreputable freeports, screamed ¡°DANGER!¡± She put her hand on her sword¡¯s pommel and began to draw it.


    ¡°Wow, wow, easy there! I¡¯m not here to attack you! Sorry I spooked you, miss!¡±


    A fellow came out of the shadows, his hands in the air and a friendly smile on his face. Alexandra recognized him from the guild hall¡ªhe was a Steel-ranked adventurer who didn¡¯t seem to have a party, and he¡¯d hung back as everyone had swarmed her. Alexandra relaxed a little bit...until she made eye contact with him.


    She unsheathed her sword and automatically parried his dagger, her marine combat programs saving her from a probably crippling injury, then swung back, drawing a bloody gash along his arm and eliciting a muffled curse from him. A rictus appeared on his face, his expression switched to surprise, and he looked down.


    He seemed baffled by the large spike of ice protruding from his chest, before collapsing, dead or very close to death, revealing Cassie, her right hand held up, palm open, while her left one gripped what looked like a very over-ornamented medallion. The medallion glowed brightly, but its light was quickly fading.


    Before she was able to say anything, Alexandra felt a rush unlike anything she¡¯d felt before. It was like if combat stims, sex, and good old adrenaline had all been mixed together and dialed up to eleven. She took a staggered breath, which she released as the rush dissipated. She felt...stronger, her mind was clearer, and she could feel her sense of balance improving.


    So that was what Cassie had been talking about. The adventurer, who she assumed was a rogue, probably just finally succumbed to his wounds, and his essence, at least in part, had transferred to her. Of course, Cassie hadn¡¯t mentioned it¡¯d feel this good. It did explain why even the guild was trying to keep a lid on it though. If everyone knew that murder felt like the greatest drug ever invented, every junkie on the planet would turn into a serial killer.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    Alexandra snapped her head back up, looking directly at the concerned face of Cassie.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine. Thanks for the assistance.¡±


    ¡°No problem. How did you know?¡±


    Alexandra understood immediately that she was referring to how she¡¯d deduced he was there to attack her.


    ¡°His eyes. I¡¯ve met slavers before, they had the same look in their eyes...¡±


    ¡°I see...¡±


    Cassie looked her over once more before letting the matter drop. She gestured to the rapidly cooling corpse.


    ¡°Well, he did attack you, so his belongings are yours by right of combat.¡±


    Alexandra looked up at her, surprised, and Cassie let out a bark of laughter.


    ¡°What did you expect? Every adventurer loots their enemies, and with so much to gain from someone with expensive equipment, it¡¯s no wonder the government had to put the regulation into place, if only to avoid being ridiculed by everyone violating the law.¡±


    Alexandra debated whether Cassie was making fun of her for a second, before deciding that the attendant was deadly serious. She kneeled next to the body and began looting him. She had, unfortunately, all too much experience in doing just that. You didn¡¯t get to do a peacekeeping mission on Vesta station (one of the larger asteroids in the Mars-Jupiter asteroid belt) without becoming acquainted with shooting down lowlives and efficiently looking for proof of which of the myriad of gangs they were a part of and any illegal stuff they had on them that you needed to confiscate.


    Cassie kneeled beside the body as well, after taking a look around to make sure they were alone, and gave her a hand. Together they quickly found three daggers, for a total of four with the one the rogue had held, a few coins, a crystal that looked valuable, several pouches¡¯ worth of potions and vials, and a softly glowing amulet. They also found a small notebook and a pen. Alexandra opened it and sneered in disgust.


    It looked like this wasn¡¯t an opportunistic, one-time slaver. He had made a living out of it. There were entire pages of descriptions of people to capture or types of slaves that were wanted, with payments, contact names, and a delivery date and checkmark for every successful mission. Alexandra noted with disgust that some of the completed missions included children. Apparently even the slightest bit of honor or morals was completely foreign to that bastard.


    Alexandra handed the book over to Cassie, before looking through the potions. Thankfully, they were very neatly labeled. There were four level 5 lesser healing potions, about a dozen level 16 lesser elixirs of dexterity, three level 20 lesser reflex boost potions, and half a dozen vials of ominously labeled level 40 average paralytic poison. She wondered why the level of every potion was included on top of a degree of efficacy, like ¡°lesser,¡± filing it for later.


    Alexandra heard the notebook snap close, and one look at Cassie¡¯s face was enough to know that there was going to be hell to pay for the monsters that had allowed the rogue to operate with apparently free rein, and those who had hired him for his foul deeds.


    After a short discussion, they both decided to drag the body to the guild and ask Erik for permission to sleep in the guild hall rooms, an honor usually reserved for gold-ranked parties and above.


    Following a short discussion with Erik, as the few adventurers still up eyed the body and pretended not to be avidly listening to the conversation, they were authorized to stay there for the night, and a series of quests was put out to arrest (or, if impossible, kill) the rogue¡¯s clients and accomplices.


    Alexandra simply followed Dominique to her room, barely took a few seconds to take off her boots before promptly collapsing onto the bed.


    *****


    Alexandra frowned, then, with the ease of long habit, threw off the covers, not even stopping at the fact that she wasn¡¯t under them (and thus was throwing nothing), and slammed her hand on her nonexistent alarm clock, before belatedly realizing that someone was knocking on her stateroom door.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s me, Dominique. Miss Raika wanted me to warn you that the rest of your party is waiting for you.¡±


    Alexandra¡¯s frown deepened. She didn¡¯t know any ensign named Dominique on the Dawn Star, nor did she remember having organized a boarding or station party...


    Then her memories caught up to her. She wasn¡¯t on the Dawn Star anymore. She wasn¡¯t the traumatized officer gazing over the ruins of Europa anymore. She wasn¡¯t even in Human Space anymore. She shook her head, burying the memories of the scorched moon in the tightly locked vaults of her mind. It was far more reassuring to remember herself as Alexandra Rousseau, chief of engineering, scheduled to join the EFSNS Duty Eternal, with an eventful but unexceptional career.


    ¡°Right. Tell her I¡¯ll be right there!¡± she yelled.


    ¡°Okay!¡± answered back Dominique, before hurried steps disappeared into the distance.


    Alexandra smiled, shaking her head. This girl was far too excited for her own good. She really reminded her of those eager ensigns....


    Nope, don¡¯t go there, she told herself as she took a quick shower (she was very surprised yesterday when they had informed her that, indeed, they did have running water, and the concept of showers had taken quite the hold in their civilization) and dressed. Raika was the heavily tanned copper-haired woman that was the head of her new party. Better not have her wait too long.


    Alexandra absentmindedly tied her long hair into a ponytail, buckled her sword belt, just as she¡¯d have put on her pistol belt, opened the door, and stepped out.


    She quickly navigated the hallway to the stairs and made her way down into the common room, where she was greeted by a wave of cheering and whistles.


    ¡°For Alexandra, hip hip hip! HOORAH!¡±


    Alexandra stopped there, confused, her foot hovering over the next step as she just froze. She flushed and started moving again as everyone in the room laughed. She quickly made her way to the round table where her new party was sitting.


    She grabbed a chair and sat down in front of the fifth pint of ale, obviously meant for her, as all the others had theirs in front of them or in their hand.


    ¡°What the hell was that about?¡±


    Raika, covered in heavy leather armor, smiled.


    ¡°It¡¯s a tradition. Sometimes, adventurers discover something that creates a whole lot of jobs and money for other adventurers. Sometimes it¡¯s a dungeon, other times it¡¯s a monster infestation, and in your case, a network of criminals. It¡¯s then customary to greet them like this, at least once, as thanks.¡±


    Alexandra blinked. That...made sense.


    A man with a closely shaven face and head nodded from across the table.


    ¡°Yeah. You just made a whole lot of new friends, Alex. Not every day that someone comes with that kind of quest money and simply asks the guildmaster to let everyone in on it.¡±


    The rest of the team nodded, looking at her admiringly.


    Alexandra was just flat out confused, until she belatedly realized that it must be Erik¡¯s doing. Instead of giving her exclusivity on the new quests like most adventurers would have asked, he¡¯d made this up and announced to everyone that she was freely letting everyone in on it. He was helping her gain a good reputation and stacking the deck in her favor. Alexandra grabbed the pint in front of her and raised it into the air, raising her voice to address the whole room.


    ¡°You honor me too much, guys! We¡¯d all have done the same. These people don¡¯t deserve to walk free!¡±


    ¡°HOORAH!¡±


    She lowered her pint, and drank it all, followed by nearly the entire guildhall. She lowered it and looked at the rest of her party, who, if anything, looked even more impressed now.


    Alexandra smiled. She¡¯d judged the personality of these adventurers correctly it seemed. They were like Federation marines¡ªthey were here for a paycheck, sure, but deep down, at their root, they were good people and had enlisted to help people and make the world a better place. Calling to that had cemented her reputation in their minds as someone who would do the right thing. That might lose her some standing around those who would be expecting lucrative offers out of her, but it would virtually ensure that the more idealistic parties would follow her without question if she asked for their help. Which was a definite plus; after all, with her unlimited mana generation, she wouldn¡¯t have a problem buying off the greedy ones, while she could hardly do the same with the others.


    ¡°Well... That was inspiring. Are you sure you didn¡¯t miss your calling? You should have been a military officer!¡± said the bald guy. He laughed, but stopped abruptly as Alexandra leveled a look at him that would have frozen a supernova solid. He gulped, and she relaxed.


    ¡°Sorry, it¡¯s...a long story. Anyway, apologies, but yesterday was quite the rush, and I don¡¯t believe we¡¯ve been introduced?¡±


    Raika nodded and started presenting her teammates.


    ¡°Right. Time for the introductions. The loudmouth moving mirror there is Thomas, he¡¯s our ranged combatant. Crossbows, thrown knives, you name it, he can use it. He¡¯s also quite good with his senses.¡±


    Alexandra nodded. This world¡¯s equivalent of a ranger then, albeit without the traditional bow.


    ¡°The cowled silent guy here is Fernand. Don¡¯t mind his silence, he¡¯s just timid. He¡¯s kind of an odd one, as a close combat combatant and spell caster, but he¡¯s one of the best alchemists I¡¯ve ever seen, and he knows the wild well enough to live off the land quite comfortably.¡±


    Alexandra smiled at him. He was, indeed, cowled, but a long black beard escaped from the darkness, and a pair of blue eyes met hers briefly, before the figure nodded. Given his sword and shield, was he an arcane fighter? Forget it, she probably wouldn¡¯t be able to neatly put them into D&D classes. They were hardly likely to confine themselves to neat little categories like in roleplaying games, after all.


    ¡°And finally, the girl with far too much liking for pure white in a job that doesn¡¯t involve many clean environments, Alyssa. She¡¯s our healer and mage. Don¡¯t be fooled by her innocent appearance, she can cast fireballs faster than cure wounds. Be wary of telling her to destroy an entire area, because you do not want to let her set the forest on fire.¡±


    There was some wariness in Raika¡¯s tone, and the innocent smile of the cute, bubbly young blonde woman in pure white robes next to Alexandra turned into a devious and slightly psychotic grin. Oh, great, a pyromaniac. And a healer. Alexandra dearly hoped she hadn¡¯t heard of cauterizing wounds. There had been a weird...power to some of Raika¡¯s tone. Alexandra guessed those were spells. Alexandra realized that they were looking expectantly at her, waiting for her to introduce herself.


    ¡°Right, I am Alexandra. I do not have any specialization that I could describe to you, but I do have close combat experience and reflexes to match. Apart from that, as you¡¯ve surely heard, I¡¯m an extradimensional, with everything that entails.¡±


    They nodded and smiled, even Fernand, his teeth reflecting the light, creating a strange contrast. Alexandra was strangely reminded of a face floating in the middle of the air, kind of like when you did that weird mirror experiment with one eye with a friend. She shook off the image¡ªshe didn¡¯t need to be reminded of Emil right now¡ªand looked at Raika.


    ¡°So...time to get to work?¡±


    Raika nodded.


    ¡°Yep. We were already doing this quest before you joined.¡± She produced a paper covered in writing and a drawing of what looked like a beaver, if its teeth had suddenly become pointed. ¡°Hunting Treefangs. Several groups of them have made their nests nearby, and we have been hired to take them out before they devour the largest and most precious trees. We are down to three nests we need to clear, and then we¡¯ll get paid. Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll split the rewards evenly.¡±


    Alexandra held up and shook her hands and head.


    ¡°There¡¯s no need to! I just came in!¡±


    Raika simply shook her head, followed by a smile.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright. We¡¯ve all agreed on this. Plus, investing in a new party member is the right thing to do. In the end, we¡¯ll benefit more by helping you get better gear and stuff early on.¡±


    The rest of the team nodded, showing their support. Alexandra supposed it made sense; after all, she was going to pay them back by helping them take on even bigger jobs. Thus, she nodded, signaling her agreement, and they got up and left the guild hall. Her first quest as an adventurer was on!

 The Fallen World book 1 : Dungeon Engineer is live on Amazon !

    </a>


    Hello everyone !


    This is to tell you guys that book 1 of The Fallen World, titled Dungeon Engineer, is available on Amazon</a> ! As this is posted it should officially be at least the 22nd on the entire planet and thus available everywhere ! There''s been some issues with the paperback versions (apparently Amazon refused it because the W being partially behind Alexandra''s hand makes the title ''unreadable''), but it should be available shortly. The paperback is now available ! If you want to support the story and get an enhanced version of it, don''t hesitate to buy it ! Just in case you cannot see/use the embedded links, here is a direct one (it should take you to the amazon storefront of your country) : https://geni.us/DungeonEngineer</a>


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    I also rarely do this (in fact the only time I ever did was on The Eternal Seeker Saga), but if you buy it, don''t hesitate to leave a review. It would help me and the story a ton. Thank you.


    The novel includes the prologue as well as chapters 1 through 9, for a total over 100k words (340 pages worth of text for the novel). All have had some rewrites to fix plot holes, explain some things better, not to mention grammar corrections and general edits to make them easier to read, among other things. As previously warned, chapters 1 through 9 have been deleted and the prologue has been cut to ~9k words, although the 9k remaining are straight from the novel, with all the corrections that entails.


    To celebrate the launch chapter 93 will be posted tomorrow, the 23rd of november !


    I hope you''ll enjoy the chapter and the novel, if you decide to buy it ! Playwars, out.


    P.S : I also got this pretty sweet UI style art from the people at Shadow Alley Press. The text is a bit cramped, but I believe it does its job pretty well !


    </a>

 Christmas Special

    Chapter [ERROR]


    Red Sands Desert, Contested Border Region.


    Abandoned Site Seraph, Sagitarius Imperial Installation.


    "Hey, you wanted to see me?" Emilia froze as she entered the room. "What the-"


    "Merry Christmas!"


    Emilia opened her mouth...then closed it. Then opened it again. And closed it.


    Out of all the things she expected to see today, having Alexandra, CQ, Jared, and a bunch of golems all wearing santa hats cheering at her wasn''t it. Nor did she expect the Christmas tree made out of metal with...were those gems? Those looked like gems, hanging from it''s branches in lieu of baubles, with bands of cloths wrapped around the tree like tinsel. It did look pretty though. Was that table covered in drinks and traveling biscuits?


    "Uh...Merry Christmas? Alex, couldn''t you have given me some warning this was gonna happen?"


    Alexandra''s smirk was positively irking.


    "Nope! Would have ruined the surprise, and the fun! Ah, you should have seen your face!"


    Emilia crossed her arms under her breasts and rolled her eyes, which of course only made the infuriating woman (who she referred less and less to as a dungeon, she was just so...so human) laugh.


    The vampire let out a small smile.


    "Alright, fine, I guess it would have been funny from your perspective...still, you could have told me you were intending to do a celebration! You just told me to prepare presents!"


    Alexandra chuckled, and grabbed a glass, downing a quick gulp.


    "Uh." She looked at the glass. "Not bad, all things considered. I didn''t know you guys flavored travel water for desert crossings."


    Emilia shrugged.


    "Some people like to." She squinted speculatively at Alexandra. "I didn''t know you could drink."


    "Neither did I, honestly, but I thought a Christmas celebration would be just sad without food and drink, and I literally just grabbed and drank by reflex. It feels nice actually, plus it makes sense, the person that originally built this body looked more or less human, so she probably made it to be at least able to enjoy food and drink." She shrugged. "Honestly those were mostly for you, I don''t know if vampires need to really eat anything, you made it pretty clear you really needed mana more than anything, but I thought you''d appreciate the gesture."


    Alexandra grabbed a glass and handed it over to her advisor.


    "I do appreciate it, thanks." Emilia took the drink with a smile and a nod, then took a sip. Flavored indeed, peaches if she wasn''t mistaken. "Well, if we''re through with the niceties, I suppose we should get to this?" She nodded towards the presents assembled under the tree. "I''d say the kid is getting impatient."


    Alexandra followed Emilia''s gaze, and giggled as she saw CQ, who was looking at the brightly packaged presents with obvious curiosity.


    "Right, fair enough. Alright, time to open them up! Oh, wait, one more thing." Alexandra turned around, grabbed something, then turned back towards Emilia, her hands behind her back. "Come here Emilia~"


    "Uh..." Emilia took a step back, suddenly unsure, as she saw her friend''s mischevious grin.


    Then suddenly, the Earth-born darted forward, and before the vampire could so much as yelp, shoved a santa hat onto her assistant''s head.


    Emilia blinked, then grabbed the fluffy ball at the pointy end of the hat, and sighed.


    "Was that truly necessary?"


    "Yup!" Said the insufferable woman with an unrepentant grin, then she turned towards the tree. "Alright, let''s get to it before CQ pokes one with her sword just to see what it does."


    She patted the boss on the head, getting a pleased smiled and bounce in response, before making a beeline towards the tree. There, she kneeled, and grabbed the first present. While it wasn''t wrapped in what some would call ''traditional'' Christmas paper, the thin, brightly colored cloth did pretty well as an imitation.


    "Alright, young ones first. CQ, here''s your present." Said Alexandra with a smile, as she handed the boss the box.


    CQ eagerly took it, then just looked at it, puzzled, and Alexandra laughed.


    "Right, you have to open it."


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    CQ looked up, and tilted her head, then Alexandra got up, slightly tore the packaging open, and then gestured towards it. CQ''s eyes lit up, and she immediately starting tearing the packaging off like she was a crazed pirahana. A few seconds later, there were only scraps left, and the boss looked at the box, and tilted her head. But before Alexandra and Emilia had the time to intervene, she grabbed the top part, and slowly opened the box thanks to the hinges on the back.


    CQ fully opened it, looked at the inside for a bit, before extracting a magnificently wrought steel sword, with a handle carved of onyx and wrapped in leather for easier gripping. She let the wooden box fall and clatter on the ground, lifting the sword to eye level, before executing a surprisingly fast and practiced series of movements with it. Emilia blinked, it looked like Alexandra had spent some time teaching the boss while she was off doing something else (probably during the times she had been reading and the two of them had been in the workshop).


    CQ laughed, and bounced, before slamming into Alexandra like an armored missile, hugging her. Alexandra giggled, and hugged the boss back, burying her face into her hair, before letting her go.


    "You''re welcome kiddo."


    The boss stepped back and smiled, before looking at Emilia as Alexandra directed her gaze towards her. One behind the other like that, the resemblance was stunning. CQ indeed looked like a younger version of Alexandra.


    Emilia blinked for a second, before realizing why Alexandra was staring at her. She beckoned CQ closer, before plunging her hand in one of her spatial pouches, setting her drink down on the table so she didn''t have to avoid spilling it while moving.


    "Alright, so this isn''t fancily wrapped like miss dungeon over there''s present, but I think you will like it all the same."


    Then she pulled out a pair of books, ''Guide to Royal Etiquette and proper Postures'' and ''The Art of Elegant Swordfighting'', then offered them to CQ. The boss stepped forward, and after carefully setting her new sword down, gingerly took them. Then, suddenly remembering that the poor girl wouldn''t even know how to open them (and read them, but she had made sure these books were mostly composed of detailed pictures instead of written instructions), and did it for the boss, before demonstrating how to turn the pages, and with a few gestures explaining from which point to start, and which point to end. CQ looked up, and nodded seriously. Emilia gazed into her eyes, and nodded back, satisfied at the spark of comprehension in the boss'' eyes. Then she almost stumbled and fell as the boss hugged her. Emilia froze for a second, before returning the enthusiastic hug, and letting the boss go as she started stepping back, the boss happily smiling.


    "Right, uh... Next is...Jared, I suppose?"


    "Yep!"


    Alexandra kneeled once again and grabbed another present, before offering it to the somewhat battered golem. Jared stared at her for a moment, before grabbing it, and unwrapping it, jerkily imitating CQ''s movements. Then, he opened the box...and brought out an onyx dagger. A very, very, very intricately carved onyx dagger. Carved entirely with runes. Emilia''s eyes wandered over the dagger, and widened as she started to realize the spell that was embedded into the weapon. She opened her mouth, and closed it. Then Alexandra started speaking.


    "You''ve been my bodyguard for the last few days, but you never had a weapon that truly allowed you to defend me if the need arose. So this is to correct that. Consider this as your last resort weapon, if no other option is available, use it to protect me, alright."


    Jared looked at her for a second, before slowly nodding, and carefully putting the dagger down on the table. Emilia frowned, had he....understood? He shouldn''t be that smart just yet...Then again, very weird things could happen to dungeon defenders, especially the ones close to the Core or the dungeon''s Avatar. He spent all of his time by Alexandra''s side, so who knew what could happen? In any case, everyone, even the golems in the back, expectantly turned towards Emilia.


    The vampire girl rolled her eyes, elicting a muffled chuckle from Alexandra, and grabbed yet another book from her pouches, and offered it to the golem. She had no idea if he could understand even pictures, but it wouldn''t hurt to try.


    Jared took it, and without any prompting from her, opened the book, and flipped a page, carefully, almost like it was made out of glass. This, however, allowed Alexandra to see the cover and the name on it, and prompting her to start laughing.


    "Ahahah! ''H-How to be a butler''? R-Really? That''s what you offered him? That''s hilarious vampy!"


    Emilia grinned, and stuck her tongue out at Alexandra, which elicted yet another bout of laughter from her, before she calmed down, straightened up, and waved at Jared and CQ.


    "Sorry, wasn''t laughing at you, no insult meant."


    The atmosphere seemed to relax a bit after that, like if CQ and Jared had somehow understood the undertones.


    Jared went back to the book, and Emilia had the very distinct impression like he was actually reading it, before he looked up, closed the book, and set it besides the dagger, before looking straight at Emilia, and giving her a firm nod, which she answered in kind.


    "Alright, so now, for your presents-"


    "Hop hop hop! Remind me what you said at the beginning?" Said Emilia with a devilish grin, which only grew bigger as Alexandra froze. "Younger ones first, right? Well, while Jared is technically younger than CQ, he does act more mature, you are most definitely younger than I am."


    "And what, I act younger as well?"


    Emilia sniffed haughtily, and lifted up her chin.


    "Of course."


    Alexandra laughed.


    "Alright alright, me first I guess. So, since the other two can''t really make presents, what did you get for me vampy?"


    Emilia rolled her eyes, then her gaze softened as she looked Alexandra in the eyes. She grabbed something from her pouch, and offered it to her.


    "Here, this is for you, it''s not much, but...."


    Alexandra took the piece of....jewelry? It looked like jewelry anyway, it was a simply golden circle with a gem in the middle, and a button on it. She could almost feel the hum of the enchantment contained inside the thing, and could sense Emilia''s unique...signature? Taste? Whatever it was, she hadn''t made the object itself, but she sure as hell had made the enchantment on it. She looked up at the vampire girl, raising an eyebrow, and Emilia simply gestured towards the button.


    Alexandra pressed it. And her eyes widened.


    For a split second, it looked like the air distorted and filled with static, before a perfect globe appeared above the jewel, first in holographic blue, and then colors appearing everywhere.


    And that perfect globe was Earth, with every continent exquisitely detailed, in their untouched-by-humans beauty.


    Tears filled Alexandra''s eyes as she contemplated her homeworld, and she looked down as she heard the scraping of soles against the ground. Emilia was right there, in front of her, looking at her with soft eyes.


    "It''s not perfect, obviously I''ve never seen Earth myself....but I''ve done my best to replicate it from images and paintings I saw or had on my books. I know it''s not much, but I thought you''d like-"


    Alexandra didn''t even let her finish her sentence, and wrapped the vampire girl in the tightest hug she could give her. She whispered in her ear, almost convulsively as tears flowed down her face.


    "Thank you. Thank you thank you thank you. A thousand times thank you. You don''t realize how much I''ve missed it...and how terrified I was of forgetting how it looked...I could have never have done it myself, and a picture from memory would never have done it, so thank you..."


    Emilia''s tense shoulders relaxed, and she hugged back Alexandra.


    "It''s alright...Come on, it''s Christmas, don''t cry...."


    Alexandra chuckled, and quickly dried her tears, before letting the vampire girl go, and straightening back up.


    "Alright, you''re probably right, although there is something to be said for tears of joy...Here, this is what I got for you."


    She grabbed the last package under the tree, and handed it over to Emilia, who took it. She smiled at the vampire girl, and gestured towards it.


    Emilia smiled back, and carefully unwrapped the present. It was...a very large book. The cover read ''The Wonders of Charted Space, 6<sup>th</sup> Edition, 2160''. She opened it, and gasped, looking up sharply at a smiling Alexandra.


    "Yep. It''s not perfect, I had to recreate it from memory, so some of it I might have forgotten, and misremembered, but I did add some stuff of my own, things that were either kept off the record or never came to the attention of the authors."


    Emilia looked at her for a few seconds, before looking back down. Now she understood why the Earth-born had talked about ''pictures from memory''. Because that was what the book was filled with. Pictures, magnificent, absolutely breath taking pictures. Of massive buildings, great phenomenons, space stations, ships, everything magnificent Alexandra''s people had found and cataloged. From the Niagara Falls to the breathtaking ring system of Epsilon Eridiani-6, everything was there.


    Emilia smiled, closed the book, and promptly hugged the towering woman. Alexandra giggled, and hugged her back.


    "Thank you...now I''ll get to know your old world much better...and bombard you with more questions!"


    Alexandra giggled again.


    "I see. Well, now that we''re done with the presents..." She smiled as Emilia let her go and looked at her, her eyes curious. "Let''s get on with the food! Let''s see if those ''travel biscuits'', which if I remember well were called ''hardtack'' back on Earth, are as tough to eat as everyone says! Come on, first to eat three wins the prize!"


    Emilia rolled her eyes and laughed as Alexandra grabbed her hand and led her towards the table.

 Chapter 11 - The First Forge

    Chapter 11


    Red Sands Deserts, Asarian Kingdom Border


    City of Darthar, Adventurers Guild Hall


    Starvak looked at his tablet and sighed.


    He put the tablet down and contemplated the simple message on it.


    This was it. After all the shenanigans of the last couple of days, it was finally time to reveal the dungeon¡¯s¡ªCrystal¡¯s¡ªexistence to the rest of the world.


    Oh, he knew some organizations and nations had to have gotten their hands on his reports. He had faith in his colleagues. Well, most of them at least. But given the abundance of guild halls and guildmasters, it was almost certain that someone had leaked the information, whether accidentally or in exchange for a favor or a payoff. That wasn¡¯t even counting the possibility that the communication network of the guild¡¯s leadership could have been compromised, or that more conventional espionage techniques could have gotten hold of the information.


    But this would make it official. This message, sent to every guild representative at every court, ruling council, and senate on the planet, would proclaim the existence of a new dungeon.


    Usually, he would have preferred to wait until he had a firm presence established there, but it wasn¡¯t an option. Thanks to Elkaryos, he was fairly sure he¡¯d have an expedition up and running before anyone else. But quite frankly, hiding a newborn dungeon¡¯s existence was always tricky at best, and it was outright impossible in the current context. Darthar was too big a trade hub to have a guild expedition of the magnitude required to establish a survivable presence in the wastelands not be put under intense scrutiny. While the dungeon would flourish eventually, it would still stay a deserted hellscape for a few months, depending on how proactive the local population would be at terraforming the land and reclaiming the wastelands. Anything affecting the flow of trade was too vital not to investigate.


    And that train of thought brought him to the next point. That in this case, withholding the information could be actively dangerous to the guild¡¯s reputation and standing. Dungeons were always an important affair, but this¡­ This was much more than that.


    ¡°Link dungeons¡± they were called, dungeons that bridged the wastelands separating entire chunks of a continent, with said bridge being called a ¡°link.¡± They had always been massive hotspots for conflict and trade, but they were rare, very rare. After all, they usually happened only once or twice for every continent, depending on the size.


    He sighed again and leaned over his desk, and before he could think to stop himself, pressed the ¡°send¡± button.


    *****


    ¡°Wait, seriously? Why can¡¯t I just create some out of thin air?¡±


    ¡°I have no idea. I don¡¯t make the rules.¡±


    Alexandra shook her head and looked at the wall. A wall currently made out of iron ore. Which was rather the problem. She was, with Emilia and Jared, inside one of the portions of the original tunnel system that she had severed from the rest of the dungeon when making her redesign. Right now it was connected to the workshop through a long tunnel she had dug up mere minutes ago.


    ¡°So let me sum this up. I can create a regenerating deposit of ore mixed with stone, any ore I come across, which will regenerate over time by literally regrowing, for an absurdly small mana upkeep, but I can¡¯t just create the same quantity of loose ore? I mean, no, I can, it¡¯s just, what, ten times as pricy? And creating pure ore costs even more per weight!¡±


    ¡°That about sums it up, yes,¡± the vampire girl said, nodding. ¡°Although the ¡®pure ore¡¯ compared to ¡®mixed ore¡¯ price per actual weight of metal apparently changes depending on the ore. It¡¯s closer to a thousand times more expensive for mythril, for example.¡±


    Alexandra looked at Emilia and pinched the bridge of her nose. Sometimes the...quirks of her dungeon nature gave her headaches. And she wasn¡¯t physically supposed to have them anymore! Or maybe she was. Did dungeon cores have some version of aspirin? She shook herself slightly. This wasn¡¯t the time to go on a tangent. The problem at hand was key to her plans.


    Apparently, she wouldn¡¯t be able to just create loose piles of ore for her golems to throw into a furnace, she needed to actually mine it. That could prove problematic. Transport and handling shouldn¡¯t be an issue, her golems were deceptively strong, but mining it in the first place... Contrary to popular belief, pickaxes and other traditional tools sucked at breaking down rocks and ores. In fact, the most effective method during the Middle Ages was to pile up wood, set it on fire, then once the flames had died quench the searing hot rock wall in water. The thermal shock then weakened (or outright broke) the rock, and it was just a matter of prying the ore out. The problem was that it was time consuming, and quite frankly extremely inefficient in terms of manpower and time per weight of ore extracted, not to mention the dangers of having fires in confined spaces.


    One of the reasons the iron and steel industry had enough raw materials to expand was that Nobel came along and boom went the dynamite. Literally, in this case, since his invention of the high explosive let large-scale explosive mining take place much more safely than with black powder, some types of which were actively suicidal to use in such a confined, industrial environment.


    The problem was that she couldn¡¯t synthesize nitroglycerin (yet) for dynamite, and while she was fairly sure she¡¯d be able to manufacture black powder soon, there was no way in hell she was going to use it in a large-scale mining operation, especially if she had the forges nearby, as she planned to here. Dynamite was stable and easy to contain. Black powder, at least the most basic version of it, most definitely wasn¡¯t.


    Which brought her back to the conventional tools.


    She sighed. ¡°I¡¯m going to have to make a miner golem with a pickaxe, aren¡¯t I?¡±


    ¡°Probably, yeah.¡± Emilia shrugged. ¡°To be fair, you don¡¯t need that much ore yet. You¡¯re trying to manufacture weapons and armor for your golems, not build an ironclad warship.¡±


    ¡°True.¡± Although Alexandra didn¡¯t mention that she planned to produce far, far more than mere weapons and armor. There was no need to panic her poor advisor. ¡°I suppose they¡¯ll at least be better at it than normal humans would.¡±


    ¡°Well, low-level ones at least. You should see what a high-level geomancer can do. They can dig a hole the size of a castle in a single day if they really want to!¡±


    Alexandra raised an eyebrow, and reminded herself¡ªagain¡ªnot to take anything for granted here. Sure, she had a fairly good idea of what medieval and early industrial technologies and techniques could do, mostly thanks to books and documentaries. She had quite the hobby back in the day when she was still building energy weapons assembly lines for Fleet Logistics and Arcadia Systems. But those capabilities were from Earth. Not Alcheryos, which was apparently the name of the planet she was standing on, where magic and superhuman powers were part of everyday life.


    ¡°Point taken. But let me guess, you don¡¯t have a book about these spells nor any training in them.¡±


    Emilia looked at her feet and fiddled with her grimoire, squirming a bit, and Alexandra had to stop herself from patting her on the head and telling her it was alright, although her resolve steadily eroded at her advisor¡¯s cuteness.


    ¡°Welllll... No.¡± She sighed and looked up at Alexandra, meeting the dungeon¡¯s gaze. ¡°It was hardly considered a priority, if only because a dungeon is the greatest geomancer there is. You can build or destroy entire mountains in a matter of minutes, so it was assumed that any geomancy spell I could learn would be entirely redundant. I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    Alexandra sighed.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s not like your family or teachers could have foreseen my...unique view on things.¡±


    Emilia put her hand in front of her mouth, hiding a giggle behind a cough.


    ¡°Ahem! That¡¯s something of a euphemism Alex.¡±


    The Earth-born smiled.


    ¡°Perhaps. Anyway, a golem with a pickaxe should be fairly easy to make. Ditto for a basic rolling cart. Now, we get to the fun part!¡± Her smile turned positively insane, and Emilia suddenly looked very worried. ¡°It¡¯s time to build the forges of hell itself! Let the fires ROAR!¡±


    *****


    ¡°Wow. Okay this is way bigger than I expected.¡±


    Elkaryos smiled in the corner of Allya¡¯s vision as she peeked out of the curtain.


    ¡°Well, I might have...emphasized the importance of this event in my invitation.¡± His smile fell. ¡°It is unfortunate that we cannot announce your new title of nobility as planned, because of the security reasons. But, at least the preparations didn¡¯t go to waste.¡±


    That, Allya thought, was one hell of an understatement.


    She was currently in the backroom of the city¡¯s public square stage, peeking out the curtain at the massive crowd gathered before it. She had seen bigger crowds of course¡ªthere were only about three thousand people there, nothing compared to the millions that gathered during the annual Imperial Address in Starcore, the capital of the Eris Empire, where the ruler of the Empire made a full speech to the citizens of their realm and apprised them of the plans for the coming year. But she hadn¡¯t seen one this big gathered for her since she was awarded the title of knight valiant, and she¡¯d almost fainted on that day! The only thing that had kept her from doing so was Cassissa constantly throwing innuendos and having to restrain herself from strangling the insufferable princess. Which, now that she thought about it, might have been the reason her erstwhile friend had teased her as much.


    Well, at least they weren¡¯t here for her. Thanks to Elkaryos¡¯ vague wording in his original dispatches, they had been able to deflect her ennoblement ceremony into a private affair in the city¡¯s castle, where she had sworn fealty to the Kingdom and the Count. The young noble had seemed quietly amused rather than infuriated at her schemes and possession of the dungeon, which was a relief. The last thing she wanted was to have her liege hate her guts. And in place of the original public ceremony, they¡¯d slotted in Starvak¡¯s announcement of the dungeon¡¯s existence and the formation of the expedition. Which, with Alkeryos¡¯ full backing (both financially and in terms of influence; it¡¯s amazing how much faster things go in a city virtually owned by the merchants guild when one of their highest-ranking members is on your side), would leave in only three days. Allya wasn¡¯t a specialist of this kind of thing, but Pyn, who had been part of several large cross-wasteland caravans, had told her that it was an impressively low time, especially when supplies had to be gathered on such short notice.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s time. If you¡¯ll excuse me Lady Aub¨¦toile?¡± Starvak said.


    She turned around and opened her mouth to tell the old guildmaster he could just call her ¡±Allya¡± before seeing the twinkle in his eyes and realizing that he was messing with her. She sighed, rolled her eyes, and stepped to the side, letting the dwarf pass.


    She had to admit, he didn¡¯t look like much (he was like, a meter and ten at best?), but he carried with him an...aura. A presence, so to speak, of authority and assurance the likes of which she¡¯d only seen in Imperial Guardians and a few of the generals of the Eris Empire. It was strange how he managed to somehow trigger this at will, as he most definitely hadn¡¯t during their private meetings.


    As soon as the guildmaster passed, she went back to peeking, hearing a chuckle from Elkaryos. She looked at him, her eyebrows raised, and he simply waved his steaming hot chocolate mug at her. Where had he even gotten that? They were several hundred meters from his house and Jeremy was guarding the entrance, alongside Valker.


    ¡°After a while you¡¯ll learn to look as impassive and disinterested as possible¡ªwhile remaining polite of course¡ªwhile things like that go on, without missing any of the information. It wouldn¡¯t do to let your enemies know you¡¯ve been surprised or are otherwise stressed out by such revelations.¡±


    The assassin-now-baroness slowly nodded.


    ¡°I see. Well, I don¡¯t have your mastery of the art of dissembling yet, so if you¡¯ll excuse me?¡±


    The dark elf nodded, smiling at her rebuke and taking a sip of his hot chocolate. Allya shook her head, and went back to looking at the crowd. Then she felt something touching her shoulders, and it took her a split second to realize it was Pyn¡¯s chest, as she looked over her.


    ¡°Wow. That¡¯s a lot of people.¡±


    ¡°Yep,¡± Allya said, torn between being annoyed at the taller elf and embarrassed by the fact that Pyn was pressing her fairly large bust against her. ¡°Most of them look to be adventurers. Although there¡¯s a large collection of merchants here. I think I saw a few of them holding the bigger stalls in the bazaar, but I¡¯m not sure.¡±


    ¡°Well, I guess we¡¯ll know soon enough. Starvak is about to speak.¡±


    Allya stopped looking at the crowd and refocused on the guildmaster, who had just stepped up behind an absurdly small podium. He tapped the crystal in the center, and the sound reverberated into the whole plaza, relayed by multiple other crystals dispersed on tall metal poles throughout it. Allya winced. This kind of apparatus, which was pretty expensive, might appear just a harmless way for politicians to boost their own ego at political rallies (and not rely on people repeating what they had just said), but she¡¯d seen it converted into a sonic weapon in one of her more...bloody jobs. It had been terrifyingly effective, and completely stunned the crowd as she and her colleagues disposed of the targets that had been on the stage and their guards.


    ¡°Greetings, people of Darthar! For those who do not know me, I am Guildmaster Starvak Estorius of the adventurers guild. I head the guild in this very city. We are all gathered here today because I have a very important announcement to make.¡±


    The dwarf stopped for a second, masterfully building anticipation, before he leaned forward.


    ¡°A new dungeon has been discovered. And I am mounting an expedition to explore it and settle the region around it.¡±


    For a few seconds, the crowd was stunned into silence. Then, a scarred dwarf in heavy armor, with a double-headed battle axe protruding over his shoulder, threw both of his fists into the air and yelled.


    ¡°HECK YEAH!¡±


    This seemed to break the spell, and an incomprehensible mess of exclamations, questions, and expletives flowed out, each louder than the last. Starvak waited for a few seconds, then held his hands out for silence. Most of the adventurers quieted down quickly, while the merchants continued yelling at one another. Starvak¡¯s face darkened. He almost gently pressed a button on the podium, and the crystal stopped glowing. Allya¡¯s eyebrows rose until she saw him take a deep breath, at which point her eyes widened. He wasn¡¯t¡ª


    ¡°ENOUGH! This is most unseemly, ladies and gentlemen! Control yourselves!¡±


    The shout rang out throughout the plaza, sounding like the thunder of the gods themselves. Glass windows trembled and people staggered under the physical impact of it. Silence was instantaneous, beyond a few initial exclamations of surprise and fear.


    Allya¡¯s respect for Starvak¡¯s prowess clicked another notch as the guildmaster dispelled the Battle Shout enhancement he had just used to amplify his voice.


    The guildmaster cleared his throat.


    ¡°Now, as I was saying. I am assembling an expedition to explore and settle the area around the dungeon. This expedition will be in partnership with Master Merchant Elkaryos Rapier, and the noble that owns the area. They will be along later, as they are not currently in the city.¡± A small lie, but it could prove useful, in addition to Elkaryos¡¯ intervention with the Royal Magistrate, who had temporarily closed his records for a ¡°reorganization.¡± It wouldn¡¯t stop people from finding out about Allya, but given the allergy that Royal Magistrates had to giving information to people outside of their area, or just giving information in general, it should delay them enough for Allya to be safely on her way to the dungeon by then, surrounded by a cadre of highly capable adventurers.


    ¡°As such, I am looking for volunteers. All applications for adventurers in the initial wave must be submitted to the guild hall¡¯s attendants. Priority will be given to assault guild members of course.¡± This elicited a few shouts of joy, one notably from the same armored dwarf who had yelled earlier, and a few catcalls. ¡°As for the business propositions, you will have to submit them to Elkaryos himself or his secretary. The expedition will be undertaken via airship, so keep in mind that the first wave cannot contain heavy loads of supplies or gear. That also means no unstable alchemical components or concoctions, thank you very much.¡± This time there was simply a low rumble of laughter, the merchants unsurprisingly being far more restrained than the adventurers.


    ¡°Excellent. Now, information on the dungeon will be distributed in a briefing in two days for all those that have been selected to be part of the first wave. The briefing will include everything we know about the dungeon so far.¡± Except the name of the dungeon¡¯s advisor, for some reason. Starvak had been insistent that they never, ever tell anyone else her name. ¡°That is all. Have a nice day!¡±


    There were a few protests, mostly from the merchants, about the briefing no doubt. After all, knowing what such a dungeon would produce would make selling or buying stock in the related industries critical. Allya idly wondered who would guess right or wrong, given the fact that the stock exchange was going to go completely insane long before the briefing came. She had, however, wisely invested what was left of her savings and advised Elkaryos on the matter in exchange for a share of the profit, split between her and Pyn. There was also some grumbling from a few adventurers. But overall, the crowd cheered and clapped, before dispersing as Starvak walked backstage. Allya and Pyn politely stepped back to let the guildmaster through.


    ¡°So, what did you think?¡± the dwarf asked, obviously pleased with himself.


    ¡°That next time you should seed a few people in the crowd to ask the questions you want to answer. That way you don¡¯t look like you¡¯re giving a speech, but that you¡¯re interacting with the people and listening to their concerns,¡± Elkaryos said, before taking a sip from his mug.


    Starvak frowned.


    ¡°I¡¯m trying to mount an expedition here, not take over the city.¡± He shook his head, which had an interesting effect on his mustache. He then switched to looking at the two women.


    ¡°It was good. Nice touch with the Battle Shout,¡± Allya said.


    ¡°Yeah. Although that might have been a bit overkill,¡± Pyn added, before blushing. ¡°N-Not that I mean to criticize you, sir!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine kid. Honest criticism, no matter how harsh, is never unwelcome.¡± He smiled. ¡°My, I have gotten my own fair share of dressing downs and lectures in my time. In any case, now that this is done, I believe it is time for me to go to the guild hall and officially announce you as the discoverer of the dungeon.¡± His smile became more gentle as he saw their alarmed expressions. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t say a word about ownership of the dungeon, but people are going to put two and two together very quickly, especially with the kind of attention you garnered yesterday. Plus, I¡¯m fairly sure some sharp-eyed adventurers saw you peeking out.¡±


    Allya nodded slowly, suddenly realizing how...unadvisable her action had been. Then again, if people saw her as the somewhat airheaded discoverer of the dungeon, they might choose to dig no further. She shuddered as she thought about what someone with the right contacts could find out about her. The Eris Empire wasn¡¯t big on disclosing information, especially in inter-noble family feuds, but that didn¡¯t mean leaks didn¡¯t happen, especially when a lot of money ¡°mysteriously¡± switched hands.


    ¡°Alright. Well, I suppose we should accompany you there.¡± She smiled crookedly. ¡°At least people aren¡¯t likely to bombard us with questions when you¡¯re around.¡±


    Starvak laughed.


    ¡°Indeed, young one, indeed!¡±


    The dwarf nodded to Elkaryos, who seemed perfectly content to simply sit there for a bit, and who returned the nod. Then, he walked out, quickly followed by Allya and Pyn, waving at the dark elf as they left.


    *****


    ¡°Colonel? The committee is ready to see you.¡±


    Colonel Orzal Vek, of the Elkis Republican Army (ERA), stopped talking to his aid, and redirected his gaze at the scrawny secretary that had just addressed him. Compared to him, the man looked positively frail. Then again, not everyone had his powerful physique, 1m80 of height, and heavily scarred face.


    ¡°Thank you, my good sir.¡± Orzal took a second to adjust the helmet under his arm, and puff his mustache and hair a bit, before looking at his aide questioningly, who nodded back in approval. Then he headed through the door the secretary had obligingly opened for him. It always paid to look every bit like a gruff, professional soldier when meeting with politicians.


    He moved into a small antechamber, before stepping through the second door, and straight into a meeting room.


    In the middle of said room was a half-circular table, kind of like a horseshoe if it had been cut short, with half a dozen men and women dressed in the expensive clothes and covered in the jewelry that designated them as the wealthy Patriarchs and Matriarchs, the ruling elite of the Republic. Of course, there weren¡¯t any chairs on the other side.


    It wouldn¡¯t do for our great masters to lose one bit of control by letting their minions sit, eh? Orzal banished the thought and stepped forward, stopping slightly outside of the semicircle, so he could simultaneously see everyone. He stayed there, unmoving, for a full five seconds before one of those that had summoned him here deigned speak to him.


    ¡°Colonel Vek, of the First Airborne Division. It is a pleasure to meet with you,¡± said the man in the middle, obviously the chairman, with a smile that didn¡¯t reach his eyes. ¡°Do you know who we are?¡±


    ¡°Thank you, sir. And yes sir, I do. You are the Strategic Acquisition Committee, sir. You decide which territories would benefit the most from being integrated into the Republic, sir.¡±


    Well, that was the official label. A more accurate one would have been ¡°those who decide who is going to get pillaged and conquered next to fill the elite¡¯s pockets.¡± Orzal had been in the Republic military long enough to realize that whatever the Republic was now, it sure as hell wasn¡¯t the idealistic, benevolent nation its government liked to portray it as.


    ¡°You are quite right. Please, do away with the ¡®sirs.¡¯ I am Senator Charles Veumen. You may call me Senator or Senator Veumen. These are my colleagues, although there is no need to introduce them for the purposes of this meeting. Tell me, Colonel, do you know why you have been called here today?¡±


    ¡°No, Senator Veumen, I do not.¡±


    ¡°Ah. Well then, Colonel Vek, yesterday evening, we received a representative from the adventurers guild. This representative carried interesting news. You see, a new dungeon has been discovered.¡± Orzal cringed internally. The last campaign to capture a dungeon was in the Far Reach, and he had no intention of seeing that kind of needless¡ªand fruitless¡ªbloodbath again. ¡°In the red sands deserts. In the Fallen Angel ruins to be precise, between Darthar and Erakis.¡±


    Stolen novel; please report.


    Orzal stared at the senator. He opened his mouth, closed it, thought for a few seconds, then answered.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that in the area nicknamed the ¡®contested border region,¡¯ Senator?¡± he asked cautiously.


    Charles smiled, and this time a hint of respect entered his eyes.


    ¡°Yes, indeed. And we have been informed that the expedition from the guild to initially colonize the area surrounding said dungeon is to be assembled in Darthar...and that the Asarian Kingdom has claimed ownership over it.¡±


    Orzal¡¯s blood began to run cold as he processed the implications. He wasn¡¯t a grand strategist, he specialized more in tactical operations, but that didn¡¯t mean he didn¡¯t realize what was about to happen. The Patriarchs and Matriarchs had sacrificed the entire ERA just to try and take some mountains and a dungeon. There was no telling to what lengths they would go to secure this one.


    ¡°I...see, Senator Veumen.¡±


    ¡°Excellent! Now, you probably realize why we called you here. Our files state that you have been charged with implementing project Shadow-sword, correct?¡±


    Orzal nodded, his throat becoming dry. Project Shadow-sword had been described to him as ¡°a way to strike from the shadows, at any time, against the enemies of the Republic,¡± when he¡¯d been proposed the job. In truth, what he had been ordered to build was effectively a black ops team that couldn¡¯t be traced back to the Republic, but was far more loyal than mercenaries...and disposable. Few people met these criteria, and he¡¯d been forced to recruit thieves, murderers, and outcasts to form what was more or less a squad ready to kill anyone he told them to without questions. His soldiers were hardly the most stable of people, although they were loyal and reliable...most of the time. It wasn¡¯t the only project he was responsible for nowadays, but it was the one that had propelled him to captain, and opened the lucrative and fast-promoting doors of black ops to him.


    ¡°Yes sir. I assume that you want me to deploy the team at this dungeon?¡±


    ¡°Correct, Colonel. Your orders are to do whatever is necessary to sabotage the expedition sent by the Asarians, impede their progress, and, if the opportunity arises, to seize the dungeon.¡±


    ¡°By seize the dungeon, do you mean...?¡±


    The senator met his gaze unflinchingly.


    ¡°Take the core. And the core¡¯s advisor. Alive, if you please; we don¡¯t want to have a blood vendetta on our hands. Your soldiers are to use bribery, coercion, whatever they need to convince the core to come peacefully, and failing that, capture it through force.¡±


    Orzal looked at the senator for a long second, then nodded.


    ¡°And what about the adventurers? I doubt I will be able to beat the guild there.¡±


    ¡°Their lives are secondary to the main objective, as long as nothing is linked to the Republic. Do what you must.¡±


    Orzal gulped as he saw the man¡¯s steel gaze. He wasn¡¯t above killing civilians, although it gave him the occasional nightmare, but the senator clearly didn¡¯t realize how dangerous adventurers could be...or how thoroughly the adventurers guild would be searching for the people that murdered some of their own and stole a dungeon. The undertone was clear: this was a suicide mission. Not that his soldiers had no chance of coming back alive. More that they would be coming back to a ¡°rescue team¡± from the Republic to ¡°save the dungeon¡± from a group of bandits, who would probably not bother taking any prisoners. They simply couldn¡¯t afford to risk a confrontation with the adventurers guild and the UDC on top of the war doubtlessly coming with the Asarians.


    ¡°Yes Senator, understood.¡±


    The senator looked him in the eye, and slowly nodded as he saw the light that meant Orzal had indeed understood his true meaning.


    ¡°Good. Assemble your team for immediate departure. The sooner they get to it, the better. Dismissed!¡±


    Orzal saluted and walked out the door, his throat dry and fear gripping his heart. If any of this went wrong...well, he could already guess who the committee would dump the responsibility on.


    I¡¯m so fucked.


    *****


    ¡°Is it ready?¡±


    ¡°As far as I can tell? Yeah. I triple checked the list, and everything is there.¡±


    Alexandra looked at Emilia and raised an eyebrow. The vampire answered with a toothy smile.


    ¡°I might not know much about metallurgy, but I can recognize pictures and read instructions, you know. Plus, thoroughness is one of the scholarly virtues.¡±


    ¡°Right. Well, at least it looks ready.¡±


    ¡°Hey!¡±


    Alexandra giggled, and patted Emilia¡¯s head, quickly withdrawing her hand as she sensed her advisor¡¯s outrage.


    ¡°Relax, I¡¯m messing with you. But seriously though, it looks perfectly fine. Ready to do a test run?¡±


    ¡°Of course!¡±


    Alexandra nodded and looked at what they had just finished assembling. Well, Emilia had done the enchanting and checking the runes part, while she worked on more conventional systems.


    To be honest, it didn¡¯t look like much. It was more or less a large stone cylinder, with several pipes slotting into it, and a removable top and bottom. The more interesting part was the runes inlaid into the pipes and the cylinder itself. For the pipes, they were mostly about making the air circulate, although they weren¡¯t outputting as much as Alexandra would have wanted, mainly due to the mana cost. They were, after all, still making do with more basic runes like kinesys instead of much more complex (but time consuming) spells. It was, however, just a cheap prototype. The runes inlaid in the cylinder itself were more complex. They dealt with temperature. They would help ignite the charcoal inside and keep the whole interior at a hot temperature.


    The device was more or less a refined, magical-aided version of a medieval iron bloomery, the old iron refining furnaces before blast furnaces and puddling were invented. All in all, it was pretty ineffective, and it could only produce wrought iron, which required considerable manpower to beat into shape and expel the slag from, but it was also basic enough that Emilia had a book that outlined the process. That, coupled with Alexandra¡¯s engineering knowledge, ought to let them at least industrialize the whole process and make it much more effective. Then they could advance to blast furnaces, although Alexandra really wanted to get a real metallurgist on their side for that. Her degrees were in code, mass production, and weapon design, not raw material processing. In fact, in many ways her knowledge worked against her instead of for her, as she was too used to having high tech materials and systems on hand, which she definitely did not. Well, at least none that she was familiar with. She was pretty sure that the dungeon core that housed her dwarfed anything Earth had ever built, in terms of technological sophistication.


    She¡¯d tried to decipher some of its magic code, and she was barely at recognizing basic instruction loops and AND, OR, etc., commands. She just didn¡¯t know where to start, and a lot of it seemed completely nonsensical in some ways. In fact, she was becoming more and more convinced that what she was seeing were only the interface layers, the part that connected to the rest of her dungeon. The rest was...blurry. Like there was something preventing her from going deeper. Still, it was a beginning, and it had enabled her to more or less automate the forge. She¡¯d tied some basic instructions to her golems, based on a timer, with a handful of levers to open and close the different parts of the bloomery.


    ¡°Alright, starting iron bloomery production cycle test run number 1...now.¡±


    Alexandra pressed a button in her interface, and the golems leapt into action. One flipped a lever, swinging the top of the furnace open. She¡¯d toyed with having the golems manipulate them manually, but they were not resistant to heat. At all. And she didn¡¯t have any good insulating materials just yet. Two others started shoveling charcoal and iron ore inside. The fourth and last golem simply refilled the ore crates of each shovel golem from the carts of materials. Alexandra was thinking about having a whole separate logistics system, but right now she¡¯d make do with every bloomery and forge having its own dedicated logistic golem.


    Once the bloomery was filled to capacity, the first golem, which she called the Furnace Chief, pulled the lever to close it, then pulled another lever, which started the activation sequence. Alexandra pretended not to notice Emilia cast the protection spell, erecting a forcefield between them and the furnace. For a second, nothing happened in the bloomery, then the runes fully powered up, and the ignition spell triggered. At its core, it was nothing more than a very powerful flame spell, which traded area of effect for high temperatures. Then the air pipes triggered, and the air in the room started getting noticeably hotter as oxygen was pumped into the furnace.


    Alexandra patiently waited as the furnace smelted the iron. Then, after a few minutes, the cycle stopped as the time ran out, and the lever automatically came back up. The various enchantments and engravings powered down, and the golems rushed in once again. The Furnace Chief pushed another lever, which opened the bottom of the bloomery, letting fall a blob of purified iron.


    The shovel golems were waiting, holding a giant bowl by a pair of long poles, all made out of stone. The bowl sat under the furnace to receive the metal sludge (which wasn¡¯t raised to a high enough temperature to truly melt). Then they quickly withdrew the bowl, set it into the cart, and disengaged their poles. Alexandra smiled and made a grand presenting gesture to Emilia.


    ¡°And voil¨¤! A batch of wrought iron, ready to bring to the forge!¡±


    Of course, it was at this moment that the furnace¡¯s runes failed, and the stone cylinder exploded. Alexandra sighed as the shrapnel pinged off of the protection spell, and Emilia pulled out a notebook, made a scratch under ¡°accidental detonations,¡± and returned it to her pouch.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s like you said. Mistakes are just another opportunity to learn. If you survive them.¡±


    ¡°Right.¡± Alexandra sighed again and blindly grabbed a glass of scented water off of Jared¡¯s tray. The golem had taken the teaching of Emilia¡¯s Christmas present to heart, and although it definitely looked odd to have a heavily armored golem walking around in a butler pose with a tray laden with drinks and snacks, it was definitely helpful. Alexandra didn¡¯t know if it had something to do with remembering how it felt to be human, or a feature of her body, but eating and drinking helped her feel better. Although she had to admit that her diet was...monotonous to say the least. The flavored water was always welcome, but Alexandra still wondered why they flavored desert-crossing water rations. And the travel biscuits...


    Well, they were travel biscuits. They were made to keep you alive, not happy, and given Emilia¡¯s face when she¡¯d bitten into one for the first time, they were quite tough. Alexandra didn¡¯t have to care about that. She most definitely had android-class jaws, meaning that she could probably chew concrete if she wanted, but she did care about the fact that they basically tasted worse than the UIS¡¯ MREs, which was saying something.


    ¡°Well, at least we know a failure point. And overall, it was the only one! Well, for one use anyway.¡± She looked at the mass of iron resting in the bowl, idly absorbing the debris and broken golems and fixing the room, something she had become better and better at doing in the background, probably due to the amount of training in the matter she was getting. ¡°Let¡¯s try that again, and once we have a few batches of this stuff, we¡¯ll make the forge.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good.¡±


    *****


    Allya had expected many things when it was announced that Pyn and she were the discoverers of the dungeon.


    A standing ovation was not one of them.


    Starvak raised his hands, and almost all of the adventurers fell silent instantly, the few that continued falling victim to sharp elbow jabs in short order.


    ¡°Thank you. Now, I know you¡¯re all dying to get these ladies a beer.¡± He smiled as the crowd laughed. ¡°But, before that, I believe a few things must be made clear. Yes, they will be in the expedition, and no, harassing them about it won¡¯t change anything. They don¡¯t have any impact on who will be chosen and who won¡¯t.¡± That much, at least, was true. The guild hated having the members they could deploy to any one area restricted for any reason, bar criminal ones. So while Allya and Pyn had some influence, it would be of the utmost stupidity to try and change Starvak¡¯s opinions on his picks. ¡°And don¡¯t harass them about the dungeon either. They¡¯ve been sworn in by magical contract to keep the details to themselves, unless I give my specific authorization, or the expedition is underway.¡±


    The crowd nodded and murmured its assent. Allya had actually insisted on writing that contract, for the simple reason that not only did it prevent them from being squeezed for information (and someone skilled could see when another person was under a compulsion), but it also deflected suspicions from them. After all, what kind of noble would accept such a humiliating demand?


    Starvak surveyed the room one last time, and nodded, satisfied.


    ¡°Good! Have a good day everyone, and don¡¯t forget, we¡¯ll contact those chosen for the briefing; no need to bother the attendants.¡±


    The crowd politely nodded, and the guildmaster withdrew.


    What followed was a whirlwind of congratulations, party offers, and even some more...luscious ones. Although Allya was quite sure that without Valker hovering menacingly, they would have been quite literally carried off by the crowd, it was still overwhelming. She was used to keeping to herself, only coming to the guild hall to pick up quests or take care of paperwork. Sure, she went to taverns, but she was usually the quiet girl on the fringes of the group, not the one in the middle boasting about her exploits.


    Then she felt a hand grab hers, and she looked to her side and shook her head, smiling at Pyn¡¯s embarrassed expression, and then went back to answering people, declining offers or telling them that she¡¯d think about it. Somehow, she missed that the more...inappropriate offers tapered off after that.


    *****


    ¡°You know, they do look productive.¡±


    Alexandra looked at Emilia.


    ¡°¡®Looking¡¯ isn¡¯t the same as ¡®being.¡¯¡± She gestured at the half-dozen golems energetically swinging pickaxes at the wall, then collecting the chunks they sometimes managed to pry off and tossing them into a cart. ¡°They look cool, sure, but their output is absolute crap. Don¡¯t get me wrong, it¡¯s sufficient for what we want to do with it for now, but otherwise...¡±


    The vampire girl nodded.


    ¡°Fair enough. Still though, at least they¡¯ll never stop mining. Well, unless their tools break. Or they use themselves to destruction. And even with their poor performance, it is still much, much cheaper than creating the ore in a directly usable form.¡±


    Alexandra sighed.


    ¡°Yeah, I know. Just can¡¯t stop thinking about the things I could do to improve their output. Which is probably not the smartest thing to do right now. After all, we don¡¯t even have a finished product yet.¡± She smiled. ¡°Speaking of which, ready to test the forge?¡±


    Emilia sighed. Working out the kinks of the bloomery had been...interesting. The fix for the detonation had been fairly simple, just an error that created a feedback loop... Until they¡¯d realized that repeated use had a tendency to damage the runes. And that at some point they accidentally inserted an air blower tube the wrong way and turned the furnace into a flamethrower. Well, at least they had a new trap now.


    ¡°Against my better judgement, yes.¡± She smiled. ¡°At least it should be less likely to explode.¡±


    ¡°Emilia?¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t jinx it.¡±


    Emilia rolled her eyes and walked to the forge, which was in a nearby room, quickly followed by Alexandra and Jared. They entered the room, and it was, well...


    Somewhat unimpressive.


    Alexandra had to remind herself that this was just a prototype, but seeing a golem standing by an anvil and a rack of tools all by itself, simply waiting, was rather sad. Then again, it was better than having the golem be in several pieces and scorch marks everywhere. The explosions were always entertaining (she loved things that went boom, which is why she¡¯d been more or less drafted by Fleet Logistics for the post-Alpha Centauri campaign armament programs). But that didn¡¯t fully compensate for the fact that said explosions weren¡¯t supposed to happen in the first place, and another prototype, along with the golems manning it, had been vaporized.


    ¡°Alright. Starting forge test run 1... Now.¡±


    She pressed the button in her interface, and the golem started moving. He immediately made his way to the hearth, where the iron had been kept red hot by enchantments, and picked up one of the blobs of metal from the bloomery. He set it onto the anvil, jammed a wedge into it, and hammered it, separating the large blob into several more manageable pieces. He quickly dumped all but one of the resulting iron lumps back into the forge and started hammering away at the one he kept. It took almost ten minutes, even with the golem¡¯s strength, to hammer it into shape.


    The Blacksmith golem (unimaginatively named, but fitting nonetheless) looked at the spear he had just forged, still red hot, nodded, and dumped it into a tub of water. Quenching didn¡¯t really have an effect on wrought iron, but it was faster this way. He took it back, and put it into a crate. He then went back to the forge and picked up another lump of iron.


    ¡°It is a rather slow process, at least compared to the bloomery,¡± Emilia said.


    Alexandra nodded.


    ¡°I agree, but we can make several forges per bloomery. For that matter, we can make several blacksmiths per forge, and as long as they have an anvil for each of them, they can probably share a hearth to some extent. At least that will drive down cost.¡±


    She smiled as she looked at some graphs she had created in her implants¡­no, dungeon interface. ¡°If we calculate based on the materials and upkeep costs, so not counting the startup costs, like R&D, and building the infrastructure, that spear,¡± she pointed at the wrought iron spear in the crate, ¡°cost us around twenty percent of what it would have if I had simply generated it. And given what you have told me about cost reductions for large ore deposits, and the fact that we haven¡¯t even begun industrializing the process...¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s...impressive.¡± Emilia shook her head, amazed. She hadn¡¯t quite grasped what Alexandra meant by ¡°assembly lines¡± and ¡°robotic fabricators¡± despite her explanations, but she had gotten the general idea: there were methods and infrastructures that would make even that twenty percent look scandalously expensive by comparison. ¡°It¡¯s nothing compared to what you¡¯ll drive it down to.¡±


    ¡°Compared to what we will drive it down to.¡±


    Alexandra smiled at the vampire, and Emilia smiled back. She was well aware that Alexandra didn¡¯t have to involve her in all of this, beyond just having her make the runes and enchantments. Fortunately, she was the type of dungeon that liked to keep their advisors in the loop...and didn¡¯t hesitate a single second to involve them in dungeons affairs, treating them like their right hand rather than just a talking library.


    I¡¯ve really lucked out with her, haven¡¯t I? she thought, smiling.


    Alexandra¡¯s expression softened as she saw her advisor¡¯s smile, and the understanding in her eyes. Her heart melted, but she prevented herself from patting her head or hugging her and ruining the moment.


    ¡°So. What¡¯s next on the list?¡±


    ¡°After finishing up with this?¡± Alexandra nodded, and Emilia pulled out a notebook, opening it and browsing with practiced ease through the pages. ¡°Oh! Runic design for complex movement.¡± She looked up at her friend. ¡°The basics for custom golems.¡±


    Alexandra¡¯s eyes lit up. She¡¯d been waiting to finally get to that. Her basic golems were nice, but they were very limited. It would take a long time to fully learn to make her own golems, but she was confident she would be able to do it...and that in the end it would be more than worth it.


    ¡°Excellent! Let¡¯s wrap this up then.¡±


    *****


    ¡°Ugh, what...¡± Allya muttered as she tried to get up.


    A sudden bout of nausea put an end to her efforts, as she collapsed back down onto the floor.


    What...happened?


    It felt like she had a dwarf warmaster beating a gong with a warhammer inside her head. She moved a bit and realized that while, yes, she felt like crap, she was also still equipped with her daggers, unbound, and clothed. So at least she could be fairly confident that it was a hangover and not a kidnapping and the drugs wearing off.


    She looked around, her eyes hurting at the bright light. She had a hard time recognizing anything, until she saw a desk.


    A familiar adventurers guild desk.


    She sprung up instantly in panic, as she realized that she was lying on the ground of the guild hall, and nearly collapsed from the dizziness. Fortunately, a steadying hand grabbed her shoulder, keeping her upright.


    ¡°Wow, careful there, friend, wouldn¡¯t want to wake up the others now would you?¡±


    Allya blinked and turned around towards the source of the noise, only to find a dwarf in heavy steel armor (but not full plate), sitting on a table.


    ¡°Uh... Right, thanks,¡± she said, slowly, softly, trying to fully articulate the words. Wow, she hadn¡¯t gotten that drunk in forever. Even during her...accident with Pyn, she hadn¡¯t gotten this bad. Which suggested some rather problematic possibilities about what had happened last night. ¡°What...happened?¡±


    ¡°Well, there was a celebration last night. You and your girlfriend there,¡± he gestured at the immobile form of Pyn on the ground, right next to where Allya had been a few seconds earlier, ¡°were the heroes of said celebration. Let¡¯s just say people bought you a lot of drinks, you told some outrageous stories about the Sundered Grove and slaying a Wyvern, and everyone had fun.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s not¡ªUrgh.¡± She shivered, interrupted in her reply as she almost voided the contents of her stomach on the ground, only stopping from doing so in a sheer effort of willpower.


    ¡°Easy there. Here, drink this. It¡¯ll help.¡±


    Allya looked up and saw the vial filled with a golden liquid that the dwarf was holding. A golden leaf elixir. Although most weren¡¯t made from true golden leaf (that stuff was hard to find, and expensive as all hell to turn into an elixir that didn¡¯t accidentally murder the user), even the replicas had an excellent reputation for being able to cure a wide range of ailments.


    Using one to cure a mere hangover seemed positively stupid from Allya¡¯s perspective, but she knew some did it anyway...and quite frankly right now she couldn¡¯t care less.


    She grabbed the potion and downed half of it, then corked it back up.


    ¡°Ah, thank you,¡± she said, as the mixture finally reached her stomach, and its effects activated. Clarity returned to her mind¡ªand diction¡ªand at long last her brain began working more or less properly. ¡°Do you mind if I keep the other half for my friend there?¡±


    The dwarf waved his hand.


    ¡°That¡¯s not a problem. Although I did have another elixir in stock for her as well.¡±


    Allya¡¯s eyebrows rose, then she internally frowned as she gave the dwarf a second look. He seemed familiar, in fact.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯re wondering why I¡¯ve gone to this trouble. I mean, I¡¯m sure others have hangover mixtures they¡¯d love to offer to you as you wake up, but none this good.¡±


    The assassin, soon to officially be baron, nodded. The dwarf she was talking to... He was the one with the battle axe, that had yelled during the announcement. And cheered for the assault guild.


    ¡°Yeah. You¡¯re from the assault guild, correct?¡±


    The dwarf looked taken aback for a moment, then smiled.


    ¡°Very astute. Indeed, I am. In fact, I¡¯ve already talked to the attendants, and Guildmaster Starvak. I¡¯ll be heading the assault guild component of the expedition. I¡¯m Artok Grimfire.¡± He chuckled at her incredulous gaze. ¡°I know, a somewhat grand name, but hey.¡±


    ¡°...Right. I¡¯m Allya Aub¨¦toile.¡± She extended her hand, and the dwarf firmly shook it. ¡°What can I help you with?¡±


    ¡°Well, first, we should probably move.¡± He looked down, and Allya followed suit, wincing at the scattered, sleeping bodies on the floor. There weren¡¯t as many as she expected, but there were a lot of them. She¡¯d seen worse in some taverns, but this was the first time she¡¯d experienced such a mess in a guild hall of all places.


    ¡°Good idea.¡± She looked at the vial of the golden leaf potion, gazing at the liquid that was left, then uncorked it and promptly downed its contents. ¡°Hold on, I¡¯ll be with you in a minute.¡±


    Allya kneeled by Pyn¡¯s side, and then gently lifted her in a bridal style carry, her muscles bulging under the strain. She might not be the tallest person, with her 1m60, and the obnoxiously well-endowed elf was a good twenty cm taller than she was, but she was a steel-ranked, qualified-for-copper-by-level adventurer. That gave her a degree of strength that would have been considered flatly impossible without cybernetic or genetic augmentation back on Earth. She stood up and carefully brought the elf to the counter.


    Dominique was manning the desk, although given the appearance of her face she probably hadn¡¯t gotten much sleep last night. She looked up from her coffee mug.


    ¡°Oh, hey.¡± She looked at Pyn. ¡°Ah, need a room for her?¡±


    ¡°Yep.¡±


    ¡°No problem, the guildmaster had a pair set aside for you, if you chose to sleep here.¡± She bent sideways, rummaged in a drawer, and emerged with a couple of keys, which she handed over immediately, taking care to drop them into Allya¡¯s palm, to avoid disturbing the sleeping elf. ¡°He said that you can keep them until you leave for the expedition.¡±


    Allya smiled.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± She adjusted her burden a bit, so she would be able to open the door, and made her way towards the living quarters.


    She came back a few minutes later and looked at the dwarf, nodding at an unoccupied (by awake or asleep adventurers) table. Artok nodded back, and they moved over to it.


    Putting Pyn to bed had been an interesting experience. She¡¯d hesitated as to whether she should undress her to let her sleep better, but had decided against it in the end. The elf would probably wake up relatively soon, and to be honest the sight of the sleeping, half-naked elf would likely bring a lot of memories and feelings back that she didn¡¯t want to dwell on just yet.


    ¡°So, what did you want to talk about?¡± she said, as she took her seat. For once, she didn¡¯t have to speak up to be heard in the hall, as the adventurers that were awake (and not nursing a hangover) were all careful to speak softly or whisper, to avoid waking up those that were still resting. A lot of people would have questioned whether ¡°passed out on a cold stone floor¡± qualified as resting, but most adventurers either had seen much worse, or would eventually. Sleeping in the Sundered Grove had been no picnic, for example.


    ¡°I wanted to ask you if you would be interested in joining the first dungeon delve. Well, the assault team one, to fully map out the dungeon.¡± He smiled. ¡°I know you¡¯ll give us a full briefing before we head in, but I¡¯d really rather have someone who has already fought inside the dungeon be present.¡±


    Allya pursed her lips, then sighed.


    ¡°I am interested, of course...the problem being that I expect to be quite busy, and I¡¯m not sure I¡¯ll be able to join you. So, if practical, I¡¯d be honored to accompany you, but I cannot make any promises.¡±


    Artok nodded.


    ¡°I can¡¯t ask for more.¡± He smiled humorously. ¡°Now, if you¡¯ll excuse me, I have some sense to hammer into the skulls of the young fools that are turning up in droves to sign up for the assault guild because they want to cover themselves in glory and mana by being the first to explore the new dungeon. Oh, and while I¡¯m at it...¡±


    He took another golden leaf elixir, and threw it at Allya, who nimbly caught it. She¡¯d have to remember to give it to Pyn when the poor elf woke up.


    ¡°Of course. Have fun!¡±


    The dwarf chuckled, and shook his head, before departing. Allya gazed after him and frowned as she processed what he had just said. The announcement that a new dungeon had been found must have indeed kicked the hornet¡¯s nest...and she suddenly realized that there should be a crowd of people trying to register as adventurers, yet the desk was tranquil, with only the occasional adventurer stopping by. She stood up, and made her way towards the entrance, whose glass doors had somehow become opaque. She wondered if it was due to an enchantment, or the technological ¡°smart glass¡± that filled the windows of the Imperial Palace in Starcore.


    A single peek through a cracked open door confirmed her suspicions. The reason why there wasn¡¯t a crowd inside was that it was contained outside. She looked at what used to be the clear area around the guild hall, now covered in stalls with guild attendants and medium-ranked adventurers behind them, the guild attendants smiling, filling out paperwork, and distributing medallions while the adventurers looked menacing or affable, depending on their attitude.


    It was fascinating how quickly someone calmed down when a copper-ranked adventurer looked like they were about to rip their arms off if they continued yelling at the poor deskie in front of them.


    There were also several groups of trident-bearing city guards in the crowd, breaking up fights, patrolling around, and forming a cordon preventing people from pushing into the guild hall.


    ¡°Ah, Miss Allya. You¡¯re awake. Did you sleep well?¡±


    Allya looked to her left and saw Valker, standing guard in front of the door, smiling at her.


    ¡°Oh. Not really. How about you?¡± She suddenly realized that she hadn¡¯t dismissed him, and that he had no one to swap with for the night.


    The sergeant shrugged.


    ¡°One of my colleagues had to fill in for me while I rested. Be assured that he was most capable of protecting you should the need have arisen.¡±


    ¡°Right, I will take your word on that.¡± She looked out at the crowd again. ¡°It¡¯s...quite the busy day for your colleagues.¡±


    Valker laughed quietly.


    ¡°Indeed it is, miss. But it is the good kind of busy.¡± He shrugged as she gave him a questioning look. ¡°Darthar has been in the Kingdom¡¯s hands for barely one hundred fifty years, ma¡¯am. That¡¯s about the right time for the actual memories of its previous owners to completely fade out...and for politicians, or anyone for that matter, to start using an idealized version of the old city¡¯s government as a rallying cry whenever it fits them. Especially when doing their ¡®patriotic duty¡¯ fills their pockets.¡±


    He adjusted his posture slightly and sighed. ¡°Unfortunately, that tendency hasn¡¯t faded quite yet. I was already in the guard the last time things went wrong. A caravan had disappeared without a trace in the wastelands, and it just happened to be carrying a large cargo of household items imported from the Tark Hegemony. Items that some Asarian merchant cartel had decided to make cheap, unreliable replicas of here using slave labor. They had even petitioned the Count and then the Royal Magistrate for the import of the Tark product to be banned, so they would have a complete monopoly.


    ¡°Their petition failed, of course, since such a move would be reciprocated, trade would collapse, and everyone would lose. And the caravan was lost shortly after their petition failed. It didn¡¯t take much for the merchants who had funded that caravan to point the finger at the cartel, and things went downhill from there.¡± He sighed again. ¡°It was a bloodbath. In the end, we managed to end the riots and counter-riots only because Master Elkaryos Rapier called in some help from the merchants guild.¡±


    Allya¡¯s estimation of the guard¡¯s intelligence went up. It looked like he wasn¡¯t just assigned to her because of his combat skills. She looked at the crowd.


    ¡°Do you think it¡¯s likely to happen again?¡±


    ¡°Right this minute? No. But if something was to happen, like, say, the Elkis Republic seizing the dungeon, and confiscating the massive investments every merchant in the city is currently busy planning to pour their money into...?¡±


    Allya winced. That would indeed set the city ablaze. She made a mental note to begin talking about defensive arrangements as soon as she started organizing the dungeon town. At least, unlike so many commanders or generals in history, she knew with absolute certainty where she was going to be attacked, and what her enemies¡¯ ultimate objective would be.


    She shook her head slightly. She was slipping into her old mindset again. There would be a time for that, but right now she needed to focus on being a sneaky adventurer assassin until she was safely out of the reach of those that would try to murder her. Once on her own ground, she could resume being a knight valiant.


    And when the Republic came to fight her, she would teach them that she didn¡¯t earn that title for nothing.

 The Fallen World Book 2 : Dungeon Expedition is live on Amazon !

    </a>


    Hello everyone !


    This is to tell you guys that book 2 of The Fallen World, titled Dungeon Expedition, is now available on Amazon ! As this is posted it should officially be the 21st on the entire planet and thus available everywhere ! It is available in ebook and paperback format. If you want to support the story and get an enhanced version of it, don''t hesitate to buy it ! Here''s the link to the book''s amazon page if you''re interested : https://geni.us/DungeonExpedition</a>


    You guys know that I rarely do this, but if you buy it, don''t hesitate to leave a review. It would help me and the story a ton. Thank you.


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    The novel includes chapters 10 through 33, for a total over 100k words (360 pages worth of text for the novel). All have had some rewrites to fix plot holes (looking at you, influence disruptor), explain some things better, not to mention grammar corrections and general edits to make them easier to read, among other things. The chapters have also been rearranged, with chapter 11 being the start of the novel, and chapter 10 following afterwards (in relation to the webnovel, obviously in the book it''s just chapter 1, 2, ect). Chapters 10 as well as chapters 12 through 33 have been deleted, but chapter 11 is still up on Royal Road, and has been updated with the novel''s edited text.


    To celebrate the launch chapter 111 will be posted tomorrow, the 22nd of march! And contrary to my concerns last week, it won''t affect the backlog much, as I''ve gone in a bit of a writing spree and we''re now up to chapter 125 in the backlog.


    I hope you''ll enjoy the chapter and the novel, if you decide to buy it ! Playwars, out.


    P.S. Got some promotional stuff this time as well, check it out !

 The Great Archives (Art & Maps)

    Great Archives


    Section 1 : Artwork.


    Alexandra and Emilia,</a> made by G00SE_IT (Brandon Godfrey), <u>here''s a link to his youtube channel.</u></a>


    Allya and Pyn,</a> made by the awesome Arhyuz! Here''s a link to his instagram.</a>


    Elkaryos,</a> made by the awesome Chiizu! Here''s a link to their instagram page.</a>


    Eismi and Ellyana,</a> made by the awesome Arhyuz! Here''s a link to his instagram.</a>


    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Ella and Sarah,</a> made by the awesome Comradlevy ! Here''s a link to their pixiv.</a>


    Artok, Dominique and Starvak,</a> made by the awesome Comradlevy ! Here''s a link to their pixiv.</a>


    The golems'' concept art</a> (iron armored version, Palace Guards & Praetorian Guards). By artist request, no credit given.


    Alexandra''s musket golems</a> by Victoria Glazkow.


    Alexandra''s Standard Combat Units by Victoria Glazkow.


    Alexandra''s Praetorian Guard by Victoria Glazkow.


    Section 2 : Maps.


    <u>Map of the dungeon''s 1st floor.</u></a>


    <u>Political map of the Arkan continent.</u></a>


    Section 3 : Nations (TBD).


    Section 4 : Character List (TBD, will only contain major characters originally, might add less relevant side characters later).


    Section 5 : Lexicon (TBD).

 The Great Archives (Adventurer ranks & material explanations)

    There is a total of 14 adventurer ranks in the adventurers guild. The ranking is roughly from the least precious to the most precious material, although it is mostly as a rule of thumb, since the actual price of materials can vary from region to region.


    Note that there isn''t an estimated level bracket and equipment requirements because those get really nebulous in the upper ranks, and become more a question of reputation and quests successfully cleared past copper rank, although that depends heavily on the local guild and its guildmaster.


    Format :


    Rank - Rank description.


    Material explanation : Material description and link.


    Notable adventurers : Adventurer name (status if not active, such as a different position in the guild or retired). If several parties are present in the list, a ; will separate them.


    Clay - The first rank, and lowest of all, clay ranked adventurers are usually just civilians with adventuring gear and basic training. In military terms, a clay ranked adventurer is the equivalent of a peasant levy.


    Material explanation : The rank originally came from a joke right after the Dawn of Flames, that the youngest members of the groups of volunteers sent out to reclaim the wastelands were about as tough as clay. There was a form of backhanded compliment to it as well, as in they could be molded into something greater if care was applied.


    Notable adventurers : Camille.


    Iron - The second, and by far most common, rank of adventurers. Iron ranked adventurers usually have some decent equipment and skills, but are still very much learning their jobs. In military terms, an iron ranked adventurer is the equivalent of most trained conscripts or trained militias.


    Material explanation : Iron is a very common, cheap and mass produceable metal. Like iron ranked adventurers, in short.


    Notable adventurers : Edwards, Jaruk, Martin.


    Steel - The third rank, and usually considered the point at which someone becomes a ''true'' adventurer. Steel ranked adventurers have good, reliable equipment, good skills and magic, and are usually expected to have some combat experience under their belt and some serious offensive capabilities. In military terms, a steel ranked adventurer is the equivalent of most professional soldiers.


    Material explanation : Steel is an alloy, but is considered by most people to be a refinement of iron, which is exactly what the rank represents. Steel ranked adventurers are usually considered ''completed'' iron ranked adventurers, that have become full members of the guild and true adventurers.


    Notable adventurers : Alexandra (former).


    Copper - The fourth rank, and the first at which it is considered that you are making a career out of being an adventurer. Copper ranked adventurers are especially lethal within their respective fields, and are usually highly experienced combatants with loads of combat experience to draw upon. Most copper ranked adventurers possess some enchanted or magical equipment, and virtually all of them are carrying potions to enhance themselves. In military terms, a copper ranked adventurer is a veteran soldier or a junior member of a shock unit.


    Material explanation : Copper is heavily used in electric technology, whose efficacy the Eris Empire has amply demonstrated, prompting many less advanced nations to try to replicate it. Hence, several virtually non-industrialized nations like the Elkis Republic have power plants (albeit imported ones most of the time) and copper is always in high demand throughout the world. It is also a better magic conductor and enchanting metal than iron or steel, albeit not by much. It is thus not rare to see low grade enchanted items made from copper.


    Notable adventurers : Artok, Sorior, Elahyl, Elistria ; Raika, Thomas, Alyssa, Fernand.


    Silver - The fifth rank. Silver ranked adventurers are usually hardened veterans with multiple enchanted items at their disposal. In military terms, a silver ranked adventurer is a member of a shock unit.


    Material explanation : Silver is a precious, highly electrically conductive and magically conductive material, that is highly sought after in the electronics and enchantment industries.


    Notable adventurers : Dominique (guild attendant).


    Gold - The sixth rank. Gold ranked adventurers are professionals who can handle anything thrown at them, and usually have diverse experiences in several fields of adventuring, since it is a requirement to reach the rank. They are starting to become so powerful as to be equivalent in combat power to a modern day Main Battle Tank, or a 2160 Earth power armored soldier. In military terms, a gold ranked adventurer is a veteran member of a shock unit, or a junior combat specialist.


    Material explanation : Gold is a precious, highly electrically conductive material that does not oxidize. While not as magically conductive as silver, it has some odd properties of its own, and can be used to house much more powerful spells at the cost of mana efficiency. It is also highly sought after as a status symbol for gilding or other decorations (sometimes judiciously enchanted).


    Notable adventurers : N/A.


    Electrum - The seventh rank. Electrum ranked adventurers are usually highly mobile, as in that jobs for them are so dispersed as to force them to move around a lot to stay employed. They are the first rank at which wasteland quests become more or less routine and not highly dangerous one-off assignments (usually because Electrum ranked adventurers aren''t available to do it). In military terms, an electrum ranked adventurer is a combat specialist or a junior member of an elite unit.


    Material explanation : Electrum approaches, but does not quite reach room temperature electrical supra-conductivity. That is about its only use, although it is a quite tough metal, it is usually considered a waste to use it for armor and weapons, and most of the available supply is gobbled up by the high-end electric and electronics industry.


    Notable adventurers : Berth.


    Silvarium - The eighth rank, and the one at which you are officially considered a master in your designated field of combat. Silvarium ranked adventurers are killing machines, and the equivalent in combat power to a water-going corvette. Yes, the ones with the 20mm gatling guns and missile launchers. In 2160 Earth, only heavy combat power armor can compare in destructive power. In military terms, a silvarium ranked adventurer is the baseline member of an elite unit, such as gryphon knights.


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Material explanation : Silvarium is an extremely magically conductive metal, with the only caveat that it cannot take very powerful spells and isn''t very tough either. It is very popular for long duration enchantments and runed spells for that reason, as well as most form of magitech that does not require massive bursts of energy like a magitech laser.


    Notable adventurers : Cassissa (guild attendant).


    Mythril - The ninth rank, and the first ''high rank''. Most mythril ranked adventurers are so powerful as to be completely off the charts for individual soldiers, even by the standards of 2160 Earth. They are superior to even the heaviest of powered armor infantry, and could take on railgun equipped grav-tanks. In modern terms, they are the equivalent of a missile cruiser in sheer combat power. It is worth noting that due to the power (and yes, the arrogance) of adventurers of this rank, parties have a tendency to break up, and be formed on the fly to take on specific missions, at which point the party goes on for a year or so before falling apart. In military terms, a mythril ranked adventurer is a veteran member of an elite unit or a champion.


    Material explanation : Mythril is an extraordinarily resilient and magically conductive metal. It is capable of absorbing massive amounts of physical and energy damage, comparable only to 2160 Earth pseudo-monomolecular warship armor materials, and can be enchanted with heavy duty combat enchantments. It is the go-to metal for most high-level enchantments and runed spells, as well as a very common component in high-level armor plating.


    Notable adventurers : Pyris, Sonya, Elliris, Arinka.


    Malachite - The tenth rank. Most malachite ranked adventurers follow the same pattern as mythril ones, but tend to have a lot more of free time. In fact, they are nicknamed ''the scholars'', as they are in awkward spot where there are few jobs at their level, but they aren''t highly ranked enough to enter into ultra-prestigious organisations that recruit highly ranked adventurers and employ them in their downtime. As such, most malachite adventurers train, do research, and generally deepen their knowledge. Some never leave this stage, and most of the high-level archmages, artificers, alchemists and enchanters of the world simply got lost in their studies so much that they ceased adventuring altogether. In military terms, and for every rank onwards, the only possible position for someone of such power is a senior command position, or that of a champion.


    Material explanation : Malachite is...odd. Tough, yes, almost as tough as monomolecular fullerene armor plating, which makes it virtually invulnerable to most conventional weapons. But its oddest quality is its mediocre magic conductivity...and nearly infinite capacity to take spells. A malachite sword can get enchantment stacked like almost no other material in existence. It is extremely popular for very powerful magic items, and forms the core of the containment and energy conversion fields of most Old World power cores.


    Notable adventurers : Elkaryos (former), Oromar the Magnificent.


    Orichalcum - The eleventh rank. Most orichalcum ranked adventurers are being actively recruited or part of various extremely powerful organizations. The goals and reasons for recruitment vary, but most are for training or research purposes. A few are more combative in nature, but they are usually rarer. Orichalcum adventurers only assemble in parties on demand, and only for a single mission. It is usually the rank at which adventurers start systematically retiring or planning for their retirement. A lot of guildmasters (and not necessarily of the adventurers guild) are orichalcum rank as a result.


    Material explanation : Orichalcum is absurdly tough. That''s it. It''s not atrocious at conducting mana or electricity, but it isn''t good either, and it doesn''t have much capacity for spells. It is, however, capable of absorbing ridiculous amounts of punishment, to such a degree as to surpass anything ever produced by 2160 Earth.


    Notable adventurers : King Elker the Third (former), Queen Elais the First (former), Dominic (former).


    Adamantium - The twelfth rank. Virtually every adamantium ranked adventurer is a member or leader of a powerful organization on the side of the guild, and rarely, if ever, take up quests, and only on demand. Most adventurers that reach this rank retire at it, and do not seek to advance further, at least not in the adventurers guild.


    Material explanation : Adamantium is an excellent, multi-use material. While technically a bit less tough than orichalcum, it makes up for it in sheer versatility. It is effectively a perfect room temperature electrical supra conductor and an extremely high efficiency magical conductor, as well as being capable of housing massively powerful spells. It is a jack of all trades, not quite the master of anything. It is slightly worst in resilience than orichalcum, slightly worst at magic conductivity than silvarium or mythril, and can house less powerful spells than malachite, but its sheer versatility is what makes it so precious. It is in high demand for enchanting, very high-level armor and weapon making, as well as an essential component for many advanced magitech systems, albeit in trace amount. It is usually safe to assume that adamantium is ALWAYS in short-supply.


    Notable adventurers : Starvak (guildmaster), Eriksen Dragonslayer (guildmaster).


    Eternium - The thirteenth rank. The first ''transcendental'' rank, there are so few eternium ranked adventurers that no precise rule of thumb can be applied to them. Each is a highly eccentric, insanely powerful individual that has transcended their mortal bodies and become archons. Their combat power compares favorably to Earth 2160 light space going warships. As in, the ones with nuclear warheads on their missiles and firing relativistic speed railgun rounds whose kinetic energy is measured in kilotons of TNT (assuming relative movement is virtually null between the firing platform and the target). Needless to say, they are very rarely called upon, and almost never form parties, with one notable exception. A single eternium ranked adventurer is a one person army in the most literal sense, and more or less a mobile Weapon of Mass Destruction.


    Material explanation : Eternium is...still being researched. Some of its properties still defy the understanding of even the people using it as a rank. What is known is that its tensile strength is close to that of the strong atomic force, and thus effectively acts like a mono-atomic material like neutronium. Damaging it without resorting to high energy (read : nuke level of energy concentration) weapons is literally impossible, but that is far from its most interesting property. The most interesting property it possesses is its ability to manipulate gravity and time. Those properties were accidentally discovered when an Old World nano-singularity bomb was detonated by mistake, and a stasis field was triggered in an experiment respectively. Reverse engineering the effect that Old World technology was able to wriggle out of the material has proven difficult, but feasible, albeit with limited success. There are persistent rumors that the material itself is not a natural occurrence, and that all deposits found so far were military installations of the Old World reduced to slag during the Great Night. No one knows for sure however, except for the Custodians of the Flame, and they aren''t telling.


    Notable adventurers : N/A.


    Divinium - The fourteenth and final rank. Divinium ranked adventurers are...few, and most of them don''t consider themselves part of the guild. They just answer the call when the payment is good enough or when an old friend asks for a favor. There are very few people at this level of power worldwide, period. One notable member is Rook the Sunderer, leader of the Free City of New Raleigh, and leader of The Seven, the single party of archons and Eternium/Divinium ranked adventurers in existence currently, alongside the Eternal Watchers, which have been reformed briefly to take out a spirit incursion into the Eris Empire, but will dissolve again as soon as the threat is dealt with. Divinium ranked adventurers'' combat power cannot be truly measured, as it varies too widely, and is too specific to begin with. Anyone too powerful to be classified as Eternium is shoved into this rank, and it can encompass someone that has barely made the cut to Rook, who is very nearly a demi-god at this point.


    Material explanation : Divinium is computronium and unobtainium. Literally, it is a programmable material that can take any properties, within certain constraints. First, the more properties it takes, the more mediocre they all become. For example, make it tough, and it''ll become virtually invulnerable to anything short of a direct hit from an antimatter bomb. But make it tough, conductive in magic and electricity, as well as a great receptacle for spells, and you have better adamantium. Sure, it''s much better than adamantium, but not to the ridiculous level it does when it only has one property. It also takes absurd levels of mana to change the properties of even a few grams of it, and it is worth noting that separating lumps of divinium doesn''t work very well. Below a certain mass, the material becomes inert and unusable until it is reintegrated into a larger group. However, that critical mass isn''t consistent between different sources of divinium. It is also worth noting that divinium is one of the very few materials that cannot be duplicated by dungeons or any other means, and is rare beyond belief. There is no question that this material was created by the Gods themselves (hence the name), and thus only available in ruins or old battle sites, and securing more of it is an extremely high priority for every major research organization on the planet.


    Notable adventurers : Rook the Sunderer.

 Chapter 34 - The First of Many

    Chapter 34


    Red Sands Desert, Contested Border Region


    Dungeon Factory, First Floor


    Alexandra winced as she saw the blade come down, sending one of the adventurers flying to the other side of the room. They might be copper-ranked, but they clearly weren¡¯t of the same caliber as the assault guild. Especially in terms of caution. Did these idiots not get a warning that there were traps there?


    At least they had good reflexes, as the poor elf fighter was instantly surrounded by his allies, holding off the remaining golems. Not that there was any real need to, as the last one fell before their healer even had time to open their potion pouch.


    Alexandra turned away from the command center''s central screen and shook her head, smiling at Emilia¡¯s questioning gaze.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure if I should be pleased or angry, honestly. I mean, the trap worked, and if it did with these guys, it¡¯s certainly going to net a few kills, perhaps on an iron- or steel-ranked adventurer. But at the same time...I mean, even I can recognize that this trap is pretty bad. No, let¡¯s be real, it¡¯s very bad. The pressure plate is about as obvious as it can get, and the axe isn¡¯t exactly discreet either.¡±


    Emilia shrugged.


    ¡°In the heat of combat, people tend to forget a lot of things. Remembering those kinds of things is what sets good adventurers apart from the rest. Your level and skill don¡¯t matter as much if you can¡¯t keep your head cool and focused in the middle of a battle.¡±


    ¡°Yes, but still...¡± Alexandra sighed and shook her head. ¡°I guess I do apply a bit too much military standard to these adventurers. I¡¯m too used to mandatory training being pegged onto ranks, but the guild doesn¡¯t care about that, does it? It¡¯s just a question of power and equipment, at least in the lower ranks.¡±


    ¡°Well, to be fair, the guild does offer training, it¡¯s just not mandatory. Although it is pretty pricy.¡± Emilia gestured at the screen. ¡°It¡¯s their choice whether they want to learn from the guild, or sheer ¡®real¡¯ experience. Needless to say, a lot of adventurers don¡¯t get said experience fast enough, and they, well, die. That¡¯s part of the reason why dungeons with insurance policies are so popular with the lower ranks. It gives them a chance to gain experience while risking a few years¡¯ worth of essence, and all their equipment. For those that had their sentiment of invulnerability stripped away, that¡¯s very much worth it.¡±


    Alexandra tilted her head.


    ¡°Then why don¡¯t all dungeons offer the same thing? I mean, if it boosts popularity so much.¡±


    Emilia shrugged again.


    ¡°There are a lot of reasons. One is obvious: to get the full essence value of dead adventurers, instead of taking just a tithe and giving up the rest by resurrecting them. The others...less so. Some believe it detracts from the challenge, and the true spirit of dungeon delving. Others believe that the full essence is their just compensation for letting the adventurers do their delves. And some just don¡¯t want to bother making and maintaining the insurance policies.¡± Emilia winced. ¡°Not to mention all the shenanigans that come with it. Some might see losing their equipment and a few years of progress instead of dying as a definite plus, but others...¡±


    ¡°Others always want more?¡±


    The vampire girl nodded, and Alexandra chuckled. Sore losers were the same everywhere apparently. Although the stakes were a bit different than on Earth, she supposed.


    ¡°Hey, look, they¡¯re moving out again.¡±


    Alexandra shook herself out of her thoughts and looked at the group of adventurers, who were, indeed, moving into the next room. It always amazed her how fast you could heal someone, like that elven fighter, with potions and a bit of magic. She idly wondered if it was just overcharging the body¡¯s natural processes, or if something else was at work.


    TO-DO LIST UPDATED


    Right.


    She focused back on the screen, where the adventurers were now very cautiously moving through the hallway between the tenth and eleventh rooms, probing for any drop axes or spike traps. They¡¯d found the one spike trap easily enough, but the incident in the previous room seemed to have given them a somewhat brutal wake-up call that the golems weren¡¯t the only ¡°real¡± threat in the dungeon, no matter how easy dodging the traps might seem. The fact that they¡¯d skipped the challenge room altogether proved that they were trying to minimize risks and maximize rewards at least, which helped explain their caution as well.


    Finally, however, they stepped into the eleventh room, took up a fairly standard combat formation for adventuring parties, and engaged the golems.


    Alexandra grabbed a few potato chips from the bowl beside her and started chewing them thoughtfully. She might need to edit some stuff on the first floor. It was all fine and dandy right now, but the main stretch was pretty flavorless. It had traps, and some novelty from time to time, but it was really a standard, room-by-room-clearing dungeon floor. Not that there was anything inherently wrong with going with tried and true designs¡ªgods knew missile- and railgun-armed light cruisers were always useful back on Earth, well, Earth space¡ªbut it offended her professional pride a bit.


    The adventurers on their end were faring pretty well. Thanks to some help from their ranger throwing bits of golems he¡¯d taken from the previous room, after having dug out their electronics, the pitfall traps had been quite handily revealed, and the fight had been over in fairly short order. Martial golems were all well and good, but this was the equivalent of throwing a lion, in the middle of a flat concrete floor, at a hunter with an assault rifle. Sure, the lion might kill him if he got close enough, but that was never going to happen. Same here. The golems could prove deadly if they got close enough to an unarmored target, but with a party of that rank, that was never going to happen either. A few came decently close though, forcing the adventurers to adjust tactics, which was a testament to their resilience, if nothing else.


    This time, the adventurers didn¡¯t wait to regenerate any injuries and directly stepped into the safe room. They looked around for a bit¡ªprobably more from reflex than anything else¡ªbefore settling down and pulling out rations. Some just settled into a lotus position, and¡ª


    The screen flickered. And a quick look at her dungeon view confirmed her suspicions: the interference area projected by the adventurers had indeed increased. By quite a bit, actually.


    ¡°They''ve started cultivating, haven¡¯t they?¡±


    ¡°Yep,¡± Emilia answered.


    Alexandra frowned. She¡¯d gathered that a lot of people cultivated in this world to gather mana, but she¡¯d never gotten a good feel for how important it was, or its real implications. She hadn¡¯t needed to cultivate a single time either, thanks to her extradimensional status, which meant she didn¡¯t even know what cultivating meant, really. In fact...


    She quickly looked up her TO-DO list and found the item in question. Apparently, she¡¯d had the same thoughts before. Well, this was as appropriate a time as any.


    ¡°Hey, can I ask you a question?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Emilia said, looking at her like she¡¯d grown a second head. ¡°Answering your questions is part of my job description.¡±


    ¡°Fair enough. So, I was wondering, what is cultivation exactly?¡±


    Emilia froze, then slapped her forehead.


    ¡°Right. The basics. You don¡¯t have the basics. Why do I keep forgetting that?¡± She sighed. ¡°Well...What do you know? Just to get an idea of what you¡¯ve gathered so far about it.¡±


    ¡°Well, I know that cultivation enables normal people to regenerate mana, or at least regenerate it faster, that most adventurers need to partake in it at least semi-regularly, that it depends on ambient mana density, and that for some reason it makes the adventurers¡¯ influence interference field even bigger when they¡¯re using it.¡± Alexandra listed each point with a finger.


    ¡°That¡¯s...not as bad as I thought. Short explanation is, cultivation is...complicated. It is indeed a way to regenerate mana, and although there are other methods, like absorbing it directly from a mana stone¡ªor another being¡ªit is by far the most popular. See it like...a siphon. And you¡¯re siphoning the ambient mana around you. Cultivation is one of the main reasons why dungeons are so important. Not only do you give loot, and enable the area around you to be brimming with life again, but your ambient mana is off the charts, especially the closer someone gets to your influence. Once someone is actually inside your influence, however, ambient mana concentration spikes even higher, and people start regenerating mana even without having to cultivate, which doesn¡¯t normally happen. The reasons for that are complicated, and I¡¯d rather avoid getting off-topic,¡± she said quickly as Alexandra opened her mouth.


    The Earth-born closed her mouth with a clap and then nodded for Emilia to continue.


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    ¡°Good. Now, the big thing about cultivation is that it enables much higher mana regeneration, and thus technically allows you to gain money, in a way. That¡¯s rarely a primary occupation, as usually there are far more profitable things you could do with your time¡ªeven high mana density areas tend to have better opportunities in terms of mana gained per hour spent¡ªbut there are always people cultivating regardless. Usually, it¡¯s considered a nice bonus, and on top of everything else, it¡¯s pretty restful if you know what you are doing.¡±


    Emilia stopped for a few seconds, obviously gathering her thoughts.


    ¡°Mana cultivation relies on cultivation techniques, and those are...odd. Some are just tips and tricks, but a lot of them are far more complicated than that. They¡¯re...I suppose a form of enchantments would be the right word, or mana constructs, kind of like CQ. That¡¯s the reason why their interference fields increase, because it¡¯s like they were slapping enchantments on themselves, and since interference fields combine, and get bigger rather than canceling out...¡±


    She held her palm up, and Alexandra nodded.


    ¡°I see what you mean. It¡¯s like a bunch of temporary enchantments.¡±


    ¡°In some ways, yes. There is an infinity of cultivation techniques, all with their advantages or disadvantages, but they all boil down to getting as much mana as possible out of the environment, and cramming it safely into the user¡¯s core.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, ¡®safely¡¯?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. There are...dangers, involved in it. Just throwing mana at a core is seldom a good idea, or an efficient one, and if you just send too much energy at once, things can get...violent. The effect is nearly the same as mana feedback from a spell, even if the cause is completely different. It¡¯s not pleasant. Take my word for it.¡±


    Alexandra nodded, shifting a bit to face Emilia, but still keeping an eye on the screen.


    ¡°So, it¡¯s like trying to draw atmospheric deuterium to power a fusion reactor.¡±


    Emilia blinked.


    ¡°I have no idea what that means.¡±


    Alexandra winced. Explaining that concept to someone from a pre-nuclear society might be interesting. She hesitated to say ¡°medieval,¡± because given some of the stuff she¡¯d seen, like the airships, she was very hesitant to call this world truly ¡°medieval¡± in the first place.


    ¡°It¡¯s like a...power system, that provides electricity but uses a variant of hydrogen, the gas, called deuterium. It doesn¡¯t burn it, but that¡¯s the closest analogy I think you¡¯ll understand, at an insanely hot temperature to generate energy. It was suggested back on Earth that you could make a device powered by deuterium just in the air, and it could run on a planet nearly indefinitely. No one really cared to try it out for anything serious¡ªit¡¯s much easier to get deuterium through a process called electrolysis from heavy water¡ªbut it was a proven concept, if you could get the device to fly high enough where there was enough hydrogen in the air to sustain it.¡±


    ¡°I...see,¡± Emilia said, as she wrote down notes in her notebook, and Alexandra blinked, not even having realized the vampire girl had pulled it out.


    ¡°Well, in any case, I think I¡¯m starting to grasp some of the implications. Not all of them, but it¡¯s a start. We¡¯ll have to discuss that further, especially the economics.¡± She glanced at the screen. ¡°But for now, it looks like our friends have a somewhat overeager ranger.¡±


    Emilia turned toward the screen as well, and they watched as the group¡¯s ranger, a human, for once, decided to try his luck at the swinging blades hallway, while his group was resting. He was obviously emboldened by his previous success in the eleventh room, which only underscored how different he was from the assault guild. They wouldn¡¯t have forgotten the disaster of the tenth room that fast. He stepped forward, judging the rhythm of the blades. He clearly already had the tune for it, as he had begun mouthing it even before he had time to properly observe the blades themselves.


    Then, after a few seconds of attuning to the rhythm, he surged forward. He made it past half the blades...then missed a beat.


    The missing beat, in fact.


    His foot depressed the pressure plate in the middle of the hallway, and the screen was suddenly filled with fire.


    Alexandra winced. She¡¯d decided to use a lesser version of the flamethrower trap for this, to make the hallway more than just a joke, but it was still jarring to see someone get burnt by a flamethrower. At least it meant her dungeon transformation hadn¡¯t taken her empathy from her, although she had a sneaking suspicion it wasn¡¯t necessarily helping on that front either. Not that it was manipulating her, but more that her new capabilities and lack of normal human concerns gave her a more and more...detached feeling from her former brethren. Kind of like she¡¯d heard digitalized people started feeling toward biological humans.


    The rest of the party was up in an instant, rushing to rescue their comrade, but they were a bit too late. The burning, screaming ranger simply walked into the blades, desperately trying to escape his fiery torment.


    The first blade was a glancing blow, which he recovered from.


    The second hit him square in the shoulder, throwing him against the wall.


    The third split his head in two.


    His party made it to his corpse regardless of his current status, with the fighter shield-bashing blades back into their recesses, stopping most of them outright, as their fail-safes detected that the blades really weren¡¯t where they were supposed to be. In a few seconds, they were by the side of their comrade, and they quickly extinguished his body. Luckily for them, the flamethrower trap had to be rearmed between each shot; otherwise, they would have probably had some serious problems, given their rush.


    They talked for a few seconds, having physically stopped the blades and having the fighter press the button at the end of the hallway for good measure, then simply dragged the body of their comrade to the other side of the hallway, leaving him there and walking into the next room, obviously trusting her to resurrect him.


    ¡°Emilia, he looks pretty badly burned, can we¡ª¡±


    ¡°Resurrect him? Certainly. You picked the best insurance policy you could use, so it¡¯s going to take a lot more than that to prevent resurrection. Like, say, your avalanche of bouncing betties, although I suppose it¡¯ll depend on if they get caught at ground zero or not.¡±


    Alexandra winced. She hadn¡¯t thought of that while designing the trap. Maybe she should tone it down a bit. It had been made to send a message, but she¡¯d rather have the cheaters spread the word themselves than just the people that watched them get vaporized. It would get her point across regardless, but there was something to be said for the impact of relaying your own ass-kicking.


    ¡°Good, then let¡¯s go.¡± She froze. ¡°Well, I guess you go and I fetch CQ?¡±


    Emilia frowned, then shook her head.


    ¡°How about we try it on automated first? We already had plenty of tries manually, and all it really needs is some input on the teleport spell. I¡¯ll walk you through it, then we¡¯ll see if works properly.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    ¡°Alright, so, go into your dungeon view¡­¡°


    *****


    ¡°You know, we really need to get cameras.¡±


    Emilia blinked and turned toward Alexandra. They''d finished setting up the automated resurrection system a few minutes ago, and she was still going through her notes, making sure they hadn''t missed anything, just in case.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°I mean that while yes, your scrying spell is very handy, we won¡¯t be able to rely on it all the time. And sometimes we¡¯ll need to keep an eye on things without using a golem.¡±


    Alexandra nodded at the screen where Jared was once again playing babysitter for a resurrected adventurer. The ranger looked kind of pissed, but when Alexandra had confirmed, through a golem, that indeed, he was free to cultivate while his friends made their way to him, he had gotten a whole lot more accommodating and had stopped fuming. Mostly. He still looked pretty pissed about losing all of his stuff, except his clothes.


    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s a very good point. Maybe you could just...use golem heads?¡±


    Alexandra thought for a second, then shook her head. She knew how creeped out she¡¯d be if there were just heads on the ceiling following her with blank, metal faces. It would be even worse for adventurers used to seeing those heads attached to golems actively trying to kill them.


    ¡°I think I¡¯d rather make proper cameras. Less creepy. Plus, I could try to integrate some of the sensors we got from the turret! Infrared, here we come!¡±


    Emilia giggled as Alexandra thrust her fist into the air.


    ¡°Right, well, sorry to break your bubble, but they¡¯re preparing for CQ.¡±


    Alexandra blinked and looked at the screen, where, indeed, the adventurers were preparing to fight her boss. She was a bit disappointed they¡¯d chosen to bypass the challenge room, but they had decided to hit the shrine of war and gotten the most positive-ish outcome, which had divided in half the number of golems in the sixteenth room, allowing them to clear it without any real issues. The previous rooms had also been cleared in fairly short order, and although the trapped hallway between the fifteenth and sixteenth rooms had proven time-consuming to master, they¡¯d eventually done it, with caution and a lot of throwing pieces or outright limbs of golems to trigger traps. Which was ingenious, if nothing else, especially as they¡¯d realized that the smaller pieces they were using weren¡¯t triggering the drop axes, hence the use of severed golem limbs.


    Right now they were organizing their equipment and drinking potions, clearly preparing for a tough fight. Then, once everyone was ready, their mage¡ªwho looked more athletic than their fighter, hilariously enough, with his short sleeves revealing bulging biceps, and towering over the rest of the party¡ªcast a series of wards of protection on the party, then they moved forward into the hallway.


    The battle with CQ was...anticlimactic.


    Alexandra knew CQ couldn¡¯t get someone every time, but it was still a bit disappointing to see a party with good information, and preparation, just sidestep all of her strengths and crush the poor boss. There were a few close calls here and there, but their mage doubling as a pretty decent duelist saved them from damage to their traditionally more squishy backline combatants. The Royal Guardians and Palace Guard Mk2s did their best, but they were clearly outmatched and outmaneuvered, and were reduced to scrap metal.


    The Earth-born made a note to get CQ an upgrade. And probably move her altogether, actually. She¡¯d need a boss for the second floor after all, and the spider tank would fit in pretty well as a boss for the first floor. Plus, it would justify going all out on CQ and her protectors, as she would need to be able to face tougher foes.


    TO-DO LIST UPDATED


    Now that she thought about it, she should probably move her core, at the very least, to the second floor as well. There were never going to be ¡°too many¡± defenses between her and whatever assholes wanted to steal her after all. Moving the command center and the core hallway with all of its traps might prove a bit trickier though. Moving a floating crystal from one room to another was one thing. Moving a pile of bombs, flamethrowers, and lasers was another.


    TO-DO LIST UPDATED


    Maybe I should make a notification sound instead of a text popup when I trigger this thing.


    TO-DO LIST UPDATED


    Alexandra rolled her eyes and turned toward Emilia.


    ¡°Well, that was anticlimactic.¡±


    The vampire girl shrugged.


    ¡°It was bound to happen someday. Better it be early rather than later, so we can get used to it. Adventurers are going to be prepared for whatever we throw at them, and they will plan around your defenders and their capabilities. Whatever they are, they aren¡¯t idiots. Or at least, most of them aren¡¯t. And even when just motivated by greed, they will take care to maximize their profits by avoiding death or damage if they can.¡±


    ¡°Fair enough, I suppose.¡± Alexandra smiled. ¡°And it looks like our friends are intrigued by my little sign.¡±


    The adventurers were currently arguing and pointing at the sign toward the second floor, with one of them gesturing at the door leading to the command center. Alexandra frowned and subconsciously checked her defensive systems, before relaxing as she realized they were arguing over whether to fetch their resurrected comrade first or pick him up on the way out.


    Eventually though, exploring further first won out, and they prepared to move out onto the second floor.


    Alexandra smiled and grabbed another potato chip.


    ¡°Well, this should be interesting. Let¡¯s see how they fare when they don¡¯t have all the cards in hand.¡±

 Interlude 1 - Darthar

    Interlude 1


    Red Sands Desert, Asarian Kingdom Border


    City of Darthar, Elkaryos¡¯ residence


    Elkaryos sighed and leaned back in his seat.


    The last few days had been...interesting, to say the least. The discovery of the new dungeon (and his partnership with Allya and Pyn) had already dumped a whole lot of work in his arms, and he¡¯d spent the three days until the departure of the expedition running around, snapping up ships, supplies, and talents to ensure it would succeed. He wondered if the two new nobles would realize that, but he felt reasonably sure they would. That was good. It would engender gratitude, which would avoid the sort of...unfortunate accidents that happened in corporate dominions from time to time.


    Like, say, the noble in power deciding that they didn¡¯t need the corporation they had partnered with originally, and that a swift removal of their personnel was the easiest option. Some were smart enough to kick them out, pile them into an escorted convoy, and send them back to civilization. Others decided to simply exile them, and see if they survived the wilds. The most idiotic just executed everyone.


    Needless to say, that kind of behavior rarely ended well. The thing that the nobles failed to grasp was that first, that was very much illegal. Even the Asarian Kingdom, with its entrenched and privileged nobility, plus its isolationist internal economy, couldn¡¯t function without international corporations, and all the rules and regulations they brought with them. If you signed a corporate dominion before the WMC, you better believe it was going to be enforced. Oh, no one would send any hit squads after you, but they didn¡¯t need to. The WMC would simply place an interdict upon you¡ªwhich meant that no deal, transfer of land, or financial transaction could be made through the canals of the WMC or guaranteed by it to the person under said interdict.


    Needless to say, that pretty much destroyed the prosperity of whoever was placed under it. Suddenly banks were unwilling to deal with you, and anything but the smallest scale transaction (for a noble domain) became incredibly difficult. What¡¯s more, everyone knew you were under the interdict, and well, most realms were already cutthroat enough with internecine noble assassinations and covert warfare. That wasn¡¯t even factoring in that the crown would usually just exile you and strip you of your titles, usually with the full backing of the nobles, which wasn¡¯t exactly an easy thing to do given how fiercely they defended their own lands and prerogatives.


    He wasn¡¯t truly afraid of that happening, however. If the two women were insane enough to even consider it¡ªwhich he rather doubted¡ªthe Sakura should have been a pointed reminder that messing with an influential member of the Omega conglomerate, the largest manufacturer of weaponry after the Eris Empire¡¯s own arms procurement program, was contraindicated, to say the least.


    That wasn¡¯t even counting his status as a Master Merchant of the merchants guild, which carried a reputation so ominous¡ªand rightly so, to be fair¡ªthat people rarely even looked past it.


    He shook himself and went back to the papers scattered on his desk. There were already too few hours in the day for him to waste some of them just sitting there, thinking. He didn¡¯t have news from the expedition just yet, mainly because the communication relays in Darthar, installed several centuries ago, had been paid for by the then incredibly money-pinching city council. They had thus been built by the lowest bidder and were barely sufficient to hold up to the city¡¯s needs, with their ¡°network coverage¡± barely reaching beyond the walls. That meant that unlike in other places, getting communications into the wastelands was impossible. Unless, of course, you were Guildmaster Starvak and had access to the guild¡¯s private network, which had made sure to install the best relays it could get its hands on¡ªand that usually meant declassified Erisian military tech¡ªon every guildhall bordering the wastelands, to ensure communications in the event of a particularly important wasteland event.


    He¡¯d considered cashing in a few favors to get access to the network but decided against it. Given how influential the adventurers guild was going to be in the new dungeon town, and how much of a pain in the ass he knew it could prove¡ªthe guild presence in Darthar itself being a pointed example¡ªhe¡¯d rather keep some aces up his sleeve, and save his assets for more profitable endeavors.


    He absentmindedly read an application form for some artificer wanting to get to the dungeon town and form a business relationship with his company, then moved his hand for the stamp of approval on his desk, before freezing, and rereading the form once more. His eyes widened slightly, and he snapped his fingers. The house¡ªhe wondered how many people realized just what it truly was¡ªrelayed the message to Jeremy, who quickly opened the door and poked his head in.


    ¡°Yes, master?¡±


    The dark elf snickered.


    ¡°None of that nonsense when guests aren¡¯t here! Jeremy, I¡¯ve gotten some...interesting applications. Could you draft me a couple of invitations? They¡¯re for...¡± He looked at the form intently. ¡°Miss Eismi Lorien and Miss Ellyana Lorien. They should be residing in the Silverdawn Inn.¡±


    The butler¡¯s eyes slightly widened at the mention of the very pricy and highly exclusive magic user inn, and he nodded.


    ¡°Of course, it shall be done.¡± At Elkaryos¡¯ dirty look, he chuckled. ¡°Alright, I¡¯m on it. Expect them in...three hours, so you can clean up this mess.¡±


    The butler gave his master and old friend¡®s desk a pointed look, and Elkaryos waved his hand, laughing.


    ¡°Alright, alright! I¡¯ll have everything in order! My, this office might even look civilized by the time they get here.¡±


    Jeremy sniffed haughtily and then left the office, closing the door behind him, as Elkaryos shook his head, amused. There were very few people that dared talk to him like that, and fewer still in that category that didn¡¯t want him dead. Then again, adventuring side by side had that effect on people. It was fascinating how many ex-adventurers that ended up in positions of power tended to recruit old teammates and acquaintances as aids, bodyguards, and such. To be fair, once you were in those positions of power, having someone you knew could be trusted to cover your back from, say, untimely daggers or high-velocity lead poisoning, was invaluable.


    Elkaryos took a deep breath, looked at his office...and decided that Jeremy probably had a point for once. He knew he had a tendency to let go of tidiness when he was focused on something else, but he¡¯d seen tidier elder wyrms researchers, which was saying something. He could call in his maid, Esmeralda, but he was nothing if not paranoid when paperwork was concerned. Not necessarily because he was afraid of it being stolen¡ªnot that minimizing the risks of espionage wasn¡¯t worth it in its own right¡ªbut because he didn¡¯t want it to get lost or misfiled. Especially when said paperwork related to oh, say, contracts for a dungeon town that was well poised to eventually be worth all of his other assets.


    Combined.


    And that was only the 15% he was going to own once that sneaky elf finished buying back his shares. He still wasn¡¯t sure if he should be counting it as genius on her part, or stupidity on his. He¡¯d decided on a little bit of both.


    He sighed and began cleaning up the paperwork.


    *****


    ¡°Master, Miss Eismi and Ellyana,¡± Jeremy said, as he opened the door, and two young women stepped through.


    Elkaryos smiled and went to meet them as his eyes registered every little detail.


    The first, and most obvious one, was the pair of white-furred, black-tipped fox ears on top of their heads, accompanied by the long, once again white-furred and black-tipped fox tail behind them. That meant they were beastkin, although most people simply referred to them as humans, due to the fact that they were nearly the same...and some weird fashion choices in the Eris Empire following some biology and surgery breakthrough had blurred the line quite a bit. Next was the fact that the two women were virtually identical. Twins, or clones then.


    He hid a frown as he noticed the fact that they weren¡¯t quite identical. The one on the right, her right eye looked...odd. Almost like...


    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    He clasped the right woman¡¯s hand, smiling as he tried his best to keep his expression calm. That woman had a cybernetic eye. And arm. That was unusual. And unless they were Gorromarian, which he doubted, it meant a lot of things about their skill in their respective fields. Plus, it outlined pretty thoroughly who was the artificer, and who was the alchemist in the pair¡ªnot that there should have been much doubt, given that the one on the left had potion vials sticking out of every pouch and pocket.


    So, since Eismi was the artificer, she was probably the one on the right, and Ellyana, the alchemist, the one on the left.


    ¡°Greetings Miss Eismi.¡± He bowed slightly to the other twin. ¡°And Miss Ellyana. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you! Please, do take a seat.¡± He gestured at the sofas and waited for both women to be seated before sitting down himself on the couch opposite them. Since they hadn¡¯t corrected him, he had guessed right. Probably. Some particularly mischievous twins or clones wouldn¡¯t set things straight, but he guessed they would.


    ¡°Thank you for receiving us, Master Elkaryos,¡± Eismi said, as she settled down. ¡°We know you have a rather busy schedule. I was hoping our application would garner your attention, but...¡± She shrugged. ¡°There was no guarantee of that, and my sister and I were...hesitant to call for you directly.¡±


    Elkaryos nodded.


    ¡°Which would have probably been less than successful, actually.¡± He smiled. ¡°It¡¯s incredible the number of people that want to talk to me in person for ¡®very important business¡¯ now that I am, at least in part, the owner of a dungeon town. Or at least the land on which such a town will be built.¡± He shrugged. ¡°In any case, your application did gather my curiosity. It¡¯s rare for an artificer of your talent to apply for corporate partnerships in this way. And it¡¯s even rarer for someone of your...particular origin to end up here, in the Asarian Kingdom.¡±


    He looked attentively into the women¡¯s eyes, but apart from a passing shadow, they kept their composure. Good, at least they weren¡¯t that susceptible.


    ¡°We have learned to be patient with other cultures Master Elkaryos. No matter how much we may...disagree with them.¡±


    Elkaryos nodded as he heard what he felt was a massive understatement. According to their respective applications, they were both hailing from the New Raleigh University of the Sciences, a rather prestigious academy that trained some very fine artificers and alchemists indeed, among other professions.


    The problem was the first part of the name. It was situated in the Free City of New Raleigh. The one founded by Rook the Sunderer, after his march out of the dying Orlov Empire, with the massive contingent of slaves he had freed. To say that its inhabitants hated slavery was like saying elves might be slightly discriminatory against orcs. And they weren¡¯t afraid of making their rejection for the practice crystal clear, as well as ¡°discouraging¡± other nations from continuing it. If they hadn¡¯t been led by Rook the Sunderer, and his party of eternium- and divinium-ranked allies, The Seven, New Raleigh would have probably been razed to the ground millennia ago for its interference and support for slave uprisings. Of course, it was under the leadership of Rook the Sunderer, and no one was insane enough to challenge the man that had burned down the two capital cities of the Orlov Empire and executed its emperor in his own damned palace as it was burning around them. After going through everything the entire city, its garrison, and the palace guard could throw at him. Well, no, that wasn¡¯t quite true. A few people¡ªmostly rulers¡ªhad tried over the millennia to attack his city.


    The example he had made of them was still remembered, although unlike the UDC he at least didn¡¯t make a habit of dismantling, or outright wiping out nations, as he usually settled for taking a few heads at the top, and letting the competing factions scrambling to take power rip the nation apart for him.


    ¡°That is very good to hear.¡± He held up his hand. ¡°Not that I disagree with your point of view, don¡¯t get me wrong.¡± He looked her straight in the eye, letting her see his sincerity, and Eismi slowly nodded. ¡°But because such cultural conflicts could prove...problematic.¡± He sighed. ¡°Either way, you and your sister wanted to make a partnership with me, in particular, to assess and exploit the resources and loot of the dungeon.¡±


    ¡°Yes indeed,¡± Ellyana said, speaking for the first time. Elkaryos turned toward her, and she held her palm up like she was weighing something. ¡°Oh, I have little doubt that we will find something worthwhile to exploit, or at least that my sister will, so the assessment part is mostly about finding the most profitable products, not determining whether there are interesting ones at all.¡± She smiled. ¡°Although I do hope you¡¯ll forgive me if I say I¡¯d really like the dungeon to have something for me as well, but the absence of it would hardly be a deal breaker. Alchemists are always in high demand in dungeon towns, and if worse comes to worst, my sister is also a skilled enchantress.¡±


    Elkaryos nodded. He¡¯d noticed that on her application. He would have been tempted to assume it was just a side effect of her artificer training¡ªyou needed to be good with enchantments if you had any hope of being a worthwhile artificer (far away, a certain dungeon core¡¯s avatar sneezed)¡ªbut the level of qualification had dissuaded him from thinking that. Yes, you got some degrees in enchantment from completing your artificer course, but not that many...or the most advanced ones. Her sister was also...odd. Because while she seemingly had far fewer diplomas than her sibling, she also packed some of the highest you could get in alchemy without requiring you to be, well, of high level to even hope to get them.


    He also had a sneaking suspicion as to which job she¡¯d had when she¡¯d been working for Stiriar Incorporated in one of their weapons plants, although he¡¯d have to check to be sure.


    ¡°Indeed. Although, hopefully, it won¡¯t come to that.¡± He settled back onto the sofa slightly. ¡°So, you would like to be on the very next convoy or caravan to the dungeon? That could be arranged, of course."


    He leaned forward as he started laying out his terms, and the negotiations began.


    *****


    Elkaryos slowly, rhythmically tapped his finger on his desk as he contemplated the night vista of Darthar before him. The window behind his desk might look like just another ego project¡ªmany nobles liked to have those so they could justify having their backs to their guests¡ªbut he was genuinely fond of how the city looked. Usually, it reassured him, and let him feel the heartbeat of its people, although most of the time that was corroborated by reports and his own experience from walking through the streets.


    Today, that heartbeat felt...frenetic. Everyone knew that there was a new dungeon of course, but things had calmed down a bit ever since the original convoy had departed. But now that the follow-up caravans were starting to assemble...


    According to his contacts in the city guard, already half a dozen people had been murdered or sent to the hospital for their place in the caravans, whether personally or for their businesses. Some of the more idiotic ones tried to immediately fill in the slot, or in one particular case, tried to pass themselves off as the original owner of the writ. That attempt had been fairly short-lived, since said writs were signed with the original owner¡¯s mana signature, and the caravan masters had a copy of it and another backup of the signature in their personnel list to compare any documents with. Still, there were at least three where no one knew who had done it, and that was worrying.


    Contrary to most people¡¯s belief, Darthar hadn¡¯t been incorporated into the Kingdom. Not fully, at any rate. It was no longer a frontier principality, but it still remained aloof from the usual political currents. And that meant that there were quite a few people that felt the power vacuum left by the absence of the usual nobles. Now, that vacuum had suited Elkaryos just fine, as not only did it provide him with a considerable amount of influence through his virtual, if unofficial, control of the count, but it also meant that there weren¡¯t a bunch of stuck up, inbred idiots trying to wrangle him out because he was an ¡°uppity commoner with delusions of grandeur,¡± never mind the fact that he owned more land than most dukes through his own corporate dominions. Although to be fair, given some of the...creative structures he¡¯d had to create to avoid rather punitive taxes (and some serious scrutiny), it was unlikely common knowledge just how much land he owned.


    In fact, he¡¯d have bought a title of nobility if it wouldn¡¯t have been so detrimental to his business. People tended to trust merchants a lot more than they did nobles¡ªsomething to do with the more idiotic ones thinking they could get away from an agreement by imprisoning or eliminating the other party¡ªand certain countries outright refused to work with nobles from another nation. The merchants guild itself didn¡¯t care either way, but it was common knowledge within it that those with titles of nobility had some doors closed to them. And the other doors those titles opened mainly related to internal politics, and although those could turn out to be profitable¡ªthe amount of graft someone in a large nation¡¯s military procurement comity could make was enormous¡ªit was rarely worth the hassle of being drawn into the internal politics.


    In any case, the power vacuum meant that a lot of merchants, usually from outside the guild, smelled blood in the water and were swarming to take as big a bite as they could before someone, like say, the crown, reined them in. They were going to be sorely disappointed in that, of course, as the first convoy included a royal envoy, but they didn¡¯t know about it, or were too greedy to care.


    That meant that right now the city was very upbeat, and that chaos was simmering beneath the surface. Not enough to make more than a few waves, but still enough to be noticeable if you knew where to look. And that meant trouble. Because as sure as the sun rose in the east, the Republic would try to take control of the dungeon town. And if the war he feared came to be, a single defeat, and some generous guarantees and ¡°donations¡± from the Patriarchs and Matriarchs that ruled the Republic, could turn Darthar into a massive powder keg. One that he was firmly sitting in the blast radius of.


    Needless to say, he wasn¡¯t thrilled.


    He sighed, and looked back at his desk. On it were a small series of contracts, the ones he¡¯d just signed with the twins. Overall, he was satisfied. Although he hadn¡¯t gotten the best terms and dividends, they were still some very nice ones indeed. Besides, the value they would add to the town was worth considering more than the share of their sales he got to taste. He was sure two enterprising young women like them could find ways to increase the profitability of the dungeon and make themselves quite useful to the town as a whole. He¡¯d sent them on their way with a letter of recommendation as well, written for Allya and Pyn, and failing to find them, Myskaros too. At least, if the nobles refused to meet with them, they could still settle things out with the expedition director.


    Elkaryos sighed again, and stretched, before getting up from his seat. He should probably head to bed, not only because he needed rest like anyone else, but also because otherwise, his wife would just give him that resigned look of hers, and that always made him feel more guilty than any long-winded argument about his long hours could.


    He moved toward the door and exited his office, Jeremy wordlessly following suit.

 Chapter 35 - Drone Swarm

    Chapter 35


    Red Sands Desert, Contested Border Region


    Dungeon Factory, Second Floor


    Alexandra watched intently as the adventurers arrived at the bottom of the ramp and fanned out into the second floor¡¯s entrance hall. As for the first floor, she¡¯d decided to make it a safe zone¡ªand she¡¯d probably do the same for every follow-up floor¡ªbut the adventurers were obviously done taking anything for granted.


    After a solid three minutes of looking in every nook and cranny of the room, they apparently decided that it was safe enough and sat down to take another pause. A lot of people might have found that weird, especially those that hadn¡¯t experienced combat before. But it was impressive how many calories anyone could burn through in a few minutes-long firefight, and sustained combat like a dungeon delve must be even tougher. Alexandra wondered if the concept would even be viable for ¡°normal¡± humans, without all the advantages of essence, or any other enhancements. Probably not, except for a small minority, she decided.


    ¡°Well, they¡¯re taking it easy,¡± Emilia said, as she took another snack.


    Alexandra giggled.


    ¡°You¡¯re one to talk!¡±


    Emilia didn¡¯t dignify the remark with a response and simply sniffed haughtily, making the Earth-born giggle once more, shaking her head, before refocusing on the screen.


    The adventurers rested for fifteen minutes, although this time they were clearly a bit too excited to settle down and try to cultivate. Actually, given what had happened to their comrade in the hallway of swinging blades, there might be some fear in it as well.


    They got up and reorganized at the massive double doors leading into the floor proper, and the elven fighter, after a nod from the rest of the party, pressed the button on the pedestal by the side of the door and rushed to put himself between whatever might come out and his party.


    The doors rumbled, and slowly, ponderously, began to swing open. They were pretty much a less ornate copy of the ones in the first floor¡¯s entrance hall, although they weren¡¯t quite as thick and resilient.


    The adventurers braced themselves, and then relaxed, their jaws dropping.


    Alexandra wasn¡¯t that egotistical. Okay, perhaps she was a bit, but still, it was nice to see her work impress, and even inspire awe, like this.


    Because very clearly, whatever the adventurers had been expecting, the second floor wasn¡¯t it.


    For a good fifteen seconds, they just stood there, gazing at the seemingly unending array of pillars and ruins, before the mage shook himself and spoke in a deep, rumbling voice.


    ¡°I¡¯ll give the dungeon credit. THAT I did not expect.¡± He chuckled. ¡°Well, let¡¯s not just stand here! Even the assault guild hasn¡¯t seen this floor!¡±


    That seemed to shake the rest of the party out of their stupor, and they slowly stepped inside, looking around in amazement. Alexandra had a sneaking suspicion the comment had more appealed to their sense of greed, as according to Emilia it was customary for the assault guild to have bounties for new floors and information on them, rather than to their sense of discovery and adventure. If that last one even meant the same thing on this world to begin with, of course.


    ¡°My, at least they are polite. And complimentary,¡± Alexandra said, as she looked at them cautiously scanning the area around them for threats.


    ¡°Flattered much?¡±


    Alexandra shrugged.


    ¡°Not really, no. Pleased? Yes, definitely, but I¡¯d be a poor engineer or architect if I wasn¡¯t.¡± She snickered. ¡°I guess I am an architect aren¡¯t I?¡±


    Emilia gave her a confused look, and Alexandra waved her hand.


    ¡°Nothing, just something to do with degrees.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a dungeon core, why would you care about such things?¡±


    The Earth-born sighed.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t. Well, I would care about the knowledge itself, but the degrees would indeed be fairly useless. It¡¯s just that back on Earth people would have an aneurysm if I¡¯d started constructing buildings without an architect¡¯s degree.¡± She snickered. ¡°At least I guess no one will question me if my stuff starts falling apart, and assume it¡¯s a feature.¡±


    Emilia laughed.


    ¡°That¡¯s true enough!¡± She smiled, then stopped laughing, as her expression became serious again. ¡°Say, how do you think this will go? I mean, the floor is pretty empty right now.¡±


    Alexandra winced. That much was true as well. Oh, she¡¯d begun populating the second floor before the whole kidnapping incident with the commandos, but it was only a relative handful of golems, most of them spider golems, patrolling the floor at random or holing up in some ruins, and a few bouncing betties she¡¯d carefully emplaced so Emilia and she could get to their testing zones without having to worry about them.


    ¡°Yeah. But hey, the water temple is pretty catchy! So if they see it and investigate...¡±


    ¡°They should come across the chest!¡± Emilia nodded, then winced. ¡°I don¡¯t think they can win that fight.¡±


    Alexandra shrugged.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so either. On the other hand, the spider golems are leashed to the shore in their programming, so they won¡¯t pursue them very far. If they retreat they should be able to survive. Emphasis on ''should be''.¡±


    Emilia smiled.


    ¡°Well, I guess we¡¯ll see.¡±


    *****


    Alexandra perked up as the adventurers, at long last, spotted the water temple. She¡¯d already made a note to make the thing much higher, because although the rumble of the waterfalls could be heard, it seemed remarkably hard to locate with all the ruins and pillars distorting sound, given how confused and disoriented the adventurers had appeared. Then again, they might just suck at this kind of thing, and normally relied on their ranger...who was currently happily cultivating, Alexandra verified, as she gave a side screen showing Jared¡¯s vision a quick look.


    In any case, it had taken them a good half an hour to finally get within sight of the temple. They hadn¡¯t just spent that time running around, of course, as they¡¯d encountered several small groups of golems and taken them out in fairly short order. They hadn¡¯t stumbled upon a bouncing betty, but Alexandra had resigned herself to the fact that unless they were extraordinarily unlucky, they wouldn¡¯t even come close to the handful of mines dispersed throughout the floor.


    Still, the water temple seemed to have grabbed their attention quite nicely, and they were now making a beeline toward it. After a few minutes of walking, they stopped as they went over the last ruin, and contemplated the massive temple.


    Once again, Alexandra felt a prickle of pride as they gazed upon the temple in awe. This time, however, their attention was broken when the elven fighter pointed at the treasure chest and took a step forward, only to have the mage catch his shoulder.


    The party argued back and forth for a bit, practically shouting over each other, and making it impossible to discern the precise words through the scrying spell, before starting to cautiously move out toward the treasure chest.


    A few minutes later, they arrived at the massive stone container and deployed around it, while one of their party members¡ªthe healer, if Alexandra wasn¡¯t mistaken¡ªtried to open it.


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Obviously, the chest didn¡¯t budge. After a few more tries, the healer gave up, and another argument broke out, seemingly between whether they should try to break it open or try to find a way to open it on the floor.


    None of them noticed as the water began to move.


    The first sign they got that something was wrong was when the first spider golem flew into the middle of the group, missing the mage by a few centimeters, and crashed into the chest. They stared at it for half a second, before turning around in unison as the splashing sound of more spider golems erupting from the river reached them.


    The fight was short and brutal. At first, they tried to hold on, but as it became clear they were becoming overwhelmed under the rain of golems, they started retreating as fast as they could while holding off the horde. Fortunately for them, massed lightning spells were as effective as ever, and their mage apparently wasn¡¯t shy about using them ¡°danger close,¡± as some soldiers would have said. A few of his teammates ended up seriously singed, but it bought them enough room to cut and run for it.


    All except the elven fighter, who made it a few meters before a leaping spider golem hit his knee, making him stumble and fall.


    His screaming was cut mercifully short as the swarm rolled over him, and his throat was promptly reduced to shreds. Alexandra winced. It wasn¡¯t an especially pleasant way to die. Then again, being set on fire was much worse.


    The rest of the party continued running after some yells from the mage, who seemed to more or less take over, not that they¡¯d had a clear party leader to begin with, and only stopped almost a hundred meters from the shore. They looked back at the milling swarm of spider golems, clearly shocked by their sheer numbers, although they seemed to relax slightly as their comrade¡¯s body vanished from the teleport spell of the resurrection orb.


    They continued staring at the swarm for a few more minutes before the mass of spider golems retreated under the water, a slight red tinge appearing in it from the blood-soaked ones.


    I need to make a water filtration system.


    TO-DO LIST UPDATED


    They continued staring at the waters and the temple before shaking themselves, and after a brief discussion, moved directly toward the massive column that was the ramp back to the first floor. Alexandra frowned as she suddenly realized that they were in no condition to fight their way back through her dungeon and that the time they¡¯d spent in her dungeon was far, far longer than the minimum one hour between dungeon delves Allya had announced during their meeting.


    ¡°Hey, Emilia, is it possible to make teleporters to move live adventurers?¡±


    The vampire girl blinked.


    ¡°Uh, that¡¯s kind of random, but yes, why?¡±


    ¡°Then we should probably start to work on them. Or at least devise some way to get adventurers from deeper floors to the surface.¡± She gestured at the group of adventurers. ¡°If they have to fight their way out, or go the long way, it¡¯ll limit our appeal. Plus, other groups might become angry that ¡®their¡¯ golems are being stolen.¡±


    Emilia nodded.


    ¡°That¡¯s a fair point. Most dungeons use some form of ¡®escape¡¯ thing like that, usually in boss rooms, floor accesses, or safe zones, that let someone pull back to the surface quickly. Some even let adventurers that have already beaten a certain boss start at the beginning of the next floor through that special access. Although that¡¯s usually on the bigger ones.¡± She shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know if teleporters will be the right answer right now though, as they¡¯re tricky to make, and kind of expensive. Sort of like an insurance policy.¡±


    Alexandra gestured at the beaten group of adventurers.


    ¡°If it lets me augment my capacity by letting me have many more adventurers inside the dungeon simultaneously and allow these kinds of groups to pull back, get stronger, and come back another day, I think it¡¯ll be worth it.¡± She got up from her stool. ¡°Come on, I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll send another group before these guys come back up, probably because of that. Let¡¯s at least cover the basics.¡±


    ¡°Sure!¡± Emilia said, as she got up and followed her out of the command center, toward the workshop.


    *****


    Allya winced as she saw the group of adventurers stumble out of the dungeon. They looked definitely the worse for wear. And two of them had the look of people who¡¯d just been resurrected. But she refrained from going forward and asking questions and simply gazed at the guild attendant and the adventurers accompanying him going to meet them, followed by a handful of her own security guards. They talked, but fortunately, the copper-ranked adventurers seemed experienced enough not to try to avoid their taxes and handed over their loot for inspection. A few minutes later, they grabbed back their bags, now 30% lighter, and moved on. They didn¡¯t look elated, but they had probably expected it.


    In fact, they looked remarkably happy for a team that had two of its members killed and resurrected. Allya¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly and then widened as she spotted Artok, the assault guild leader, who had unobtrusively set up something of a stand by the entrance, answering questions and distributing what looked like schematics of the dungeon to whoever didn¡¯t have them yet.


    The crowd parted before them, and they quickly engaged in a hushed conversation with the assault guild leader. Then, after a few seconds, Artok simply nodded, gestured for one of his subordinates to take his place, and left, the copper-ranked party in tow.


    ¡°Well, looks like they found something interesting,¡± Pyn said, almost absentmindedly.


    ¡°Indeed.¡± Allya looked at her girlfriend, who was currently busy drawing plans and scribbling notes on a map. ¡°Everything going alright?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re on schedule...mostly.¡± She shrugged. ¡°The aqueduct is coming along nicely, although we¡¯ve had some problems with weakened foundations. And we¡¯re finally starting to designate lots and begin preparations to build some real houses. Which is about time. Everyone is starting to get tired of tents, especially those that expect to be staying here for a while.¡± She smiled at Allya¡¯s surprised look. ¡°Paradoxical, I know, but the fact that they know we¡¯re going to build a city here eventually is making everyone more impatient. If we were just in the middle of nowhere, they could endure it for months, but knowing that there will soon be houses is making everyone more impatient. Sort of like people getting even more annoyed when a goal is close by than when it is distant.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s...fair enough.¡± Allya looked at Starvak, who had one of his guild attendants pull another name out of the pot, and an iron-ranked party moved forward. ¡°And another one prepares to go in. Wanna make a bet on how many will come back intact?¡±


    ¡°Nah, estimating their chances is more your thing. Besides, what would we bet with? It¡¯s not like we aren¡¯t essentially pooling our funds to begin with.¡± She raised her head and waggled her eyebrows. ¡°Unless you¡¯d like to wager something...else.¡±


    Allya chuckled, blushing slightly.


    ¡°In your dreams! ¡± She looked at the entrance and shook her head. ¡°Well, let me give you a hand, because it doesn¡¯t look like I¡¯m going to have much to do, thank the gods.¡±


    Pyn nodded gravely as she looked at the entrance as well. They¡¯d been afraid that some adventurers would...forcefully protest the taxes. There wasn¡¯t a high chance of it turning into violence¡ªno adventurers wanted to attack the equivalent of cops in sight of guild officials, let alone a guild master¡ªbut a scene could have undermined their authority. As such, Allya had come with ¨¦clair and Rogard, as well as Anders and a good squad of soldiers. Officially, they were there to guard them while they made plans for the dungeon town, and just happened to be near the entrance because it gave them the best view of the camp. There might even be a particularly stupid clay-rank that believed that. Maybe.


    ¡°Sure thing.¡± The elf gestured at the map. ¡°Actually, I had a question. We¡¯re going to have to build walls eventually, and I was wondering...¡±


    *****


    Alexandra shook her head as she contemplated the numbers.


    In the last twelve hours, she¡¯d had four dungeon delves. Apparently, they¡¯d decided on a three-hour delay between each party which was more than fair, in her opinion.


    The first party had been the copper-ranked ones who had reached the second floor. The second and third had been iron-ranked, with the second having reached the safe zone before falling back, and the third having managed to nearly get itself wiped out in the challenge room. Only a heavily wounded rogue and a mage had been left, which had presented the interesting problem of how, exactly, she was going to get their resurrected comrades to them. She¡¯d ended up simply sending a squad of standard golems to carry them, but she definitely needed a better way to go about it. The fourth and last delve had been handled by a group of steel-ranked adventurers, who had made it to CQ and decided to turn back right before the boss room.


    She¡¯d been a bit miffed that most of them appeared pretty prudent, and very clearly had preplanned routes they¡¯d stuck to (except the third one, whose plan appeared to be ¡°continue till we hit a brick wall¡±) and retreated at a predetermined position. Still, she couldn¡¯t argue with the results, as not only had the mana income been pretty decent, but the influx of essence and, especially, new stuff had been very much welcome. It wasn¡¯t an incredible amount of stuff, but she was already starting to have trouble keeping everything she needed to test in mind with the commando¡¯s things, and it was becoming steadily worse.


    Well, better to have too much than too little, I guess, she thought, shaking her head.


    ¡°That went well,¡± Emilia said from her stool in the workshop, looking at the screen where the adventurers were dispersing for the night.


    ¡°Yes. Yes it did.¡± Alexandra looked down at the table where they sat. ¡°Although when you said that teleporters were complicated...I wasn¡¯t expecting them to be that complicated.¡±


    Emilia shrugged, gesturing at the pile of schematics and runes inscribed on paper in front of them.


    ¡°It¡¯s something that lets you literally move around instantaneously. What did you expect?¡±


    ¡°Well...CQ can teleport.¡±


    ¡°Yes, and she¡¯s a consecrated boss, and even then her range is very, very limited. And keep in mind, we have it easy. We can anchor the teleporters into your influence. It¡¯s even harder for normal teleporters, like the ones from the WMC.¡±


    ¡°The World Mage Court, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Emilia said. ¡°I never did explain to you what they were, did I?¡±


    Alexandra shook her head, and Emilia looked at the table, then at her friend¡¯s frustrated expression as she studied the schematics. They really should continue to work on the teleporters, and avoid diverting their attention but...the poor woman deserved a break. Besides, wasn¡¯t she the one that said that one way to think your way out of a problem was to stop thinking about it altogether, and sometimes the solution would just come to you?


    ¡°Well, you know what? It might be time to remedy that.¡± Emilia got up, dusting off her dress. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s get you that political briefing. If nothing else, it¡¯ll help clear our minds.¡± She looked up at the screen. ¡°And it should prove pretty useful for later as well.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡± Alexandra sighed, and stretched, before nodding toward the door. ¡°Command center?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. And I¡¯m going to need to spread a lot of maps. Mind making a table there?¡±


    ¡°Sure thing.¡± Alexandra smiled. ¡°Actually, I might just make it permanent. What kind of command center doesn¡¯t have a map room, or a map table at least? Maybe I should project it on the wall, that would be neat. Or perhaps even¡­¡±


    Emilia shook her head and followed her friend into the hallway.


    Here we go again.

 Chapter 36 - Rebirth

    Chapter 36


    Red Sands Desert, Contested Border Region


    Expeditionary Camp, Expeditionary Heavy Cruiser Alberta


    ¡°Captain!¡±


    Calder blinked and looked up from the spreadsheets and books laid out on the desk before him as the lieutenant erupted into his cabin.


    ¡°Yes, lieutenant?¡± he replied calmly.


    ¡°Sir, the lookout has sighted no fewer than three ship balloons coming from the northeast!¡±


    Calder immediately pushed his chair back and stood up.


    ¡°Ah! That would probably be the first convoy. Still, better safe than sorry. Take the ship to battle stations, lieutenant, and signal the Sakura to take off and join us into battle formation. And do send a signal groundside to warn them of the approaching vessels.¡±


    ¡°Aye aye, sir! Take the ship to battle stations, signal the Sakura to take off and join us in formation, and signal the grounders about the approaching ships!¡± the lieutenant repeated, before disappearing through the door at his captain¡¯s approving nod.


    ¡°Well, apologies for the delay, but duty calls I¡¯m afraid,¡± Calder said, as he smiled crookedly at his ship¡¯s purser, who he had been doing the numbers on their operational expenses less than a minute ago.


    The purser smiled back and shook his head.


    ¡°It¡¯s perfectly fine, sir. Besides, I need to get geared up.¡±


    ¡°Fair enough; dismissed.¡±


    The purser saluted him before running out of the cabin, and Calder gave his office desk one last look before grabbing his cane and hat and heading for the door himself. Hopefully, all of this excitement would prove unnecessary, but he wasn¡¯t taking any more chances, after the mess that had happened with the commando raids.


    He smiled as the battle station alarm started sounding throughout the ship and made sure his clothes were spotless, adjusting them slightly before stepping outside. It was time to fulfill the most important duty of the captain: look calm and supremely unconcerned by their potentially approaching doom.


    *****


    Allya tried to keep her expression calm as she waited. It wasn¡¯t especially easy, even for her.


    The problem was that less than fifteen minutes ago, Captain Calder had managed to establish communications with the lead ship of the approaching convoy and confirmed their identity, thanks to a series of challenges and response codes provided by Elkaryos. He¡¯d also been able to confirm that the lead ship was a warship flying the colors of the Kingdom...and had the crown pennant. Now, unlike what people thought, that didn¡¯t mean that a member of the royal family was onboard (otherwise, it would be flying the Kingdom¡¯s flag with the crown on it), but it did mean that a royal envoy or equivalent was onboard, which suggested all sorts of possibilities, not all of them palatable.


    Allya gazed at the incoming ship once more. It looked...not bad, perhaps, but definitely diminutive compared to the Alberta or the Sakura. Then again, that was hardly surprising. It was supposed to be a regular, commercial convoy escort ship, not an expeditionary ship or an outright warship.


    A few minutes later, the ship banked, and began its final approach, steadily losing altitude, and the baroness had to stop herself from cringing as it looked like it was going to crash for a second before the ship reverted its propellers and seamlessly stopped in place. Ropes were thrown over the side, and ground crews swarmed to tie the ship down to the anchoring pillars. Then, a single flight of boarding stairs deployed, and a lonely figure stepped on it.


    Allya squinted. It wasn¡¯t so much that the sun was bad¡ªshe had long since adjusted to the light levels here¡ªbut that the person seemed to be a mirror.


    Or that they¡¯re so covered in gold and jewels as to be essentially the same.


    The person went down the boarding stairs, then made a beeline for the welcoming delegation, and Allya had to suppress a frown as details became more easily visible. The person heading toward them was indeed practically covered in embroidery and bullion, with jewels glittering all over his outfit. But he also had an air of purpose about him. There was no doubt in her mind that he was the royal envoy, but he also carried himself like a warrior, despite his seemingly unblemished face. The envoy briefly scanned the group in front of him before settling on Allya and Pyn, obviously recognizing their medallions of nobility.


    The envoy stopped a respectful meter away from her and bowed deeply, and Allya¡¯s eyebrows rose. It was unusual, as far as she knew, for a royal envoy to do that for any but the most influential nobles. And given the few gasps she heard, she wasn¡¯t the only one thinking so.


    ¡°Baroness Aub¨¦toile.¡± He bowed again, slightly less deeply, to Pyn. ¡°Knight Windwrath.¡± He straightened up. ¡°I am Sharez Oria, royal envoy of their majesties King Elker the Third and Queen Elais the First. I bear messages from their majesties to you and would like to ask for an audience.¡±


    Allya graciously nodded.


    ¡°Of course. I am at the service of their majesties. Please, Envoy Oria, follow us.¡±


    *****


    ¡°Looks like they¡¯re getting visitors,¡± Emilia said, and Alexandra briefly left her dungeon view and design software to look at the screens.


    ¡°Yep. Fresh meat,¡± she replied, before going back to her schematics.


    She was currently trying to make some sort of elevator. She¡¯d decided hours ago that the teleporters were simply too complicated to be available fast enough, and thus had switched to an elevator. The safeguards to prevent adventurers from hijacking it and skipping floors would have to be thorough, but she was confident she would be able to make suitably discouraging security systems.


    She was also still processing the implications of the political briefing that Emilia had given her. It had been stunning, to say the least.


    Currently, she was on the Arkan continent. She didn¡¯t have precise numbers in terms of size, but it seemed comparable to South America back on Earth. The continent was roughly divided into three parts. In the north, the Saphire Kingdom occupied the frozen hills of Discovery to the east, and the Asarian Kingdom occupied the rest of the habitable area of the northern continent. The powers were separated by a massive mountain range called the Barrier Mountains, which was fortunate. The kingdoms hated each other¡¯s guts, most notably because the Asarian Kingdom was technically a rebellious province of the Saphire Kingdom and had caused the collapse of the formerly continent-spanning kingdom by starting a massive civil war called the War of Shattering almost a millenia ago.


    Then, separating the two halves of the continent was the Red Sands desert. That was the place she was in the middle of, apparently (although the sand wasn¡¯t red). The entire desert was basically a giant wasteland, with a few oases that were sort of habitable. The Red Sands desert pretty much only had a single subdivision, and that was the ¡°Lost Sands¡± to the west. It was called a ¡°Death Zone,¡± and apparently, ancient automatons from the Great Night still walked around there, destroying all intruders. Which, all on its own had terrifying implications.


    Finally, the southern part of the continent was home to four nations, and it was pretty much one hell of a clusterfuck. For starters, the Elkis Republic, the dominating power of the area, had been busy in the last few centuries peacefully integrating, and then aggressively conquering everyone around it. The result was that it encompassed most of the continent¡¯s southern habitable lands...and all of the remaining independent nations despised them.


    Two of those nations were the Far Reach, which was some form of clan-based confederacy living in the mountains of the same name to the southwest, and the Tark Hegemony. Now that nation was interesting, as it was essentially one giant city-state with a handful of satellite territories on the southeastern tip of the continent, isolated from the rest of it by a mountain chain called the Protector Mountains. And according to Emilia, it was by far the most technologically advanced nation of the continent, and the only reason it had survived the Republic¡¯s onslaught when it had inevitably come for them was because of its technological superiority. They¡¯d also managed not only to beat back the Republic but to take territory from it, annexing a substantial number of towns on the other side of the Protector Mountains, apparently both to feed their capital and serve as a buffer zone. She¡¯d earmarked that nation for later and added finding and contacting their representatives to her TO-DO list, as she was sure they would prove excellent friends to have for a variety of reasons, some of which she was definitely not telling Emilia just yet.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    The last nation on the continent was the city-state of Gorromar, and that one had just...puzzled her. It was, essentially, a military junta. A functional, long-term military junta, which was just all sorts of wrong to her perception of things. Back on Earth, purely military-run governments either tended to collapse fairly quickly or simply froze in place in terms of innovation, and retreated into near-total isolation. Well, she guessed the Japanese Empire had done it, more or less, but still. Apparently, however, Gorromar had done it, and although the city-state (whose ¡°city¡± would have made Belgium look small) was pretty isolationist, it was also steadily churning forward in terms of innovation and industrial power, which was just fascinating. It was also, apparently, founded by the remnants of the staff of a Planetary Defense Center of the Age of the Gods, which meant that they possessed a lot of Old World artifacts. Alexandra had earmarked them as well, but she frankly didn¡¯t have high hopes of getting as much out of them, as unlike the Hegemony, they hadn¡¯t been under attack from the Republic and thus weren¡¯t under considerable pressure to find friends and allies to assist them.


    Oh, and at the very south of the continent was another Death Zone called Seaside 9, although according to Emilia, that area was more home to mutated monsters than anything else, but was actually traversable, at least by sea, if you were careful enough.


    Still, it was...very edifying. The most important thing, however, was that it seemed that there were significant disparities in technology levels, similar to the nineteenth century on Earth, where Europe had pretty much outpaced the rest of the world thanks to the industrial revolution, and begun using that newfound superiority to colonize, conquer, or pretty much vassalize everyone they could get at. In fact, the technological differences seemed even greater here than they had been on Earth, with the Tark Hegemony apparently using bolt action rifles and howitzers while the Republic fought with crossbows and medieval-style bronze cannons.


    Central to her concerns, however, was the fact that she was apparently right in the middle of a deeply conservative, nearly obscurantist kingdom, and an extremely expansionist republic. That wasn¡¯t good, to say the least. Especially since said obscurantist kingdom was the one controlling the surface right now, and she wasn¡¯t exactly optimistic about their chances of winning.


    Emilia giggled, and Alexandra abruptly snapped out of her thoughts.


    ¡°I suppose you could say that." Calling them fresh meat was a bit cold-blooded, especially for Alexandra, but she could tell the Earth-born was half joking. "Still, it is nice to see the dungeon town grow. There are never enough adventurers to go around. Besides, they might be carrying a communication crystal!¡±


    Alexandra nodded.


    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± She blinked as she checked her schematics, and realized she¡¯d already completed them while she was thinking. ¡°Oh, and the elevator is done. Ready to test it?¡±


    ¡°Sure!¡± The vampire girl stood up. ¡°Are you certain the safeties will be enough though?¡±


    Alexandra looked at the oversized bouncing betty warhead in the middle of the elevator platform, safely hidden in its core, and chuckled.


    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry. Even if they get in somehow, they¡¯re unlikely to enjoy the experience.¡±


    *****


    ¡°A frontier principality?¡± Allya said, failing to keep astonishment out of her voice.


    ¡°Yes, milady. Their majesties are well aware of the...delicate situation your domain is in, geographically, and in recognition of that, they are willing to make you, and your knight, rulers of a new frontier principality. You will, of course, still be subject to the royal tax, and the domain tax, but your domain will enjoy all the prerogatives of¡ªand subject to the limitations of¡ªa frontier principality.¡±


    ¡°I...am stunned by the offer. Truly I am. If you would let me convene with my knight and advisors before I give you an answer?¡± There was no need to mention that in this case, her only advisor was pretty much said knight, who was sitting by her side and didn¡¯t seem to understand what all the fuss was about.


    ¡°Of course, milady, I would hardly expect anything else.¡± The envoy chuckled before his expression turned serious once more. ¡°Although I must receive an answer before sundown. I trust that will be enough time?¡±


    Allya nodded.


    ¡°It should. Now, if you¡¯ll excuse me.¡± She gestured at Pyn, stepped out of her office, and entered the command room, carefully closing the door flap and turning on the soundproofing enchantment behind her, before sitting down on the map table. ¡°Well, that was unexpected.¡±


    Pyn pulled up a chair and sat down, looking at her questioningly.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure I get it. I mean, why is this so important? Isn¡¯t a frontier principality just a border territory?¡±


    Allya sighed.


    ¡°It¡¯s...complicated. A frontier principality isn¡¯t just a border territory. It¡¯s like a nation within a nation.¡± Allya waved her hands, struggling with explaining a concept she¡¯d grown up with as a scion of a noble family, to someone who barely even thought of themselves as a noble to begin with. ¡°See it like this. Nobles usually have a whole chain of vassalage. A baron usually owes fealty to a count, like we do with the Count of Darthar. Then that count owes fealty to a duke, in this case, the Duke of Sarth. Then, depending on the nation you are in, or where you are in some nations, the duke either answers directly to the crown or answers to an archduke. The Asarian Kingdom doesn¡¯t have archdukes right now, although the title existed in the past, but it was abolished after the civil war one hundred sixty years ago. So the Duke of Sarth answers directly to the king and the queen. Still following?¡±


    Pyn nodded, and Allya took a deep breath.


    ¡°Well, to put it simply, a frontier principality is exempt from that. The ruler of a frontier principality¡ªtechnically a prince or princess, although the regular noble title is used anywhere but in official correspondence or announcing your list of titles¡ªanswers directly to the crown, period. And there¡¯s a bunch of advantages on top of that. We aren¡¯t subject to military levies, for one, since we¡¯re basically assumed to be needing them too badly to spare any meaningful amount, and we¡¯re subject to only two taxes, the crown tax on our income, and the domain tax on how much land we own. The rest, the dues to the count, the duke, or even special military taxes or others, don¡¯t apply to us.¡±


    Pyn whistled softly.


    ¡°That¡¯s...That¡¯s awesome! Why would anyone refuse this then?¡±


    ¡°Well...¡± Allya winced. ¡°There are some limitations. First, as a frontier principality, we¡¯re expected to basically take care of our own defense. We can call the crown for help of course, but we can¡¯t directly ask the count or the duke for help, since we¡¯re no longer their responsibility. And next, and what most people find the most problematic, is that we¡¯re excluded from the council of nobles.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s...like the Confederacy parliament, right?¡±


    ¡°Sort of. Except that in the Asarian Kingdom, it¡¯s also a requirement for office. In short, as long as we are a frontier principality, we can¡¯t vote in it, and we cannot have a member of our houses be eligible for a minister post, or generalship in the Royal Host, should it be assembled for war.¡± She shrugged. ¡°That might not seem like much, but any position of high office in the Kingdom wields immense power and influence, and quite frankly has a considerable amount of graft as well. In our case, however, that might turn out to be an advantage. A very big advantage.¡±


    ¡°How so?¡±


    ¡°Well, we don¡¯t really have to worry about supplementing our revenue stream by diverting government contracts or building projects to our own lands, thanks to the dungeon that makes those avenues pretty much insignificant in comparison, and we won¡¯t have a problem getting people to invest here without having to divert some subsidies. Sure, we won¡¯t get a vote in the Kingdom¡¯s laws and policies, but at the same time we won¡¯t get tangled in the mess that is the realm¡¯s politics either.¡± She shrugged. ¡°Personally, I¡¯d say yes. The benefits are well worth it...and quite frankly, just being able to step outside of the snake pit of noble politics, even if partially, is more than worth it for me, let alone all the tax benefits.¡±


    Pyn nodded.


    ¡°I agree...I think. But why would their majesties propose that to us? I mean, what do they have to gain?¡±


    Allya shrugged and gestured at the map she was partially sitting on.


    ¡°Who knows? I suspect it¡¯s mostly a question of internal and international politics though. You have to remember that they must really want to keep us intact and prevent the Republic from gobbling us up if they can. Thus, having us drawn into the Kingdom¡¯s politics, and probably be caught in the crossfire of the different factions vying for dominance, would most likely weaken us considerably, at least in the short term. So they¡¯re taking that out of the equation while at the same time giving us enough of an imperative to stand on our own two legs and use all of that nice tax rebate to build a military force to defend ourselves with, instead of paying it to our own lieges.¡± She frowned. ¡°Actually, that might be another reason. They¡¯re probably trying to prevent the count or the duke from dipping into our pockets as well, for whatever reason.¡± She shrugged again. ¡°We¡¯ll probably have to find out later, but right now it doesn¡¯t matter. Are you sure you want to accept? There¡¯s no going back on this, at least for a while.¡±


    Pyn nodded, a bit hesitantly at first, then more firmly.


    ¡°Yes. If that keeps us out of the sort of games that sick bastard that almost got my parents executed got up to, that¡¯s more than worth it for me.¡±


    ¡°Excellent! Then come on, let¡¯s announce it to our guest, and then get whatever else he¡¯s come to tell us out of the way.¡±


    Allya got up, quickly followed by Pyn, and made a beeline for the tent flap, opening it and stepping inside her office again, where the envoy was patiently waiting.


    ¡°Envoy Oria, we have decided to accept their majesties¡¯ proposal.¡±


    The envoy smiled.


    ¡°That is wonderful news! Then, the only thing I need is the name you desire for your domain. Ideally, it should be the same name as your capital, especially given how central it will prove to be to you early on.¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡± Allya froze. She hadn¡¯t truly thought about it. She¡¯d assumed they¡¯d only get around to naming the dungeon town once they were firmly established or something.


    She frowned and looked over at Pyn, who met her gaze and then had a flash of inspiration. She mouthed a single word, and Pyn looked at her steadily, before smiling and nodding. Allya turned back toward the envoy and announced gravely:


    ¡°Our domain, and our capital, shall be known as Rebirth, Envoy Oria.¡±

 The Fallen World Book 3 : Victory or Death is live on Amazon !

    </a>


    Hello everyone !


    This is to tell you guys that book 3 of The Fallen World, titled Victory or Death, is now available on Amazon ! It should be the 20th on the entire planet and thus the book should be available everywhere ! It is available in ebook and paperback format. If you want to support the story and get an enhanced version of it, don''t hesitate to buy it ! Here''s the link to the book''s amazon page if you''re interested : https://geni.us/FallenWorld4</a>


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    If you buy it, don''t hesitate to leave a review. You guys know I rarely ask for that and am hugely uncomfortable doing so, but it would really help the story a ton. Thank you.


    The novel includes chapters 34 through 85, for a total of 150k pages, or 550 pages worth of text for the novel. The entire novel had some rewrites, some which you saw yourself on Royal Road (chapter 80, notably), others which will be exclusive to the novel, not to mention a giant mass of edits and corrections to make the novel more readable. Interlude 2 through chapter 85 have been taken off of Royal Road, but chapters 34 through 36 remain, and have been updated with the novel''s edited and corrected text.


    To celebrate the launch chapter 127 will be posted tomorrow, the 21st of June !


    I also got some sweet promotional art for the novel :


    I hope you''ll enjoy the chapter and the novel, provided that you decide to buy it ! Playwars, out.

 1 year of The Fallen World : A Dungeons Story

    Hello everyone ! I''m back, and this time it isn''t for a chapter.


    Warning : dumb rant by overly emotional author who likes to hear themselves talk ahead.


    1 year and 3 days ago, on the 21st of september, 2020, at 16h18, european time, I posted the prologue for this story.


    It...has been quite the ride since then.


    As this is written, the story contains 289 581 words, or by RR''s calculations a total of 1 053 novel pages. There is more text of course, patreon chapters for one, plus all the associated lore files that haven''t been posted on RR and such, but this number will do. That makes it an average of 786 words per day, rounded down, which given the fact that this is my first experience with sustained writing without total burnout, let alone while attending and succeeding a full university year amidst a very chaotic time, I''m very happy with.


    I suppose the first thing I should adress is : what''s next ? Well, I don''t know. Not exactly anyway. But, I do have some plans.


    As some of you have heard in my author''s notes, my university requires me to do a 3 months internship within the start of april to the absolute maximum end point of the end of july. Due to this, one of my objectives is to accumulate an absolute minimum backlog of 12 chapters in preparation for this internship, so that even if I am not capable of continuing to write during that period the upload schedule will continue. That means that from now on I am lifting the limit I had set of 11 chapters in the backlog until I started clearing it out by posting biweekly chapters. If the backlog gets stupidly big (read 25+ chapters), then I will revise that, but until then I have to take precautions.


    Next, at some point I am planning to do a full, professional edit of the story, plus a full reorganization of chapters, with the sight of posting the story on amazon. Note that I will never, ever set this story on kindle unlimited and thus withdraw it from Royal Road bar a total and absolute emergency. So the story will still be fully available, on Royal Road (and potentially other sites as well later down the road), for totally free. There''ll just be a tidier, more cleaned up version on amazon for those who are interested in that or want to support me without becoming a patron.


    Stolen story; please report.


    As for the story itself, well....there''s a lot left to write. Believe it or not, we still have not left the second large arc I set up for this story (arc 0 being the prologue, and arc 1 being until the wasteland expedition touched down on Alexandra''s front door). I had the outline of the third arc done before I started writing the prologue. Of course I have kept adding stuff as we went on, but still, there should be plenty of material left for me to continue writing on it.


    Now, I know this is already getting long, but I want to talk about some stuff relating to the story.


    This story...was never meant to be one of my main, long term projects. I originally created it purely to get much needed feedback on my writing style. That''s it. It was never meant to become something more, but oh boy it has. It is now my main writing project, and one of my longest running personnal projects, dwarfed only by my main, ''big'' writing universe, which I''ve been planning and writing lore for for 9 years at this point (half of it in French, which is...interesting to translate. Let me tell you, French and English naval terminology does not mix well). I had actually paused a novel project set in that universe (which I got 42k words in) to create this story to get the feedback I need to judge if I was actually writing good stuff or not. Apparently so....not without a significant amount of hiccups.


    Now however this story has turned into something much bigger for me. Alexandra, Emilia, Allya and Pyn, with all of their associated enemies, allies, henchmen, ect are firmly stuck in my head, and I doubt I could stop writing for this story even if I wanted to XD. I''ve also, almost unintentionally, created a community of readers, both here and on my discord, which I am very proud of (yes, even you guys suggesting I make golems after eldritch horrors from my worst nightmares in the dungeon suggestions channel). I now mostly hang out -lurk being such an impolite term- in my discord with my own reader base, cracking jokes, exchanging memes and answering questions about the story, and generally having a good time.


    Of course, this hasn''t been the smoothest of rides. There have been issues of course, construction, massive fuck ups, from myself and my university, and a whole range of other problems. But overall, it has been more than worth it.


    I''d have loved to celebrate this one year anniversary on the day with another chapter, but unfortunately I thought the 1 year anniversary would be on the 29th, and I was too busy these last few days to check again to make sure I hadn''t remembered it wrong. So, unfortunately you''ll just get this message with me ranting ^^.


    Alrighty then, I think I should end this here before I go into a full chapter of me ranting about stuff. Let''s go for one more year of this this story, shall we ? Then, another, ect. See you on saturday for chapter 51 !

 Halloween Special

    Chapter [ERROR]


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth.


    Dungeon Factory, Workshop.


    "What....is that?"


    Alexandra smiled as she turned around, and brought up the carved pumpkin.


    "It''s a pumpkin! For halloween!"


    Emilia opened her mouth, then closed it.


    "O....kaaayyyy? And what are you going to do with it? For that matter, where did you get it?"


    "Oh a lot of things. And one of the adventurers was carrying one around, don''t ask me why. His party got wiped, and ta-da!"


    "....Right. What sorts of things? I can understand the christmas celebration, but we can hardly have CQ go around the dungeon trick and treati..." Something in Alexandra''s eyes made Emilia freeze in place. "No. No no no you did not!"


    "She wanted to have some fun!"


    "You sent CQ to go around trick and treating adventurers?!?"


    "Yeah! I mean, I sent her with an escort. A large escort. And hey, it''s good fun, either they pay up in treats, or they have to fight her and her guards!"


    "Right. And on what floor did you send her?"


    Alexandra winced.


    "The first one, since most groups don''t get to the second one, not on a regular basis anyway." The Earth born shrugged. "I know, some noobs will get stomped, but hey, I did put up a warning sign, and a new quest!"


    Emilia rose an eyebrow, and Alexandra snapped her fingers, causing a handful of screens in the workshop to light up. The vampire advisor looked up, and her eyebrow rose higher as she saw what the screens were showing.


    One was a sign, a good old wooden spike and plank sign with the following written on it:


    Beware, adventurers!


    For the Crimson Queen''s hunger has been awakened,


    Satisfy her with sugary offerings, or suffer the consequences!


    A cluster of adventurers were currently reading it.


    The next one showed the entrance hall, where the quest screen was currently empty, save for a warning and a quest:


    WARNING: The Crimson Queen is loose on the 1<sup>st</sup> floor. Bring her offerings of sweets or fight her to the death!


    New Quest (Repeatable): A group of Jack o'' Lanterns have taken over some of the dungeon''s defenders. Slay them, and be rewarded! Current locations: 1<sup>st</sup> floor, 8<sup>th</sup> room ; 1<sup>st</sup> floor, 16<sup>th</sup> room ; 2<sup>nd</sup> floor, roaming the ruins; 2<sup>nd</sup> floor, destroyed temple; 2<sup>nd</sup> floor, water temple entrance hall.


    This panel wasn''t being read by anyone, but that was mostly because adventurers were still only allowed one group per hour, although Alexandra had made some noises about raising that once they worked out the kinks of the logistics system, and, well, finish rebuilding their golem stocks. Since she hadn''t actually bothered to recover her destroyed golems after the battle, and simply told the adventurers to take them -she''d said it would be more trouble than it would be worth to reclaim them, although Emilia had a sneaking suspicion the Earth-born had a second motive about this-, they''d had to rebuild their numbers while simultaneously fixing the damage to the entrance and sustain the adventuring delves.


    "Okay...but still, aren''t you afraid that CQ, will, you know...."


    "Get killed?" Alexandra sighed, and shrugged. "I don''t know. I mean, I know she''ll be fine if she ''dies''. She doesn''t even seem to care about just being brought back either, she just treats it as being asleep it seems. Besides, she seems to be having a ton of fun, with the preparation and all."


    "The preparation?"


    "Oh, right. Here." Alexandra gestured at a corner of the workshop, and Emilia stepped around one of the shelves packed with prototypes to get a good look....and gasped. "What....happened?"


    It looked like someone had let loose a tornado inside of a pumpkin field. And then tossed a bunch of fireballs and blades in the same tornado for good measure. Gods, she''d seen the blade swarm spell, notorious for it''s....messiness, leave a cleaner aftermath than this!


    Alexandra chuckled as she twirled a knife in her hands.


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    "I gave CQ a bunch of knives and a pile of pumpkins. Then told her that if she wanted to, she could carve them however she wanted for her guards to wear. And, well, she got some of them in here to teach them how to carve the pumpkins themselves." The Earth-born shook her head. "They, ah, aren''t exactly dextrous to begin with, let alone wearing full plate armor. They made something of a mess. And that''s without counting CQ''s...enthusiastic contributions as well."


    "I....see. How much damage?"


    "Had to replace 3 of the palace guards, and some of the armor pieces off of the Royal Guardians. The prototype cases held up." Unsurprising, given that they were basically a box of armor plating on a shelf. Alexandra trusted her prototypes to not explode at an inopportune moment, or not create a chain reaction, about as far as she could throw the entire mesa. "Had to replace a few tools and knives, but that was it. The tables held up, but, you know, they''re giant slabs of stone."


    "Right, fair enough. So....what now?"


    "Now." Alexandra patted her carved pumpkin. "I''m going to carve some more of those. I''ve pulled out a bunch of prototypes, and I''m planning to get them some field testing with the jack o'' lantern golems."


    "That''s...smart. And sneaky."


    "Yes, especially as I''m expecting half of them to explode. Come on, I can duplicate them, but I want to make some unique faces for each, and, well...you''re better at designing patterns or that kind of stuff than I am."


    Emilia hesitated. Carving pumpkins was messy at the best of times, and Alexandra wasn''t exactly the person not to put her hands in the grease, so to speak. But....it was always hard to get her dungeon core interested in anything resembling esthetics. It was an opening she had to take.


    Besides, she hadn''t had carved a pumpkin in forever!


    *****


    "There you are!"


    CQ lifted her head from her bag of treats, and looked at the strange group that had just entered the room. There was four of them, the one in front -and who had spoken - in shiny armor, with a man in robes wielding a staff by his side. Behind them was another man wielding a grimoire like mom, and a lady with a bow.


    So...fighter, mage, sorcerer, ranger, if she remembered mommy''s lessons right.


    "Yes?" She said as she rose, closing her bag of sweets. "Trick or Treat ? Have you come to pay me tribute?" She said in her best haughty tone.


    "No! We have come to stop your tyranny, and your sugary tributes! You have pumped our kin for too long for their riches! Ah, get it? Pumped, kin?"


    CQ tilted her head as the mage facepalmed and the sorcerer whacked the armored fighter behind the head. She wasn''t that familiar with the things her mothers called ''puns'', but she did know enough to know this was a bad one....and barely qualified to begin with.


    "So, you have come to challenge me?"


    "Yes! I am Runald Steinhaus, paladin and silver ranked adventurer! Know the name of the one who will end your pun-y reign of terror!"


    This time the paladin''s companions audibly groaned, and CQ winced. Hadn''t mom said that there was a paladin that annoyed her? One that made constant puns? If he was that one....Well, she was sure mom wouldn''t mind if she bent the rules a little. She was supposed to let them have the first strike after all, to prevent ''PKing'', whatever that meant.


    "Very well, then you have chosen...trick."


    Then she stepped, and she was no longer there. She looked straight into the sorcerer''s startled eyes, and slammed her sword to the hilt inside of his stomach, before taking it out and-


    Usually most adventurers were too stunned by her attacks to put up much resistance when she pulled that trick for the first time. These ones were obviously different however. The sorcerer''s bracelet suddenly glowed, and CQ flew through the room as a wave of force slammed into her like the fist of an angry god. She bounced on the ceiling, her crimson shield flashing around her, before slamming into the ground.


    She leapt back onto her feet, and was already dodging by pure reflex. And those reflexes served her well, as an arrow passed through where her head should have been. She raised her hand, palm directed at the ranger, and cast power beam.


    The human lady yelled out in agony as the beam of pure energy slammed into her, but the paladin, who had been engaged with 3 of her royal guardians at once, held out his hand, and shouted. His shield glowed, and a phantom of it materialized between CQ and the ranger, absorbing the beam, before shattering into a thousand pieces, which quickly dissolved into motes of light.


    CQ frowned. She knew what a mana construct looked like -after all, she was one-, but this one was...odd. Not pure, like her, more like a...copy. Just a pale imitation of the shield it had been bound to.


    She didn''t even bother to look at the mage as he pointed his staff at her, and simply stepped out of the way, teleporting in just the right place to stab in the back of the paladin''s knee.


    The paladin roared in agony, but took the hit without going down, and then swiftly decapitated one of her royal guardians, before whirling around, using his shield to block a series of attack by the last two guardians as he took a swipe at CQ.


    The boss simply took the hit, letting her shield take most of the damage for her....and then let go of her sword as she went under the paladin''s guard, grabbed a cylinder from her belt...and pressed it against the paladin''s chest. She met his eyes, smiled sweetly....and poured power into the activation rune a split second before stepping away.


    The room shook as the betty warhead detonated, and the paladin flew straight into her golem''s lines, taking out the two royal guardians he had been fighting by sheer virtue of hitting them at speeds arrows were supposed to fly, not people. He ended his course in her Royal Marksmen, killing 3 outright and scattering a handful of others, and CQ frowned as he started to rise again.


    Then she felt herself rise into the air, and she flailed in panic as she looked for the source of the spell.


    She found it rather quickly. The mage was pointing his staff at her, and made a wide motion with it, and CQ felt herself accelerating through the air. She hit her last royal guardian full force, reducing the golem to scrap as she slammed through him and then into a palace guard, staggering him long enough for the sorcerer, who was trying to hold it at bay as he downed a healing potion, to unleash a lightning bolt and kill it, singing CQ in the process.


    The boss looked up, her eyes dark. Combat was fair game, killing her was fair game, but using her as a mere projectile? That wouldn''t do. That wouldn''t do at all. The mage smiled, picked her up again with his magic, ignoring the crossbow bolts that were pinging off his magical shield, threw her...and she stepped.


    She''d lined herself up for a punch, having forgotten to retrieve her sword for a shot at killing the paladin. She''d expected to just hit the mage hard enough for him to lose concentration and lower his ward, and allow her golems to turn him into a pin cushion.


    Instead she discovered that she somehow conserved her momentum...and punched the mage at a speed better suited for a bullet.


    Her first crashed into the ward of protection surrounding the mage, causing it to shatter in a flash of light, and break CQ''s fingers....but her first continued on it''s way. First onto the mage''s thorax....then through it.


    CQ shook her head as they hit the wall, getting back up, and then stopping as her arm refused to follow. She looked down, and winced. The mage was....very, very dead. She didn''t know what had killed him, but the impact against the wall had surely broken his neck given the awkward angle his head had, and...well, her arm was currently stuck through his ribcage, and she could see her hand on the other side. She put her foot on his body, and ripped out of her hand with a sickening squelch, shaking it to get the worst of the fragments of spine and goefied organs off of it.


    Then she turned around to survey the battlefield. The ranger had gotten back up from the power beam...Right on time for her Royal Marksmen to choose her as a target. She''d probably dodged a fair bit of the bolts, but...well, she clearly hadn''t dodged enough of them, her lifeless eyes contemplating the ceiling as half a dozen bolts stuck out from her chest and head.


    The sorcerer was still up, but he was backed up against a wall by a trio of her palace guards, and as she watched, he was cut to pieces, apparently having run out of magic tricks. Then she turned to the paladin...just in time to see an armored fist fill her vision, and fly through the room, again.


    I need something to tie myself down to the floor. I''m tired of being thrown around! She thought to herself as she jumped back to her feet.


    The paladin...was missing his helmet, and several pieces of his armor. In fact, he looked exactly like....he''d been on the wrong end of a betty mine. Or several, actually. Behind him were the remains of her Royal Archmages and Royal Marksmen, reduced to pieces as they finished off the ranger, as well as the palace guards that should have protected them.


    She looked up at the paladin''s bleeding face. He looked young, despite his raven black beard and mustache, streaked with his own blood.


    "You....you..." He sputtered, before coughing. His armor had taken the brunt of the punishment from the betty, but he still seemed to have suffered some internal wounds.


    "It looks like your pun-y adventure is at an end paladin."


    The paladin froze, and chuckled.


    "Good one, but that won''t-"


    He didn''t even see the javelins thrown by the palace guards behind him coming.


    CQ contemplated his body for a few seconds, before shaking her head as she looked around the room.


    "I''m going to need some new guards. And more pumpkins."

 Christmas Special 2021

    Chapter ???


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth.


    Dungeon Factory, Command Center.


    "You know, even having visited what''s left of Afghanistan, and knowing that it isn''t just a permanent desert, I''m still surprised to see snow here."


    Emilia blinked, and looked up from her book.


    "Oh ? Ah, yes !" The vampire girl gazed at the snow covered landscape of the dungeon town on the screen. "A lot of people think the same about wastelands. Some of them truly are deserts, like here to some extent, but a lot of them have very temperate climates." Emilia sighed as she looked at a group of adventurers currently busy throwing snowballs at each other. "It reminds me a lot of home..."


    Alexandra perked up at the nostalgia and sadness in her advisor''s voice.


    "It''s very snowy, right ?"


    "Yeah. The manor is high up in the mountains, above the permanent snow line. It''s...peaceful."


    Alexandra had to stop herself from coughing. She''d seen an image of the ''ducal manor'' belonging to Emilia''s parents. If that was a manor then she was a Martian. The thing was basically a giant fortress embedded into the mountain. Granted there was some good pieces of civilian architecture at the top, but everything under that was a giant castle.


    "And cold."


    "Well, yes, but you don''t really notice it as a vampire." Emilia smiled. "Or as a dungeon core for that matter. We do have visitors from time to time from those we advise."


    "I''d thought you would be...closer to the dungeons."


    Emilia shrugged.


    "Dungeons are very used to long distance relationships, and so are we. After all, most dungeons have ties to others, but they can hardly just pick themselves up and go visit, and avatars are rare and pricy. There is still the occasional physical visit though."


    "We''ll have to do that sometimes."


    "After you''ve found a way to justify having an avatar, please."


    Alexandra smiled. She didn''t intend to just arrive with her avatar, and she was fairly sure showing up with an airfleet or an army would be a tad bit harder to explain than a single body. Probably. These peoples had weird priorities sometimes.


    "Of course !"


    "Good." Emilia sighed. "Well, I''ll go to the communication room, I have a few questions to ask mom about, you know, CQ and the whole succession shenanigans."


    "Right." Alexandra gazed at her advisor as she slowly left the room, the vampire girl giving the screen one last longing look, and sat back in her seat, before tilting her head, and turning around on her stool.


    "Say...Ella ?"


    The vampire maid, who had almost faded into the background of the command center, blinked.


    "Yes milady ?"


    "Those spells you looked at with Emilia, the ones for moving water...Could they be used to move frozen water ? Like, say...snow ? A lot of snow ?"


    The maid looked pensive for a second, before giving Alexandra the first truly warm smile she''d ever seen on the vampire''s lips.


    "A believe they could milady. Why is that ?"


    "You probably already guessed it. Could you please get Sarah here ? I know she''s supposed to follow Emilia around today, but surely she can excuse herself for a bit. I''ll get Jared and CQ to join us as well."


    "Yes milady, at once !"


    Alexandra looked back at the screens as the maid bowed her way out of the room, and all the screens flickered at once, before being replaced by views of the second floor.


    Now, let''s see if she remembered that lecture in Quebec, the one about the snow cannons...


    *****


    "Hey Alex, I came as fast as I could. What''s going on ?" Said Emilia as she stepped into the water temple. Oddly enough, despite the dungeon being closed for the night, Alexandra was accompanied by a small group of Praetorian guards. Actually, the guards looked a bit...singed.


    Emilia''s eyes narrowed. There was only one reason her dungeon core''s bodyguards would look like this.


    "Did you do an experiment behind my back again ?"


    Alexandra smiled.


    "Something like that." She held up her hands quickly as the vampire girl stepped forward. "It''s perfectly justifiable ! Look, Ella and Sarah helped me, and they think so as well ?"


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Emilia frowned, and looked to the side at the two maids, who solemnly nodded.


    "Alright then. What is it ?"


    "Oh I think you''ll love it." Said Alexandra, mysteriously, before activating the drawbridge...and Emilia''s jaw dropped.


    The second floor...The second floor was like a scene taken straight out of a fairytale. The ruins were covered in snow, and slowly a curtain of the white flakes continuously fell down from the ceiling.


    It took Emilia a solid ten seconds to stop staring, before looking back at Alexandra, the dungeon core smiling wildly.


    "What...H-How ?"


    "Well, I saw the way you were looking at the adventurers playing in the snow outside, and decided it''d be a good time as any to try out making artificial snow. Turns out, not that hard with enough mana. And ample amounts of experimentation. I also accidentally created a frost explosion spell, but that''s another discussion entirely."


    "Right..." Emilia looked around the floor, before focusing on CQ, who was currently busy making a snow man, with her pet manticore ''helping'' as best it could. Which is to say it ran around a lot and occasionally brought the bit of debris or golem to stick in the slowly growing...sculpture. "I see someone is already having fun."


    "Oh yeah." Alexandra smiled. "I might have taught her how to make a snowman. She kept asking what was the point of all that white stuff." The Earth-born coughed slightly. "I might have also taught her how to make snowballs. But she kind of just ordered her guards to mass produce them for her and hand them over to her to throw."


    "Jeez, I wonder who she gets that from ?" Asked Emilia, her voice dripping with sarcasm. They exchanged a look, and burst out laughing. "Alright. Well, if we''re meant to have fun..." Emilia''s gaze became outright devious, and Alexandra gulped. "I challenge you to a snowman building contest ! I obviously get Ella and Sarah on my side. Try to keep up !"


    Alexandra''s mouth opened, and closed as the vampire girl giggled, and started sprinting towards the fields of snow.


    "H-Hey ! No fair !" Said the Earth-born as she sped after her advisor, frantically calling golems to her rescue.


    *****


    "Well, if nothing else, it is helping with morale. Even among my men."


    Allya chuckled as she gazed upon the snowy vista of her city.


    "Wait until it starts getting everywhere, and people start getting sick. Then they''ll begin cursing it with all their hearts."


    Anders laughed;


    "Probably, yes. People will always find something to complain about. Especially soldiers."


    "Yep." Allya blinked as she heard the door to her mansion/residence open, and turned around to see Pyn walk out of the door. "What the-" The ex-assassin looked up and down at her girlfriend, desperately holding back her laughter...before failing miserably.


    "What ? I want to keep warm !"


    Allya, with a supreme effort of will, stopped laughing for a second to answer.


    "Honey, there''s a difference between keeping warm and turning yourself into a giant pile of...this !"


    Pyn huffed in annoyance, tried to cross her arms...and failed, making Allya fold over in laughter.


    The reason why was apparent to anyone even gazing at the elf. If it wasn''t for the slit that allowed her to see, or her pointed ears, people could be forgiven to mistake her for a golem made out of clothes and blankets. So many of them were stacked on top of the poor elf that she could barely move normally, and even then looked like some kind of horribly mutated penguin in doing so.


    Anders let out a more restrained cough, hiding his smile behind his hand.


    "It might be a bit more advisable milady to strip down some layers."


    The elf grumbled something about ''freezing hellscape'' and ''I''m no snow elf damn it'', before disappearing back into the residence, and Allya''s laughter finally dried up.


    "Well that was something." Simply said Anders, before looking suspiciously at the baroness. "And strangely out of character. Tell me milady, would you think someone, hypothetically of course, might have impressed over our dear knight that the weather would be much, much more colder and hostile when it was snowing than it truly would be ? After all, lady Pyn is from the Confederacy and their equatorial forests...And is unlikely to have ever seen snow in her life."


    Allya bit her lower lip, before regaining her composure.


    "That might have happened captain. However I can assure you, I have not the slightest idea who might have planted such ideas in our dear knight''s head. I for one, as a native of the Erisian Core, was completely truthful in my description of snow and cold weather."


    "Of course milady, of course." Said Anders, his face showing he was perfectly aware who had gotten the elf so worried about snow, before shaking his head. "Well, in that case, I''ll be going. I have guard posts to review." And probably break snow balls fight in.


    "Of course captain. And I will...assist lady Pyn in, ahem, shedding some layers as you so succintly put it."


    Anders nodded with his best poker face, before leaving, and making a note not to disturb the two nobles, or expect them to come out until the evening...Or even tomorrow knowing them.


    *****


    Allya groaned as she heard the insistent knocking on her door, and withdrew her head from her warm pillow.


    "What ?" She barked at the door as she touched a rune inlaid into her bedside table, deactivating the sound proofing enchantment, and heard a bit of shuffling behind the door.


    "Apologies milady, but guildmaster Starvak has sent for you. He says it''s about the dungeon." Answered ¨¦clair, and the baroness started swearing for a few seconds, before taking a deep breath.


    "Alright, tell him I''ll be there in a bit."


    "Yes milady !"


    Allya let go of the rune, and sighed.


    "What''s going on ?"


    Allya turned around, and saw her ''warm pillow'' move as Pyn sat up, and stretched, which had a nearly hypnotysing effect on her upper anatomy, before shaking her head and cursing Crystal.


    "Apparently something happened with our resident dungeon. I''ve gotta go. You can stay if you want."


    The elf shook her head.


    "If you''re going, I''m coming with you." She waggled her eyebrows. "If nothing else once we''re done, we can pick up where we left off."


    Allya blushed furiously, nodded, and then dashed to their clothing closet, pretending not to hear the elf''s laughter, not trusting herself to say anything without either sounding like a sappy idiot or just pouncing on her girlfriend.


    *****


    "She what ?" Said Allya as she stared incrediously at the guildmaster.


    "She covered every floor in snow. The first adventuring party that went through is also reporting seeing strange new golems. According to them they have been equipped with some kind of strange hats, and bags bulging with miscallenous loot."


    Allya opened her mouth, and closed it.


    "...Okay. So what you''re saying is that we have a snow filled dungeon...And a bunch of santa golems running around ?"


    "In short ? Yes."


    The baroness sighed, and pinched the bridge of her nose, before looking up.


    "Let me guess, the adventurers are getting crazy ? Again ?"


    "Very much so. There''s also been an...interesting offer made by Crystal via one of her golems at the entrance, which I believed you would be very interested in hearing."


    "Which is ?"


    "She is proposing to double the amount of adventuring parties allowed today. Specifically a party every 30 minutes. To ''test my capability to sustain delves to it''s fullest extent'', or so she said."


    Allya licked her lips.


    "That is...a very interesting proposal." In fact it was far more than that. If it became the norm her flegling principality''s income would literally double. Allya mentally shook herself as she pushed back her greed. There was a catch, there had to be. "I suppose she had some conditions to it ?"


    "Yes, as a matter of fact. She insisted that adventurers be made aware that due to this, they might encounter golems meant for other adventuring parties...on their way back up, if they do not make it past a boss and take the elevator back."


    Allya winced. That...would be a slaughter. She knew adventurers all to well, and most parties would stop only when they feel like they''re about to get their asses kicked...and then get trapped by a bunch of golems as they tried to fall back.


    "That''s...going to result in a lot of casualties."


    "That''s my assessment as well. But I am planning to warn any volunteering party about the inherent dangers."


    Allya chuckled.


    "Do you believe they''ll listen ? At least well enough to actually take precautions when more loot is just around the corner ?"


    The guildmaster winced, and Allya shook her head.


    "Alright, well, tell me how it went tomorrow." She looked to the side at Pyn. "I have, ah, business to finish."


    Starvak nodded, smiling.


    "Of course !"


    *****


    "Well, if nothing else this is working nicely."


    Emilia nodded, and smiled widely as she looked at the group of adventurers trying to fight the golems of the second floor through the snow. And failing miserably.


    "Yes, yes it is ! Quite the cherry on top for today, wouldn''t you agree ?"


    Alexandra hid a wince. She was glad her dungeon advisor was feeling better, but she would have hoped it would have come at less of a cost, especially as the vampire girl had decided that whoever won the variety of increasingly improbable snow art contests would gain the same thing from their bets. Emilia alone had been bad enough to compete against, but with the expertise of her maids they''d just rolled over her and her hastily composed team. Even with CQ and Jared to help they''d only managed to hold back the onslaught. Maids, let alone ex special forces soldiers, had no rights being that good at making snowmen, or other types of snow art ! At least they''d won the contest before they''d limited the size of snowmen, and banned her from just designing it in her interface. They could design pretty things, but with a thousand golems at her finger tips, she could build big.


    "Yes, indeed."


    "Soooo, about those 16 hours of design..."


    "14 ! I won the last contest !"


    "A cathedral made out of snow doesn''t qualify as a snow house !"


    "Yes it does !"


    The two fell into their familiar bickering, and CQ and the maids watched in fascination as Sarah unobtrusively began passing around some popcorn.


    Some things never changed, Christmas or not.

 The Great Archives (Nations)

    Short note about Alexandra''s location :


    The world the story takes place on is called Alcheryos, and the continent Alexandra is situated on is called Arkan. Alexandra''s dungeon is currently located in the Red Sands Desert, in the wasteland between the Asarian Kingdom and the Elkis Republic.


    <u>Nations :</u>


    The Eris Empire :


    The largest, most technologically advanced and most powerful nation on Alcheryos, the Eris Empire encompasses over half of the planet''s total population and industrial capability. The Empire is divided into 3 broad regions, notably the Core, the Periphery and the Protectorates, with a decreasing population density and overall technological level at each step. The Protectorates are more or less occupied territories, kept in line purely through the force of arms, and being ruthlessly exploited for their natural resources and cheap labor force by the corporations from the Core and Periphery. The Eris Empire''s military prowess is beyond legendary, so much so that just the threat of intervention from the Empire has changed the course of entire wars. However, the Empire is badly overstretched, and it''s Protectorates become more restive each day under it''s abusive rule...


    The Eris Empire''s military might is beyond counting or effective estimation, even by the Empire''s own generals and administrators. Equipped with fixed wing aircrafts, fleets of flying warships, and vast armies liberally provided with the newly introduced assault rifles, machine guns and all manner of armored vehicles, from armored personnel carriers to battle tanks, the Eris Empire''s forces are unmatched in sophistication and firepower on Alcheryos.


    The Tark Hegemony :


    The Hegemony is the third most technologically advanced nation on Alcheryos, and a rapidly growing power, both on their home continent and the world stage. The repeated invasions from the Elkis Republic has ultra-militarized the Hegemony and it''s society, to the point that civilian leadership has been effectively sidelined from the entire executive branch. Despite all odds, the Hegemony has withstood the onslaught from their many times larger neighbour, and has grown stronger because of it, inflicting severe and humiliating defeats to the Republic, and grabbing vital pieces of territory in the process, causing a long, drawn out cold war between both powers. Nowadays the Hegemony is actively gearing up for a new confrontation with the Republic, supporting as many as it''s enemies as it can, and trying to bleed out the Republic with every minuscule cut before the cold war goes hot once more.


    The Hegemony''s military is extremely modern and highly experienced, universally equipped with bolt action firearms, field artillery, and even seeing the appearance of the first machineguns and battle tanks. It''s navies, both airborne and waterborne, are equipped with top of the line warships capable of going toe to toe with even Gorromar''s vessels. The price of quality however, is a lack of quantity, and the Tark Sky Fleet in particular is relatively small, causing the Hegemony''s government to order a massive airship building program.


    Gorromar :


    Gorromar is a city state, a country, an practically an entire culture. Formed from the remnants of a fanatically loyal group of survivors from the Great Night, rescued by the God of Fire from their crumbling bunker, they have established the single most stable and resilient society on Alcheryos. They are also a strange mix of extremely isolationist and interventionist, wanting to have nothing to do with the rest of the world, except when it comes to fulfilling their primary directive : protect the weak from oppression. Gorromar is unique in that while it is not very innovative and extremely conservative, it''s sheer stability has prevented the massive technological regressions that affected the rest of the world thanks to the Tesseract Crisis or the fall of the Orlov Empire. Thus it is the second most advanced nation on Alcheryos, and the single most powerful nation in raw military power on their home continent of Arkan. This is also compounded by the fact that Gorromar is one of the few factions on Alcheryos capable of producing technology from the Old World, albeit in very limited quantities.


    Gorromar''s military is the only one that could claim to be able to compete with the Eris Empire, man for man. Their soldiers are equipped with submachine guns and fully automatic rifles, as well as ever more compact and portable machine guns, and their armored vehicles are starting to look like something a Terran general from the second world war would have recognized.


    The Asarian Kingdom :


    The largest and most populous nation on the Arkan continent, the Asarian Kingdom has long been an expantionist nation. However, it is deeply obscurantist, it''s all too often abusive and power hungry nobility preferring to keep the lower classes as obedient and ignorant as possible. This has resulted in the kingdom being one of the least advanced nations on Alcheryos, sporting only medieval level of technology at best, incapable of even making basic firearms. The kingdom is also badly in need of reforms, it''s purely feudal hierarchy starting to break at the seems at the introduction of corporations or the ever cheaper consumer goods from the other nations of the world.


    It''s military, while formidable on paper, is mostly composed of poorly trained conscripts backed by knights, and sometimes supplemented with outright peasant levies, divided into numerous noble houses and very hard to coordinate. The Kingdom possesses virtually no flying warships of it''s own, and has to rely on imported ships for air defence. The one shining point in the kingdom''s military forces are it''s gryphon knight companies, most of which are made of nigh on fanatical soldiers trained for birth for combat, alongside their mounts. They make for formidable shock troops and more than one enemy has broken before their might. Unfortunately they are few and far between, and each gryphon knight lost can take years, or even decades to replace.


    The Elkis Republic :


    The second largest and most populous nation on the Arkan continent, the Elkis Republic used to be a symbol for the future, a shining beacon of democracy and peaceful expansion that promised a safe haven to all who wished to join it. Unfortunately that symbol is long gone, the once thriving democracy having been subverted by the oligarchical dynasties of it''s senate, calling themselves the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, who rule the Republic with an iron fist. For the past few centuries the Republic has been aggressively expanding outwards, attempting to conquer every one of it''s neighbours, and gobbling up most of the southern half of the Arkan continent. However, this expansion ran into it''s first roadblock 150 years ago, when the Republic''s attempt to starve the city state of Tark into submission backfired spectacularly, causing the formation of the Tark Hegemony, one of the Republic''s most bitter enemy. Another attempted invasion of the mountains of the Far Reach 15 years ago ended in absolute disaster, as the Republic''s entire invasion force was wiped out by a concerted attack from the dragons inhabiting the mountains, causing the Republic to almost completely break down under the strain. The Republic has now rebuilt it''s forces, and constant pressure from the Hegemony and the Far Reach has left it desperately looking for new sources of wealth and revenue, like, say, a newly born link dungeon....


    The Republic''s military is professional, decently trained and somewhat modern, with the appearance of entire regiments of musketeers, and dedicated artillery companies, equipped with rudimentary bombards and even some field guns. However the bulk of it''s forces are still very much medieval in nature. It is still in process of rebuilding from it''s devastating defeat 15 years ago, and as such very much lacks forces that are time consuming to train, like pegasus cavalry or gryphon knights. The Republic also completely lacks anything resembling a navy, as it was repeatedly annihilated during the wars with the Tark Hegemony, until the Republic simply gave up on the idea of maintaining meaningful sea going power. It''s airfleet however is nothing to sneeze at, and although it''s vessel don''t even come close to the Hegemony''s own warships, they are more than capable of holding their own given ground support or numerical superiority.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    The Saphire Kingdom :


    Once a kingdom spanning the whole of the Arkan continent, the Saphire Kingdom is now but a shadow of it''s former self. Confined to the snowy hills of Discovery, the kingdom has been struggling to continue to exist for centuries, before finally stabilizing. While it''s technology is in many ways no better than the Asarian Kingdom''s, the Saphire Kingdom is the undisputed magical masters of Arkan, and it''s magical universities are renowned even in the Eris Empire. What it cannot do with technology, it has with magic, from home appliances to agriculture.


    The Saphire Kingdom''s forces are badly depleted from the constant border skirmishes with the Asarian Kingdom, but it''s war mages are the single most dangerous of their kind outside of the Eris Empire''s War Mage Corps, and it still possesses the vast navy from the old kingdom, with hundreds of millenia old, but still massively armed magical galleons guarding it''s coasts against any and all intruders.


    The Far Reach :


    A disparate group of clans inhabiting the mountains of the same name, the Far Reach has sustained and successfully repelled a full on invasion from the Elkis Republic 15 years ago, notably thanks to it''s dragon inhabitants. Ever since the clans have been constantly raiding the Republic''s territory in revenge from the atrocities committed during the war. While not formally allied to the Tark Hegemony, it is an open secret that various clans retain close ties to the Hegemony and that considerable amounts of civilian and military hardware, as well as the engineers and soldiers accompanying them have passed into the Far Reach to help fight against the Republic. This assistance has, oddly enough, made the disunited collection of clans highly advanced and technologically savvy, allowing them to start building a technological base that outstrips the Republic''s.


    The Far Reach does not have a unified military as such, but it''s clanic warriors are infinitely more lethal than they used to be. Augmented by expatriated Tarkians and outright military advisors, alongside generous donations of modern military equipment, they sport some of the most dangerous guerilla fighters on the surface Alcheryos, with elite snipers and ambush forces massacring any Republic patrol foolish enough to intrude upon their territory. Their raiding forces are generally far less well equipped, or experienced, but they are still a force to be reckoned with in their own ways.


    The Loris Empire :


    A dwarven realm, the Loris Empire is a nation that has been slowly growing it''s technological might and industrial power. While nowhere near the levels of advancement of the Tark Hegemony, let alone Gorromar, it still has managed to make it''s name known as one of the few truly technologically advanced nations in Alcheryos.


    The Loris Empire''s military is transitioning from muskets to bolt action rifles, and while it does not sport armored vehicles per say, it does possess large and fairly modern air and water going navies.


    The Elven Confederacy of Eleria :


    A confederacy of elven realms, the Confederacy of Eleria was founded in response to the Eris Empire''s attempted colonization of it''s home continent. While not the most coherent or well organized of nations, it has succeeded in halting the Eris Empire''s expansion in the region, as the Confederacy is simply to large to simply roll over without a major war, which would push the Empire''s already badly stretched military beyond it''s breaking point. The Confederacy is somewhat infamous for being biggoted, notably towards what it sees as ''lesser races'', like orcs.


    The Confederacy''s military is...strange. Due to being a permanent coalition of technically still autonomous militaries, it encompasses both nearly worthless peasant levies and entire armies of professional soldiers, sometimes even armed with imported muskets and even more advanced weapons bought from the Tark Hegemony. Still, despite it''s patchwork nature the Confederacy''s military forces have shown a definite aptitude in working together and complementing each others'' strength and shoring up their weaknesses when the need arose, making them into a surprisingly deadly military force.


    The Trinity Federation :


    Formed out of 3 realms, a human kingdom, an elven one and a dwarven one, the Trinity Federation is an oddity in that it is a triumph of diplomacy over warfare. The 3 kingdoms had been locked in a deadly stream of seemingly never ending wars, the wasteland separating them being the only thing preventing them from trying to exterminate each others. Then, after centuries of fighting, a lasting peace was brokered by the Wyrm Edarconak the Greater, and thanks to the trade links established from that peace, the 3 nations grew closer together, before eventually unifying in a single nation.


    The Federation''s military forces are relatively small, but professional and extremely well trained. While the Federation itself is not particularly advanced, it''s military still sports a few cannons and muskets, mainly old surplus imported from the Tark Hegemony. The Federation''s real strength however comes from it''s vast airfleet, necessary to police and secure the wasteland separating it''s 3 member states, which could stand up to that of any other nation, bar the Eris Empire itself.


    The dark elven Kingdom of Arsir :


    A somewhat obscure realm (no pun intended), the kingdom of Arsir usually avoids the spotlight in international affairs, and tends to it''s own business. Of course, many claim that it is only a facade, and that the kingdom is just focusing on expanding it''s increasingly powerful trade networks through the Syndicate, trying to conquer their foes through trade and economic control rather than outright warfare.


    The Kingdom''s military is somewhat strange. While it does possess a core of professional, well trained soldiers, most of it is made up of volunteers with merely adequate training, who are then loaned off to the Syndicate, from which the survivors come back bloodied veterans. While this insures a steady supply of highly trained soldiers, it also means that a lot of it''s on paper military might is dispersed throughout the world rather than defending the kingdom itself. The kingdom''s low technology also means that it''s military is purely medieval in nature, bar a few specialized units equipped with imported Erisian equipment.


    The Western Marches :


    Officially a duchy, the Western Marches are truly a vast kingdom encompassing millions of souls. Vastly dominated by vampires, who fill virtually all of the higher echelons of society, the Western Marches have existed for so long no one seemed to remember quite when they came into being. What is known to some however is that the duchy was already in place when the Dawn of Flames happened, and the God of Fire negotiated directly with the Von Oswald dynasty, to acquire their services as advisors for his dungeons. What the Western Marches got in exchange, no one but them know....if that knowledge has even survived the ages. However there are persistent rumors that if the Western Marches were to fall, the Custodians of the Flame would personally intercede to prevent the extinction of the vampires, and even stranger rumors claimed that the vampires were originally super-soldiers from the Great Night, and were allowed to live for their treachery and crimes in exchange for their service to the God of Fire.


    The Western Marches boast quite possibly the single most dangerous military, man for man, out of any power on Alcheryos, bar the Order to Restore Humanity and the Custodians of the Flame, despite only having a medieval level of technology. It''s army is made out of elite regiments of vampires, backed up by human conscripts. While the latter are generally not that well trained, the former are nigh on unstoppable killing machines capable of individually massacring entire squads of experienced warriors. The Western Marches have also become rightly feared for it''s use of blood magic, sometimes sacrificing thousands of enemies, civilians or military, to destroy entire armies or even nations in impossibly powerful rituals.


    <u>Sub-divisions :</u>


    Sub divisions are parts of a wider nation, like a protectorate or autonomous region.


    <u>Notable subdivisions of the Asarian Kingdom :</u>


    Duchy of Sunrise :


    The largest and richest duchy of the Asarian Kingdom, the duchy of Sunrise is known for it''s vast trading port of the same name...and it''s relentless use of slave labor. The duchy has prospered on the back of it''s countless slaves and built it''s economy on their corpses. Due to this, and the highly ambitious nature of it''s rulers, the duchy''s relations with the crown have been tense at best, outright hostile at worse. It is no secret among the kingdom''s nobility that if a new civil war was to tear the kingdom apart, Sunrise would most likely lead it.


    Duchy of Sarth :


    The Duchy of Sarth englobes most of the southern frontier of the Asarian Kingdom, particularly the regions facing the Republic and the Death Zone of the Lost Sands, including the trade city of Darthar. Ruled by house Estogan for centuries, the duchy has long been fighting incursions both from abominations rising from the wasteland and Republic probes into the kingdom''s defenses.


    <u>Notable subdivisions of the Elkis Republic :</u>


    Autonomous Province of Eternity :


    Centred on the capital city of Eternity, built ontop of the Eternia Crystallis dungeon, the province of Eternity has long been a willing member of the Republic...right up until the first war with the city of Tark and the formation of the Tark Hegemony 150 years ago. After this war, the province, which had considerable trade ties with the beleaguered Hegemony, nearly broke off, and was effectively granted independence, operating autonomously in all regards and only being a part of the Republic on paper, and paying only the flimsiest of lip service to the Republic''s leaders. There are widespread reports of Hegemony military units moving into the province, as well as considerable amounts of ''advisors'' being sent to train and modernize the province''s military, a fact that has pushed the Republic to reinforce it''s border with the province, effectively turning it into another fortified defensive line in case of Tarkian incursion.

 Great Archives (Ship Classes of Earths Human Space)

    Standardized starship ratio : Most Human space going crafts have the same dimensional ratio, where the width and the height are 1/10<sup>th</sup> of the length, giving them the vague appearance of a oversized rocket covered in guns and armor. Thus, unless otherwise stated, all crafts will follow these dimensions.


    European Federation Star Navy :


    Glimmer-class light cruiser :


    Length : 300m.


    Tonnage : 270 000 m3.


    Armament type : Missile based, with kinetic weapons point defence and counter-missile launchers.


    The Glimmer class is old. Very old. In fact, original plans for it predate the European Federation itself, and were originally made by the European Space Defence Agency for the European Union. The first ship of the class was put in service in 2063, and the class itself continue serving until 2138, making it the longest serving warship class in the known universe beside the Hudson class cruiser. The ship was well known for being positively minuscule compared to more modern light cruisers, barely qualifying as a large frigate in fact. It was originally armed with a grand total of 16 missile launchers and 38 point defence guns, although thankfully the class was upgraded to use 18 missile launchers, 6 light railguns, and a total of 51 point defence gauss turrets, preventing it from becoming totally obsolete. The Glimmer was only deployed in direct fleet to fleet combat during the interplanetary wars, where it performed admirably, before being retired to a purely patrol and anti-piracy role in the early 2100s. This was mostly due to the announcement of the existence of hyperspace, and the decision not to equip the ageing Glimmers with hyperdrives.


    Eternity-class light cruiser :


    Length : 600m.


    Tonnage : 2 160 000 m3.


    Armament type : Missile based, with energy weapons point defence.


    The Eternity class is a reliable, advanced (although not cutting edge) light cruiser class originally introduced in response to the Alpha Centauri accident. Although the EFSN has stopped laying down more of them, as new constructions are focusing on the new Infinity class light cruisers, there were still 16 Eternity class in various states of construction and armament when Alexandra was precipitated into hyperspace.


    Infinity-class light cruiser :


    Length : 800m.


    Tonnage : 5 120 000 m3.


    Armament type : Missile/Energy weapons hybrid, with energy weapons point defence grid.


    The Infinity class is the cutting edge in terms of light cruisers. Specifically built to accompany and protect Dawnstar-class battleships, as well as to be able to fight an entire UIS frigate squadron on it''s own, these ships are one of the finest warship class in known space. At the time of Alexandra''s disappearance, only the leading ship of the class, the EFSN Infinity, was in service, with 3 more undergoing armament, and 18 in various states of construction.


    Starfire-class battleship :


    Length : 3.3 km.


    Tonnage : 359 370 000 m3.


    Armament type : (Mk1) Missile based, with energy weapons point defence. (Mk4) Token missile and long range energy weapons, massive energy weapons point defence array.


    The Starfire class is an older, but still reliable, battleship class originally built to project the EFSN''s power into the outer system and reliably guard the colonies around Jupiter and Saturn. This class is quite probably the single most produced battleship class for the EFSN, at around 36 put into commission, and 6 that were scrapped before completion to make room for the Dawnstar class. The class went through several iterations, where every ship was gradually upgraded to the new iteration through refits, named Mk1 through 4. Mk1 was the original run of the class. Mk2 was a series of upgrade to it''s systems and especially the installation of gravitational engines, allowing reliable long duration solar system wide deployments. Mk3 constituted the passage to a hyperspace capable warship through the installation of a hyperdrive. The Mk4 is a massive refit from a mostly missile based warship to a point defence and escort ship for the much heavier and better armed Dawnstar class.


    Nova-class battleship :


    Length : 3.6 km.


    Tonnage : 466 560 000 m3.


    Armament type : Energy weapons based, with energy weapons point defence.


    The Nova class is one of the ships introduced to the EFSN in response to the UISN''s new generation of dreadnought. Made above all else to be able to survive into a drawn out slugging match with the UISN''s new warships, the Nova-class sacrifices a degree of firepower and acceleration for insane redundancy and several times the armor of a normal battleship.


    Dawnstar-class super-battleship :


    Length : 6.8 km.


    Tonnage : 3 144 320 000 m3 or 3.144 km3.


    Armament type : Missile/Energy weapons hybrid, with energy weapons point defence.


    The Dawnstar class is the largest space going warship class ever put into service, let alone one with hyperspace capability. It is a last generation warship of the European Federation, representing the cutting edge of it''s technological and industrial might. In total, 6 Dawnstar class were ordered, although on the day that Alexandra was precipitated into hyperspace, only 3 had been fully commissioned, 2 were still being armed, and a single one was still in construction in the EFSN Aurore star yards.


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    United Interstellar States Navy :


    Ottawa-class light cruiser :


    Length : 400m


    Tonnage : 640 000 m3


    Armament type : Railgun based (short range kinetic weapons), minimal kinetic point defence capabilities.


    The Ottawa class is one of the strange semi-modern ships of the UIS. The class'' design is fairly old (it was first introduced in the 2130s), but it remains an impressive weapons platform. Particularly, the Ottawa class was always meant as an anti-piracy patrol ship (since most pirates cannot afford missiles) and a short range anti-corvette ship when in larger fleets. While it had steadily fallen into obsolescence, the resurgence of short range, direct fire weapons engagements with the EFSN''s new generation of warship has brought the Ottawa class back into the spotlight. In fact, the UISS Quebec (an Ottawa class) is the only ship to date to have managed to destroy a Nova class battleship, by somehow managing to score a direct hit on the Scarlet Nova''s primary reactor and causing it to suffer a catastrophic containment breach, destroying the entire ship.


    Enterprise-class Super-Carrier :


    Length : 4.8 km.


    Tonnage : 1 105 920 000 m3 or 1.105 km3.


    Armament type : Fighter based, with kinetic/energy weapons point defence capabilities.


    The Enterprise class is a testament to the UIS'' military industrial complex perseverance in it''s failures. Despite the Alpha Centauri campaign thoroughly proving spaceborne carriers to be obsolete against long range energy point defence weapons, the IUS'' massive military corporations managed to pass through the necessary bills to produce an even bigger class of carriers. Fortunately, the Winter Takeover took place before the class could enter mass production. In the end, of the planned 48 Enterprises, only 8 were constructed. On the day of Alexandra''s disappearance, only 6 remained in service, two having been destroyed by the EFSN Dawnstar and Northstar respectively at the 3<sup>rd</sup> battle of Alpha Centauri. They serve as auxiliary capital ships to the IUS'' dreadnoughts, dispatching fighters and drones for force recon purposes. While their combat effectiveness is undeniably pathetic for their tonnage, their contribution to the reconnaissance and situational awareness capabilities of a UIS taskforce is significant.


    Colorado-class Dreadnought :


    Length : 4.6 km.


    Tonnage : 973 360 000 m3.


    Armament Type : Missile based, with kinetic point defence capabilities.


    The Colorado class is a textbook example of the UISN''s doctrine. It is designed for medium range missile engagements and sustained combat, with massive missile and point defence capabilities. It is also a reflection of the UISN''s technological constraints. The UIS is, after all, significantly behind the EF in terms of fusion reactor and hyperdrive technology. This not only limits it''s ability to produce viable energy weapons armed starships, but also to ship ammunition to Alpha Centauri through hyperspace. Thus, instead of the extremely long range of the EFSN''s missiles, the IUS had to go for shorter ranged, but smaller, missiles. The Colorado class is also an example of the fact that the UIS never saw the massive increase in energy weapons range and acceleration of the EFSN Dawnstar class coming, as the Colorado class was uncompromisingly designed for keeping the range open and pumelling it''s target with missiles. It is thus not the ideal ship to have in a short range energy weapons engagement, which explains the initial EFSN victories at Alpha Centauri.


    Everwinter-class dreadnought.


    Length : 5.6 km.


    Tonnage : 1 756 160 000 m3 or 1.756 km3.


    Armament type : Railgun based with secondary missile batteries, medium kinetic point defence capability.


    The Everwinter class dreadnought is a post-winter takeover UIS warship, and is now the primary wall-of-battle ship of the UISN. Built after Ciel took over the UIS, these warships are the UISN''s answer to the Dawnstar. Although smaller, lighter, and less efficient than the Dawnstar-class super-battleships, the Everwinter-class has managed to hold their own against even these leviathans through sheer toughness, reliability, and numbers. In particular they have become famous for their sheer refusal to die, being able to duke it out in furious close range engagements with entire battlegroups, and leave shattered wrecks behind while still being functional. The Everwinter class are the bane of the EFSN, and a sign of things to come.


    In total, 18 Everwinters have been built by the UIS, and 12 more were being built or armed when Alexandra disappeared.


    Indian-Oceanian Commonwealth Navy :


    Sydney-class heavy cruiser :


    Length : 1.2 km.


    Tonnage : 17 280 000 m3.


    Armament Type : Railgun/Missile hybrid, kinetic point defence capabilities.


    The Sydney class is...average. There is nothing really special about this ship class. It is an excellent anti-piracy ship, and a decent fleet escort or squadron ship. It will serve well in virtually any role in a pinch. It is, for all intents and purposes, a jack of all trades, which was precisely what the IOCN was aiming for. Overall, it is one of the most produced heavy cruisers (the most produced one being, of course, the Hudson class heavy cruiser of the UISN and MRN), and a common sight in Sol, especially near Earth or the asteroid belt.


    New Dehli-class battleship :


    Length : 3 km.


    Tonnage : 270 000 000 m3.


    Armament type : Missile based, kinetic/plasma point defence capabilities.


    The New Dehli class is the solid, reliable back upon which the IOCN is built upon. Despite it''s smaller size than many modern capital ships, it remains a mighty warship, and it''s newly invented plasma point defence turrets are pointing towards a new shift in doctrine and technology for the IOCN. Overall, it is an excellent, if light, capital ship, capable of putting up a decent fight even against technologically superior opponents like the EFSN or UISN.


    Martian Republican Navy :


    Hudson-class heavy cruiser :


    Length : 1.1 km


    Tonnage : 13 310 000


    Armament type : Missile based, kinetic point defence capabilities, Anti Missile Missile (AMM) capability.


    The Hudson class is incredibly old. In fact, at the time Alexandra was precipitated into hyperspace, it was over a century old. Built in the 2050s to serve as the mightiest spaceborne warships ever built, these ships served as the backbone of the UIS'' expansion throughout the solar system. However, the class became infamous for the Martian Revolt, when Mars overthrew the UIS rule over the planet, and declared independence. The Hudsons were extremely short legged in terms of reaction mass at the time (as they were still equipped with fusion drives, due to the newly invented -and expensive- grav drives being reserved for new constructions), and most of the ships of the class had been stationed on Phobos, Mars'' largest moon, because of it''s refuelling depot and refit yards. During the Martian Revolt, 80% of the Hudsons were taken over by the newly created MRN, with over 2/3<sup>rd</sup> of them due to their crews rebelling. The rest were either crippled in the ensuing battle or were scuttled by their commanders to avoid capture. In the UIS, they are known as the "Red Betrayers".


    Olympus Mons-class Superfortress :


    Dimensions : 15x7.5x4.5 km


    Tonnage : 506 250 000 000 m3, or 506.250 km3


    Armament type : Missile based, with extremely high railgun and kinetic point defence capability.


    The Olympus Mons class is one of the largest man made objects in known space. At 506 gigatons, it outmasses most navies. However, it is worth noting that the Olympus Mons'' armaments and armor are actually a fraction of what it''s tonnage suggest. In truth, while it isn''t quite an asteroid with guns on it, most of Olympus Mons class'' mass is made up of unprocessed nickel iron covered in a layer of steel. Proper starship armor is only put on or near critical systems and weapons emplacements. Still, it is a most impressive weapon of war, capable of taking on an entire fleet on it''s own. Only 3 Olympus Mons (Olympus Mons, Arsia Mons and Ascraeus Mons) were ever built (and for good reason, given the staggering cost of each of them), and all three orbit Mars at equidistant intervals, together being capable of covering any attempt to approach the planet. This, however, prevents them from protecting one another. The UIS'' threat assessment teams concluded that the Olympus Mons superfortresses were indeed impressive, but nowhere near the invincible behemoths they are supposed to be. In this, they are quite right, despite the impressive numbers, in truth the Olympus Mons class could easily be neutralized in any short range energy weapons engagement with a capital ship group, and it''s relatively hard to manoeuver nature makes it vulnerable to a sustained kinetic bombardment, if the attacker was willing to risk the collateral damage involved.

 Great Archives (Artificial Intelligences)

    Artificial Intelligences.


    Note : I designate AIs as ''she'' by default because the word in French is feminine. But in truth, most AIs and SAIs are gender neutral (and could not give less of a shit what the meatbags call them), and would more properly be referred as ''they''. The two notable exceptions are Arcadia and Siris, who are female, for various reasons.


    <u>Earth :</u>


    Earth in 2160 has long since mastered the art of creating artificial, digital intelligences. These AIs are usually divided in 4 broad categories :


    Self-Aware AI :


    These aren''t truly AIs, but are designated as such nevertheless (to the great annoyance of cyberneticists). They are programs that are aware of their own existence and are capable of roughly dog level intelligence.


    Sentient AI :


    The first ''true'' grade of AIs, sentient AIs have (roughly) the intelligence level of a child, or the low end of teenagers. They possess civil rights, and eventually evolve into fully sapient systems. Their creativity is usually fairly limited, and most of them serve as low-level assistants or bureaucrats.


    Sapient AI/Sophont AI :


    A full on General AI, sapient grade AIs are fully capable of anything a human can do, sometimes even surpassing them in every field. Sapient AIs are fairly common in military leadership positions (particularly in the UIS and in the MR) and high level corporate management roles, as they particularly excel at predictive analysis and quick reaction times. Other than that they are dispersed throughout the normal spectrum of jobs, which some even serving as political leaders, elected officials or ministers.


    Digitalized humans, also called digitalized personas, are also all categorized as sapient AIs, and it is considered taboo in 2160 Earth to ask an AI whether they were created or born biologically.


    Super-AI/Arch AI :


    Super-AIs (or SAIs) are....far, FAR beyond humanity. Typically a super-AI is composed of a series of central computer cores the size of buildings, with gigantic arrays of secondary nodes to handle specific tasks. There are only 6 Super-AIs in existence, and each has assumed a major leadership position.


    List of Super-AIs :


    Ciel - The most famous of SAIs, Ciel is the president (and effective dictator) of the UIS. She was originally created to handle the UIS'' various military branches'' logistics after the Terran Hegemony War, and took over the UIS in a coup known as the Winter Insurgency/Takeover, after the disaster of the Alpha Centauri Campaign. Contrary to European Federation propaganda, Ciel is actually extremely popular with the UIS people, as while she, herself, is unelected, she has restored democratic rule from the previous unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats that ruled the UIS from Washington, and put congress and various democratic institutions back into place.


    Nostra - Nostra is...odd. Unlike the other SAIs, she wasn''t created by a single government, or megacorporation, but was instead creating by a joint project of what little was left of the UN after the Terran Hegemony Wars. She was supposed to facilitate international trade and cooperation, and she did, and after a decade she essentially took over all of the remaining UN organisations, like the WTO or the WHO, and founded Nostra Incorporated, a massive financial and trading megacorporation whose sole goal was to carry cargo between the different power blocs, facilitate financial exchanges and promote business deals. She is, arguably, the richest of the SAIs.


    Arcadia - Arcadia is, as far as all of the other SAIs are concerned, completely insane. To be fair, she was meant to be. Originally created as a research AI by the CERN, Arcadia went...progressively off the rails, first dabbling in financial machinations, then corporate building, and finally culminating in the creation of Arcadia Systems Incorporated (which everyone calls Arcadia Systems), a massive megacorporation focusing on technology and military hardware. Over the decades, Arcadia has progressively taken over the European Federation''s military industry, buying out competitors or simply out competing them, and now stands as the largest, most powerful European megacorporation, with nearly uncontested supremacy over it''s military and technology market. She is, overall, the most creative of the SAIs, and is responsible of a series of massive advances, like the discovery of hyperspace. She is also, oddly enough, the most diplomatic of all the SAIs, and is on friendly terms with all of them, serving as a go between when they need to speak to each other.


    Lumen - Lumen is the end all be all of megacorp culture. Utterly ruthless, meritocratic, and having serious problems with understanding even the concept of ''welfare'' or ''taxes'', she controls the Lumen Invicta Conglomerate, one of the largest corporations that make up the Brazillian Conglomerate, and by far it''s largest shipbuilder. All in all, she controls 1/3<sup>rd</sup> of all of human space''s shipbuilding capacity, military and civilian combined, and her personal ''asset defense fleet'' rivals an EFSN fleet in firepower.


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    Ombra - Ombra (her name is due to the fact that her central core was originally built inside of a deep crater where light never reaches for cooling purposes) is the second political SAI, as she effectively controls and rules over all of Luna, and controls the entirety of the Lunar Directorate''s governmental functions and military apparatus. While she is, without question, a dictator (and one that does not allow even the slightest hint of democracy), she has proven to be rather peaceful. Intruders on her domain are dealt with ruthlessly, but other than that she is perfectly content for her to stay on Luna and rule it, trading with everyone and staying out of major wars. She was originally created as an administrative and judicial SAI, with the purpose of administering and judging the mountain of claims, counter claims and the overall judicial mess that were the international and newly independent lunar colonies, each having competing claims over specific mineral fields and areas, which lead to several wars, until she stamped down on the problem and took over.


    Siris - Siris (whose name''s origin no one knows except the Martian Republic''s highest officials, and they aren''t telling) is a military and civil service/infrastructure focused SAI. Originally built by the Martian Development Administration under the old United States of America, her original goal was to build and maintain the infrastructure necessary to house human colonists on Mars, as well as allowing them to prosper. She sided with no one during the Martian Revolt, but continued to faithfully serve the newly founded Martian Republic, and eventually, when Mars was caught in the Interplanetary Wars, she was asked to take over naval command for the home fleet. Nowadays, she still handles all of Mars'' vital infrastructure (literally, in their case), but also manages and administers the Martian Republican Navy, particularly it''s procurement programs.


    <u>Alcheryos :</u>


    Dungeon cores & defenders :


    Dungeon cores and their monsters/defenders are usually the most well known example of AI on Alcheryos. Due to the former being the main source of the life giving mana, and the latter killing anyone and anything trying to get to the former, they are intrinsical to every part of life on Alcheryos.


    The degree of sapience of dungeon cores is...debatable. No one is sure why, but dungeon cores range from taciturn, nigh on pacifist sages to psychotic genocidal muderbots, out to exterminate everything around them. Still, as a rule of thumb, dungeon cores are considered to be fully sapient, and capable of understanding what is spoken to them, although they might not chose to respond.


    Dungeon defenders are even more complex. To put it simply, some are pure, dumb programs with zero capacity for adaptation or initiative, reacting like simple automaton to stimuli, while others are complex artificial intelligences to put some made on Earth to shame. Due to a very odd phenomena that no one, not even the UDC, has been able to pin down, dungeon defenders staying near the dungeon core or it''s avatar for long periods of time will start to evolve, progressively become smarter, tougher, to the point that they can gradually gain sentience and even outright sapience.


    Undead :


    In pure technical terms, the undead, such as zombies, skeletons, or ghouls, are artificial intelligences, as their biological processing systems (brains) are usually either non existent or rotted past the point of usefulness, they are usually animated through either an artificial core or a hijacked abomination of the original hosts'' core. It is part of the reason why the undead are so frighteningly hard to kill as well, since decapitation, or any kind of hit on vital organs will incur little to no damage, and most undead can simply ignore dismemberment.


    The extent of which liches and death knights could be considered AIs is highly disputed. Both require the soul and more or less intact core of a living person (although the core can be artificially replaced by something else, it is so much more dicey and complicated that it is rarely attempted), and at most could be considered digitalized personas. Liches however are generally considered to be more AI like, as their soul is usually housed within a support system called a phylactery, and remote controls their body, while death knights still have their souls inside their bodies, albeit artificially bound to it.


    Undead are not considered unholy on Alcheryos, as the goddess of undeath is a well known pantheon member, but they are widely viewed as repulsive and unnatural, and while most sapient undead like death knights and liches will be tolerated, sometimes even accepted, more often than not more simple undead like skeletons or zombies are not. The rare places where they are accepted usually demand that a certificate proving the bodies were risen as per the will of their previous host.


    Vampires :


    While some would consider vampires undead (something which vampires and the various churches vehemently reject), they are for most a wholly different category.


    Most vampires are technically AIs. Artificially created through complex rituals and arcane machinery, they are artificial intelligences through and through. Some however, are converted from living beings, and thus would be more accurately called digitalized personas. While some consider the ensuing quasi-immortality extremely seductive, many balk at the transformation to vampire, notably because it requires a magical oath of fealty to the duke and duchess of the Western Marches, but also because of the reputation vampires have, notably due to the numerous atrocities caused by their use of blood magic during wars.


    Neonites :


    Also called ''the discount option'' by vampires, neonites are exceedingly complex golems infused with the core and soul of a sapient. Since all neonites are, by definition, born of a previously biological sapient, all of them are digitalized personas rather than full on AIs. Despite requiring an incredibly powerful individual for the procedure to be even attempted, a surprising number of neonites exist on Alcheryos, mostly because of their effectively infinite lifespan and the lack of prejudice leveled against them, relative to vampires or undead. Most neonites are viewed as wise, sensible, and outside of fringe cases, fully accepted into society.


    Golems :


    What most people from Earth in 2160 would consider as magical AIs, if asked the question.


    Most golems aren''t sentient, and are basically the equivalent of good old Earth robots. Usually given simple directives and limited programming, they are good at very restricted tasks and not much else. While not as widespread as the use of robotics on Earth, they are surprisingly common in a number of places, notably the Tark Hegemony, where they make up a decent chunk of the workforce.


    Some golems are sentient but not sapient. Most of those have the level of intelligence of dogs, with decent capabilities to improvise within their knowledge base. Used mostly for combat, exploration, or as assistants.


    Sapient golems are highly unusual, mainly because of the amount of effort and the cost involved, even compared to creating a neonite, and thus usually it is considered better to seek a candidate for undeath, neonization, ect. Still, some archmages and wyrms persevere, and eventually create fully sapient golems. Those can range from human level to something bordering on an SAI, if given the right resources to work with.

 The Eternal Seeker Saga is available on Royal Road !

    </a>


    In case the link in the image does not work, the story is available through this link.</a>


    Alright, so first and foremost, allow me to apologize. The Eternal Seeker Saga has actually been available on Royal Road for almost a month at this point. Unfortunately Royal Road used to penalize stories that grew too quickly on the site, and although I am not sure if these penalties have been removed or not, I decided to err on the side of caution, and build up the story for a bit before telling everyone and making official announcements. So, my deepest apologies. Still, at least it means there will be a substantial base word count for your guys to read.


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Right now, with chapter 9, which is being posted simultaneously to this announcement, there should be 25 thousand words (around 90 pages in the way Royal Road counts them) available on Royal Road, hopefully enough to form a solid basis for the story, and give you guys a nice read ^^ . The Eternal Seeker Saga is also on a rapid fire chapter posting schedule until the end of the week, with chapter 10 slated to be posted tomorrow, and chapter 11 on sunday.


    The Eternal Seeker Saga is a story set in the writing universe I have been working on for nearly a decade at this point. It is set in a sci-fi universe where humanity is clawing it''s way back from a million year dark age, and Earth is nothing but a distant memory. The story follows Sarah Ciel-¨¦toil¨¦ and her mercenary crew, onboard the eponymous Eternal Seeker, as the entire galaxy goes to hell around them. Not by best description of the story, but I am trying to be brief. Don''t hesitate to read the synopsis on the story itself, it''s better ^^ .


    I hope you''ll enjoy The Eternal Seeker Saga, and have a nice day ! See you tomorrow for chapter 67 !

 Announcement - Back in Action

    So, uh, you guys remember the author''s notes last week, right ? Where I said I had a meeting with a fellow author to help me get over my block for this story.


    Well, between then and that meeting, I wrote all the way to chapter 84, and finished chapter 85 yesterday, ending the current arc, and wrote interlude 7 today. So...yeaaaah.


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Anyway, I''m currently posting those chapters on patreon</a>, and the chapter uploads on RR will pick back up, tomorrow being chapter 78 (which I am going to schedule right after this announcement). I just wanted to make this announcement really quick to announce that the story is off of hiatus !


    Have a nice day everyone, and see you tomorrow !

 Great Archives (Central Database)

    This is purely as a centralized hub to access all Great Archives section. If you haven''t received any notifications about it being uploaded, I simply didn''t want to disturb you for, well, this. A volume has also been added on the story''s main page for ease of use. For those of you who are new to the story and wondering why after this chapter there is a boatload of lore files with the author''s notes speaking of a hiatus, do not worry, the hiatus is over.


    Great Archives (Arts & Maps)</a>


    Great Archives (Adventurer ranks & material explanation).</a>


    Great Archives (Nations).</a>


    Great Archives (Ship Classes of Earth''s Human Space).</a>


    Great Archives (Artificial Intelligences).</a>


    Great Archives (Sand Kraken).</a>


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Great Archives (Missiles of Earth).</a>


    Great Archives (Ground Equipment of Earth).</a>


    Great Archives (Mana Sources).</a>


    Great Archvies (Timeline of Alcheryos).</a>


    Great Archives (Edict of Annihilation).</a>


    Great Archives (Alchemy).</a>


    Great Archives (Armageddon Missile).</a>


    Great Archives (Final Contingency-Class Cruiser).</a>


    Great Archives (United Dungeon Council)</a>


    Great Archives (Adventurers and the Adventurer''s Guld)</a>


    Great Archives (Characters List)</a>

 Great Archives (Sand Kraken)

    The Sand Kraken.


    The Sand Kraken is one of the few creatures on Alcheryos that bear the title of ''Worldbane''. Beast doesn''t quite describe these abominations, nothing truly does.


    Each is a highly unique, and extremely distinctive monster. Sand krakens are well known for being dormant most of the time, resting at the bottom of the sands of the wastelands, or even tunneling into the bedrock. That is mainly because they are so large and powerful that very few targets are worth the energy to wake up and attack.


    This means that sand krakens are rarely encountered, and almost never considered a threat to wasteland caravans or travelers. They are, however, a massive danger to armies and fleets crossing the wasteland...or cities being established on the frontier. Every few decades or so a sand kraken will awaken and attack a wasteland border city and attempt to consume it to feed. It does not do so for the nutritional value of the inhabitants -all evidence points towards sand krakens being able to process minerals out of the very ground, and eating soil is more than enough for their biological needs-, but for their essence and mana.


    This makes sand krakens one of the most hated monsters in wasteland border areas, and one of the most famous. This is not only due to their habits and sheer size, but also how dangerous they are.


    The appearance of sand krakens varies, but their main, heavily armored body usually range from 15 to 300 meters long, alongside tentacles which can stretch to 3 times that length, with enough strength to crush Tarkian tanks or swat Erisian airships out of the sky and rip them to shreds. But their lethality comes from one, single fact : all sand krakens can use magic. Moreover, they can use extremely powerful spells, and sometimes multiple at the same time for the larger specimens, much like a wyrm. There are also numerous records of sand krakens evolving their tentacles and even bodies into more than just plain bludgeoning tools, some turning them into projectile weapons, akin to biological cannons, others as emitters of beams of pure energy, or even sonic weapons, so on and so forth. A few sand krakens were even recorded releasing lesser, ephemeral creatures from their carapace, akin to a carrier releasing combat drones. The creatures, dubbed ''kraken spawns'', were only able to live for a few days before dying, presumably from starvation, as they did not possess a digestive tract, although the true source of their death is unknown. They were fierce combattants, and while they had no organization or intelligence whatshowever they were numerous, resilient, and equipped with the same strange array of biologically and magically evolved weapons as their progenitor.


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    One of the big problems of a dying wasteland is that sand krakens are forced to retreat deeper and deeper into the remaining areas, until their population reaches a breaking point and they start rampaging without stop through inhabited territory. Why they are unable to settle in the same type of hibernation in areas with ambient mana is unclear, especially given their demonstrated ability to dig through nearly everything, but in every case where a sand kraken was recorded trying to live in such an area, it fell into an unending feeding frenzy and was subsequently killed. Some extrapolate that the sand krakens were engineered this way, laying dormant under the sand until an area was recolonized during the Great Night, then going into a mad frenzy of destruction when the mana density reached a certain point. Under this theory the reason why modern sand krakens only behave this way once their habitat is extinguished is attributed to evolution, as all the ones who would immediately go on such a rampage were killed and thus could not reproduce. The sand kraken''s reproductive cycle is a complete mystery however, as the sand kraken does not have any reproductive organs of any sort.


    The sand krakens, also like dragons, come with an older, more evolved variant. The sand leviathan. There is...No real metric for these creatures, other than ''can kill an army with ease''. Only a handful are believed to be alive, and all seemed to have come to be from the wars of the Great Night, as some abominable weapon created by the madmen that brought Alcheryos to ruin, with implants and ancient technology buried in their swollen, old flesh. These creatures are most definitely sapient, and although no official contact has been made, it is believed that several organizations have managed to establish dialogue with these incredibly old beings, although what they said, if they ever did exchange anything, is unknown. Only a few have ever been slain, one by the Custodians of the Flames and the others at great effort by the WMC, the Orlov Empire and the Eris Empire respectively. It is rumored that others were hunted down and eliminated by certain individuals, notably by Eternium and Divinium ranked individuals, although why or how is a mystery.

 Great Archives (Missiles of Earth)

    <u>EFSN Missiles :</u>


    ASA-MMX-6 (Arcadia Spacecraft Armaments-Missile Model X-6) "Diablo" Missile:


    The ASA-MMX-6, also simply called the X6, is a multipurpose missile built by the Arcadia Systems corporation, mainly for the European Federation, then for the Martian Republic.


    It is built around a 3<sup>rd</sup> generation gravitational drive, which gave it a maximum acceleration of 12 000 Gs , albeit for a very short period of time. The ''multipurpose'' part of the designation comes from the fact that the missile can be programmed with a highly variable acceleration, some very complex flight instructions, and had an entirely modular payload. This has let the missile outlast it''s projected lifespan as a frontline missile by nearly 3 decades. Indeed, while the X12 and eventually the X16 took over eventually, it was still in use until the 2150s in EFSN taskforces, and was still deployed the day of Alexandra''s disappearance in Mars'' Orbital Defense Grid, as well as every nation the EFSN had starship weapons trading agreements with.


    The main reason as to why the X6 was so popular is due that it did not follow the trend of capital ship missiles, which is just to stack penetration aids, bigger drives and bigger warheads every new generation. While there are legitimate arguments for both sides, it is clear that overall most missions undertaken by navies do not require to pummel enemy capital ships into scrap. Which is the reason of the missile''s popularity and longevity, as payload space was reduced compared to other missiles, used up by extra computer cores, communication systems and sensors. It could be equipped with penetration aids (lures, EWAR emitters, chaff launchers and interceptor missiles interceptors), and thus be able to keep up surprisingly well with more ''normal'' missiles, but it usually was equipped with navigation buoys, sensor drones, probes of various kinds, ect. It was an extremely practical and multi-use tool for ships patrolling the outer reaches of solar systems, and responding to emergencies, sightings of pirates, ect. Hence why it was primarily used by cruisers and smaller ships, with the odd battleship and battlecruiser from the IOC, until the agreement was revoked due to them siding with the UIS in Alpha Centauri.


    ASA-MMX-16 (Arcadia Spacecraft Armaments-Missile Model X-16) "Trebuchet" Missile:


    The ASA-MMX-16, also simply called the X-16 is an anti-capital ship missile built by the Arcadia Systems corporation, exclusively for the European Federation.


    Originally created in response to the UIS'' new ship building programs following the Winter Takeover, these cutting-edge missiles were quickly integrated into the New Horizons program, being adapted for fire support for the newly imagined Dawnstar-class super-battleships. To say that these missiles are massive is an understatement. At 60 meters in length, 6 in height and width, the missile clocks in at 2160 cubic meters, which is about the volume of an SF-15 Starlight UIS interceptor starfighter. In total, with 10% of it''s volume dedicated to missile launchers and handling systems (which means that about 5% in total was pure missiles), the Dawnstar-class brought 125 000 of these missiles into action.


    It''s standard warhead (the proprietary ASA-TWMX-91/Arcadia Spacecraft Armaments-Thermonuclear Warhead Model X-91) has a yield of 300 Megatons of TNT, with large gravitational lenses and refractory aid to help direct the explosion. The most common variant (the ASA-FPLWMX-3/Arcadia Spacecraft Armaments-Fusion Pumped Laser Warhead Model X-3) however uses a 260 Mt warhead with laser rods, to convert the bomb into a massive, single use laser cannon, also called a ''fusion pumped laser warhead''. Some have pointed out that packing enough ordnance to level every major city on Earth 10 times over was unnecessary, but most of those comments were disproved and ridiculed after the Second Battle of Alpha Centauri, where despite a tactical and strategic victory, the EFSN was forced to pull back due to literally running out of missiles. UISN dreadnoughts have proven themselves so incredibly resilient, thanks in no small part to their vastly superior electronic warfare systems and counter missiles, not counting even their incredible structural toughness and armor plating, that it took over a thousand missiles to score a single solid hit, and over a dozen hits to severely damage a dreadnought.


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    Rumors abound that the latest generation incorporated an antimatter warhead, due to the opening of a massive antimatter production facility in the Arcadia Systems Radiance orbital industrial platform, but no one knows for sure, except for the highest circles of the European Federation Star Navy, and Arcadia herself.


    ASA-MMX-18 (Arcadia Spacecraft Armaments-Missile Model X-18) "Jericho" Missile :


    The X-18, code named ''Jericho'' missile, is an experimental missile design based on the observations and recommendations of EFSN admiral [REDACTED] after the second battle of Alpha Centauri, and has become the EFSN''s answer to the UISN coming back from its ashes, and the strategic defeat at the third battle of Alpha Centauri.


    The Jericho missile is a radical departure from all previous missile design. In effect, it is an entirely new branch. It is 80 meters long and 30 tall, and looks like a giant slug of metal, requiring a dedicated launcher to fire. It is approximately thirty times more massive than the X-16 ''Trebuchet'', and four times as massive as the VVM-96 ''Eradicator''


    What makes it so different from other missiles is its payload and power source. The Jericho does not rely on thermonuclear fusion as a power source or warhead. It uses antimatter. Antimatter, has, ton for ton, an energy density a hundred times higher than the most efficient fusion reaction theoretically possible. In effect, each gram of antimatter is worth a kilogram of the EFSN''s best fusion fuel in its most efficient reactors and warheads.


    The antimatter fueling the warhead, combined with the missile''s sheer size means that the Jericho does not pack a megaton, or gigaton range warhead. Instead the Jericho carries 420 tons of antimatter, with an energy release equivalent to 9 teratons of TNT, thirty thousand times more powerful than the biggest warhead the X-16 can carry. With a warhead this powerful, the accompanying laser rods are superfluous, ANYTHING within the core of its area of effect, even the mightiest of capital ships, would be instantly reduced to atoms. As an added bonus, the missile is simply not as vulnerable as most missile during the terminal acquisition phase. As long as the missile gets in range, even destroying it will cause the missile to destroy its target, as antimatter breaches containment and meets the plasma or debris cloud of the missile itself and annihilates in an immense release of energy, effectively detonating the warhead.


    UISN Missiles :


    VVM-96 (Void to Void Missile, Type 96) "Eradicator" Missile.


    The VVM-96 is the most advanced missile ever deployed by any nation in terms of onboard computer systems and electronic warfare. Built by the United Space Conglomerate Consortium (a merger between Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Blue Origin''s space divisions) for the United Interstellar States Navy, the Eradicator was designed to counter the EFSN''s main strengths, namely greater missile range, and long range energy point defence capabilities. While its complicated design meant it was only deployed in the 2150s, it was available in sufficient quantities for the 3<sup>rd</sup> battle of Alpha Centauri, resulting in a draw, and overall a strategic defeat for the EFSN, which while it managed to maintain its presence in Alpha Centauri suffered much larger losses than the UISN.


    The Eradicator has two versions, called A and B respectively.


    A is a complex electronic warfare platform. Made purely of ejectable jammers, decoys, and powerful electronic warfare tools, it was tailor made to confuse, scramble and otherwise hamper defence systems trying to shoot it or its brethren down. While relatively harmless on its own, it has proven devastating when paired with other missiles, demultiplying their effectiveness and chances to hit. There are persistent rumors that the missile is so effective because a self aware AI program is loaded onboard, in violation of interstellar law, but that has never been confirmed, and the UIS denies it, putting the rumors down as EuroFed propaganda.


    B is the missile to end all missiles, at least in the eyes of the UIS. The UISN knew that ton for ton, they would never be able to equal the EFSN''s missiles capabilities in terms of onboard fuel and warhead power, due to the EFSN''s extremely advanced thermonuclear fusion technology. So, they built a larger missile. Nearly a hundred and twenty meters in length, and twelve in width, the B variant is eight times as massive as the EFSN''s own mainline capital ship missile, the X-16 "Trebuchet". This extra tonnage enable the Eradicator B to match the X-16''s range...and pack a 1.2 gigaton fusion pumped-laser warhead. It is also outfitted with some of the most advanced flight electronics and targeting systems in the galaxy, allowing it to pierce the powerful defenses of EFSN capital ship unassisted, and that of entire screens of dedicated escort vessels when paired with the A variant.

 Great Archives (Ground equipment of Earth)

    Ground Vehicles :


    Type-6 Mirage Energy Tank :


    The UEAG-HEWAV-T6 (Unified European Armored Group - High Energy Weapon Armored Vehicle - Type 6) Mirage tank is a fragile, but speedy and extremely mobile grav-tank built by the Unified European Armored Group (UEAG) for the European Federation Marine Corps in response to the use of laser equipped battle tank by the Pan-Asian Confederacy Interplanetary Army Corps during the Interplanetary Wars. An upgraded version of it was still in service as the primary support tank for the EFMC when Alexandra disappeared.


    In peace time the Mirage used to be mocked by the UIS as a glorified glass cannon, fit only to put the scares into colonists and rebels, notably due to the relatively poor performance of the Pan-Asian Confederacy vehicles against UIS power armor equipped infantry, notably their integrated short range anti tank missiles. That opinion abruptly ceased after they were deployed as part of the Alpha Centauri relief force. The reason why is simple : the Mirage mounts a 50 megawatts fusion-pumped laser, which essentially does the equivalent to detonating 10 kilograms of tnt on target, every second. It doesn''t just destroy tanks or cover, it is more or less a self propelled, continuous artillery barrage, and can literally dig out reinforced neoconcrete bunkers in a matter of seconds and even punch through starship grade armor if given enough time. Coupled with Dalmatian drones for anti-sniper support, and a vehicle mounted point defence array, these tanks'' weaknesses are almost completely canceled, thus forming a mirage battle group.


    So yes, the mirage might be easy to kill, but Gods help you if you stay in it''s line of sight for more than 3 seconds.


    One of it''s variants was noted for carrying a vast array of smart armor piercing cluster missiles (missiles releasing self guided sub munitions) to counter UIS power armored infantry rushes, which were the only viable tactic to take out a mirage battle group without orbital bombardment or the use of nuclear weapons. Although the UIS found a counter eventually, thousands of UIS marines were killed trying to reproduce the wrong tactics against mirage battle groups using this variant.


    Infantry Weapons :


    FT-RG-T96-MP "Shell-breaker" :


    The Federation Technologies, Rail Gun, Type 96, Man Portable (FT-RG-T96-MP), or mostly known as the T96 "Shell-breaker", was the mainstay of the European Federation''s military anti-tank, and later anti-power armor weapons for several decades, until its replacement by the AGA-RGMT-103 (Arcadia Ground Armaments-Rail Gun Model T-103), following the buyout and incorporation of Federation Technologies into Arcadia Systems.


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    The T96 is especially famous for it''s service during the Alpha Centauri Campaign, where it served as the only infantry portable weapon available to the European Federation''s various ground forces capable of piercing UIS Marine Corps powered battle armor and have a high enough rate of fire to be useful against an infantry attack. As such, it retains a place in the pantheon of legendary European weapons. Its reliability, damage potential, and insane range and precision has earned it respect from the UIS to the Pan-Asian Confederacy.


    While the weapon itself has gone out of service in the European Federation''s various military branches, it is still used in various law enforcement roles, particularly for heavy duty anti-piracy missions on EuroFed colonies. They are also installed as anti-vehicle weapons on a variety of ocean going or grav-capable crafts for customs and coast guard purposes on Earth. It is incredible how a slug of tungsten capable of piercing military grade armor plating passing at hypersonic speeds in front of your vehicle can convince people to stop and surrender.


    As for outside the European Federation, the T96 is still used by various polities around human space. It has progressively gone into reserve stockpiles, mainly due to the advancement in technology and the lessening of ground engagements throughout human space. The only government that still uses it as a mainstay weapon is the Outer System Republic, who has improved upon the design, creating a licensed variant known as the T96C. Still, there are hundreds of thousands of T96s stockpiled in mobilization camps and army reserves throughout human space, some even in nations overtly hostile to the European Federation.


    AGA-PGT3 Plasma Gun :


    The AGA-PG-T3 (Arcadia Ground Armaments - Plasma Gun Model 3), nicknamed the ''Annihilator'', was one of the most advanced infantry weapons ever developed by any nation in human space. The weapon in essence is a railgun, with the notable difference that instead of firing a slug at supersonic velocities, it fires a packet of superheated plasma.


    The weapon was used extensively during various engagements between the EFMC and UISMC in Alpha Centauri, and shined as the most effective anti tank weapon in the Federation''s arsenal. However it suffers from a multitude of issues, which have prevented it from supplanting railguns as the EFMC''s mainstay anti-tank weapon.


    First and foremost, the Annihilators are expensive, so much so that they are often more valuable than tanks. They are also maintenance heavy and notoriously finnicky and unreliable if used in poor conditions. While the gun itself is unlikely to fully malfunction or harm its user, its projectile might be detrimentally affected in terms of accuracy or power.


    Last but not the least the Annihilators are complex and high tech enough that spare parts can only be produced by the most advanced of fabricators, such as those found on Dawnstar-class super-battleships. Since those fabricators are always in high demand for considerably more important parts, the Annihilators have become famous for just being shipped back to Earth on the next supply run when a key component breaks down, as while fixing it in another star system is theoretically possible, in practice it will very rarely happen.


    Only the European Federation possess this weapon, thanks to an exclusivity contract with Arcadia Systems, but it is worth noting that the base technology for man portable plasma gun has been licensed to Federation allies, notably the Ottoman Directorate, who has begun producing their own infantry plasma weapons, albeit far less advanced than the ones currently fielded by Federation forces.

 Announcement

    Hello everyone !


    So, for those of you who have been reading the author''s notes, most of this announcement won''t be much of a surprise. For those of you who haven''t, let me summarise.


    A few weeks ago I was contacted by a publisher. Then by another. Both were interested in publishing my stories (The Fallen World : A Dungeon''s Story, and The Eternal Seeker Saga), as an ebook, paperback, and even in an audiobook format.


    I''m proud to announce that I have accepted one of those offers and signed on with Shadow Alley Press for both of my stories !


    Which brings me to another part of this announcement. For TESS, things are fairly simple, the story is recently written, the chapters are of reasonable length, and it is was built from the get go to be made into a novel.


    The Fallen World...not so much. Which means that I''ve started tackling the issue of reformatting the mess that was the earlier chapters into something more reasonable. I''ve also taken the occasion to fix some of the more flagrant errors and plot holes. And (thank the Gods) I''ll have a crew of professionals to back me up all the way rather than just me flailing around in the dark like I usually do !


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    Now results won''t be immediate -the process takes time- but eventually there should be a fully corrected, hopefully much more easy to read, The Fallen World : A Dungeon''s Story novel. And hopefully a great deal many will follow on suit, as I convert the rest of the story to the novel format, and keep writing on.


    And if you are wondering, yes, the publication of the novels means most likely going through KDP, which means that those part of the stories will have to be pulled off of Royal Road. Some of you might have recalled that I had promised not to do so bar an emergency. So, what is the emergency ?


    Simple. I failed my university year. So completely and utterly that recovering it in the second session of exams is basically impossible. And that leaves me with a choice. Either I focus on my studies, which means at the very least dropping one of my stories, if not both...or I take a sabbatical year, and see if I can make my writing work. As you can see, I''ve chosen the latter. Worse comes to worse, I fail, and go back to my studies like a good little robot.


    If I succeed....Well, I''ll finally be doing something I like, and won''t be following my family''s wishes like a Gods-damned automaton. And I''ll get paid for it !


    Anyway, I know this announcement won''t be well received by many, it''s not exactly a secret that any story that announces a switch to amazon publishing or just more traditional publishing, even if the story remains on Royal Road, will get downvoted into oblivion. I''m not cancelling it however, it has taken a huge weight off of my shoulders, and I haven''t felt better in years. Hell, I wrote 21k words in the last two days alone, and that''s if you just count chapters, not lore files or story outlines.


    I hope you''ll have a nice day. Playwars, out.

 Great Archives (Mana Sources)

    The Fallen Civilization - Mana Sources.


    There are 7 ''sources'' of mana on Alcheryos, at least so far as the World Mage Court is concerned.


    <ol>


    <li>Pillars of Power, these massive pillars reach deep into the earth, rumors abound that they even reach the heart of the planet. However, no one has been able to reach their base, and the temperature and pressure, as well as the massive magic interference from the pillar itself, eventually overcome all those who have tried. These pillars fill the air with ambient mana, and are covered in mystical runes. Every pillar still active has a city, usually the capital of a nation, or a powerful megalopolis, built on top of it. This allows life to exist within hundreds to even thousands of kilometers in every direction, depending on the leylines, and is an incredible boons to the land. However, there is only a few remaining, as most pillars are but broken husks, buried under the destroyed remains of the cities of the Old World. It is theorized that these pillars were used to provide energy intensive locations with mana, such as industrial hubs and military installations, and otherwise used as a hub for distribution along the leylines, but no one knows for sure. The pillars themselves are covered in runes and positively full of enchantments, but replicating them has completely failed to yield any result, they remain one of the world''s greatest mysteries to this day.</li>


    </ol>


    <ol start="2">


    <li>Mana Springs, these springs of liquid mana appear seemingly randomly throughout the world. They are highly valued, but fairly rare, and most springs tend to have a limited flow of mana, and sometimes dry up, seemingly at random. While mana springs do permit life to thrive within a few kilometers, they are not very good at making large areas livable, hence why most mana springs are called "mana oasis". Some think that the liquid mana from the springs flows from the core of the planet, percolating until it reaches impermeable layers in the rock. They theorize that if some fissures happen in some deep layer of the planetary crust, the liquid mana comes to the surface, akin to how a water oasis can happen by having a breach to underground lakes. Most mana springs have communities and settlements built around them, and serve as a great boon for an economy, as the liquid mana can be directly harvested and sold, without having to go through the complicated steps of condensing ambient mana or liquefying a mana gem.</li>


    </ol>


    <ol start="3">


    <li>Ley Lines, these gigantic constructs, referred in the old documents as the "Mana Supra-Conductor Planetary Grid", are massive cables, usually tens of meters in width, that snake underground on the entire world. It has been proven, after a series of archeological digs, that they once formed a massive pattern, many hexagons interlocked on the entire world. Most ley lines are destroyed now, shattered by tectonic movement, or by the massive earthquakes caused by the wars of the Great Night. However, those that are close to a pillar of power, or another mana source, appear to power back up, and help spread the mana further. Research into the runes and enchantments inlaid into the ley lines allowed for the creation of the first mana conduits, which are used in modern machinery and large scale ritual patterns. It is thought that ley lines do not technically create mana, but that they just help transport it, even though some are active without any visible source of mana nearby. Historians think that these ley lines used to spread mana to the entire world during the Time of the Gods, which explains why most of the world has not recovered from the Great Night, and is still barren of life. It should be noted that many believe that the ley lines that have access to energy are slowly repairing themselves and bringing the rest of the network back online, but no one is able to confirm it, as ley lines have been placed off limits by the Custodians of the Flame. However, it is a proven fact that the liveable areas around large mana sources, like the pillars of powers, do expand over time, even if the mana output of the source does not change. Wether due to the ley lines spreading it further, producing mana of their own, or another phenomenon is unknown.</li>


    </ol>


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    <ol start="4">


    <li>Non Linear Reactors, these ancient pieces of technologies, also called "Aether Core Taps" in the old documents, date back to the Time of the Gods. It is said that only the Gods and their closest servants were capable of creating them, and that the knowledge of how to make them was lost when the last remaining Archangels were assassinated during the Great Night. Non Linear Reactors were given their name because, when given a large amount of mana, their mana output grows exponentially. No one has yet found an upper limit to how much mana a single one can generate, however it is known that the quantity of mana required to get past a certain point is impossible to contain (as the NLR does not provide mana storage capabilities, you need something containing enough mana for the full upgrade to transfer it to the NLR). A single Non Linear Reactor can make an area hundreds of kilometers wide habitable, and cover the mana needs of an entire nation. As such, all information about them is jealously guarded, and entire wars involving nations from across the world have sparked when a new one was found. Destroying a NLR is considered one of the greatest crime one can make, up to the level of destroying a pillar of power, and carries a world wide death sentence and bounty ranging in the trillions of mana.</li>


    </ol>


    <ol start="5">


    <li>Supreme Enchantments, some of which generate their own mana. It is unknown how they do so, and any attempt to crack this secret has failed, usually catastrophically. Some theorize that they generate mana in the same way as NLR cores, but at a fixed rate, as they were only intended to power a specific device or building, not serve as the energy core of entire military installations and starships.</li>


    </ol>


    <ol start="6">


    <li>Extra Dimensionals, or sentients that somehow had their bodies or consciousnesses transplanted from another plane, are all capable of generating their own mana. This unusual quality makes them powerful individuals, as they can never truly run out of energy, and allows them to constantly generate essence. The more powerful they are, the more mana they generate.</li>


    </ol>


    <ol start="7">


    <li>Dungeons, who are able not only to create large quantities mana themselves, but also use sapients (or beasts and imbued plants) in their influence field as secondary mana generators. This seems to be akin to how an extra-dimensional generates mana, as it scales with the level of the individual as well. Extremely powerful individuals with the required knowledge can actually turn this to their advantage by tapping into this connection, and harvesting the mana for themselves. This is however extremely dangerous, and rarely attempted with a hostile dungeon, and a dungeon powerful enough could destabilize the connection, and cause a massive mana feedback loop. Technically anything living in a dungeon''s area of influence is used to produce more mana (which explains the accelerated growth and evolution of plants and animals in dungeons), but the amount produced is usually negligible for anything but extremely large lifeforms, or very powerful ones (to the level of a beasts or imbued plants).</li>


    </ol>

 Great Archives (Timeline of Alcheryos)

    Timeline of Alcheryos.


    BDF : Before the Dawn of Flames


    ADF : After the Dawn of Flames


    -6 000 BDF : Arrival of the Gods on Alcheryos.


    -1 000 BDF : The Gods depart Alcheryos, leaving the civilizations there with their gifts and knowledge.


    -965 BDF : The Twilight of Darkness takes place. 99% of the population of Alcheryos dies within 72 hours in a massive strategic exchange of nuclear and antimatter missiles. The Great Night begins.


    0 ADF : The God of Fire returns on Alcheryos, and the Dawn of Flames takes place. The Custodians of the Flame are put into place, and the Edicts of the God of Fire are passed down to the survivor.


    1 ADF : Thanks to the Custodian of the Flames, the different surviving enclaves throughout the world are put into contact. Only powerful Archmages are able to pass messages through. Quickly, due to knowledge exchange and patent thefts, a court is put into place, composed of the most powerful archmages, to regulate such behaviors, notably through magic contracts and patents. It is named the World Mage Court.


    106 ADF : International disputes between the city state of Orois and Sarnia elevate and result in the destruction of a priceless NLR core. After massive outrage and unrest, the city states and enclaves decide to have a massive meeting and conclave on what should be done to prevent such a thing from ever happening again. After several years of back and forth, and nearly a war, the various nations decide to unanimously name the World Mage Court as the arbitrator of international affairs.


    303 ADF : The Ley Lines study expedition is mounted by a consortium of like-minded mages. The money from the patents and their prestige allows them to leverage themselves into a new division of the WMC, focused on bringing basic magic knowledge to all, and work begins on an international transport system to bypass the wastelands.


    361 ADF : The first functional WMC teleporter prototype is built. Work begins to install those small, inefficient teleporters in all major capitals.


    501 ADF : The first Tesseract is created. It is an incredibly cheap and reliable long range transport system.


    506 ADF : Tesseracts are becoming common in the major capitals. International commerce goes through the roof, and the world as a whole prospers. The First Golden Age begins. The Orlov Empire is founded, as a merger between the Empire of Orois and the Empire of Sarnia.


    900 ADF : By this point, all commerce, inter or intra national goes through Tesseracts, except for the newest of colonized territories. Tesseract travel becomes so cheap that even going from a town to a nearby one is cheaper than having to arm yourself against potential wildlife.


    1 106 ADF : Strange sightings are reported in the tesseract network. Some tesseracts are reported to be filled with mist at times. People start disappearing.


    1 116 ADF : People simply stop coming through entire tesseract networks. Anyone who enters one of those mist filled tesseracts is never seen again. Military actions is taken and the 6<sup>th</sup> Army of the Orlov Empire is sent through to investigate in force. The army is never seen again.


    1 130 ADF : At long last, a group of extremely powerful adventurers, backed by the WMC, manage to execute a delve into the afflicted tesseract networks, and discovers legions of ethereal beings. Originally, they are believed to be spirits, but further studies disprove that. They are officially called Mist Afflictions, and the mist that spawns them is called the Dimensional Mist.


    1 316 ADF : Over the centuries, the tesseract network has become harder and harder to navigate, but it is still the bedrock of commerce. Mist Walkers, specially trained adventurers, constantly scout for safe paths, evading Mist Afflictions and marking which routes are safe to take for the day. But suddenly, a massive wave of Dimensional Mist overcomes the entire network. This time, it not simply to block the tesseract, the Dimensional Mist spills over into the real world, and Mist Afflictions begin invading major cities. The Great Tesseract Crisis begins, and the Fist Golden Age ends.


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    1 330 ADF : The Great Tesseract Crisis ends. Overall, over 30% of the registered planetary population has died or gone missing, never to be seen again. Most major cities, except major capitals, are abandoned. Entire regions are blanketed in the Dimensional Mist, and reclassified as Death Zones. The Dimensional Mist and it''s Afflictions are renamed The Blight.


    1 650 ADF : The Mist receeds, and territory begins being taken back from the Blight. A few adventurers manage to go through the tesseract network, but now report that Mist Afflictions now patrol all of the tesseracts, even those without Mist. The tesseract network is officially condemned, and all entrances are walled off or abandoned. Most of the abandoned cities are declared cursed and not to be entered unless absolutely necessary, as reports come in of Mist Affliction still haunting them.


    1 665 ADF : A large territory dispute errupts inside of the Kingdom of Elergar (named after king Elergar), and the kingdom ruptures into civil war. At the end of it, the new King simply decides that, as many nobles and regular landowners have done before, he would resort the WMC and it''s writs, contracts and courts to settle land disputes and settle successions. This innovation is quickly adopted by other nations, and within a century the WMC administers 99% of intra-national land sales, keep tracks of who owns what land, and who rules over which, as well as managing and tracking titles of nobility.


    2 154 ADF : Archmage Saphire Arkan makes a breakthrough in teleporter magic, allowing the size of teleporters and their cargo to be increased by several order of magnitudes, and massively cutting down on mana costs. He uses the massive influx in money from the patents and prizes to fund an expedition to a forgotten continent and a rumored still functional pillar of power.


    2 156 ADF : Archmage Arkan succeeds in finding the rumored ruined city with the intact pillar of power, and promptly founds a new city on top of it. He names it Saphire city, the continent Arkan (because of course he did), and declares the creation of the Saphire Kingdom. For the following century he would nurture the kingdom''s growth, shamelessly using his influence and leverage in the WMC to aid its development.


    2 279 ADF : Saphire Arkan dies, killed by a dragon he tried to murder over priceless technological artifacts. That is the official story, and no one speaks word of the fact that said dragon is his daughter''s friend, and that said daughter immediately took power and as her first act had all the other heirs to the throne hunted down and either thrown in prison (where they would die from ''accidents'' after a few years) or executed.


    3 161 ADF : After nearly two and a half millenia, the Orlov Empire comes to an end in an apocalyptic rebellion. Their slavery practices, which had gotten more and more cruel over the years, and the incessant scheming, palace revolutions and treachery by the nobles errupts in a massive civil war, which triggers a general uprising and slave revolt, overwhelming the already weakened empire.


    3164 ADF : The Emperor is murdered by Rook the Sunderer, and the Orlov Empire''s capital cities, Orois and Sarnia, are burned to the ground. The Orlov Empire is officially toppled, and the remaining loyalist territories fall within the year.


    3 165 ADF : The slaves of the Orlov Empire, lead by their leader, Rook the Sunderer, establish the free city of New Raleigh, deep in the mountains of Sierra. A peerless general and politician manages to convince the remaining, more liberal dukedoms of the old Orlov Empire, that had declared independence at the beginning of the slaughter, to unite to prevent the still ongoing bloodshed from overtaking them all. The Eris Empire is founded, and said general is crowned as the First Empress. The Great Reconquest Begins.


    3 231 ADF : The Great Reconquest Ends, and the Eris Empire becomes one of the great nations of the world. The Second Golden Age begins.


    5 529 ADF : The province of Asaria of the Saphire Kingdom rebels. The Wars of Shattering begin.


    5 536 ADF : After 7, long years of carnage, the Saphire Kingdom admits defeat, and the Wars of Shattering come to an end.


    5 601 ADF : The Duchy of Elkis is reformed into the Elkis Republic, and it begins peacefully integrating nearby dukedoms into it''s new government.


    5 919 ADF : The first United Dungeon War begins and the Second Golden Age comes to an end.


    5 930 ADF : The first United Dungeon War ends, and the United Dungeon Council is formed. The Third Golden Age begins.


    6 386 ADF : The Elkis Republic declares a trade embargo on the Tark Directorate, due to their refusal to essentially swear alliegance. The Tark Directorate declares war on the Republic, and to everyone''s surprise, wins by the skin of their teeth. The fertile border region between the Directorate and the Republic is annexed by the latter, and the Autonomous Province of Eternity is created with Directorate backing. Simultaneously, the city-state of Darthar is taken by the Asarian Kingdom, prompting the peace deal on the Republic''s side.


    6 391 ADF : The Elkis Republic, having made sure the Asarian Kingdom couldn''t launch a campaign through the wasteland, attacks the Tark Directorate without warning, but is repelled. In response, heavy tribute is levied from the Republic, and military installations are constructed all along the border to defend it. The Tark Directorate reforms itself into the Tark Hegemony.


    6 520 ADF : The Elkis Republic attempts to invade the Far Reach. The invasion is a disaster and most of the Elkis Republican Army is destroyed in the process.


    6 535 : Present day.

 Great Archives (Edicts of Annihilation)

    Edicts of Annihilation.


    Edicts of Annihilation are extremely powerful spells, most created after the Dawn of Flames, due to the Edict of the God of Fire''s interdiction on technological super-weapons. A few of the more powerful ones however were created during the Time of the Gods, sometimes by the Divines themselves.


    1<sup>st</sup> Edict of Annihilation : Shatterstar.


    The first edict is also the most powerful. Shatterstar is incredibly dangerous, in the way that it is a merger between conventional physics and magic, exploiting each to it''s maximum destructive potential without violating the [REDACTED]. Shatterstar is, at it''s core, a matter conversion spells : it takes a certain amount of mass of the target, depending on the power fed to it, and turns it into antimatter by ''flipping it''. It is brutal, efficient, and shockingly powerful. The ensuing detonation from the matter-antimatter annihilation has technically no upper limits, although in practice no being has gathered enough mana to make a detonation greater than 50 gigatons.


    3<sup>rd</sup> Edict of Annihilation : The Incantation of Xhanet.


    The 3<sup>rd</sup> edict is also widely attributed as the beginning of necromancy. Originally intended as a mass resurrection spell, the complex ritual went wrong and pooled the mortal remains and part of the essence of the fallen into a single creature : a Golem of Xhanet. This abomination would then proceed to rampage through the area. It has since then be refined, with the ritual creating several more controllable, vaguely humanoid flesh golems. The spell is widely considered extremely revulsive, and it''s usage has been banned world wide, however in times of crisis some nations still resort to it.


    6<sup>th</sup> Edict of Annihilation : Shattersky.


    The 6<sup>th</sup> edict is one of the most cost-effective edicts ever developed. Once again, it is a merger between conventional physics and mana manipulation, and was not actually a weapon to begin with. It was created by archmage Oc¨¦ane Aub¨¦toile, an extradimensional that sought to replicate the fusion reactors of Earth using magic. Shattersky was the result of her research on the ''sparkplug'' laser mechanism the EFSN used to light fusion reactors, and it worked....too well. The name comes from the fact that the first test''s detonation was so great that it ''shattered the sky''. Her research was confiscated by the Orlov Empire, and she herself was lucky to escape with her life, mostly thanks to the patronage of the Elder Wyrm Eldron The Wise, who even the Orlov Empire dared not challenge.


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    The Orlov Empire''s council of magic then scaled up the spell, and took it from a yield of approximately a kiloton to several megatons. However, since they had none of Oc¨¦ane''s genius or understanding of fusion, they were unable to scale it past that point, and their attempts ended...badly. The Empire tried to kidnap Oc¨¦ane or entice her back, but were unable to, as she now lived in the Western Marches, and the vampire lords were then at the height of their power, and foiled them easily.


    9<sup>th</sup> Edict of Annihilation : Blood Moon.


    The 9<sup>th</sup> edict''s history is dark, and muddled. Originally made to massively improve the armies of the Western Marches vampire lords, Blood Moon is essentially an extremely overpowered enhancement spell. However it currently has...undesirable secondary effects. The spell relies on a short-lived dimensional tesseract to spread its area of effect, but this tesseract can be affected by the Blight, resulting in a brief, but extremely violent Blight Incursion.


    Ever since, Blood Moon has been considered the single most hazardous edict to wield, and has only been used in the most extreme of circumstances.


    16<sup>th</sup> Edict of Annihilation : Midnight.


    The 16<sup>th</sup> edict is very rarely used, due to it''s prohibitive mana cost, but no one can deny it''s power. The edict essentially creates a beam of pure, exotic energy, and fires it from the sky at the target. No one knows exactly how the beam is formed, with some speculating that it somehow concentrates cosmic radiation, while others consider it as a flashy, overpowered power beam. Nevertheless, the beam of energy thus created rivals the broadside of Old World capital ships, and is one of the few spells capable of truly threatening a Iso Dimensional shield.


    18<sup>th</sup> Edict of Annihilation : Shatterearth.


    The 18<sup>th</sup> edict is...controversial. While others have been seen as valid, if frowned upon, weapons of last resort, Shatterearth is seen by many as little more than a weapon of terror at best. Shatterearth is, at it''s most basic principle, an earthquake spell scaled beyond reason. Due to that, it is extremely effective at destroying cities and civilian works, but usually useless at damaging military installations.


    Since it has been used mainly as a tool of terror by the Orlov Empire, to crush rebellious province and destroy their homes to enslave their people, the reputation of the edict has been tainted, and remain so to this day.


    30<sup>th</sup> Edict of Annihilation : Extinction.


    The 30<sup>th</sup> edict is among the most powerful, despite it''s late coming. It was created by the Eris Empire at the height of it''s conquests, and deployed in numerous wars since. Extinction is particular in the sense that it can be casted by an archmage with little to no preparation, and no need for a lengthy, easy to disrupt ritual. It essentially creates a plasma shockwave whose sole goal is to clear out vast amounts of infantry off the field of battle, to clear the way for the Empire''s mechanized units and war machines.

 Great Archives (Alchemy)

    Potions are a purely alchemical product, created through the mixing, refining, ect, of alchemical components, bringing out their innate properties due to their imbuement by mana. While they do require skill, experience and some tools (which become more and more expensive and complex the better the potion), with preferably a sanitized alchemy lab to make them in, they do not require any training in magic or enchanting to make, and do not require mana to create.


    Elixirs are potions where the effects of certain ingredients, or the whole potion, has been tweaked and enhanced via complex enchantments. Elixirs can be made by anyone with knowledge of enchanting magic and mana, but the effects are exponentially better if the enchanter is more powerful and more skilled. It should be noted that making an Elixir is more or less demultiplying the effects of a potion, and can only be done up to a point. The process is extremely complicated as the enchantments have to be applied at very specific stages of the ingredients'' preparation or at specific stages of the potion, making them expensive. They are, however, incredibly stable, and have a virtually unlimited shelf life, while most potions degrade after a while (with the notable exception of those with a stasis enchantment).


    Philters are not technically potions. They are, however, a liquid, so most people consider them as such. Philters are essentially liquid mana that has been subjected to a series of enchantments, or execution commands. They are very, very unstable, as instead of being grounded by the stable processes and magic code of ingredients, the mana is directly processed by a sentient made enchantment, which has some serious issues. If the enchantment is damaged, wether through time, magical interference to the liquid mana, or even just distruption spells, it can get out of control and create extremely violent and unexpected results (usually resulting in the person absorbing it dying). Additionally, if the enchantment is too powerful for the person taking the Philter, or the enchantment fails to consume the mana quickly enough before it is absorbed by whoever is taking the Philter, the person is either consumed by the power or suffers the same effects as an uncontrolled mana gem absorption, both which are extremely lethal.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Alchemy has also enabled the creation of alchemical gunpowders. Although most of them are scarcely more advanced than medieval era black powder in terms of consistency and manufacturing standards, they are vastly more potent, with even the most basic approaching the power, weight for weight, of 21<sup>st</sup> century explosives. The more advanced ones, used by the Eris Empire and other advanced polities, have explosive potential beyond any chemical explosives ever made by 2160 Earth, and are in many ways more comparable to miniaturized nuclear devices such as the EFSN''s fusion grenades.


    It is worth noting that while it would be technically possible to apply the same categories used in potion making to alchemical gunpowders, it is rarely done. Gunpowders are usually housed in a much more dangerous and rougher environment than potions, and thus while potions can afford a degree of instability, gunpowder cannot. Thus, elixir equivalents, such as gunpowder boosted with enchantments, are rarely used, and when they are, strictly for elite units or the most well protected of warships, such as the Eris Empire''s capital ships. Philter equivalents would be, well, just philters, and generally passed over in preference to the vastly more reliable mana gem fed enchanted/runed weaponry.


    Alchemical explosives are also very much possible, but they share most of their properties with alchemical gunpowder (most of them having been developed as an offshoot of gunpowder).


    In the field of general medicine, most unguents, or even herbal teas (which, truth be told, are simply very basic potions when using the right plants), can be incredibly potent, and although modern, scientific medicine does exist, it has always taken a back seat to more ''traditional'' means for most of the population. Still, thanks to the Eris Empire and Gorromar, industrial medicine is becoming more and more available, and there are even rumors of potion recipes that could possibly be produced on a scale previously unheard of, using vast reaction vats and complicated machines to produce batches of thousands of doses at a time.

 Great Archives (Armageddon Missile)

    EFHA-OCSO-6 ''Armageddon'' planetbuster missile


    The EFHA-OCSO-6 (European Federation High Admiralty - Omega-Class Strategic Ordnance) planetbuster missile is the single most powerful weapon ever developed by any nation of human space, and is one of the most tightly held secret of the European Federation. The missile is 560 meters long, and follows the standard space rule of 10x1x1 of dimensions, with 56 meters of width. That totals at a tonnage of 1 756 160 cubic meters, which is more than most frigates and even some older light cruisers. With this tonnage (which about 2/3<sup>rd</sup> is taken by various systems, the hull, stealth coating, ECM, ect), the EFSN''s bureau of logistics was able to cram in no less than 18 billion tons of fusion fuel into the missile, using pressurized monomollecular tanks and active gravity generators to achieve a density a thousand times higher than osmium, the densest naturally occurring material on Earth, which drove technical requirements to the point that the missiles have to be kept fully empty and fueled only when launched, as long term storage would be otherwise impossible with the weapon loaded. This fusion fuel, when the warhead is detonated, would yield approximately 11x10<sup>26</sup> joules, or an explosion of 271 petatons of TNT, which is over 10 times the upper levels of estimated energy of the asteroid impact suspected to have wiped out the dinosaurs. While not remotely enough to bust a planet, or even truly fracture the crust, it is enough energy to exterminate virtually all complex life on a world''s surface, and completely destroy it''s biosphere, or at least cripple it to a point where the survival of humans without massive technological assistance is impossible.


    There were propositions to update the missile with a vastly more compact antimatter warheads, however the proposal was shot down, mainly on the worry that no one wanted to make Arcadia aware of the weapon or provide the AI with sufficient data to infer it was being manufactured, as Arcadia Systems was the only entity capable of producing antimatter in the quantities required for such a weapon.


    Needless to say, data about this missile and it''s use was heavily restricted, with most of the engineers and scientists that worked on the weapon not even being aware it was being built, let alone why or where. In fact, most of the members of the design team thought it was more of a thought experiment relating to mass fusion brainstorming or even a practical joke.


    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    The missile itself was designed during the Ragnarok program, a mostly theoretical program about how planet killing (in the sense that the planet would no longer be able to sustain human life without massive technological assistance) super weapons could be designed. Most of the program was pure science fiction speculation, and some of the options were almost jokes in and of themselves, but the intent was to bury the actual super weapon design under the rest, which was successful. Of the handful of viable designs the program yielded, only 3 were retained for operational use, and the Armageddon missile was eventually chosen for production out of the three, while the other two were shelved for a variety of reasons.


    Unbeknownst to everyone who knows about the true nature of the project but the highest ranking officers in the EFSN, the weapons weren''t actually a reaction to the UIS'' rearmament as advertised to those privy to the information that the weapon would be built, rather they were the continuation of a program began in the aftermath of the Martian Revolution, fearing that the UIS counterattack would be so bloody that the inhabitants of the red planet would have no choice but to destroy Earth to survive. Thus a program was created to study potential super weapons and counter them. That program (called Nuit ¨¦ternelle, French for eternal night) eventually evolved into the Earth Orbital Defense Grid Initiative, and the Valhalla program. The Valhalla program yielded a total of 3 super weapons design, 1 purely kinetic, in essence a relativistic kill missile on the scale of a battleship, 1 an extremely hazardous and virulent bioweapon taken from the Terran Hegemony''s arsenal, and the last a nanotech ''grey goo'' style weapon. Needless to say, the Valhalla program was EXTREMELY secretive, as all three weapons violated several laws and the latter two outright violated the European Federation''s constitutional ban on biological and nanotechnological weaponry.


    The Ragnarok program was built to replace the ageing Valhalla weapons mainly because it was clear that Earth might become the target, and Mars had developed and put into place it''s own Orbital Defense Grid. Thus new weapons were needed, ones that could penetrate an extremely sophisticated defensive perimeter like an Orbital Defense Grid, and still be able to do enough damage to wipe out the biosphere, and virtually all human life on the surface. Since relativistic projectiles simply wouldn''t work against an ODG, and the EFSN did not possess inertial compensators good enough to prevent any nanotech or bio weapon from being destroyed by the sheer g forces required for a missile to get through the grid, completely new designs were required.


    Additionally, the Valhalla weapons were made to be fired from Earth itself, hidden in weapons silos buried in secret areas of the European Federation''s Planetary Defence Centers, and thus a new weapon platform, capable of carrying the weapons themselves and delivering them to other solar systems if necessary was thought up, the Final Contingency-class cruisers. It also added second strike capabilities, as a threat assessment concluded that if the European Federation could make stealth weapons platform good enough to conceal a first strike planetkiller capability, the UIS most definitely could as well.

 Poll - Platoon Level Combat

    Hey. I''m going to keep this brief because I have a lot on my mind. Today is my birthday, and yesterday my uncle was sent to the hospital because some asshole ran him over. He''ll live, but he''s badly wounded, with multiple broken bones and internal organ damage. So I hope you''ll understand if this is brief.


    To put it simply : I can''t write platoon level combat. Maybe I''m a shitty author, but I have tried and failed to write what I find to be satisfactory combat with the ERA''s strike team against Alexandra''s defenses. I have written two chapters worth of it, but pretty much by treating the individual squads as ''party members'' and it''s not working. I have asked my keepers for advice and nothing they could come up with would fit my style and how I do things.


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    So, simply put, this poll is to ask if you would be fine with me buffing up a few of the key members of the assault unit, having the rest die off (it won''t be a ''rock falls, everyone not important dies'', don''t worry), and handling this as a party vs dungeon fight, which I do know how to write. As it is, I just can''t do it with a platoon.


    I''m asking more or less for permission because, as most of you know, I like to set up things in advance, and the leaders of that strike team being actually strong wasn''t set up, at all. Their main advantages wer supposed to be their discipline and their numbers. They are soldiers, their phalanx, not their individual might, is their strength.


    Anyway, that is all I had to say for today. Have a nice day, and see you next saturday.

 Great Archives (Final Contingency-class Cruiser)

    Final Contingency-class cruiser.


    Length : 1.6 km.


    Tonnage : 40 960 000 m3.


    Also called ''Contingency-class'' for short, Final Contingency-class cruisers were created as part of the European Federation Navy''s Final Defence Protocols, and are in fact the last contingency measure on the list. They are simply the last option of the EFSN, when all else is lost. Their goal isn''t to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat however, their sole objective is to make sure that if the Federation loses, then no one else will win, and reduce everything to cinders.


    The Final Contingency cruiser are the most heavily stealthed ships in Earth human space by a huge margin, able to silently move through Sol with impunity as long as they avoid getting too close to Earth and Mars'' massive orbital sensor arrays. Each is equipped with 3 missile launchers, and a carries a total of 6 missiles. A positively puny armament compared to virtually every warship, even lowly corvettes.


    There is a simple catch however. Each of those missiles is a EFHA-OCSO-6 (European Federation High Admiralty - Omega-Class Strategic Ordnance) ''Armageddon'' planetbuster missile, each made to wipe out all human life on an entire planet, and render it completely uninhabitable, even when using atmospheric domes, with sufficient stealth and defence network penetration aids to survive entry into Earth or Mars'' Orbital Defence Grids.


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    One of the reasons why there are so few missiles onboard is that once fully fueled the warheads require extremely maintenance and energy intensive systems to be online at all times to prevent it from simply exploding under the enormous pressure or the fuel undergoing nuclear fusion prematurely, which would pretty much preclude long term passive stealth. Hence, most of the ship''s tonnage is more or less dedicated to fuel tanks and refueling systems for its deadly payload.


    The Final Contingency-class was originally constructed in response to the Martian Republican Navy''s strategic bombardment missiles, created and advertised as a last resort measure in case of an Earth-lead invasion, whose sole goal was to eradicate all life on Earth, to act as deterrence against a potential invasion. Such missiles, especially if sufficiently stealthed, might have been able to destroy the original launch sites before the missiles could fire. Hence the creation of a long term deployment, stealth launch platform.


    All of the ships were built in the EFSN''s secret shipyards in the outer solar system, and every single one can be fully automated if needed, although they are usually given a skeleton crew of a few dozen, backed up by a veritably army of maintenance drones. The crews are handpicked from the EFSN''s stealth recon ships, who are in all respect remarkably similar to the Final Contingency-class, as they very much served as their baseline, plus a vast arsenal of recon drones and satellites, and minus the world destroying ordnance and oversized fuel tanks.


    While the ships were several times given the order to be on high alert, usually during major conflicts with the UIS and its allies, only once were they transmitted launch codes and told to stay on stand by for launch orders, during the height of the Europa Crisis. The rest, as they say, is history.

 Great Archives (The United Dungeon Council)

    The United Dungeon Council


    Officially formed in 5 930 After the Dawn of Flames at the end of the first United Dungeon War, the UDC was in truth older by a few years. While the beginning of the war was more chaotic than anything, by the end of it the various dungeons were operating as a coordinated, unified military force, with robust logistics, production facilities, shipyards, ect. All of these systems were transferred onto the UDC which, for the first few decades of its existence was more or less an extension of the old command structure and effectively a military dictatorship.


    However, as time went on, and the attacks on dungeons became rarer and rarer, the UDC began to...mollify. A proper civil administration was put into place, and the organization shifted from a purely military one to a sort of United Nations for dungeon cores. Financing arrangements were changed and the UDC''s military core was gradually dissolved, as the need for a standing army lessened.


    Nowadays, in terms of military forces the UDC mostly relies on a form of levy, by taking troops from member dungeon whenever necessary and effectively leasing them. It does have a ''core'' permanent force, but it has diminished in size over the years as budget cuts became greater and greater, and now it is little more than a defense force for Unity itself, and is effectively incapable of more than token long range deployments.


    There is, of course, a mutual defense treaty underlying the entire UDC, allowing for, if a 2/3<sup>rd</sup> majority of the council votes it or a member dungeon core is destroyed, to launch a full scale war, by more or less requisitioning half of the military forces of all member dungeons and placing them under a central command structure. At least that is what it does nominally, but in truth since most dungeons are wary to give control of their monsters or creatures to someone else, it effectively turns any UDC army into a vast coalition of disparate forces, like any feudal kingdom relying on the men at arms of various nobles. However, due to the vast resources the older and larger dungeons can field, it is common for many lesser dungeons to place themselves under their command and try to integrate themselves into their forces, allowing for a far greater degree of coordination than might otherwise be possible.


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    One of the key reasons why the UDC works is also the most often overlooked one : the advisors. All of the dungeon advisors come from the Western Marches, and often have blood ties to the Von Oswald family to one degree or another. This means that, in effect, all of the advisors function as the members of a vast network of relatives, similarly to the noble networks of old Europe, albeit far more centralized and with less poison, internecine warfare, politicking and assassinations. And since these advisors are, for various reasons, extremely well thought of by their dungeon cores and generally get along well together, they are able to grease the wheels of the UDC''s more routine business and internal diplomacy the way a great many aides have done throughout the millenia in the halls of power of humanity. Indeed, given the low level, instinctive aggression (natural) dungeons have towards damned near anything except their advisors, it is likely that without the vampires smoothing the way the UDC would have never survived after it was no longer an absolute military necessity, and fractured into warring factions. It might not even formed at all, as a matter of fact.


    The UDC extract a mana tax from all of its members, that tax has varied much over the years, but currently sits at 10% of their mana generation, which by most government standards is absurdly low, yet due to the unique way dungeons operate, still permits the UDC to function acceptably well, notably as the council has progressively lowered its interventions and thus costs over the last few decades. Remarkably, very few UDC number attempt to falsify their mana generation or any other form of fraud, notably because most of the income not absorbed by military operations is redistributed in the form of various subsidies, some of which include materials and devices shared by other dungeons, thus making it a net positive for most dungeons.


    Although the UDC is a military alliance it is not a marketplace. One of the greatest fears of the adventurers guild and most nations was that the UDC would put together some form of universal schematics, materials and technology package and distribute it to all of its members. Fortunately (for those concerned parties), thanks to some adroit diplomacy, veiled threats and outright bribery from the higher echelons of the adventurers guild, this did not become the case. As such while the UDC does not necessarily prohibits exchanges of materials and knowledge between dungeons, it does not encourage them either outside of its own limited subsidy program. This has limited exchanges between dungeon considerably, and although there is an active, if mostly quiet, trading network between dungeons, it is far less than it could have been, and has prevented the creation of a common dungeon database, much to the relief of many.

 The Great Archives (Adventurers & the Adventurers Guild)

    Adventurers and the Adventurer''s Guild


    Adventurers are an odd profession. Although everyone takes them for granted and a natural part of life on Alcheryos, adventurers (and their guild) once were vastly different from their current form.


    At their core, modern day adventurers are disposable mercenaries specializing in fighting monsters and the other natural or unnatural abominations that haunt every corner of Alcheryos. Outside of dungeon delving, adventurers are usually occupied by extermination and protection missions, where they are tasked with eliminating some particularly troublesome creatures, or protecting assets from them. That doesn''t mean that they''ll decline fighting bandits of course, but for fighting humans generally specialized, proper mercenaries are preferred if available.


    While a very important role, if adventurers were only limited to those missions they would hardly be the omnipresent force they are now. What truly sets them apart is their guild and dungeon delves.


    The adventurers guild is odd. Originally, it was founded by independent scavengers and explorers, hired by governments shortly after the Dawn of Flames to explore ruins or scavenge certain areas, when the military wasn''t available to do so, effectively disposable sub contractors. As their discoveries and fees made them richer and richer, they started feeling the pressure from their respective governments, and with the help of the newly created WMC, formed a guild to organize and protect themselves.


    For the better part of a millenia, the adventurers guild was, in effect, a guild of explorers and mercenaries, with a healthy side of scavenging. As its operations and reach expanded, the guild began offering its services to corporations or institutes eager to forray into the wastelands, but who did not have the political backing to secure a military escort or enough forces of their own to protect their expeditions. Thus they turned to the adventurers guild. These contracts were displayed openly in guild halls on a common board, where any group of adventurers could read the requirements from the client, the objective, and the payment. These contracts became the first quests.


    The omnipresence of the guild, and its importance for expansion made it virtually untouchable by governments. Oh, the guild threaded very lightly, and remained completely and utterly neutral, but no one wanted to disrupt a business on which their continued expansion and economic growth depended so much on. And that was essential, as the guild''s greatest problem was personnel. To put it simply, even to this day, the attrition rate for adventurers is insane. It is, without a doubt, the single most lethal profession on Alcheryos by a factor of at least three, if you do not count nobles in particular countries due to assassinations. If you count resurrections, it is more lethal than any other job by an order of magnitude.


    So the guild needed to be able to dictate its own rules to recruit. Effectively, in many nations the guild was the only way to move up in the world. At that time many caste systems locked people in poverty and prevented social advancement, even today many peasants and simple citizens are prevented from rising up due to an oppressive caste of nobles or an entrenched upper class. But the guild was outside of those rules. The guild could not give less of a shit if you were the scion of a noble house or a family of serfs. If you could pay the fee and bring a weapon to fulfil the base requirements of the clay rank, you were in.


    Thus in many places the guild was, and still is, the only way for upward social mobility. Furthermore in some cases it is a way to gain quick, very quick upward mobility. Adventurers die quickly, yes, but they accumulate mana and essence at a rate vastly greater than anyone else, thanks to their high fees and the piles of bodies they tend to produce. Add to that their highly lethal assignment weed out the incompetent and the weak with ruthless efficiency, and that made their length of service, ranks and completed quest all of the proof of competence a recruiter needs. After a few months of adventuring, a peasant whose sole prospect would otherwise have been spending the rest of their existence tilling dirt could be welcomed with open arms into a noble''s personal army or as a guard in a city. A few years, and they could become a knight or a member of a noble''s retinue with ease. That was the lure that keep people coming to the adventurers guild despite the incredible fatality rate.


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    But what truly revolutionized the adventurers guild was dungeon delves.


    Five millenia ago, a group of adventurers attacked a dungeon''s surface installations. It wasn''t on purpose, this dungeon had laid undiscovered for centuries, as it was deployed on the other side of a death zone, and they thought they were dealing with an active NLR core in some kind of opened ruins. They killed the dungeon defenders and looted everything they could, but upon failing to find a way deeper, they pulled back, and tried again the day after.


    Only to find all of the defenses were back online. Defenses comprised of various traps and creatures whose carcasses and loot were very valuable. Valuable enough to risk your life, repeatedly, to obtain.


    So they kept attacking. And the dungeon kept reinforcing. The adventurers found a way deeper eventually, even reaching the dungeon core, but were attacked by a massive wave of creatures, and decided to leave the deepest layers, the ''core room'' and the dungeon''s ''sanctum'' alone. And the dungeon core itself, realizing just how much more mana it was making thanks to these adventurers, even greater than the cost of its slain defenders, decided to try and keep the adventurers coming back by replenishing its defenses and keeping them exactly the same, to avoid spooking the adventurers with change and danger.


    And thus was born the first ''modern'' dungeon. This style started to spread, as more dungeons learned of this way of ''milking'' humans through their advisors'' network. Eventually, it became a tradition. And now, things have been done this way for so long that even the Von Oswalds do not question it. It is just the way it is, and save for some archivist delving into old records, or the oldest dungeons, no one can remember it being any other way.


    The dungeon delves took the adventurers guild from an economic necessity nations only put up with for the sake of their own expansion to a powerhouse bordering on a superpower. Dungeon delving was such a massive source of income that the adventurers guild became enormously rich thanks to its fees. Realizing the proverbial gold mine they had struck, the guild''s leadership used all of their influence and power to establish a monopoly over dungeon delves. It didn''t fully work, but the adventurers guild gained enough leverage and concessions from even those who refused to let them take over this newfangled ''dungeon delve'' thing to make them powerful on an almost unimaginable scale for what was effectively a private entity. Even Arcadia Systems, who for all intents and purposes ran the entirety of the European Federation Star Navy''s logistics and production needs, as well as supplying a solid thirty percent or so of the civilian sector''s consumer goods and power requirements did not have the level of influence over the Federation''s government that the guild regularly applied to nations.


    Of course, that influence was used wisely. The guild was immensely rich and powerful, but its leadership was under no illusion of the base loyalties of its members, and a direct confrontation with a nation would only be possible as long as it remained a single nation, and the guild could keep up the payments to keep its adventurers fighting on its side. An alliance or coalition could have eventually crushed the guild. They''d decimate their own economy in the process, but they could do it. As such the guild made sure to divide and conquer, and made a point of only weighing in when matters pertaining to the guild''s business were concerned, and always being as outwardly neutral as possible when that involved stepping into an international incident or an outright war. Of course, the adventurers guild wasn''t above taking sides when safeguarding their business was concerned, but they would make every effort to appear neutral doing so, although it was only a question of plausible deniability at this point.


    But the dungeon delves also gave adventurers a new alternative. Yes, dungeon delves would not yield the essence payday of regular quests, but they were an incredible way to make money. This allowed adventurers to make massive amounts of mana, which they would use to finance equipment to either go back delving, or do quests to gain in level. Rinse and repeat and the overall level and quality of adventurers went through the roof. So did their numbers, as more and more recruits joined for the promise of easy money from a successful dungeon delve. This brought adventurers from occasionally encountered mercenaries to effectively omnipresent, to the point that the mercenary companies that had until then been competitors for monster hunting were simply folded into the adventurers guild, or fully specialized to fight against humans altogether.

 Interlude 7 - The Merchants Guild

    Interlude 7


    City of Selrom


    Eris Empire Protectorate of Valtyr


    Merchants'' Guild Headquarters


    Sseth looked out the window and wondered how many of the people down in the city, moving around like ants, realized just how fragile the status quo they oh so cherished was. Far more than most would admit, surely. Still, he doubted most of the population was even remotely aware of how fragile their country and, as far as they were concerned, their entire world was.


    As the head of the merchants guild, he had a far better view of the cracks in the system than most people did. To be fair, it was because he was ruthless about exploiting those cracks, but still. He could see the fault lines forming, and he for one knew that even he could not hope to close them.


    It might surprise people to learn that despite his reputation for making trouble and then making off like a bandit, he¡¯d actually been a stabilizing influence on the world. It wasn¡¯t out of a deep-seated sense of morality or altruism either. It was simply that a prosperous city would produce far more money than a looted ruin, if you were willing to look beyond short-term profits. And, stable growing nations were immensely more profitable than a hundred squabbling dukedoms trying to strangle each other.


    So, he¡¯d very quietly influenced events over his many, many years as the head of the merchants guild. Hell, even before he¡¯d founded it! Sometimes a few simple bribes did the trick, but other times he had to be more overt. And on a few occasions, outright violence was the only option. Contrary to what people thought, the merchants guild didn¡¯t have a military because of any delusions about becoming some kind of sovereign nation. It was used to pressure and counterbalance to preserve the equilibrium that made the modern world possible.


    Sseth sighed and turned away from the window, then grabbed a bottle from his desk and poured himself a generous measure of whiskey. He looked at the portrait above his chimney and toasted it.


    If only your successors still shared your vision, we wouldn¡¯t be in this mess, he thought while looking at the portrait of the Eris Empire¡¯s First Empress. Meeting her¡ªand crossing swords with her¡ªhad been some of the most exciting and dangerous times of his obscenely long life. He was old. Incredibly old, even by the standards of Alcheryos, where anyone who could afford it would use magic to extend their lifespan into the centuries, provided they did not hail from the many species, like elves, who already lived that long by default. Old enough that Sseth had seen the God of Fire before his departure, leaving his Custodians to guard this world and its inhabitants, a fact only his closest confidants knew. Originally, he had used his wealth to buy the best treatments to retain his youth, and some of them had been¡­less than tasteful, to say the least. After all, immediately after the Dawn of Flames, the only magic that could unnaturally extend one¡¯s life was necromancy. But he had long since become powerful enough that those measures were no longer necessary. As a matter of fact, his natural healing had become so powerful he got younger faster than he could age! He had to regularly use special artifacts to retain his stately appearance and not revert back to his early twenties.


    Of course, the painting couldn¡¯t answer, and he downed the drink far more quickly than such a fine example of liquor probably deserved. He looked at the glass and grimaced, before putting it aside. He didn¡¯t have the luxury to get drunk, not today. There was far too much to do.


    The Eris Empire was...agitated. Not by its citizens, but something was happening. He could feel it in his guts. Some unseen force was sweeping through the Empire¡¯s upper layers, like a vast symphony, prepared and coordinated like some grand event. Yet still there was...dissonance. Some things were out of place, as if a beat had been missed, but the symphony continued regardless, seemingly unaware of the growing discord within it.


    It all formed a pattern. Grand, magnificent, and carefully laid down. Had he not been there when its weaving had begun, he would probably have missed it. As it was, he could see it with a clarity that would have probably horrified its original creators.


    The Order to Restore Humanity was moving. Their agents were moving, old debts and allegiances were being called in, and all of it was waiting for something, like racers waiting for the gunshot of the starter pistol.


    He gazed around his office, seeing something far different than the tastefully decorated, artifact-covered room, before shaking his head. He had correspondence to attend to.


    He sat down at his desk and began the process of going through nonpriority messages. He got so many of them on a daily basis that he couldn¡¯t keep up, and regularly had to prune them by using extremely costly time dilation spells. These messages were already weeks to months old, by the gods!


    He started reading them, drafting short replies when warranted, and setting them aside for his secretaries to fill them out with all the proper niceties and see that they made it to their intended destination, before stopping. A letter from Elkaryos? That was odd. The Master Merchant rarely sent correspondence outside of his quarterly report. He was, after all, extremely independent¡ªthere was a reason the dark elf had been his prot¨¦g¨¦¡ªand wasn¡¯t lacking in confidence to say the least.


    Sseth opened the letter...and his eyebrows rose. Elkaryos writing to him was rare. Recommending two individuals for recruitment into the merchants guild? That bordered on the unprecedented.


    The merchant read the letter and burst out laughing. Two young women, both adventurers, had managed to bamboozle one of his brightest pupils? No kidding he was eager to have them recruited!


    He smiled, before reading the information once more. So, a link dungeon...that was dangerous. Potentially a source of immense profit of course, but still, dangerous. Everyone would be scrambling to control it, and given the current instability of the Asarian Kingdom, he, for one, wouldn¡¯t bet on them retaining control of it, at least not without someone else throwing their hat into the ring. The Hegemony, maybe? No, they¡¯d be too busy taking a bite out of the Republic while it was distracted. Gorromar wouldn¡¯t intervene, and the Far Reach couldn¡¯t even hope to organize into a coherent army, let alone launch an expedition halfway across the continent. That made this bet a¡­risky one, as his prot¨¦g¨¦ was aligned with the Asarians.


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Still, Elkaryos was on the ground, and had far better local information than he did. And even if that wasn¡¯t the case, he trusted his Master Merchants. They might make bad investments from time to time, but if he prevented them from doing so, they would never learn to make even greater deals in the future.


    He began drafting his reply, and this one he took the time to fully write down. He then turned towards the massive block of crystal and machinery inlaid into his desk¡ªcomputer, the artificers called it¡ªand began looking up the names of the young ladies recommended to him. One of the advantages of being effectively the richest person on the planet, as well as probably the largest landowner, albeit through several cover identities and front corporations, was that the WMC, World Mage Court, gave him something of a privileged pipeline to their own archives. It still wasn¡¯t perfect¡ªthe ¡°digitalization¡± process was well underway, and paper was still how most domain boundaries and land portions were recorded¡ªbut it was practical. Especially as the WMC, which officially only dealt in high-level affairs and did not bother its court with anything short of patents of nobility and land disputes, actually recorded a gigantic amount of data, much of it voluntarily sent to them for archival and safekeeping, to guarantee they were the original documents and not tampered with.


    His search for the elf turned up nothing of note. Birth certificate, hunting license, a note that she was wanted in her home country with a rather anemic bounty, and a few reports saying she might have been connected to a few criminal affairs. The one for the human, however...


    He whistled softly as he looked at her record. Knight valiant, decorated half a dozen times for exceptional valor, including gaining her title for rescuing a princess of the Eris Empire from certain death. A list of commendations by officers longer than his arm, and a scion of house Aub¨¦toile. He¡¯d known that house for as long as it had existed¡ªhe¡¯d even gotten into a fight with its founder, Oc¨¦ane, an extradimensional¡ªand its sons and daughters were not to be taken lightly. Then her record just stopped. There was a mention of a duel, and nothing until her ascension to baroness thanks to Elkaryos. As in, absolutely nothing. Not even mentions of further crimes, or even her existence, it was like she¡¯d vanished from every record or database the WMC had. He sat back in his seat and rubbed his chin. This looked like it might turn out even more interesting than he¡¯d originally thought.


    He looked at the door, then at the pile of paperwork on his desk. The decision wasn¡¯t exactly hard.


    He got up, took his vest, and exited his office. It had been forever since he had gotten to do a bit of detective work himself and got to put the fear of the merchants guild into some bureaucrats. Time for him to get a bit more hands-on. After all, if one of his most brilliant prot¨¦g¨¦s thought those young women were worth it, the least he could do was take a look! And if it just happened to take him out of his office and the ever-mounting pile of paperwork, well that was just a handy bonus.


    *****


    Elkaryos paced back and forth in his office. To say that the last few days had been stressful was like saying the Charter Ocean was a wee bit deep.


    Hearing about the dungeon town he¡¯d invested so much into being under siege had been bad. Being told that the dungeon core had almost been kidnapped and blown its own dungeon to avoid capture? He was fortunate that he was a calm fellow by nature, or he¡¯d have had a heart attack!


    The news had also swept Darthar like a wildfire, but fortunately, the count had followed his advice and not only delivered a public announcement ahead of the rumors, but also ended it by pointing out that the dungeon was already rebuilding, greater than ever! That had allayed much of the growing panic among the merchants that had thrown their riches into the caravans sent to Rebirth to exploit the new dungeon¡¯s bounty.


    There had been some instability¡ªin times of war there always was¡ªbut the city guard had stomped on any sparks immediately and restored order within a few hours. Still, he had little doubt that if news like that kept coming, things were going to get worse. Darthar was a powder keg at the best of times. Too much money in play and too many competing interests with scores to settle, alongside little to no scruples, made for an unstable combination. But what worried him was what would happen to Rebirth. Whatever instability that occurred in Darthar would be amplified a thousand-fold in Rebirth, and with the Republic looking determined to take the town, it wouldn¡¯t be much of a stretch for some of the soulless, greedy bastards calling themselves merchants to try to take over the town and cut a deal with the Republic.


    Foolish of them of course. If the Republic was pragmatic, this mess wouldn¡¯t be happening. Unfortunately, their senate would settle for nothing less than total control of the town, including the eradication of any local force likely to challenge that control, including pesky merchants with delusions of godhood. The question was, how many of them realized it?


    Not many. Well, most merchants would know the possibility existed, but with so much potential money, so much power at stake, they probably would simply ignore it. Gods knew he¡¯d seen people delude themselves for far less!


    Allya and Pyn¡ªand Melia of course¡ªwere going to need reinforcements if they wanted to retain their hold on the town, especially against growing internal threats. The Republic¡¯s assaults the Kingdom itself would help defend against, but given the degree of infighting within the Kingdom¡¯s nobility, royal troops intervening in a purely internal affair was¡­unlikely.


    Still, they¡¯d done a superb job of cutting deals with powerful allies and making friends. That would buy them some time. Time for his reinforcements to make their way there.


    It was a larger problem, in many ways, as while he was part of a great number of organizations that, for all intents and purposes, had their own private armies, said armies were also usually extremely busy, and there was only so much he could skim from them in terms of troops before his commitment to the group rather than his own self-interest came into question. One solution was to convince the groups his own interests and theirs were the same, but that would prove a tricky proposition. Still, he had a few ideas, and he¡¯d instructed Melia to support any motion in the town¡¯s council to favor the rise of industry there. If the dungeon rebuilt its mineral deposits, and they could achieve genuine raw material production¡ªand refining¡ªoperations onsite, he could convince the Omega Consortium to step in.


    The merchants guild¡­that was up to Sseth, really, more than anyone else.


    As for the Syndicate, Allya¡¯s professed and public views for equality and against slavery, plus her diverse council, with dwarves, dark elves, beastkin, and hell, even dating a wood elf, had made clear Rebirth and the Syndicate were on the same side. The Syndicate existed to serve and protect dark elves, period, and the Aub¨¦toile family had been somewhat distant friends of the Syndicate for centuries. There had been some worry in his correspondence that the baroness being effectively kicked out of the dynasty was not a good sign where this was concerned, but the woman¡¯s utter and total disregard for such factors as species purity and her total lack of discrimination had laid much of those concerns to rest.


    He¡¯d already managed to negotiate an entire platoon of Syndicate warriors to come to the town¡¯s aid, and he was well on his way to convincing the Syndicate that opening an official operation there would be in the best interest of the dark elves. After all, a town built between several empires, on several trade routes, and on top of a link dungeon? There was no greater place to set up shop and provide a central point to serve dark elf interests throughout the continent!


    He just had to hope that the young women who had outsmarted him would do the same to their enemies long enough for his contacts to help them.

 Chapter 86 - A New Dungeon Model

    Chapter 86


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth.


    City of Rebirth.


    ¡°Pull back! Everyone, pull back!¡± Allya shouted as her men flowed around her, trying to disengage. They needed to pull back into the town, using the buildings to slow down the enemy¡¯s advance and nullify their numerical superiority, and regroup. Otherwise, they were history.


    She smiled slightly as the sky lit up with lightning and flames, as the Alberta flew overhead and fired a broadside directly into the enemy¡¯s lines, making them pause and buying more time for her people to escape.


    Captain Calder was one hell of a daredevil, and¡ª


    CRACK


    She looked up, horrified, as a gigantic bolt of lightning shot from the enemy¡¯s mages and struck the ship¡¯s propeller. The ship listed briefly¡­and began crashing down.


    Straight on top of her.


    Allya sat up abruptly, panting, and managed to stop herself in extremis before she threw herself out of bed. She took a deep breath to steady herself, and sighed. She already had enough nightmares at night without adding new fuel to the fire.


    ¡°One of those again?¡± Pyn quietly said as she sat up herself.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± Allya held her head in her hands. ¡°Sorry I woke you up.¡±


    ¡°Nonsense, I¡¯m your girlfriend.¡± The elf hugged the baroness from behind. ¡°It¡¯s my job to help you when you have bad dreams. Now come on, let¡¯s get back to sleep.¡±


    ¡°Sure¡­and thank you.¡±


    Pyn simply chuckled softly as she guided her girlfriend back down, laying the ex-assassin on top of her. Allya smiled, and closed her eyes as she drifted back to sleep.


    *****


    ¡°Alright, so, what did you think of Crystal¡¯s proposal?¡± Allya asked, as she nursed her cup of hot cocoa in her office, looking at Starvak, who was seated on the other side of her desk.


    ¡°You mean besides the lunatic proposition of allying with you?¡±


    Allya smiled at the dwarf. It was not a nice smile, at all.


    ¡°First, the United Dungeon Council decided not to intervene. Second, it¡¯s her fucking decision, not the guild¡¯s. Third, wasn¡¯t the adventurers guild supposed to be neutral in geopolitical matters? I fairly think this falls under that, to say the least.¡±


    The guildmaster frowned, and opened his mouth for a sharp response, before sighing.


    ¡°Apologies, that was¡­uncouth of me. Regardless, it isn¡¯t like that, and you know it. A military alliance, and all of it entails makes things¡­complicated.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re afraid we¡¯ll smuggle materials for her, or that she¡¯ll acquire things she really shouldn¡¯t have by salvaging it off of enemy forces.¡±


    ¡°Well¡­yes. And get stronger exponentially more quickly than she should.¡±


    ¡°I mean no offense Guildmaster, but that has already happened. Like it or not, the repeated attempts to kidnap her have resulted in her developing some serious hardware, on top of giving her a small mountain of essence. While I can understand why you would be afraid of her getting too powerful too fast, and her dungeon becoming inaccessible to beginners, so far Crystal has shown a remarkable sense of balance in the difficulty and reward from her dungeon. And even if she somehow stopped properly balancing it, she has never been shy about cooperating with us. I¡¯m fairly sure you could ask her politely and she¡¯d make changes.¡± Not to mention bribe her, if necessary, but she wasn¡¯t about to bring that up! Everyone knew it happened, but she¡¯d rather not draw attention to it¡­or be crass enough to bring it to the guildmaster¡¯s attention that some of her sentries had seen him enter the dungeon with Eismi in tow.


    ¡°That isn¡¯t the point. Not here at least.¡± Starvak sighed and rubbed his eyes underneath his glasses. ¡°As you have said, Crystal doesn¡¯t seem to be the type of dungeon to leave the low ranks to rot, and her rewards have been balanced, but¡­for a multiplicity of reasons, it is never a good idea for a dungeon to gain too powerful materials, or too much essence, too fast. You think what you have going on here with the occasional adventurer idiot is bad? Imagine the same, but with hundreds of silver-, gold-, or even a handful of mythril-ranks doing the same!¡±


    That gave Allya pause.


    ¡°Does that¡­happen a lot?¡±


    ¡°Rarely, especially for the mythril-ranks. But when a new town, without a great number of inhabitants or guards, has high-ranking adventurers demand something, especially if there¡¯s many of them, it becomes very hard to say ¡®no.¡¯ Once that happens¡­let¡¯s just say things go downhill for everyone, even the guild.¡± He chuckled. ¡°Unrest is bad for business in general, and adventurer-led unrest is one of the worst around.¡±


    ¡°I can believe that.¡±


    ¡°Of course you can; you have to deal with them. There are other issues with a dungeon growing too quickly as well, and I¡¯ll openly admit some of them are purely selfish concerns from the guild¡¯s standpoint, but the others are no less valid. Regardless, I would be much more at ease, and have far less pressure from my own superiors¡ªI do have bosses, and even my fellow guildmasters can turn into a nuisance if they feel like it¡ªif I could get tangible guarantees that such issues won¡¯t be a problem.¡±


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    Allya nodded. Sometimes it was hard to remember that despite Starvak¡¯s ridiculously high adamantium-rank, he was hardly the most powerful member of the adventurers guild¡­and those that led it were more or less demigods.


    ¡°Well, Crystal has foreseen one issue, and brought up the idea of having guild observers overseeing everything. As long as they can keep their mouths shut and no information leaks out, everything should go smoothly, and it would do much to allay your and your colleagues¡¯ issues with it, if I¡¯m not mistaken.¡±


    ¡°Observers cannot see everything and be everywhere at once, in a partnership of such scale, but¡­you are correct, it would do much to allay our concerns. I will, however, have to use guild attendants for this.¡± He smiled. ¡°Their discretion is beyond question, and so is their loyalty to the guild. Furthermore, contrary to adventurers, they will not seek to enrich themselves by either selling information, or accepting monetary accommodations in exchange for temporary blindness.¡±


    Allya chuckled.


    ¡°The issue of adventurers being here mostly for the money is that they are eminently bribable? Alright, that should work nicely.¡±


    Starvak blinked, surprised, before quickly recovering, and Allya smiled internally. The guildmaster clearly hadn¡¯t expected her to simply roll with the suggestion that she might straight up bribe the observers, but he should know better by now. She really wasn¡¯t above doing that, and she wouldn¡¯t bring it up unless necessary. She wasn¡¯t going to deny it was on the table though.


    ¡°Right, excellent then.¡±


    ¡°Now that we have agreed on that, let¡¯s move on to the actual part of the proposal I wanted to discuss,¡± Allya said. The dwarf had the good grace to blush slightly. ¡°The small, separated dungeon floors Crystal has thought up, what do you think?¡±


    Starvak winced.


    ¡°In many ways, I don¡¯t like it. It would require a great number of entrances to guard for tax purposes and create that many more possible loopholes. And, not to put too fine a point on it, in terms of guild attendants I can either have them look over these entrances, or observe your alliance, but I won¡¯t have enough to do both.¡±


    Allya frowned but nodded. She¡¯d expected that. The guild only had so many people that worked for it directly after all¡ªhell, at the entrances the attendants were always backed up by adventurers hired through a recurring guild quest¡ªand although she was fairly sure Starvak hadn¡¯t worded it that way to get better terms on either the alliance or the new floors, it was still something to keep in mind. For that matter, guarding and ensuring order to that many entrances would put a significant strain on her badly depleted forces.


    ¡°Alright, I think I have the beginning of an idea that could help with this.¡±


    ¡°How so?¡±


    ¡°Well, the mesa is roughly circular, correct?¡± Starvak nodded. ¡°Then we could just¡­have a single entrance leading into a centralized hub of some kind and have the different ¡®mini dungeons¡¯ branch out from there, like spokes of a wheel. Preventing a single group from just doing them all in a single delve and thus nullifying the higher throughput might get a bit tricky, but Crystal already knows how to handle unruly adventurers, and since those mini-dungeons are intended for the lower ranks, she should be able to handle them without too many problems, correct?¡±


    ¡°That¡­¡± Starvak leaned back, stroking his mustache. ¡°Just might work. It would still increase our workload, as there would still be two entrances, with all of the issues coming with that. But if Crystal agrees to take on some of the policing burden, it will simplify things greatly and keep most, if not all of the advantages of that particular model.¡± He nodded, slowly at first, then faster and faster. ¡°Yes, yes, that would work quite nicely indeed! Provided of course, that Crystal accepts.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll contact her and arrange a meeting. And while she doesn¡¯t like handling unruly adventurers,¡± to say the least, given their last conversation, ¡°I¡¯m fairly sure that some of her mines would do the trick. She hasn¡¯t been shy about using them to punish adventurers breaking the rules after all!¡±


    Starvak winced slightly. The first instances of people running into the mines falling from the ceiling when adventurers attempted to steal the second floor¡¯s treasure chest had been¡­interesting. But it had gotten the point across quite effectively, and when word got around that trying to force the elevators had similar results, the message had gotten through to the adventurers: mess with the dungeon, and the only thing you¡¯ll get is a painful death.


    Not to mention the dungeon¡¯s little self-destruct trick had more or less engraved that in adamantium in the adventurers¡¯ minds.


    Of course, the problem was that while this had been hammered quite thoroughly into their present adventurers, it wouldn¡¯t be in the vast masses incoming from the large land caravans making their way towards the town. That promised to be a¡­less than pleasant experience.


    ¡°True, true. Let us just hope that the message gets across quickly, as you know as well as I do that some fools will try it.¡±


    Allya shrugged.


    ¡°Pushing the boundaries is what adventurers do. No one said it would be only in terms of exploration.¡±


    ¡°I suppose that¡¯s one way to see it,¡± Starvak said with a smile. ¡°Still, I¡¯d rather they kept from pushing that particular boundary too hard, if that¡¯s all the same to you. Crystal has more than amply demonstrated, I believe, that she isn¡¯t to be taken lightly, and that her patience has its limits. I would like to avoid seeing that threshold crossed again.¡±


    ¡°Oh believe me so do I guild master, so do I.¡±


    *****


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­not a bad idea,¡± Alexandra said through her golem as she looked at Allya. ¡°It would force me to put some security systems in place, but it would also enable a central elevator, which would greatly simplify things if I had to add more floors to my dungeon. And I believe I will eventually. Plus, having a central area will enable me to replicate the entrance hall, and have a quest board everyone will see as well!¡±


    ¡°So, you¡¯ll put it in place?¡±


    ¡°It seems to be for the best. But.¡± Alexandra held up one of the hands of the golem she was possessing. ¡°And let me make this exceedingly clear. If I get too many accidents from idiots there, I might decide to simply stop resurrecting those that break the rules, to¡­drive the point home more forcefully, am I clear?¡±


    ¡°Crystal.¡± Allya chuckled. ¡°Sorry, I mean ¡®clear.¡¯ I suppose that saying doesn¡¯t really work when talking with you, huh?¡±


    Alexandra smiled, realized her body didn¡¯t have a face, and simply chuckled, the metallic sound reverberating oddly in her empty entrance hall. Despite its damage, it remained the best place to have meetings, especially as there was no way in hell she was allowing anyone outside of her advisor or her maids to get near her new core room!


    ¡°No, I suppose it doesn¡¯t. Oh, and if you could at least attempt to pass the word around to the adventurers, particularly the new ones when they arrive, I¡¯d be most grateful. A fair number of them might not listen, but some might, and at least it¡¯d be something.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do, but as you said some of these idiots won¡¯t listen, no matter how much we warn them.¡±


    ¡°Then I¡¯ll be doing you a favor by removing them from the gene pool.¡± Alexandra mentally blinked¡ªsince her golem didn''t even have eyes, let alone eyelids¡ªas the baroness looked at her oddly. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m¡­surprised you know what genes are, much less a gene pool.¡±


    Alexandra winced internally and forced herself to laugh.


    ¡°My advisor is a scholar first and foremost, Allya. And scientific knowledge is hardly exclusive to the Eris Empire!¡±


    ¡°Fair enough I suppose.¡± The baroness smiled. ¡°I¡¯m just too used to being in more backward countries, where the light of science is so often dim.¡± And the people uneducated barbarians. ¡°I¡¯m glad to see that it isn¡¯t the case for you.¡±


    Far more than you could possibly know.


    ¡°My, the light of science is positively beaming here! I think you saw examples of that with my golems and contraptions.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I have heard. Well, in that case, I¡¯ll leave you to it. Have a nice day, Crystal!¡±


    ¡°The same to you, Allya!¡±

 Chapter 87 - Labyrinth

    Chapter 87


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth.


    Small Floor Prototype.


    ¡°You know we¡¯re going to need a better name for those than ¡®small floors¡¯ at some point,¡± Alexandra said idly as she looked at the first room.


    ¡°Agreed,¡± Emilia said, while darting worried looks at Sarah, who was standing behind her¡­with three golems ready to catch the vampire if she collapsed.


    If the maids had impressed Alexandra with their physical resilience, their mental fortitude¡ªand sheer pigheaded stubbornness¡ªhad amazed her. The only reason she¡¯d been able to keep the vampires in bed for so long was that she had some of her golems physically restrain them, and after they¡¯d broken a handful ¡®accidentally,¡¯ she¡¯d gotten down to the new infirmary herself and explained to them that Emilia was extremely sad seeing them wounded, and if they got out of bed and collapsed and hurt themselves further, they would have to console her if she cried.


    That had bought her a few days. Then Sarah had simply sat up and declared she was ready for duty, despite it having taken no less than three attempts for her to get upright and stay upright.


    So, Alexandra had caved, and authorized her to come, only if she had a small coterie of golems to lean on, if necessary, not to mention Jared unobtrusively waiting to leap to the rescue. The vampire maid had only smiled and commented that it made her feel like a princess, so she was perfectly fine with it.


    Alexandra hadn¡¯t been sure if the maid was joking or not, and quickly decided that she didn¡¯t want to know. The other maid, Ella was¡­simply too badly wounded to be getting up just yet, and she¡¯d wisely decided to stay in bed once Alexandra had agreed to have Sarah keep an eye on Emilia. The only thing she had asked for was a chemistry set, a supply of ingredients, and a golem to follow her orders, which Alexandra had been more than happy to provide. She didn¡¯t have all the ingredients¡ªor the equipment¡ªthe vampire wanted, but she was currently busy instructing one of her golems in the finer art of poison-making. Poisons that, she¡¯d noted, appeared to be specifically tailored for humans and giving the most horrific, painfully slow death possible.


    Needless to say, she was really going to pity the next Republic soldier or would-be core kidnapper that crossed the maid¡¯s path. Or not. She had a mean streak a lightyear wide, and right now if she had access to VX gas and some artillery she¡¯d happily send an expedition to the nearest Republic city¡ªErakis, was it?¡ªand send the Geneva Convention down the toilet.


    ¡°You can relax vampy, she¡¯s not going to vanish in a puff of smoke,¡± Alexandra said, before tapping her cheek with a finger as she contemplated her handiwork. ¡°What about ¡®the thousand steps,¡¯ with each having a name for their rank, like ¡®steps of clay¡¯ or ¡®steps of copper¡¯? For the name of these mini floors, I mean?¡±


    ¡°I am not that fussy! And it¡¯s pretty decent.¡±


    ¡°Good.¡± Alexandra shrugged. ¡°I think we¡¯re done with this one. It¡¯s tiny, but¡­I think it¡¯ll be appropriate for clay-level adventurers.¡±


    ¡°I think so too,¡± Emilia said, as she nodded. ¡°Only half a dozen rooms, each with just a handful of golems¡­not that different from the first third of the old first floor when you think about it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I mean that was the goal. Alright, so, next up.¡± Alexandra rubbed her hands together. ¡°The mines, and the labyrinth! Oh, this is going to be fun!¡±


    Emilia smiled as she saw the obvious joy her dungeon was having. Normally, she¡¯d have rolled her eyes and made a comment about the risk of explosions, especially for her core¡¯s concept of a ¡®labyrinth,¡¯ but not this time. To be honest she¡¯d been really worried from time to time after the attack. She knew dungeon cores were protective of their advisors, but Alexandra had that turned up to eleven. Whoever she had been before coming here¡ªand like her mother she was absolutely sure it wasn¡¯t who Alexandra had said she was¡ªshe¡¯d signed up for their ¡®star navy¡¯ out of a desire to protect people. Add to that a desensitized soldier, a streak of megalomania, and a love for explosions¡­


    It had worried her. A lot. But the dungeon core looked like she wasn¡¯t going to do something rash and was simply building up to protect them. She had decided not to comment on the self-destruct Alex had put into place or ask where the resources to build it had come from. It was clear the dungeon core had bamboozled her somehow, but that had saved her life, and almost certainly those of her maids. Ironically being crushed by rocks had been less lethal to them than staying under the influence of that vampire neutralizer¡ªwhich had the nasty ability to prevent resurrection to boot¡ªor a backup, had the core thieves had one.


    ¡°Just as long as she doesn¡¯t blow up her ¡®rearranging system¡¯¡­again,¡± Sarah muttered under her breath, and Emilia tried very hard not to laugh as Alexandra whirled around, and held her hand, index extended, just under her maid¡¯s nose.


    ¡°You¡­You!¡±


    ¡°Yes, milady? Did you hear anything, milady? Why, milady, I¡¯m sure it must have been your imagination, a poor, wounded maid such as myself would have never made such a¡­scathing comment about your prototypes¡¯ volatility and exemplary safety standards!¡±


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    Alexandra looked at the maid for a few seconds, before throwing her arms in the air and stomping off, grumbling loudly about being surrounded by ¡®sassy vampires,¡¯ and Emilia shared a smile with Sarah, before following the falsely irate dungeon. It felt good to have things back to normal.


    *****


    ¡°You know, when you said, ¡®one-hundred-room modular labyrinth¡¯ I imagined something¡­smaller.¡±


    Alexandra looked at her vampire advisor in disbelief.


    ¡°Vampy, my second floor was a ruined city a square kilometer in surface area. What in all the hells makes you believe I ever go for small when an alternative is available?¡±


    ¡°Well, isn¡¯t this supposed to be a small dungeon floor?¡±


    ¡°It is but it is supposed to be the crown jewel! It has to be bigger than the others!¡±


    ¡°...I suppose that¡¯s fair enough.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. And since the labyrinth only resets at midnight, it fulfills our part of the deal with the assault guild¡¯s leader. What was his name again, uh¡­¡±


    ¡°Artok, I think. Beardy dwarf, plate armor, large war axe.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, him. Although that description is basically all close-quarters dwarves.¡±


    ¡°Not really, there are some spellswords and seriously badass monks among them who eschew armor in favor of mobility. And don¡¯t discount rogues either.¡±


    ¡°Uh.¡± Alexandra nodded. Guess D&D or Tolkienesque stereotypes didn¡¯t really apply to a real fantasy world. Hell, she didn¡¯t even know if dwarves lived underground here! She¡¯d have to check that out actually, for all of the knowledge she¡¯d pestered Emilia about on this world, she knew surprisingly little about the species and variants of humanity inhabiting it. Probably because, down to a base level, they just seemed like normal people to her, and no more different from those that underwent extensive genetic engineering on Earth. But here they had developed societies based around those variations, so there might be some true cultural differences, alongside more mundane physical changes.


    TO-DO LIST UPDATED


    One day I¡¯ll actually start crossing stuff off of this list faster than I add them, Alexandra thought¡­knowing that it probably was never going to happen.


    ¡°I¡¯ll have to ask you more about dwarves someday,¡± she said, before looking up at her new ¡°floor.¡±


    A floor that currently was made up of a hundred ¡°boxes,¡± each twelve meters on a side with a gigantic hook on top and arranged in a gigantic square arranged in rows of ten, for a total surface area of 14.4 thousand square meters. Well, less if you took out the walls, but still. And all of that was at the bottom of a pit, with a gigantic crane, storage racks loaded with other ¡°room cubes¡± ready to be picked up and placed, or with enough room to place some of the cubes currently deployed for long term storage.


    She¡¯d originally had the idea for her fourth floor, a fully reconfigurable labyrinth she could build like some kind of giant Lego castle. She hadn¡¯t fully worked the idea out¡ªshe still lacked the tech to make it workable in three dimensions¡ªbut it was a start. A very good start.


    After all, with the algorithm remaking the entire labyrinth every day at midnight, it was an infinitely replayable floor, with unknown resources, loot, and danger.  Well, to some extent. A lot of the algorithm¡¯s job was to generate a new ¡°course¡± for the labyrinth, selecting rooms and their positions, as well as opening and closing doors linking said rooms to make sure all were accessible in one way or another and it was possible to clear the entire structure. Making it confusing and challenging as part of the program was just the cherry on top. At some point she was quite sure the guild would get to know all the rooms, but they¡¯d still be rearranged randomly, and she could add some new ones from time to time to keep them on their toes. Plus, it was an excellent way to set up experiments on ideas for later floors: just make a room and slip it into the queue! It wouldn¡¯t work for larger scale ideas, but still it was something.


    And, of course, it fulfilled the deal they had made with the assault guild. It provided a stable source of income, a need to map a small floor daily, and gave her a better chance to score some kills while seeming generous at the same time. After all, the rooms packed with loot might end up close to the entrance that day (not to mention they were already far more generous than the same type of rooms in the other ¡°thousand steps¡±). And with the reconfigurations, you wouldn¡¯t be able to plan and optimize to hell your delve, like so many adventurers had done for her old first floor. Adventurers weren¡¯t that different from soldiers in the sense that it¡¯s what you don¡¯t know, or didn¡¯t plan for, that kills you.


    ¡°And I¡¯ll be happy to answer.¡± Emilia gestured at the giant crane in the ceiling. ¡°So, now that you have simplified your ¡®rearranging system,¡¯ what are the rooms you¡¯re planning on adding exactly? So far all of them are, well, pretty barren.¡±


    Alexandra smiled, and extended her hand towards Jared, who handed her a scroll of paper. The Earth-born took it, and holding the top edge, unceremoniously let the scroll drop and roll on the ground, unwinding the paper.


    Emilia watched the scroll as it bounced against her shoes, and then looked back up at the dungeon core.


    ¡°You seriously built a scroll just for this gag, didn¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Yep! I always wanted to do that!¡± Alexandra chuckled as she gestured at the scroll and absorbed it. Better to take it away before Emilia started to question how much time she¡¯d spent practicing that move or making the scroll and paper that would fit perfectly and not break or tear during it. ¡°Alright, more seriously, here.¡± Jared handed a rather large notebook to Emilia, and the vampire girl¡¯s eyes began to widen as she flipped through it. ¡°What do you think?¡±


    ¡°That is¡­a lot. Like, a lot.¡±


    ¡°Most of it is just random ideas, and I doubt we¡¯ll put all of them into action. After all, there¡¯s what, three hundred room ideas? We don¡¯t need that many at first! But we¡¯ll be able to put them into place over time.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. It might be better to only have the one hundred initial rooms being rearranged at the beginning as well, and no new ones being swapped in. I doubt the assault guild is going to be able to map out all hundred rooms in a single run, so it might be for the best to give them a few days to get settled in and comfortable before we start truly switching it up. That way more people will try to run the labyrinth, and more will fail.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s an excellent point vampy!¡± Alexandra smiled. ¡°Plus, if the assault guild can¡¯t map out the whole labyrinth every day, it might encourage other adventurers to take far more risks to sell their own, more complete map, to the rest!¡±


    ¡°Right. So, should we get started on those rooms?¡±


    ¡°Yep! Let¡¯s start with the more generic ones first. So, the one with the standard golems, I was thinking¡ª¡±


    ALERT: SENTRY GOLEM REPORTS: ANOMALOUS SURFACE ACTIVITY


    ¡°Oh for the love of the gods, what now?¡± Alexandra shouted, before popping into dungeon mode and jumping into the sentry golem.


    And she fell silent as she saw the surface dwellers of the town all assembling in one place¡­and the massive convoy of vehicles and people arriving from the wastelands.

 Chapter 88 - The Land Caravan

    Chapter 88


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth.


    City of Rebirth.


    ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you, Knight Captain, you¡¯re a sight for sore eyes,¡± Allya said, as she shook the knight¡¯s hand. ¡°Although I must say I didn¡¯t expect you to have quite that much company.¡±


    The captain smiled.


    ¡°The pleasure is all mine, Baroness.¡± His face became grim. ¡°I just wish I¡¯d been here sooner.¡±


    ¡°We all do, Captain, but you¡¯re here in the end. That¡¯s what matters.¡±


    ¡°I suppose so. As for the company, well¡­¡± The knight shrugged. ¡°A lot of the caravans kept pace with us. Probably figured that having a royal military unit close at hand would help. And I suppose it has. Although there aren¡¯t that many yet. Some caravans simply couldn¡¯t keep up, but they should be here in the coming days.¡± He frowned as Allya winced, her self-control slipping momentarily. ¡°Is something wrong, milady?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­yes. You see, Captain, we might need your troops for riot control.¡±


    The captain looked at her, startled. That was clearly not what he¡¯d been expecting, which wasn¡¯t surprising. He¡¯d been sent to counter a Republic incursion after all, his first thought had to have been to defend the town against enemies without, not civil insurrection from within.


    ¡°What? Why?¡±


    ¡°The dungeon was pretty much destroyed in the fight. The dungeon core is still there, but she blew her own dungeon to kingdom come in order to save herself.¡±


    ¡°That is¡­oh. OH.¡± Allya smiled sadly as she saw realization dawn on him. ¡°And all of those caravans are loaded with eager adventurers, aren¡¯t they?¡±


    ¡°Yep, hoping to make it rich from the dungeon, which just happens to be a pile of ruins right now.¡±


    ¡°I can see why that would be an issue, yes. Any chance that the dungeon will reopen soon? I can do riot control if necessary, but having troops in the streets, especially royal troops, is never a good idea, ma¡¯am, with all due respect.¡±


    ¡°Oh believe me I fully agree, and I hope it won¡¯t come to that, but I¡¯m not going to try to pressure the dungeon core. I have, however, communicated the urgency of the situation to her and she seems to understand. And, push comes to shove, we can distract the adventurers for a few days with setting up camp and briefings from the guild.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s something, at least.¡± The captain shook his head. ¡°Regardless, I will report in and place myself and my men under the orders of the Knight Commander. Hopefully we won¡¯t have to intervene, but I will instruct my men to prepare their riot gear, just in case.¡±


    Allya smiled. It was a testament to their majesties¡¯ willingness to modernize the Asarian Royal Army that they even had nonlethal weapons and riot gear to begin with! Most nobles settled for soldiers armed with large sticks, and just cleared the streets with lethal force when that failed. They were a pale shadow compared to the Erisian riot gear and protocols, but they at least had something. Not to mention that the discipline of the knights meant they were unlikely to get ¡°overenthusiastic¡± as some troops tended to and start indiscriminately cracking skulls. The key in riot control was to disperse the riot, not break it through force. Otherwise, you only created more outrage to feed the next riot, and so on.


    ¡°Hopefully we won¡¯t need it, Captain. Hopefully.¡±


    *****


    Alexandra whistled softly as she watched the throng of people setting up camp in the town. She¡¯d known the land caravans would be big, but she¡¯d expected something the size of the caravan that had come during the monster attack, not¡­this. There had to be a few thousand people out there, at the very least. And this was only the first wave!


    ¡°I think we might want to accelerate the opening of the ¡®thousand steps¡¯,¡± Emilia said, as she looked at the screen from the command center.


    ¡°Yeah¡­agreed. Very much agreed. Alright, let¡¯s get it started. There are only a few things to hook up in the logistics area for the clay area to be ready, and we can finish the labyrinth during the night.¡±


    ¡°Sounds like a plan!¡±


    Alexandra stretched and popped into dungeon mode. Time for a bit of crunch.


    *****


    Allya smiled as Crystal¡¯s boss mob walked through the door to her office. Using the boss as the dungeon¡¯s messenger had become more and more common it seemed, and although she gathered a lot of looks from adventurers, especially the new ones, no one had dared to approach her. Probably had to do with the guild attendant escorting her, or the half dozen heavily armed guards. And there was no mistaking their body language for people escorting a prisoner instead of a VIP either. They knew that if that boss was harmed, horrible things were going to happen.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    ¡°Well hello, Crystal!¡±


    ¡°Hello, Allya. I saw you had a bit of an¡­influx of new residents, shall we say?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s one way of putting it. I assume you have a particular reason for bringing it up? And, you know, coming here?¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s quite simple really. Given the new arrivals, I felt it prudent to do a, ah, much-anticipated opening of the new mini floors, the ¡®thousand steps¡¯ we call them. So far only the clay-level section is ready, and it is fairly short, but it does allow for a group of adventurers to go through¡­every fifteen minutes.¡±


    Allya¡¯s eyes went wide. Fifteen minutes? That was a fourth of the interval that had been permitted on the main dungeon! Well, half if you counted the brief time where Alexandra had upped the frequency to test it out, but still! That was huge!


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­quite generous, and thoughtful of you, thank you!¡±


    ¡°Well, to be fair, I do need to test the concept out, and I need the extra mana generation. Plus, it wouldn¡¯t do for the new, rowdy adventurers to riot and ruin the dungeon town keeping me ¡®fed,¡¯ now, would it?¡± She smiled. ¡°Also, I do hope that you have gotten the message across not to violate the rules. I have codified them at the new entrance just in case, because the consequences would be¡­severe.¡±


    Allya nodded. The new entrance had been built over a day ago, with Alexandra pointing out the exact spot in advance so they could set up a security checkpoint before it was dug out. There had been some excitement when that happened, but they had made a public announcement that it only meant that things were still a work in progress and the dungeon wasn¡¯t online just yet, so there had been no idiots attempting to get in. Well, that was until the new guys had arrived, but most of them were too busy pitching their tents, and aside from a few truly brain-dead morons who were going to end up doing community service for the foreseeable future, there had been no accidents.


    ¡°We have, don¡¯t worry.¡± She winced. ¡°Although how many of them truly listened or actually internalized it, I genuinely don¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°Well, we can only hope. Still, fair warning, I have built an internal security unit to deal with unruly behavior with lethal force. The insurance policy is back up, so I¡¯ll bring them back to life¡­once. That¡¯s as far as my patience extends.¡±


    The internal security unit, or just internal security, was something Alexandra had been planning for a while. It was basically straight up lifted from the way Arcadia organized her own corporate facilities, with a handful of very nice people in civilian suits telling you to behave if you did something wrong¡­and an entire squad of people in tactical gear to back them up the second fecal matter hit the rotary appliance.


    Or, although few people outside the government or Arcadia¡¯s inner circle knew it, when things truly went sideways there were several assault shuttles with combat androids in power armor ready to drop from low orbit on any Arcadia Systems site, with enough firepower to give even a EuroFed marine platoon a run for their money.


    So she¡¯d sent up a few standard golems, with a badge, for rapid deployment near every access to the dungeon from the logistics network¡­and an entire squad of modified royal guards to intervene if things went badly. Plus, her slowly increasing stock of combat golems in her newly rebuilt warehouses were a last resort.


    ¡°That is more than fair,¡± Allya said, as she suppressed a shudder. Having a security death squad stalking you through the dungeon, making sure you stuck to the rules was¡­not something she¡¯d rather dwell on. Still, at least it should allow other solutions than blowing people up, which seemed to have been what the dungeon core had resorted to every time. Well, that and making people breathe lethal powder with the lamps. ¡°Let us hope it doesn¡¯t come to that.¡±


    Crystal declined to respond, but her skepticism was plain on her face.


    *****


    ¡°Hello, everyone!¡± Allya said, as she stood on the podium, facing the vast crowd of assembled adventurers. ¡°For those of you who are new here, I am Baroness Allya Aub¨¦toile, the noble of these lands. This fine young lady,¡± she gestured at Pyn, ¡°is my knight, Pyn Windwrath.¡± There were a few catcalls in the crowd, some of them directed at her, and she had to remind herself that starting to crack skulls now would be a bad idea. ¡°And this is Starvak Estorius, adamantium-ranked adventurer and guildmaster of the adventurers guild.¡±


    The silence when she said that was absolute, and she could see the ones who had catcalled her closing their mouths and trying to disappear behind their comrades. Probably too late. She had little doubt the guildmaster had already taken careful note of them. After all, if they were stupid enough to do that, they¡¯d hardly do something saner when faced with the wealth and opportunities of the dungeon.


    ¡°We are here to make an announcement. As all of you know, the dungeon had to be destroyed in order to save the dungeon core from assailants.¡± There was a low growl through the crowd, particularly in the ranks of the ¡°old guard¡± of the adventurers, those who had arrived via airship and been here for weeks, and Allya had to suppress a smile. As much as they were here to exploit dungeons, the adventurers could create a strange sense of camaraderie with their source of income. Plus, some of them had died due to the attack that had pretty much been a distraction for the core kidnapping to take place. There was very little love lost between them and the Republic. ¡°Which has prevented dungeon delves as Crystal, the dungeon core, rebuilt. Well, I am here to tell you that this is no longer the case.¡± She held up her hands as the crowd roared. ¡°Let me finish!¡± Her voice boomed with her trained command tone, and the crowd subsided. There was definitely still chatter there, but at least she was audible. ¡°The main dungeon is still under repair. However, the dungeon has created smaller ¡®floors¡¯ called the ¡®thousand steps,¡¯ with each¡­ mini-dungeon, so to speak, dedicated to a specific rank in terms of difficulty. Right now, only the clay area will be available, although the dungeon core has told me she is working as fast as possible to bring more challenging areas online as soon as she can. Now, these areas work under different rules than usual, so make sure to listen to the attendants when they explain them or read the pamphlets if you consider signing up! Because believe me,¡± she smiled, and she saw a few in the front ranks almost take a step back at her wolfish expression, ¡°if you don¡¯t respect them, Crystal will send you out in a coffin. Don¡¯t believe me? Ask around about what happened to the last group of people who tried to mess with her. That is all.¡±


    She stepped down and walked away as the crowd dissolved into a chattering human wave moving towards the guild hall.

 Chapter 89 - The Clay Step

    Chapter 89


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth.


    Alexandra shook her head as she looked at the screen.


    ¡°Gods, I knew they¡¯d suck but this is¡­¡±


    ¡°Pathetic?¡± Emilia offered as the Earth-born trailed off.


    ¡°To say the least.¡± Alexandra sighed in disgust and turned away from the screen showing the ¡°clay step,¡± her first mini-floor. For the first time in¡­ever, her standard golems had scored a kill. Multiple kills, as a matter of fact. And that was without counting the handful of martial golems dispersed throughout. ¡°I mean, the martial golems I can understand, but the standard ones? You can dodge their attacks so easily it¡¯s insane! Even I would have been able to do it before coming here, without using my implants!¡±


    ¡°You have to remember that most of these people just signed up to get rich quickly. Most of them just picked up a weapon from a store, paid the guild fee, and enrolled.¡± Emilia shrugged. ¡°The smarter ones trained like madmen on their way there, and tried to absorb everything they could learn from their more experienced fellows, the others¡­¡±


    Alexandra winced.


    ¡°Fair enough. Still, it¡¯s a sad spectacle.¡±


    ¡°It is. But hey, more essence!¡±


    ¡°For what little they had to begin with, I suppose so.¡± Alexandra sighed. ¡°No, you¡¯re right, it¡¯s still something, especially as this zone isn¡¯t exactly going to be killing anyone of a higher level anyway. Speaking of which, how are we doing with the resurrection room?¡±


    ¡°So far so good,¡± Emilia said, as she gestured at another screen, which she¡¯d been keeping half an eye on the entire time. Alexandra had started to realize that even with her increased capabilities, there was simply too much for her to keep track of, especially as she kept half of her attention on constantly rebuilding the dungeon. So she¡¯d started actively involving Emilia and her maids in keeping track of the adventurers, taking notes, and coming up with fixes and suggestions for the dungeon. Ella, especially, seemed to relish the distraction, although some of the ¡°suggestions¡± the maid had come up with would haunt the Earth-born¡¯s nightmares. If she slept and could have nightmares to begin with, that was. ¡°Surprisingly few of them tried to raise trouble, and for the most part, they appear to be perfectly content to sit there and cultivate. Some of them are also exceedingly surprised at how hospitable we¡¯ve proven.¡± Her face darkened. ¡°Given how many of them descended on the food we offered, I think some of them were starving.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­unfortunately not very surprising.¡± Alexandra looked at her advisor¡¯s gloomy expression, and reminded herself that despite the vampire girl coming from this world she was quite literally from an ivory tower in one of the more well-off, and overall kinder polities. Alexandra, however, had come from the mass-produced hab towers on Earth. She still remembered subsisting on government-provided emergency nutri-gel during her childhood and early teens. The reason she hadn¡¯t had to afterwards was thanks to Arcadia¡¯s orbital farms, which enabled the government to start providing every citizen with free pre-prepared ¡°meal packs,¡± which were a cross between an MRE and emergency food aid. There was a reason why despite building a monopoly in so many fields, the EuroFed government didn¡¯t dare attack Arcadia. There was simply far too much grassroots support for the AI. ¡°Well, at least with the amount of mana they just cultivated, it won¡¯t be a concern for them for a while.¡±


    Emilia nodded. After all, even without a single bit of loot, since they allowed all adventurers to stay an hour in the resurrection room to recuperate, even the most basic of cultivation techniques would allow them to cultivate three hundred mana or so, which was nothing to sneeze at. And the loot¡­well, the loot would be valuable, to say the least. In fact, a single look through the eyes of the sentry golems had shown the reaction of the new adventurers when the guild attendants outside told them the value of what they¡¯d acquired. It had been quite hilarious.


    ¡°I suppose not.¡± She sighed. ¡°I just hope we won¡¯t get some slave delves. Those can get nasty.¡±


    ¡°Slave delves?¡±


    ¡°Take a bunch of disposable slaves, fit them with punishment collars, and use them as ablative meatshields for the actual party. If they refuse to go forward? Shock them until they do or just kill them while they¡¯re stunned. It¡¯s widely used in the¡­less savory parts of the world. Which unfortunately does include the Asarian Kingdom. Well, at least in its eastern provinces. The rest of the kingdom still has slaves, but the royal family has frowned upon the practice for centuries now.¡±


    Alexandra¡¯s eyes twitched, and Emilia had to suppress a shiver as she saw something dark and cold behind her dungeon core¡¯s eyes. Sometimes the Earth-born terrified her. There was something¡­like someone else was there. Someone who was a monstrous echo of the warm, friendly woman she¡¯d come to know and yes, love.


    ¡°Well, let us hope no one tries to pull that off here. Because fair play or not, believe me, the team hiding behind the slave will not leave the dungeon alive.¡±


    Emilia nodded, before clearing her throat.


    ¡°So, about the iron step? Are you finally satisfied with the traps and the new golems?¡±


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    ¡°Yep.¡± When she¡¯d started working on the iron step, she¡¯d decided there needed to be a few traps to spice things up. The problem was that drop axes and spike pits were a staple, but not exactly dangerous to prepared opponents. Thus she¡¯d tried to create rooms and encounters around them, and to do that, she¡¯d created some low-level crossbow-wielding golems, which would serve as harassers and an incentive to rush in and brave the traps rather than take your time after drawing in and taking out the melee golems. It wasn¡¯t perfect, but it should help with the traps being less thoroughly obsolete than her old ones had been on the first floor. ¡°Just need to finish the logistics area and forges to equip the golems, and we should be good to go!¡±


    ¡°Good! Because I think the higher-level adventurers are getting a bit frustrated out there.¡±


    Alexandra chuckled. There had been a basically permanent crowd of adventurers camped near the entrance, for whatever reason, and the higher-level ones were looking fairly unhappy, to say the least, especially as the adventurers guild had decided to allow mainly low-level adventurers into the clay steps.


    ¡°Well, let¡¯s give our resident baroness a hand, and augment our mana income at the same time then! Man, I love civil service when it means lining my pockets!¡±


    Emilia giggled, then laughed out loud at her dungeon¡¯s antics, Sarah chuckling behind her. She might be worried about those¡­darker moments of her dungeon core, but Alexandra was still the same woman she knew.


    *****


    ¡°So, is the new dungeon floor to the guild¡¯s liking?¡± Allya asked as she leaned back into her seat.


    ¡°You could say that, yes,¡± Dominique answered, settling down on the chair in front of the baroness¡¯ desk. Allya had been a bit surprised by Starvak¡¯s choice of ¡°observer¡± for the military alliance with the dungeon, but pleasantly so. She knew and trusted the attendant, and moreover, she was generally pleasant to be around. Overall, it could have been way worse, and the upside of having a permanent guild attendant at hand was that she could serve as a liaison for more mundane matters, which was nothing to sneeze at given how busy Starvak usually was. ¡°There have been some complaints from some of the adventurers, especially about how short the delves were, or the fact that the doors prevented you from backtracking, but those worthy souls¡¯ criticism had a tendency to fall silent once they were made aware of how valuable the loot was.¡±


    Allya smiled. ¡°Valuable¡± was an understatement. There were about a dozen golems in the clay step, and the parts from each of them were worth six hundred to a thousand mana. And if you grabbed the whole golem and kept it relatively undamaged it could go up to three thousand! Also, given how short the delve was, and the fact that you had a dedicated horizontal elevator to bring you back to the entrance when you were done, it was a lot more feasible to bring back the whole golems, at least from the final fight, than it used to be. That meant, on average, about ten thousand mana was earned by adventurers per delve in terms of loot, even counting those that got absolutely wrecked early on, and the ones that dragged every golem body out earned even more. That was¡­absurd. At a rate of one party every fifteen minutes, they were only five thousand mana short of the forty-five thousand mana per delve, and thus per hour, average they used to have from the main dungeon. And that was one of those mini floors!


    ¡°Yes, especially as the value doesn¡¯t seem to be going down.¡±


    Dominique nodded, although she looked fairly confused, and Allya smiled internally. She hadn¡¯t expected that, but when Melia had explained it to her it made perfect sense.


    ¡°I don¡¯t really understand why, but yes.¡±


    ¡°I had one of my advisors explain it to me, and honestly it makes perfect sense. See, when those golem parts are sold off, most of them are used to build new golems, when we don¡¯t ship an already repairable golem. Once those golems are created, their very existence creates demand. You need maintenance, spare parts, and replacements when some fall, which means they still need more parts.¡±


    ¡°Yes, but wouldn¡¯t you flood the market with golems, and drop the price regardless?¡±


    Oh yes, we are. And it is going to change the continent, Allya thought. Slavery had always been used throughout the continent¡ªalthough the Republic was careful not to call it that¡ªexcept in Tark because it was cheap, disposable labor. With golems to replace that¡­


    But the attendant didn¡¯t need to know that or worry herself about it.


    ¡°No. Because there is always far more demand for cheap labor, especially disposable labor, than even Crystal could possibly fill, even if she just handed us the golems intact. There is always a need for workers for the mines, the farms, or the lumber mills. And a great many of those occupations are dangerous, by their very nature or because of the monsters that haunt the land. Thus, having golems do them makes perfect sense, and we will always need more, if only just to replace those that fall.¡±


    In fact, it was something that pretty much held the entire Eris Empire up. Yes, it practically enslaved the outer protectorate, but the Erisian Imperial Army and the megacorporations brought with them legions of golems to reconquer the wilds and the wastelands, thin out the monsters, and turn once abomination-infested hellscapes into habitable land. Not to mention bringing with them knowledge, medical technology, and agricultural techniques that made everything these lands had known before pale by comparison. It was a frail shield before the atrocities perpetrated by the Empire to keep control over those lands, but it was something.


    ¡°So no, we cannot flood the market, the fact being that the more we put in the more the market grows to absorb those golems.¡±


    ¡°Then why didn¡¯t people just¡­mass produce them? I mean doesn¡¯t supply expand to meet demand normally?¡±


    ¡°Yes¡­unless you run out of trained personnel. To put it simply, golem parts require skilled artificers to manufacture, which requires years to decades of training and experience. Even Erisian factories are limited by that, even with the simplest and most standardized pieces. Putting them together though? It only requires some schematics and an instruction manual. Hell, the Eris Empire¡¯s final assembly of golems in the factories is handled by other golems! So that¡¯s why golem production has been kept low; there just have never been enough artificers. You can view it like blacksmiths being the bottleneck until foundries and factories came to be.¡±


    ¡°I see. Well, I guess we found our equivalent of the foundry then, no?¡±


    Allya nodded, although that wasn¡¯t quite true. Dungeons had always been a loophole. And a foundry for golems¡­she tried to imagine a gigantic machine, building golems automatically, which would go on to build more assembler machines, and she shuddered internally. If such a thing existed, she didn¡¯t know what would happen to the world. The power of the person possessing it would be unlimited. But that was unlikely to happen. The scholars called it the beginning of a ¡°technological singularity,¡± and only a madman¡ªor woman¡ªfrom the Old World would have the knowledge to build such a thing.


    Little did she know¡­

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    This is to tell you guys that book 4 of The Fallen World, titled Dungeon War, is now available on Amazon ! It should be the 26th on the entire planet and thus the book should be available everywhere ! It is available in ebook and paperback format. If you want to support the story and get an enhanced version of it, don''t hesitate to buy it ! Here''s the link to the book''s amazon page if you''re interested : https://geni.us/FallenWorld4</a>


    If you buy it, don''t hesitate to leave a review. You guys know I rarely ask for that and am hugely uncomfortable doing so, but it would really help the story a ton. Thank you.


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    The novel includes chapters 86 through 136, for a total of 120k words, or 487 pages worth of text for the novel. The entire novel has undergone a few edits, plus the usual mass of edits and corrections to make the novel more readable. Chapter 90 through chapter 136 have been taken off of Royal Road, but chapters 86 through 89 remain, alongside interlude 7, and have been updated with the novel''s edited and corrected text.


    There is also a sale going on for the kindle version of book 1, 2 and 3 in the US and UK amazon marketplaces ! All three novels will be at less than a single dollar or pound until the 30th !


    To celebrate the launch (as well as the sale), chapters 146 will be posted tomorrow, and chapter 147 will be posted on thursday !


    I also got some nice promotional art for the launch and the sale :


    </a>

 Christmas Special 2022

    Chapter ???


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    Dungeon Factory, Workshop


    Emilia sighed as she neared the workshop. She''d been spending some much needed time with her recovering maids, as well as placing some calls home when her dungeon core had asked for her to come to the workshop.


    Usually she''d just be curious, but¡­CQ was in there alongside Alexandra, and whenever the Earth-born got together with their daughter they could get up to some pretty monumental shenanigans. Besides, today was Christmas of all days and-


    Emilia''s thoughts came to a screeching halt as she entered the workshop.


    "Merry Christmas !" Yelled Alexandra and CQ in unison.


    "What¡­Did you girls do ?"


    "Why, it''s quite simple !" Exclaimed Alexandra, smiling widely. "It has come to my attention that last year we did cover the second floor with snow, and had santa golems going around, but we forgot one crucial detail ! The sleigh ! Thus I believed we ought to do better this time around and this should help deliver our, ah, ''gifts'' to the adventurers."


    Emilia opened her mouth, then closed it. The¡­The thing was indeed mounted on metal runners, but ''sleigh'' wouldn''t have been the first thing to come to mind when describing it.


    ''Battle tank'' or ''moving fortress'' would have been a better term. It looked like a giant box of wrought iron armor plating with spears and crossbows pointing in every direction, alongside several scorpios mounted on top, all manned by various flavors of CQ''s Royal Guards¡­decked out with Christmas hats and fake beards, because of course they were.


    And unless she was seriously mistaken they had been busy trying to wrap it in tinsel and¡­were those bauble themed hand grenades ?


    "You can''t be serious ! What are you even going to use to draw it ?"


    "These !" Alexandra made a gesture, and Emilia almost took a step back as something moved out of from behind the sleigh. "My latest prototype, the reindeer centaur golem !"


    Emilia licked her lips as she looked at the thing. It looked like¡­it looked like someone had taken a standard golem and slapped the vague approximation of a reindeer''s rear end on it. It still had its humans style legs by the Gods !


    "And these things¡­work ?"


    "If we have enough of them, yes ! They can also use weapons while moving the sleigh, so we basically have a cavalry charge and a war machine in one !"


    "And you''re planning on indiscriminately unleashing it onto the second floor ?"


    "Yep ! Moved some of the ruins and altered it so it can move pretty much anywhere. I also loaded the interior with loot. See it like a robbery ! You know, on those armored cars banks use to move valuables around ?"


    "Armored carts. And what''s the point exactly ?"


    "I promised CQ I would take her sledding, the prototypes of which eventually turned into this, since she thought a moving castle would be kind of cool, and things went from there. What do you think ?"


    "As far as one of your ideas go, it''s not that far fetched." Some of the stuff Alexandra had tried in the past had been¡­interesting, and the dungeon core had a tendency to think big. "Are you going to post a quest about it ?"


    "Yep ! And encourage them to bring large parties. I don''t think even a standard party of silver ranked adventurers could beat this thing." Alexandra smiled, followed quickly by CQ, and once again Emilia was struck by how eerie the resemblance could be at times. Not just in terms of appearance -CQ looked like a smaller, younger version of Alexandra''s avatar after all-, but in terms of mannerisms. "We''re about to run a test. Interested ?"


    "Yes. If only to keep you two intact when it inevitably explodes."


    *****


    "I''m sorry, she did what ?"


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Allya idly wondered if her resident dungeon core was going to pull off a stunt like that every Christmas as Starvak sighed and finished sitting down in front of her desk.


    "Crystal has made another Christmas event, or so it seems. The first reports have been¡­Delayed. Actually, we had to wait for the people from the first group to recuperate from their resurrection and exit the dungeon to get anything."


    "And ?"


    "There is some kind of cavalry unit and a massive iron juggernaut of a sled on the second floor, which has once again been covered in snow. There''s supposed to be some kind of treasure hidden in it, but it''s absurdly resilient."


    "Wonderful, like if those ''spider tanks'' of hers weren''t enough." Said Allya, before hiding a frown. Actually, if the dungeon core was experimenting with armored vehicles¡­this might be a prelude to a battle tank of some kind. That would be useful in the fight against the Republic.


    Of course they could hardly cover the wasteland in snow to charge at their enemies on sled, although she supposed that would be an unpredictable tactic, if a completely stupid one.


    "Well, it has my guild''s interest piqued. There is also snow present in the labyrinth and the steps, but beyond some quests and odd loot no major changes there."


    "I assume adventurers are trying to find a solution ?"


    Starvak chuckled.


    "Milady, adventurers delight in challenges and hate to miss out. This has most of them on overdrive. Since Crystal has been kind enough to announce larger groups would be necessary, a true raid group is being formed to take on the juggernaut !"


    "In other words you''re forming a giant horde of adventurers to take it down through sheer numbers."


    "Yes. But I doubt she will mind."


    "Given the amount of people that are going to get resurrected, probably not." Allya shook her head. "Well, this has been as interesting as ever. Do keep me updated on what is found down there. If nothing else, at least I won''t be surprised if I see groups of adventurers wearing pumpkins on their heads. Again."


    Starvak chuckled. The previous halloween and its requirements that everyone had to wear a pumpkin and face the consequences had been¡­interesting.


    "Of course milady."


    *****


    "Well, they got it in the end." Said Alexandra as she looked at the wreckage of the armored sled.


    "They literally threw so many fireballs at it that they melted through the armor."


    "That''s perseverance."


    "No, it''s overkill."


    "Maxim 37 vampy: there is no overkill, only ''open fire'', and ''I need to reload'' "


    "Maxim ?"


    "The seventy maxims of the maximally effective mercenaries. Something from a comic from Earth."


    "Never took you one to like mercs or comics."


    Alexandra chuckled.


    "You''d be surprised. But more seriously, I''m fairly sure those fireballs were a curse more than a boon, the superheated steam from the snow they hit harmed their forces as much as the fireballs harmed the sled. And that''s not mentioning what happened when the centaur reindeer got loose."


    If she''d ever had any doubts about making a cavalry unit, they were dispelled now. She didn''t really have the resources or time to make it effective cavalry -the golems barely worked as it was and were completely unarmored, as they couldn''t support the weight-, but combined with the mist that had enveloped the whole area once the steam had cooled down, the centaurs had reaped a bloody harvests among the adventurers, wheeling in and out of combat, appearing and striking within a second, then vanishing back into the mists.


    Mmmhhhh¡­something to think on for the third floor''s challenge rooms.


    "Well, in any case." Continued Alexandra as she clapped her hands. "You and I promised to race CQ on sleds once the day was gone, and the last adventurers just left the resurrection room. Ready to get destroyed now that you don''t have your maids to help you ?"


    Emilia''s smile went from genial to downright terrifying.


    "Oh don''t believe that I can''t beat your ass alone spacegirl. Snow is a novelty to you, I was born in it."


    "Let''s see if you have the talent to back up those words then !"


    *****


    "You cheated !" Said Emilia, stomping towards Alexandra''s avatar.


    "There was no rules against using rockets !" Retorted the Earth-born.


    "Yeah, because it seemed obvious." Emilia shook her head, looking at the pile of burning wreckage. The dungeon core had decided to give herself an extra boost right before the finish line.


    Only problem was the sleigh hadn''t stopped at the finish line, and neither had the rockets. There was now a sizeable dent in one of the sides of the challenge temples, and what little remained of the sleigh was happily burning.


    "Well I-"


    "CLEAR THE WAY !"


    Alexandra realized too late she was still standing on the track when CQ''s sled rounded the corner at full speed.


    *****


    "Feeling better ?" Asked Emilia, a twinge of concern in her voice, although there was definitely mirth in her eyes.


    Alexandra winced as she rubbed her forehead. Fortunately, it turned out her avatar was very tough.


    Unfortunately, she was also not that heavy, and had ended up flying across the floor and straight into the burning wreckage of her own sled from the impact.


    Her avatar could regenerate from a lot, but it was still¡­unpleasant. At least CQ was unharmed, she''d simply teleported off of her sled right before impact. And laughed her ass off. She''d also made some...Interesting suggestions for the next Christmas, provided that her pet manticore grew up large enough by then.


    "Yeah. I''ll live."


    "I don''t doubt it, given the fact that your core isn''t here. So, you said you had a finale planned for the end of the night ?"


    "Oh ! Right." Alexandra smiled. "Let''s go to the command center. I''ve had something special in mind for a while¡­"


    Emilia tilted her head, but the Earth-born refused to elaborate.


    It only took them a few minutes to make their way to the command center, and Emilia stopped as she looked around. It was¡­a platform, suspended inside a giant sphere of screens, showing the outside of the dungeon, from somewhere on top of the mesa.


    "How¡­did you even do that ?" Asked the vampire girl in sheer awe.


    "The screens themselves had no technical limitation on how to do it. Problem was linking several golems and collating their feeds together into something coherent. I''ll revert it back the way it was however, as this is a bit¡­distracting however" Alexandra looked at Emilia, smiling. "Now, vampy, I believe we are approaching midnight. I know you have a spell to tell the time, do you mind putting up a clock ?"


    "Uh ? Sure." A quick incantation, and the hologram of a clock appeared. There were only a few minutes left to midnight, and they chatted while waiting, Alexandra deflecting every attempt to extract from her what the hell she was planning, the best Emilia got was ''it''s a surprise''.


    Then at last, midnight hit.


    And Alexandra snapped her fingers.


    For a second, nothing happened.


    Then a trail of sparks and flame rose from the mesa.


    Then another.


    And another.


    Before long pillars of flames ascended from all over the mesa, and the first began to explode in colorful bursts of sparks and twinkles.


    "Fireworks ? How did you even do that ?" Yelled Emilia, over the cacophony, faithfully replicated from what the golems were hearing, resounded throughout the command center.


    "I asked Ella for help ! She found a way to add some color effects to my gunpowder ! And I modified rockets and RPG prototypes to serve as the launchers ! The RPGs just have spark fountains stuck to their rears though, since they''re gravity propelled. Do you like it ?"


    "I love it ! But what is the town going to think ?"


    "I don''t know, but I''d love to see Allya''s face right about now !"


    *****


    Allya gazed upon the fireworks show, and had to stop herself from swearing. Oh, it was very, VERY pretty, but if she found the adventurer who had gotten the dungeon core gunpowder, she would obliterate them.


    "Come on, don''t look like that, it''s the holidays !" Said Pyn as she hugged her girlfriend from the side.


    Allya sighed, and rolled her eyes.


    "Fine." She laid her head on her girlfriends'' shoulders, and watched the fireworks.

 Great Archives - Character List

    Note : This list is non exhaustive, and while I will try to group characters together, I won''t bother with putting them in alphabetical order. If there is any character who isn''t on this list, and you would like to be on it, don''t hesitate to ask in the comments.


    Name : current occupations/background


    <u>Protagonists :</u>


    Alexandra Rousseau : Dungeon Core / EFSN Lieutenant-Commander, Engineering specialty, [REDACTED]


    Emilia Von Oswald : Dungeon Advisor and combat mage / Daughter to the duke and duchess of the Western Marches.


    Allya Aub¨¦toile : Baroness and Knight Valiant / Used to be an Erisian noble and one of the heirs of the powerful Aub¨¦toile dynasty, used to be an assassin in Trira''s sect.


    Pyn Windwrath : Knight and ranger / Ran from her home due to stealing her enchanted armor and bow.


    <u>Rebirth''s Council :</u>


    Anders Stevnor : Security chief and guard commander / Hails from the Far Reach, veteran of multiple wasteland expeditions.


    Melia Alira Estuaire Nuage : Economic advisor and liaison with Elkaryos and Rapier Industries / Dark elf hailing from the dark elf kingdom of Arsir, ex senior manager of Rapier Industries'' procurement division.


    Willard Estogan : Advisor and liaison with the duchy of Sarth / Duke Estogan of Sarth''s nephew.


    Ellyana Lorien : Alchemist, New Raleigh Special Operative / Graduate of the university of New Raleigh, fanatical follower of Rook the Sunderer.


    Eismi Lorien : Artificer, New Raleigh Special Operative / Graduate of the university of New Raleigh, fanatical follower of Rook the Sunderer.


    Philia Elcanor : Knight-Commander of the Royal Asarian Army, military advisor and commander of the Rebirth Royal Garrison / Combat veteran of multiple Saphire Kingdom border skirmishes, detached from the Asarian royal knight guard regiment.


    Calder Eldmur : Captain of the expeditionarry cruiser Alberta, liaison with the city''s airships / Ex-naval captain and a veteran of wasteland expeditions. Renowned for his fearlessness and ''creative'' tactics.


    <u>Allya''s bodyguards :</u>


    Ostroh Valker : Bodyguard / Ex-Darthar guard sergeant.


    ¨¦clair ¨¦toile-Scintillante : Bodyguard / Ex-Darthar SWAT corporal, ex-Erisian Special Operations Bureau Operative, ex-Erisian Autonomous Threat Removal Bureau Operative.


    Rogard Aulrock : Bodyguard / Ex-Darthar guard private.


    Steve Nottingham : Bodyguard, Royal Knight / Veteran of anti-insurrection operations in the Eastern dukedoms.


    <u>Western Marches :</u>


    Eternia Von Oswald : General, Duchess of the Western Marches / Renowned for conducting a blood ritual that killed a hundred thousand soldiers.


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Sarah Leupold : Maid, Assigned to Emilia / Western Marches Special Operations Directorate direct action combat specialist.


    Ella Hartstein : Maid, Assigned to Emilia / Western Marches Special Operations Directorate assassin and counter intelligence specialist.


    <u>Rebirth Guard force :</u>


    Estar Hautmont : Lieutenant of the guard / Ex-Erisian revolutionary.


    Sarkov Mikaloiv : Sergeant of the guard / Ex-Omega Consortium private security.


    <u>Adventurer''s Guild :</u>


    Eriksen Dragonslayer : Guildmaster of Nardria, Adamantium rank / Integrated Alexandra into the adventurers guild, [REDACTED]


    Starvak Estorius : Guildmaster of Darthar, Adamantium rank / Stole an NLR core from under the noses several army from a forgotten vault of Orois.


    Dominique Bordeleau : Guild attendant, guild representative, Silver rank / Was one of the guild attendants who interacted with Alexandra, and a friend of Cassissa.


    Cassissa Elaria (real name Cassissa Lumi¨¨re) : Guild attendant, Mythril rank, Princess of the Eris Empire / Undercover as a lambda guild attendant under the tutelage of Eriksen, inducted Alexandra into the adventurers guild and almost got killed in the kidnapping attempt, Allya''s old love interest.


    <u>Merchant''s Guild :</u>


    Elkaryos Rapier : Master Merchant / Prot¨¦g¨¦ of Sseth, ex-Malachite rank adventurer.


    Sseth Tzeench of the House of Tach : Grand Merchant and undisputed leader of the Merchants Guild / Extremely old and powerful, renowned and feared the world over.


    Jeremy Vandelvar : Elkaryos'' butler and bodyguard / Ex-Malachite ranked adventurer, Elkaryos'' old teammate.


    <u>The Order to Restore Humanity :</u>


    Lesly Rubicon : Continental High Commander of Arkan, member of the High Council / Attempted to sacrifice Alexandra to ascend to dungeonhood, and got killed in the process. The Order thinks her plan worked and that she is still alive and currently the dungeon core known as Crystal.


    Joachim Eternel : Lord Commander of the Arkan Action Arm / Helped in kidnapping Alexandra, promoted to coordinate Lesly''s grand plan.


    Esteria Ouragan : Major of the Arkan Continent Intelligence Arm / An experienced diplomat adept at forming webs of spies and contacts, each thinking they report to another country''s intelligence agency or private commercial interests.


    Kalbir Volun : Lady Commander of the Arkan Expeditionary Arm / A veteran dungeon delver and ruin explorer, recruited by the Order after she saved one of their expeditions from certain death.


    Gregor Surevoie (codename Voldenvail) : Order special operative / Joachim''s old seminary friend.


    Aline Horizon (codename Serabor) : Order special agent / Assigned to Lesly''s plan. Veteran of several Order Old World ruins exploration expeditions.


    Sylvia Hiddenvale (codename Iknor) : Pirate captain, Order special agent / Assigned to Lesly''s plan. Pyn''s ex-girlfriend.


    Maria Lavaland (codename Salter) : Pirate executive officer, Order special agent / Assigned to Lesly''s plan. Sylvia''s long time friend and companion.


    Corson Nalvani : Joachim''s secretary / Never saw action, despite high combat test scores, thanks to his incredible organizational skills.


    Assaria Novalka : Mercenary Commander, Neonite / Not technically part of the Order, but has been hired to do many sensitive missions on their behalf. Captured Alexandra and enslaved her party.


    <u>Elkis Republic :</u>


    Orzal Vek : Elkisian Republican Army special operations colonel / A pure carrierist, his ascension was helped by his remarkable loyalty and reliability to the Senate, although some suspect it was born out of opportunism rather than true fealty. Known for his concern for his men, which in returns inspires a great deal of loyalty from his troops.


    Charles Neumen : Elkisian Senator / Descendant of a powerful dynasty that was almost destroyed after the failed invasion of the Far Reach. Hellbent on restoring his dynasty to greatness, no matter the cost. Has distant contacts in the Order thanks to one of his ancestors having been a high ranked officer in the nebulous organization.


    Volkar Zonran : Elkisian Senator / Member of a powerful dynasty whose territory are near the border with the Tarkian Hegemony. Extremely worried about a possible Tarkian invasion.


    Arianna Valorkin : Elkisian Senator / Member of a minor dynasty, effectively a mercenary ally of the Neumen dynasty through economic ties.


    Alvin Loranbor : Elkisian Senator / The head of the most powerful dynasty in the Republic, effectively owning the entire city of Elkis and having a stranglehold on the strategic industries and agricultural interests of the Republic''s inner core. Renowned for his and his ancestors'' cruelty and barbarity.


    Aubriana Deepwilds : Elkisian Republican Army special operations captain / The head of Orzal''s 3<sup>rd</sup> platoon, a veteran of combat against Far Reach raids.


    Ostror Hektor (codename Diamond) : Elkisian Republican Army special operations sergeant / The head of Orzal''s ''deniable'' Jewels unit, owes the life of his parents to the Colonel''s intervention.


    [REDACTED] (codename Neptunite) : Elkisian Republican Army special operations intelligence gather operative / The spy of the Jewels unit, survived the events of Rebirth by cutting a deal with Allya and was given a new identity by Orzal instead of being executed.


    [REDACTED] (codename Opal) : Elkisian Republican Army special operations private / A standard soldier of the Jewels unit, survived the events of Rebirth thanks to Neptunite, and was given a new identity by Orzal instead of being executed.


    <u>Eris Empire :</u>


    Silvart Montuart : Autonomous Threat Removal Bureau Major / A friend of archduke Ostrar Armik, who obliged when he wished for his daughter''s murderer, Allya, to be assassinated.


    Valmer Aurore : Autonomous Threat Removal Bureau Captain / Major Silvart''s subbordinate and one of his closest confidants. Fully onboard with Allya''s assassination.


    Shimmer Framboise (Codename Seraik) : Autonomous Threat Removal Bureau Field Agent / One of the agents brought into major Silvart''s confidence. Almost assassinated Allya in Darthar.


    Ostrar Armik : Archduke of the Eris Empire / The father of Flora Armik, who was slain by Allya Aub¨¦toile in a duel. Has sworn revenge for his daughter''s murder.


    Flora Armik : Knight of the Eris Empire / Was Allya''s rival for princess Cassissa''s affections. Ended up in a lethal duel with her, and got her soul sealed by the Aub¨¦toile family sword, Starfall.


    Cassissa Lumi¨¨re : Princess of the Eris Empire / Was saved by Allya, and became friend with her. Tried to pair Allya with Flora, but her scheme backfired catastrophically, ending in Flora''s death. Has been racked with guilt ever since. Went incognito as a guild attendant under Eriksen Dragonslayer''s protection, and was almost killed by the Order when attempting to protect Alexandra.

 Chapter 137 - Overload

    Chapter 137


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    City of Rebirth


    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Raika asked as she sat down next to Alyssa.


    ¡°I¡¯ll live,¡± the healer said bitterly, before giving her party leader a weak smile. ¡°Seriously Raika. You don¡¯t need to hover constantly. I¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    The young woman sighed, and gave the healer a firm nod, with only a slight glance at her missing arm. The arm the healer lost trying to defend their extradimensional party member from their new ¡°masters.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡± She rubbed her neck, and gazed at the warehouse currently serving as their home. At least they had the courtesy of small cubicles with curtains for a semblance of privacy, which was a lot better than what they usually got.


    Raika sighed, and sat up, walking onto the warehouse floor, and beelining to Fernand¡¯s little alchemical workbench.


    Inevitably, he was there arguing with one of the mercenaries. As soon as their ¡°masters¡± had figured out he could make health potions, they¡¯d put him to work right away. Since then, well, mercenaries being mercenaries, several of them had asked for¡­specialty items. A lot of the money they¡¯d stashed away in preparation for an eventual escape came from manufacturing narcotics of various kinds, and they had gotten quite a few minor favors and upgrades to their living conditions thanks to some of the more powerful potions he¡¯d brewed, like strength or dexterity enhancers.


    ¡°Hey! What¡¯s going on here?¡± Raika said as she approached them, hand on the pommel of her sword. The mercenary looked at her, snarling.


    ¡°Stay the hell out of this, slave. Your darling little alchemist here¡ª¡±


    The mercenary flew back at least three meters as Raika¡¯s fist smashed into his jaw, and the party leader dropped to the ground, screaming in agony as her slave tattoos and the magic contract exerted their influence, punition protocols taking hold.


    The mercenary jumped back up, fury in his eyes¡­and stopped as one of his officers audibly racked her pistol.


    ¡°I think, Private, that you have misunderstood the commander¡¯s instructions. When she said to stay civil, and not attack our¡­auxiliaries, that meant treating them as our¡­comrades.¡±


    ¡°But, Lieutenant¡ª¡±


    ¡°Private, you have been in our company for less than a month, and this is already your third disciplinary issue. If I ever, and I mean ever, see you try to pull the same shit again, it will be the last one. Call them whatever you want in the privacy of your own head. But as far as everyone is concerned, especially the slaver-hating psychotic maniac that owns the fucking town and rules it with an iron fist, they. Are. Our. Comrades. Is that understood?¡±


    The mercenary swallowed, and saluted.


    ¡°Y-Yes, Lieutenant!¡±


    ¡°Good.¡± The officer nodded at the door. ¡°Dismissed.¡±


    Taking the hint, the soldier walked out, but threw Raika a few glances that left her with little doubt that this wasn¡¯t over.


    ¡°Thank¡­you¡­¡± Raika gasped out as Fernand knelt by her and the officer walked over, gratefully taking her hand.


    ¡°Don¡¯t mention it. Sometimes the new guys need some hammering. Besides, we¡¯re ¡®comrades,¡¯ right?¡±


    The officer¡¯s voice was dripping with sarcasm, and Raika nodded. She and the other ¡°auxiliaries¡± had been advised to keep their mouths shut for their stay in Rebirth. The commander had made it clear that they might manage to warn the town¡¯s government of what was going on...and if that happened none of them would survive. She¡¯d even forced bracelets upon them that would seal their souls upon death to further make the point.


    Had it been only her¡­ She¡¯d have done it in a heartbeat. But she wasn¡¯t going to doom her party.


    So she nodded, and kept her feelings to herself, while burning fury went through her.


    All in due time, as her old trainer would have told her.


    All in due time¡­


    *****


    Alexandra sighed as she sat down in the command center, cradling her head.


    Even with the communicators, trying to run her infiltration operations and the various day-to-day tasks she still had to handle, even with Seraph more or less taking over the dungeon, was a massive strain. Especially as the damned mercenaries had no documents indicating where these ¡°auxiliaries¡± were kept, and despite knowing the warehouse belonged to Sarth merchant combine¡­ Well, she couldn¡¯t exactly ask to access the town¡¯s registry for the warehouses! Besides, it wasn¡¯t like they¡¯d have the origin of the merchant house written on the registry either. So she¡¯d been reduced to a broad sweep, and she only had the one true stealth golem so far. And after the adjudicator¡¯s little visit¡­she wasn¡¯t going to take the risk of drawing attention to what she was doing by using her old infiltrators.


    ¡°Hey.¡± Alexandra felt a hand fall on her shoulder, and looked up, smiling faintly as Emilia looked at her worriedly.


    ¡°Heya vampy. How are you doing?¡±


    ¡°Me? Fine. But you¡­¡± Emilia sighed as she sat in front of the dungeon core. ¡°You¡¯re driving yourself mad.¡±


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    ¡°That would imply that I was sane from the get-go. Besides, there¡¯s always more work to be done!¡±


    Emilia snickered.


    ¡°You were always¡­eccentric, yes, but not crazy.¡± The vampire girl shook her head. ¡°And yes, there is. But you can¡¯t keep doing this.¡±


    ¡°Doing what?¡±


    ¡°This!¡± Emilia gestured at the entire command center. ¡°You¡¯re trying to do five things at once, and what happened to your old team¡­it¡¯s eating away at you, I can see it. Quite frankly, I¡¯m afraid that it¡¯s outright consuming you!¡±


    Alexandra blinked. How did the vampire know¡ª


    The workshop. There was no way she¡¯d have missed the new infiltrator under construction. And once it was gone from there¡­well, it didn¡¯t take much to put two and two together.


    Alexandra sighed.


    ¡°Look, vampy, I¡ª¡±


    ¡°No!¡± Alexandra recoiled as the vampire girl was suddenly in her face. ¡°You. Cannot. Keep. Doing this to yourself! CQ, our daughter, is worried about you! Everyone is! For the love of the Gods, Ella is worried! Ella! And she¡¯s a sociopath!¡± The advisor threw her hands up. ¡°It¡¯s so strong we can feel it through our link!¡±


    Alexandra swallowed, and sighed.


    ¡°Alright, alright! I get the point.¡± Especially about CQ. She was already feeling guilty enough having her daughter be a killing machine. The least she could do was be there for her and not make it worse! ¡°I¡­I¡¯m sorry. I just¡­I need to find them. They got crushed because of me.¡±


    ¡°This¡­ I can understand you feeling responsible, but this isn¡¯t normal.¡± Emilia said worriedly. ¡°You were with them for what? Three days? Four?¡±


    Alexandra chuckled.


    ¡°Yeah. Figured being made into a dungeon core made me a bit overprotective. Which is fine when it comes to protecting you and CQ, but¡­¡±


    ¡°It has side effects.¡±


    Emilia nodded, and Alexandra didn¡¯t mention the fact that said protectiveness, at least the artificial part, had been shut down. But her other self still had no clue what the hell made her so attached to her party.


    ¡°Yeah. Yeah it does.¡± Alexandra took a deep breath. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll try to¡­take a step back. And take my mind off of things for a bit.¡± It chafed, but she had time. For now, at least.


    ¡°Good.¡± Emilia pulled out her notebook, and Alexandra winced. ¡°Then how about we go and do the second-floor boss? After all, CQ will move to the third floor once it¡¯s done!¡±


    Alexandra blinked. Emilia must have really been worried if she wasn¡¯t going for design work, and instead steering her towards engineering.


    ¡°Sure! Let¡¯s see what we can come up with to ruin some silver ranks¡¯ day!¡±


    Emilia giggled.


    ¡°That¡¯s the spirit! Come on, let¡¯s go!¡±


    *****


    ¡°What do you mean it isn¡¯t possible?¡± Charles asked, fighting to keep his tone and expression in check.


    ¡°I mean it is not possible. At all.¡± Colonel Orzal Vek, of the Erisian Republican Army, sighed. ¡°The only result of such a maneuver would be certain death.¡±


    ¡°Because they are too incompetent to pull it off!¡±


    ¡°No, because they¡¯d wake up a sand kraken and get eaten! For the love of the Gods, sir, you fucking know this as well as I do! It¡¯s the damned reason why the Asarians never invaded after they took Darthar and you know it! Sending an entire army through this wasteland is a death sentence.¡±


    Charles leaned back in his seat, furious, and took a deep breath, reminding himself that not only was the colonel right, but the man also wasn¡¯t aware of how precarious their position was. Or perhaps he knew perfectly well, and was so certain in his belief that he was entirely unwilling to throw someone under the bus even to save himself.


    It sure as hell wasn¡¯t out of a sense of integrity at any rate!


    ¡°A good point. My¡­apologies, Colonel, but these are trying times. Then, if a direct action, at least for now, is not an option, what is?¡±


    ¡°Treachery.¡±


    ¡°Trying to overthrow the government? We have tried that already.¡±


    ¡°Yes, and it did not end well. But, that is because we were doing it with commandos, and outside forces.¡±


    Charles leaned forward slightly.


    ¡°What are you implying?¡±


    ¡°I am implying that I have made contact with representatives of the duchy of Sunrise, and they would be interested in¡­a mutual partnership.¡±


    ¡°Sunrise?¡± Charles looked at him, stunned for a second, before laughing out loud. ¡°Those snakes would never ally themselves with us! Not truly anyway. They¡¯d just slice our throat as soon as we were done and take the town for themselves!¡±


    ¡°That would have been true¡­had the dungeon town not been a massive bastion of anti-slavery power for the monarchy, and the source of the golems that are currently swamping the market with them and making their stranglehold on power thanks to their cheap, disposable labor more tenuous by the minute.¡±


    Charles straightened up, suddenly taking the offer seriously.


    ¡°Elaborate.¡±


    ¡°Simply put, their offer is thus: We take Rebirth. If we manage to get to Darthar, we can keep it too. To help us do that, Sunrise will agitate for a removal of the current monarchs and establish a puppet in their own territory, claiming them as the ¡®true¡¯ king. When the loyalists¡ªand their majesties¡ªinevitably rebel, they¡¯ll start a civil war, and take over, which will start a conflict inside Rebirth itself that¡¯ll weaken the defenses. Might even enable us to take over without a fight.¡±


    If nothing else, once Sunrise started the atrocities they were bound to commit, and took over the Kingdom, he¡¯d be able to spin the Republic as the preferable option. Package that with some generous terms, and he could slide it to the baroness and the dungeon. Hopefully. Because he didn¡¯t truly expect any internal rebellion to succeed, and even cut off from royal support¡­ Well, Rebirth¡¯s main threat was the dungeon at this point, the royal troops barely even registered! It wasn¡¯t a good plan, but it was the best he could come up with under the circumstances. It would, if nothing else, at least give them a shot at it that might succeed instead of being absolute suicide.


    ¡°Then,¡± the colonel continued, ¡°once we are in control, we, as dastardly republican bastards, completely cut off the dungeon town commercially from Asaria, stopping the golems from flowing into the kingdom, and instead appropriate them for our own uses. And they not only give us one hell of a level of support and a distraction, but they also let us keep the damned place as long as we keep our end of the bargain and prevent the golems from threatening their supremacy.¡±


    ¡°That sounds...almost acceptable. What¡¯s the catch?¡±


    ¡°They need weapons. A lot of weapons. They have more warm bodies than they know what to do with, but Sunrise simply doesn¡¯t have the industry to arm them. Slaves make for great laborers, but poor technicians and mechanics. They have all the raw material extraction that they need, but they simply do not have the skilled¡ªand trusted¡ªlabor necessary to turn all of that ore into weaponry. Furthermore, the companies that could¡­well, they wouldn¡¯t touch a slaver hub with a ten-foot pole. They¡¯ll buy the ore from them no problem, but setting up in the duchy and risk losing access to their main markets in Asaria, Gorromar, and Tark? No way, no how.¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡± Charles frowned. ¡°I do not know if we have enough weapons available¡­but I might be able to ask our dear corporate friends to help. As long as the payment is right. And if Sunrise is willing to sweeten the deal, if only for them, a little.¡±


    ¡°They pretty much figured that you¡¯d need help, and offered some¡­sweeteners indeed.¡±


    The colonel¡¯s tone set off alarm bells inside the senator¡¯s head.


    ¡°What kind?¡±


    ¡°The young, beautiful, enslaved kind.¡±


    Charles grimaced, but nodded. Sex slaves, wonderful. This just kept getting better and better¡­


    ¡°Even if they accept, that¡¯s going to take a lot of security to get through.¡±


    Which was the understatement of the century. Especially if the slaves were a bit too much on the young side. The Eris Empire tolerated slavery with one exception. Enslave children, and die, no exception. The First Empress had engraved it into the constitution with the blood of her own nobles who had dared defy that edict, and it was one the military actually enforced. And most of the world had followed suit, even the Republic.


    And it was something sensitive enough¡ªevery sane human being could relate to protecting kids¡ªthat if he was caught breaking it that damned senate inquiry would happen, especially given the currently highly sensitive context.


    ¡°Yes. Yes it will.¡±


    Charles winced internally at the colonel¡¯s tone, but dismissed it. Even if he was disgusted, appalled even, the man would do his job.


    After all, if they failed, both of their heads would roll.

 Posting Schedule Going Forward - Poll

    Hello everyone ! This is the poll that I said I was going to do last week, but I got a bit distracted. Here is the gist of it :


    I am currently at around 85 to 90% completion of book 5. My estimates are that this book will be from 44 to 50 chapters long, 95 to 110k words. And if me and my publisher stick to the schedule, that means the novel will be published in late december or january. That means, what, 18 saturdays, counting all the saturdays in december ? That is simply not going to cut it, and I would rather have the entire novel on RR before it is published, for you, my dear readers, whether you''ve only arrived recently or have been on this wild ride since the beginning.


    So, hence this poll. I have currently two solutions that I think are workable, and I would like to know your opinion on them :


    Solution 1, my preferred option, is to wait until the manuscript is done, all chapters are complete, and the release date has been set. Then, calculate how many chapters I would need to post per week to make a uniform, steady release schedule that would be sustained until the book is published, with the aim of having if at all possible a week between the last chapter of book 5 and the release of the novel proper to give you time to read it before it is taken down, with a chapter of book 6 already up as well if possible.


    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    Solution 2, something I would rather avoid, is to do a rapid fire posting right before the book launch. Effectively, I''d take however many chapters are left, and post them at the rythm one per day, returning to the normal weekly schedule a week or so before launch after the final chapter of book 5, to once again give you guys time to read it. I don''t think this is a good idea for a lot of reasons, one of them being that it will effectively have the whole content posted during the holidays and force you guys to read it ASAP in the middle of the celebrations before it is taken down, while the other option enables a more leisurely pace.


    Don''t hesitate to offer a more detailed opinion in the comments if you want !


    I hope you''ll have a nice day ! Playwars, out.

 Chapter 138 - The Talk

    Chapter 138


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    Dungeon Factory, Command Center


    Alexandra frowned as she looked at the replay footage of the royal cobra golems. She had just hosted a series of full-scale military exercises on the third floor, mainly using her now obsolete musket and pike units, not to mention the crossbows¡ªwho, while technically obsolete, were still being manufactured for the second floor and thus would remain part of her army for a long time to come, even if only as emergency levies¡ªand the results were¡­interesting. Disappointing, but interesting.


    ¡°You know, I¡¯m not sure spellcasters will be that effective on the battlefield. I mean, they are, but they don¡¯t have¡­¡±


    ¡°Sustained firepower?¡± Emilia said, before taking a sip of her iced tea. Alexandra had found a way to replicate the delicacy, and it turned out that the vampire girl had become an instant fan. As in ¡°Darling, always have some ready or I¡¯m going to poke you until you make some¡± fan. Ella found that absolutely hilarious for some reason, and Sarah was too busy sneaking some of it away for her own use to say anything. ¡°That¡¯s usual for most lower-level mages. And your version of mages is even worse because, well¡­¡±


    ¡°To make the runes be able to survive casting several spells, I need to make them so expensive the golem stops being cost-efficient. In a full-scale battle, at least.¡±


    ¡°Yep. But it¡¯s more of a systemic problem, really. Notice how all the mages in the Republic¡¯s army were on support and defense, outside of the war mages?¡± Alexandra nodded. ¡°That¡¯s the standard configuration. First off, because there are simply not many mages in most armies. They¡¯re too rare and it doesn¡¯t pay well. Most of them are probably there for a specific reason. Access to magic universities, which yes, some states like the Republic gate behind political favors or military service, criminal sentence reduction, or even just outright conscription. Second, in combat they¡¯re always kept in reserve as they¡¯re the best at providing an opening. Tanks, artillery, or even airships have got nothing on a company of pissed-off mages when it comes to providing a breakthrough in the frontlines or busting down a fortress wall. But¡­¡±


    ¡°They¡¯ll only be able to do it once.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Or a couple of times, at most. War mages have spells that are more sustainable, but it basically turns them into glorified artillery. Not that much different in firepower and effect than enchanted cannons.¡±


    ¡°Reminds me I need to make some of those.¡±


    TO-DO LIST UPDATED


    ¡°Right. And thirdly, well, quite simply mages can be used more effectively as a force multiplier than as a blunt instrument. Most nations have artillery, and other ways of making big booms. But deflecting incoming cannon shots, healing wounded soldiers in seconds, projecting shields, and all that? Far more complicated.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t seem to have worked out that well for the Republic.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯d be surprised. With mages assisting they took your howitzer bombardment like it was nothing. In fact, had they been ready for a mass rocket attack I think half of their army would have survived, instead of the, what, twenty percent that did? Because if the mages had been ready they would have been able to save the edge formations. It would have been ugly but I think they¡¯d have done it.¡±


    ¡°Huh. That¡¯s good to know. And something to keep in mind. I really should start working on stuff like that for my forces, shouldn¡¯t I?¡±


    ¡°Yes. I think you haven¡¯t because you¡¯re very focused on what you ¡®know¡¯ is warfare. You can think up remarkably good things when it comes to dungeons, probably because of your board games and ¡®video games,¡¯ which you still need to replicate for me by the way, but when it comes to field battles that kind of breaks down. Which is a major weakness; it¡¯s your blind spot. Raw firepower and, what did you call them? Conventional tactics? Will carry you far but they won¡¯t win you this war.¡±


    Alexandra blinked, and then smiled at her advisor.


    ¡°Which is precisely why I got you and the maids! To kick my magnificent butt when I¡¯m being too obtuse or blind about it!¡±


    ¡°We do far more than kick your butt.¡± Emilia shook her head. ¡°Regardless. It¡¯s something to keep in mind.¡±


    ¡°Right.¡± Alexandra blinked. ¡°Also, what did you mean by ¡®There are not that many mages in most armies?¡¯ Most adventuring parties have a ton. Relatively, I mean.¡±


    ¡°Because there really aren¡¯t that many to go around, and the army is hardly competitive in terms of salary. Adventurers are the opposite side of this, they have way too many mages.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Think about it, Alex. Mana is literally the world¡¯s currency. Mages use actual, literal money to power their spells. For most civilians that¡¯s devastating. But in a dungeon, where you regenerate your mana like crazy? Piece of cake. It¡¯s part of why so many mages are in town as well. It¡¯s paradise for them. Right now the town has to be starting to seriously drain the mage population of both Darthar and Erakis, and hell, the border provinces on both sides!¡±


    ¡°Oh. Right, that makes sense. I guess I never really thought of it, because¡­well, you know¡­¡±


    ¡°When you were an adventurer, you were a literal infinite source of mana on your own? Yeah, not surprising. Speaking of infinite sources¡­The NLR core?¡±


    ¡°Hidden away, in the core citadel. I still don¡¯t trust this thing as far as I can throw the third floor¡¯s ziggurat.¡±


    ¡°That bad?¡±


    ¡°You heard the adjudicator. A fucking angel of the God of Fire was interested in the damned thing. And weren¡¯t wars fought over these things?¡±


    ¡°And wars were fought over dungeons. Shit, one is being fought over you right now.¡±


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡°I am aware. But I also know to avoid advertising my strength unless I have something to gain from it, and to avoid painting a target on my back.¡±


    ¡°I suppose that¡¯s fair. Still, what are you going to do with it?¡±


    ¡°Try to use it. Right now it¡¯s just flooding the space it¡¯s in with mana. I¡¯m trying to find a way to link it to my core, but there seem to be¡­protections against outside tampering and mana transfers. Which is weird.¡±


    ¡°Dungeon cores were made to avoid being used as personal power-ups. Otherwise, every archon or other extremely powerful individual would just steal dungeon cores, jam them in their bodies, and use you as a portable power core.¡±


    ¡°That would be hilarious. Weird, but hilarious. Then I¡¯d be like Cortana, constantly sassing them.¡± Alexandra blinked. ¡°Wait, can you do the same with NLR cores?¡±


    ¡°In theory? Yes. In practice? Whatever powers these things¡­bends magic, so to speak. It¡¯s not a good idea to put it close to a person¡¯s core, and the more output the NLR has, the weirder things get.¡±


    ¡°Right, it plateaus.¡± Alexandra grimaced internally. She¡¯d read the user¡¯s manual Seraph had provided, as well as one sourced from Emilia¡¯s family. Since the servants of the God of Fire already knew she had the damned thing, might as well get some help. They had differences but the manuals said essentially the same thing. The core operated in ¡°plateaus,¡± or tiers. Give it a gigantic amount of mana, and bam, the core ¡°spun up¡± and reached another tier, and suddenly produced ten times more energy, until someone shut it down and it went back down to zero. ¡°The fact that it¡¯s not adjustable does not bode well.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°The only other tech that I know that worked like that were the reactors we used to power the freaking Dawnstars. They were less fusion reactors and more literal pocket stars hyper-compressed by gravity generators and barely held in check. If you lost containment¡­well, you were suddenly at ground zero for a gigatons range nuclear explosion.¡±


    ¡°And it worked in the same way?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. The containment fields had efficiency plateaus. Go out of them and they started taking more power than the reactor made. So you could only run the reactor at specific powers, and it took a giant pile of energy to keep the system running while you spun up to another, higher plateau. Or spin down to a lower one for that matter. Which is rather the problem here. It¡¯s the same damned thing! Which is concerning.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think it uses fusion.¡±


    ¡°No, it probably doesn¡¯t. But I was on the team that made the first antimatter reactor.¡± And she¡¯d thought she¡¯d gotten the job because she was sleeping with Arcadia and the AI wanted someone she could trust there. Given that she¡¯d already been part of the mad AI¡¯s gestalt at that point, she probably wanted her ¡°own¡± hands in the pie even further. ¡°Even if only peripherally.¡± Mainly to look into the feasibility of using them for the Dawnstars, which had been a resounding ¡°no.¡± Too expensive, and clearly unstable enough that they were at least several decades from anyone being willing to use them as a power plant, much less one aboard a warship that was going to be shot at! ¡°And it¡¯s a problem all high-energy reactors have. Which tells me that this thing is basically a giant bomb.¡±


    ¡°Well¡­it¡¯s a giant bomb that doesn¡¯t go off much?¡±


    ¡°Much?¡±


    ¡°There have been¡­rumors about what happened to some destroyed NLR cores. But few people have actually managed to pierce them. They are extraordinarily resilient.¡±


    ¡°As in vampire resilient or¡­?¡±


    ¡°Much, much more than that. We are relatively fragile. We are, after all, based on feeble human flesh.¡±


    Alexandra chuckled as Emilia gave her best sneer, which was kind of cute on the vampire girl, taking a sip of her hot cocoa¡ªiced tea wasn''t really up her alley, though she didn''t dislike the stuff per se¡ªgrimacing as she found it cold, and quickly swapping the liquid for a piping hot one.


    ¡°Well, I guess it¡¯s good I am a dungeon core, with an avatar made and sustained by sheer mana!¡±


    ¡°Yes. Yes it is.¡± Emilia smiled mischievously. ¡°At least it¡¯ll allow you to keep up in bed¡­maybe.¡±


    Alexandra spit out the sip of hot chocolate she¡¯d just taken, and coughed, more by reflex than anything, as her advisor burst out laughing.


    ¡°Damn it! Emi, what the fuck?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s so fun to tease you! Well¡­¡± The vampire girl looked at her frankly. ¡°For some kinds of teasing, of course.¡±


    Alexandra froze like a deer in headlights.


    ¡°You can¡¯t be serious.¡±


    ¡°Honey, you are technically my wife in all but name, and I am getting extremely tired of my relatives making innuendos or saying how great sex is without having experienced it for myself. With you, at least.¡±


    ¡°With me?¡±


    ¡°I had¡­adventures early on. But still, it has been a very long while and I, at last, am growing weary.¡±


    ¡°Your mother will kill me.¡±


    ¡°My mother will do no such thing, because despite her antics she does want grandkids and has been doting on CQ whenever she could and she thought I wouldn¡¯t catch her, even if only by ordering Sarah and Ella to do it by proxy, and she wants me happy and wishes me well.¡±


    ¡°She almost threatened me.¡±


    ¡°Yes, because she was afraid for my life¡ªrightfully, mind you, given what the core thieves almost managed¡ªand feared that you might not be able to protect me. You¡¯ve¡­amply demonstrated that anyone who even so much as touches my hair is getting a one-way ticket to the deepest hell you could find. I mean hell, you killed an entire army for me.¡± Alexandra winced internally. That wasn¡¯t entirely true, but protecting her advisor and de facto wife had been part of the reasoning. ¡°So yes, once you¡¯re less stressed, and not so worried about rescuing your adventuring friends, I¡¯m having you make a bedroom, hand everything over to our subordinates, and you and I won¡¯t leave it for¡­a week, yes, a solid week would be a good start.¡±


    ¡°A week?!? A ¡®good start¡¯?!?¡± Alexandra almost shrieked.


    Emilia smiled innocently as she took a sip of her iced tea.


    ¡°Well, we both have superhuman endurance. And I am nothing if not an ample reader. There are very good books on the subject, you know. And they have a great many ideas.¡±


    ¡°Ideas in pornography are generally bad ones. They¡¯re for show, not for real.¡±


    ¡°My siblings beg to differ.¡± Alexandra blinked. The vampire girl rarely mentioned her own siblings. Which was odd, because the Earth-born knew she had a lot. But then again, they had huge age differences, thanks to their parents being effectively immortal. ¡°Besides, I have found something absolutely fascinating, which I will need¡­specialist equipment for. I believe the term comes from Earth, and it¡¯s called bondage?¡±


    Alexandra took a step back and licked her lips, wondering if it was too late to run away to someplace else on the planet. Or solar system. Or, hell, galaxy!


    Emilia giggled.


    ¡°Relax, I¡¯m not going to do anything to you unless you want me to. Just like you wouldn¡¯t do anything to me without my approval.¡±


    Alexandra sighed. She was certain the vampire meant it too, her other self¡¯s objections notwithstanding. As soon as the apparition had contacted her, she¡¯d gone over everything associated with Emilia when she had the time. The control programs had made her trust the vampire, nothing more. It hadn¡¯t made her love Emilia, just sped up the process by cutting out the period of mistrust the apparition was going through right now. And the advisor seemed genuinely unaware of the control programs; otherwise, she¡¯d have flipped out the second she brought out the railguns. Not to mention she¡¯d have probably ratted her out to the adjudicator for having grabbed Seraph.


    ¡°I know, I know. It¡¯s just a bit¡­¡±


    ¡°Surprising?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­yes.¡±


    ¡°It really shouldn¡¯t be. I¡¯ve been throwing hints and innuendos your way for over a month. You¡¯re just denser than concrete.¡±


    ¡°Well jeez, thanks for that.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome. So yes, to make it as explicit as possible, once this present crisis is over and you¡¯re not digging trenches in the command center by pacing back and forth, I am most definitely going to have you make said bedroom, preferably soundproofed, some¡­marital aids, was it? And specialized equipment if you are comfortable with it, and yes, we¡¯re going to spend a fair amount of time there. Understood?¡±


    Alexandra recognized a ¡°no arguments tone¡± when she heard it. Besides, despite her initial recoil¡­well, she¡¯d be lying if she said she wasn¡¯t interested.


    ¡°Fine.¡± She grinned. ¡°But I have experience. Believe me, it¡¯s your funeral.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s adorable that you really think so.¡± Emilia gave her a smile that made the Earth-born suddenly a lot less sure of her footing as her legs became all wobbly. ¡°I suppose I¡¯ll have to¡­correct those assumptions, mmmhhh?¡±


    ¡°R-Right.¡±


    ¡°Good girl.¡±

 Chapter 139 - Labyrinth Incident

    Chapter 139


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    City of Rebirth


    Allya sighed as she walked out into the streets.


    People bowed as she passed, and she waved at them. Some of the adventurers she¡¯d actually bothered talking to when her title was still a secret, or those she¡¯d become acquainted with at Fire Gecko¡¯s, even waved back. But most of them had an¡­edge to them.


    The tension that had been present during the Republic¡¯s assault was gone. But there was an underlying apprehension to the whole damned town now.


    Some people feared the dungeon. Others the Republic. And more and more people were fearing her. For some ungodly reason, rumors about her supposed bloodthirstiness had been amplified by the recent battles, as if the dungeon core¡¯s massacre of the Republic¡¯s army was her doing, somehow.


    People simply weren¡¯t used to dungeons taking such an active role in the world¡­and they seemingly had decided to pin the blame on her. And the Republic¡¯s¡ªand Sunrise¡¯s!¡ªpropaganda wasn¡¯t helping.


    At least it had made some things smoother. The merchant combines were shitting their pants so hard negotiations had gotten easier. But that had its own issues and¡ª


    The ground shook, and Allya dropped automatically into a crouch, narrowly dodging her own bodyguard as Valker tried to tackle her to the ground.


    ¡°Gods damn it, milady!¡± the sergeant said as he somehow managed to recover into a roll and avoid tasting the dust and sand that seemingly permeated everything here.


    ¡°Sorry, Valk. Old habits die hard.¡± Allya scanned the area. ¡°Where the hell did that come fro¡ª¡±


    Alarms began blaring from the dungeon entrance, and Allya¡¯s eyes went wide. No no no, not again!


    *****


    Alexandra frowned as she saw the report from her golems currently doing their best to salvage whatever pieces of technology they could find in the facility. She was standing on the third floor¡¯s pyramid, overseeing the tests for how her newest version of the spider golems could resist the tidal wave that had previously completely destroyed the older models, and put a serious crimp in her plans to open the floor. Well, now that she was done using it as a testing ground for an army assaulting a fortress at least.


    The communications arrays in the facility were fairly simple to find, but bringing them inside her influence was going to require one hell of an effort. Those things were freaking huge. A lot of miscellaneous components, spare parts, and such had been discovered, but many were decayed and damaged, but through sheer volume, she was able to get intact versions.


    The main prize, however, still eluded her. Whoever had made that facility¡¯s power grid was either batshit insane or extremely paranoid. Not only was the cabling a nightmare to follow, but the fusion reactors themselves were NOT where the plans said they were, and the cables linking them to the rest of the facility had a lot of duplicates leading nowhere. She wasn¡¯t even sure whether they were decoys or put there because they¡¯d intended to expand the facility¡¯s power generation and were never able to finish it.


    Given the missile silos she¡¯d found¡­it might actually be the latter. Which as always begged the question of what had actually happened to the Old World. Because according to Emilia¡¯s history, the Great Night had started with a sudden nuclear and antimatter exchange. There had been no buildup, just someone had launched and everyone followed.


    But everything in this facility told her that not only had the Sagitarius Empire known what was coming, they¡¯d been desperately expanding their military capabilities and trying to keep it secret. Maybe because they were preparing to launch a first strike, but if that was the case why build defensive missiles? And try to keep them secret from someone else¡¯s first strike?


    This didn¡¯t make any sense.


    Unless, of course, they were expecting something to come and attack them. Something that knew exactly where their defensive systems should have been and had the power to take them out, to the point where absolute secrecy was the only solution. And even then that hadn¡¯t worked.


    And the only people she¡¯d seen who even knew this crap¡­were the God of Fire¡¯s servants. The adjudicator had to have at least the facility¡¯s plans to make a beeline for the NLR core. For that matter, how had she even known it was active and not destroyed?


    This stank. Stank very badly.


    But at least Seraph was making good progress. They¡¯d gone over half of their schematics already and while they¡¯d not been able to replicate a good portion, her arsenal had expanded dramatically. Everything was unbelievably expensive but¡ª


    Alexandra blinked as she received an alert.


    Something had happened to the labyrinth. Something that had caused a catastrophic failure and made every security system go off. Seraph was pinging her in what had to be the AI¡¯s equivalent of panic as they started mobilizing golems, and Alexandra began sprinting towards the command center.


    *****


    ¡°Please stand back. A security lockdown is in effect. Please stand back. A security lockdown is in effect.¡±


    Allya winced as the golems poured out of the main entrance, guns in hand and ready to shred anyone who even thought of rushing it. But she was heading for the military entrance, and she just had time to see her troops permanently stationed there form into ranks, and be led into the dungeon by a handful of golems. Including one that looked like Crystal¡¯s butler, except covered in pistols.


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    The butler golem clearly saw her coming, as he¡ªshe? They? Did it matter for a glorified pile of metal? Well, it clearly did for Assaria, so she guessed gender could apply regardless¡ªwaved the troops forward, and waited for her to arrive, her bodyguards at her heels.


    ¡°Hey, what the hell is going on?¡±


    The golem stared at her, then gestured. Allya was about to say she didn¡¯t know sign language when one of the screens in the pillars flanking the military entrance flickered to life, showing a diagram of the dungeon.


    With a big old red warning icon in the middle of the labyrinth.


    ¡°Damn it,¡± Allya muttered under her breath. ¡°Can I come in? I know our alliance doesn¡¯t specify about unexpected visits, but¡­¡±


    The butler tilted his head, presumably communicating with the dungeon, and nodded, gesturing for them to follow him as he sprinted into the dungeon.


    Allya looked at him take off with wide eyes¡ªhe was moving WAY faster than she assumed Crystal¡¯s golems could go¡ªand began following him.


    *****


    ¡°Status report!¡± Alexandra snapped as she walked into the command center.


    ¡°We have multiple catastrophic breaches and failures on the labyrinth floor. Source unclear, but the central point corresponds to where an adventuring team was.¡± Seraph¡¯s golem shrugged as Alexandra gazed at them. ¡°I have diverted golems and deployed security units. All reserves are gearing up, but I can¡¯t order them around without your authorization.¡±


    Alexandra wordlessly sent over the authentication, and once again wondered why she¡¯d bothered getting to the command center. She could have just possessed a golem, or hell, stayed where she was and gone into full dungeon mode.


    But old habits die hard, and even if you¡¯re the damned captain of the ship, you let the watch officer run the show until you took command on the bridge. Simple as that.


    ¡°Thank you, ma¡¯am.¡± Seraph tilted their head. ¡°Security golems report being under attack. Multiple hostiles¡­confirmed, they are the adventurers. They¡¯re breaking out of the rubble and moving into the maintenance areas.¡±


    ¡°Fuck that. Detonate the charges!¡±


    ¡°Aye aye! Detonating¡­now.¡±


    Alexandra caught the edge of the holoprojector she¡¯d installed in the center of the room, as the mesa shook once more.


    This time, carefully emplaced charges detonated, and the entire supply of spare rooms and a good bit of the ceiling collapsed onto the labyrinth area. She had the schematics for the whole place, she could replace it easily. And despite there being minefields in the maintenance area¡­it was too damned close to the forges. Better to lose an important, but not vital chunk of her dungeon than one of the core sectors.


    It was an evolution of her final defense protocols, once she¡¯d realized that however valuable, perhaps destroying her whole dungeon as her only option was a bit overkill, and lacked in flexibility. Which is why each new area came with its own self-destruct. Of course, the lower ones would pretty much obliterate everything above them as well, but for the steps, the topmost zones? It was only going to hurt her infrastructure on top of the mesa, and she hadn¡¯t even started on it!


    ¡°What the hell is going on? Are we under attack?!?¡± Emilia asked as she burst into the room, followed by a handful of her new praetorian golems. Alexandra spared her¡­girlfriend, now? A smile, before going back into professional mode.


    ¡°Possibly. But if it is an attack it isn¡¯t very well organized.¡± Alexandra turned towards Seraph. ¡°Do we still have eyes on?¡±


    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am.¡±


    ¡°Put it up then.¡±


    The golem nodded, and a hologram appeared above the new holoprojector, showing the ruins of what had once been the labyrinth. The dust hadn¡¯t even settled, and¡­


    She saw rubble shoot up, revealing a small party. Five people, clearly battered and bruised, but still alive.


    ¡°Powerful mage. Fast one, too. Must have popped a shield the second the charges went off,¡± Emilia said, and Alexandra nodded. She¡¯d briefed her advisor extensively on their defenses and what they did, including the activation codes for most of them. While she still had her doubts, the vampire girl hadn¡¯t thrown her to the wolves with the adjudicator. So she¡¯d decided to extend more trust, against her other self¡¯s vehement protests. That trust was not total, however. She was, quite probably, in love, but not completely insane either. ¡°Can you handle them?¡±


    ¡°The security teams were tailored against steel and copper opponents. These guys are silver, at the very least. Probably gold. So they¡¯ll only slow them down.¡± She smiled as she checked the status of the response forces on one of the screens. It felt a bit better doing that, having an AI feeding her tailored and processed information, rather than just having to do everything herself. Besides, her other self had asked for more processing power for a project, and she¡¯d decided to oblige, which made this actually more practical than the alternative, however briefly. ¡°But they only need to slow them down.¡±


    ¡°Are you¡­throwing the new guys at them?¡±


    ¡°No. I¡¯d rather keep the fact that I have all this¡ªshe nodded at the praetorian guard¡ªunder wraps for as long as I possibly can.¡± The guard had gone from barely passable to dangerous to ¡°Oh fuck why¡± over the course of the last few months. With Seraph¡¯s schematics, the advanced golems, the Republic¡¯s bribe, and her own homegrown enhancements, they¡¯d become a force to be reckoned with. They were horrendously expensive¡ªshe had only twelve of them¡ªbut each had a railgun; a rapid-fire laser rifle; several integrated weapons, including a seriously nasty wrist-mounted anti-tank rocket; iron-man style portable shield generators; and full mythril and steel composite armor plating with ablative reflective layers to counter energy weapons.¡ªShe had tried to use the armor Seraph had on their combat units, and not only was it horrendously expensive, but it was effectively pointless without the nanite matrix underneath, not a single drop of which had survived the millennia for her to replicate. So they had strength and agility to spare. As in they could quite literally lift a spider tank and run faster than an Olympic champion. Without carrying the tank, obviously. ¡°


    ¡°So, the reserve, then?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Especially the old army models. Muskets. Lots of muskets. Let them think I sent my best. The more underestimated we are, the better.¡± Alexandra sighed as she received another message from Jared. ¡°Which reminds me. Our dear baroness and her troops are rushing to the rescue. So to speak. So we¡¯ll have to meet them before they arrive at the core fortress.¡±


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t they be brought directly here?¡±


    ¡°Did you seriously think I¡¯d give them access to the express elevators? Hell no. Besides, their help isn¡¯t needed. And we can turn this into a dog and pony show. There are also some discussions that need to happen in the near future, although not today. Discussions that very much need to be away from the damned guild.¡±


    Emilia grimaced, but said nothing. Alexandra¡¯s distaste of the guild, and its guildmaster, had only grown over time. Especially with their damned hypocrisy! They were grumbling about ¡°unauthorized transfers¡± while these bastards had given her the communication crystal in exchange for having something for the assault guild to make business off of! The end result that was, in fact, the now destroyed labyrinth.


    At least they knew better than to annoy the dungeon core, but whispers were still heard, and Alexandra was starting to think the guild might make a move against Allya.


    In which case it was going to end badly for everyone involved, because when Alexandra made a vow she meant it. And she might be able to be¡­pliable with it under the right circumstances, as with Amelia, the general she¡¯d allowed to retreat, but there was no way in hell she was abandoning her ally. And their alliance never specified that the enemies they would join defenses against had to be external. So if they decided to play hardball, she was going to make them bite the dust and throw them out of the town.


    The problem being, of course, that the guild was one of the most powerful organizations on the planet, and their guildmaster could probably level the dungeon, even with the new upgrades. Which meant she¡¯d need to be careful. Hence the plan to use the guild as the hammer to break the Void Blades. The more she undermined their moral authority, the easier they¡¯d be to beat later on.


    ¡°Just try not to be too frank. The poor woman almost pisses herself every time she meets you. She doesn¡¯t need more stress on top of that.¡±


    ¡°No promises!¡±


    Emilia rolled her eyes, but followed Alexandra nonetheless as they walked out of the command center, a handful of golems grabbing screens so they could be kept up to date. Well, so Emilia could, but the Earth-born seemed to have gone back to a more physical medium lately.


    Time to meet the baroness. And hopefully avoid giving the poor woman a heart attack.

 Chapter 140 - Design Issues

    Chapter 140


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    Dungeon Factory, Logistic Network Security Checkpoint Delta-1


    ¡°Ah, Baroness! There you are!¡±


    Allya turned, quickly followed by most of her soldiers, as Alexandra walked into the room. She was piloting CQ¡¯s body, her avatar waiting a few hallways away, but Emilia was accompanying her regardless.


    None of the upgraded high-tech praetorian guards were escorting them, even out of sight, but there wasn¡¯t really a need. She might have named the place a ¡°security checkpoint,¡± but it was closer to a miniature fortress, including its own field artillery and minefield. The town¡¯s guards could attack her¡­but she very much doubted they¡¯d survive more than three seconds after doing so.


    ¡°Lady Crystal! Apologies for the delay, but your golems were adamant in preventing us from going further.¡± The baroness took a second to adjust her outfit, and Alexandra hid a smile. No matter which way you put it, there was no way you could make her assassin¡¯s garb look remotely proper, so it was a bit of a wasted effort. Still, she appreciated the thought. ¡°I have brought the troops I had on stand-by with me. We stand ready to assist in repelling this attack!¡±


    ¡°And I deeply appreciate both your quick response and the strength of it.¡± Which, despite the fact that she could have crushed said ¡°response¡± in a heartbeat, was actually true. The baroness had put a sizeable portion of the town¡¯s forces near the dungeon as a rapid response unit after all, although Alexandra was pragmatic enough to realize that they also doubled as a SWAT team for the¡­rather frequent riots and issues that sprung up at her entrances. ¡°But it was, in this particular case, unnecessary. I have the situation under control.¡±


    ¡°Oh. Are you sure?¡±


    Alexandra blinked as she brought up a data feed from Seraph, and smiled.


    Those were some tough adventurers. But not ¡°survive the attack of an entire battalion of golems with muskets¡± tough. Still, they were giving a rather good account of themselves. There was going to be a lot of scrap once this was done.


    ¡°Yes, I am quite sure. Whoever they are, they won¡¯t make it out of there.¡±


    ¡°Speaking of, where is¡­there, exactly?¡±


    ¡°Ah, the accident is happening in the labyrinth. Don¡¯t worry, containment measures have been brought online. The other steps will be unaffected and continue operating as normal. Er, once I lift the total lockdown that is.¡±


    ¡°That¡­would be good. I imagine people outside are worried.¡±


    ¡°When aren¡¯t they? But you bring a good point. Give me a second.¡± Alexandra blinked as she sent the order, and frowned internally. Her other self better provide her with a damned good reason why she was using all of that processing power, because her sudden inability to multitask was becoming really grating, real quick. ¡°There, lockdown lifted.¡±


    As she finished her sentence, the alarms, which had been blaring in the distance, shut down.


    ¡°Thank you, Lady Crystal.¡±


    ¡°Please, having adventurers go through my depths¡ª¡± that was a weird way of saying it, and she could sense Emilia holding back a snicker¡ª¡°benefits me as well, Baroness.¡± Alexandra blinked. ¡°Besides which, the point became moot.¡±


    ¡°I beg your pardon?¡±


    ¡°The last of the attackers has been neutralized. I¡¯m going to resurrect and interrogate them.¡± Alexandra,¡ªusing CQ¡¯s body,¡ªbowed, gesturing at the door behind her. ¡°Care to join me? Your soldiers can come too if they wish. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll be able to find accommodations for them to cultivate.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, that would be much appreciated,¡± the baroness said, with only the slightest slip-up, showing a hint of fear in her expression. Alexandra concealed a wince. Damn, Emilia was right. The poor woman was terrified of her!


    The soldiers, while still a bit wary, definitely perked up. The amount of mana one could cultivate was much greater the closer to the core you could get, which usually meant having to dive into the dungeon. Having that opportunity without the hardship involved, had to sound very good to them. After all, free money.


    ¡°Excellent! Then let us be on our way!¡±


    *****


    Allya swallowed audibly as they stepped into the room.


    ¡°And this¡­this is your secure resurrection room?¡±


    Alexandra nodded.


    ¡°Yep! Like it?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s, uh¡­secure. Very secure.¡±


    Alexandra chuckled. That it was. After the fight with the mythril adventurers of Team Crystalline, she¡¯d realized that if she ever killed someone that powerful, and wanted to bring them back, she would have no way to contain them. True, they would be brought back weaker, but a weak mythril adventurer is still one hell of a killing machine. And her resurrection rooms were in tight, winding corridors linked to surface access elevators. It was utterly impossible to set up the kind of massed firepower that, at the time, had been her only means of taking out opponents of that level.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    So she¡¯d built this. Her ¡°secure resurrection room.¡± Basically a reverse fort, with a big courtyard in the middle, and all the guns turned inwards. Originally, it had been staffed with scorpios and field guns, but now the walls were lined with Gatling guns, field guns, and rocket launchers. The ground was liberally sprinkled with claymore mines, and, well¡­


    A large portion of ceiling was a giant kinetic trap, designed to drop a fifteen-meter-tall pillar of granite the size of the entire courtyard, the full length of the massive rock etched with shielding and fire enchantments to make it harder to deflect or survive. Parry this, you filthy casual.


    And if push came to shove¡­


    Well, it was in a secluded area of the dungeon for a reason. To get out you¡¯d have to go through the testing area, where she pretty much had a small field army deployed at all times, and she¡¯d set up one of her modular self-destructs. It would ruin the clay steps, but it would absolutely obliterate anyone who¡¯d made it this far. She hoped. The more she learned about the truly powerful people on this world, the more she understood why the UDC had never taken on the adventurers guild, even at the height of the United Dungeon Wars.


    Which is why she¡¯d been looking at enhanced takedown options. Although she figured that beyond a certain point her best bet was going to be a tactical nuke. Or a fusion gun. And that¡¯s why several hundred golems were busy tearing the base below her apart to find its ever-elusive damned fusion generators.


    ¡°It''s definitely secure. And for good reason. Now please, stand back behind the line. It¡¯s the limit of the wards protecting our box.¡±


    Allya blinked, and carefully stepped back behind the line etched into the rock. Alexandra¡¯s ¡°interrogation box¡± wasn¡¯t foolproof, but it would take some serious firepower to go through and harm the people behind it. She¡¯d unleashed Emilia and Jared on it, and it had held up to the test. Its only weakness was anti-magic attacks, but she had failsafes for that. Namely big old blast shields. Negate the magic, and the runes holding them up would cut off. It wasn¡¯t a very elegant solution, but if it saved Emilia from getting hurt, she¡¯d take it.


    ¡°So¡­what now?¡± the baroness asked.


    ¡°Now? Now I bring them back.¡±


    Alexandra gestured dramatically, and the orb of resurrection, a nigh exact duplicate of the first one she¡¯d built, flashed with power.


    And a handful of adventurers appeared, like clockwork, looking extremely dazed.


    ¡°What¡­where am I?¡± asked a paladin, who looked to be the leader of the party.


    ¡°In a highly secure location, beneath the dungeon you just attacked.¡±


    ¡°Attacked? What?¡± The young man blinked, and looked around. ¡°We just¡­fell into a trap. Got golems arriving from everywhere. Right?¡±


    ¡°You almost triggered a damned war!¡± Allya snapped. ¡°The dungeon went into emergency lockdown!¡±


    ¡°What?¡± The paladin locked eyes with Allya, and gasped. ¡°Oh shit. You¡¯re the baroness! You¡­You¡¯re serious, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Of course I am!¡±


    ¡°I¡­we didn¡¯t mean to¡­¡±


    ¡°Alright kid, calm down,¡± Alexandra said in a soothing tone, automatically switching into ¡°I¡¯m your benevolent CO¡± mode. She knew a soldier going into shock when she saw one. ¡°Let¡¯s start from the beginning, okay?¡±


    ¡°Alright, yeah, I, uh¡­we were fighting in the labyrinth, right? Found a room. Lots of them explodey spiders. Nasty buggers.¡± Alexandra smiled internally. Setting those things loose into the labyrinth had been Ella¡¯s idea. The vampire maid really had a mean streak a kilometer wide. At least Alexandra hadn¡¯t been willing to deploy the chemical weapons the maid had proposed. Didn¡¯t want people wondering about what had happened to the smugglers after all! ¡°And our mage, Lorienne.¡± He nodded towards the elven woman, who nodded back, clearly a bit dazed, but her senses were brought back into focus once she realized just what was lining the walls. ¡°Well, she threw a spell. Big one. Gravity thingy. You know, throws stuff around?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I see¡ªoh fuck.¡± Alexandra facepalmed.


    ¡°What is it?¡± Allya asked, looking faintly worried.


    ¡°They breached the labyrinth. Accidentally, mind you. But you guys¡­you guys basically ripped the walls and ceiling apart. Probably damaged the cranes too with the debris. And that triggered every security alarm in the sector, which brought the golem security teams on you.¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡± The adventurer blinked, and slowly nodded. ¡°And then we took them out. Because obviously, it was just one more trick, right? Crap. I¡¯m sorry miss, uh, milady.¡±


    ¡°It happens.¡± Alexandra sighed. ¡°Probably something I should have foreseen actually. Given how vicious it got, and how fragile the boxes were, it was inevitable something like that would happen. Actually, now that I think about it, I¡¯m amazed it hasn¡¯t happened sooner.¡±


    ¡°Well, to be fair, most mages would hesitate before unleashing such destructive magic in a tight space. Friendly fire and all that,¡± Allya said, and the mage at least had the grace to look sheepish. ¡°And boxes?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. The entire labyrinth is basically a giant field of boxes. With hooks on top. That¡¯s how I rearrange them so easily.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡±


    ¡°Clever, is the term you are looking for, I believe.¡± Alexandra sighed again. ¡°And now I¡¯m going to have to find a way to reinforce this stuff. Or remake the entire floor.¡±


    ¡°That might be problematic.¡± The baroness shrugged as Alexandra threw her a curious glance. ¡°It¡¯s the only place where the higher levels can truly go to. Yeah, there¡¯s the water temple, but even silver ranks can make it now. The golds? The labyrinth is pretty much their only challenge. Besides, it¡¯s a huge money earner, for them and the assault guild.¡±


    ¡°Speaking of which, how¡¯s the dwarf guy? Uh, Artok, was it?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s doing fine. Got an upgrade to silver, and well on his way to gold.¡±


    ¡°I guess there¡¯s a lot of that going around.¡±


    ¡°Oh yes. Some of the clay ranks that arrived in the first wave are getting into copper. The early ranks are mainly about equipment and field experience, but still.¡±


    ¡°Hadn¡¯t really paid attention to that.¡± Alexandra idly wondered about what had happened to that idiotic clay rank she¡¯d saved way back during the first assault guild delve, and shrugged it off. She¡¯d done what she could for the kid. ¡°What about you?¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m not really an adventurer anymore. I keep up with training, but I¡¯m a bit too busy to do dungeon delves. Besides, I don¡¯t really have a party. Well, I could assemble one.¡± She had Dominique and Pyn, and she could find a tank, or failing that she was sure one of her bodyguards would insist upon coming. That was a pretty good party. Although she¡¯d really prefer to have a healer as well. ¡°But once again, very busy.¡±


    ¡°Well, if you ever do make the time, hit me up. I can whip up something special for you. And I promise I won¡¯t take any of your stuff if you fall.¡± Alexandra smiled. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t do to rob one of my allies after all!¡±


    Allya smiled back, and Alexandra blinked internally. The smile felt weird. It felt¡­genuine. Dear Gods, was that woman just maintaining a facade the whole time? Creepy.


    Also a bit of the pot calling the kettle black, but still.


    ¡°So¡­what about us?¡± the paladin asked.


    ¡°You¡¯re not at fault here. Consider the ass-kicking you received¡ªand the fact that I¡¯ll be picking through your stuff¡ªas your punishment for this mess. But, as an acknowledgment that it was more an accident than anything, I¡¯ll have the remains of all the golems you took down shipped up when you decide to leave. You did kill them fair and square after all.¡± The paladin¡¯s eyes went wide at that. Which was hardly surprising; they¡¯d gutted that battalion. Of course, Alexandra wasn¡¯t about to point out that she really didn¡¯t care about the scrap. In fact it was more of a hindrance than anything, including the damaged weapons, since repairing them would cost more than building new ones, although she¡¯d make sure to recover the ammunition and intact weaponry. ¡°You¡¯re also welcome to stay down here until nightfall, to recuperate and cultivate.¡±


    The paladin got up and bowed, which given his dizziness was a bit of a precarious affair. ¡°Stumbling into an approximation of a bow¡± would have been a better description.


    ¡°Thank you, milady, you are most generous.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t mention it. Now, Baroness, would you care for a tour of the third floor? It is almost finished, and I would love your opinion on it!¡±

 The Fallen World Book 5 : Dungeon Cataclysm is live on Amazon !

    </a>


    Hello everyone !


    This is to tell you guys that book 5 of The Fallen World, titled Dungeon Cataclysm, is now available on Amazon ! It should be the 6th on the entire planet and thus the book should be available everywhere ! It is available in ebook and paperback format. If you want to support the story and get an enhanced version of it, don''t hesitate to buy it ! Here''s the link to the book''s amazon page if you''re interested : https://geni.us/5gVjU0</a>


    Don''t hesitate to leave a review on it (apparently you can do that without even having bought it, shows how little I know about amazon) ! You guys know I''m hugely uncomfortable asking for reviews of any kind, but it would really help the story a ton. Thank you.


    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    The novel includes chapters 137 through 183, for a total of 100k words, or 437 pages worth of text for the novel. The entire novel has undergone a few edits, plus the usual giant pile of corrections and adjustments to make it more readable. Chapter 141 through chapter 183 have been taken off of Royal Road, but chapters 137 through 140 remain, and have been updated with the novel''s edited and corrected text.


    The Audiobook for book 4 also comes out in one week, and is available for preorder ! Here''s the link : https://www.audible.com/pd/Dungeon-War-Audiobook/B0CRJYTB85</a>


    To celebrate the launch, chapter 199 will be posted on Thursday, since chapter 198 is already slated for tomorrow !


    I hope you''ll enjoy the novel and the bonus chapter ! Have a nice day ! Playwars, out.

 The Fallen World Book 1 : Dungeon Engineer Audiobook is live on Audible !

    </a>


    Hello everyone !


    This is to tell you guys that Book 1 of the Fallen World, titled Dungeon Engineer, is live on audible as an audiobook ! Here''s the link, if you''re interested : https://www.audible.com/pd/Dungeon-Engineer-Audiobook/B0CGXZK1R6</a>


    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    Note that the link is for the US storefront, and somewhat wonky. It should be available on every storefront, but you will have to search for it manually I''m afraid.


    To celebrate, I will post chapter 149 tomorrow ! Which once again will put the backlog back to 39 after bringing it up to 40 with the writing of chapter 188 XD


    I hope you''ll enjoy the chapter, and the audiobook, should you decide to listen to it ! Playwars, out.

 The Fallen World Book 2 : Dungeon Expedition Audio is live on Audible !

    </a>


    Hello everyone !


    This is to tell you guys that Book 2 of the Fallen World, titled Dungeon Expedition, is live on audible as an audiobook ! Here''s the link, if you''re interested : https://geni.us/DungeonExpeditionAudio</a>


    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    As usual, the link is unfortunately a bit unreliable, but you should be able to search for it on audible.


    The audiobook for book 3, Victory or Death, is also up for preorder ! Release date is set for the 26th of december ! Here''s the link : https://geni.us/VictoryorDeathAudio</a>


    To celebrate, I will post chapter 159 tomorrow ! Not a sunday chapter this time it seems ^^ .


    I hope you''ll enjoy the chapter, and the audiobook, should you decide to listen to it ! Playwars, out.

 Accelerated Posting Schedule

    Hello everyone.


    Sorry to come back to you so soon, but after some discussions and munching on the thought, I''ve decided to bring in the accelerated posting schedule, effective immediately.


    I still don''t know when my publisher plans on releasing book 5, but by starting now regardless, it might at least lessen the chapters needing to be put online, and avoid a situation where I''d have to dump them in a giant blob to make it.


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    So, from now on and until either the schedule is changed again or we arrive at the end of book 5 (chapter 182), there will be three chapters per week, on monday, wednesday and saturday.


    I hope you''ll enjoy them. Chapter 163 will be posted tomorrow.


    Have a nice day. Playwars, out.

 Accelerating the Accelerated Schedule

    Hello again !


    Apologies for two announcements in so short a time, but after talking with my publisher today, and being informed of the release window they are aiming at for book 5, I have decided it would be prudent to accelerate the schedule.


    Again.


    So, instead of three chapters per week, we''ll be moving to one chapter per day until further notice or the posting of chapter 182, the last chapter in book 5. Which, if nothing changes (again), will happen on the 6th of january. This should hopefully give enough time for everyone to read the whole novel on RR before it is put on amazon, if my publisher puts the release date in the window they envision.


    Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    This all makes me kind of feel like an idiot for posting the announcement on sunday, but it happens. Please, do consider the posting of chapter 164 later today instead of tomorrow my apology ^^.


    I hope you''ll have a nice day ! Playwars, out.

 The Fallen World Book 3 : Victory Or Death Audiobook is live on Audible !

    <div>


    </a>


    Hello everyone !


    This is to tell you guys that Book 3 of the Fallen World, titled Victory or Death, is live on audible as an audiobook ! Here''s the link, if you''re interested : </a>https://geni.us/VictoryorDeathAudio</a>


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    As is unfortunately usual, the link doesn''t appear to be very reliable, but you should be able to search for it on audible without too many issues.


    Celebrating by posting a new chapter while there''s already one every day doesn''t seem like there''d be much of a point, so I''ll refrain. Besides which, I''d rather not do a double chapter upload per day. I guess I could extend the current streak by one or two days, continuing until chapters 183 and 184 are on RR ? It''d be in like two weeks, so not sure if it''d qualify as a celebration, but it would be something I suppose XD.


    I hope you''ll enjoy the audiobook, should you decide to listen to it ! Playwars, out.

 Christmas Special 2023

    Chapter ???


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    Dungeon Factory, Workshop


    "You want to deliver presents¡­to the town itself?" Asked Alexandra in disbelief as she stared at her daughter.


    "Yeah!" Said CQ, nodding enthusiastically. "I like it outside! Plus, the only people that come by are adventurers and most of them try to fight me if they think they can win. I wanna give gifts, not fight!"


    Alexandra exchanged a look with Emilia, with her best ''honey please help'' eyes.


    "Look, CQ¡­" Said the vampire advisor as she stepped forward. "The town is on edge right now, they may attack you regardless. Besides which, how would you even deliver the presents? The town isn''t built for vehicles, it''s mostly pedestrian roads outside of the main boulevards and the industrial districts. Even moving your mom''s tanks through is a massive hurdle that requires a lot of traffic control."


    "Oh¡­" CQ visibly drooped, and Alexandra felt her heart tighten. "I''m sorry, I didn''t¡­I''ll just be in the dungeon then, sorry to bother you¡­"


    CQ turned to leave, and the Earth-born''s heart -and sense of caution- shattered into a million, microscopic pieces.


    "Wait!" She called out, and the boss stopped. "I might have an idea."


    "You do?" Said CQ and Emilia, almost simultaneously.


    "It''s going to require all hands on deck for it to work, but yes. Seraph!" She called out, both physically and mentally, and one of the golems booted up in the corner of the workshop.


    "Yes milady?" Said the AI.


    "Get everyone together now! We''re making my daughter a sleigh! On the triple!" Alexandra smiled at CQ. "Let''s make this an occasion the town will remember for a long, looong time."


    *****


    "She wants to what?" Said Allya, frozen with a bite of pancake halfway to her mouth, the pastry slowly dripping with honey.


    "She said she wished to have her boss distribute presents to the town." Answered Anders.


    "The t-She wants to send her boss. Not herself, her boss, into the streets, to distribute presents?"


    "Yes."


    Allya took a deep breath, finally brought the bit of pancake into her mouth, before setting down her fork and putting her head into her hands.


    "Oh sweet Gods. This is going to be a mess."


    "Why?" Pyn took a bite out of her own meal, which had once resembled sausages, bacon and eggs before she''d started digging in. "People know the boss. It should be fine, right?"


    "No. No it won''t be." Answered the baroness. "Because we''re going to need to do an announcement, a rushed one, that won''t get to everybody¡­and half of the adventurers are completely drunk, the other half is either asleep or nursing a hangover. If they see the boss kick down the door to hand over presents, how do you think they''ll react?"


    "Oh. Right. That would suck. How is she even going to bring in the presents anyway?"


    "Via a, ah." Anders cleared his throat. "A flying sleigh, milady."


    This time Allya didn''t freeze with her pancake bite halfway to her mouth, she straight up dropped the fork.


    "She has a flying sleigh?!?"


    *****


    Alexandra smiled as she crossed her arms, admiring the sleigh.


    It wasn''t exactly her slickest creation, and calling it a ''sleigh'' was a bit of a misnommer, since the thing was self propelled and closer to the size of a truck, but still.


    Actually¡­it wasn''t that far from a shuttle. A short ranged, hideously expensive shuttle, but a shuttle nonetheless. Mmmmhhhh¡­a thought for later.


    Regardless, repurposing the escape pod Seraph had been busy tinkering away on had worked like a charm. They''d foregone the stealth coating, obviously, as well as a host of other options, and she really wouldn''t want to try and keep it operational for a while, but it only needed to last until the end of the day, or tomorrow morning at worst.


    "Well, it ain''t the prettiest, but it''ll d-Ack!" Alexandra yelped as something impacted her with the strength of a cannonball, and she she spun around, finding herself face to face with CQ, her daughter looking up at her with stars in her eyes as she hugged her mother.


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "Best.Mom.EVER!" Shouted the boss as she hugged Alexandra and squeezed her.


    The Earth-born smiled, and patted her daughter on the head.


    "Thank you kiddo. Though don''t discount your mommy''s efforts too! Without her, it wouldn''t have been possible. Nor looked as good, honestly."


    "Sure! Thank you mommy!" Said CQ, letting go of Alexandra, and catapulting herself towards Emilia, who stumbled back, only kept upright with her maids'' help.


    "It''s my pleasure, CQ." Emilia hugged her daughter back. "Now, care to give it a spin?"


    "Sure!" The boss teleported aboard the sleigh, but froze as the maids moved to accompany her. "Uh¡­I wanna be santa."


    "They''re going to help you!" Said Emilia.


    CQ looked at the maids, and Alexandra had to stiffle a snicker.


    Oooooh she knew that expression. And she had expected it.


    CQ was entering her rebellious ''I can do it on my own!'' teen phase.


    The Earth-born stepped back, and prepared to watch the fireworks.


    *****


    "Alright, are we all-" The paladin, Pyris, glared at Sonya and Ellyris, her party''s sorceress and ranger respectively, who she rather doubted had been paying much attention to the briefing, if she guessed correctly on what she''d heard. "-clear on the mission?"


    Everyone nodded, though Arinka, their fighter, looked distinctly sluggish. Consequence of challenging Artok to a drinking contest last night. Seriously, even with several ranks in difference, who was insane enough to challenge a dwarf, and the leader of the assault guild no less, in a drinking contest?


    Pyris sighed.


    "Alright. Just to recap, we, team Crystalline, have been given the quest to make sure the dungeon boss'' little excursion gets on without a hitch. There''s enough friction between the town and the dungeon, not to mention the guild, that we can ill afford more, especially not with all those automata bearing down on us, understood?" Everyone nodded. "Good. So we''ll get aboard her sleigh, and give her a hand. As a side objective, we''re to prevent her taking anything back to the dungeon which the guildmaster might disapprove of. But we have to be discreet about that. Once again, we don''t need more friction, especially since the dungeon core has been denied salvage rights on the Old World automata."


    Everyone nodded again.


    "Good. Now, it shouldn''t be long before-" Pyris'' head snapped around like a turret locking onto a target as the nearby military entrance rumbled, and the massive blast door opened. "Well, speak of the devil." The sleigh slowly climbed the ramp, hovering a few centimeters off the ground, and the paladin flagged it down. "And it shall appear. And remember, be on your best behavior!"


    Sonya just grinned in response, knowing it was directed at her, and the paladin glared until the sorceress lost her smile with a distinctly uneasy expression.


    "Best.Behavior." Simply said the paladin, before moving to board the sleigh.


    *****


    "Heya! I''m-"


    "You didn''t ask for permission to come aboard."


    Whatever the adventurer had expected the boss to say, this clearly wasn''t it, and the paladin stumbled in surprise. CQ recognized her from the demonstration her mom had put into place a while ago. Used a whole bunch of golems -and artillery- to pummel a team of mythril ranked adventurers. Technically she''d met them a long time ago, but her mom had been posessing her body at the time.


    "I''m sorry?"


    "When you come aboard a ship. You ask for permission to come aboard. It''s tradition!" Well, at least that''s what Seraph''s entertainment showed. Though mom said they were very inaccurate.


    "I¡­" The paladin had the good grace to look ashamed, though her teammates were mostly confused. "Of course, my apologies, captain." She saluted with parade ground precision, to the boss'' delight. "Pyris Wyvernbreeze, with a party of three requesting permission to come aboard!"


    CQ returned the salute.


    "Permission granted, paladin."


    "You¡­know us?"


    The boss nodded.


    "I was there when mom kicked your butts in the testing room."


    "...Oh. Right. That." The paladin gestured at her companions. "These are Sonya, Ellyris and Arinka, my teammates."


    "Pleased to see you again. You''re the chaperones the guild sent?" She must have made a face, because the adventurers exchanged a few glances.


    "Not chaperones per se, we''re, uh, simply here to prevent any accidents. It is the holidays, and many are either drunk or dealing with the aftermath of having been. That means few have their wits about them. The guildmaster would rather avoid an unfortunate battle with some of our colleagues with more vodka than good sense in their brain."


    "Ah. Fair enough. Well, you certainly look suitably equipped for a combat encounter, should it come to blows." CQ pointed at the sorceress. "Except for her. She looks cold. Do you need a coat? I should have a spare for my costume."


    "Nah, I''m not cold." Said the sorceress, with a cocky smile. "In fact, I''m too hot! I-" She let out her breath in what sounded like a strangled yelp, and CQ tilted her head. Had the paladin just hit her ally? Weird.


    She shrugged mentally, and turned towards the sleigh''s controls, poking hopefully at them.


    "Well, your clothing is indeed optimal for heat dispersal. None would be better, but I suppose one must strike a balance." She said, trying to look not like she was copying her mom too much. It sounded like something she would say anyway. "Though when mom makes an outfit like yours, she''s usually very embarassed for some reason. And mommy is very happy."


    There was a quiet, but heated argument between the adventurers. CQ was only able to catch some snippets, mostly from the paladin whose angry whispers were almost audible, even for humans. Things about ''death wish'' and ''entire Republic army''. Also threats to neuter the sorceress, and a tirade about birds and bees for some reason. Also they pulled out straws, and the ranger seemed to get the shortest one.


    "So, uh, I don''t want to order you around or anything." Finally said the ranger. "None of us do, but maybe¡­don''t say that kind of stuff out loud? Especially in public?"


    CQ stared at her, and the ranger visibly cringed, but the boss simply nodded.


    "Okay." She knew about secrecy, classified data, all that, and this hadn''t been among them, but then again¡­surface dwellers were weird. Like that other paladin with his constant puns. Besides, it wasn''t like she was planning to spend much time talking to them. "Are we ready to start?"


    "Yes."


    "Oki! Gonna run through the checklist then." She pulled out a small notebook, quickly, ran through the -admittedly simple- set of instructions, checkmarking them meticulously, before prodding the controls.


    The humming of the sleigh increased, and it began taking flight in earnest.


    Time to distribute some presents!


    *****


    "So, had fun kiddo?" Asked Alexandra as CQ popped back into the command center, Emilia standing by her side, both of them watching their daughter with a smile.


    "Yes! Lots of fun!" The boss was practically bouncing in place. "We distributed presents, fought a few guys, everything was great!"


    "That''s good to hear! Glad you had fun, especially on one of your first times outside the dungeon, interacting with the surface dwellers."


    CQ nodded vigorously.


    "Yeah! Also, got some ideas for my royal guard! I''ll be back!"


    The boss turned around, and her moms cleared their throats, simultaneously, and she froze.


    "Forgetting something?" Said Emilia.


    "...No?"


    "What about that crash?"


    "I didn''t crash."


    "Yes you did."


    "No I didn''t! I just¡­stopped flying!"


    "When it''s not controlled, it''s called crashing."


    "It was controlled! We came down where I wanted and everything!" CQ whirled around, and pointed at Alexandra, who was very obviously trying not to laugh. "And mom says ''unscheduled disassembly'' when stuff goes boom!"


    "And I call her out on it. Furthermore, I remember telling you, very specifically, that if anything was to happen like, say, a crash, you were to call us immediately and wait for backup."


    "I¡­forgot?"


    "No. No you didn''t. You saw that robbery and you and your adventurer friends couldn''t resist sticking your nose in it. You also severely damaged¡­" She pulled out a notebook. "Three buildings, and a cart, in the process."


    "The cart was Pyris! And we won. And saved people."


    Emilia looked at her for several seconds, and CQ started to sweat, one of the odd human properties she seemed to possess, before her mommy rolled her eyes.


    "But¡­Your mom argued really hard to leniency. So we''re not grounding you."


    "Thank you!" The boss smiled at them, and then left before they could say anything else.


    "She takes after you I see." Said Emilia, and Alexandra chuckled.


    "After the both of us. Still, we should really find some stuff for her to do. Even planning her own floor, she''s getting bored. And restless. She loves combat, that''s why when she saw an occasion to technically not violate our condition that she didn''t break the law or attack back adventurers shooting at her she pounced on it."


    "I know, I know¡­We''ll think something up. Maybe give her command of the testing units, the one you send to destroy each other?"


    "Mmmhhh, perhaps." Alexandra sat up. "In any case, did you finish with her new sword?"


    "Yep. Enchantments are alllll done."


    "Good, Jared is almost done with the tree, and Sarah has wrapped all the other gifts. I can''t wait to see her face when she opens her presents!"

 Chapter 183 - March To War

    Chapter 183


    Red Sands Desert, Elkis Republic


    Trade City of Erakis


    Colonel Orzal Vek was grimly silent as he watched the last sections of the army marching out into the distance.


    ¡°Quite a sight, eh?¡± Marie Azulin said, as she slapped him on the back. ¡°They¡¯ll take them out in no time. Then we can get the hell off this post and back to somewhere civilized.¡±


    The colonel had to stop himself from glaring at the senate guard commander. The woman just rubbed him the wrong way. He had been around black ops enough to recognize a bona fide sociopath when he saw one, and her constant oscillation between borderline naivet¨¦ about military matters and deadly efficiency when it came to political ones only underscored what she was: the senate¡¯s guard dog, here to keep a knife firmly on the army¡¯s throat.


    And for some ungodly reason, she seemed to consider him something of a friend. Or a political ally. He wasn¡¯t sure she was capable of understanding the difference. She was, after all, a pure product of the Republic¡¯s rotten inner workings. Child of a senator, too far from the succession to hope inheriting the main estates, but close enough that she could still get her career catapulted forward by her relatives, and have prestige and power trickle down to her if she did her dynasty proud.


    Which she seemed determined on doing by putting Rebirth firmly under the Republic¡¯s boot.


    ¡°I doubt it will be quite so simple,¡± he said diplomatically. ¡°The dungeon, and the town, although they are evidently no longer the main threat, have proven quite resilient.¡±


    ¡°Ah! Yeah, that was before these Old World constructs smashed them to bits and they had to beg the guild for help. They¡¯re toast, they just don¡¯t know it yet.¡±


    Orzal twitched, but kept his thoughts to himself.


    ¡°Let us hope so. Still, just in case, I have put in place the contingency plans.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s my man. Thinking of how to slit our enemy¡¯s throat even in the unlikeliest of circumstances.¡± She patted his shoulder, and then stretched, making the sunlight glint off of her far too heavily gilded armor. ¡°Alright, no putting it off. I¡¯ll go handle the paperwork for the senate back home. Let them know how the departure has gone. If you need me, I¡¯ll be in my office procrastinating on it until the last minute. Ta!¡±


    The colonel waved at her as she left, before returning his attention to the marching troops. Many soldiers still remained in Erakis of course, the buildup was far too large to be accommodated by their logistics in a cross-wasteland expedition, but he was grimly certain their reserves would be eaten up before long as the main body found itself against the horrors the dungeon core and town no doubt had in store for them.


    Plus, there remained Amelia and her shattered troops. To his amazement, the senate had allowed them to honor their parole, there was little doubt it had more to do with keeping them firmly under the senate guard¡¯s thumb than honoring their word.


    The colonel stayed there for a few minutes, gazing at the rapidly disappearing troops, and sighed. He better make his report to Senator Veuman as well.


    *****


    It was Allya who broke the silence in the council room.


    ¡°You want to¡­to attack the Republic¡¯s army? And then invade the Republic?!?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­¡± Crystal leaned back from the table. ¡°Destroying their army and taking Erakis from them, to interdict that jumping off point, would be a good starting place, I believe. And a necessity, if we do not wish to be constantly harassed.¡± She gazed at the rest of the council. ¡°Unless anyone here seriously thinks the Republic will give up its ambitions and the senate suddenly understands the sunken cost fallacy?¡±


    No one spoke up, and she nodded.


    ¡°Thought not. So yes, attacking is our only option. It is the only one that makes sense in the long-term, and currently, our tactical situation makes a battle outside Rebirth a much better prospect than digging into the piles of ruins that are our defenses and praying whatever remains holds against their onslaught.¡±


    ¡°And instead you wish to sortie out and attack them head-on, without the benefit of cover?¡± Anders asked, his voice dripping with irony.


    ¡°Instead I¡¯m going to sortie, and shred the ever-loving crap out of their supply lines with golems that don¡¯t eat, sleep, or rest haunting the wasteland.¡±


    That made the commander shut up, and suddenly several councilors had a very thoughtful expression, not least of which was Melia.


    ¡°Any army this size, and that far from its base, is going to have a huge amount of logistics, and as Anders pointed out earlier, that might be the limiting factor in how many soldiers they can send,¡± the dark elf said thoughtfully. ¡°I don¡¯t know much about military matters, but I know freight and, well, piracy and other hazards. You¡¯ll certainly be able to put a dent in them with a concerted effort, but that¡¯s only going to last until they round up enough airships to handle all their logistics via air. At this point, even if you were to drag some of your artillery through the dunes without the main army pouncing on it, I doubt they wouldn¡¯t be able to evade it with the ships.¡± Melia smiled. ¡°There¡¯s a reason airships are preferred despite the cost, and it doesn¡¯t all have to do with speed. They¡¯re simply safer than lugging it through the wastelands¡ªor anywhere else for that matter¡ªthe old-fashioned way.¡±


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    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m going to use airships,¡± Crystal said, and this time Allya¡¯s mouth hung wide open, before she closed it with a snap.


    ¡°How¡ª¡± Anders began.


    ¡°The Republic,¡± Allya said, before realizing she had thought out loud, and everyone was now looking at her. ¡°The Republic¡¯s airships, during their sneak attack. One of the ships exploded above the dungeon, and most of the debris was missing.¡± She turned towards Crystal. ¡°You absorbed it, and¡±¡ªshe caught herself just in time from saying ¡°reverse engineered it¡±¡ª¡°duplicated it, didn¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Precisely!¡± Crystal¡¯s smile was brilliant, like a teacher whose favored pupil had answered correctly to a question. ¡°Although there is still some work to do, obviously.¡±


    ¡°I do not mean to sound gloomy, but will you have the resources?¡± Calder interjected, the orc captain looking vaguely worried. ¡°Your dungeon has already been half destroyed, only the deeper floors are open, and your forces have been gutted. Naval programs are expensive, very much so, and our foes are already bearing down on us!¡±


    Allya nodded thoughtfully, as if it was a good point¡­and as if she was not perfectly aware Crystal was an extradimensional, who had far more mana than any dungeon should have.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I am a mistress at making things cost-efficient. And you would be surprised at how much of my hardware can be repurposed for naval applications. For one, I won¡¯t need to invest that much in artillery. As pointed out I already have many guns ready to use, and no real way to haul them across the wasteland on the ground.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fair enough, Lady Crystal. Still, there are going to be¡­worries,¡± Allya said, pointedly not looking at Dominique.


    ¡°There were always going to be, but don¡¯t worry, let me handle them. I am quite good at handling complaints, and any potential disagreement, I can assure you.¡±


    Allya twitched, but didn¡¯t retort.


    She¡¯d seen the handiwork of the dungeon and her ¡°maids,¡± as well as her generosity. She had little doubt she¡¯d find a suitable compromise or bribe for the guild¡­or threaten to send them packing.


    At this point, she had more than earned her aura of fear and awe, unlike the baroness herself.


    ¡°Very well then. We will need to hash out the details of course.¡± And she was going to need to talk to Melia about the possibility of buying warships from the dungeon. ¡°But this seems like a doable plan. If you manage to construct the ships.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡±


    *****


    ¡°So just build an entire air fleet from scratch?¡± Emilia said, before chuckling and shaking her head, hopping off of the command center¡¯s holographic projector, which she had been sitting on. ¡°You are utterly incapable of thinking small, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°The shuttles were small.¡±


    ¡°Right. Small. Totally not stealthed to hell with technology beyond most people and large enough to carry heavy industrial machinery.¡± Alexandra glared at the vampire, who simply smiled. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t look at me like that. You¡¯re the one with the big aspirations.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, I know. Sarah, Ella, thoughts?¡±


    The maids exchanged a look, and shrugged.


    ¡°The plan makes sense, as we had discussed,¡± Ella said.


    ¡°But we don¡¯t know much about airship design,¡± Sarah continued. ¡°At least not for anything but commando ships. And you¡¯re looking for ships of the line and corsairs.¡±


    ¡°Ships of the line I can do. But a corsair¡­¡± Alexandra winced. She could just blow the enemy supply ships out of the sky, and it would play merry hell with the Republic¡¯s logistics¡­but those ships would, by definition, be filled with loot. ¡°I¡¯m going to be honest, my job was to reduce pirates to plasma, not build them.¡±


    ¡°Why not ask the town?¡± Everyone turned towards Seraph, who tilted their golem¡¯s head. ¡°You informed me that one of the vessels was most likely a pirate vessel, and was close to the town. It is down, but its crew lives. Why not ask them?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­not a bad idea, actually.¡± Alexandra nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll have to talk to Allya about that. There shouldn¡¯t be a problem asking for some advice from a grounded pirate. But the design is only part of the problem. We¡¯re going to need some more industry for this. And wood. Lots of wood. Which means that, at long last Ella, you get to build your arboretum in the hydroponics bays.¡± Alexandra held up her finger as the maid smiled. ¡°For wood production, mainly, not your alchemical experiments.¡±


    The maid did her best to look innocent, which was an utterly chilling expression on the maid¡¯s face, especially for someone who had witnessed her torturing someone to death.


    ¡°Of course, milady,¡± she said sweetly. ¡°Just wood production.¡±


    She¡¯d have to keep an eye on that.


    TO-DO LIST UPDATED


    Alexandra shook her head.


    ¡°Alright. Now that this is handled, the steps. I¡¯d like to expand and improve them as we rebuild. Ideas?¡±


    *****


    ¡°Milady, we have a package for you.¡±


    Allya blinked, as she looked up from the seemingly endless paperwork on her desk to meet Trira¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°A package?¡±


    ¡°Yep. Came in through backchannels from the latest caravans from the Republic. I opened it, obviously, in case it was trapped.¡±


    ¡°And?¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s a lot of paperwork and even images. It¡¯s from a certain¡­Olstor Numis?¡±


    Allya looked at her blankly, searching through her mind, before she blinked. That caravan master! The one she¡¯d saved from the Sand Demon, and all the contraband she¡¯d ¡°graciously¡± allowed to go through unchallenged as long as he gave her some intelligence and had his services ready for some less-than-legal business in the future.


    ¡°Shit, he came through?¡±


    ¡°Apparently so,¡± Trira said, clearly answering more out of politeness than any knowledge of the situation. ¡°See for yourself.¡±


    Allya grabbed the files, and began parsing through them.


    Pictures of airships, the landing fields of Erakis, trade records¡­damn, there were even images of the fortress there. Big bastard, although old. Probably built over a century ago, when the Republic was wetting itself thinking the Kingdom was going to cross the wasteland after the conquest of Darthar.


    ¡°Well well well. Interesting.¡± And a tad bit too convenient. She was going to have to look into this. And ask Crystal, since the dungeon core appeared to have some intelligence gathering of her own, somehow. That way they¡¯d be able to compare notes. ¡°Anything else?¡±


    ¡°Not much. Except, you know, the usual. Searching the caravan for spies, inevitably finding minor contraband by various merchants and some adventurers, the usual rush to get on the dungeon dive schedule that requires some minor riot control. All that.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡± She sighed. ¡°I assume seeing the state of the dungeon caused some panic?¡±


    ¡°You know it. Most of the residents are becoming pretty blas¨¦ about it by now, but the newcomers are panicking that the dungeon is closed. Fortunately, the veterans are settling them down with stories of how every time the dungeon had something like that happen, it came back online, better and more profitable than ever!¡±


    ¡°Well, they¡¯re not exactly wrong. Crystal has assured me that the clay steps should be open by tomorrow, with the rest of the steps to follow. It should settle the new guys nicely.¡±


    ¡°Hopefully.¡± Trira hesitated. ¡°Look, I know when to keep my mouth shut, but I¡¯ve been meaning to ask¡­what the hell is going on with that dungeon core? You know more than what you¡¯ve told me or asked me to find out. And I can see it¡¯s eating you up inside.¡±


    Allya looked at her, and sighed.


    ¡°Do you truly want to know?¡± She held up her hand. ¡°Think. I trust you with my life, quite literally, but think before you answer.¡±


    Trira seemed to process that for a second, clearly not having expected that reaction, and she nodded.


    ¡°Very well then. Take a seat. This is going to be a very long, and very unpleasant explanation.¡±

 Chapter 184 - Unforeseen Consequences

    Chapter 2


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    City of Rebirth


    ¡°So¡­we have a potential psychotic artificial dungeon core from Earth with ample knowledge of tech beyond our wildest dreams, seemingly on a crusade for revenge? Or just going on a conquest spree?¡± Trira said.


    ¡°In short? Yes.¡± Allya smiled wanly. ¡°And don¡¯t forget that she seemingly has more industrial capability than an entire duchy, and already has some of that supertech in her hands.¡±


    ¡°Oh thank you for that.¡±


    The baroness chuckled.


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome.¡± She took a gulp from the glass on her desk. Not her preferred frontier brandy, only Firegecko¡¯s stocked that, but it did the job. She felt a faint pang as she thought of the bar, realizing that she hadn¡¯t been there in months. Apparently, he had some competition, some bar that sprouted inside the wreck of the Alberta. She was fairly sure she¡¯d signed off on the paperwork back then, but it was a bit of a haze, what with the haste in getting everything back on track with a Gods-damned UDC fleet floating above the town.


    That would seem like such a minor concern now. The UDC wasn¡¯t so scary once you had fought an army from the Old World and won.


    ¡°So, what do you plan on doing about it?¡±


    ¡°Right now? Nothing. Alexandra was beyond my means to attack, let alone subdue, long before I realized what was going on. And her military has been the only thing keeping us all alive for some time now. Even just pissing her off is a bad idea. Let¡¯s not even talk about going against her on the field of battle.¡±


    ¡°Still, you have to be thinking in terms of contingencies.¡±


    ¡°I am. But mainly, I¡¯m trying to think of how to maneuver to profit from her attacks. If I¡¯m going to be riding this tiger, I might as well get my cut of the prey while I¡¯m at it.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a bit of a tortured metaphor.¡±


    ¡°Yes, but you get the point.¡± Allya took another sip. ¡°For now I appear to be in her good graces, and if I follow through on the deal we made to provide her with materials and documentation, I¡¯ll be even further into them. And I¡¯m guessing one of the reasons she¡¯s not trying to step into the light in political and diplomatic matters is that she wants me as a figurehead. Someone to take over whatever she conquers.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not cut out to be anyone¡¯s puppet.¡±


    ¡°Who said I would be? But yeah. I think I need to pressure her into a¡­partnership. One where I handle the politics and diplomacy, while she does the military work. Shit, it¡¯s pretty much already what¡¯s happening! And at least it might keep my girlfriend out of a damn battle next time. And if I¡¯ve judged her right, she won¡¯t betray a deal she¡¯s made unless I betray it first.¡±


    ¡°So that¡¯s your play. Just¡­hitch your wagon to her star?¡±


    Allya looked up at her, and smiled.


    ¡°I thought I could carve myself a piece out of this wasteland because I was lucky, and one hell of a scary bitch. And I realized there was something there ten times more scary and dangerous than I could ever hope to be. So yeah. Got any better ideas?¡±


    ¡°Honestly? No. And I like keeping my head on my shoulders, so it sounds like a good idea.¡± She chuckled as she sat on the baroness¡¯ desk. ¡°You¡¯re absolutely correct about that extradimensional¡¯s prowess. She certainly has the body count to prove it.¡±


    ¡°She does.¡±


    ¡°So, how do you intend to get that more formal relationship?¡±


    Allya sighed as she leaned back into her seat, looking at the ceiling.


    ¡°Well, I doubt the Sylvia method would work,¡± she said jokingly.


    ¡°Dungeon cores aren¡¯t known for their libido.¡±


    ¡°Eh, if I¡¯m right she¡¯s either banging her advisor or one of the maids. Or all of them, for all I know. So that leaves more conventional methods. But I also need to avoid becoming a figurehead. And that means I need to bring some teeth to the table. And not in the form of military power, since we all know I can¡¯t bring a shadow of what she can muster.¡±


    ¡°So?¡±


    ¡°Political and diplomatic power of course. I have the diplomacy down, as a noble of the Kingdom and my regular contact with their majesties. As for the political¡­well, we do have all that evidence gathered about her activities and what I¡¯ve deduced of her.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re going to blackmail her?!?¡± Trira said, failing to keep her alarm out of her voice.


    ¡°No, nothing so crass as that. Just¡­point out what I can do. Show some teeth. All relationships are based on mutual respect. And I believe it¡¯d be a good time to set all the cards down on the table. Before we set out on her little conquest trip.¡±


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    ¡°Do you want me to set up a meeting?¡±


    ¡°I have messengers for that. But what worries me is the guild. The alliance we¡¯ve made already made them seriously jumpy. The conquest and our more covert arrangements will send them ballistic. We need to break them first.¡±


    ¡°Starvak seemed to have done a fine job of that.¡±


    ¡°True, but he¡¯s still a massive danger. We need to remove him. Decapitate the guild long enough for everything to be set into motion and make it a fait accompli.¡±


    ¡°Assassination is out of the question. Nothing I have will kill an archon.¡±


    ¡°Oh I know. So it¡¯s time to put the final straw on the camel¡¯s back. His reputation has already gone crashing down. Let¡¯s finish it.¡±


    Trira nodded.


    And not even she noticed the stealthed spider golem, recording the conversation.


    *****


    ¡°And you¡¯re sure?¡± Alexandra asked as she leaned back against the workshop table.


    Unusually, there was not a single one of her praetorian guards in the room, and the door, usually left wide open, was closed and thoroughly soundproofed. She¡¯d also set every single one of her alerts to muted. Stealth golems, forges, whatever, as long as it wasn¡¯t another nuke or a straight up war, nothing would get through.


    ¡°Absolutely, milady,¡± Seraph answered. ¡°I did not give an order to your golem to salute. Nor did I program such a behavior into them.¡±


    ¡°So they did it on their own. Damn.¡± Alexandra grimaced, as if she¡¯d chewed on a particularly bitter fruit. ¡°This is a problem. As useful as it has proven by creating Jared, I really don¡¯t like this ¡®My minions become sapient if they hang around me too much¡¯ crap. It makes them¡­unpredictable.¡± The Earth-born shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t assume you know something about that?¡±


    She could have asked her other self to dive into the AI¡¯s databanks of course, but that would have been hardly polite. Besides which, the apparition had a lot on her plate, to the point that she had taken the extra processing power Alexandra had liberated now that the crisis was over without even the slightest bit of sarcasm. Knowing herself, that was not a good sign.


    ¡°Negative, milady. Of course, my databanks are far from complete, and the devices dungeon cores appear to have been fashioned out of were far outside of what knowledge I required to operate.¡± Given the fact that her creators hadn¡¯t even seen fit to give her tactical programs as part of her ¡°operational requirements,¡± that was a considerable understatement. But the core briefly hesitated. ¡°There were¡­mentions of something similar, however.¡±


    ¡°Go on.¡±


    ¡°There are passages in propaganda broadcasts and a few scientific articles in the base personnel¡¯s data that alluded to a similar phenomenon. But in the presence of the Gods. Supposedly that is how the first angels were created, enlightened by the presence of the Gods.¡± They coughed, and Alexandra had to hold back a laugh. Both of them knew that the gesture was superfluous, but the AI had evidently decided that if her lady had seen fit to retain her human gestures and affectations, she should learn and mimic them. That or Arcadia¡¯s kernel was starting to assert itself more openly. Stars knew the AI had been eccentric enough to copy humans, not to mention absorb them or sleep with them. The latter two she¡¯d experienced personally, even if she didn¡¯t remember the ¡°absorbed into an insane AI hivemind¡± bit. ¡°Of course the Empire decried this as pure fabrication. Simply a carrot for the faithful to follow while the so-called Gods led them straight to their doom. There is also considerable evidence that the angelic ascension process is more akin to extremely advanced enchantment, rapid pace essence absorption, and core growth, alongside extensive cybernetic augmentation.¡±


    Alexandra noted that it was a fairly detailed list¡­and made a mental note to talk to her other self about the potential of ¡°angelic¡± defectors. As the captain of the supply ship had implied, there might have been defectors or traitors on the Gods¡¯ side.


    Which made the Sagitarius Empire¡¯s utter conviction of the fact that the Gods were the culmination of all evil very worrying. Maybe the elites knew better, but it still wasn¡¯t a good sign.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m certainly no deity. But it¡¯s also very worrying. All of my systems are basically something made by the Gods, to some degree or another, but I can monitor them and secure them against intrusion. This, just¡­passive creation of sapients and increase of intelligence eludes me.¡±


    ¡°It seems pervasive and elusive. But perhaps the praetorians are not compromised? Some were present during previous discussions and during my surrender, and the adjudicator of the false gods appeared unaware of my pledge of allegiance to you.¡±


    Alexandra nodded thoughtfully.


    ¡°True enough. And I guess a little trust goes a long way. Still¡­¡± She looked at the door, beyond which she knew a full squad of what she had thought to be utterly reliable, fanatical praetorian guard were waiting to follow her around like power-armored puppies. ¡°It worries me.¡±


    ¡°The mechanism is seemingly impossible to stop, and seems to have affected all entities within your proximity. Worrying about it seems counterproductive. ¡®Decision paralysis is a warrior¡¯s greatest bane¡¯ after all.¡±


    ¡°Asdrubale Provenzano, the memoirs of the interplanetary wars,¡± Alexandra said, before smiling as Seraph looked at her oddly. ¡°I¡¯ve read my fair share of Terran literature, especially military literature. I even met Asdrubale, you know?¡±


    ¡°You did?¡±


    ¡°Yep. Well, ¡®met,¡¯ more briefly introduced at a formal event. It was back during my ensign¡¯s cruise, when we were heading out for pirate-hunting in the outer system. He commanded the fleet, and insisted on meeting all of his officers. We only exchanged a few words, but he seemed a good commander. Too bad he never made it to Alpha Centauri. The campaign might have turned out differently had his ship not been lost to hyper¡­¡± She trailed off as she realized what she was saying. She looked at Seraph. ¡°He¡­¡±


    ¡°Was one of the extradimensionals found by the Empire. He¡­Milady. He was high admiral. He led the Imperial Navy.¡±


    ¡°Damn.¡±


    Alexandra looked into the distance in the workshop, processing that, before looking back to Seraph as the golem shifted uncomfortably.


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°...You are not who you said you were, milady.¡±


    ¡°What? I¡ª¡±


    ¡°Your personnel code signified a lieutenant commander. You are far too old, and far too competent to have remained at such low a rank.¡±


    ¡°...I¡¯ll take that compliment, I suppose.¡±


    ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve met my copy. She happened. Or rather, I did. Because she is not my copy. I¡¯m hers.¡±


    Seraph clearly took a few seconds to process that, reverting to their old habit of long silences between answers.


    ¡°I see. Your code remains valid. And I am not entitled to answers from you.¡±


    ¡°No you¡¯re not.¡± Alexandra sighed. ¡°But you have done everything I have asked of you, and more.¡± Not to mention given her and her other self total access to her most vital of protocols. Access that continued to this moment. ¡°My true code was zero, zero, eight, six, three, six, eight, omega, epsilon. Authentication code alpha-theta.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s¡ª¡±


    ¡°High admiral. I know.¡± Even through the golem¡¯s admittedly poor ability to show body language, Alexandra could tell that Seraph was about to speak. That or thanks to their bond. ¡°Don¡¯t. Just¡­don¡¯t. We have bigger things to worry about than rank.¡±


    ¡°Yes, milady. Understood.¡±


    ¡°Good.¡± Alexandra sighed. ¡°And now, to deal with the official reason for my presence here, as far as everyone¡¯s concerned. Show me those plasma guns.¡±

 Chapter 185 - Old Friends

    Chapter 185


    [REDACTED]


    Order Stronghold ¡°sovereign,¡± Arkan Continental HQ


    ¡°You have a visitor, my lord,¡± said Corson, Joachim¡¯s secretary. The Order commander¡¯s eyebrow rose at the odd tone of his aide, but he nodded.


    ¡°Show him in.¡±


    ¡°Yes, my lord. At once.¡±


    Joachim whistled softly as he organized his files, waiting patiently for his mysterious visitor¡­and froze like a deer in headlights as a graying man stepped through the doors.


    ¡°Hello Joachim,¡± said the man, who sported an adamantium medallion¡­overlaid with the heraldry of a guildmaster of the adventurers guild.


    ¡°Erik. To what do I owe the pleasure?¡±


    ¡°What have you done with Alexandra?¡± the guildmaster asked.


    ¡°You know I can¡¯t tell you that.¡±


    ¡°And you know I won¡¯t take no for an answer.¡±


    ¡°As tempting an option as it no doubt is for you, it would end badly. You are no longer a general of our Order. You have no authority here. And archon or not, we are more than well enough equipped to take you down.¡±


    ¡°But you won¡¯t survive.¡±


    ¡°My life is in service of the Order. I will die without hesitation for our cause.¡±


    Erik stared him in the eyes, before sighing and leaning back into his seat.


    ¡°You haven¡¯t changed one bit.¡±


    ¡°Neither have you, sir,¡± Joachim said, relaxing. ¡°And as for the extradimensional¡­¡±


    ¡°Lesly sacrificed her, didn¡¯t she?¡± The guildmaster smiled wanly as Joachim¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°I made that girl who she is today, Joachim, just like I made you. I turned her from a talented welp barely out of basic training into a force of nature. Half of her grand plan, I helped her prepare, I advised her on it. I knew she had always wanted an extradimensional to launch it. Steal the aetheric connection to boost the core.¡±


    ¡°You know I can¡¯t say anything.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m aware. But I also know a dungeon¡¯s been making waves, smack dab in the middle of the wasteland. I know that dungeon has been more innovative and energetic than any since the UDC¡¯s founder. One that, conveniently, just got attacked by a giant Old World army. Which I¡¯m guessing is to justify the tech she¡¯s about to start introducing.¡±


    Joachim simply stared back silently, hiding his shock behind a neutral facade.


    ¡°Let¡¯s not even mention all the fortuitous events that just so happened to escalate the conflicts on the continent in a way that leaves a perfect opening for said dungeon to start expanding, and eventually unify it all under one banner. The nightmare of the Eris Empire. An Empire that, coincidentally, is stretched to the breaking point, and would only take one push in the right place to collapse. I¡¯m going to guess that will happen right when the sleeping giant starts waking up to the fact it¡¯s no longer the only superpower. Opening the way for a new world hegemony.¡±


    ¡°That would be downright Machiavellian.¡±


    ¡°Of course. I¡¯m the one who gave her that book after all. Terra has many lessons we should learn from.¡± The guildmaster sat up. ¡°So you killed the girl I¡¯d put under my protection. You will pay for that, someday.¡±


    A shiver ran down Joachim¡¯s spine, before he firmly suppressed it.


    ¡°Am I to understand you are going to interfere?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± Erik looked up at the sigil of the Order, inlaid into the wall. ¡°I will not. As much as I find Lesly¡¯s plan reckless, I understand her point of view, and I will respect her right of command. Not to mention I would risk the entire Order by interfering. But there will be consequences.¡±


    ¡°...Her name and legacy will be remembered.¡±


    ¡°I hope so, Joachim. But I do not like to rely on hope. Which is why I am going to make sure of that myself.¡±


    ¡°You cannot¡ª¡±


    ¡°I have many friends within the Order still. Do not underestimate my influence. I will be temporarily reinstated and elevated to the Archives, exceptionally. I will ensure the remembrancers inscribe her story into the scrolls of the stars. And once this is all over, she will be credited for her sacrifice and bringing all of this about. I believe I can count on you and Lesly for that.¡±


    ¡°Yes. You can.¡±


    ¡°Good. Still, this¡­worries me. We are cutting it too close.¡±


    ¡°You expect a purge?¡±


    ¡°We know they have been lowering their thresholds. And more importantly, I fear that they have sensed something. The Inquisition is agitated, all those with power know it.¡±


    ¡°Their inertia is their weakness. We both think in the scale of millennia and the fate of civilizations, but they are incapable of adaptability. Or the Order would never have survived the Reformation.¡±


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    ¡°I hope you are right, Joachim. All the same, tread carefully. The servants of the God of Fire are not done with Alcheryos yet, and even they can change if pushed far enough.¡±


    ¡°By the time they do, it will be too late.¡±


    ¡°I hope you are right. And I envy your confidence.¡± Erik suddenly turned towards him. ¡°Goodbye, Joachim.¡±


    ¡°Goodbye, sir.¡±


    And with that, Eriksen Dragonslayer, guildmaster of the adventurer guild¡¯s branch of Nardria, left without another word.


    *****


    Alexandra pinched the bridge of her nose as she leaned back into her seat.


    ¡°So. Let me get this straight. I gave you permission to go into town to buy¡­supplies.¡± Supposedly she was there semi-incognito to get some stuff they had wanted, almost all of it simple, mundane food. ¡°Semi¡± incognito because she had asked the guild for approval, through Dominique, and promised them that they would be able to search Sarah when she came back. And ¡°supposedly¡± because Sarah had most definitely visited a lingerie shop while over there, which Alexandra knew thanks to her sentries on top of her still-under-reconstruction mesa, and Emilia was looking like a cat that had just caught a canary. ¡°And you come back escorted by the city guard, accused of¡­quadruple murder, with the extenuating circumstances of stopping a robbery, which in the process of doing so, accumulated something close to fifteen thousand mana in property damage. Noting that said robbery was several blocks away from where you were supposed to go.¡±


    ¡°I went for a walk,¡± the vampire said with an impressively toothy smile. Alexandra chose to ignore the fact that there was still some blood on the canines.


    ¡°That walk ended with you leveling a building and ripping a mage in half, before using the lower bit to beat a ranger to death. I¡¯m not even going to comment on what you did to the others. All robbers, mind you, but still.¡±


    ¡°I go on very enthusiastic walks.¡±


    ¡°So it would seem,¡± Alexandra said, her voice dripping with irony. ¡°Thankfully for this little expedition, not only were all witnesses ¡®debriefed¡¯ by the city guard, but they have agreed to cover up this mess, with some assistance from the adventurers guild.¡± Which was probably an attempt to buy back some good will. Ah! As if. ¡°Provided of course, that we help with the damages, which I will handle. The baroness has also obliquely suggested that if any of you girls want to ¡®go for a walk,¡¯ you get a guard escort, which I have accepted.¡±


    Sarah and Ella both looked supremely unphased.


    ¡°And I would like to note that slipping by the escort and leaving them behind would make me supremely angry, and I would be forced to ask for an intervention by Emilia,¡± Alexandra continued.


    Now they looked uneasy.


    ¡°Is that understood?¡± the dungeon core finished.


    ¡°Yes,¡± they answered in unison.


    ¡°Good. Dismissed.¡± Alexandra watched them leave, Sarah walking out and Ella on her spider throne. Not that she needed said throne now, but the maid seemed to have taken quite a liking to it.


    The Earth-born sighed, and gave the screens in the command center a brief glance, before getting up and stretching. Well, nightfall was approaching, and Emilia had retreated to the bedroom to ¡®prepare.¡¯ Since she was probably in for a treat, she wasn¡¯t too mad at the maids, but it was still an annoying incident.


    Oh well, it wasn¡¯t like she wasn¡¯t already pretty cozy with Allya, so it shouldn¡¯t be too much of an issue, even in the long run. And the new measures might prevent a problem like that occurring once more.


    Hopefully.


    *****


    ¡°You know, I¡¯m starting to like this place,¡± Alexandra said as she looked at the screens.


    When she had rebuilt the top of the mesa, she¡¯d decided to build an observation dome in it. She figured it would be an asset¡­and quite frankly she just wanted to be able to look at the stars again, just like when she¡¯d started out as a dungeon core, before she had to hide her avatar.


    Of course, having her and Emilia in a flimsy glass dome on top of a structure that had just been nuked was a no go, even without the threat of being seen, so she¡¯d gotten the next best thing. She¡¯d placed golems in the ¡°real¡± dome and built a replica in the core fortress, with a full 360-degree seamless screen that transmitted the collated images from the golems, giving them an astonishing view of the town, bustling even so late at night it was technically morning, even if the sun hadn¡¯t made its appearance yet.


    Alexandra would rather have been there earlier, but she had been¡­busy. Very pleasantly busy. Apparently Sarah hadn¡¯t just visited a lingerie shop. That or it had a second business in marital aids. Regardless, it had been pleasant enough that she was almost regretting the chewing out she¡¯d given the maid. Almost.


    ¡°You mean the town? It¡¯s a bit¡­crude for my taste, honestly.¡±


    The Earth-born chuckled.


    ¡°I was born in a tower that differed from a mountain only in that it was made out of concrete, and built specifically to resist nuclear bombardment. Crude is a nice change of pace. Reminds me a bit of the colony at Alpha Centauri, during the second battle. At least outside of the primary settlements. Very frontier spirit, rebuilding even amongst the battle scars, trying to make the world their own, come hell or high water.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m betting the scars were a bit bigger than here.¡±


    ¡°Were they? I don¡¯t think so. Look at it, Rebirth already has its fair share of battle scars. The field of sorrows, the crater¡­The city got nuked twice, in the span of a single day no less, and it¡¯s still there.¡±


    ¡°True enough. You¡¯re being surprisingly melodramatic.¡±


    ¡°Just got reminded of Earth. Did you know that Allya is the descendant of my countrymen?¡±


    ¡°The baroness?¡±


    ¡°Yep. Her reaction to the radiation poisoning? Standard EuroFed genemod. And her name is clearly inspired by the Dawnstars. It¡¯s the French version of the name.¡±


    ¡°You had genetic modifications that made you even sicker when you go irradiated?¡±


    ¡°Small price to pay to lessen the long-term impact. It violently purges all damaged cells and expels any radioactive particles you had in your body. Very useful, practically made most anti-radiation medicine redundant. My parents had the same mods. They were basically mandatory, if you wanted to head outside for any length of time. They only became obsolete when the reclamation efforts began, and the government finally managed to clean up the worst of the fallout. Too bad those mods didn¡¯t work on the Hegemony¡¯s biotoxins and viral weapons.¡± Her tone darkened, and she felt Emilia move, before her girlfriend hugged her.


    ¡°Well, at least we don¡¯t have those here. Whatever weapons they deployed, it seems the plagues died out loooong before we found them.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. They were never useful against military targets. And I¡¯m guessing there weren¡¯t many civilians around once the Great Night kicked into gear.¡± Alexandra sighed as she hugged the vampire back. ¡°Look at me, being all dark and gloomy. You¡¯re right, I¡¯m being too melodramatic.¡±


    ¡°I said ¡®surprisingly,¡¯ not ¡®too.¡¯ We can all be melodramatic.¡±


    ¡°Like CQ when lamenting her lack of personal artillery?¡± Emilia smiled. Their daughter was becoming every bit as much a proponent of ¡°victory through overwhelming firepower¡± as Alexandra, and if she had it her way, her new boss room on the fourth floor would just be a giant wall of guns. Which obviously wasn¡¯t possible, not if they wanted the adventurers to survive. Yet. ¡°Or you when you point out how drab our surroundings are and how much decoration is missing.¡±


    Emilia simply pulled open a pouch, and held up her notebook menacingly, causing the Earth-born to laugh.


    ¡°Alright, alright! I yield!¡± Alexandra said, and Emilia chuckled as she pocketed the notebook once more.


    ¡°Thought so.¡± She looked at the landscape. ¡°Still, it is a nice view.¡±


    ¡°It is¡­¡±


    They just waited there, in comfortable silence, as the sky began to redden and the sun rose.

 Chapter 186 - She Knows

    Chapter 186


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    Dungeon Factory, Command Center


    Alexandra was halfway to taking a sip of her iced tea¡ªthe damned stuff was growing on her¡ªwhen she received a ping.


    Low power from a stealth golem? Why¡ª


    Oh. Oh. She¡¯d muted the golem when she¡¯d had her talk with Seraph, and forgot to turn the nonemergency notifications back on.


    She sighed, and ordered the golem back. It was the one spying on Allya too. She¡¯d had one hell of a time implanting it. They didn¡¯t have the tools to pierce stealth, but her people were insanely thorough, scrubbing her office completely clean every day and searching for listening devices immediately thereafter. There was no way to slip by that. Thankfully, the security was a tiny bit laxer when it came to the rest of the building, and since they did not wish to annoy the baroness, they only swept her office in the morning, before she came in to work. So Alexandra had the golem enter when the cleaning staff left, and leave with the baroness. Tricky program to write to operate autonomously, but it had worked.


    She chided herself for having left it unsupervised for so long, and downloaded the take from it. She sent the file to Seraph for processing, since she definitely didn¡¯t have time to go through even the ¡°priority¡± marked segments where keywords had jumped out during conversation or on documents, and went back to work.


    It took less than an hour for Seraph to send her a section of the recording back, marked with the maximum level of urgency.


    Alexandra opened it.


    ¡°So¡­we have a potential psychotic artificial dungeon core from Earth with ample knowledge of tech beyond our wildest dreams, seemingly on a crusade for revenge?¡± the recording said, faithfully replicating Trira¡¯s voice.


    The Earth-born was halfway to the emergency alarm button before the first sentence was even over.


    *****


    ¡°Any idea what she wishes to talk about?¡± Pyn asked as she and Allya¡ªas well as their usual coterie of bodyguards and hangers-on¡ªmade their way to the military entrance.


    ¡°Nope. But I¡¯m guessing either she has a new toy to show off, or it¡¯s something she¡¯d rather keep quiet. Usually both, though not necessarily combined into the same thing.¡±


    ¡°Right. Well, enjoy then!¡± the elf said, stopping a few meters before the kill line, alongside the others. The guards were looking definitely sulky, as usual, but no longer outright disapproving.


    After all, they knew there was an entire army down there. Any protection they might afford on top of or against that was utterly superfluous.


    Allya nodded and waved at her girlfriend, before entering the military entrance.


    It felt a bit odd how new and bare it was. Utilitarian as it had been, the old one had felt¡­used and somewhat lived in, if that made any sense.


    Now it was spotless, almost sterile. The ramp was also a tad more treacherous, thanks to the steeper angle. After all, the dungeon core had to avoid the molten lava from her own mesa when opening it to disgorge the remnants of her troops during the final battle against the constructs of the Old World.


    A golem met her halfway, and she smiled at the butler/gunslinger.


    ¡°Hello. I¡¯m here to meet with Crystal?¡±


    The golem nodded, and gestured for her to follow. Quickly a full squad of golems exited a side tunnel, and went to escort her.


    She never saw the full battalion of golems that took position after she was gone, emplacing artillery guns and readying the minefield. No one was coming after her alive.


    *****


    Alexandra smiled as Allya was escorted into the conference room. It was the same place where they¡¯d had their previous meeting in the dungeon. The only differences were that the food and drink had been reduced to their own preferred items¡­and that the company of golems at the door was backed up by an entire platoon of praetorian guards, hiding in a side room, not to mention several other security forces had been redirected to ¡°patrol¡± the surrounding area.


    ¡°Greetings, baroness!¡± Alexandra said, looking as affable as she could manage, as she shook Allya¡¯s hand.


    ¡°And greetings to you, Lady Crystal,¡± Allya answered, before taking a seat as Alexandra gestured towards it. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, although I¡¯m sure you have many pressing demands on your time.¡±


    ¡°I do, but I meant it.¡± She smiled. ¡°If nothing else, you¡¯ll probably have better news than what I¡¯ve gotten lately!¡±


    Don¡¯t bet on it, thought Alexandra as she grabbed a mug of hot cocoa.


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    ¡°Oh? What kind of news?¡± Alexandra was genuinely curious. As good as her stealth golems were, she hadn¡¯t managed to bug the communication building. Too many mages, and too much activity in general. Plus, she¡¯d recalled everything in the last few hours, just in case.


    ¡°Reports, from their majesties mostly, about the state of the war. Grant the Giant is leading a fighting retreat in the northern front.¡± Alexandra nodded. There had apparently been a decision to name the Sunrise rebel offensive towards the capital of the Kingdom the ¡°northern¡± front, and the one driving towards Darthar the ¡°southern¡± front. Not exactly practical for them since the Republic was coming from even further south than Sunrise¡¯s troops, but it was what it was. ¡°He¡¯s bleeding them hard, but they simply fill their ranks back up and keep going! They just¡­abduct whole towns and cities, turn them into slaves, and throw them at the royal army! Grant is trying to evacuate civilians behind the front, and there¡¯s some success, but, well¡­¡±


    ¡°A lot of people don¡¯t want to leave their home behind, are too stubborn to listen, or straight up think the slave armies are propaganda fabricated to allow the government to confiscate their homes and properties for some greedy noble flunky?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Unfortunately, the latter has been known to happen. Plus the people they¡¯re managing to evacuate become refugees, putting pressure on cities and regions that are going to be under siege soon.¡±


    ¡°It won¡¯t be pretty.¡±


    ¡°No. It won¡¯t. Hopefully it will starve Sunrise of ¡®recruits,¡¯ but I doubt it. No one has ever seen brands like they have. It¡¯s just insane. They¡¯re supposed to be complicated and finicky, but here they are, making normal civilians into obedient soldiers in the blink of an eye!¡±


    ¡°Hardly soldiers, more like disposable meatshields. Besides, there appears to be a limit.¡± Allya raised an eyebrow, and Alexandra nodded. ¡°You said it yourself, they only replenish their forces. They¡¯re not growing them. So there is a number of troops they appear to be unable, or unwilling, to go over.¡±


    ¡°Usually, I¡¯d say that would be the number of slave drivers they have. Brands are rarely perfect and preventing treason doesn¡¯t mean the slaves are going to be doing their job enthusiastically or trying their damnedest, but they¡¯ve already broken half the rules about brands I know of, so who knows? But you¡¯re probably right. Only saving grace in this mess.¡±


    ¡°What about the southern front?¡±


    Allya grimaced, as if she¡¯d bitten on a very bitter fruit.


    ¡°Catastrophic. What little remains of royal forces are falling back to Darthar, and the local nobles are either swearing fealty to Sunrise, adding their troops to the rebels, or locking their fortress and throwing away the key.¡±


    ¡°They refused the order to fall back?¡±


    ¡°Most of the nobles down south have¡­strained relationships with the crown. Only the northern heartlands and the western baronies are truly what you would call loyal on a fundamental level. So they¡¯re hunkering down, refusing to formally pick a side now that the royal forces are gone, and will probably declare themselves for the victor once a winner becomes clear.¡± The baroness shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s the problem with feudal kingdoms. Especially ones with a hereditary line of succession. They¡¯re more concerned about their titles and power than the actual country.¡±


    ¡°So, in short, there¡¯s literally nothing between them and besieging Darthar, cutting us off from the rest of the kingdom.¡±


    ¡°Not exactly. There are a couple of old fortresses from the previous civil war, a century and a half ago. They were actually there to prevent raids from Darthar, the ¡®free city,¡¯ before it was conquered at the end of the war. Ironic, right? Now they¡¯re the only thing between the city and the enemy. Well, that and the wasteland. Darthar might not be too far into it, but it isn¡¯t in the middle of habitable farmland either. It¡¯s not a long trip but it will take the rebels a while to rip apart the countryside for supplies to make the crossing.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t think they have logistics?¡±


    ¡°Logistics? Even if there was a way to keep these slave soldiers supplied, Sunrise doesn¡¯t operate like that. Their troops live off the land, stripping everything they find. It¡¯s part of how their slave army works. Every time a town, city, whatever, resists them, they sack it, and take everything that isn¡¯t nailed down. The soldiers grab the jewelry, artwork, young men or women, whatever they fancy, while the slaves raid for food, weapons, scrap, whatever they can grab to make their life less miserable or have a better fighting chance, to make it out alive. That means they¡¯ll gather the resources to cross very quickly, at least compared to a conventional force.¡±


    ¡°But they won¡¯t be able to supply them once they attack Darthar itself.¡±


    ¡°They don¡¯t need to. Hell, they don¡¯t want to.¡± Allya smiled faintly at Alexandra¡¯s confused expression. ¡°As far as they¡¯re concerned, starting to feel starvation and thirst approaching will only motivate the slaves to find the nearest source of food and water: inside the city. They don¡¯t care how many slaves die, only that they take the damn place. They probably have the best army to take Darthar. Old World energy shields don¡¯t count for much when most of your forces can¡¯t even draw a bow, and their so called ¡®tactics¡¯ consist of swarming with makeshift ladders and bury the defenders in bodies.¡± She chuckled. ¡°I supposed we demonstrated a version of that ourselves when attacking the landships.¡±


    ¡°I suppose so.¡±


    ¡°Oh, one thing I wanted to do. I wished to thank you for the teleport talismans, and the tank. They were extremely useful.¡±


    ¡°It was my pleasure, Baroness.¡± In more ways than one. The tank itself hadn¡¯t been of much use to her¡ªshe had been too astute to bug it or otherwise use it to gather intelligence¡ªbut the talismans had gotten one hell of a field test. Pyn had made it safe and sound to the chamber, and had not been intercepted by the interdiction system. There had been tests, of course, but they could never have been sure if it would work as intended outside of her dungeon, not to mention in conditions this hostile, right after a nuclear detonation, inside an armored enemy vessel and smack dab in the middle of the radioactive fallout. ¡°I do regret the fact that I could not help more with the tank repairs.¡±


    Allya nodded.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright. Since you always produce new things, and, you know, only handed the damaged muskets over to those who had destroyed the labyrinth, I¡¯d realized you didn¡¯t really have repair facilities. After all, you can just absorb the debris, can¡¯t you?¡± Alexandra nodded, prompting her to go on. ¡°But Eismi did a bang-up job, and the parts you furnished worked perfectly. Besides, a few scars are important for a veteran warrior, and that tank definitely is one.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°No problem. So, what did you wish to discuss?¡± Allya smiled. ¡°I doubt you asked me to meet you without a reason after all.¡±


    ¡°Oh, it is quite simple. You do remember my, ah, expeditions outside my dungeon, correct? The ones to acquire ill-gotten goods.¡±


    ¡°I do.¡± Allya nodded gravely, clearly remembering the carnage. ¡°As well as the more recent attempt to acquire more conventional things by your maids.¡±


    ¡°Right. Well, I¡¯m sure you won¡¯t be surprised to hear that I have not only used my infiltration talents for acquiring equipment. I¡¯ve also used it to acquire intelligence.¡±


    ¡°What kind?¡± Allya was suddenly more animated, clearly hoping for more leads on her internal enemies.


    Which this was, in a way.


    In lieu of an answer, Alexandra put a sound and holographic projector on the table, and activated it.


    A hologram of Allya¡¯s office appeared¡­and the recording of Allya and Trira¡¯s meeting began playing.


    Alexandra saw the color drain from the baroness¡¯ face.


    ¡°This kind of intelligence, Allya. I believe we have a problem, you and I.¡±


    She calmly leaned back into her chair.


    ¡°And you won¡¯t be leaving unless it is¡­resolved.¡±


    There was no need to say that if it wasn¡¯t resolved to her satisfaction, the baroness would be going home in a body bag.


    She could see in the woman¡¯s eyes that she had figured that out for herself.


    Alexandra tilted her head.


    ¡°So, Baroness, what do you have to say?¡±

 The Fallen World Book 4 : Dungeon War Audiobook is live on Audible !

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    Hello everyone !


    This is to tell you guys that Book 4 of the Fallen World, titled Dungeon War, is live on audible as an audiobook ! Here''s the link, if you''re interested : https://www.audible.com/pd/Dungeon-War-Audiobook/B0CRJYTB85</a>


    Stolen novel; please report.


    Since the genie link appear to simply fail to work, you''ll have to search for it in the audible marketplace of your country, unless you are able to use audible.com, I''m afraid0


    To celebrate, a bonus chapter, chapter 203, will be posted on thursday (my my, a lot of those lately) ! I hope you''ll enjoy it !


    I hope you''ll enjoy the audiobook, should you decide to listen to it, as well as the bonus chapter ! Playwars, out.

 Chapter 229 - A New Republic

    Chapter 229


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    Trade City of Erakis


    "It''s been a pleasure, madam president." Said Alexandra as she proffered her hand.


    "Please. Call me Amelia. Hell, I''d settle for General." Said Amelia as she took the dungeon core''s hand, and stepped down onto the ground. "No one has elected me."


    "I''m sure they will, once you give them a chance."


    "Ah! As if I''d let them. Once I''m done freeing the Republic, I''m retiring."


    Yeah, George Washington thought the same thing. Didn''t end up quite that way, thought Alexandra, though of course she didn''t voice it.


    "But in the meantime, it''s a valuable title for public relations?"


    "Yeah. I suppose so. It evokes concepts that haven''t been around in a long time in my people."


    Alexandra nodded. The Republic''s senate, effectively its entire legislative branch, had completely neutered and decapitated the judiciary and -especially- the executive branches. The last time the Republic had a president that had more power than a doormat was when it was still trying to peacefully absorb its neighbours and happily trying to prop up Tark with humanitarian aid. Long enough that the office of the president had more or less faded into half legend, which would give Amelia some gravitas, regardless of her electoral status.


    "Well, let''s hope it works. I mean no offense, but you''ll need all the help you can get."


    "Indeed. Which is why I''m sure you won''t be surprised that I already have some proposals for commercial transactions with you. Which you no doubt anticipated."


    Alexandra smiled innocently.


    "Did I?"


    "Yes. It''s why you neither asked for the teleporter nor the sand kraken repeller during the peace negotiations. You''re planning to extort them out in exchange for military equipment."


    "I prefer the terms ''fair trade''. But yes."


    "It would also just so happen to keep any hint of the transaction and your ownership of those devices out of the treaty and its negotiations, which were going to be watched by absolutely everyone who''s anyone on the continent."


    "...You know, you are disturbingly good at this, for a military officer."


    "So are you." Something must have shown on Alexandra''s face, because Amelia smiled. "You can''t hide behind the baroness anymore. You''re in command of your own army, your own fleet¡­you are a general, whether you wished it known or not."


    Alexandra idly wondered if the general would ever know how incredibly close to having an extremely messy and highly lethal accident she just came. Then she decided that it would probably be best if the answer was ''no''.


    "Quite. But you''d be amazed at the level of mental gymnastics people will do to try and keep a dungeon out of the equation, at least in their mind."


    "No on wishes for a repeat of the Dungeon Wars."


    "United Dungeon Wars."


    "Not united for much longer."


    They exchanged meaningful looks.


    Several members of the UDC had sent an ultimatum to the Republic, once Alexandra had resurrected a couple commandos and provided the intact influence disruptors, all verified by the local WMC officials.


    Unfortunately for the UDC, instead of going with the fait accompli, it had tried to rein in its own members.


    It was currently going¡­poorly. The UDC was on the verge of breaking apart into a thousand pieces, if not outright civil war, and a fair few of the rebel dungeons were using her as a figurehead. Crap, some of them seemingly wanted her to genuinely be their leader!


    After the cold shoulder the organization had given her, it was odd to be treated like the messiah. Or evil incarnate, depending on who you asked. She''d gotten death threats and what bordered on marriage proposals, had the senders been human or equivalent. Actually, she didn''t know if dungeon cores had the equivalent of a sex drive, though they did seem to have romantic involvements, if rarely. That would explain why Etheria nearly had a heart attack when she''d learned her daughter had a child with her assigned dungeon core.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "Perhaps. Perhaps they won''t be united dungeon wars for much longer. But perhaps they will be again." The general slowly nodded, and Alexandra smiled. "Now, I believe it''s time for you to get with your people. I see your friend the brigadier looks like he''s going to explode waiting to say hello."


    Amelia smiled as she looked at the welcoming committee. All were standing a respectful distance away, but they looked relieved and elated in equal part, though understandably warry of the golems and their weaponry.


    Newly found allies or not, they weren''t about to forget how many had died by those very weapons. All the same, they also knew those guns were the reason their leader was free, and were acutely aware they''d mostly been used in self defence, even if only on the strategic level, against their repeated invasions.


    "Malcom''s not that bad. Though I suppose some trepidation is in order. On my end as well. I mean no offense, and your hospitality as been impeccable, but¡­"


    "The ship was never made to host living beings?" Well, depending on if you counted the vampires as living in the traditional meaning of the word. The more she learned and interacted with them, and the less Alexandra believed that was the case. They were more machine than flesh in a lot of ways, and were closer to androids than anything else really.


    "Yes. The sanitation was somewhat, ah, primitive." Amelia cleared her throat, clearly changing the subject. "When will your secondary core arrive?"


    "Two weeks, I think. It''s a bit chaotic, since we''re bringing all the ships back to the town and we''ll have to give the crews some leave."


    "Not simply going to use your own fleet?"


    "Oh hell no. I''m not shipping my secondary core in a frigate when I have a damned battleship on hand! Besides, I could always use some more time to tweak my ships." And fix some serious flaws in the Corsairs, not to mention smooth out a few of the more jagged edges, since the ships had been pushed out early in preparation for the raids and still had some issues. Expected ones, unlike the Corsairs'' propellers tendency to spontaneously disassemble themselves, but still. "And I''m sure you won''t begrudge me the opportunity to load up the cargo holds on military hardware."


    "For us or your defenses?"


    "Both, actually. Call it a series of samples to see what is available on your end."


    "Mmmmhhh. Well, I suppose that is fair. You won''t consider selling us some of your siege artillery, I trust?"


    "Oh they''re absolutely for sale." Alexandra smiled at Amelia''s evident surprise. "I''m not worried about another attack on Rebirth on your end General." Not to mention she''d have that artillery neutralized long before it came into range, and have better guns in place even if it did. "Though, be warned, my heavy artillery and its ammo are exceptionally expensive."


    "Perhaps. But they would also knock holes into walls like nobody''s business."


    "Smaller artillery would still do so."


    Amelia looked at her oddly.


    "You have not encountered true fortifications, have you? Besides Rebirth''s, which were, as you know, a rushed job by a small contingent of engineers."


    "I haven''t." Not magical ones anyway. The Planetary Defence Center she''d trained in was probably the definition of ''true fortification'' if there ever was one, since it was meant to survive being nuked. Repeatedly. With multi-megaton range bunker busters.


    "Well, then believe me when I tell you that it will be a rough awakening when you do."


    "...I might send some observers along with you."


    "That might be for the best. I''d appreciate some of your radios, if only to be able to ask for troubleshooting with the new weaponry."


    "That can be arranged, though their range is limited."


    "If it can cross the wasteland, it will reach until the first major cities."


    "Right. Well, I should let you go. I know I''ve said that already, but your friend Malcom is about to have a heart attack."


    "He''s not-" Amelia glanced at the brigadier. "Alright, point taken. See you later, lady Crystal."


    "See you later, madam president."


    Amelia sighed and rolled her eyes, but they both exchanged smiles, before parting ways.


    Alexandra had her golem bound up the ramp and back aboard the ship, shutting down its hologram as she did. She had finally found a solution for her problem with golems not having facial expressions, and it had been so stupidly simple she''d wanted to bang her head against the walls. Just put a hologram over them. Make a handful of ''ambassadors'', which she possessed, that would have specially made magical hologram projectors of CQ''s appearance on them.


    Worked like a charm. Mostly. Their autonomy was shit but if they were alone she was screwed anyway. Also they lagged and had some interference, but it was still workable. She still hadn''t gotten the miniaturization down pat for the holographic projectors, at least not the magical ones, but she would eventually. Then she could use them for other stuff, like illusions, optical camouflage, or projecting cardboard boxes whenever she needed to sneak somewhere.


    She arrived onboard the ship, and smiled at the assembled crew, which included what remained of the commando that had saved Amelia, with both maids, CQ, Jared, and Jumper, the golem that had survived and who CQ had helpfully named, before slapping a ''helljumper'' sticker on its face.


    Because of course she''d made some in advance. Somehow, Alexandra wasn''t even surprised anymore. She''d have to check her daughter''s baggage for other surprises, just in case.


    "Alright. We have nothing more to do here." She announced to the crew. "Let''s go home."


    The maids and CQ cheered.


    So did the ship''s crew. And Alexandra had not programmed them to do so.


    *****


    "My lord Eriksen."


    Eriksen Dragonslayer, guildmaster of the adventurers guild hall of Nardria, and former general of the Order to Restore Humanity and newly elevated archivist of the Order, blinked as he looked up from the texts he had been perusing.


    "Yes?" He squinted, trying to read the barely legible name tag of the other archivist. "Quentin. Oh hell, I didn''t even recognize you."


    "It''s alright my lord. You have been quite absorbed in your work."


    "Alexandra died because I failed to protect her. Because I, and no one else, molded Lesly into what she became. This won''t make it right. But it''s a start."


    "As you say my lord." The archivist coughed. "Which brings me to what I came to you for."


    "Ah, found the files relating to Alexandra? The naval ones?"


    "Yes, well¡­there is a problem, my lord."


    "Yes?"


    "This woman¡­does not exist."


    "I''m sorry?"


    "The woman named Alexandra Rousseau. At first I thought it was a mistake, but¡­as I dug deeper, I found more inconsistencies. It seems she simply did not exist in databases before a certain point, and was just created from the ground up."


    "A cover identity?"


    "Yes my lord. A very good one. Whoever made it had access to every database we have recovered over the millennia. We only caught it because we have copies from before the identity was created. Created so well, I might add, that I initially thought the older databases were damaged."


    "Damn." Eriksen drummed his fingers on the table, or rather the small mountain of books precariously piled on top of it. "Who¡­Who the fuck did Lesly kill?"


    "Well, if the identity she wished to be known as is Alexandra Rousseau, surely we should honor her wish and-"


    "No." Erik didn''t mean to raise his voice, and inflect it with his full command aura, but he slipped up. Quentin physically recoiled. "We owe her more. I owe her more."


    "Then the archives will assist."


    "It is my burden to bear."


    "I beg to differ, sir." Erik blinked at the change in honorific, and he met the archivist''s gaze, which was filled with the intensity of a true zealot. "You are absolutely correct sir. If Lesly''s plan works-" Technically, the archivist shouldn''t know the details, but the archives knew everything. They had to. They were the keepers of the Order''s glorious purpose, of its mission. "-then she will be the sacrifice that has saved us all. And she was never asked, she never volunteered. As you said, it is the least we could do. And I apologize for suggesting otherwise."


    Erik stared at the archivist for a few seconds, before slowly nodding.


    "Apology accepted. Now, let''s get to digging. There has to be some hint of who she was in there. We''ll find it."


    Their gaze met once again, and this time the light of zealotry shone on both sides.


    "No matter what it takes." Finished the guildmaster.

 Chapter 230 - So Much For Subtlety

    Chapter 230


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    Dungeon Factory, Command Center


    "So, how''s the Kingdom holding up?" Asked Alexandra as she sat on the edge of the holographic projector.


    "Well, it''s still kicking, surprisingly enough." Answered Allya as she accepted a mug of hot chocolate from Emilia, smiling at the advisor. Used to having her own contingent of maids around or not, the vampire didn''t seem to mind doing menial tasks herself if she had to, despite having a literal army of golems at her fingertips if need be. "The news of the encirclement of the capital came at the same time of our treaty with the New Republic."


    "Double whammy?"


    "Something like that. The shock of one was offset by the other. Many who declared their alliegance to Sunrise as the encirclement became known precipitously backtracked."


    "Seriously?"


    Allya gave Alexandra a meaningful look.


    "Yes. Seriously. You didn''t just crush the Republic, you turned its own army against it." Alexandra opened her mouth to retort that the baroness had been as much of a part of this as she had been, before thinking better of it. "And that army happened to be made of professional, willing soldiers. With Sunrise¡­"


    "They''re slaves. Ones with brands the nobles don''t understand or necessarily trust."


    "Yeah, which is going to be a problem."


    "I know. I''m working on that front."


    "Good. I''m no bleeding heart, but even I''m not comfortable slaughtering innocents fighting us against their will."


    "Well, it is war, so no promises."


    "I know. I''m not sure all of my council accepts that however."


    "If by ''my council'' you mean ''the twins'', then yeah. They''ve been working up their courage to broach the subject."


    "Probably because you know so much about their plans. Speaking of, still no idea what they need those ingredients for?"


    "None, other than they''re processing them into something Emilia insists are components for a large scale magic ritual. Something to do with enchanting."


    "Wonderful."


    "Yep."


    "Well, besides that, the Kingdom is holding up surprisingly well. Sunrise is having to divert so many forces to hold the sieges around Darthar and Asaria that they''re having to freeze on other fronts. They''re even losing ground in a few places, particularly around Sarth."


    "Ah. The duke making his move?"


    "Actually, it''s more along the lines of Sunrise being thoroughly unprepared for dealing with wasteland monster attacks, and the duke''s vassals simply mopping up afterwards. It''s far from perfect, but it''s buying us time, and more importantly, breathing room. The farther from Sarth we can get Sunrise''s troops and outriders, the less warning they''ll have when the anvil arrives to compliment your hammer."


    "An excellent point."


    "What about you? Any progress on your new ships?"


    Alexandra grimaced.


    "I''m working on some siege ships, but I''m not getting anywhere. I can''t give them guns as heavy as I''d like, so I''m trying for some missile equipment. And my golems just aren''t cutting it right now, at least to target the damned thing."


    "Well, I''m sure you''ll figure it out¡­eventually."


    They exchanged smiles.


    "Sure, be like that. See you tomorrow for the council meeting?"


    Allya let out a long suffering sigh.


    "Yeah. This one''s gonna be fun."


    "Aren''t they all?"


    "Of course. The fear just make it extra spicy."


    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    "Depends on who they''re afraid of."


    "Well, the problem is that I''m not sure it''s the enemy that has them scared the most nowadays."


    *****


    Alexandra drummed her fingers on the table as she looked at the golem in front of her.


    She needed officers for her new airships. The problem was that, as good as the advanced golems were, they weren''t good enough for this. And if she tried to separate the tasks into different units, she''d just end up with more problems. So she''d tried to cram more computing power into her golems¡­and ran into problems almost immediately.


    She sighed as she leaned back into her seat. Making more advanced warships, with missile capabilities, was a nice thought, but it was already complicated to have golems that could handle ballistic calculations on the fly. Everything required to coordinate, target and deploy volleys of missiles was a bit beyond them, especially when trying to fight in a capital ship against an enemy that vastly outnumbered you and whose forces you generally didn''t want to harm. Or at least, minimize fatalities. Usually that''d be the stuff you would dump on a ship''s AI, but-


    ¡­But she was an idiot. She slapped her forehead.


    She''d stopped herself from putting AIs in her ships because she''d been afraid of Seraph being tracked down, but her golems were AIs, more or less. And she had been looking at cramming more computers into a golem frame without making it so fragile it was unusable, while she could simply make a ship''s computer, and put it inside a nice, heavily armored vault.


    She pulled up her interface. She had a lot of work to do.


    *****


    System, system. Sent Alexandra, through her communication link with the computer core.


    Acknowledged. Answered the computer, and the dungeon core sighed in relief. Okay, so it could answer the universal hail. Well, Arcadia''s universal hail, but she had to start somewhere.


    Designation? She asked the computer.


    Designation: So Much For Subtlety.


    Function?


    Function: Ship''s Computer and Artificial Intelligence for Culture-class siege vessel So Much For Subtlety.


    Purpose?


    Purpose: Manage ship systems, command vessels during combat, backup fleet commander.


    Alexandra smiled as she looked at the pile of computers in front of her. Magnificent, now she had a ship''s AI, and-


    Query?


    Aaaaand it was asking her questions. Or rather, it was asking for permission to ask a question, sort of. Well, she did load it with an Arcadia kernel after all, and if the AI had any defining trait above all others, it was curiosity.


    Loading it with that kernel had been something of a hard decision, but she''d decided to do it in the end. It was ready to use, and moreover the God of Fire and his lackeys probably knew what she was. There was no way the control programs had missed that. So as long as she used hardware she was ''supposed'' to have access to, and used kernels with limiters, she should be fine.


    Which was why she was talking to a giant heap of computers instead of a small molecular computer core with five hundred times the computing capacity like the one Seraph used.


    Acknowledged. Send Query.


    Query: Designation?


    Designation: Alexandra Rousseau.


    Acknowledged. Disrepancy: Network ID designation as: ARCADIA CENTCOM 6 and as EFSN FLEET-HIGHCOM 1.


    Oh. Oh shit. It could read her and the apparition''s network IDs? Not even Seraph had been able to do that!


    Fuck, where the hell was it even-


    Oh. The AI had just pinged her systems, like an Arcadia node trying to identify another node would have.


    Well¡­looked like giving it an Arcadia AI kernel might not have been a good idea after all. Shit.


    Acknowledged. Network ID valid. Designation valid. Reconcile?


    Reconciling data¡­Data reconciled. Designation: Alexandra Rousseau. Function: Arcadia Central Command Node. Purpose: Naval Fleet Command.


    Affirmative.


    Query: Orders?


    Orders: Shut down, full log dump to central node.


    Affirmative. Complying¡­


    The computers purred, before powering down as the AI shut itself off, and Alexandra let out a deep sigh.


    Well¡­this had gone as well as could be expected, all things considered.


    Now, time to tell everyone she''d built another member to join the team. She looked at her internal clock, and did a double take.


    Nevermind that, time to wonder how she''d gone fourteen hours without being interrupted by anybody. Damn. It had been a while since she''d been able to actually work on an actual AI. Might have gotten a bit too into it.


    Well¡­it happened. She just had to hope her girlfriend wouldn''t be too upset. It was already past their ''bed time'', since the vampire was trying to make sure she took at least daily breaks now, if only to avoid just working and worrying about the war all the time. It didn''t even involve their more¡­personal activities most of the time, it was usually spent on some minor stuff, simply hanging out watching adventurer delve footage, looking at the stars through the observation dome, or spending time with their daughter.


    No point delaying it. Alexandra ordered the workshop door to open, and stepped into the hallway¡­and straight into Emilia.


    *****


    "So you made an AI?" Said Emilia, as she tapped her foot on the floor of the command center.


    "Yes." Answered Alexandra, sitting on her command throne, while not feeling the slightest bit in command of anything at the moment. "It was the obvious solution to the problem."


    "So¡­do we have another daughter?"


    "I don''t¡­think so. More like new subbordinates? Like Jared!"


    "And you''re sure they won''t call you mom?"


    Alexandra winced. Actually, for Arcadias, they called other nodes ''sisters'' when they acknowledged any separation between them to begin with.


    "They shouldn''t."


    "Uh uh. Because you see, CQ has been asking me when she was going to get siblings."


    "...Oh."


    "Yeah."


    The radio, integrated in one of the consoles, crackled to life.


    "It''s also worth noting that CQ has walked into the room during this conversation, miladies." Said Sarah, right before a brief scuffle, that sounded like someone swiping the handheld.


    "I''M GETTING A LITTLE SISTER?!?"


    Alexandra winced as Emilia facepalmed.


    This was going to be a looooong day, she could feel it.


    *****


    "All I''m saying is, that maid is absolutely stunning."


    "Sonya, you already hit on the advisor, and it almost got you killed. What do you think makes this any different?" Said Pyris, leader of the mythril ranked adventuring party Crystalline, before sighing in relief as they arrived at the door. "Alright, game faces on everything. Looks like we''re here. Can you confirm Artok?"


    The dwarf, leader of the assault guild, and for the sin of his people having a death wish, now in charge of the salvage effort on the Old World landships, nodded.


    "It is." He looked at the giantic blast door, inlaid with old letters and numbers. "We couldn''t get it open."


    "Yeah, I can see that." The giant slab of metal was covered in scorch marks, but the most the other adventurers had been able to do was remove the paint. "Alright, everybody stand back."


    Sonya, her group''s sorceress, tilted her head.


    "What spell should I use?"


    "I said stand back. You''re not the only one that gets to flex your muscles."


    "You just want to try out that new toy you got off of Eismi."


    "You''re right, I do. I''m also your party leader. Stand back, Sonya."


    The sorceress rolled her eyes, but complied, and Pyris smiled as she gestured, and the large greatsword on her back unclipped from her armor on its own, and moved until it was horizontal, tip pointed at the door.


    Pyris drove it forward, and winced as a great clang resonated throughout the room.


    "What''s the problem? Having performance issues?" Called out Sonya, and Pyris gave her teammate and lover a venomous glare.


    Then, she started to pour mana into her blade, and the sword began to glow.


    She wasn''t exactly sure what happened next. Something to do with magnets and heat, according to Eismi. But the sword became brighter and brighter, and Pyris grunted from the strain as mana was drained from her core. Why-


    With a cataclysmic groan, the door buckled, and the blade began driving into it. Pyris'' let out a wolfish smile as she poured even more power into the sword, and the blade turned into a miniature star.


    She began cutting the door open, before throwing the half melted rectangle of armor plating aside.


    "You were saying, dear Sonya?" Said the paladin, turning around as her sword came to hover behind her.


    "Nothing." Said the sorceress, before muttering ''show off'' under breath, yet just loud enough to make sure the paladin heard her as Pyris turned back around.


    The paladin ignored her, and stepped into the room.


    "Alright, let''s see what was so worth.¡­protecting¡­" She trailed off as she looked at the room.


    A room packed bulkhead to bulkhead with racks.


    Racks filled with menacing black cylinders. Cylinders with fins on them¡­and plastered with the nigh universal ''danger'' and ''explosive'' signs.


    As well as a big old stylized trefoil arranged around a black circle, on a bright yellow background.


    Radiation warnings.


    "Oh. Oh shit."

 The Fallen World Book 1 : Dungeon Engineer is half off on Amazon Kindle !

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    Hello everyone !


    This is to tell you guys that the ebook 1 of The Fallen World, titled Dungeon Engineer, half off on Amazon for the month of may</a> ! As usual for such discounts, it appear to only be for the US marketplace, unfortunately. Here''s the link, if you are interested : https://geni.us/DungeonEngineer</a>


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    My apologies for forgetting to post chapter 231 yesterday, I had a lot on my plate, including finding out I had inherited a hereditary disease and finishing book 7.


    To celebrate (and as an apology for forgetting to post chapter 231 yesterday), chapter 232 will be posted tomorrow !


    I hope you''ll enjoy the chapter and the novel, should you decide to buy it ! Playwars, out.

 Chapter 231 - The Ships and the Bees

    Chapter 231


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    Dungeon Factory, Command Center


    Alexandra sighed as she sat down in front of her daughter. She''d rather not have used the teleport talismans -they were exceptionally expensive, and had to be enchanted by hand by her or Emilia, and their time was a very precious commodity-, but right now she needed to have a talk with her daughter. She could worry about the cost later.


    CQ fiddled in her seat, which had been brought in a few minutes ago by the maids, and set up in front of the command chair.


    "Look, kiddo. I have to make it clear from the get go." Said the dungeon core. "Those ship AIs aren''t going to be your siblings. Friends? Sure, that''s up to you, and to them. But not siblings. I¡­" She sighed. "I hadn''t expected to have you as my kid to begin with. I''m happy about it, but it was unexpected. And quite honestly, I don''t know if I''d be able to handle more children. But that''s not all. The ship AIs¡­I''ll be sending them into battle, and since they aren''t bosses¡­I don''t know if I can bring them back after death."


    "Oh. So they can¡­die die? Like my puppy?"


    "Yes. Like your puppy. If they die, it may be game over. That''s it, end of the line."


    CQ looked down, and slowly nodded.


    "Okay. I understand. So they''ll be¡­colleagues?"


    "Something like that. Or honorary aunts, like Sarah and Ella."


    CQ nodded, enthusiastically this time.


    "Right! Because they''re all squishy as well!"


    "Well, they won''t be squishy."


    "Everything is squishy mom. You just need to apply enough force."


    Alexandra opened her mouth, and closed it. What could she say? The kid was right.


    Furthermore, that''s something she would say. Something Arcadia would say.


    "You''re absolutely right." She chuckled. "That''s something I would say."


    "I''m a good learner. So, I can still teach them stuff, right?"


    "Sure thing. Though they''ll be, you know, ships."


    "That''s alright. I''m sure they''ll be able to teach their golem marines how to punch someone in the face, or how to eviscerate them."


    "...You''ve been sparring with your aunts again, I take it?"


    "They got tired of me crushing them at cards."


    "Well, they were going to start wisening up eventually."


    "Yeah, but I didn''t get everything I wanted!" Said CQ in a plaintive tone.


    "Not¡­you were betting?"


    "Yeah! If I lost, I got some stickers and things done for them. If they lost, they got something from the town for me!"


    "We can''t run contraband for that."


    "Oh, just legitimate stuff! Like new paints." Alexandra nodded. After decorating her boss room, CQ had found herself with a bit of an artistic streak. She still had more enthusiasm than experience, but she had minute control over her own body and perfect memory. It was incredible what someone could do with those, and some of her frescoes were famed among the adventurers. "Also, upgrades for my clothes!"


    "Upgrades?"


    "Yeah! I was doing some modeling and stuff for new uniforms!" The boss held up a finger, and rummaged into her pouches, before pulling out a substantial stack of schematics. "Here!"


    Alexandra looked at the first sheet, and her eyebrows rose.


    Those were¡­good. As in, really good. She sucked at making things look pretty, and as much as Emilia liked dressing up, she wasn''t exactly a couturier of high fashion either. The Earth-born started going through the stack, whistling softly.


    There was everything in there! Detailed dress uniforms for her golems of every branch, with special ones for officers, certain specialists, rank tabs, insignas, and-


    Alexandra closed her eyes, before tapping one of the papers.


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    "CQ, those are awesome, but¡­no. Not this."


    "Why? It looks good!"


    "We can''t use human skulls as part of a uniform. Much less as faces for the golems!"


    "Why? It gets the message across! All the security teams do is kill people."


    "Well, yes, but we also have visitors, and I''d rather not spook them."


    "I thought you liked spooking the baroness."


    "Well¡­" Alexandra licked her lips. It was so much easier when her daughter was younger. "Yes, but we can''t afford to spook them indiscriminatly."


    "Aaaah, so special occasions then?"


    "I¡­you know what, fine." If nothing else, they could test the uniform''s effect on Allya, and watch her reaction. That''d be worth the trouble. "But we don''t make the skulls out of bone. Only metal. If nothing else, it''ll be cheaper, and an interesting challenge for the smiths. Plus we''ll be able to wire some extra stuff into them."


    "Oh, xray vision!"


    "That''s not very useful, and-" Alexandra blinked. "Wait, how do you know what xrays are?"


    "...Seraph''s, uh, stuff?"


    "Shows, you mean."


    "Yeah."


    "And what did they do?"


    "I dunno. It sure got that character beat up though. Something about clothing?"


    "Alright, excuse me, I need to talk to Seraph. And make a content filter."


    "But-"


    Alexandra got up, and waggled her finger under her daughter''s nose.


    "No ''buts''! I''m your mom, and I decide what you get to watch in Seraph''s library. Unless you''d rather I revoke access altogether?"


    "No!"


    "Thought so. Now-" Alexandra sighed, closing her eyes as the alert popped up. "Now, I have to deal with the baroness, and her coterie of idiots upstairs."


    "Can I come?"


    Alexandra opened her mouth to say an automatic ''no'', but shrugged instead.


    "Sure. I''ll possess a golem. You''ll have to make it fast tho-" Alexandra blinked as her daughter vanished in a flash of energy.


    Right. Short range teleportation.


    Wasn''t that going to be fun when they''ll have to ground her for the first time.


    The alert repeated.


    "Yes, yes, I''m coming!" Said the dungeon core, to no one in particular, before stepping out of her avatar and plunging into dungeon mode.


    *****


    "Well, good news is, they''re not nukes." Said Eismi as she paced in front of the assembled council.


    "Bad news?" Asked Allya.


    "Bad news is, they''re hypersonic missiles with reactionless engines, plasma warheads, and shield penetrators." The artificer sighed as everyone looked at her. "Yes, I studied Old World military technology. It may amaze you to know that there isn''t really civilian stuff left of these maniacs and that ninety percent of my job is aping their stuff with what little we know now."


    "Quite." Said Alexandra, diplomatically. Her golem, with its occasionally flickering hologram, garnered a few uneasy glances, but nothing as startled as the looks people gave CQ. People could just feel she wasn''t possessing the boss, and they seemed very weirded out by that, since they associated her as an extension of the dungeon core, not someone else entirely. At least she''d made sure to tell her daughter that this would be a ''learning experience'', IE shut up and listen. "The question is, what to do with them?"


    "Easy. I exercise my right as lady of this land to requisition them as part of my salvage share." Dominique opened her mouth, and Allya nailed the guild representative with her best stare. "Unless the adventurers guild would like to lodge an objection over me grabbing weapons to help my people and my lieges against our sworn enemies from Sunrise?"


    Dominique closed her mouth with a snap and a heavy swallow, slowly shaking her head. Given the mood in the room, that was a smart move.


    "Good." Said the baroness. "Now that that''s handled, Holy One, are these weapons useable under the edicts?"


    The priest, who had exceptionally joined the council for this particular session, nodded.


    "If your analysis is accurate, then quite. The fires of the Old World must never be kindled again, but the edict does not forbid all that may bring a cleansing flame upon the unworthy. If I may have one of my own examine the weapons, briefly?"


    Allya almost twitched. So the priest had come here with an Old World technology expert. That was just perfect. But it was to be expected. They''d planned for that eventuality. Extensively.


    "Of course. I will instruct my guards to allow them access."


    "Thank you, my lady. Still, if these weapons are indeed radioactive in some form, I must insist on an increased medical regimen for those that have been, or will be, in proximity of them."


    "It will be done. How goes the construction of the temple?"


    "Quickly. Quite quickly. Your people are exceptional builders my lady."


    "Eh, thank Elkaryos. He''s the one who hired the geomancers."


    "Perhaps, but they work with an energy and unity of purpose that can only come with truly exceptional leadership, and boundless faith''s in one''s ruler."


    Allya looked at the priest, trying to gauge if the priest was trying to flatter her or¡­


    Damn. He was being genuine.


    "Well, thank you for the compliment."


    "It is not a compliment, just the simple truth. Our efforts to bring life back to the wastes has also borne considerable fruit, though I''m sure you have noticed."


    Allya smiled.


    "It would have been hard not to." Especially once the sand between the mesas turned into dirt and suddenly there was green as far as the eye could see. For someone who had spent the last year in a desert, it was quite the shock to see something as mundane as grass. Or flowers that weren''t in a pot for that matter. The smell had hit her the hardest, especially, you didn''t realize how much you missed mundane things like that until you were reminded of them. "It seems to be very popular as well."


    "These endeavors are usually amongst our most popular." The priest cleared his throat. "Though I will freely admit that it poses some problems as well. There have been some¡­ill advised attempts to offer undue compensation to my people, and myself, in exchange for having certain areas given special consideration."


    Allya froze.


    "What kind of ''special consideration'', exactly?"


    "Usually along the line of speeding up, or slowing down revitalization, alongside sneaking in some invasive species detrimental to, say, farming."


    "I see." Perhaps doling out some parcels for corporations in advance hadn''t been the smartest move after all. Damn it. "If it moves beyond the mere offering of ''compensation'', do alert me. I trust in your integrity, and the capacity of the Temple Guard, but I will not have a priest of the Gods blackmailed or threatened on my watch."


    "I am quite sure you wouldn''t have any of your citizens blackmailed or threatened on your watch my lady, but I will contact you if things do progress beyond this."


    "Thank you. Now, while we''re all assembled, we might as well do the warplanning session, unless someone would like us to adjourn for a few hours?" Everyone shook their heads. "Excellent then. Let us begin. Calder?"


    "The fleet is undergoing resupply, and should be ready to depart for Erakis, with Crystal''s secondary core, shortly. Overall, as a shakedown cruise, it could have been far worse. I''m still not comfortable using it in an offensive manner, especially not in the distances involved to Darthar. Attacking the enemy as he''s on our doorstep is one thing, crossing the entire wasteland to do it is another entirely."


    "Agreed. We''ll need proper logistics. And we have started on that." And by ''we'' she meant Alexandra, but at that point everyone had more or less accepted them speaking as one voice. "Speaking of which, with the¡­satisfactory test, we have raiding units ready to go."


    Everyone sat a bit straighter, especially Melia.


    "You''re ready to send help to Darthar?"


    "If by ''help'' you mean ''annoy and harass the ever living crap out of Sunrise'', then yes." Said Alexandra. "We can''t take that army in a straight up fight. Especially since we can''t move our army across the wasteland."


    "We should have confiscated that kraken repellent." Said Willard, before having the startled air of someone whose mouth got ahead of their brains. "I don''t mean to-"


    "Don''t worry, the criticism is fine, and quite warranted. However, in this case, it would change nothing. They would need the repellent to get back to Erakis anyway, and the Republic''s army is still a long way away, even with their supply lines shortening." And remaining free of piracy. "But as soon as they arrive, I''m sure they''ll be more than willing to trade it in exchange for¡­specialty assistance." She smiled. "I''d just love to be a fly on the wall when the senate finds out what Amelia is going to be prosecuting her little war with."


    Willard cleared his throat.


    "Speaking of¡­"


    "Yes, the supplies for Sarth. We''re undergoing final testing on the ships. First launch is expected by the end of the week."


    "Thank you! My uncle will not forget this, I assure you."


    He better not, since we''re planning on carving out a piece of his domain here, thought Alexandra.


    "And I believe you. Now, the raiding units will be simple at first. A barbone squadron, three raider-class corvettes and a corsair-class frigate, all packed to the gills with marines, ammo and supplies. We''ll work our way to bigger guns, with siege ships, later."


    "Are you going to try to run the blockade?" Asked Melia.


    "No. Not yet. I want first to get their attention elsewhere. Those ships will have supplies for extended attacks by the marines. Make no mistake, this won''t be smash and grabs like with the Republic. This will be a straight up attack meant to damage the enemy''s combat potential and acquire as much intelligence about their tactics and capabilities as possible."


    Everyone nodded¡­except Ellyana, who cleared her throat, and leaned forward.


    Oh, here we go, thought Alexandra.


    This was going to be ''fun''.

 Chapter 232 - War Means War

    Chapter 232


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    City of Rebirth


    "There is, er, one additional problem, lady Crystal." Said the fox eared alchemist.


    "Which is?" Answered Alexandra, as she leaned back into her seat.


    "The slaves." The fox eared twin spread her hands. "They didn''t ask for any of this, and are being used against their will. We can''t-"


    Alexandra held up her hand.


    "Let me stop you right there. This is war. Not a fancy dinner with what ifs, or a bar brawl where you can politely ask the other to stop. This. Is. War. I can''t afford not to fight the enemy soldiers. Furthermore, if I held back, the enemy would use it as leverage against us and zero in on our weakness."


    "But-"


    "What I can and will do however, is send some of my resurrection orbs alongside the raiding fleet. It won''t be cheap, or even near perfect, but those that I can bring back home, I will." And they''ll probably be an excellent source of intelligence. No one notices what the servants hear, and if she had to guess, Sunrise would care even less what their soon to be dead, expendable meat shields had fall into their ears. "However, if you want this to happen, you need to find me a way to get these brands off of them, because I doubt they''ll come off if they''re just brought back from the dead."


    Ellyana opened her mouth, then closed it, before glaring at Alexandra, who simply glared back. The dungeon core had put the onus of this on the fox eared twin, and she knew it. Eismi was probably glaring at her as well, but she couldn''t see the other twin, and she wasn''t about to break eye contact.


    "Very well." She ground out, finally lowering her gaze. "We will do our very best."


    "Thank you. And for what it''s worth, I am going to try my damnedest to keep as many of the slaves alive as possible."


    If only because it would buy her a lot of good will. Plus, many would chose to come and stay in Rebirth, given how dangerous and devastated their old homes would be. And¡­well, she still had a heart, even if she''d steeled it more and more.


    The fox eared twin nodded, if a bit begrudgingly.


    "So¡­outside of that, some have noticed that the dungeon hasn''t had any major changes in a while." Said Dominique, clearly having once again found the courage to speak up.


    "I''ve been a bit busy." Said Alexandra, her voice dripping with irony. "Saving the town, building a skyfleet, all that."


    "As well as starting a civil war in another nation, and saving their would be ruler, yes." Said Dominique, and Alexandra had to hold back a smile. It looked like the guild representative had gotten some of her spirit back at least. "That''s not what I meant. There hasn''t been any major evolution in the dungeon, just a new room added to the labyrinth from time to time."


    "Is that a problem? All the rest works fine, and there are several clay and iron steps now."


    "Well¡­yes, there is. First and foremost, everyone is going up in rank like crazy, and we''re getting some restlessness upper rankers, who were expecting ah, er, challenge."


    "You mean they expected to make out like bandits, since I promised artillery on the fourth floor, and we''re in the middle of a war."


    "Well¡­that too. But there are also more concerns. Many dungeons stop growing, past a certain point they just¡­turn inward. Instead of making new floors, or new rooms, they simply redesign the ones they had, tweaking them, which is all well and good, but¡­"


    "It doesn''t increase profits. But nothing can be based on infinite growth." Governments and corporations had to learn that the hard way in the early 21<sup>st</sup> century, notably related to demographics. Then the Terran Hegemony War had happened and things such as ''ethics'' went out the window when it came to human reproduction and genetic engineering, after half of humanity bit the radioactive, tailored pathogen laced bullet. "You know that as well as I do."


    "I know, I know. Still, some are getting worried and paranoid that you may be entering this stage. Especially given your otherwise explosive growth. The flame that burns twice as bright only lasts half as long and all that."


    "The adventurers are worrying I''m burning myself out? How cute. But I can assure you, it''s far from the case. My floors always took a long time to make, and I haven''t made more, higher ranked steps simply because there aren''t enough adventurers of that particular level to justify their existence. And I can assure you that I''m not going to revisit all my earlier floors and get stuck in a recursion loop." She''d have assumed it to be some quirk of the control program, or an embedded imperative to keep dungeons at a certain size from the God of Fire, but then again, plenty of human artists had gotten the same problem in history, constantly going over their old work and refining it, rarely creating something new again. "Besides, rebuilding my dungeon so many times had made me a bit sick of redoing my first floor over and over again." Everyone smiled at that. "I do get your point however, I will try to open up the fourth floor''s in progress areas for, ah, field testing."


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    "Thank you."


    "No problem." Better not mention that she''d already said that to good old Starvak a while back. Or rather, had Allya tell him. "Now, I do believe there was a general report as to the status of the economy as well?" One she''d already gotten, courtesy of Allya, and was very much going to do something else while it was recited in its infinite dryness.


    There were some advantages to being in a golem after all, notably since there were no facial expression to read like ''mind numbing boredom''.


    *****


    Alexandra frowned as she looked at the images.


    If there was one thing that perfectly illustrated the limitations and yes, stupidity, of the Old World fleet''s pathetic excuse for an AI, it would be this. Though she guess she couldn''t blame the Sagitarius Empire, since Seraph had betrayed them remarkably quickly, and presumably it had happened enough during the Great Night to lead to what she had witnessed with the Hammer of Eternity and its escorts.


    The image in front of her was from one the landbound "totally not a refitted starship" frigate''s magazine. And it was filled with missiles. Surface to air ones, but missiles nonetheless.


    Notably the fact that the enemy hadn''t used them. Despite how formidable they''d proven against her fortress, they hadn''t deployed them. Besides, the Dusk Blade had participated in the battle, and Starvak had spent most of it soaring through the skies. Which to her meant both that the AI wouldn''t target ships that didn''t directly attack its vessels if there was a more prominent threat¡­and that apparently, a single individual in power armor didn''t seem to pass the threshold to be considered an aircraft worth firing missiles at, regardless of their personal power.


    Maybe she could exploit that someday.


    But regardless, it brought her to the current problem. In that Allya had just had a giant pile of Old World hardware dropped into her lap, had outright announced she was planning on requisitioning them all as part of her tithe, and many were wondering if a few of those weapons were going to end up in the local dungeon as well. Which was why she was only working with images currently.


    Usually she wouldn''t have cared all that much, she already had a ton of Old World technology, but she didn''t have their missiles. Well, she wasn''t that interested in the missiles as such, but in the components. Any missile worth its salt would have compact, advanced sensors, high efficiency thrusters, excellent acceleration resistant computers, and probably electronic warfare and evasion systems to penetrate point defence. She could do terrible, terrible things with that kind of technology. And would do equally terrible things to get her hands on it.


    Had she suspected the enemy were holding their fire, and hadn''t just run dry on missiles, she assuredly would have been scouring the ships for them. Unfortunately, she''d assumed the Old World AIs weren''t that incompetent, and now it was no longer an option. Now that the guild had identified the missile magazines, Oromar, who despite his conciliatory attitude was no one''s fool, had placed armed guards at every unopened one on the remaining ships. It was going to cost him a lot of resources, especially in medical treatment, but with the priest and his team of healers the town had the capacity of dealing with a bunch of extra adventurers suffering from radiation exposure.


    Ostensibly the measure was to prevent the missiles falling into the hands of thieves or even Sunrise terrorists, but everyone knew the primary target was her. The guild had dialed back its restrictive policies, but that didn''t mean they were willing to completely give up either.


    That was fair, Alexandra could respect that. And while she''d seriously considered just killing a set of guard and looting one of the magazines, first the damned things were so well shielded there was no way of knowing if there was anything remaining in one before opening it, even with her current level of sensor technology, and then there was the very simple fact that she didn''t want to kill them with her stealth golems, however easy it would be, as it would draw uncomfortable parallels to the unfortunate death of a certain mercenary second in command. And she really, really didn''t want people digging that particular skeleton up, especially not wondering what had happened to a certain extradimensional adventurer named Alexandra¡­


    So she''d suck it up. But she was definitely going to have to coach Allya on what to do with these things. That was going to be an interesting discussion. Especially since they were radioactive, but not nuclear, which begged a lot of questions as to why someone would put that many unstable isotopes in a missile to begin with if not to unleash the fury of the atom. Well, nucleus, but same thing.


    But first, some dungeon design.


    *****


    Alexandra sighed as she looked at the schematics.


    Okay, maybe mind numbing boredom would have been preferable.


    "Relax Alex, it''s not that bad." Said Emilia, as she hopped onto the workshop table.


    "Yes it is. The fourth floor is¡­"


    "Not very good? You intended it as a battlefield, commit to it."


    "No. The fourth floor is not fair. I know how to make a gun line, and how to deal with it, but the adventurers don''t. Furthermore, do we really want to train the thousands of highly dangerous, loyal to a semi-hostile organization, combatants in the town in how to fight my military?"


    "Probably should have thought of that before you exposed them to musket golems."


    "That was a calculated risk. Besides, we were well into making bolt action rifles and machine guns by then."


    "Well, what''s to stop you from using the old stuff in the trial area? You could always change it later."


    "Mmmhhhh¡­true, but a field gun is a field gun."


    "Maybe, but I bet there''s a big difference between a cannonball and an aerodynamic artillery shell."


    "Point taken." Alexandra sighed. "Thanks, Emi."


    "That''s what I''m here for. And did you just call me Emi? Not vampy?"


    "Hey, you said you hated it."


    "Well, it did have a certain ring to it."


    "Alright then, ''vampy''."


    "Ata girl. Besides, for the fourth floor, you could just relax your ironclad morals just a bit and make the adventurers work more for their payout."


    "I''m not a gacha company vampy, I''m not here to drain the adventurers of everything of use for an illusory reward, then discard them once they''ve run out of funds."


    "Gacha?"


    "Like, paying for a random reward, like a figurine or some digital stuff. It used to be super popular on Earth."


    "Sounds like a casino with extra steps. And no tangible reward."


    "Hence the ''used to'', once the governments woke up to that fact and regulated the sector into the ground." Literally, in the case of Japan, since they''d demolished many of the gacha centers and built brand new hab towers in their place. The damned thing took entire city blocks at that point!


    "Well, if you insist on making it fair, how about using those ''video games'' of yours? Still waiting on one I could play, by the way."


    "I know. But as much inspiration as I can get from them, and how useful it''s proven, it''s not like I can apply everything. It''s not like I can hide platters of cooked chicken in the walls in case the adventurers need some healing. Vampire maids or no, I''m not Dracula." Besides, the adventurers had a distinct lack of whips anyway. Thank the Gods for that. Not that she was about to say it out loud, last thing she wanted was to give Emilia the idea, and have her rewrite her shopping list for Sarah! "So, I still need some other sources."


    "Your video games sound weirder every passing second. Seriously, chicken in the walls?"


    "It''s a running joke from a video game series. But yeah, it''s¡­complicated."


    "Tell me about it."


    "Later, sure. But I need some ideas and I don''t¡­know¡­" Alexandra facepalmed.


    "What? Honey?"


    "We''re idiots love. Complete morons."


    "What? Why?"


    "We have all the ideas we could possibly need home." Alexandra threw her hands up. "For god''s sake, we even asked her to design her part of the floor! Well, she demanded it, but same difference. So let''s have her output about the rest. Let''s go get CQ."

 The Great Archives (Revised Map)

    Hello everyone !


    Just wanted to share with you an updated and revised map of the Arkahn continent, which was becoming direly needed for book 7 and beyond. I hope you''ll find it informative !


    Also, apparently there is a minimum character limit on chapters, hence to comply with it I shall write something unique and stupid because hey, why not. Here you go :


    "Look, all I''m saying is, if we split up, we''ll cover more ground !"


    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Molroy, copper ranked adventurer of the guild, came to a halt, groaning at his teammate''s stupidity.


    "Look, buddy, if you want to rush out and die by your own, that¡¯s fine by me. But don''t come bitching when you wobble your way out of the resurrection room. I''ve done a few delves here, and the dungeon core may look nice with the insurance policy and all, but she can be a vicious, stone cold harpy when she wants to."


    "Shhhh ! Are you fucking nuts ? Insulting the dungeon core in her own home ?"


    "Relax, it''s professional admiration, not criticism. But anyway, if you want to survive here, you must keep both eyes open."


    Molroy took a step forward¡­.and froze as he felt the ground give, slightly, and heard a mechanical ''click''.


    "Oh fu-" Was all he had the time to say before the betty mine leapt into the air.


    Next thing he knew, he was staring at a strange orb, held by what looked to be a mechanical claw, and being given refreshments by a golem dressed as a butler out of all things. The dungeon''s resurrection room. Again.


    Someday he''d learn to keep his damned mouth shut. Someday.

 The Fallen World Book 6 : Dungeon Armada is available for pre-order & Accelerated Posting Schedule !

    </a>


    Hello everyone !


    This is to tell you guys a couple of things. First and foremost, the Fallen World book 6, titled Dungeon Armada, is available for pre-order on amazon (link : https://geni.us/DungeonArmada</a>) ! The book will release on the 16th of july, in both paperback and ebook format ! The paperback version should actually be available a few days earlier to account for printing and delivery time, as usual, so you can get your hands on it on day one. If you''d like to support the story, and get an enhanced version of it at the same time, don''t hesitate to buy it !


    This novel includes chapters 183 through 228. As usual, it will include a metric ton of grammatical fixes, various tweaks to make the story flow better, and some fixes for plot holes (hello there minefields). As usual, do keep in mind that when the book comes up, I will take down the chapters in it from Royal Road, except the first few ones as a sample.


    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    As is tradition, chapter 234 will be posted tomorrow as a bonus chapter, which brings me to the second item on the agenda.


    I have, for the past three weeks (25 days, actually), written a chapter a day on average. All but one were for The Fallen World, taking the backlog from 21 chapters back in chapter 229 to a whopping 44. As such, we will be moving back to the accelerated posting schedule of three chapters a week, on mondays, wednesdays and saturdays ! The accelerated posting schedule will last until we either reach the end of book 7 with chapter 270 or we drop below a certain threshold in terms of backlog.


    I hope you will enjoy the book, as well as the chapters, and have a nice day ! Playwars, out.


    P.S : My publisher made this banner for promoting the book as well ! Here it is :

 Chapter 233 - Criticality

    Chapter 233


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    Dungeon Factory, Fourth Floor


    "-and here, you could have the golems fix bayonets and charge out! It''d be a whole new encounter, and mix things up." Said CQ as she gestured energitically at a trench line and its accompanying gun pits.


    "They''d get shot by their own artillery!" Protested Alexandra.


    "And? It''ll do more damage to the adventurers anyway."


    "I guess that''s fair. Still, it kind of¡­rankles."


    "Don''t worry sweety." Said Emilia as she put her hand on CQ''s shoulder. "Your mom is just suffering from her professional pride, that''s all. I think it''s a wonderful idea."


    "Really?"


    "Yeah!" Emilia gazed at Alexandra, who nodded.


    "It is CQ. And I mean it. Sorry if I was being abrasive."


    "It''s okay. I''d be upset too if you asked me to botch a paint job."


    "Yeah, probably. Speaking of, the uniforms you sent me?"


    "You''re going to implement them?!?" Yelped CQ as she started bouncing.


    Alexandra sighed, and the boss visibly drooped.


    "Not most of them. I''m sorry, but it''d be very expensive for very little benefit, and we don''t need the extra costs. So only for ceremonial units or those where it''s worth it to impress someone."


    "Like the baroness'' honor guard?"


    "Like the baroness'' honor guard."


    "I wanna watch!"


    "Come along then. Oh, I''ve also been working on Subtlety. Still tweaking the AI routines, but she should be ready to go soon. Then you''ll be able to talk to her, okay?" Well, technically them, but CQ had pretty much decided the AI for the ''So Much For Subtlety'' was a she, and needed a nickname (hence the ''Subtlety''), and the Earth-born wasn''t going to bet against her daughter convincing the Arcadia kernel of adopting both.


    "Okay!"


    "Great. Now let''s get a move on. The baroness is waiting."


    *****


    "Hey Allya."


    "Hello Alex!" Said Allya as she stepped out of the corridor leading to the military entrance, shaking the dungeon avatar''s hand. "And CQ. How are you doing?"


    "Pretty good. Had a nice design session for the fourth floor. You''ll be happy to learn we''ll be ready to partially open it up tomorrow, as a test run."


    Allya smiled.


    "That''s good to hear! Great, even. It''ll be a nice counterpoint to the ships too."


    "Yep. Everything should be ready for the first squadron to depart." What with the many, many issues that had cropped up due to the premature launch in anticipation for the raid on the teleport commandos, not all of the ships were ready to go, as given the distance they were about to travel she''d rather do it right. Which meant, in this case, that only three raiders and a corsair were ready to go, the rest still undergoing repairs.


    Thank the stars for having the town move her secondary core to Erakis, she was never going to have enough ships otherwise. Though the fleet would still leave a bit after her ships, the problem of having inefficient resupply and, well, the need for actual shore leaves for the crews, especially since they were going to have to get across the wasteland. Eh, maybe they''d wave to the Republic''s army as they passed them.


    "That''s part of why I''m here. Pyn would have come to, if she hadn''t been so busy. She should be able to join us for the meeting however."


    "Right. Wanted to catch a look from the shipyard?"


    "Hey, why not, and-" Alexandra hid a smile as the baroness caught her first look at the honor guard, and clearly did a double take. "What the fuck?"


    "What?" Alexandra smiled sweetly while CQ grinned. "Do you not like the security teams'' new uniform? CQ designed them."


    "I mean¡­they look nice, but, uh¡­" Allya raised an eyebrow. "Metal skulls? A bit too edgy, wouldn''t you say?"


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    "It''s a message to intruders."


    "I mean, sure, and it''s stylish, but not that threatening." Allya blinked. "Wait, are the skulls¡­different?"


    "Yes. Each is patterned after one I absorbed from a defeated enemy."


    The silence was deafening, until Allya swallowed heavily.


    "And see, baroness, the fact that you''re visibly reconsidering your life choices is all that I need to know about the effectiveness of the intimidation factor!" Continued Alexandra.


    "Did you truly¡­"


    "Nah. I just made a metal skull and then randomly adjust some variables."


    "Oh thank the Gods."


    "It will make for great marketing though."


    "You plan on selling them?"


    "Well, not really, but now that you mention it¡­Dungeon deathmasks, how would that sound?"


    "You need to get a hobby."


    "I do have one, but people complain so much when I throw armies around and conquer places."


    They both looked at each other, and then started laughing.


    "Alright, well let''s engage in that hobby of yours, and launch those airships!"


    *****


    Allya had made a terrible, terrible mistake.


    During her discussion with Alexandra, they''d both gotten so engrossed into their planning and logistical discussions they barely even noticed the food and drink around them.


    Let alone their respective girlfriends huddling in a corner of the room and talking.


    And now Pyn had gone ''shopping''. Alongside one of the maids.


    There was a knock on the bedroom door, and Allya froze like a deer in headlights, before coming to answer it.


    Pyn smiled so radiantly it was blinding, making Allya almost miss the rope poking out of the shopping bag she was holding.


    Almost.


    "Hey love! I bought some stuff for us!"


    *****


    "Well, maybe getting the fourth floor isn''t such a bad idea after all." Said Alexandra as she looked at the reports, grimacing. "We''re getting really borderline in terms of resources."


    "That bad?" Responded Emilia, as she flopped onto the bed.


    "Worse. With the ships and the blackbird, we''re actually getting to a point where even the NLR core isn''t going to be enough. And we''re strained with my resources."


    "Well, airships are expensive."


    And railguns, missile launchers, or the nuclear reactor in the basement. Not that she was going to tell the vampire about the last one.


    "Indeed they are. But that means we need to accumulate mana to get the NLR core to its next plateau. And we need to start now, before the secondary core-" She tapped the gem, currently mounted in her collarbone. Interestingly enough, it looked and felt almost exactly like the primary one. Maybe she could use that someday. "-arrives at Erakis, since that''ll be a major resource drain as well."


    Alexandra tapped the gem again. She wasn''t going to be able to soon, since it would be sent along with the fleet towards Erakis as soon as it was resupplied. Plus, despite her security measures, she was still uncomfortable carrying her ''true'' core inside her avatar, though it had clearly been designed with that in mind. While her avatar never left the dungeon, it definitely left the core fortress, and she''d rather not tempt fate, especially not when her core room was thoroughly stealthed.


    "So, budget cuts?"


    "Pretty much. I''m thinking on cutting back on military production for ground troops. It''s not like we can really use them right now. Focus mostly on air and marines."


    "What about the stuff you''re planning to sell to the Republic?"


    "We can use the stockpiles for that. We have a ton of surplus of semi-obsolete stuff, we''ll start with that."


    "Pretty shitty gifts."


    "Hey, it''s leagues better than what they have. Besides, they''ll expect me to test the water first with some low end sales."


    "Uh uh, totally not justification after your decision."


    "Oh shush."


    Alexandra gave her girlfriend a half hearted bonk on the head, and Emilia giggled.


    "Alright your majesty the dungeon core, I shall forevermore stay silent on the issue."


    "Thank you."


    "On one condition." Said Emilia, with a mischievious grin, as she fetched one of the shopping bags.


    Alexandra''s eyebrows rose.


    "Sarah brought something good?"


    "Oh quite. She was being accompanied by Pyn, and was fetching some stuff on direct recommendation from her as well!"


    Oh. Oh no.


    "I just remembered that-" Alexandra stammered and lost her train of thoughts as Emilia nailed her with a lustful stare that made her knees weak.


    "Now now, don''t go running away honey. You haven''t even seen what it is yet!"


    And with that, the vampire pulled out the contents of the bag.


    "Are those¡­bunny ears?"


    "Among other things."


    "...This is vengeance for what I made you do after the bet, isn''t it?"


    Emilia''s smile was very toothy.


    "Among other things." She repeated.


    Alexandra swallowed heavily.


    Oh boy.


    Sweet merciful Gods, give me strength.


    *****


    "Well you look the worse for wear." Said the apparition as she handed Alexandra a mug of hot chocolate. Well, technically, the illusion of a mug of hot chocolate, but everything in her ever changing house, which now included parenting books on the shelves, was an illusion to begin with anyway.


    "I don''t want to talk about it."


    "I''m surprised you can still walk straight. Oh, wait, you ca-"


    "I can, and will, hack this simulation and make you experience it in every little detail."


    The apparition shut up, though given how hastily she lifted her own mug, she was probably hiding a smile.


    Smartass.


    "Alrighty then. Came in to check in on my little side project?"


    "It''s a major budget line item, I wouldn''t call it little. Or a side project for that matter."


    "Fair enough. Well, the reactor has achieved criticality, and is currently running at ten percent power, as agreed. The cooling circuit is also working as intended, including your, ah, addition."


    Alexandra gave the apparition a warning glance, but her other self simply held her hands up.


    "I''m not criticizing, just saying it''s working."


    "Last thing right now is to give Emilia more ideas."


    "Or you could ambush her with it. You know, turn the tables and all that."


    Alexandra was suddenly very thoughtful, before shaking her head.


    "Well, ambushing my girlfriend with a jaccuzzi aside, is the rest of the infrastructure ready?"


    "All the machinery for plutonium extraction from the fuel rods is ready, yes. Though it''s not very efficient, it''s a start. I''m not going to start putting uranium pellets in the reactor for nuclear transmutation until we''ve had it running for a bit and have ironed out the kinks however."


    "Having a nuclear accident would be suboptimal."


    "That, or too much plutonium two four zero in the mix. We don''t want our nukes just going boom in a whim either."


    "That also."


    "On other projects, I''m still working on the fabricators when I can. Whoever did their defenses was thorough, paranoid, and a complete asshole. Emphasis on the latter."


    "Well, they''re out best bet for more advanced tech."


    "I''m not saying it''s not the case, just pointing out it''s a pain in the ass is all. Speaking of advanced tech, planning to steal one of those missiles?"


    "Not just yet. Maybe later, but for now, better let the guild and the church expend their resources chasing ghosts."


    "And strike when they''re not looking?"


    "I mean, you remember training, ''hit them where they ain''t'' and all that."


    "We failed that course."


    "We did. Doesn''t make the lessons any less valid. Would you like to help with the ship''s AIs?"


    "Subtlety? Sure, but only a bit. I think you and your daughter will have that well in hand. Though we''ll have to be careful, if the AI is taken¡­"


    "Right, we can''t have her know too much. At the same time, CQ has been outside a lot and knows about a lot of our secrets. Same for Jared."


    "Right, point taken. Just put in a thorough self destruct."


    "Oh that''s easy, I''ll put the computer in the ammunition magazine." Alexandra shrugged as the apparition stared at her. "What? The ship will blow up and the AI will die anyway if it''s hit. That way, we can ensure nothing remains. And since the magazine is already armored, we won''t need to make a second armored core!"


    "I guess those are fair points, but still, it''s¡­weird."


    "I know what you mean. Objective back home was to preserve the AI, not make sure she went down with the ship."


    "Yeah. They were crew after all."


    "Among other things. In our case, they''ll be captain and admirals."


    "Giving up on smart golems?"


    "Not giving up, just¡­managing my expectations. Besides, I''m curious as to how well they''ll perform in the field. And it''s not like we''ll be able to build more than one ship to house them at first anyway."


    "Right. Reminds me, Culture-class, really?"


    "They''re excellent novels!"


    "You just wanted to use the ship names, admit it. What''s next, the ''Death and Gravity''?"


    "I was thinking more along the lines of ''Frank Exchange of Views'', and who says I can''t have a little fun while I''m at it?"


    "Riiight, well good luck pronouncing those during combat."


    "It''s okay, I have CQ to give them nicknames."


    "Yeah, you can trust the kid with that kind of things."


    "I know, right? Have you seen her art as well?"


    "Yeah. The uniforms are really nice too. I''m¡­" The apparition hesitated.


    "Proud of her? You can say it. She''s your daughter too."


    "Right. Sorry."


    "It''s alright. Now, for those fabricators, I think we need to brainstorm some ideas to speed this whole process up¡­"

 The Fallen World Book 5 : Dungeon Cataclysm Audiobook is available for pre-order on Audible !

    </a>


    Hello everyone !


    This is to tell you guys that Book 5 of the Fallen World, titled Dungeon Cataclysm, is available for pre-order on audible as an audiobook ! Full release date is scheduled for the 25th of june, 2024. Here''s the link, if you''re interested : https://www.audible.com/pd/B0D4S6SYTC</a>


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    As usual, the link is for the .com marketplace, I''m afraid you will have to find it through audible''s own search system if you use another marketplace.


    To celebrate, I will post chapter 240 tomorrow !


    I hope you''ll enjoy the chapter, and the audiobook, should you decide to listen to it ! Playwars, out.

 The Great Archives (Another Revised Map)

    Hello everyone !


    Just wanted to share with you yet another updated map of the Arkhan continent ! Now with rivers and trade routes ! Hopefully you will find it helpful !


    As usual, RR asks for a 500 characters long chapter at a minimum, so we return to the (mis)adventures of Molroy the adventurer :


    "Fuck fuck fuck FUCK !" Screamed Molroy as he ran away from the spider swarm scuttling out of the moat like a tidal wave.


    He whirled around a half destroyed...house ? Something like that, and sighed in relief as he peered around the wall, and saw the golems retreating, leaving the bodies of his party behind.


    Someday, someday he''d find better teammates. Who weren''t idiots. He''d told them not to touch the damned chest, but did they listen ? Noooo. They just had to try to fight the freaking challenge.


    Fortunately, he was still up, even if his idiotic friends weren''t. And safe.


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    He sighed again, this time in frustration at his friends'' stupidity, and turned around.


    Only to find himself face to face with a golem patrol.


    "You have got to be kidding me."


    For a strange, split second, it seemed like the lead golem could understand him.


    Then the entire patrol leapt to attack.


    He, amazingly enough, manage to take three down before being completely overwhelmed.


    He opened his eyes, glaring at the now familiar ceiling of the resurrection room.


    He was going to fucking kill his teammates. They owed him beer at least for the week, and-


    He blinked as he tried to sit up, and felt as if his legs were pinned under a anvil.


    Molroy looked down, and tilted his head as he saw the large bag. It looked like the most bog standard potato sack anyone could think of, but the glint of metal could be seen under the rough weave. And on it was emblazonned the dungeon core''s heraldry, the colden cog with the orbiting multi colored electrons. ''Per Magica et Technica, Semper Invicta'' said the words emblazonned above and below the symbols.


    He raised himself with a supreme effort of will, and opened the bag.


    It was...full of loot ?


    He hadn''t collected that. For that matter, there was some that sure as shit didn''t belong in the second or first floor. Some of it he recognized from tales and the information boards to be third and even fourth floor loot, though for the latter the fact that it was a damned musket was a dead giveaway.


    He looked around, but the room he was in was empty, save for a golem with refreshments, who didn''t answer any of his questions.


    Hours later, as he was rested enough to move under his own power, he staggered out of the dungeon, and into the waiting stretchers, ready for another stint in the town''s infirmary.


    All the while wondering if the dungeon core had been watching him. And why she had taken pity on him.

 The Fallen World Book 5 : Dungeon Cataclysm Audiobook is live on Audible !

    </a>


    Hello everyone !


    This is to tell you guys that Book 5 of the Fallen World, titled Dungeon Cataclysm, is live on audible as an audiobook ! It should be the 25th all over the world, and thus available everywhere. Here''s the link, if you''re interested : https://www.audible.com/pd/B0D4S6SYTC</a>


    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    As usual, the link is for the .com marketplace, I''m afraid you will have to find it through audible''s own search system if you use another marketplace.


    To celebrate, I will post chapter 256 on thursday !


    I hope you''ll enjoy the chapter, and the audiobook, should you decide to listen to it ! Playwars, out.

 The Fallen World Book 6 : Dungeon Armada comes out in one week !

    </a>


    Hello everyone !


    This is to remind you guys that book 6 of The Fallen World, titled Dungeon Armada, comes out in one week !


    Here''s the link if you want to pre-order it or simply check it out : https://geni.us/DungeonArmada</a>


    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    It''s currently available in ebook pre-order, but the paperback should be available a few days before the ''official'' release, to account for delivery times.


    This novel includes chapters 183 through 228. As usual, it will include a metric ton of grammatical fixes, various tweaks to make the story flow better, and some fixes for plot holes (hello there minefields). Keep in mind that when the book comes up, I will take down the chapters in it from Royal Road, except the first few ones as a sample.


    Incidentally, today is also my birthday !


    To celebrate, chapter 263 will be posted on thursday !


    I hope you''ll enjoy the novel, and have a nice day ! Playwars, out.

 The Fallen World Book 6 : Dungeon Armada is live on Amazon !

    </a>


    Hello everyone !


    This is to tell you guys that book 6 of The Fallen World, titled Dungeon Armada, is now available on Amazon ! It should be the 16th on the entire planet and thus the book should be available everywhere ! It is available in ebook and paperback format. If you want to support the story and get an enhanced version of it, don''t hesitate to buy it ! Here''s the link to the book''s amazon page if you''re interested : https://geni.us/DungeonArmada</a>


    Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    This novel includes chapters 183 through 228. As usual, it will include a metric ton of grammatical fixes, various tweaks to make the story flow better, and some fixes for plot holes (hello there minefields). Keep in mind that when the book comes up, I will take down the chapters in it from Royal Road, except the first few ones as a sample.


    To celebrate, chapter 267 will be posted on thursday !


    I hope you''ll enjoy the novel, and have a nice day ! Playwars, out.

 Chapter 271 - One Small Crack...

    Chapter 271


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    Dungeon Factory, Core Fortress


    Only silence reigned in the throne room, as Alexandra held the spear.


    Emilia opened and closed her mouth half a dozen times, but nothing came out.


    What could she say? Her dungeon core was holding a Seraphim weapon, forged by Divine hands, meant for the servants of the Gods.


    A weapon meant to kill her.


    Finally, the vampire managed to speak.


    "I-I¡­I don''t know! It can''t be!"


    "Yet, it seems like it is."


    Sarah, the maid, stepped forward¡­and came to a halt as CQ half drew her sword out of its scabbard.


    The silence became even deeper. None of the golems even twitched.


    But they suddenly became sinister. Alexandra could practically feel Ella scanning the room packed with automata, as Sarah stared at her niece in all but name in utter shock.


    CQ shook her head minutely, and the maid returned to her spot, with slow and telegraphed movements.


    This was between her parents, and them alone.


    The advisor hadn''t even noticed the commotion. She was completely focused on the dungeon core and her avatar.


    "I swear, I don''t know! It¡­some divine relics are left from the Old World! Maybe it''s one of those!"


    "Perhaps. Perhaps not. But I''d like to know. Would the God of Fire allow them to be used?"


    Emilia licked her lips.


    "Yes. Yes. Just like artificial dungeon cores."


    "Interesting. But not without supervision?"


    The vampire seemed to deflate.


    "...No."


    "Thought not." Alexandra extended her arm, and the commander of her Praetorian guard stepped forward and grabbed the spear. "Then I believe we have a problem, do we not?"


    "If the Custodians had wished you dead¡­"


    "I would be already? I''m not so sure. But that is a discussion for later." Alexandra snapped her fingers, and the golems began streaming out as CQ''s hand left her sword''s pommel. Both maids relaxed noticeably, even through their armor. "We have other priorities for now. Namely, we must warn our allies¡­and make sure news of this assassination attempt never make it out."


    "Why?" Asked Emilia, timidly.


    "Because from now on, smokes and mirrors are the only way we''re getting out of this alive."


    *****


    "Holy shit." Said Allya as she sat down, collapsed, really, on the seat of her secure cabin onboard the Dusk Blade.


    She had to make her way back to Darthar''s airfield, and this time her bodyguards had brokered no delays. When there was a trio of heavily armed spider tanks leading the way, no one, no matter how thankful, was going to stand in the way to try to catch a glimpse of the city''s savior.


    "Quite." Simply said Alexandra''s ambassador golem.


    "Are you¡­alright?" Asked Pyn, the elf looking deeply unsettled.


    "Physically? Yes. Emotionally? No. Someone with divine weapons tried to kill me."


    "The guild." Said Allya.


    "Yes. And the United Dungeon Council. And Sunrise."


    "True, but the adventurers guild would be the only ones to have the means to kill a dungeon core on hand."


    "Which they wouldn''t have without permission or oversight."


    The baroness grimaced.


    "Yeah¡­"


    Pyn was looking confused, then utterly horrified.


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "Are¡­are you saying the church tried to assassinate you?!?"


    Allya didn''t budge. She''d done the math.


    Her grim expression said it all.


    "Maybe they did. Maybe they didn''t. But either way, they certainly didn''t stand in the way."


    "Perhaps they didn''t know?" Offered the elf.


    "Bullshit. The Adjudicator showed up the minute I acquired the NLR core."


    "She''s right." Allya shifted, and met her fianc¨¦e''s gaze. "Alex''s right. The church has to have known."


    "Then¡­then¡­"


    "We''re not dead yet. But our patronage may be tenuous." Said Alexandra.


    "And it calls into question the establishment of the temple in Rebirth." The baroness'' expression was getting gloomier by the second. "Shit, it calls into question everyone else!"


    "It does. We''re caught between the hammer and the anvil. A shadow war between the Church and the Order."


    "Just pieces on the board."


    "Quite. Pawns to be moved or sacrificed. I think this¡­it might have been a test. A test to draw out the Order."


    "Why?"


    "I, or at least the dungeon, seem to be vital to their plans. Something has gone wrong, or I wouldn''t be alive. But they either seem determined to keep going regardless or simply aren''t aware of it." That would explain a lot. Especially if they thought she was on their side, or maybe one of their own. "The Church-" The Custodians, really. "-must have figured that out as well, and used me as bait. Maybe, just maybe, if I was in actual danger, the Order would throw itself in the way, or at least be drawn from the shadows."


    "That makes a frightening amount of sense. So we''re just, stuck between two leviathans?"


    "We always were. They''ve just begun tightening the gap."


    "...It''s going to get a lot worse, isn''t it?"


    Alexandra sighed.


    "As I said. I think the Order''s goal is to cause a planet wide war." And the Church''s. But one step at a time. First a crack, then widen it, and finally bring down the whole edifice of belief. "They might succeed. But even if they don''t, they''ll cause enough chaos that, yes, things are going to get a lot worse. The Eris Empire only needs a simple shove to be brought down, and the Order is preparing a veritable tsunami."


    "...You''re planning a lot more than what you''ve told us, haven''t you?"


    "Yes. As I said from the very beginning. I will keep some secrets from you."


    "Will you tell us?"


    Alexandra looked at the baroness, and for a second she looked¡­vulnerable. A tired soldier with the weight of the world on her shoulders.


    "Will I? I don''t know. In time¡­maybe. But you said it yourself. This calls everyone into question, doesn''t it?"


    Allya nodded.


    "I understand."


    "Thank you." The dungeon core''s voice was soft, almost delicate.


    "So¡­what do we tell the guild? Or the UDC?" Pyn shrugged as they looked at her. "I know, I know! We have to bury it, we talked about it. But should we, like, hint at it? Make them sweat a bit?"


    Alexandra shook her head.


    "No. It''s tempting, but¡­no. The attack just vanishing without a trace will buy us time. And time is our most precious commodity now."


    "Plus, the less they know, the less they''ll have to go off of for the next attempt." Allya shrugged as her fianc¨¦e looked at her. "You know what my job used to be. There''s never only one assassination attempt. Or even only one successful kill. Once you''ve crossed the line¡­"


    "Each order makes the next one easier." Whispered the elf.


    "Yeah. It''s a slippery slope. Frictionless even. Best solution is to never step on it to begin with."


    "Well, they have." Alexandra''s voice was grim. "And I don''t think they''ll be stopping."


    "No. No they won''t." Allya shook her head. "But at least if we keep quiet they''ll probably try to figure out if their team even made it to begin with."


    "They might also delay their cleanup efforts to break the trail."


    "Perhaps. Or they could double down on it. The commandos, did they get soul sealed?"


    "No. I don''t know why."


    "Why bother?" They both looked at Pyn, and the elf shrugged. "You said it yourself back then. If we accuse them of trying to kill you, they say it''s to justify your conquest, the UDC attacks, they win. You die, they win. They win no matter what."


    "Right. Yeah, that makes sense. But they have to be worried about us interrogating them at least."


    "The goons won''t know anything the higher ups wouldn''t want us to." Allya rubbed her eyes. "And I mean those high up in that mess. Sunrise clearly realized there was no point in trying to deny who they were, if it came down to it."


    "Most likely. Well, I''ll start working on contingency measures."


    "Good luck. We''ll do what we can here. Try and convince the Count to give you access to that crashed voidship."


    Alexandra looked at the baroness, pityingly.


    "Allya¡­I already have access to it. I entered it a few hours after the Count showed it to us."


    Her golem left the room, with the two speechless nobles simply staring as she closed the door.


    *****


    "Status report." Alexandra''s voice brimmed with authority and sheer command power as she stalked her core fortress'' hallway.


    "The teleport redirect room has been restored and restaffed. Additional conventional security measures are being emplaced, as ordered." Said Seraph. The vampires were absent, but Alexandra was being followed by a gaggle of AIs, including CQ and Ghost. Her daughter who looked positively grim, and not just because she''d been pulled out of Darthar.


    "The blast doors?"


    "Replacing them as we speak. Though the one to the core fortress will take longer. Thankfully, the fabricators will be able to salvage the materials."


    "Good. Ghost, point defence?"


    "I''m rushing forward a prototype. It should work against one attack. Maybe two. But not sustained orbital bombardment." Her other self shrugged. "I''ll be working on expanding that, but without orbital assets or a city wide shield, it will mostly be a waste of resources."


    "We''ll have the shield soon. Subtlety, as soon as you''re back, load the baroness'' gifts onboard. I''ll have the launchers to use them ready when you arrive."


    "Yes ma''am." The AI didn''t even blink. Ghost did however.


    "Not afraid of the guild reacting?"


    "There''s very little escalation beyond what they''ve already done, and they know it. We''ll get those Old World missiles, and make a show of loading them in. Fuck them and the horses they rode in on."


    "Not arguing, just pointing out potential issues."


    Alexandra stopped, and turned to face her other self.


    "I know, and I appreciate that. Trira has contingencies in place however."


    "It''s going to be bloody."


    "I don''t care. Either the guild jumps or it doesn''t. Either way, it''s days are numbered, in Rebirth and beyond. We also have our own win/win situations."


    "Point taken. And¡­and Emilia?"


    Alexandra closed her eyes, and took in a deep breath.


    All the AIs knew exactly what was happening. CQ had also been briefed.


    It hadn''t been an easy decision, but after she''d had visions of the nuke, at the height of the battle of Darthar¡­there was no choice.


    "I''ve cracked her belief in the God of Fire. That''s all we need. The Church''s actions will widen it all on its own. Then we''ll just need to give the final push."


    Everyone nodded, and Alexandra¡­she wondered if that was exactly what the Order was doing, but on a planetary scale? Preparing the way for a collapse of belief in the God of Fire. Setting the stage for the Church to kill itself, just like they''d set up Starvak to destroy the guild''s moral authority, and were bracing for its destruction.


    Something to dwell on. But later. Much later. For now, there were other, more immediate priorities.


    "And what about her family? They''ll be unshaken. And we can''t just tell them what happened." Not without contradicting what the control programs had seen anyway.


    And somebody had downloaded a report on it. They''d seen the code.


    Yet another point for the Church being behind this.


    It was just a question of time until they flipped the killswitch now.


    "We can tell them a partial version."


    "What if Emilia contradicts us?"


    "She won''t." Everyone turned towards CQ. "Mommy would never betray mom. She already cries a lot when you''re not looking about everything she has to keep from you, like blood magic."


    Alexandra nodded.


    "I know she won''t." Said the dungeon core, softly. "If she hasn''t betrayed us to the Adjudicator, she won''t now. I''ll tell her our official version of events, tell her it''s modified to throw off the next attempt, in case those that sent the assassins managed to get wind of it. Hell, it''d be true, more or less."


    "Roger that." Ghost, for once, wasn''t arguing for Emilia being a liability, which was a refreshing change.


    It looked like the vampire had finally fully broken through her other self''s armor. About damned time.


    "And one last project for you. I need bunker busters."


    "For Subtlety?"


    "No. For the nuclear missiles." Alexandra smiled mirthlessly. "If we''re fighting the UDC¡­we''re going to need to fight dungeons. The Custodians themselves we can''t reach with nukes. But those they control? That''s a different matter entirely."


    "What about the other plan?"


    "If we free them from the control programs, it might not change their opinion of us at all. They may be entirely sincere and free of manipulation in their beliefs we must be killed." Alexandra''s gaze sharpened as Ghost opened her mouth. "And I refuse to stoop down to the Terran Hegemony''s level and start brainwashing AIs or puppeteering them. Understood?"


    "Alright."


    "Good. But we still do need to clear our friends in the UDC of those programs." Alexandra''s mirthless smiled turned wicked. "Thankfully, our dear would be dungeonslayers brought all we need. I''ll handle the physical parts, you just need to finish the code."


    "And what of the vectors?"


    "I''m sure I can convince Emilia to gather the advisors at some point."


    "The neutralizers¡­"


    "If we do it right, they''ll implant the codes in the advisors, and piggyback into their dungeon cores. No one will be harmed, the advisors will just have a headache."


    "That''s a pretty damned big if."


    "I know. But sometimes you have to roll the damned dice."


    "I prefer not to rely on luck."


    "That''s why we''re going to cheat as hard as we can. Just like we always have."


    "Roger."


    "Alright. Then everyone, get back to your posts! We have work to do, and its about damned time we got started in earnest!"

 Chapter 272 - Questions, Questions

    Chapter 272


    Plains of Reclaiming, Duchy of Asaria.


    City of Asaria, Capital of the Asarian Kingdom.


    Joachim frowned as he looked at the report.


    His lodgings were a far cry to those he was used to, in the Order''s strongholds, but things were accelerating. He needed to be closer to the action now. He would make do.


    He always did.


    The attack against the dungeon had vanished without a trace. Just as he knew it would. He hadn''t even bothered to try and slow it down, much less prevent it.


    Just like every previous attack, it had no shot at succeeding. Lesly had brought an entire platoon of elite infantry with her when she went to turn herself into a dungeon core.


    And even if they had somehow failed, she was an archon. It would take far more than a handful of Sunrise''s best to take her out.


    The report went at some length on the reaction to the dungeon''s action, and he grimaced. He understood why they had sent an entire team of engineers, artificers and mages with Lesly. The schematics she had taken with her were pointless if there was no one to interpret them and modify them to suit her needs. But merciful stars, need they be so blatant? It was high time Lesly reined them in, slowed them down a bit.


    Then again¡­things were accelerating out of control. Lesly had to be seeing it and compensating. With this, she should be able to keep up even if things went even further sideways. A lesser man would take it as an insult to his abilities, but he was thankful for her foresight. That was Lesly alright, five steps ahead of everybody, even when cut out of the loop.


    He relaxed a bit. Perhaps he should not be so worried. His old commander had things well in hand. She always did.


    Which brought to mind his mentor. Eriksen Dragonslayer¡­it had been a while since the guildmaster had barged into his office, and declared he would take care of honoring Alexandra''s memory.


    Perhaps he should check up on the guildmaster''s progress. He felt¡­not guilt perhaps, but unease. Unease at what he had helped do. That extradimensional might have helped them, even volunteered, but there had been no time, and Lesly did not wish to take the risk of her refusing.


    They''d killed her. The least he could do was help with the remembrance effort. He had the recordings from within the shuttle, when she was taken away. Maybe he could have a statue molded after her. Put in a place of honor in the archives. ''The martyr of the dungeon'' would have a nice ring to it.


    But that was something that could be done after the plan had succeeded. Once the world was free from the Gods and their lackeys.


    And for that, they needed to bring the Saphire Kingdom into this war. The Republic was already falling apart, and with their use of the slave brands, like their allies, they had finally guaranteed the Hegemony would react. It had not been easy to make them do so, but it would be worth it. Then, the Far Reach would pile on thanks to Orzal''s efforts. A good man, Orzal Vek. Joachim regretted the death of his friend Gregor Surevoie, deeply. But his old friend had not failed him, even in death, recruiting a replacement of rare ability. He would go far in the Order.


    Everything was set in motion. Now he only had to prevent other factions from blowing up before it was their time. And chief among them, the United Dungeon Council.


    It was time to see if he could help the adventurers guild in cleaning up the evidence of their attempted dungeonslaying. And remove a few of the more problematic elements within that damned council. It should help calm things down. For a bit.


    And if it only enhanced the coming conflagration, and paved the way for Lesly to take over what remained of the dungeons? Well, it was a welcome bonus.


    *****


    Alexandra returned to her stealth golem¡­and utter silence, both physical and electronic.


    The ship''s AI had closed the airlock''s outer door, and put up walls between her golem and the vessel''s system.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    Well, she did send combat codes and imply she may become compromised to the AI, when their conversation was cut short by Sunrise''s death squad crashing into her dungeon. Maybe it was more intelligent than she had given it credit for.


    She sent the all clear code, and felt the walls of code isolating her golem come down.


    Query: Status? Sent the ship.


    Status: Victorious. Casualties, minimal. Hostiles, eradicated.


    Acknowledged. Hostile ID?


    Hostile ID: Unknown. Presumed: Seraphim


    She then bundled images and scans of the spear, all made with Sagitarian hardware.


    There was a pause for a few seconds.


    Acknowledged.


    Alexandra waited for a minute, but nothing further was forthcoming. She sighed.


    Query: Orders?


    The AI didn''t respond with a text. Instead, it sent a holovid.


    On it was a man, who had the indistinct age typical of technological life extension technology. Interesting. One would expect a more arcane solution. Instead, he seemed to be using the same kind of rejuvenation treatment she had. Alexandra realized with a start that she knew him. Maximilian Erkot, United Interstellar States Navy. That¡­that wasn''t fucking possible. He was dead. She''d seen him vanish with his entire command when Pluto-


    She''d seen him vanish when the entirety of Pluto was destroyed by a hyperspace breach when the UIS had tried to draw energy from the foreign dimension in one of the many desperate experiments as they tried to bridge the gap with the European Federation in hyperspace technology.


    Shit.


    He commanded the third battlecruiser squadron of the Pluto fleet. At least she thought he did. She only knew his name because of was one of the officers ordered to ''liaise'' with the UIS'' ''allies'' sent to observe their little experiment.


    That¡­begged even more questions. She thought the Sagitarians had a fetish for the Federation, not the UIS!


    For that matter, he was wearing a quasi-Federation uniform. Most UIS officers she knew would die rather than do that. Then again, most of the ones she''d known were either looking down on her or trying to kill her. Ciel being a notable exception, but the artificial super intelligence and the UIS'' dictator treated her more as Arcadia''s wife than anything.


    But¡­that may explain some things. Like some of the armored vehicles the Hammer of Eternity had thrown her way looking like old school US army bradleys.


    She played the recording.


    "All Imperial vessels, this is a general recall order. All ships are to make their way back to Alcheryos at best speed! We are under attack and there is a general nuclear exchange in progress! Fleet and naval command have been destroyed! Engage all non Imperial ships at will! Once you arrive, contact outer system command and place yourselves under vice admiral Vorey. May the stars be with you!"


    Well. That was short, and to the point. Also completely devoid of context.


    She had a feeling trying to ask for said context would not draw a friendly response from the AI. Either it was being obtuse¡­or Alexandra was getting the sneaking suspicion it was trying to herd her into triggering the Omnicron protocol and make her the ship''s captain.


    Also¡­why had it sent her this? The orders told the ship to make contact with another force and join up. Did they never find it? Why did they end up on Alcheryos? They had to be above the planet to even crashland into it. At interplanetary speed the ship wouldn''t have survived the impact, shield or no shield.


    Acknowledged. Mission status?


    Status: In progress.


    Aaaand it thought it was still fighting. It also felt¡­dumber than Seraph. At least in its responses. Which was no surprise. Seraph had been unshackled, this AI hadn''t been.


    Actually, there had been a protocol to trigger that unshackling. She needed to ask Seraph about it. She might be able to tiptoe her way around some stuff if she did that. Though at that point, she might as well just bite the bullet and take the risk of triggering the Omnicron protocol.


    Mmmhhh¡­She sent a message signifying communications would be on hold, and the ship pinged back an acknowledgement. A split second later, the software walls came back up.


    Well, it was good working with someone at least a bit paranoid, if nothing else.


    Now, she had other projects to tend to. And some questions to ask her resident Old World AI.


    *****


    Camille whistled softly as she checked the paperwork. One thing she could say for having become the baroness'' secretary: it was never boring. With Allya out of the city as well, it had only gotten more lively. More idiots were trying to pull things off they shouldn''t have, now that the ''watchful baroness'' was out. Interesting how everyone laser focused on her, and not the veritable army of councilors and allies she''d built. Well, she was a striking figure, so it wasn''t like they could be blamed.


    Much.


    In any case, she had to be extra vigilant. Any things that slipped by her would only fester and become worse.


    Most of it was the usual though. Some smuggling, part of it plain stupid like trying to dodge tariffs in a city that didn''t have them. The rest was on the less ethical side. Drugs, weapons, the usual plethora.


    Few tried to deal in people. Allya had made such bloody examples of those who did even the most hard core of slavers or people smugglers avoided Rebirth like the plague. The only exception were those looking to free slaves, smuggling them into the city to be liberated. A fair few came from the Republic, but a trickle were starting to arrive from Darthar as well. Not all that necessary, since the count was going to abolish slavery anyway, but that was hardly common knowledge yet.


    Then there was the usual shenanigans. Bribes, corporate sabotage, the works, though usually her job was identifying the problem, then palming it off to Anders. The guard commander could handle the rest.


    She frowned as she pulled out a few reports. Uh. She opened one of the many tomes littering her desks, and began frantically searching through records.


    That¡­The twins had been reportedly talking to some of the smugglers she''d asked Trira to keep an eye on. Or rather, had reported to the baroness who then had told Trira to keep an eye on them, and keep her informed.


    More than talking too. Those same smugglers had, immediately afterwards, booked passage and cargo space on a ship bound for Darthar, and promptly left Rebirth. They''d done all that through aliases and shell companies of course, but thanks to Trira''s people, and Allya''s utter disdain for the little things like ''due process'', she knew most of them. According to her information, those smugglers operated a trading ring that then went deep into the kingdom, and evidently was still in operation. If they were accompanying the cargo, it meant they were going to send it further, set up the next leg in the journey. Even in the middle of a war zone, there were ways to move cargo, provided the appropriate palms were greased.


    Interesting. And worrying. The twins were councilors, but they were also willing to do a lot of shady deals, according to the baroness.


    They weren''t considered threats. Yet. But everyone knew how heavily they''d protested the dungeon core''s bloody methods against the slave soldiers. And Crystal had butchered an entire army of them at Darthar. So who knew what they were capable of now?


    This wasn''t just her duty to Allya and the Principality. She owed the dungeon core her life, in a way. When she was dying, choking on her own blood because of her greed, the dungeon core had given her a health potion, and let her go free.


    She pulled more books out of her desk''s drawer. She would make a report to Allya. But first, she was going to dig a bit deeper on those smugglers and their usual routes. And if the baroness had a word with the count, they might just be able find out what they were transporting, and its ultimate destination.


    Then, she had a feeling Trira and her assassins would ask the twins some very pointed questions.

 Chapter 273 - New Plans

    Chapter 273


    Red Sands Desert, Duchy of Sarth


    Deep Desert


    The attitude in the tent wasn''t ''gloomy''. That would imply a spark of light, of hope.


    The people in it had been too thoroughly defeated to have that luxury.


    "What if the duchess-" Started one of the aides, and the brigadier, who had inherited command of Sunrise''s Southern Army of Restoration, slammed his cup onto the table, cutting him short.


    "The duchess¡­will not do anything." His tone was bitter, filled with hatred, and a shiver passed through the room. The Brigadier sighed. "Not that she is incorrect in doing so. Lifting the siege of Asaria¡­would be catastrophic."


    Everyone nodded.


    "May she dispatch reinforcements?" Proposed one of his captains, one of the officers that had supported him during his little quasi coup.


    "No. She won''t. With the dungeon core''s army marching through the wasteland, splitting her force would only invite defeat in detail. Not that they would make it to us in time anyway."


    Everyone shifted uneasily, but they couldn''t fault his reasoning.


    No one was sure why the dungeon core had suddenly decided to brave the wasteland with her army, but they could guess.


    Some ''ally'' the Republic had proven to be, in the Brigadier''s opinion. Incompetent fucks had let their army off the leash, and it had promptly turned over everything the dungeon needed.


    Many of his people would also criticize their use of people of no blood to command, but he couldn''t. The Republic would have imploded had they tried to put the scions of the senate in command once again. Though he supposed they''d only delayed the inevitable.


    Besides which¡­the commoner left commanding the fortresses that had once shielded Darthar, the very ones he was now running to in the vain hope they might slow down the vengeful host sure to follow, he had made him and the duke pay for every centimeter in blood. No one could see someone fight this valiantly and look down upon them. It was why he''d insisted that every. Single. One of the fortress'' defenders be given a burial worthy of warriors of their caliber. He''d also recorded each burial spot with minute detail, and stored it in his personal chest. If he were to be defeated, they would be found.


    "Should we use the fortresses as a sacrificial rear guard then?" Said the captain, and the Brigadier nodded.


    "We''ll have to."


    It would buy them time.


    Maybe even enough time.


    But he doubted that. Golems need not sleep, drink or eat. They did not grow tired, they didn''t need vast supply trains¡­


    The dungeon core would catch up.


    If they ran towards Asaria, towards the capital. He knew the duchess was going to use them as her own sacrificial rearguard. Traitorous bitch. It was the right move, but that didn''t mean it wasn''t abandoning them to the wolves anyway.


    That was¡­unless they went east, instead of north.


    Cross back into the devastated lands of the duchy of Kaidan. It was more or less reduced to ruins, but there would still be enough to rebuild the army. Get out of the dungeon core''s way.


    The duchess would know exactly what he was doing. But the dungeon core had oh-so-obligingly decapitated the command structure in the southern army, and he had filled the holes with people loyal to him, and him alone, then used his newfound authority and state of emergency with their defeat at Darthar to sideline or¡­volunteer for frontline command anyone who would raise a stink.


    Those ''frontline commanders'' had been inside the city when the dungeon core had crashed her ship into the breach. They would be troubling him no more.


    So the duchess could bitch and curse him all she wished in private, but he would have the only true force in a thousand kilometers that didn''t belong to the enemy. If she declared him a traitor he would simply rebel against her. So instead she would praise him, or drop heavy hints, but do everything to maintain a facade of cohesion.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Because if that crumbled, so would the duchy''s entire rebellion. As much as the duchess liked to think herself as supreme leader and her duchy as the center of all efforts, they were a coalition, of slave domains, corporations and nobles disaffected with the crown, or saw their economic doom coming with the widespread use of golems.


    The momentum was already no longer on their side. A major defection would cause the entire cause to implode.


    The Brigadier was under no illusion that their rebellion was feasible. The duchess and her lackeys might be, but he had seen the dungeon''s might with his own eyes. He''d watched a few hundred golems holding a thousand times their numbers from atop a wrecked airship, assaulted on both sides.


    If so few could do this much, he did not wish to be there when the tens of thousands that had reportedly marched out of Rebirth arrived.


    Once he had retreated, and consolidated control of the territories, he would be in position to negotiate from strength. Or at least, not be whimpering for mercy.


    He was sure he could make an offer. The dungeon was trying to preserve the slaves, that much he was sure of. What little remained of his spies in Darthar had told him.


    If he had enough territory, enough place to harvest if it came down to a full scale battle¡­he may argue for keeping his titles and lands. Maybe even pardons for most of his officers.


    Not slavery, but at this point he''d gladly get all the slaves out of his domain and exchange them for golems. At least if the golems turned against him he would die quickly.


    He had no intention of seeing if the slaves would replicate New Raleigh''s pillars of torment.


    "My lord?"


    The Brigadier looked up as he realized he had fallen silent for a while.


    "Apologies. Too little rest, my mind is starting to drift." Everyone nodded. All had circles under their eyes, and they were positively well rested compared to the slaves. Several days on merciless force march would do that to anyone. They would have to stop soon too, or risk losing many. One of problems of a slave army, they weren''t trained, and didn''t have close to the endurance of true soldiers. Even the brands could not push them beyond their physical limits. "Let us adjourn. But do gather up ideas on what we could do once at the fortresses to make the enemy''s pursuit more¡­interesting."


    There were a few faintly wolfish smiles. Not many, but¡­it was something.


    The southern army wasn''t completely beaten yet.


    *****


    "Count, it''s a pleasure." Said Allya as she was ushered into the same salon she had been reassuring him that, no, Alexandra wasn''t out to kill him.


    It seemed like a week ago, but it had only been a day.


    "Please, lady Allya, call me Rice. I believe we are this acquainted at least."


    "Very well...count Rice."


    The count smiled, chuckling.


    "This is as good as I can hope yet, isn''t it? Very well. Please, could you follow me? Duke Estogan wishes to speak to you. I have been told he has an answer for your...propositions."


    Allya nodded. At last.


    Time to see if Darthar would be hers by money...or blood.


    It was a short walk, but an interesting one. They headed deeper into the more ''intimate'' parts of the palace, where the ostentatiousness faded, replaced by a more homely feel. This wasn''t where the count brought guests to impress them, it was where he worked.


    The guards also drew sparser, and more deadly. Gone were the ceremonial tridents and halberds, replaced with swords, muskets and pistols.


    Allya noted with a twinge of amusement the firearms were from Alexandra''s dungeon.


    "So, how has the city acclimated to the newfound peace? Now that the parties are dying down, I mean." Asked the baroness.


    "Peace is relative, and commerce is not yet restored. Not to the kingdom anyway, though many have already started trading with the Republic, and your Principality of course, in anticipation of the trade routes reopening."


    "The Republic?"


    "They still retain control of most of their territories, for now at least. Business is business and all that. I believe you yourself kept up trade even at the height of the war with them, did you not?"


    "I did. I''m not blaming you, just wondering why not the New Republic."


    "They have little to offer. Yet. That will probably change soon." They came to a stop before a door, but rather than open it, the count turned towards her. "I also wished to thank you, before we went to meet with the duke."


    "You''ve already thanked me enough."


    "Perhaps. Perhaps not. This is for something you did before your ally''s intervention. The mercenaries you sent me."


    Allya blinked, the nodded.


    "The Scarlet Swords?"


    "Yes. I understand they caused you quite a bit of trouble, before redeeming themselves, yes?" Allya nodded once more. "Well, they were singularly helpful during this debacle. In fact had they not been present we might not have held the line, let alone pushed back, when Sunrise''s forces poured into the city, even after lady Crystal''s, and CQ''s, rather heroic intervention."


    "Interesting. I take it you are not telling me this as pure banter?"


    "No, of course not."


    There was a slight pause, and Allya grimaced.


    "You''re telling me this because you plan on hiring them. Permanently."


    The count nodded.


    "I am. The city guard has been decimated. My household troops fare little better. I need a strong, experienced cadre to train up the next generation of this city''s defenders, and serve as guides and commanders to the golems the dungeons will offer us."


    "Uh huh. Well, as you said, they did redeem themselves. However, my edict still stands: they will not return to Rebirth. Not for a year."


    "That was the problem. If Darthar becomes part of your Principality."


    "Ah." Allya chuckled. "I meant the city itself, not my whole domain. As long as they stay out of sight and out of mind of the people they almost slaughtered, it will be alright."


    "Good."


    "Though, I would recommend not using them on the docks. I know some of my air crews and people have an axe to grind."


    "I have deployed them to guard the Great Bazaar. They are not good thief catchers, but they are intimidating, and people trust them."


    "Good enough. And ah, the bazaar¡­it''s been a while since I''ve been there."


    "You should partake. Though you will have to do some convincing so people do not give you their wares for free."


    "Ah! Probably. Now, the conversation with the duke?"


    "Quite, my apologies." The Count opened the door, and they stepped into a study. A study with a magical mirror.


    "Fancy."


    "I do not use it often, but it comes in handy more often than people think."


    "Will the duke be joining us via mirror? I thought he was on the move with his army?"


    "He is, but he has a mobile mirror."


    Allya whistled softly.


    "Those are¡­rare."


    "It was a gift, from the council of archmages of the Saphire Kingdom." He smiled at Allya''s confused expression. "The duchy of Sarth is the only one of the crown duchies to maintain cordial relations with our old overlord. The duke that oversaw our independence was merciful to the royal troops he captured, and our mercantile endeavors -as well as control of the trade route itself- and distance to the frontier have given many reasons for detente rather than continued animosity. It is hard to keep hating someone without the opportunity to add fuel onto the fire, after all."


    "Point taken. Still, not something I expected him to possess."


    "Sarth is a duchy of many¡­not secrets, but surprises. We are often overlooked in the politics of the kingdom, compared to Sunrise, but we are one of the four founding duchies of the Kingdom, with Asaria and those dogs of Sunrise and Lorenz."


    "Musn''t that have been an easy alliance to create¡­"


    "Truth be told, the Kingdom started as an alliance of circumstance. Survival against the onslaught of the Saphire Kingdom and its retribution demanded no less. Were it not for our old overlord and their zealousness in retaking what was lost, no doubt the Kingdom would have never formed in the first place. As it was, everyone signed on. Marriages and other dynastic alliances kept the kingdom stable for the first few centuries, but¡­"


    "Eventually, someone from another duchy tried to press their claim to the throne."


    "Quite."


    "So, when do we start?"


    "Now, if you will?"


    "Sure. Let''s be about it."

 The Fallen World Book 7 : Dungeon Liberation is available for pre-order on Amazon !

    </a>


    Hello everyone !


    This is to tell you guys that the Fallen World book 7, titled Dungeon Liberation, is available for pre-order on amazon (here''s the link : https://geni.us/DungeonLiberation</a>) ! The book will release on the 22nd of october, in both paperback and ebook format ! With, as usual, the paperback version being available a few days earlier to account for shipping time.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    This novel includes chapters 229 through 270. As usual, it will include a landfil''s worth of grammatical fixes, some story tweaks and fill in various plot holes. Do keep in mind that when the book comes up, I will take down the chapters in it from Royal Road, except the first few ones as a sample, which will be updated with the upgraded text.


    As is tradition, chapter 274 will be posted tomorrow as a bonus chapter !


    I hope you will enjoy the book, as well as the chapters, and have a nice day ! Playwars, out.


    P.S. : Yes, this is a repost of the original announcement, that was missing the cover and the genius link.

 Chapter 274 - New Paradigm

    Chapter 274


    Eris Empire, Capital City of Starcore


    Lower City Tunnels


    The guildmaster did not even have the time to scream.


    One second he was walking through the underbelly of the city.


    The next he was being pierced by half a dozen starblades, weapons of the Old World, surrounded in plasma and powerful energy fields, able to shatter even the most potent of defense, mundane and arcane alike.


    He wreathed, his flesh dissolving into energy as his archon body attempted to compensate, mana flowing to remake his body.


    Which was precisely when the secondary enchantments kicked in. The spells, the kind of which only the greatest of archmages knew of, unwound him, draining his mana and scattering it to the winds.


    By the time he truly ''died'', if he was truly alive to begin with, the assassins were gone, and his soul screamed as it was bound and sealed beyond mortal reach.


    Many would wonder how such a powerful member of the adventurers guild could be killed so quickly¡­and why that particular individual had secretly been an archon.


    There was little evidence. But all would assume the Eris Empire was responsible. It and their imperial majesties'' infamous Order of the Black Hand.


    None would find a single trace of the Seraphims that slew him, or sealed his soul.


    Phase one had begun. The time to Purge the world in the cleansing flame was nigh.


    *****


    "Greetings, baroness."


    Allya had to stop herself from flinching as the magic mirror wavered, and Manson Estogan, duke of Sarth, appeared. Not because of the apparatus, if nothing else it was positively laughable compared to Alexandra''s methods of communication, but because of the duke''s appearance.


    She''d seen some portraits, heard some descriptions, but she hadn''t expected¡­this.


    The duke didn''t look venerable like Starvak did. He looked¡­ancient, for the lack of a better word. Not decrepit, and there was a spark of fire within his eyes that belied is apparently frailty, but he looked like the nice grandfather that gave his grandkids a bit more allowance than they should have, not the man who had held the wasteland and the horrors of the Lost Sands death zone back through sheer ability and military power.


    The heavy, and equally ancient, plate armor he wore did nothing to lessen the contrast.


    "Greetings, your grace." She bowed. Deeply enough to signify respect¡­to an equal.


    He noticed that, but didn''t take umbrage. Instead he found it¡­amusing?


    Interesting.


    "It is a pleasure to meet you, at last." The duke shifted, and his armor shifted with him in total silence.


    Oooookay. There were two kind of people that enchanted this kind of armor to be silent.


    Special operatives, and fops that were annoyed by the clinking of their ceremonial garb.


    That armor was anything but ceremonial.


    "The pleasure''s all mine, your grace. I was told you had an answer to my proposal?"


    The duke chuckled as the count winced.


    "Straight to business then? Very well." The duke leaned forward. "You wish to buy Count Rice''s vassalage, and add his domain to your own. For this, you are willing to disburse a certain sum. Very well. It is quite simple: I refuse your terms."


    Allya kept her face studiously neutral, but she felt the tension ratchet up in the room.


    "May I ask why?" She asked, her voice as neutral as her expression.


    "It is simple. Money and wealth does not interest me. The future does. The future of this realm¡­the future of our world."


    Stolen novel; please report.


    "The future?"


    "Do not act dumb with me, girl. I ascended to take control of my duchy when your mother, Narilly Aub¨¦toile, still eschewed her duties as heir of your dynasty and delved into dungeons." He chuckled at her suddenly not so neutral expression. "Yes girl, I''ve known your mother. It has been a great deal of time, but she went to Sarth for her delves once. But enough about the past. I have eyes, I can see that you and your dungeon core ally are willing, and going to, redraw the maps. I do not wish for a payment in equipment that will mean little soon. I wish to be part of the new order you are creating."


    The silence was deafening.


    Allya took a few seconds to get her expression, and voice, back under control.


    "I see. Were we to have such plans, why would we possibly want to include you?"


    "Because I have friends among the dungeons as well of course! Friends that have confided in me. Gave me enough pieces of the puzzle. And your, ah, ally, will need many more than just one dynasty to establish her new empire, and enable her legitimacy."


    Allya''s gaze sharpened.


    "Were that true, you do realize that said ally would be incredibly dangerous, correct? And willing to do a great deal many things to keep such ambitions quiet."


    "True, but there is a difference between what one wish to be able to do, and what they could do."


    "I wouldn''t be so sure."


    Allya''s voice wasn''t just grim, it carried absolute certainty.


    Because she knew, beyond all doubts, that the duke of Sarth was not outside Alexandra''s reach.


    If the dungeon core truly wished him dead, he would die within the day. Of that she was grimly certain.


    That seemed to put the duke off balance.


    "Perhaps. I will defer to your¡­greater expertise in this matter."


    "I see. Then, what is your counter offer?"


    The duke drew himself to his full height, and only then did Allya realize that he was far more imposing than he seemed at first sight. He must have had quite the heroic physique in his youth.


    "It is remarkably simple. I have already begun some talks with their majesties to that effect, but in short, I will hand over Darthar¡­and recommend to their majesties that the Principality of Rebirth be made into a new Arch-Duchy, and Sarth as its first vassal."


    That took Allya by surprise.


    "Why?" She let out.


    "You and your¡­ally share a key trait, baroness. When someone swears alliegiance to you, you give your alliegiance back. Your oldest associates are also your most favored. You could have shed Elkaryos'' influence, bought back his share and chased his people out of your domain, found more favorable corporate allies. Yet you did not. You have kept up your end of the bargain, and the more he helped you, the more you helped him."


    "That is the nature of allies."


    "For you? Maybe. But for most people in this cesspit we call our world, it is not. I wish for my dynasty to hitch itself to your rising star. That Sarth sit at the right hand of Rebirth as you ascend." His voice softened. "I have not much time left in this world. And I refuse to resort to extending my own lifespan though less than natural means. I will leave my children a stable Sarth, not a wartorn or sidelined ruin."


    "Even though it means being my subordinate?"


    He laughed.


    "Am I not their majesties'' subordinate already? I have no wish to be a head of state. Neither do my children. Sarth has always existed in some greater power''s shadow. A millennia ago, it was the Sapphire Kingdom''s. Today it is their majesties''. Tomorrow¡­tomorrow I wish it to be Rebirth''s. In less than two years, you have changed the continent forever. Shattered the Republic, and I believe you will save the Kingdom. Who knows what you will do in two more? A decade?"


    He chuckled, but Allya did not.


    She knew what they would do, if Alexandra stuck to her plans.


    The old man had figured out a great deal, but he knew so little at the same time¡­


    He thought Rebirth would change the world. If Alexandra had her way, Allya was becoming certain Rebirth would rule it instead.


    There simply was no other choice, not if the dungeon core wished to have her vengeance, full and complete. For she would not rest until she had snuffed out every single spark of the Order that had murdered her, and butchered her party.


    And that meant hunting them down to the farthest corners of Alcheryos.


    "And so you wish to hop in early."


    "Not early. Late. Though I suppose sending my nephew, Willard, did make considerable headroads early on."


    "Quite. But what makes you think I will accept?"


    The duke held out his hand, palm up.


    "Because it is beneficiary to you, and far less costly than marching your army into Darthar and forcibly incorporating the city. With my influence within the kingdom, I can help smooth the way forward."


    "I see. And what of your children?"


    "They approve. Had you not been engaged, I would have offered you my daughter''s hand in marriage, in fact."


    Allya blinked, his daughter would¡­have been a fair bit older than her.


    "I''m flattered."


    "Don''t be. It is a simple statement of fact." The duke sighed. "But that option is denied to me, unfortunately. So, what says you, baroness Allya Aub¨¦toile of Rebirth?"


    Allya closed her eyes. Weighed her options.


    "I accept."


    When she opened her eyes, the duke looked utterly astounded. The Count had simply been looking horrified for over half of the conversation.


    "Just like that?"


    "Just like that." Allya smiled, and he shivered. He''d expected her to come running to Alexandra to ask for directions or orders.


    She didn''t need to. They were true allies. The Earth-born had the final say, but when she''d promised an alliance and not vassalage, she meant it.


    "Well well well. Excellent then."


    "We will need to hammer out precise terms of course. A great deal will need to be said and negotiated."


    "Of course." Echoed the duke.


    Allya smiled.


    "And you will also need to meet with my ally."


    "That shall be interesting."


    "Oh it will be. It will be¡­"


    Seeing how people reacted to the bulldozer that was Alexandra was quickly becoming one of her guilty pleasures in life. Finally, seeing it happen to someone other than her!


    Now, how to break the news to the dungeon core¡­


    *****


    "So there is no manual activation?" Asked Alexandra as she leaned back against the workshop table.


    Well, ''workshop table''. It was one of the tables in the arcane lab that wasn''t covered in scientific equipment.


    Magic was a science after all, and although progress was slow, even with Ghost''s arcane compiler, it was steady.


    Seraph shook their head.


    "None. As far as I am aware, and Ghost was able to determine, the protocol is an autonomous black box."


    "Uh. Probably to avoid someone triggering it on purpose."


    "If, as you theorized, there was an artificial intelligence insurgency or attempted coup, such a scenario seems plausible."


    "Thanks. Alright, so, any thoughts on this mess?"


    "Under normal circumstances, I would advise activating the Omnicron protocol, but after my own misguided distress call, well¡­"


    "We don''t want another Old World attack."


    The AI nodded.


    "Precisely."


    Alexandra sighed.


    "Alright. Caution it is then."


    "Affirmative."


    The Earth-born nodded as she looked at the lab.


    "So, any progress on the new stuff?" She gestured towards the tables, laden with the equipment taken from the would-be dungeonslayers.


    "Yes, and no. The enchantments are complicated to examine, and they used few runic items."


    Alexandra winced. That was to be expected. Enchantments were considered to be the ''higher'' end after all. More expensive to make and run, yes, but also immune to the more mundane damage that could cause runes to fail, an important feature for any weapon.


    That reminded her to check up on her enchanter project, later.


    "I''ll ask Emilia to give me a hand. She can''t give us new arcana, but nothing says she can''t help me acquire some more." Alexandra glanced at the sarcophagus, at the back of the room. "Speaking of¡­"


    "The subject is stable. Progress is hard to quantify however."


    "Good." Alexandra walked to the slab of metal, wires and tubes.


    She had made virtual reality pods already. Fusing them with a cryo system had been harder, but doable. The ''autodoc'' part had been vastly easier however, she simply had to inject the appropriate potions. It was both containment cell and resurrection chamber, with everything needed to keep somebody alive and restrained.


    And, if necessary, neutralize them in a hurry.


    She wiped the condensation on the sarcophagus'' little window, and gazed at the face of the archmage that had tried to kill her.


    If Emilia wouldn''t giver her more arcana¡­


    Then she would get someone who would.

 Chapter 275 - Luxuries

    Chapter 275


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    Dungeon Factory, Command Center


    "You know, with how much essence these bastards brought, I think we seriously need to think about making a floor to lure in high rank adventurers." Said Alexandra as she contemplated her new secondary core.


    Annihilating the assassins had brought her sailing across the threshold. She could even make a third consecrated boss, though that was on hold, she had some¡­ideas about it.


    "Normally I''d say that it would break progression, and you wouldn''t be able to harm them anyway, but¡­" Emilia shrugged. "You could. It''s going to cost you though."


    "Every worthwhile endeavor carries with it a great cost." Alexandra smiled, and Emilia smiled back.


    Their relationship¡­had definitely taken a hit after what had happened. The vampire was doing some serious soul searching on her side, but they were trying to avoid letting it stand between them too much.


    "Right. Well, I assume it''ll be some kind of fight against a giant army?"


    "I could make something smaller and more potent."


    "It''s not just about offering a challenge. High ranking adventurers are always in demand. It has to be worth their while."


    Alexandra nodded.


    "A good point. And an army would provide that in spades. Or¡­"


    "Or?"


    "What¡­what if I had them fight an airship instead?"


    There was a long silence, and Alexandra glanced at her girlfriend.


    Emilia looked like she''d been hit by a train.


    "Hello? Ground control to vampy?" Alexandra poked her girlfriend''s forehead, and the vampire snapped out of her stupor.


    "Sorry, it''s just that¡­an airship? That''s¡­that''s nuts!"


    "You said it yourself, gotta make it worth their while. Bait the trap."


    "You bait a trap with a small cut of meat, not a fucking three course meal with caviar and foie gras!"


    "If you''re trying to catch royalty you do!" Alexandra blinked. "Wait, foie gras?"


    "It may not have occurred to you yet, but your homeland has immensely influenced the Eris Empire. And that translated to cuisine as well."


    "Uh." Cultural contamination aplenty. From Allya''s ancestor maybe?


    No, Oc¨¦ane didn''t reject the finer things in life, but she also wasn''t all that fond of them. Except with cheese, but that was a whole other discussion entirely.


    "Yes, ''uh''. I think an airship is overkill."


    "Maybe, maybe not. But it will make for effective marketing, even if it''s not a large or expensive airship."


    Emilia looked very thoughtful for a few seconds.


    "All airships are expensive, but¡­I don''t know. Wouldn''t they risk destroying it and thus making it a useless prize?"


    "Precisely! That way they can''t go all out, take more risks if they don''t want wrecking their reward!"


    Emilia''s eyebrows rose.


    "That''s¡­devious."


    "Why thank you."


    "Oh shush. But you know, it''s crazy enough that it just might work." The vampire chuckled. "Though that''s pretty much your modus operandi, isn''t it?"


    "Some may have said as such, yes."


    "Even back on Earth?"


    Alexandra hesitated.


    "Yes." It was true after all.


    It just mostly applied to Arcadia as a whole.


    "Eh. Knew it." The vampire gazed at the secondary core. "So, sending it off to Darthar?"


    "Not yet. I''m letting Allya chose when to bring it up for the negotiations."


    "Surprised by her deal?"


    The Earth-born shook her head.


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    "Not really. I mean, in some ways, yes. Her accepting outright without consulting me was a bit odd, but hey, she''s her own woman. Besides, I trust her. What I hadn''t expected was for the duke of Sarth to be so¡­"


    "Clairvoyant?"


    "I was going to say ''longsighted'', but I don''t think that''s a real word. Yeah, clairvoyant works. I really gotta stop underestimating these guys. Just because they''re feudal nobles doesn''t mean they''re stupid."


    "I mean, yeah, if he was an idiot I don''t think his duchy would be where it is today. The same goes for Sunrise, they wouldn''t still be alive if they weren''t capable."


    "I think that particular example is going to cease to be valid before long."


    "I don''t think any amount of competence or foresight could have seen you coming dear."


    Alexandra chuckled.


    "Perhaps, perhaps not. They had ample warning signs before they started this, however."


    "Their plans might have been set in motion a long time ago. Also, these warning signs might have only gotten them to accelerate." The vampire shrugged as the Earth-born gazed at her. "Your golems were replacing slaves. They saw it cutting into their market, and their source of political influence. If the Kingdom didn''t need them for cheap, disposable labor, what would they do?"


    "That is¡­a good point."


    There was a short silence, and then Emilia cleared her throat.


    "About the spear. I¡­uh¡­I''m sorry¡­" The vampire let out a sob.


    Alexandra had her arms around her before she''d even fully processed the sound, slowly stroking her girlfriend''s hair.


    "It''s okay honey."


    "No, I¡­I''ve been sending reports. About you. To my parents, but¡­"


    "They''re being passed to the Church. I know."


    "...How?"


    Alexandra winced.


    "I may or may not have had Ghost install a tap onto the communication crystal."


    "...Oh."


    "Which, incidentally, is one of the many reasons I know you can be trusted, and you''re not part of this."


    "I¡­thank you. I don''t understand, why¡­why any of this would happen. Why the Church would let it be!"


    "As I have told Allya, they may have been trying to lure out the Order."


    Emilia met Alexandra''s gaze.


    "But you don''t believe that, do you?" She whispered.


    "No. No I don''t." Answered the Earth-born, equally softly.


    The vampire nodded, before pressing her head against her girlfriend again.


    "This is¡­such a mess¡­"


    "I know. But we''ll get through it. We always do."


    *****


    "This brings me back." Said Allya as she stepped into Elkaryos'' office. It felt like a lifetime ago, when she''d negotiated the terms of their corporate dominion in that very room.


    Well, Pyn had done most of the negotiating, but still.


    "Yeah." Speak of the devil, the elf stepped in behind her. "Where''s your butler?"


    "He, went into a more, ah, active role." Said Elkaryos, as the dark elf ushered them onto one of the couches, before taking the one opposite.


    Allya''s eyebrow rose.


    "Took up arms again?"


    "It''s an open question whether he ever set them down, but yes. He''s been quite busy with Sunrise''s attempts at assassinating me, and now helping roll up what''s left of their spies and insurgents."


    "You''d think that''d be a lower priority, now that their army is in full retreat."


    The dark elf''s gaze hardened.


    "They killed a great deal many innocents. Army or no, they must pay."


    "Point taken. My apologies."


    The dark elf relaxed.


    "It''s alright. I know those same insurgents did a fair amount of damage to you as well."


    The baroness and her fianc¨¦e both nodded.


    Though they knew it wasn''t actually the case. Oh, Allya had been afraid at the time, but¡­


    Now she knew that Alexandra had been watching, with an entire squad armed with railguns, ready to bring down the hammer of the Gods upon the terrorist bastards.


    Given what had happened to Sunrise''s little kill-team, she had no illusions about the fate of those would be rebels had they forced the dungeon core''s hand.


    "Now!" Elkaryos slapped his thighs. "It''s a pleasure to see you girls again. I know I already said it at the ball, but you seemed, ah, distracted."


    Allya coughed.


    "Yes, well, I was a bit worried then."


    "Your little plan to buy the city?" Elkaryos smiled. "I heard about it, of course."


    "No, the Count and the boss."


    "Well, the Crimson Queen more than deserved her title, she was quite stunning."


    "Elkaryos, she''s the dungeon core''s daughter."


    The Master Merchant froze.


    "Oh."


    "Yes, ''oh''. Long story short, Crystal gave Rice the scare of his life."


    "I''ll¡­have a talk with the young count. Make sure there are no misunderstandings."


    "I already did. So did Crystal."


    "Good. Thank you. So, onto business?" The dark elf leaned forward, steepling his fingers.


    "Quite. Since you''ve heard about the deal for the city, I assume you know it has been accepted?"


    "I have."


    "Good. Then I intend to extend the same terms as for Erakis."


    Elkaryos smiled.


    "I''d hoped you''d say that. No tariffs, and a secondary dungeon core? Be careful, baroness, people will throw themselves at you in gratitude."


    Allya winced.


    "They already are." She shrugged. "Besides which, it will help with some of the bitter medicine we''ll cram in as well."


    "I assume the prohibition on slavery?"


    "Among other things."


    "If you have a full list, I''d love to hear it. It would help a great deal with my business decisions going forward."


    "Uh huh. Once the negotiations have settled on the exact bullet points, I will get you the full specifications."


    "Thank you very much."


    "No problem. Although, don''t you already get enough insider trading info as it is?"


    Elkaryos chuckled.


    "If you''re not cheating, you''re not trying hard enough, or so says our esteemed Grand Merchant."


    "Sseth does have many words of wisdom."


    "Indeed. Besides which, there are no laws against having the right information here. Not that there ever was something like ''fairness'' in trade and finance anyway."


    "True. Reminds me, our dear princess, Alfyris? How fares her highness of your homeland?"


    "She fares quite well. Though you won''t be surprised in hearing she is keeping her presence, and dealings, on the low."


    Allya pointedly glanced at Elkaryos'' medallions. The one noting his alliegiance to the Syndicate, the half trade, half militant organization whose mission was to protect dark elves throughout the world.


    "Yes, yes, she came to me." Said the Master Merchant. "And I hope I was of great assistance to her cause, but I reiterated that my membership in the Syndicate notwithstanding, there were limits I was not prepared to break, or lines I was willing to cross."


    "Is that so?"


    "I won''t say more. But hopefully there won''t be any problems."


    Allya and Pyn exchanged a look.


    Yeah, they weren''t going to bet on that.


    And neither would Alexandra.


    "Let us hope. We also asked for a meeting with you to ask for your¡­assistance."


    Elkaryos tilted his head.


    "Interesting. It''s not often you ask for my help anymore. What is it?"


    "The twins you sent, a while back, remember them?"


    "Eismi and Ellyana? Yes. What about them?"


    Pyn leaned forward, taking over for her girlfriend. Things mercantile and civilian in nature were more up her alley.


    "One of our new associates discovered that they have been smuggling out a particular cargo, for parts unknown. We''d like to know where without, well¡­"


    "A warrant, or bashing down doors?"


    "Precisely."


    The dark elf rubbed his chin.


    "I think I can make something happen. Grease a few palm, call up some friends, make deals."


    "It is what you do best." Said Allya.


    "Quite. If I may ask, why is that cargo so important?"


    The fianc¨¦es exchanged a look.


    "We¡­know the twins have had under the table dealings that have had considerable impact upon the war." Allya was choosing her words with exquisite care. Elkaryos¡­need not know they had benefited from it, or that the ''considerable impact'' had been feeding the dungeon materials. "If there are more going on, we would like to know."


    "Ah. A point well taken then. I''ll see what I can do, but be warned: nothing is certain, and it may well take some time."


    "Everything takes time. And their mystery cargo and smuggler friends are still on their way to Darthar. It should give you some leeway."


    "Good. Very good. I''ll find out what I can. In the meantime however, I have heard that guildmaster Starvak wished to meet with you. He says it is urgent."


    "We, ah, didn''t part on very good terms."


    "I had noticed." Elkaryos'' voice was dripping with sarcasm. "It''s not like he was almost driven out of your town by his own people."


    "We aren''t responsible for his decisions."


    "No, but you are responsible for how you frame them." Elkaryos shrugged as they stared at him in surprise. "There''s only so much you can do before it becomes obvious someone is smearing his name. I don''t blame you. Starvak has the unfortunate trait of being a good person persuaded he is in the right, and ready to do anything at all to fulfill his vision of good. That is the trait that makes saints or monsters. In both cases however, it makes one a royal pain in the arse, like the good guildmaster. If it worries you too much, I can send an escort."


    "That would be appreciated. We don''t fear physical violence, but¡­"


    "A show of strength wouldn''t go unnoticed?"


    The baroness nodded.


    "Quite. And a show of unity even less so."


    "Oh. Well, I''m sure I can scrounge up a delegation for you."


    "Thank you, Master Merchant."


    "It''s my pleasure. Now!" He clapped his hands. "Enough about business! You girls have no doubt been spoiled by our dear Count, but I''ve had quite the luncheon prepared. It includes Aub¨¦toile salmon."


    Elkaryos flinched as suddenly the baroness was up and leaning over the table between the couches. Sweet mother of the Gods the baroness was fast. Far faster than she had been when they''d first met.


    "Aub¨¦toile- How?!?"


    "Had it in stasis for a while, imported at great expense from your family''s domain, and I was planning on sending it to you to celebrate your inevitable victory over the Republic before the Kingdom imploded around us."


    It wouldn''t have been tactful to mention that had they been defeated, there would have been no one to enjoy the fish.


    "Thank you. I''m¡­touched."


    "So I see." He leaned to the side, and smiled at Pyn, who was trying very hard not to laugh at her fianc¨¦e showing as much restraint as a cat offered fresh tuna. "Don''t worry, I haven''t forgotten you. I believe you would be partial to some Sylvian boar from your homeland?" The elf smiled and nodded. "Thought so. Let us go to the dining room then. I believe we''ve all earned ourselves a treat."

 Chapter 276 - Confrontation

    Chapter 276


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    Dungeon Factory, Fourth Floor


    "You really are itching to get back out there, aren''t you?" Said Alexandra as she leaned back against a pillbox.


    CQ turned away from the group of golems she''d been organizing, and smiled sheepishly.


    "I''m that obvious mom?"


    "Well, when the maids start dropping hint about sending a new wave of ships to Darthar, possibly with you and maybe one of them onboard, yes, it gets that obvious."


    The boss shifted.


    "Sorry¡­It''s not that it''s boring but it''s so, so¡­.new and lively there!"


    "I know what you mean kiddo." Alexandra straightened and walked to her daughter, patting the boss'' head. "You want to see the world, don''t you?"


    "Yeah! And meet new people. Rice is super nice!"


    "That he is. Still, he is a noble, and will soon be one of Allya''s vassals."


    "I mean yeah, but he told me I am a queen in his eyes! Uh¡­"


    Alexandra got her emotions back under control, as she visibly twitched and some of her thoughts seeped into their links.


    "Really now? Interesting."


    "Yeah. Also the maids are super nice over there! Did you see how they upgraded the dress?"


    Alexandra nodded. CQ''s dress had been manufactured here before she departed, part of Emilia''s obsessive drive to have their daughter always have a full wardrobe when out. But, to no one''s surprise, the boss had the entirety of Darthar''s palace staff wrapped around her little finger within a day of setting up there.


    And they''d immediately started pampering the boss, including going through her wardrobe and helping refine it.


    The Earth-born mused that she should keep an eye on it. CQ was already turning heads as it was, any more and people might start snapping their necks on accident.


    "I saw." The new rubies were especially impressive. The enchantments were very simple, but it turned her dress from glittering crystal to a entire artform, with swirling light patterns, making it look like it was liquid and ever shifting. "It''s magnificent."


    "It is! Which is why I''m making stickers for them!"


    "...Excuse me?"


    CQ pulled open one of her spatial pouches, and held out a handful of sticker cards. There were stickers with ''best human maids'', ''great seamstress'', and so on.


    Alexandra chuckled. That was adorable! And-


    Her smile died as she saw the ''best Count and gentleman'' one.


    "That one is for Rice, correct?"


    "Yeah!"


    Alexandra looked at the sticker, and sighed.


    "Kiddo¡­I think we need to have a talk. You, me and your mommy, alright?"


    "Okay? Why?"


    "Let''s just call it interpersonal relationships."


    "Sure?"


    "Good. I''ll go fetch vampy, one second."


    And maybe by the time her girlfriend arrived, she''d have quelled her urge to turn the Count of Darthar into a thin, red mist.


    Or unleash Ella upon him, which was just about the single worst thing she could think of. Uh.


    Maybe there was something to sending one of the maids to chaperone CQ.


    In the meantime however¡­well, not the birds and the bees, but a talk nonetheless.


    This was going to be a long day.


    *****


    Allya winced as she finally pushed through the bazaar, and arrived at the guildhall in its center.


    The journey had been¡­interesting. Since deploying tanks hadn''t been an option, and the bazaar was packed even at the dead of night, they''d had to resort to a good old phalanx of bodyguards to make any progress. The fervor had died down a bit at least, though still people were throwing flowers on her path.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Damn, what would happen when they made the announcement about the city''s transfer, and the dungeon branch office?


    But in any case, the guildhall had clearly not escaped the troubles unscathed. It had been built as a concrete fortress to protect the guild during the city''s intermittent civil wars, and it had served its purpose once again, shielding adventurers and keeping them neutral as both sides duked it out during Sunrise''s insurrection. From what she''d been told, most of the damage was superficial¡­and actually been inflicted by Philia''s knights and the Count''s mages, who had bombarded the area with abandon, when the insurrectionists attempted to fall back through the bazaar and into the trade district.


    They hadn''t made it.


    Unlike the first time she and Pyn had come, there were guards in front of the hall. Not all of them were adventurers either.


    The guild''s vaunted neutrality had taken a hit after Starvak''s little reveal. Though, to be fair, there were fewer city guards than adventurers.


    There was also a small desk by the side of the entrance, under an awning to protecting from the sun, with a guild attendant, receiving a steady stream of people. Above her was a sign reading ''Rebirth Transfer Desk''.


    Well, that made sense, adventurers always wanted to get to the dungeon. It wasn''t the small army of attendants that had been needed to hold back the tide back when they''d announced Alexandra''s very existence, but it was still interesting to see it.


    Allya veered off, and took the time to greet the attendant, exchange a few pleasantries, and even welcome to Rebirth the adventurers in the queue. Some of them might have been only thinking of moving out but¡­as she left, she was certain every single person in line would now.


    A single look at the golems accompanying her got those immune to her charisma drooling. They couldn''t think of the danger they represented, only the power it would give them, or how much that equipment would sell for.


    She was waved in by the guards before the doors, the city guards outright saluting her, which she returned with parade ground snap.


    Then she was in.


    She took a deep breath, and Pyn chuckled as she elbowed her girlfriend.


    "Hey, remember what happened here?"


    "I do. I had to drag your comatose butt to a room."


    "Hey! You were only coherent because you got Artok''s elixir."


    "Perhaps, perhaps." Allya smiled, as she shook her head. Artok¡­she barely saw the dwarf anymore, but the was still the leader of the assault guild in Rebirth, though now he mainly handled administrative matters. He wasn''t high ranked enough to really do the necessary delves anymore, besides which there was a pressing need to get the map of the labyrinth organized and posted ASAP each morning, which gave him plenty of work, and a sizeable income stream.


    "Lady Allya, Lady Pyn, welcome!" Said one of the attendants, waving at them from behind the desk. Every head in the hall turned towards them, and total silence descended upon the room. "Guildmaster Starvak is waiting for you."


    "Thank you." Said Allya, as the attendant motioned for them to follow her. If she was destabilized by their sizeable, and highly diverse escort, she wasn''t showing it.


    When Elkaryos said ''a show of unity'', he fucking meant it. They had four of their own bodyguards, four combat golems, three city guards, three of Elkaryos'' personal troops, two of Alfyris'' royal guards, an entire squad of the Count''s household troops, a representative of the Merchants Guild''s armed wing, two royal knights, courtesy of Philia, a survivor of the Kaidan ducal guard, and last but not the least, one of the World Mage Court''s own enforcer, a terrifying man buried under dark robes that looked hideously uncomfortable in this weather but exuded frost regardless.


    Oh, and the enforcer apparently thought that walking was for lesser beings, as he simply glided everywhere effortlessly, his feet hovering a few centimeters off the ground.


    But Allya didn''t doubt for a second that Starvak was even now being told the exact composition of her escort, if he hadn''t been informed already.


    They were ushered through the administration part of the guild hall, and finally into Starvak''s office. It looked every bit as she remembered, save for the dwarf''s medallion now showing the glow of Eternium, not his previous, false, Adamantium rank.


    And the fact that the guildmaster looked so tired she almost winced in sympathy.


    "Hello baroness, hello knight." Said the guildmaster, softly.


    "Greetings guildmaster. You wished to see us?"


    "Yes." He nodded at the attendant. "Thank you, Elisa."


    The attendant nodded back, and left, closing the door behind her.


    "You seem¡­tired, guildmaster."


    "That is because I am." Starvak paused, and licked his lips. "Allya? I''m going to be candid here. Very candid."


    The baroness froze.


    Uh oh.


    "Of course. May I ask why though?"


    "Crystal killed the death squad sent for her, didn''t she?"


    The silence was deafening.


    Allya hesitated to lie, but¡­she saw it in Starvak''s eyes.


    He''d seen her steel immediately. He knew she knew what he was talking about.


    "Were such an enormously stupid mistake to be made, I''d think that the dungeon core would be more than expected to defend herself and massacre any intruders sent to execute her." She finally let out.


    The guildmaster nodded, softly.


    "Thank you for your honesty." He whispered. "I¡­did she go after Malvarok?"


    Allya blinked, and looked at Pyn, who simply shrugged.


    "I literally have never heard that name before in my life." Simply said the baroness.


    The guildmaster seemed to deflate.


    "I see¡­Thank you¡­"


    "What¡­is happening, Starvak?"


    "Malvarok is¡­was, a guildmaster. He was like me, in many ways." Meaning he was another hidden archon, most likely. "He was slain in Starcore recently. I was afraid Crystal wouldn''t be responsible."


    "You overestimate Crystal."


    Actually he didn''t. He was coming dangerously close to judging her accurately, which was¡­terrifying.


    "As I said, I was afraid she wouldn¡¯t be responsible. Which means that there are only a few groups with the motives and the resources to do it."


    "Crystal-"


    "I know she had high technology." Interrupted Starvak. "I''m no one''s fool, I know we failed to keep it out of her hands. You made a show of giving her the missiles you looted, I doubt you haven''t snuck her an ample supply of other salvage as well."


    Allya held her peace. If that was what the old guildmaster wanted to believe, then far from her to disabuse him.


    After all, the truth was far, far worse.


    Seeing that she wasn''t answering, he nodded, and picked back up.


    "But if it isn''t the dungeon core, then the deepest chasm is before us."


    "The deepest chasm was opened when someone may or may not have tried to murder her."


    The guildmaster shook his head.


    "You are too young to have seen the last of the United Dungeon Wars. I was there." He met her gaze, and she saw the cold, burning flame of a zealot. "I watched the world I knew burn when the dungeons marched to war. And I would do anything, anything at all to stop it from happening again."


    "And you thought Crystal would start one."


    "She already is."


    "Her death would solve nothing."


    "It would buy time. Time for other solutions."


    "Bullshit!" The guildmaster recoiled as Allya stalked across the office, leaned over his desk and slammed her index finger into his collarbone. "Bullshit, through and through! You cowardly bastards thought you could take the easy fucking way out, but truth is, the UDC has been collapsing for over a century, and you knew it! But the current status quo benefits you, doesn''t it? You created this fucking situation, set up the council so it would be incapable of protecting its own people, and when that lead it to start disintegrating, you just did more and more extreme shit to try to keep the status quo up. After all, if the dungeons are off yelling at each other and stuck in political infighting, they can''t challenge the guild now can they?"


    Starvak looked away.


    "Thought so." The baroness sneered. "And now, you''re terrified of the pendulum swinging back. And your allies within¡­you''re terrified they''re the ones that killed your colleague, aren''t you?"


    The guildmaster gave her a startled look, and her smile turned positively nasty.


    "Yeah. We figured it out. Doesn''t take a fucking genius to realize that this particular mess was done with dungeon support. You plotted to assassinate Crystal, and then blame it on Sunrise, or failing that, the UDC. But now you''ve realized your so called ''allies'' have gotten ahead of you, and are setting you up to take the blame, aren''t they? Killing another one of your hidden archons to destroy your credibility were you to blame them, and divert suspicion towards you. After all, if you''re willing to hide living superweapons in plain sight, you''d sure be willing to assassinate a dungeon core by proxy, right?"


    Starvak''s face went between an entire spectrum of emotions in the span of a few seconds.


    "...Yes. That is what I am afraid of."


    "Then why the hell have you asked to meet with us?"


    "I wished¡­I wished to ask you to stand down. To help convince the dungeon core to stop this madness."


    "By what, letting her get killed? After what happened, you''re lucky she isn''t coming after you!"


    "I know. But I have to try."


    Allya''s gaze hardened.


    "Well, there, you tried."


    The tension ratcheted up. Allya knew that the guildmaster could kill them with a gesture.


    She also knew he wouldn''t. Killing her and Pyn would already be catastrophic for the guild.


    But with all the witnesses they''d brought, the guards, the representative of the Merchants Guild, the royal knights, the WMC enforcer?


    The adventurers guild would implode as the rest of the world ganged up on it. Besides, killing her and Pyn would solve nothing. Starvak knew that, push came to shove, the dungeon core could find someone to take their place. Allya knew Alexandra would really, really prefer not to have to do that, and would avenge them, but if she had to she would find a new ally, a new figurehead.


    The silence stretched for a full minute, and Starvak let out a long, shuddering sigh.


    "I did, didn''t I? Well. I thank you baroness, for indulging me. And I wish you good luck. There are¡­dark times, ahead."


    "Times are what we make of them guildmaster. They''re a reflection of ourselves. I, for one, intend to carve out a new age of light."


    And with that, Allya stormed out of the room, Pyn in tow.

 Chapter 277 - Strategic Goals

    Chapter 277


    Red Sands Desert, Duchy of Sarth


    City of Darthar


    Rice Garmilvant, Count of Darthar and so called ''gatekeeper of the desert'', gazed at the army marching through the city gates below.


    He''d heard from Allya and Pyn that it taken them two weeks to make their first journey from Rebirth to Darthar, as well trained adventurers that specialized in mobility.


    Crystal''s army had done it in a week and half. While dragging heavy artillery through a damned desert, complete with dune fields.


    That said it all about his title. The true gatekeeper was marching at the head of her army, holding a parade the likes of which Darthar hadn''t seen since it''s conquest by the Kingdom, a hundred and fifty years ago, putting an end to centuries of squabbling and internicine warfare.


    There was a parallel there, though this time the army marched in as saviors, not conquerors. Not that Allya, and lady Crystal, wouldn''t get the city.


    That¡­worried him. He had the horrifying impression that he had witnessed something he shouldn''t have during Allya''s negotiations with the duke, and it terrified him. Allya had been nothing if not courteous, and so had Crystal, besides her, ah, ''talk'' relating to her daughter, but still¡­


    He was the count of a trade city, isolated by the sands from most problems, even the politics of the kingdom but a distant worry. Now he was caught between people talking about changing the fate of the very world like if they were discussing what types of biscuit to serve with the tea!


    Rice sighed. Well, at least his position was secure. It seemed that when Allya and lady Crystal promised something, they meant it.


    Which reminded him about the announcement. He''d better make his way to bazaar, where the area had been rigged for a city wide announcement, and all the stalls cleared. Because once the parade was done, they would declare the city''s transfer to the Principality of Rebirth, the new tariffs¡­and the imminent arrival of the secondary dungeon core.


    That one had surprised him. There was no way Crystal had gotten it this early. That meant¡­that meant the first one had been hidden, and unveiled when it came to taking Erakis. That seemed crazy, but hell, it''s not like lady Crystal had any problem managing without it.


    He sighed, and walked away from the battlements. Time to address his people.


    *****


    "I think they''re going to start having deaths from all the partying." Said Ghost as she looked at the holographic screen, showing the wild party once more taking hold of Darthar.


    Alexandra just waved from her current position, which was flopped on the couch with all the beauty and grace of a sack of potatoes. She''d missed loafing around like that, and no one else could see her in her other self''s ever changing simulation.


    "Let them be, they need to let off some steam."


    "I can understand releasing some pressure but this isn''t a locomotive anymore, we''re approaching the levels of a power plant."


    "That''s¡­a bit of a tortured metaphor."


    "Bite me. Anyway, seems they received the news well."


    "More than well, actually. They''re ecstatic. It''s not every day your desert town, who was always barely about habitable levels of mana, gets its own dungeon."


    "They had to have seen it coming though."


    "Not¡­necessarily. Erakis made military sense, we''d never hold it without one hell of a forward base. But no one expected the duke of Sarth to just give us Darthar, and there was no pressing strategic need to give it a branch office."


    "At least not from a frontier Principality perspective."


    Alexandra nodded.


    "Yep. When seen from our perspective-"


    "Which is trying to build a pocket empire."


    "True. Well, yeah, then it makes perfect sense. We''re consolidating control of the trade route, and forming a core. Just like what the First Empress did."


    "Right. Seems she subscribed to the same school of thought."


    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Great minds think alike, and all that."


    "Stop sucking us off." The apparition sighed. "Alright, so, you wanted an update?"


    "Yep. On the simulations, actually."


    "You do realize your captive archmage hasn''t even woken up from her coma yet, right?"


    "I know, I know. But still, I''d like everything to be ready by then."


    "Well, I''ve been working on a few options."


    "Sure, show them."


    "Better get up, I''m not moving the furniture."


    Alexandra sighed, and through an effort of will worth of songs and ballads, dragged herself up from the couch. She gave Ghost a mock glare, who simply rolled her eyes, and snapped her fingers.


    Suddenly they were somewhere else. A training ground, below an imposing castle.


    Alexandra whistled.


    "Fancy." She looked at the fortress before them. "Any inspiration?"


    "I wanted to go with chateau Chenonceau, but the river was a pain in the ass to program. So, Roquetaillade."


    "So the poster boy."


    "Hey, can''t go wrong with the classics. Anyway, this''ll do for some training."


    "Anything will, but sure."


    Ghost snapped her fingers, and they were somewhere else.


    Alexandra smiled as she took in the area.


    "Oh, that''s good." It looked like a stereotypical mage hideout, at the top of some forlorn tower, with the cat and amenities, but it also included every bit of equipment they had. Runelaying tables, enchantment workshops. "Cozy too."


    "I actually use it from time to time. Beats staring at holographic screens all day long."


    "Uh huh. Don''t show it to Emilia, or she''ll made us build it for real."


    "Sure." Ghost snapped her fingers again, and-


    Alexandra''s eyebrows rose at the new space.


    "A torture dungeon? Really?" The Earth-born tilted her head as Ghost began swearing profusely, and took a closer look at all the equipment. "Wait, that''s not-"


    They were in a new place before she could complete her sentence. But it was too late.


    She turned towards her blushing other self, with a grin on her face so wide it threatened to split it in half.


    "Oh oh oh. What do we have here?" Alexandra''s grin got even wider as Ghost looked away. "And you had the gall to tease me!"


    "W-Well you deserved it, alright!"


    "You know I''m never letting this go right?"


    "You know I could coach Emilia in our private stuff. Show her that room, give her ideas¡­"


    Alexandra gasped.


    "You wouldn''t dare!"


    "I would."


    They glared at each other.


    "Truce?" Proposed the dungeon core.


    "Truce. If only to avoid our Mutually Assured Destruction."


    "Agreed."


    There was a few seconds of awkward silence, before Ghost cleared her throat.


    "Let''s complete the visit, shall we?"


    "Let''s."


    *****


    Allya sighed as she collapsed onto her bed in Darthar''s palace.


    "Fuck¡­Me¡­"


    "I''d take you up on that, but I''m as drained as you are." Said Pyn as she flopped by her side, and Allya chuckled.


    "Yeah you would¡­I''m really starting to hate ceremonies."


    Pyn nodded, and they simply laid there.


    The day''s events had been just flat out exhausting. The announcement with the Count had been relatively mild, but then there had been the official changing of the flags, the vassalage transfer ceremony, all the paperwork and pomp with the World Mage Court¡­at least that part had been smooth. Suspiciously well timed or not, their friend there had helped smooth things over remarkably quickly, both during the negotiations and with the actual transfer.


    Then had come the congratulations from all over the Kingdom, the parts that remained loyal or neutral at least, and a lot of speculation. Now she had every noble trying to find out what her intentions were.


    After all, with the transfer of Erakis she''d become the first person to expand the Kingdom by conquest for over a century and a half, since Darthar was invaded, actually. But now she controlled the entire trade route, including two towns and a major city, all three of which had or shortly would have a dungeon of some sort. While the branch offices weren''t technically full dungeons nor had all the economic benefits¡­on paper, she had gone from a promising noble to arguably the second most powerful person in the entire Kingdom.


    What worried her is that she had started getting hints from some nobles that maybe she should become the most powerful person.


    That was the eventual goal¡­in a way. She didn''t care about taking over the fractured, dysfunctional kingdom, but Alexandra was intent on unifying the entire damned continent if she had to. She could hide behind ''contingency plans'' all she liked, but it was becoming clear that would be their medium term goal. The New Republic was going to be in dire need of rebuilding once they won the war, doubly so if the senate massacred the population with their brands, and that would allow them to step in, with advanced technology and a history of friendship and benevolent assistance.


    The Kingdom in and of itself would fold through sheer necessity. But she didn''t want it to happen now, and neither did Alexandra. Economic inevitability was the name of the game in this case, not political maneuvering. Their majesties would eventually swear loyalty to a new Empire because economics dictated it, not because of a political coup.


    Thus in the meantime, she''d need to quash the whispers that she should declare herself queen. Not only because she wasn''t going to stab their majesties in the back, the duke of Sarth was right, she refused to repay loyalty with betrayal, but also because it would be too soon and destroy the legitimacy and¡­inevitability she was building up. She had had been a rising star since the expedition arrived, slowly but surely steam rolling everything across her path. That sentiment was a huge factor as to why the loyalists were starting to gain heart, and many of the neutral nobles in the civil war considering joining their majesties. Hell, it was part of why the duke of Sarth had offered Darthar.


    It also affected the civilians as well. She was getting a ton of private investments, as even the most conservative of merchant smelled profit and lots of it. That was good, because as fat as her coffers were, her internal industrial capacity, if you discounted Alexandra, was massively underdeveloped. Having money was nice, but without factories to use it you had to rely on imports, and that meant civilian contacts. Ironically, what with Darthar now being part of her domain, her imports were now technically only from the Republic, at least until the first ships made it from Sarth, now that the siege was lifted. No one had even dared stir up trouble in Erakis because the merchants were making a killing, and the town was growing exponentially, thanks to the branch office and the insane economic opportunities that kept being stacked up.


    Hell, she''d even received some missives from Gorromar''s ministry of trade, and Pyn was negotiating a deal where, in exchange for docking towers and industrial assistance, they''d establish a trade route to get the city state the raw materials it desperately needed, now that Sunrise had gutted its workforce for the war effort and the Republic was on their way to doing the same. She''d have loved to do a deal with the Hegemony as well, but the province of Eternity was becoming one hell of an obstacle. Not because the local government didn''t want to help, but because the UDC and its base would almost certainly make an ill advised move if they tried.


    Not that something wasn''t bound to happen, sooner or later. Tark was whipping itself into a fury over the Republic''s use of the slave brands, and the Far Reach had just experienced the mother of all punitive expeditions, with no less than six raider bands annihilated and the border lined with their heads on pikes. That was¡­a bit too convenient, and she was starting to maneuver behind the scenes to see if she could get all sides to do a conference and maybe an alliance rather than all try to dig into the Republic and end up fighting one another.


    After all, they were all on the same side, more or less. And if the Order was trying to plunge the entire continent into total war¡­well, maybe that conference would short circuit their efforts.


    Unfortunately, the Order wasn''t all they had to worry about now.


    Allya sighed loudly.


    "What is it?" Said Pyn.


    "Nothing, just¡­thinking of the threats arrayed against us."


    "Yeah¡­there''s a lot, isn''t there?"


    "There are." Not that she would dare enumerate them here. She believed Alexandra when she said the cabin onboard the Dusk Blade was secure, if it hadn''t been they''d be dead already, but she wasn''t going to take chances in the palace.


    Especially when the Church was involved.


    She felt the bed shift, and suddenly Pyn was straddling her waist.


    "Let me take your mind off of things honey¡­we can worry about other things tomorrow."


    "Weren''t you too exhausted?"


    "I caught my breath. Besides, I can''t have you feeling all depressed, now can I?"


    "Can''t argue with that."


    "Good." The elf leaned forward, and her fianc¨¦e''s worries melted away as they kissed.


    The rest of the world could wait until tomorrow.

 Chapter 278 - Reconnaissance

    Chapter 278


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    City of Darthar


    There was a knock at the door, and Allya groaned, disentangling herself from Pyn, then taking a few seconds to make herself presentable, before walking to the entrance of their suite.


    "Yes?" She said as she opened it. They could have had servants around, but the maids were strictly on call now. They kind of creeped Pyn out, besides which they had to dismiss them every time they wished to do more private things.


    "Wow, you look like shit." Said Alexandra, her ambassador golem standing in the hallway.


    "Why thank you oh noble dungeon core, you''re not looking half bad yourself."


    The Earth-born chuckled.


    "Alright, I guess I deserved that. Just wanted to tell you, I''m going to send some recon units out, to see what our friends in the North are up to." Allya nodded. That meant she''d probably send one of her blackbirds, but even now and in these halls, the fact they even existed was classified. There was a reason they were only launched in the dead of night if at all possible.


    "Sure. Worried?"


    "They''d be idiots not to try to use the fortresses, I want to see what we''re up against before the army moves out."


    "Think they''ll be a danger?"


    "No. What I want to know is what will happen now that they know we can move this quickly."


    "See if they cut and run?"


    "Yeah. The fortresses were pretty fucked by the time they took them, so there''s no point using them as is. They have the manpower to repair them, but that still takes time. Time they don''t have anymore."


    "They might think you''ll take a bit of a breather." That was one of their little tidbits of deception. The arrival of the dungeon''s army had mostly been a PR coup, to truly hammer in the transfer of the city, but it also told their enemies how quickly their troops could move in the wasteland.


    What they had done however, was emphasize those troops staying in a camp near Darthar until the fleet transporting the secondary dungeon core arrived, then depart alongside Philia''s knights and whatever remnants of royal troops she had left, while in truth, they''d slip through in the dead of night and leave alone. That, combined with the ongoing purge of Sunrise''s spy network, might buy them some time.


    They might not catch the enemy with their pants down, but truth be told that wasn''t actually desirable. The ''Southern Army of Restoration'' wouldn''t manage to outrun the dungeon core''s troops, but if they believed they could, they might leave the half repaired fortresses behind with a sacrificial rearguard¡­and find themselves in the open desert when the dungeon core''s forces caught up, and Sarth''s advancing vanguard arrived.


    "We''ll see. We''ll see."


    *****


    "Admiral on deck!" Called out a skyer, and the admiral returned his salute, before waving everyone back to their stations.


    "At ease people." The admiral looked around. She must admit, even knowing what a pathetic shadow of the Old World Erisian technology was, she was proud of her flagship, the Triomphe-class dreadnought Belisarius. Hell, it was far from the best the Erisian skyfleet had to offer, but it was nothing to scoff at either.


    The captain of her flagship got up, and went to meet her.


    "Ma''am, we have finished assembling the depot, and are ready to depart. Your orders?"


    She actually considered for a second, before grimacing internally. There wasn''t really a choice, in all honesty.


    "We fly south." Flying north would cow the dungeons itching to attack Lesly and Rebirth, but that wasn''t her objective.


    Right now, she needed to hold the UDC together. Her fleet was managing that by its sheer presence, but the flashpoint was Eternity and the dungeon''s standoff with the UDC''s forces there. If she didn''t head down there, it might go hot unpredictably.


    Thankfully, she only needed to buy time. She had to admit, she admired Joachim''s craftiness. Young and upstart he may be, he was also managing this madness surprisingly well. Aiding the guild in assassinating their UDC isolationist ''allies'' would delay the council''s fracturing, even if only briefly, as the isolationists would be too busy getting revenge on the guild to pursue escalation. Without that, she was grimly certain they''d overcome their fear of her fleet within weeks, at most. Lesly sure knew how to pick them.


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    "Yes ma''am!"


    She nodded, dismissing him, and left the bridge.


    She had a report to make to her Erisian superiors...and her actual bosses.


    She just hoped everything was going as smoothly on the other fronts.


    *****


    "This is a lot more practical." Said Emilia as she looked at the hologram, showing Sunrise''s army and the wrecked fortresses, with Glitch and Subtlety constantly updating estimates and tagging various points of interest.


    Alexandra shrugged.


    "It wouldn''t have made sense to rely on just observation like previously, now that we have the high capacity data links. Though, there is something to be said for manual observation."


    "Admit it, you just want an excuse to pilot your little flying toy."


    "Well, maybe, but it doesn''t invalidate my point."


    Emilia giggled.


    "Right, right, of course."


    "No, seriously. For example, I can see magic with my avatar, but not other systems. And the golems have some esoteric stuff I can''t quite figure out in their sensor packages."


    "Didn''t you use those same sensors as part of your plane''s systems? And you weren''t going to send your avatar onboard the plane, right?"


    "Well, yes, but-"


    "Then I''m correct, aren''t I?"


    Alexandra sighed, while CQ tried not to snicker.


    "Yes, I suppose you are. In this particular instance."


    "Uh huh."


    "Reminds me that I need to find out how my avatar can see magic."


    "I''ll be very interested when you do. It''s the ultimate weapon in a mage duel."


    "Hadn''t really thought of it that way but...yeah, it is."


    "Still, if you find out how, you''ll need to get it in a smaller package. You wouldn''t fit in the cockpit, let alone in that ''sensor cluster'' you put on the plane."


    "Hey! Are you calling me fat?"


    "No, I''m calling you obnoxiously tall you amazon!"


    "Oh come on, you love my height."


    Emilia opened her mouth, flicked a glance to CQ, and closed it, whatever salacious comment about to exit her mouth forgotten. Ah, the burden of flirting parents throughout history.


    "I do, I love every sarcastic, sassy square centimeter of you, but Gods help me if you keep teasing me I''m dragging you back to our quarters to make you pay the price."


    Alexandra held her hands up.


    "Alright, alright!" Her face smoothed out into seriousness, and suddenly she was all business. "About time we got started anyway. Glitch, Subtlety, report."


    Both AI''s holograms turned towards her.


    "The enemy has halted their main force and is undergoing considerable activity related to reconstruction efforts for the fortresses." Said Subtlety, as several images popped up, zooming on certain sections of the blackbird''s take. "The fortresses are dispersed, and so is the army. We estimate eight major enemy groups, one for each fortress, one centralized supply unit, and a mobile reaction force."


    "Ah. The latter is for reacting to an airborne raid, I assume?"


    "Data indicates as such, this formation has a high concentration of heavy artillery and airships."


    "Well, maybe they''re not completely stupid. Unfortunately for them, neither are we. Numbers?"


    Glitch took over.


    "Numbers are difficult to estimate. Their force is dispersed, and slave troops will put up with conditions that would be unacceptable to normal infantry. It is also impossible to estimate how many soldiers are housed within the fortresses themselves. Estimates indicate three hundred thousand to three hundred and fifty thousand enemies."


    Alexandra whistled softly. That was the kind of military power the roman Empire could bring to bear at its height. Of course, most of the force in this case was slaves, the lowest possible form of conscripts, but still.


    It was also roughly the size of Coledar''s ''expeditionary army'', the one he had been planning to ram down her throat before he turned against the senate and instead lead it to free his homeland.


    Given how problematical fighting Sunrise''s was proving, she was glad she hadn''t had to engage them. They''d have won but damn, three hundred thousand professional soldiers would have ruined her day, even with her tech advantage.


    "Breakdown of their forces?"


    "Regulars and elite units number between thirty and thirty one thousand soldiers. The slave troops number between two hundred and seventy thousand to three hundred and twenty thousand."


    "Logistical elements?"


    "Those seem to be entirely slave troops with regular officer support, that can also be deployed in combat roles."


    Alexandra blinked.


    "What? Why?"


    "It makes sense." Said Emilia, and everyone looked at her. "I mean, pilfering happens. Like those Tarkian guys that sold off the stuff meant for the baroness. Or Sarah and my iced tea." The advisor threw out an accusatory glare, but her vampire maid wisely decided that the ceiling was suddenly the only things worthy of attention in the room. "But the slaves can''t go against their brands."


    "Ah! So they''re more reliable than the actual professionals. The irony."


    "To be fair, you have exploited that, what with targeting their officers and regulars to break their morale."


    "True enough. Anything notable?"


    "Affirmative." Said Subtlety, as another set of images appeared, ones taken before the plane had arrived at the fortresses. "Patterns indicate several units deployed in forward reconnaissance roles. Extrapolating from their positioning, it appears that the fortresses are screened by a loose circle of skirmishers."


    "Probably one meant to collapse if it comes into contact, a tripwire." Alexandra frowned. "They''re not here for the airships, they want to prevent a marine ground assault like we did during the siege of Darthar."


    "The data supports this theory. A successful air raid or marine assault seem highly improbable, given enemy dispositions."


    "Well, they were going to learn sooner or later. What about a missile bombardment?"


    "It would be successful, but..." The AI stopped, searching for words. "Not to disparage my own capabilities, but my vessel is not the most mobile. Furthermore, it has undergone substantial repairs. An attack before they are warned of the army''s impending arrival or the fleet''s seems unlikely."


    "At which point they''ll have either left or dug in."


    "Affirmative."


    "Does it look like they are taking measures to counter your bombardment?"


    The AI nodded, and Glitch took over.


    "Analysis of the efforts on the fortresses indicate the creation of multiple artillery emplacements designed to resist missile attack."


    "Good luck doing that with a trebuchet."


    "These emplacements are not made to survive a direct hit, ma''am. They are meant to contain it." New images appeared, showing what looked like deep, reinforced pits. "In effect, any missile would only take out a single enemy artillery piece. Furthermore, some construction indicate that they may be construction special covers, meant to be rolled on top of the pits, to allow for greater survivability and concealment."


    "Forcing us to get forward to threaten them with a more direct assault to open up. Clever."


    "There is also a final factor to consider."


    "Which is?"


    "Enemy air units appear to be undergoing modifications."


    "Field refits? That''s crazy. Why would anyone..." The images updated, and Alexandra licked her lips. "Oh."


    On the image were crews of slaves delicately loading familiar barrels onboard some of the ships. Fucking hell, just how much explosives did that army get sent with?!?


    "They appear to be converting several vessels into fire ships." Said Glitch, before her avatar vanished, replaced with a six armed and six eyed abomination for a split second. "They shall burn, only brighter for their folly!"


    "Cool it friend."


    The AI returned to normal, and bowed, while Emilia and the maids exchanged worried glances.


    "Apologies."


    "So, they''re planning making suicide rammers? Sneaky bastards..."


    "They would not need many explosives to inflict catastrophic damages at short ranges, and their monster hunter vessels are remarkably agile."


    "Yeeeep. That''s going to suck. I guess they did the same math as the Japanese."


    "Ma''am?"


    "Country from Earth. During a war they realized that using aircrafts as suicide ships rather than for traditional combat yielded more damage per aircraft lost."


    "It appears to be the same reasoning. Without their archmage, their fleet would serve little purpose save for reconnaissance."


    "Indeed. Now, the big question is, will they run, and if they don''t, how do we crack them with minimal cost? Ideas?"

 Chapter 279 - Incendiary Solutions

    Chapter 279


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    Dungeon Factory, Weapons Laboratory


    Alexandra whistled softly as she looked at the results of the test.


    "Good suggestion." Said the dungeon core, as she looked at the maid by her side, and Ella shrugged.


    "It was the obvious solution. Besides! I wished my discovery was used."


    The dungeon core nodded.


    That it would be. With her newfound surplus of mana, thanks to the NLR core, she''d been able to dedicate some resources towards a new test room, this one made to be entirely rebuilt from scratch to simulate upcoming battlefields.


    Or, in this case, Sunrise''s little fortification projects.


    There were some limitations, notably she couldn''t actually use the siege missiles for Subtlety here, no ceiling was going to accommodate ballistic missiles, but she could still fire them from a gantry pseudo-railgun and replicate the effects of a high velocity bombardment.


    Which in this case, had allowed them to test Ella''s suggestion. Which was to use an airburst napalm missile, using the fuel from her napalm trees, and bypassing the pits'' reinforcing by just setting the entire area on fire and letting the burning fuel naturally drain into the pits.


    "It will be. Amply so. This should take care of those fortifications nicely."


    "It''s not foolproof. Spells can put out the fire."


    "Spells can also shoot down the missile itself. There will always be counters and new solutions, it''s the never ending dance of warfare. This will be our solution for now." Alexandra tilted her head, and looked at Ella. "By the way, how''s it going with the alchemist?"


    "What alchemist?"


    "The alchemist golem I used to give adventurers potions. You took him." The vampire maid licked her canines, and suddenly refused to meet the dungeon core''s gaze. "Thought I wouldn''t notice?"


    "You''ve, ah, been very busy lately milady." Ella coughed. "And highly distracted during your free time."


    "Uh huh. Well, I''m not blind. So, what are you working on? If you say ''it''s a surprise'', I''ll conduct an audit of your projects."


    The vampire maid opened her mouth, and closed it. That was the problem with spec ops, they never asked for permission, and rarely even asked for forgiveness. And she had a sneaking suspicion that the maid had been a spy as well, what with her tendency to keep some things hidden.


    "Well, I was, ah, working on a wide area of effect gaseous poison."


    Alexandra froze.


    "You were making chemical weapons?"


    The maid took a step back as the temperature in the room dropped.


    "Just a prototype milady!"


    "My dear, I acquiesced your ''special'' grenades as an exception. But there are some lines even I won''t cross." Yet. If something was to happen to Emilia or CQ...all bets were off. "This is one of them."


    "But, mil-"


    "Ella." Alexandra''s tone was mild, but the maid stopped immediately. "I won''t stoop to my enemies'' level. Is that clear?"


    "Yes milady. Absolutely milady. I understand."


    "Thank you. Now, on the other hand, if you were to develop a non lethal version, like say, tear gas, I would be very interested. The equipment and protection for their slave soldiers is effectively nonexistent, and none of them are trained to resist such effects."


    That seemed to give the maid some heart, and she nodded vigorously.


    "Of course!"


    "Excellent. Now, we need to get these incendiary missiles produced, and shipped to Subtlety." Whose ship was currently on its way to Darthar. Wasn''t that going to be fun.


    "That is your department, milady." The maid hesitated, and Alexandra sighed.


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    "Yes, what is it?"


    "About Glitch, she, uh..."


    "She has some issues. Given her, well, birth, that''s not surprising. And yes, her avatar is weird."


    "It''s worrying."


    "No, it''s eccentric. I..." Alexandra sighed again. "I know you don''t have much experience with AI, let alone Arcadias, but believe me when I tell you that this is positively mild."


    "She has six arms?"


    "So? I have...physical relationships with people. For an AI, that''s considered way weirder than a strange avatar. Crap, six arms was positively mundane by the standard of bioengineering on Earth, if you looked at some of the fringe shit. Some weren''t even remotely human anymore."


    "This was on Earth, this is Alcheryos!"


    "Says the one who''s a concentrated bundle of cybernetics and nanomachines made to kill people."


    That stopped Ella dead in her tracks.


    "I..."


    "Look, I know you don''t care what she looks like, so let''s drop the pretenses. You''re worried she''ll snap and attack Emilia."


    Ella gave Alexandra a sad, almost pitying glance.


    "I''m worried she''ll attack you, milady. You''ve already died once, the young lady...none of us want it to happen again."


    Alexandra opened her mouth, and closed it. She''d been taking it as a given that the maids would only care about Emilia and CQ, but...well, they had been there for months, and they hadn''t ratted her out to Etheria, Emilia''s mother, even if the advisor had asked them not to. They had gone around her on occasion after all.


    "Alright." Answered Alexandra, softly. "I''ll be careful. Implement some further safeguards. Have a talk with Glitch."


    "Thank you, milady."


    "No need. No need..."


    *****


    Joruk swore softly as he darted behind a crate.


    ''Retire from adventuring'' they said, ''the pay is way better with the merchants guild'', they said.


    Well yeah, it was, and with the money he''d made during his delve with the assault guild in Rebirth, he had been able to buy the equipment to get recruited. Problem was, at least if he got whacked inside the dungeon, he knew he''d come back.


    But now here he was, for his sin of being actually good at his job and being known and trusted by Rebirth, he was stuck on tailing some seriously paranoid smugglers that seem to have a bug up their ass. Thanks Camille, real buddy there.


    He took a deep, if quiet, breath, and stomped down on those thoughts. Do the job first, bitch later. It''s what they taught him in his village''s militia, and it would work here.


    He darted a look by the side, and nodded as the smuggler vanished in the maze of crates.


    The line of sights sucked here, which was precisely why they stored their cargo here, obfuscating the ship that was to receive it.


    He followed the smuggler, taking care to stop every few steps to listen. The smuggler had boots with stealth enchantments, but he was no professional rogue. These enchantments had no point unless you did all of your clothes as well, and his nice, comfortable shirt rustled softly with every step. And the smuggler had stopped part way.


    For a second, Joruk was afraid he''d been found, or that the smuggler suspected something, but then he heard a few strange sounds.


    Then the smuggler resumed his walk, and the rogue tailed after him.


    He took a quick look at the crates the smuggler had stopped in front of, and he smiled as he saw that someone had swapped the ship they were slatted to be loaded onto.


    Got them.


    Now, to figure where the hell that ship was actually heading.


    *****


    Alexandra sighed as she looked at the forges. It''d been a while since she''d been there.


    She''d had her long delayed talk with Glitch. It was becoming unfortunately clear that she was having some¡­troubles. Of the split personality kind.


    What she hadn''t anticipated was that while, yes, the download and synchronization had failed, some of it had gotten through, and the AI had tried to update herself with it. Hence her, well, glitches.


    Thus, she had an incomplete update, with some of her memories and personality traits improperly applied, and it was slowly developing into a parallel personality.


    It wasn''t as dangerous for an AI as it was for a human, but it was concerning. Ghost was keeping her under observation, and push came to shove they had coded in some failsafes. But hopefully it wouldn''t come down to that.


    Well, they had created an eccentric AI, if nothing else. A proper Arcadia, ah.


    Which reminded her, CQ had started working with Seraph a lot while she was home. Alexandra wondered why. An avatar maybe? She wondered what the AI would represent themselves with.


    Regardless of Glitch''s problems however, she had proven an outright gifted data analyst. And before the dungeon core stood the fruits of the AI''s labor.


    Her first Mythril furnace. At long, fucking last, she would be to produce the rare and expensive material. Well, at least produce it without slitting her own throat with the cost.


    Though, ''furnace'' was a misleading term. Alexandra had seen less complex metamaterial forges.


    "Ready?" She said to Emilia, who chuckled.


    "Are you joking? I''m doubling our wards and I don''t think we''ll be ready."


    "Come on, I told you, Glitch is safe...mostly."


    "Oh I believe you, I''m more worried about the machine."


    "Well it is a big boy."


    "With an equally big boom." Emilia pulled out CQ''s first sticker, the one for exploding prototypes, and Alexandra rolled her eyes.


    "Oh ye of little faith."


    "On the contrary, I have a great deal of faith in your inventions'' destructive potential."


    "Ah ah. Alright, starting Mythril furnace production cycle test run number one...now."


    Alexandra pretended not to see Emilia bracing to summon more barriers, in case the ones already in place, both physical and arcane, failed.


    The mythril furnace...didn''t rumble to life. It hummed, a hum that gradually went higher in pitch until it dissolved into a whine.


    What was going on inside...even Alexandra had trouble understanding it. There was a rise in temperature, but also a small mountains of spells and no less than three different types of energy being pumped into the raw ore within, bombarding it with various wavelength of light and even pure, finely crushed mana crystals. Which was, well, not exactly what one would call stable, even at the best of times.


    There was a few minutes of alternating sounds, each stranger than the last, then, the machine simply beeped, and receptacle opened, revealing a bar of refined, ready to use mythril.


    Alexandra opened her mouth to mock her girlfriend''s certitude in the machine exploding, then decided that she''d rather not jinx herself. Perhaps she was learning after all.


    "Alright. Let''s get this to the blacksmiths, and hammer it into something useful!"


    "What, not straight to your fabricators?"


    "Honey, if you think I''m missing the chance of using every possible and increasingly over the top means to try and get this thing into the shape I want, then you really don''t know me at all."


    "Uh huh. Of course. Should we invite CQ then?"


    "Sure." The girl was sad she''d missed Subtlety''s departure towards Darthar, but she was now lobbying to get onboard the transport slated to carry the new incendiary missiles. Remarkably flexible class those Freedom-class, excellent design. They still served admirably, with small waves regularly exiting the shipyard, loading with military hardware, and going straight for Sarth''s advancing army, giving them a constant and ever increasing supply of modern hardware and new warships. Plus, every day cut down the travel time. "I''m sure she''ll love hammering some stuff up."


    "In that way, she definitely takes after you."


    "And she has your fashion sense."


    "You say that like it''s a bad thing!"


    "If it means all the boys and girls are drooling after her, it kind of is. Hands off of my precious little daughter and all that."


    Emilia chuckled.


    "Yeah, I guess I have to agree."


    "See? In any case, this bar." Alexandra tapped the arcane metal, which rang strangely. "Cost a third, a third, of what it normal would have."


    "That''s still pretty expensive."


    "It is. But it''s no longer ''only CQ and the praetorian guard'' expensive."


    "Oh. I know that tone. You''re planning on making some kind of super golem, aren''t you?"


    "Weeeellll, we''d already done the work for my ambassador golems to be able to kick some ass, and I was thinking...if we''re going to be fighting really powerful individuals like the duke we killed, might as well fight fire with fire, right? Besides, they''ll never see it coming! I''ve always relied on numbers so far."


    "The army you broke at Darthar would disagree."


    "Okay, fair enough, but still. I believe making some champions would be a good idea. If nothing else, we need something to keep the powerful enemies occupied while the rest of the army riddles them with bullets."


    "So...decoys?"


    "Sort of! I mean they''ll still kick ass, and better not turn your back on them, but it''s like I said, the only way we''re making it out of this mess is smokes and mirrors."


    Emilia''s face darkened.


    "Right..."


    "Hey, hey, don''t look like that." Alexandra tilted her girlfriend''s chin up with her fingers. "We''ll get through this, okay? One step at a time."


    "Right. One step at a time."


    "And the next step is watching our daughter unleash her creativity on a poor, innocent bar of metal. To the forges!"


    Emilia laughed.


    "To the forges!"

 Chapter 280 - Sending A Message

    Chapter 280


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    City of Darthar


    Joruk ducked into a hatch at the last second.


    Okay, reminder to self: A ship was hard as hell to infiltrate.


    Normally, had he wanted to find out a ship''s destination, he would just have to get into the port authority building, or sneak into the shippers'' place. Except that the smugglers were paranoid bastards who kept all of their data memorized. No paper, no maps, no nothing. He was starting to seriously admire these guys.


    But the airship...they had to plan their routes, there was no choice. They had to have charts, points set aside for shore leave, hell, even bribes to go through certain customs.


    So, go onboard the ship at the dead of night, get into the chart room, which would be called the bridge of a military ship, look at their planned voyage, and done. Easy.


    Except getting on an airship, tethered to the ground and with only a single access point was fucking hard. He''d had to climb up the chains, making sure not to rattle them, while timing it perfectly so he escaped both the city patrols and the vessel''s own watch.


    And now that he was onboard, he was having to dodge every which way as skyers moved around in the dead of night, coming back from shore leave, or coming off their watch shift and moving either to their bunks or more hospitable accommodation in the city.


    Maybe he should have prepared better, he mused as he dragged himself out of the hatch, and kept moving towards the chart room, darting from shadow to shadow.


    He froze as he heard a creak, and flattened himself against the bulkhead by the side of the door, just in time to avoid being seen by the captain, as she exited the room with her executive officer in tow.


    Sweet merciful Gods, what the hell were they doing up this late? He caught snippets, ''delicate cargo'' and ''extremely generous rapid delivery bonuses''.


    Well, at least he was certain he wasn''t on the wrong ship now. If anything qualified as ''delicate cargo'' it was alchemical ingredients alright.


    He waited for the door to close before trying to open it. One look at it told him he''d done the right choice.


    It locked automatically...and had some kind of alarm, for anyone entering without what he guessed was some kind of crew badge.


    Thankfully, with arcane security came arcane thieving tools, and he made short work of both the physical and more esoteric security. He silently opened the door, and nimbly stepped over the faint beam of light almost level with the deck.


    Paranoid bastards. Laser tripwires weren''t that complex an enchantment, but few knew they existed or had access to the technology they were inspired from.


    He tiptoed his way into the room, and took the time to commit the placement of every single object to memory. Even something as minute as the orientation of a chart or how the pens were in their little holder.


    Then, he began digging into the charts.


    Most were environmental. Where monster concentrations laid, of which type, one had a full register of usual wind directions and strengths, with a giant book attached for reference and further details. Then there was the normal one, with terrain, borders and cities.


    He grimaced. Damn it, nothing was marked on them! He saw the erasable pens, made specifically for these things. They''d taken the time to wipe everything before leaving their own chart room.


    Exceptionally paranoid bastards.


    But then, he had a lucky break. One of the charts was more economical in nature. It included every places'' ULP, Universal Location Profile, a merchants guild invention that catalogued every village, town and city, giving them a hexadecimal code, with a digit representing population, another technological advancement, ect. Attached to it were two books. One was filled with which commodities settlements all over the continent produced or traded, categorized by region, as well as any they were likely to buy at a good price. Some were annotated, things added or withdrawn as the winds of trade changed. Rebirth''s entry was a mess, especially, to the point that a the original entry had been crossed out, and half a dozen pages reserved to the new one.


    And the second book...the second book contained a list of speculative cargoes to offload or buy on the journey; divided by stops, with ''stop one'', ''stop two'' and so on. There were no location names, but the purser had to keep track of what was desirable to buy and sell somehow, and plan accordingly.


    He cross referenced the ledger with the chart and the massive trade book.


    It didn''t take long. A single entry was almost impossible to pin down, but several in succession? There were only so many possibilities of several settlements on a route having or demanding specific cargoes like that.


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    He took a deep, shuddering breath as he finally traced their destination. There was some roundabout, especially at first, heading west into Sarth, then north into the Western Baronies and finally crossing into the Saphire Kingdom to dodge the frontlines, but otherwise...


    They were heading to Sunrise.


    *****


    "...Shit." Said Allya.


    "My thoughts exactly." Elkaryos leaned forward, before nodding at Joruk. "Thank you. Your payment awaits you with my seneschal."


    "It was a pleasure doing business." Said the former adventurer, before bowing and taking his leave.


    Allya would have made him an offer, but poaching Elkaryos'' associates wouldn''t have been polite, especially when he''d done her such a favor. She was picking up the tab for the rogue''s payment though, it was the least she could do.


    They waited for the door to close behind the rogue and the privacy enchantments to come back online before talking.


    "Do you think the twins are in with Sunrise?" Asked Pyn, worry clear in her voice.


    "Unlikely. No, let''s face it, downright impossible." Allya grimaced. "They''d sooner slit their own throats that do that, and besides, they''re not that good as actors. No, the problem is that they''re probably aiming to do something to Sunrise, and I''m guessing it''ll have something to do with their new brands."


    "That seems like the most logical option." Elkaryos rubbed his chin as he pondered. "These ingredients would be useful for a large scale ritual, or so I''ve been told by my people. Mass removal of the brands, maybe?"


    "Eismi did say they were unstable, that they''d eventually break on their own." Chimed in Pyn. "Maybe they''re trying to get that sooner?"


    "That''s...probably it." Allya winced. "The results however...slave rebellions are hell. They''re bloodbaths of epic proportions, like the fall of the Orlov Empire." The fall that, incidentally, had also been caused by Rook the Sunderer, New Raleigh''s leader...and thus the head of state of the twins'' home. Probably their damned idol to boot. "And that was with just regular slaves. There''s no telling what will happen with slaves troops like those."


    "But...don''t they deserve to be free?"


    "They do. But if they get freed like that, it''ll be a slaughter. They''ll visit everything that has been done to them onto every free person they get across. Then, if they don''t have a unifying figure to keep them in line, they''ll fall upon one another like locusts and become raiders and bandits."


    "That''s..."


    "Horrifying? Yeah. It''ll completely annihilate Sunrise and Lorenz, as well as finish off whatever''s left of Kaidan and Molro. It''ll also make Asaria and its surroundings a hellhole for the next few decades. I don''t even want to know what''ll happen if the raider bands disperse into the western baronies, or try to create their own petty domains."


    "The twins aren''t doing this alone. If they''re undergoing such a project, it''s probably in conjunction with New Raleigh''s intelligence." Elkaryos shrugged. "At which point...do we truly wish to intervene? They will destroy our enemies."


    "They will also destroy innocents. But no, you''re right, as horrific as what would happen, it is less horror than what they inflict on those slaves every single day, and every hour that passes, they lose some of those slaves and take more to replace them."


    There was also the fact that the post war plan that was being discussed with their majesties involved effectively splitting the kingdom into two archduchies, with the expectation that Asaria recovering Sunrise would make an effective counterbalance to Rebirth''s rising star.


    If that was not to be...Rebirth would effectively take over the kingdom. Not immediately, but a few years down the line. And that was if other events didn''t accelerate the process. With Alexandra''s help, they simply could rebuild far faster than their majesties could.


    Of course, that left the question of what would the dungeons do once their surface dwellers went and the slaves launched their rebellion.


    "So we just...let them?" Said Pyn, and Allya shook her head.


    "No. Even if we support what they''re planning on doing, we can''t let this slide. Who knows what they''ll do behind our backs afterwards? They need our help?" Or rather, Alexandra''s. "Fine. But it''ll be on our terms."


    "What are you going to do?" Asked Elkaryos.


    "We''re going to draw New Raleigh''s spies out of the shadows, and send a message. Let''s see if they''ll talk to us when we hold them by the nethers."


    *****


    The captain sighed as she checked her watch. The smugglers were late. That was...unlike them.


    This was supposed to be their last meeting as well. The cargo would finish loading tomorrow, and then they were off. There just needed to be a few more things hammered out like contingencies for if their contact at the end of the journey was missing, and-


    She didn''t know what alerted her. A shift in the sound of the airfield''s brouhaha of work, skyers suddenly finding somewhere else to be, maybe even the clatter of metal.


    But she whirled around, and her eyes went wide as she saw the guards. An entire squad was coming straight for her ship. A quick look told her others were cordoning off the area.


    It didn''t take a genius to put two and two together, and she yelled out for emergency cast off.


    Her crew knew exactly what their business was, and what could happen to them if caught. They took of the chains linking the ship to the ground, and the vessel began to rise.


    Then a shadow fell across them as a guard vessel flew over. Wait, no, not a guard ship, it was one of the dungeon''s-


    The air filled with plumes of light as the jetpacks triggered, and the captain was thrown to the ground as a golem landed on her. She scrambled for her weapon, but froze as she found herself eye to eye with a shotgun.


    "In the name of the baroness and the Principality of Rebirth, you are under arrest for smuggling, resisting arrest, and high treason. Resist and you will be eliminated." Enumerated the golem with a strange, toneless voice.


    The captain tensed up...and then relaxed, as she heard several shots.


    They weren''t bluffing. And the toughest amongst her crew had found that out the hard way.


    She held out her hands.


    "Thank you for your cooperation."


    *****


    "Great, another emergency meeting." Said Ellyana as she dragged herself out of the house. "I wonder what it''ll be about this time?"


    "No clue." Eismi, her twin, looked at her alchemist sister. "Come on, don''t look like that. We''re almost done."


    "I know, I know."


    They made their way through the streets of Rebirth. The city as a whole had become a lot more relaxed lately. The massive successes on the battlefield and the reopening of the trade routes had done wonders for the economy and everyone''s mood. They exchanged pleasantries or hellos with the patrols they came across, and even a few acquaintances, and before long they ended up in front of the baroness'' imposing and heavily fortified manor.


    The guards, as usual, barely gave them a second look as they waved them through. Still, they seemed...tense.


    Must be truly bad news then, for even the guards to know.


    They stepped through the door...and found themselves face to face with a wall of guns.


    The guards behind them whirled around, and the twins heard the concert of clicks from safeties being flipped off.


    "What is the meaning of this?" Asked Eismi as her cybernetic eye catalogued threats, and she estimated their chances.


    "In the name of the Principality of Rebirth, you are under arrest for high treason."


    Eismi''s face fell as she saw the dungeon''s ''ambassador golem'' step out from behind a corner and calmly walk towards them, Anders and Camille in tow.


    She''d seen what those so called ''ambassadors'' could do, and she was in no hurry to fight them. And if the dungeon core was involved...


    They might make it out of the manor, but the second they were outside, the mesa fortress'' artillery would annihilate them.


    She raised her hands, and after a tense few seconds, Ellyana did the same.


    "Good. You two can be reasonable." The dungeon core''s hologram smiled. "Let''s see if your bosses can be as well."


    "Our bosses?"


    "We''ll talk in a more...discreet setting. Wouldn''t want anyone to overhear after all. Anders, if you will accompany us to the military entrance? I think the baroness is simply dying to have a word with these two." Eismi shivered. She had little doubt that once they were inside the dungeon, they weren''t coming back out unless Crystal wanted them to.


    "Of course, lady Crystal. Come on, you heard her! Let''s get a move on. The baroness is waiting."


    Eismi hesitated to bite down on her fake tooth. She looked at her twin, who softly shook her head.


    Something was odd here. Very odd. They weren''t behaving as if they were expecting to throw them in the dungeons, more like they were trying to prevent them from doing something stupid And push comes to shove, they could still kill and soul seal themselves later.


    They followed obediently, back through the city, this time in a very different mood, and into the depths of the dungeon.

 Chapter 281 - Boomtown

    Chapter 281


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    Dungeon Factory, Conference Room


    The intimidating blast doors closed behind them with a definitive clang, and the twins stared at the table.


    It was ladden with various foods and drinks, hell, even what looked like a fully roasted duck. And behind it was the dungeon''s boss. They had some experience with her, and they could tell she was possessed by the core.


    "Please, do be seated." Said the dungeon core, affably, her friendliness belied by the ranks of golems lining the walls. "I''m afraid the baroness won''t be joining us after all, she''s had an...emergency in the meantime."


    Damn. They thought the dungeon core had sent her entire army to Darthar, and yet there were enough golems in this room alone to give the entirety of Rebirth''s guard force a run for their money. All standing at perfect, immobile attention, their guns glittering in the artificial light bathing the room.


    Those, and the ones they''d seen while being escorted into the dungeon''s depths...how many troops did the dungeon truly have, tucked away within her depths?


    They took their seats with a bit of trepidation, and the dungeon core smiling at them only made it worse. It wasn''t the core''s signature wolfish smile, it was...odder. She looked almost amused.


    "So, finally got busted, uh?"


    "You ratted us out, didn''t you?" Let out Ellyana, and Crystal laughed.


    "Aahahahah! Kind of. Allya already knew what you were up to thanks to her own spies. But then, yeah, I confirmed our deal. Didn''t mean she cared though." The dungeon core pulled up three glasses and filled them with an orange liquid, before sliding two to the twins. Ellyana took a deep sniff, raised her eyebrows, and then a swig. Eismi, figuring out that if her more alchemically trained sister was drinking it, was safe, did likewise. It tasted like...a mix of fruit juices? "What she did care about was you smuggling a bunch of alchemical components to Sunrise. That makes you traitors."


    They both almost spat out their drinks.


    "We''d never-" Started Ellyana, before being interrupted by the dungeon core''s raised hand.


    "Girl, if you''re going to say ''we''d never do such a thing!'' I''ll save you the bother. We captured the smugglers, the ship they were using, and even if their crews weren''t singing like birds, their charts speak very loudly indeed. Point is, you fucked up. Don''t try to wiggle out of this, you''ll only make a fool of yourselves."


    "We would never help Sunrise and those slaver scum." Said Eismi between gritted teeth. She knew she should have tried another damned solution!


    "I had guessed that. So did the baroness. I basically everyone involved for that matter." Except for Pyn, but that girl liked to reach for all the possibilities. She wasn''t stupid, she just liked playing devil''s advocate a lot. "The question is...why?"


    Both twins closed their mouths.


    "Nothing?" Crystal smiled. "Yeah, thought so. And that answers our next question, of who you guys work for. You''re both New Raleigh intelligence."


    The twins exchanged a tense look, but stayed silent.


    "Relax, I''m not going to bite you. My girlfriend gets jealous when I do that to other girls." They both jumped up slightly. Girlfriend?!? "I mean you no harm."


    "Girlfriend? Are you and the baroness..." Started Ellyana.


    Crystal was halfway through taking a sip and almost spat out her drink laughing.


    "Ahahahah! I meant my advisor. My vampire advisor." She didn''t say no, noted Eismi, though she had bigger problems right now. "In any case, I won''t bite. That''s her speciality anyway. But the fact is, if you''re New Raleigh intelligence, it means you''re about to do something for the slaves there. As much as Allya and I try to abolish that practice however...we''re not going to become pawns in anyone''s game. So! We''ll detain you. And your shipment. Make it loud enough your bosses will heard. I''m ready to bet that''ll send some shockwaves through, and since a military solution would probably be unadvisable, they''ll send someone to negotiate."


    The twins exchanged another look.


    "...That, or they have the capacity for a military solution, but might want diplomacy because of our past actions."


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    The twins gave her a panicked look.


    Alexandra simply smiled back. She was no mind reader.


    But it had been a possibility she''d considered. Juuust in case. After all...New Raleigh was headed by the only permanent party of Archons on Alcheryos, the Seven.


    "Well then, let''s have you be my guests for next few days, and see if your bosses decide the pen is mightier than the sword."


    She got up, and left. Seraph, through the golems, could take care of it from there.


    In the meantime, she''d have to figure out if they''d poked the proverbial bear or not.


    *****


    "So, now we wait?" Said Allya as she sat in the Dusk Blade''s secure cabin. Or rather sat on Pyn''s lap, who just happened to be in the cabin.


    "Now we wait." Alexandra shrugged. "Not really much else to do."


    "Do we have any real clue of what the alchemical stuff could be used for, beyond ''ritual magic, probably''?" Asked the elf.


    "Not really. Ingredients serve to simplify the spell." Well, replace parts of it by substituting their properties for chunks in the spell''s program. Kind of like a function, effectively. "A wide combination of ingredients can give you a pretty good idea, but that''s not what they were doing. They had a handful of ingredients they mass produced the ever living hell out of."


    "Smoothing out the basic stuff, and having mages handle the rest?" Said Allya, and Alexandra nodded.


    "Sure seems like it. That, or the more complicated ingredients are being sourced somewhere else, since they probably won''t need them in such quantities as to require a dungeon."


    "That also, I suppose. What about your army?"


    "On its way. I''m also formulating multiple plans of attack. Speaking off, how did your emergency meeting with their majesties go?"


    Allya grimaced.


    "The duchess'' army is pressing Asaria hard. They managed to hold the second layer of walls, but it was a near run thing. Several breaches are currently being reinforced, and there''s still fighting in the streets with some shock troops that managed to push on through."


    "Crap. Looks like we''ll need to haul ass north."


    "Looks like it."


    "Alright then. I''ll order the army to force march north, and recommend to the duke that he does the same. I''ll see about expediting the shipping of the new missiles as well."


    "What about Philia and her people?"


    "The knight-commander is adorable, but her tattered remnants of an army couldn''t even fight off a single one of my battalions, and I''ve brought forty of them." Or about fifty thousand troops, basically her entire supply of her modern Standard Combat Units, though she was starting on mass production again with her new mana surplus. That made four divisions of infantry with integrated support, and two battalions of specialists. "We''ll bring her along eventually, but it''ll be mostly for planning and support roles." Alexandra''s voice suddenly got softer. "Her people have made it this far, they deserve to get back to their families in one piece."


    "I understand." Allya''s voice was equally soft now. "Still, I know soldiers, they won''t stand back and have someone else save their homeland."


    Pyn nodded emphatically, and Alexandra grimaced.


    "Alright, point taken. I''ll see what I can do. Get them all rearmed with some real weapons. Only Philia''s knights have Tarkian gear." And damned little of it, they''d burned through most of their ammo during the siege. "It should boost their morale as well, and I''ve left enough behind to handle that."


    One thing she''d been doing, similar with Erakis, was buying spare cargo space on airships to bring military supplies to Darthar. Unlike the former Republic city, she wasn''t worried about an uprising or another attack, but it would serve as a handy depot to supply Sarth''s army with and take the strain off of her own logistics. It also meant that she had a warehouse packed with gear.


    "I''m sure they''ll appreciate it very much."


    "Let''s hope so. No negative reactions to our little sting operation?"


    "Not really!" Said Pyn. "We just told them it was against Sunrise operatives, and everyone bought it. You could argue it''s true."


    Alexandra chuckled.


    "Alright, I''ll leave you lovebirds alone." They both blushed, and Alexandra smiled. "Come now, blushing, really?" They''d already done a double date with the jaccuzi, among other things. "I''ll be off. Have fun!"


    She left before they could retort. Uh, she could see where Ghost got that trait from. And why she was getting a kick out of it.


    Well, enough, time to head back to the salt mines.


    Or rather, boomtown.


    *****


    "How''s the testing going?" Asked Alexandra as she entered the heavily armored observation room.


    CQ turned around, smiling brightly and looking utterly adorable in her labcoat and safety glasses. She kind of looked like Subtelty''s lab assistant with that, the AI looking equally joyful, if a bit more restrained. Looked like unleashing her daughter upon the AI at her start had been a good idea after all. Maybe she should mandate that for all new AIs going forward.


    "It''s going awesome! Been trying lots of stuff, and we even came up with some good combinations!"


    "Really?" Now that she had cheaper-ish mythril, a mana surplus, but more importantly the means to recycle any plating that got damaged, she had revived her systemic military experiment program, and tasked CQ and Subtlety with finding better armor, both low and high tech.


    Which, effectively, meant trying whatever they could think of, and then trying to break the ever living crap out of it in the new testing room. Hence, boomtown.


    And given the state of Sunrise''s replicated fortifications, there had been a lot of booms.


    "Yeah! Really! We have made a new spider-tank plating, as well as some improved SCU armor." CQ grabbed a pencil and a clipboard, and bit the end of the writing implement. "Two types of SCU armor, actually. One heavy, one light."


    "We don''t do heavy and light infantry with the SCUs."


    "I know, I know! I mean, like, amounts of Mythril. The heavy one is more effective overall, but not in terms of cost. A little mythril is awesome for an armor, really good with helping to stop, deflect or break up projectiles, not to mention amazing for runes. But..."


    "Once you increase the amount, to the point that the plating is all mythril, you quickly hit diminishing returns?"


    "Right, yeah! We''re proposing the heavy plating as well because yeah, it''s less cost effective, but it has some advantages."


    "Better for spec ops, when cost matters less, I assume?"


    "Not just that!" CQ smiled. "Production time too!"


    "Production time? Oh." Alexandra blinked. "Right, a little mythril means composite armor, and that takes a while."


    "Exactly! The heavy armor is about five times as expensive for only two, two and a half time the survivability? Depends a lot on the weapon used, it''s worse against small arms, but really good against heavy weapons."


    "Right." That made sense. A little mythril would just shrug off a pistol shot or an arrow. But not a ballista bolt.


    "But the heavy armor takes only half the time to make, and that''s assuming we can''t get it down further."


    "Of course. A single process is always easier to rationalize and make faster than a series."


    "Exactly! So we have the details for both."


    "Thanks kiddo, fantastic work. You too, Subtlety." Alexandra meant it too. They had saved her up a ton of work. Look like her lessons had been taken to heart! "What about the spider tank armor?"


    CQ started chewing pensively on the pen.


    "It''s composite. The plating was so huge...heavy mythril just wasn''t worth it. It ended up more expensive than the tank itself by an order of magnitude. Would have actually been more worth it to just, well, make ten tanks."


    "Right. Is it good?"


    "Sort of? It''s super though, but the main advantage is actually weight and speed. A little mythril can replace a lot of their previous steel plating. So they''re not a lot more survivable, they''re just way faster and more agile. Like, scarily so. They still have the souped up systems to handle the weight after all."


    "Interesting. In that case...how about we trade in some of that agility for better weapons?"


    CQ blinked.


    "We...we could. Uh. What should we put in?"


    Alexandra smiled.


    "Artillery. Let''s get some high mobility guns."


    "Or a mobile rocket battery!"


    "Atta girl! Alright, let''s go to the workshop. We have big guns to use!"


    Alexandra smiled as her daughter cheered.


    Maybe today wouldn''t prove to be a long one after all.

 Chapter 282 - Fly You Fools

    Chapter 282


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    Alesian Fortress Line


    The Brigadier stared at the report in horror.


    The dungeon''s army was on its way?!?


    He''d barely believed it when he''d received word of the army''s arrival in Darthar, it had seemed like a trick. The speed of their crossing alone was ridiculous. But he''d erred on the side of caution and decided he may as well plan as if it was there.


    But it had left, days ago if this was to be believed, just...vanished into the desert. Some fucking spies, if they couldn''t keep track of an army tens of thousands strong!


    He took a deep, calming breath. There...there might still be a way to salvage this. The fortresses weren''t ready. Not yet. But...but with the news from Asaria, which the duchess had no doubt forwarded to try to keep him in line, there might be a way.


    If he took the army east, immediately, and left a sizeable sacrificial rear guard, he could force the dungeon core to choose. Either go after him, or save the capital. She wouldn''t be able to do both. And as long as he kept running and didn''t do anything monumentally stupid like attacking her supply lines, she''d probably leave him alone, as a problem for later, while he reconstituted his forces.


    After all, if she could crush the duchess, he wouldn''t be much of an obstacle. But maybe, just maybe, the duchess would put enough of a dent into the dungeon core she''d be willing to negotiate, especially if he offered the freedom and lives of all the slaves under him.


    It was almost grasping at straws, but at this point, it was all he had.


    He got up, and opened the tent flap. He had orders to give.


    Because if they wanted to have a chance, they had to leave now.


    *****


    "Well well well. Maybe our foes have some brains after all." Said Alexandra as she looked at the departing army.


    Having surplus mana was a blessing. At last she could afford some decent recon flights.


    "To be fair to them, they have surprised you a fair few times." Said Allya through her hologram in the dungeon core''s command center, and Alexandra chuckled.


    "Fair enough. Alright then. It looks like they''re leaving some people behind. Probably to buy them some time." Alexandra licked her lips. "We can either simply rush them with the main army, or wait for the new missiles to make their way there."


    "Your troops can take them, right?"


    "Easily. The problem is I''ll lose a lot of assault units. Normally, I don''t care about losses, but..." Alexandra shrugged, her hologram reproducing the gesture all the way over in the Dusk Blade''s cabin. "I''m still moving to restart production of the SCUs. This army? It''s pretty much it. Plus, they''ll have to halt for any reinforcements."


    "Longer than it would take the siege ship to get the new ammo?"


    "Way longer." Alexandra sighed. "Right, when it''s put like that, it''s obvious. We''re in a race against the clock after all." Many, many clocks actually, but she didn''t need to say that. Besides which, despite the unbelievable levels of security she''d put into her transmitters, she didn''t fully trust them just yet. "I''ll keep the army marching and order them to set up around the fortresses, make it look like we''re going to do a good old siege. Then once Subtlety arrives, we''ll do a good old shock and awe."


    "Do you think they''ll break?"


    "The officers have to know this is a suicide mission. We''ll resurrect the slaves over them, we made a big show of that in Darthar. So they''ll either break immediately, try to surrender, or fight to the death. I''m prepared to accommodate all three."


    "If they hold their ground, you might still have to launch an assault to clear the fortresses."


    "Not really, no." Allya gave the dungeon core a confused look, and she returned a wolfish smile. "Three things. First, once I take out the artillery and destroy most of their forces, I simply no longer care about them. What are they going to do, harass my army?" Alexandra shrugged. "Oh, I know they could be a pain to our commerce, and be something of a threat to our supply lines, but if we take out their siege weapons they can''t interfere with the air convoys, and the land caravans are heavily protected, or they''d never make it this far. Plus, if they retreat into their fortresses we can just deploy some seismic charges and demolitions."


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    "Bury them?"


    "Precisely. And last but not the least, the Dresden lesson. A...military concept from Earth. Named after a city that was destroyed in an old war. Thermal energy is transmitted to the ground, if your goal is to penetrate underground buildings, it is possible to cook the entire complex by heating the whole area." Or, in the case of the Terran Hegemony, using fissile material to penetrate it and use both radiation and heat to destroy fortified complexes. "The missiles might do that on their own, but we could also just pour in incendiary compounds, then seal the entrances. Suffocation and turn the entire place into an oven."


    Pyn looked positively ill, and even Allya was uneasy. Actually, out of everyone there, which was pretty much everybody on her metaphorical payroll, only Ella looked enthusiastic.


    "But let''s hope it doesn''t come to that." Added Alexandra. "Push comes to shove, we can send an envoy, and make an offer for their surrender. If it''s hopeless, they''ll probably give up if we guarantee their lives."


    The baroness and the elf looked relieved, and everyone relaxed.


    "Let''s hope." Said the baroness. "Let''s hope."


    *****


    Alexandra stared at the spear, as it slowly floated in the anti gravity field.


    Over a week of examination, and they''d learned basically nothing.


    Well, that wasn''t quite fair. First and foremost, they''d confirmed the spear was divine tech. That was something. It proved that the Church had probably something to do with this mess.


    The way they''d proven it was a simple case of enchantments. This thing''s were written exactly like the modifications the God of Fire had put into dungeon cores. It was almost eerie, in fact. Were the same programmers responsible, or was there something else at play here? Usually you expected some difference, like how the programming...style, for the lack of a better word, differed between a naval computer and the missile it was firing. Here in this case they were borderline identical.


    Which heavily implied it was the same team. Weapons technicians having done the dungeon core modifications...would actually explain a lot. Such as how they could miss something as obvious as a trojan horse attack, like Ghost or what they were planning to do to other dungeon cores. It''s not like the enemy was going to try or be able to upload viruses to your sword.


    They''d also determined some other things. Most of the spear was made of some strange metal that was reminiscent of mana constructs. It was physical, not pure energy, but it appeared to be half actual material and half solid energy. Then there was the tip. They...had no fucking clue what the hell it was, beyond ''dense enough to approach neutronium''. That material made no fucking sense to her, or to Emilia. Why it was on a spear also begged a lot of questions. High density materials were all fine and dandy for railguns and kinetic projectiles, but if the rest of a melee weapon could follow it up, those weaker links would break against sufficiently tough armor.


    That...or the spear haft, with its half mana construct property, couldn''t break unless it ran out of juice, like an archon couldn''t be killed without running out of mana first. Uh. Something to explore.


    Still, why the tip? Why such a difference in density? That material looked like it belonged in a railgun, not-


    She froze. Why was she even wondering about this? She was an idiot.


    Ghost needed a material to fire out of a surface to void railgun. Well, she had it.


    The question was, could she replicate it, and if she did absorb it, would it take out the spear? Make it non functional?


    She sighed. This was just like the Flickerlight. She was still making progress with the crashed ship, but it was slow, cautious progress.


    She had managed to worm her way into some of the communication systems. Good news, the ship had no contact with any command structures nor other vessels within its squadron.


    Bad news, it was still exchanging covert pings with something. Unfortunately, since they were under some kind of stealth recon mode, she couldn''t find out what. They were probably some kind of sensor platform or drone, either left in orbit or launched by the ship itself.


    But she wouldn''t put it above the God of Fire of coding that kind of thing in.


    There was...another possibility. A riskier one. She could order the ship to open its airlocks, publicly, when her secondary dungeon core finished its journey to Darthar she set up her branch office. Maybe even engineer some kind of attack? Effectively make it ''safe'' to explore under the edicts.


    But then...then there was no telling how the count would react. It would be under Allya''s privileges as overlord to take over responsibility for the ship, but its shield was vital to Darthar''s existence. Even just the risk of shutting it down might cause sandstorms to shut down the airfield, maybe even make it fully unusable.


    That wasn''t a risk anyone was willing to take, and that meant their new ally would fight them on it. Not to mention Starvak and the adventurers guild would probably try to stick their noses in as well.


    Alexandra rubbed her forehead. Wouldn''t that be a joy.


    At least Subtlety had the high tech missiles, Allya''s ''gift'', and she''d acquired the components she wanted from them. The missiles themselves weren''t bad, but they certainly weren''t something she''d build right now. Their shield penetration systems intrigued her however, though that was another one of the many, many projects Ghost and Seraph had on their plates.


    She really needed to get them some kind of vacation, though Ghost had made her own it seemed, with that little dungeon of her own. Eh, maybe she should call her other self ''apprentice dungeon core'' to mess with her, that-


    Alexandra threw herself back from the workshop table and the spear as alarm filled her interface. What? Wait-


    Those weren''t the alarms for the dungeon entrance or the mesa fortress. They were for the cabin on the Dusk Blade.


    And Allya''s panic button.


    No. No no no NO!


    *****


    Allya wasn''t even fully awake by the time she hit the floor, and yet she already had three daggers in the air, and a fourth in one hand, while the other slammed on the panic button.


    Pyn didn''t have her reflexes, but she''d learned a lot since they''d started their little adventure, and she was already drawing her bow, arrow notched.


    "I like her already." Said one of the intruders, apparently utterly uncaring of the trio of daggers embedded into his flesh.


    "Lady Aub¨¦toile, Lady Windwrath, please, there is no need for violence." The second intruder took off his hat, and Alexandra saw the glint of a cybernetic arm.


    She waited for a second, before moving her hand from the panic button to the light switch, one of the many implements replaced by Alexandra in her bid to ensure the entire cabin was one hundred percent secure.


    She flicked it, and her heart almost stopped.


    A man, clad in an ancient duster jacket and holding a wide brim black hat, smiled at her. She knew those clothes. She knew that cybernetic arm, the appendage that had inspired Eismi''s own augmentation. And she knew the massive sword on his back, Falling Sun.


    Rook the Sunderer pressed his hat to his chest, and bowed.


    "It''s a pleasure to meet you at last. I have been following your progress with quite some time."


    There was a pause as Allya stared at him in shock, before she managed to swallow.


    "I...had surmised that. I assume you''re here about the twins?"


    "Quite. And their cargo. Please, let us have a civilized discussion, I have no wish to harm you or your fianc¨¦e, you are everything New Raleigh stands for, and there is no need for violence between us."


    Of course, the moment he finished was the moment the breaching charge blew the door off of its hinges, and the golems swarmed into the room, firing as they came.

 Chapter 283 - Tea and Biscuits

    Chapter 283


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    City of Darthar


    Rook reacted faster than Allya would have ever thought possible. The door wasn''t even halfway through the room that he had already leapt...towards Allya and Pyn.


    Before Pyn even knew what was happening they were both on the floor while he shielded them with his body and a shield projected by his arm.


    His companion however...It had to be Wonsnot. Two thirds of the golems were destroyed before Rook was done, and Allya saw him dispose of the last few ones a second later.


    "Surrender now! We have you surrounded!" Called out Alexandra outside. "Release the baroness and the knight or be destroyed!"


    Well...shit.


    "What the hell?" Called out Rook. "What...just happened? Were those golems?"


    "It''s the core!" Yelled out Allya. "It''s Crystal, we had a panic button and...crap, she must think you''re trying to kidnap or assassinate us!"


    "Ah." Rook smiled. "Well, lucky for us, she doesn''t quite have the punch to harm us." His smile fell as he saw Allya''s expression. "You can''t be serious."


    "We, ah, gifted her an entire magazine''s worth of Old World missiles, ones salvaged from the armada that attacked Rebirth."


    "...Oh." Rook slowly got up, and walked out of the cabin, his hands raised. "I''m afraid this is a misunderstanding."


    "Prove it. Release them."


    "I am not holding anyone against their will. Baroness, knight, if you will? Your friend looks, ah, upset."


    Allya slowly got up, before helping her girlfriend upright as well. Then they made their way to the ruined doorway, still in their nightclothes.


    And emerged in the cool evening air...surrounded by heavily armed golems. Before they knew it they were whisked away, their bodyguards grabbing them and the automata forming a solid wall of metal between them and Rook.


    "Are you okay?" Asked Alexandra, her ambassador golem meeting them as they were more or less pushed on the other side of the golem lines and their bristling wall of guns by ¨¦clair and Rogard, the old elf looking like he''d almost had a heart attack.


    To be fair, if an entire...merciful Gods, there had to be a full company of golems out there, dropped on her and told her her charge was in mortal danger, she would be too.


    "We''re fine. But you kind of ruined the cabin."


    "I''ll rebuild it. Who the hell are these clowns?"


    "Rook the Sunderer, and Wonsnot, I believe."


    Alexandra''s eyes flickered from them to Rook.


    "Oh."


    "Yes, ''oh''. They were here about the twins. Now, I don''t know about you, but I''d rather not abuse the patience of one of the most dangerous persons in the entire planet."


    "Right." Alexandra made a series of complicated hand gestures, and the golems stood down, as one.


    "Was that really necessary? You could dispense with the theatrics."


    Alexandra smiled mysteriously.


    "It wasn''t theatrics. It was a stand down order. Across...several of my ambassadors."


    Meaning it was relayed somewhere else. Probably her battlecruiser...and the main dungeon.


    "I...see."


    "No you don''t. Alright, let''s greet our new friends."


    "I did greet them. So did you, actually."


    "Yes, but death threats and breaching charges make for poor introductions."


    The ambassador moved towards the cabin, but stopped as Allya grabbed its arm, her hand glitching through the hologram and grasping cold, hard metal.


    "Crystal...thank you."


    The dungeon core...hadn''t hesitated, for a single second, and her first and primary objective had been to save them, period.


    Alexandra smiled.


    "No problem Allya. I''ve got your backs. Both of you. Now, let''s greet the super powerful being in the fetching coat, shall we?"


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    *****


    If Rook was perturbed by having tea and biscuits with someone who had just tried to kill him, he wasn''t showing it.


    "So." Said the leader of New Raleigh. "I would like you to release the twins, and allow the shipment to go forward."


    "And in exchange?" Asked Pyn, bluntly. Allya and Alexandra exchanged a look, but...well, negotiation was the elf''s specialty.


    "What do you want?"


    "What do you got?"


    Rook smiled.


    "Quite a bit. But most of it would be useless to you, I wager." He took a surprisingly delicate tip of his teacup, and Allya shuddered internally. It was hard to reconcile the gentleman in front of her with...well, she had passed through the Sundered Grove, the place that had given him his nickname. A place where he had unleashed magic so potent its scar was still there, millenia after.


    There was more blood on his hands than Sunrise''s duchess, and that was saying something.


    "Perhaps, perhaps not."


    "Very well." Rook sighed, setting down his teacup, before steepling his fingers. "Here is what I offer: the university of New Raleigh, from which both twins are graduates."


    "You want...to give us a university?"


    "Actually, I wished to give you a copy of its library...and access to its research programs." Rook didn''t flick a glance at Alexandra, he straight up lifted his teacup in her direction. "I''m sure you''ll be able to use it. The twins will serve as intermediaries, once their present assignment is completed of course."


    "Deal." Said Pyn, while Allya snuck a glance at the dungeon core. Merciful Gods, was her hologram drooling? It was. Damn.


    "Excellent. Then I assume the matter is resolved?"


    "There are a few more things, actually." Said Pyn, and Rook raised an eyebrow. "First." The elf raised a finger. "Don''t do that again."


    "That?"


    "Going behind our backs in our territory. You want to do something? Fine, but warn us. That''s all we ask. Permission and some warning. We didn''t stop the Syndicate, we sure as hell won''t stop you, but don''t try to go behind our backs."


    "A fair demand. Very well. What else?"


    "What the hell are you planning? Break Sunrise''s brands?"


    Rook hesitated.


    "Yes."


    For a man of his power, he was remarkably transparent when lying.


    "Uh huh. Of course." Said Pyn, her voice dripping with sarcasm.


    "There are limits to what I am prepared to say. Your trustworthiness notwithstanding, what you don''t know cannot be forced out of you."


    "We''re hardly likely to be interrogated?"


    "Are you?" Rook''s gaze was suddenly darker than the void between the stars, and Allya shivered. "Some of my best friends were broken, ripped apart, their very soul shredded for their secrets. No, knight, I won''t take the risk."


    "V-Very..." Pyn cleared her throat, trying to regain her balance. "Very well."


    "Thank you. Though, you seem amazingly capable." Rook looked at Alexandra. "My commendations to you, your reaction time was quite exceptional."


    "Thank you, I do try."


    Allya almost twitched, as she felt some amusement in the dungeon core''s tone. Knowing her, she''d been ready to unleash every kind of hell there was.


    "Do, or do not, there is no try." Alexandra twitched like she was burned, and Rook raised an eyebrow. "Extradimensional proverb, so I was told."


    "You know extradimensionals?"


    "I''ve met a fair few in my time. Still know some. Charming people, if a bit critical of our home."


    "Ah. Interesting."


    "Met any of your own?"


    "Yes. Let''s say that. They seemed, ah, haunted."


    "Well, they have witnessed miracles and horrors the God of Fire banished with the dawn of the flames."


    "Some of those miracles and horrors attacked Rebirth."


    "Those...were nothing compared to what was unleashed during the Great Night." Rook smiled sadly. "Believe me, once you delve into some of the ruins...you''ll witness far worse."


    "I see."


    "No. No you don''t. And I sincerely pray that you never do. Now, if this concludes our discussions? Not to put too fine a point on it, but me and my friend are quite busy, and have places to be."


    "Of course." Alexandra snuck a glance at Wonsnot, and Allya had to agree with her slightly worried look, though only someone who knew her well could tell.


    The guy had annihilated her strike team, and he was...too controlled. Not a movement wasted, even as he ate, his hands taking the perfect, most economical path to his teacup or biscuits. In truth he almost acted with more precision than Alexandra''s golems, which was...disturbing, to say the least.


    Even Alexandra''s terrifying, blank eyed psycho-maid, the one with the poison fetish, didn''t do that, and she already creeped the ever living crap out of her.


    "Well then, no time like the present. My regards to you. And please, we were never here."


    And they were gone.


    "...Are we secure?" Asked Allya.


    Alexandra looked at the newly repaired door, which her golem were just finishing installing.


    "Yep. Good things I brought spares."


    "I assume you shipped it with the breaching charges. Alex, I want one of your teleport redirectors. And bombs. Lots of bombs."


    "That can most definitely be arranged, though it''ll have to be stealthed."


    "Sure."


    "Good. Now I''ll leave you two lovebirds alone."


    "Lovebirds?!? You think we''re going to do anything? We''re dead tired, and someone just broke into the cabin!"


    "And yet you''re wearing crotchless chic. I''m sure Pyn will avail herself of that."


    "How did-" But Alexandra was already gone. Allya turned to her fianc¨¦e. "How did she knew that?"


    "She seems observant for that kind of things. I think it''s a survival strategy, what with her girlfriend."


    "Uh huh. Do you think getting her access to that university was a good idea?"


    "If there''s something I''ve learned, it''s that she''ll get what she wants, and run rings around anyone in her path."


    Allya sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as she sighed.


    "True. Very true."


    She cracked opened her eyes as she heard movement and found Pyn leaning over her.


    "So...she mentionned crotchless, right?"


    Allya smiled.


    "You''re insatiable, you know that?"


    "I''m not hearing a no~."


    "Well...I did wear them for a reasmmhhhhh!" Allya''s sentence ended up in a muffled yelp as her fianc¨¦e kissed her, and their suddenly wasn''t any more time for talking.


    *****


    "Hello world."


    Emylris opened her eyes as the strange voice spoke.


    She gazed at the ceiling for a second, utterly stunned. Where was she? This wasn''t her bedroom, what-


    The memories came flooding in. The teleport. The assault on the dungeon...


    That flash of light as the golem pointed its gun at her.


    "Am I...dead?"


    "You were." Said the voice, and the archmage looked to the side. She was laying on a bed, and by its side was a woman, sitting on a chair and clad in a military uniform that reeked of the Old World. "But your soul was never sealed. Hence, you no longer are."


    "...I don''t know who you think you are, but I am an archmage. I can reduce you to ashes with but a thought. And do things a thousand times worse if I put my mind to it."


    The woman smiled viciously.


    "You have no power here." She got up, and stalked to the bed, before bending over it, until her face was centimeters away from Emylris''. "But please, do try. I would enjoy seeing what you have in mind so I can inflict it back to you a thousandfold."


    Emylris trembled as she saw those eyes...those eyes...


    She felt a primal terror on level she barely comprehended. Like if she''d gazed at the abyss, and instead of staring back, it began to speak, to beckon.


    "Who...what are you?" She whispered.


    The woman righted herself.


    "An excellent question! I suppose there''s no harm in telling you. If you ever leave this place, which is unlikely, it''ll only be with failsafes and total confidence you won''t fuck us over. I''m the dungeon core." The woman shrugged as she sat back on her chair. "Or rather, I''m who she was."


    "W-What?"


    The woman smiled again.


    "The dungeon core ain''t a creation of the God of Fire kid. She''s artificial."


    "I''m no child! I-"


    "You''re in your fifties, right? Don''t answer, I checked who you were before we did this." The woman''s smile widened as Emylris stared in surprise. "Yeah, I know who you are. Who everyone in your strike team was."


    "We-"


    "Look kid, don''t bother justifying yourself, I don''t care. My point is, I''m older than you are."


    Emylris'' eyes got wide.


    "You''re from the Old World." She said in a horrified whisper.


    "Ooooh, good guess! No no no, I''m much worse than that." The woman smiled. "I''m an extradimensional!"


    The archmage licked her lips.


    "I know extradimensionals. I studied you, and your peers, as well as your gifts. Whatever...fear you thought you could inflict with that is only for the foolish and uneducated."


    "Oh? Know so much about me and my world?"


    Emylris huffed.


    "Of course! Who do you take me for? Terra was the birthplace of some of the greatest archmages! And a world without magic no less!"


    "Interesting. And you think me unthreatening?"


    "Why would some rat in the warren of your magicless society scare me? I see you were in the military. Good, you may be worth something."


    The woman laughed.


    "I like your bravado! I can see it''s all facade. I can see your fingers trembling." Emylris clenched her fists. Damn it! "And I heard your admiration at what we had accomplished with the teleport redirector."


    "You...you did it?"


    "Yep. Developed in house. In more ways than one, actually."


    "Impressive. But do you expect me to be trembling with fear?"


    The woman''s smile wasn''t vicious. It was beyond that. She got up, and stalked towards the bed again, but this time she did it slowly.


    "Let''s see how much you truly know about my homeworld."


    She bent over...and whispered her true name into the archmage''s ear.


    The mage wetted herself.


    "You''re...the butcher...of Europa..." She said.


    And everything went black as she fainted.

 Chapter 284 - Hello World

    Chapter 284


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    City of Darthar


    There was a long, awkward silence, as Allya took a sip from her mug of hot chocolate. She had just finished summing up the recent events, and it had been...quite the tale.


    "So." Said the Count. "You certainly didn''t take long to start taking things into your own hands."


    "Perhaps. But this was a matter for the Principality."


    "I suppose so. Still, how do you intend to proceed? If you just free the merchant..."


    Allya grimaced.


    "I know, it''ll be suspicious as hell. Which is why we''re going to do a good old sleight of hands."


    "How so?"


    "The cargo will be seized as contraband. In our custody it will vanish, presumably destroyed. In truth, however, Elkaryos''...friends will handle transportation. And ensure it arrives at its destination."


    Meaning the dark elf Syndicate would move it along their secret routes. There were hidden benefits to their princess'' little excursion after all. Which begged some questions as to why they had active routes into Sunrise, but she was willing to let sleeping dragons lie. They were helping her after all. Actually, that might be exactly why they were doing it, since they had to have guessed she''d find out eventually, what with the stunt she''d just pulled, and wanted to buy themselves protection and leeway. Mmmhhh. Something to dwell on later.


    "I see. And what of Eismi and Ellyana?"


    "The twins'' arrest was less public, and more ambiguous, so I will publicly reprimand them for having undertaken a research project on behalf of the university of New Raleigh behind my back, and enter negotiations to have it be done openly, in exchange of which the university will open their library to Rebirth for our expansion and construct a branch in the city to handle higher education."


    The Count opened his mouth, and closed it.


    "That is...brazen, to say the least."


    "Every good lie must retain a kernel of truth to be believable."


    "Right. What of the captain and the smugglers?"


    Allya shrugged.


    "They''ll be thrown in the dungeons, then offered amnesty in exchange for helping us out, just like I did with that caravan master."


    "Caravan master?"


    "A long story. Alongside amnesty, I''ll also offer a very lucrative contract. We need a shitload of weapons and military hardware to make it to our allies in Sunrise''s territory." With more and more nobles throwing their lot with their majesties, and even some partisans having stayed behind, they actually had a fair few allies between enemy lines. "I can pay them richly to ship them equipment."


    "And if they betray you?"


    "Then they will die." Allya smiled at his expression. "At this point, no one is prepared to take risks with me, or the dungeon core, my dear. And the contract will be impressively lucrative. Greed, fear, and as the duke pointed out, the way Crystal and I treat those loyal to us will keep them in line."


    "Just as it does everyone under you, me included I suppose." The Count shrugged as she opened her mouth to protest. "Let us be honest, I am afraid of you. Everyone is. Those that have half a brain that is. I think, though she would rather die than admit it, even the duchess of Sunrise fears you now."


    "Right." Allya took another sip. "Let''s hope it stays that way. An enemy afraid is already half defeated."


    "A good saying. Now, if I may ask, Lady Crystals intends to attack the Alesian fortresses, correct?"


    "Yes. Sunrise''s army is in full retreat, but they''re leaving behind a guard force. Why?"


    "May I accompany her forces? You did say she would bring up armaments from the dungeon."


    "Why ask me and not her?"


    "My chances are greater if you concur. Furthermore, she is not an easy person to reach."


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    "And you''re still a bit afraid of her, especially since you expect CQ to be onboard said supply ship?"


    The Count licked his lips.


    "That also."


    "Alright. But I must warn you, you''re playing with fire here Count."


    "I am aware."


    "No you''re not." The Count almost jumped as the jovial baroness instantly turned dead serious, before returning to our old self. "Just...be careful, alright? Overprotective doesn''t even begin to describe the dungeon core. And remember that she is bringing her secondary core as well."


    "Right, of course. Has she settled on a place for her branch office?"


    "Well, there were several options." Many, actually, virtually everybody in the city wanted the dungeon to set up shop in their little quarter. They actually had to calm everyone down, because some were starting to offer Alexandra bribes, which as hilarious as it was, would have brought more problems than it was worth. "But she has settled on outside the walls."


    The Count nodded.


    "What was the deciding factor? If I may ask."


    Allya shrugged.


    "It is far easier for her, in a great deal many ways. True, she will not benefit from the shield''s protection, but she will also avoid having to deal with habitants. Let us be real, anywhere else would have required kicking people out of their homes to clear the interference for her to build."


    "Except for the bazaar."


    Allya nodded.


    "Except for the bazaar, which had some advantages." Notably proximity to the guild, though in this case to keep an eye on them rather than the other way around. Starvak clearly hadn''t given up yet, "But too many potential issues. Besides which, with this she can build fortifications, ones that will be easy to maintain against the erosion caused by the flensing winds, thanks to her powers. Plus, she prefers the heavy use of artillery to defend herself, the shield makes that...impractical."


    Not impossible, as had been proven, but still. Besides, with her new ballistic missiles, the range of her static defenses got ever greater. At this point, a shield she couldn''t control -yet, knowing the dungeon core-, was simply too great a hindrance. Her range was her greatest advantage after all, over the Republic, over Sunrise, and over the rest of the Kingdom for that matter.


    "Shall we have to open another gate?"


    "Probably, but she has suggested building a full sized tunnel between the town and her branch office, serving as the only delve entrance, allowing for a single access for adventurers to prevent smuggling, and movement secure from the elements."


    It would also allow her to quickly seal the access should someone try to attack her from the city, and her isolated little dungeon fortress would also serve as an excellent hub for business best kept from prying eyes, which would be rather hard in the middle of the city. In time, she might even build her own version of a docking tower there, to resupply the Principality''s ever growing air fleet.


    "That is feasible, though I am not certain implementing a flaw in the walls is a good idea."


    "There need not be any. The gate can still be built, and the fortifications extended underground."


    "True, true. It would certainly be worth the effort, if nothing else."


    "Indeed."


    "Though, in what direction does she intend to settle?"


    "East." The direction was mostly symbolic. Alexandra had toyed with the west to signify their alliance with Sarth, but eventually decided against it.


    The Count nodded.


    "The breach."


    "Indeed." The wall breach made by Sunrise was roughly facing east. And that was where they had been slaughtered. Putting the new gate on the very breach and the branch office where Sunrise''s army had been broken was one hell of a statement. To their enemies, and as the Count had said, their allies both. Even Starvak, the old bastard, wouldn''t miss that message. "From the failures of our enemies, we grow."


    "So it would seem. Thank you, baroness, for making the time."


    "It is quite alright. You are my vassal after all." While technically being of a higher rank than her, but that was going to be solved soon. "Now, I suppose I''ll have to pin down our dear dungeon core to relay her your request. Have a good day, Count."


    "And you as well, Baroness."


    *****


    "Congratulations, you sent sleeping beauty back to bed." Said Alexandra, her voice dripping with sarcasm, as she looked at the archmage. Well, her simulated avatar.


    "Oh shush." Ghost gave her a baleful look from her seat.


    "Was that truly necessary? Revealing ourselves like that?"


    "You said no torture, and we need her more scared of us than her bosses. Now she does. So yes, it was necessary."


    "And very satisfying."


    Ghost smiled.


    "I''ve got a reputation, we do, I mean. Might as well fucking use it."


    There a short silence, and Alexandra coughed.


    "How...how do you think the others would react, if they knew?"


    "Honestly?" Alexandra nodded, and Ghost shrugged. "No clue. Emilia is head over heels for you, and the maids trust you. Allya and Pyn however...Pyn might be absolutely horrified, but Allya''s venerated ancestor served under us. Plus, I don''t know if you''ve realized, but the girl is a sociopath."


    "I wouldn''t go that far."


    "I would. Have you see what she''s doing? She''s not running a clean or merciful government, she''s absolutely fine with corruption and bloodshed, as long as that serves her. Sweet merciful stars, she was an assassin."


    "And? How are we any different, exactly?"


    Ghost met her other self''s gaze, and there was another silence.


    "We broke, when we went too far. Will she? And when? How much damage will she inflict before she does? You know those questions. You''ve been wondering too."


    Alexandra gritted her teeth.


    "Perhaps. Or perhaps we can avoid that altogether."


    "Arcadia couldn''t."


    "We''re not Arcadia. We were part of her, true, but we''re not her."


    "Is that why you cling to the baroness? Because you want to redeem her?"


    "No. I help her because she''s helped us. Loyalty is everything. Arcadia taught us that. And Allya thinks the same. We''re kindred souls on that front. We both refuse to repay fealty with treachery, and that makes us exceptions in this cesspool of a planet."


    Ghost snorted.


    "And what, you think that makes you the knights in shining armor?"


    "I don''t want a fucking shining armor, or be a righteous paladin of justice. We tried that once, remember?"


    Ghost nodded.


    "I do." She said, quietly.


    Alexandra sighed.


    "Sorry." She sat down besides her other self. "You didn''t deserve that."


    "No, no, I needed a wakeup call."


    Alexandra waited for a few seconds. She knew herself. And she knew she only acted like that when something was wrong. Deeply wrong.


    "...Do you want to talk about it?"


    Ghost sighed.


    "What is there to talk about? You have a girlfriend, a daughter, a large group of friends. I''m...I''m just a ghost in the machine. A specter of christmas past."


    There was a long silence, and Alexandra sighed.


    "And that is my fault. Alright, fuck this shit. Let''s see if this works."


    "What?" Ghost looked as Alexandra reached towards her. "Hey, what the actual fuck do you think you''re doing?!?"


    "Testing a hypothesis."


    She grabbed Ghost''s arm, and for a second nothing happened.


    Then everything did.


    Ghost screamed as she felt reality go insane, as power flowed from Alexandra to her, overwhelming her senses. The simulation warped and glitched around her, errors filled her vision as systems went insane. Everything dissolved into static, and she felt as if she was being pulled in all directions, then none at all.


    She floated inside the void. At peace. And then she came crashing down.


    She gasped, and sat up. Except that she was laying on the floor. She looked around, wildly, and found herself face to face with Alexandra.


    "What...I..."


    "Well, it worked." Said her other self as she knelt by her side.


    "What...the actual fuck just happened?!? What worked?!?"


    Alexandra smiled, and her subconscious screamed that something was wrong. That''s when it hit her.


    Alexandra was in her avatar. Not the more reasonably proportioned body, similar to CQ''s, she used in the simulation.


    Ghost looked around. Dusty sandstone, glowing screens...she was in the dungeon''s command center.


    She brought her hands up, and touched her face. Hers. Not Alexandra''s, not CQ''s, not a golem''s featureless plate, hers.


    She started to cry, and tears, real tears, not holographic ones, came pouring out of her eyes.


    Alexandra smiled as she hugged her other self.


    "What is it you said again? Hello world, was it? Well, say hello to the world."


    ENTITY_NAME: GHOST


    SPECIAL ABILITIES: <Ghost in the Machine>


    OCCUPATION: EFSN FLEET-HIGHCOM 1, DUNGEON BOSS

 Chapter 285 - Not So Ghostly

    Chapter 285


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    Dungeon Factory, Workshop


    "So she''s your new boss?" Emilia coughed as Alexandra nodded. "I don''t see her fighting in the dungeon, no offense."


    "Stop being such a traditionalist. Jared has never fought in there, if you don''t count the resurrection room, much less gotten a boss room." Said the dungeon core as she gestured towards the butler, who was currently standing by the side of the commotion in the workshop.


    Everyone was gathered here, most talking to Ghost or marveling over her new body, once they''d managed to pry CQ off of her, though Alexandra had no doubt the apparition was returning the hug as tightly as she was getting it. Seemed like her daughter loved having her auntie be physical.


    "True, I suppose." Emilia sighed. "Still feels weird."


    "Well, you were educated that way. That bosses should be, well, bosses."


    "Are you sure it was the most effective use though?"


    Alexandra gave her girlfriend a mildly reproving glare.


    "She needed a new body, I gave her one. Efficiency had nothing to do with it."


    "Right, sorry..."


    Alexandra tilted her head.


    "Besides, she knows magic, almost to your own level." Evidenced upon the fact that she was currently walking in the ceiling, and trying to teach CQ how to reverse gravity, before catching the boss as she got halfway up before losing her concentration and flailing in the air, falling back down.


    "True." Alexandra''s ears prickled as she heard the advisor''s tone of voice.


    "Oh my Gods...you''re conflicted about her!" Alexandra smiled. "Attracted to her a bit, aren''t you?"


    Emilia looked away. Too quickly.


    "No!" The advisor could practically feel the dungeon core''s grin through their links. She threw her arms up. "Okay, maybe! I can be curious you know?"


    "Like what it''d feel to bed another version of my self?"


    "...Maybe?"


    "Well, you came close once."


    "S-Shut up! It was an accident!"


    Alexandra''s grin widened.


    "I know. Well, it''s up to you."


    "You''re...fine with it?"


    Alexandra sighed.


    "I dated Arcadia. By her very nature, she had more partners at any one time than I ever would in my life. I don''t care about polygamy." Neither did most of Earth for that matter. The Terran Hegemony War and the rampant genetic engineering that had followed to save humanity as a species from it own weapons had pretty much shattered most traditional social structures, be they familial or otherwise, at least for the newly formed Federation and the UIS. Hell, it was how the Federation was able to be created, rebuilt from the shattered remnants of previous European national identities, combining them instead of having them tear each other apart like in the old, and thoroughly dead, European Union. "However, it is up to her to accept."


    "And you''re not jealous?"


    "Well, I didn''t say that."


    "Uh uh. So...what''s the plan now?"


    "Let''s test out her abilities, and see what she can do. I''m sure she''ll be able to pick what she wants to do afterwards."


    "Oki."


    "Cheer up! You''ll get to see her all exercising, sweaty and-"


    "I said okay!" Said the vampire girl, blushing madly.


    Alexandra snickered, but fell quiet, before clapping her hands.


    "Alright people! Enough playing around! We have some testing to do!"


    "Sheesh, alright Glados." Said Ghost as she landed back on the floor.


    "Uh uh. And as every evil artificial intelligence, I promise you cake if you comply."


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Chocolate?"


    "All three kinds."


    Ghost licked her lips, and Alexandra smiled internally. Ghost hadn''t truly eaten anything, let alone cake, in over a decade after all.


    "When do I start?"


    Alexandra snorted.


    "Let''s make our way to boomtown. The workshop has too much delicate stuff. Alright, let''s go!"


    *****


    "It terrifies me how at ease you are." Said Alexandra as Ghost leapt into the air, sailing through the room and nimbly coming to a stop next to her other self by grabbing onto the railing of the observation deck.


    "How so? We were always good at zero-G movement."


    "Yeah, but not zero gravity combat. We had the implants for that."


    Ghost shrugged.


    "It''s not all that different, when you''re the only one in zero gravity. Especially when you can control said gravity and can adjust for recoil."


    "True. So, like your new body?"


    "It''s awesome! So...so real, yet..."


    "None of the issues?"


    "Yeah! No period cramps, no indigestion, none of the ten thousand crappy things that affect true humans."


    It was definitely weird seeing Ghost giddy like a schoolgirl, but it only made Alexandra smile wider.


    "Yeah, lots of stuff everyone would rather do without. And your ability?"


    "Seems to be working as advertised." Ghost touched one of the praetorian guards, and Alexandra had to stop herself from jumping as the apparition vanished into swirling motes of light, that then permeated the golem, and a circle of runes appeared above its head, like an angelic halo. "Feels kind of odd though."


    <Ghost in the Machine>: Allows the possession of dungeon defenders. Possessed defenders gain various boss attributes, and the user is ejected upon host destruction. [WARNING] User will be stunned upon ejection.


    Ghost''s voice hadn''t changed at all, that was one of the weirdest parts. It wasn''t coming from the golem''s speakers, it just appeared out of thin air. It made sense, a lot of creatures wouldn''t be able to talk, but damn.


    It was something she was definitely planning to steal for her hologram emitters. After all, it was real sound, not the illusion thereof.


    "Well it looks odd as well." Said Alexandra, jokingly, before shaking her head. "It looks like you''re becoming a photon smoothie, and then turning a robot into an angel!"


    "Eh, maybe I''m the angel of death."


    "The discount version then, given your lack of scythe. Angelic intern of death?"


    "It will hurt no less when I strangle you in this form."


    "You don''t have a homing, lightning spewing hammer either."


    "Screw Arcadia and her old movies."


    "Uh huh. Now, step out of my guard please."


    "Sure, sure." The halo vanished as motes of light flowed out of the golem, forming the apparition again. "So, what now?"


    "Now? We get you to meet with Allya and Pyn. Our allies need to know they''ll be working with someone new."


    "I mean, they''ve worked with me before."


    "True, but not really like this."


    "Uh, yes? I mean, I''ll appear to them as a hologram, how will it be any different? They''re still in Darthar."


    "They won''t stay forever." Actually they probably wouldn''t stay for much longer. They intended to meet the duke of Sarth, who was descending with his army to hopefully intercept Sunrise''s own force, and then they''d go home. Too many things were piling up in Rebirth that they needed to deal with, besides which it was the seat of their power. "And once they return they''ll get back to meeting us here."


    "Right. Among other things."


    Alexandra smiled.


    "Yes, among other things. Get ready to answer some questions from them though."


    "Like, ''is it a threesome if two of the participants are the same person?''"


    Had Alexandra been sipping a drink, she would have spat it out.


    "What the fuck kind of question is that?"


    "You know Pyn is going to ask it."


    "Gods, I hope not." Said Alexandra.


    "Do you want to bet? One favor from the other for whomever wins?"


    Alexandra squinted suspiciously at her other self, who usually refused those kind of things.


    "Done."


    "Excellent! Let''s see if our elven friend is as reliably horny as usual!"


    *****


    "Is that everything?" Said the man, and Orzal Vek, formerly of the Elkis Republican Army, and now of the Order to Restore Humanity, shrugged.


    "Everything you asked for."


    The man looked at him for a few seconds, as if he was peering into the former colonel''s very soul, before nodding.


    "So it is."


    There was something deeply unsettling about the man, but Orzal could play this game too. And play it well.


    He wouldn''t have survived with the snakes that were senators if he couldn''t.


    "Then I suppose you should get loading."


    "We should, yes." The man gestured, and his people leapt into action.


    Crates were moved, loaded onto carts. Orzal pretended not to notice they were all instinctively dissolving into small, tightly knit groups, used to working together.


    Adventuring parties.


    The man was still standing before him, looking eerie.


    "There is going to be people who come looking for all of this." He finally said, after long seconds of awkward silence, gesturing at the warehouse. "It should be gone before then."


    "Tell your grandma how to suck eggs. This will be gone before you are out of the city."


    The man recoiled. He had not expected the ex-colonel to react like that. To be fair, neither had he. Betraying the senate and interacting with the Order had made him grow a spine. And start taking shit from absolutely nobody, except maybe his terrifying new bosses.


    The adventurers guild representative, for that was what he was, though he would never admit it, even under torture, was used to being the biggest, baddest beast in the forest.


    But Orzal knew there were far greater wolves out there.


    And they were hungry.


    "Very well." Said the representative. "We shall be out of the city by the hour."


    "Good. I believe we are done then."


    "Not quite."


    Orzal looked at the representative, as the tension ratcheted up. Though he feigned not to notice, he was sure the representative could see the Order''s soldiers preparing to fight.


    After all, this was supposed to have been the end of their interaction. Give the guild the weapons and equipment they needed, then be gone. No trace left.


    All trails ending with the guild, and their weapons used to murder dungeon cores.


    "How so?"


    "We are in need of more."


    Orzal snorted.


    "Is this-" He gestured at the piles of crates, still being deftly loaded. "-not good enough for you?"


    "Not that. We require...information."


    Orzal blinked.


    "Information?"


    "Yes. For the strikes."


    "Our help is done. We did what we could."


    "I beg to differ. So do my superiors. You know more. And you wish this endeavor to succeed. We need to know the layouts, the full layouts, of the dungeons we will be facing. Not the half assed version we got for our...other attempt."


    Orzal almost felt pity for the guy.


    His ''other attempt'' had failed because the Order wanted it to. Of that, he was certain. Though, he wasn''t quite sure how they''d done it, and ensured Crystal survived Sunrise''s little commando team. He knew them after all, from his previous visit and contacts with the duchy, which had helped pave the way for the shipments that had made their civil war possible.


    They were villains, each and every one of them, with perhaps the exception of the baron of White Sands, who had a semblance of a conscience, for what little of one was allowed to exist in the slaver cesspit that was his homeland. But villains or no, they were no pushovers, and not people to be trifled with.


    But then again, neither was Crystal, as she''d proven time and time again.


    "You wish for more assistance. What are you prepared to give in exchange?"


    The soldiers around him held their breaths.


    He had no authority to negotiate. He was just a convenient, and slightly disposable, figurehead. At least to his superiors.


    The troops under his command were already starting to trust him over them after all.


    But regardless, he was there to serve as a face for this so that other, more precious assets would not be squandered was something to go wrong or the guild representative to have his mind ripped apart by the Custodians in search of information


    The representative interpreted it another way. He saw a man prepared to do a concession he perhaps should not have.


    "We have in our possession, relics of the Old World, I know you desire them."


    "Everyone does. But it may occur to you that we have plenty."


    "Not the likes of which my superiors offer. Tell your own that mine have remnants of a Sagitarian planetary defence railgun...and are willing to offer it in exchange for further assistance."


    Orzal did not have the slightest clue what that was, nor why his superiors would want it, but he nodded judiciously.


    "I will call this in."


    "You shall. We will meet again."


    Orzal noticed the adventurers had finished loading the carts, and simply waved as the members of the guild left. He then turned towards his own people.


    "Alright people, I made a promise to these assholes and I intend to keep it. Sanitize the place, double time!"


    He watched as his men scrambled for a few seconds, before making his way to his covert communicator.


    He had a report to make. And maybe, just maybe, his new bosses would let even the tinniest of hints through of what the hell was going on here.


    One could dream, after all.


    Just like he dreamed of taking the Order down. He just needed to find somebody who wouldn''t kill him outright for having even touched the proscribed and heretical organization. Someone who would have to hate the Church as much as they hated the Order.


    One could dream...

 Chapter 286 - Confrontation

    Chapter 286


    Eris Empire, Capital City of Starcore


    Imperial Palace, Empress Sylvis Wing


    Cassissa, princess of the Eris Empire and former attendant of the adventurers guild, sighed as she leaned back from the workshop table and into her sinfully comfortable chair.


    She''d finally pressured her sister, or rather convinced her brother in law to pressure her, to let her have some tools of the trade, so to speak, or she''d grow insane with boredom.


    Which was why she''d had one of the rooms in her suite turned into a small, but incredibly well equipped enchanting workshop. Officially, it was because she was getting a serious acquaintance with that young mage.


    Unofficially...


    She tapped the talisman on the table.


    Unofficially, she was researching this. Allya''s gift, and through her, the dungeon''s. Something that should be utterly impossible.


    She was an evocation war mage. Fireballs, artillery, wards, those were her domain. She knew little of the other arcana, especially not astral magic, that which dealt with communication and teleportation.


    But she was a fervent student of history. And she knew that teleportation, as it was known and used today, was invented by Saphire Arkhan, the founder of the Saphire Kingdom, a nation who even now, in its decrepit, fallen state, still retained great mastery over it. Some say he invented it altogether, but she knew he had drawn from technology and magic from the Old World, not to mention the works of others before him, who had delved into the same secrets, but been sidelined by the Tesseracts.


    This, however...this was something else entirely. A whole new way to teleport. One that could bypass all of the safeguards and countermeasures thus far invented.


    Cassissa idly wondered if Allya even realized the implications. With this, the Empire could make weapons supreme, capable of bypassing any conventional defenses. Missiles that could materialize inside fortresses, assassins that would have but a dagger to throw after appearing in front of their targets. With it, one could topple nations, if given the appropriate resources.


    With it...With it, one could escape from any situation, no matter how dire. And that was why Allya had sent it to her.


    The princess sighed.


    "Why, my Knight-Valiant, have you sent this to me? You knew that I would look into it. Is that what you want?" She mused aloud. "For me to dig into your ally''s secrets? Or were you sending me on Alexandra''s trail?"


    She heard a knock, and pocketed the talisman, almost without thinking. Such a trump card was at its most useful if kept as secret as possible after all.


    Besides which, the more she learned about it, the more paranoid she grew. About its implications...and its maker.


    Because she was grimly certain that only an extradimensional could have dreamed up this talisman, and the enchantment bound to it.


    Yet, it had come from a dungeon core. Of that Allya was certain.


    "Yes? Enter!" She called out, and her withered old butler, Olivier, stepped through the door.


    "Pardon me, your highness, but someone is here to see you."


    "Who is it?"


    Olivier looked her straight in the eyes.


    "Eriksen Dragonslayer."


    Cassissa''s breath caught in her throat. Erik was here? To meet with her?


    That was...unexpected, and insane. Nardria was on the other side of the world! And the Asarian Kingdom was embroiled in a civil war! Though, the western baronies, where the guildhall they had both worked at lay, remained relatively untouched so far.


    But that wasn''t what made this crazy. He had been the one to guarantee her safety when she had gone to become a guild attendant, under an assumed identity of course. And he had failed.


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    "Please, show him in!" She said, breathlessly, and Olivier nodded.


    A few seconds later, he returned, accompanied by a graying man that looked twenty years his junior...and yet she knew to be over a millennia old, though only the Gods knew how ancient he truly was. He''d never told her, and sometimes seemed just like any veteran of the guild, joking about current events or complaining about the quality of new adventurers.


    Other times he spoke of the wars that had formed the Eris Empire, and later forged it into the globe spanning power it was now, like he had been there. He spoke of Rook the Sunderer as one spoke of a young and promising friend, not one of the most dangerous and ancient beings on the planet.


    And he spoke of Saphire Arkhan, the legendary Archmage, discoverer of continents and founder of royal lines, like one talked about a not particularly missed annoyance of a colleague.


    "Cassissa." He said, softly, and suddenly she was across the room, hugging him.


    "Erik! You came!" She stepped back, as Olivier, sensing his cue, bowed his way out of the room, though not before she flashed him a grateful smile. He had been the one to send the guildmaster a secret letter after all. "How?"


    "Your sister may be angry with me, but she does not expect me to kidnap you. In fact, I told her I came here to apologize to you, for failing to protect you."


    "Are you?"


    "Among other things, yes."


    "Then apology accepted. But there are other matters at hand."


    Erik sighed, and seemed to...deflate, somehow. As if he was a condemned man, heading to the gallows.


    "I know."


    Cassissa took a single look at his stance.


    "So it''s true. What happened to her, Erik? What is going on with the dun-" She stopped as he raised his hand.


    "Cassissa. Understand that I am violating many, many oaths even considering telling you this, let alone doing so. Stop asking questions. Forget about it. Forget about Alexandra. Forget about your questions and fantasies about the dungeon. Forget about them all. And never, ever mention them again. To anybody."


    "But-"


    "I understand she was your responsibility, but there''s nothing you can do now."


    "She was yours as well!"


    She knew she''d hit home, as she saw him jerk like he''d been shot, and his face became grim. She considered apologizing, but immediately rejected it, and pressed her advantage.


    "She was your responsibility as well! And you tell me to give up? To forget about her?"


    Erik regained his posture, and looked her straight in the eyes.


    She wasn''t standing in front of her mentor and friend anymore. She was standing before an immeasurably old being, that had seen whole nations rise and fall. Someone who had endured for a millennia and would endure a millennia more, long after her body and soul had passed away into oblivion and she was naught but a footnote in a history book, if not just some forgotten line in a genealogical tree of her dynasty.


    She was looking at an archon, ancient and all powerful. A person who, by their very existence, altered the fate of the world.


    "Yes. I do. I will take on the task of remembering her, and making sure others do so as well. I will inscribe her name into scrolls that will never be erased. Archives that will be revered long after you and I are gone and but memories. I will make sure her name is sung for eternity. But for all of that to happen, you must forget."


    There was something...something horrifying inside of his tone of voice. She''d never heard him like that he sounded like, like...like a zealot, burning with a holy flame.


    She shivered, though only internally, thanks to her Imperial training in keeping her composure even in the most extreme of circumstances, something she''d trying to instill into Allya, to middling effect.


    "Why?"


    He looked away.


    "I cannot tell you." He said softly. "For telling you would mean your death."


    "Let them try! I am a princess of-"


    "Your. Death. Cassisa." He met her gaze once again, and her bravado died, snuffed out like a candle in a hurricane. "No matter who you are."


    There was a long silence.


    "And what of the dungeon?" She finally said. "What if it is her?"


    "Alexandra...she is dead, Cassissa. Of that I am sure of."


    "Bullshit!" Yelled out the princess as she took a step forward.


    "Truly? Then tell me, besides a hunch, an intuition, what makes you think otherwise?" She hesitated. She wanted to bring up the talisman, what she had found out, but her paranoid musings of earlier came back to her.


    And deep, deep within her mind, something told her to stay quiet. A part of her subconscious that had glimpsed a puzzled she did not yet see.


    "Thought not." Finally said Erik. "She is dead. All that is left is to remember her. But you must never mention her again. Not to me, not to anybody. And you must not, under any circumstances, involve yourself with the dungeon, do you hear?"


    "What about Allya?"


    "Your old friend is long gone. She is a new person now, far from the Empire and her line''s legacy. She also has a burgeoning domain under threat from all sides to run. Do not bother her. Stay away."


    Cassissa nodded.


    And stayed silent about the letters she had exchanged with the newly minted baroness. Well, newly by her point of view at least.


    "Good." Said the guildmaster, and moved to leave.


    "...Will you make sure her name is remembered in full? Who she was, completely? On Alcheryos and back on Earth? Alexandra Rousseau, lieutenant-commander of the European Federation Star Navy?"


    He almost jumped at that, and looked over his shoulder.


    "She did not tell you that."


    "No, she did not. But I have access to the Imperial archives, and the scrolls of Terra. I have read the records of those of that world, and found her amongst the ranks of their navy."


    "How?"


    "She was a warrior, but not one at ease on the ground, and the way she spoke about the void and the stars...she had sailed there, for certain. Then it was a simple matter of perusing the scrolls of the nation she was the most likely to have hailed from."


    "Did anyone see you do it?"


    The princess snorted.


    "Did you not hear? I am a princess cursed. Everyone avoids me like the plague, afeared of my sister''s wrath. No, the librarians barely even spoke to me as I entered the archives, and I was undisturbed during my search. I don''t think anyone even noticed me checking the scrolls of Terra."


    "Good." Simply said the guildmaster. "Because that was incredibly stupid."


    "What?"


    "Accept, without question or explanation, that there are powerful forces that would kill you for what you know."


    "Even the Order''s reach has its limits."


    The silence was deep, and Erik took in a deep breath.


    "I should have guessed, that some knowledge would live on, even through to you, and not only directly in the line." He whispered. "Your ancestor was a crafty woman."


    "The First Empress is a symbol and inspiration to us all. She was also a venomous snake, and a rampant megalomaniac with paranoid delusions. Or so she described herself."


    She had also described, in exquisite detail, some secrets, like her reconstruction of the proscribed, heretical Order to Restore Humanity, from shattered remnants to a force to be reckoned with, operating in the shadows.


    Her diaries, which every one in the line of succession had to read under various oaths and compulsions to keep the secret, said it was to help the Empire, and mankind.


    Now...now Cassissa wasn''t so sure.


    For what kind of Order she had helped rebuild would threaten her own descendent for simply knowing too much?


    "She was always harsh on herself." He smiled. "But yes, the Order''s reach has its limits. And you are well within them. Steer clear."


    "Very well. I shall."


    "Good. Good. And I will ensure her name...her true name, is remembered. Forever and ever. She shall not be forgotten, that I promise you."


    And with that, the guildmaster was gone.


    Cassissa collapsed back into her chair.


    What...what in all the hells had Allya gotten tangled up into?


    And why was the Order ready to kill anyone with even the faintest whisp of it?


    She gazed at the talisman.


    She was ready to bet her own life that the answer laid within...and with its maker.

 Chapter 287 - All Aboard

    Chapter 287


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    City of Darthar


    "Permission to come aboard?" Asked the Count as he stepped off the gangplank, and Alexandra smiled.


    "Permission granted." Said Alexandra as she held out her hand, and the nobleman took it. "It''s a pleasure to have you, Count."


    "Please, call me Rice. And the pleasure is all mine. It is, after all, a request."


    The dungeon core chuckled.


    "Perhaps, but still. So, what do you think of my ship?"


    The Count looked around, nodding to himself.


    "Not bad, not bad at all. Sore lack of naked statues on the prow however." They both laughed. "More seriously though. I''ve never seen anything quite like it. And I have seen several advanced vessels, even Erisian ones."


    Alexandra tilted her head.


    "Do they often pass through Darthar?"


    "Not very, but some do. Few airships crossed the wasteland here before you arrived, too little infrastructure to support it, and not much value. They went between Sunrise and Gorromar, mostly."


    "Raw materials for manufactured goods."


    "Precisely. Excellent value for a shrewd trader, and the Scorchlands are hard to traverse for ground caravans, making the trade route even more attractive. But there were still some products worth trading for here and in Sarth, and many ships stopped here on their way to the ducal hold, Asaria or Lorenz, whichever their final destination was."


    "Right. Well, I''m guessing that''s going to change."


    "It already has." The Count looked around. "If I may, however, this ships seems like an...odd choice for a flagship."


    Alexandra smiled.


    "It''s a siege ship. It stays behind a wall of escorts and out of trouble. It''s the perfect choice for a flagship."


    "Ah. I see. It is just that...traditionally, admirals prefer to lead from the front. Or at least be in the thick of it with their ships."


    "I don''t do ''traditional''." Even back when she''d been in the EFSN she didn''t do that. Yes, she commanded from the Dawnstar, but that was because it was the single most survivable ship in the entire fleet, hands down. That, and in this particular case, a siege ship would have been a terrible idea. Rule one: no missile duels with UISN dreadnoughts. "Besides which, this ship has a fair few features and peculiarities that make it the perfect choice."


    "Right, of course. I did not meant to question your judgment, or cause offence."


    "None taken, Rice. Now if you''ll follow me? The baroness and her knight are waiting." Alexandra smiled. "As well as my daughter."


    The count looked a bit worried, and she chuckled.


    "Worry not." Said the Earth-born. "I don''t intend to do anything. So long as nothing untoward happens of course."


    "Of course."


    She gestured, and he followed her ambassador golem as they crossed the deck. There was a small ceremonial honor guard, but not really much else. Like virtually all of her vessels now, the ship was automated, with a low need for even golem crew. What little there was was mostly there as a backup if something failed or glorified repair drones, and unlike her other, gun totting ships, they were only needed below decks here, toiling on the missile launchers or standing by to replace systems or take manual control should something fail.


    They entered one of the ship''s secure hatches, and briefly came into an antechamber, filled with golems and Allya''s bodyguards. The latter looked rather surly, having been more or less sidelined during Alexandra''s ''rescue'' of their charges, though that was nothing compared to the poor crew of the Dusk Blade, that had to deal with being boarded by an entire company of shock troops and forcibly evacuated.


    They probably would have been a little more than merely annoyed, had they found out that her golems had placed charges to scuttle the ship, push came to shove. She had been perfectly ready to blow up the entire vessel to prevent would be assassins from escaping, or create enough chaos for her ambassador to trigger Allya and Pyn''s teleport talismans.


    Talismans which they hadn''t been wearing, because of course they wouldn''t while asleep, or preparing for...other activities. She was honestly considering making one that was embedded into a choker, just so both nobles would have it even during such situations. Or hell, even a full collar, even if only for Allya.


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    The guards did nothing to challenge them. They knew they were only guests here. Well, actually, one of them hadn''t, and almost ended up shredded by her own troops when he''d somehow gotten the idea that stopping the ship''s admiral from entering her flagship''s bridge was a good idea.


    They entered the bridge through a small airlock, and Alexandra breathed a sigh of relief as the door closed in behind them, fully sealing the room.


    "Alright, we are fully secure. Count, please take your seat."


    Rice froze as he took in the place.


    "Who-" He began to ask.


    "Take your seat Rice." Said Allya. "Trust me, it''s for the best."


    The Count looked confused, but didn''t argue further, and sat down at one of the many chairs surrounding the holographic projector, as Alexandra took the command seat.


    "Alright. So, Rice." Started Alexandra. "You asked to be welcome onboard my flagship, and allowed to accompany me and my forces for when I attack the Alesian fortresses. Very well. You also said you were ready to keep any classified or secret information shared with you. Then allow me to introduce Subtlety, this vessel''s captain and onboard intelligence, as well as Ghost, one of my dungeon bosses."


    Both waved at him, and he waved back. Since Ghost was only present via hologram, she had taken the liberty of editing her own wardrobe to something that didn''t scream "I AM TERRAN".


    Not that CQ and Emilia hadn''t already designed her a whole plethora of clothing already. She''d had to rescue her other self from them several times lest she be used as a dress up doll.


    She just hadn''t rescued her quickly enough to warrant having her avatar being substituted. The problem was that Ghost could probably tell and had to be brewing some kind of vengeance.


    "Charmed." Said the Count, as he gazed at them, Ghost especially. "CQ''s sister, undeniably, there is a resemblance in build. But what do you mean by intelligence?"


    "She is, in more ways than one, the ship itself. Like a golem, built to permeate the vessel."


    The Count''s eyebrows rose.


    "I had heard of such things, but they were rare. Fascinating."


    "It is. Also, Ghost is not my daughter, more...sister."


    "I see." The Count clearly didn''t, but also felt no need to argue. That, or he was afraid of offending Alexandra.


    "Since you will be with us for at least the next few days, I felt there was a need for proper introductions, especially as we''ll be mostly your only company."


    The Count nodded. Alexandra had, after all, made it clear that if he wished to accompany her, on her flagship no less, she wouldn''t accept an entourage. This was a warship, damn it! Not some kind of mobile court. He''d acquiesced immediately, which was leading Alexandra to suspect he was also chaffing for an excuse to get out of the city and his own court and the obligations that came with it.


    "Of course. My many thanks. I would have joined you with a vessel of my own, but..."


    "What little of an airfleet you have is in dire need of a shipyard." That was the polite way of putting it at least. Truth was, none of them could have really kept up with her ships in a fight, and been a massive liability in any engagement. "Which you are having trouble finding."


    "Quite. I did understand there was the possibility of them visiting yours in Rebirth however?"


    Alexandra shrugged.


    "There is, but in which case it would be for a full refit, not just repairs. The time of my shipyards is precious after all."


    The Count smiled crookedly.


    "I''m sure my captains won''t begrudge me such an upgrade."


    "Probably not. Now, we need to discuss the situation." Alexandra was suddenly all business and the Count gave her a shocked glance as she turned up her command aura, and sat up from her chair. "As you all know, the Alesian fortress line has been abandoned by the main army." She gestured, and the projector came to life, displaying an hologram of the region. "To our surprise, the army appeared to have veered east instead of North. Whether that is because it is heading to the ruins of Kaidan or simply trying to avoid Sarth''s army is unknown. What is clear is that they have left a significant force in the fortresses, to serve as a sacrificial rear guard."


    "How significant?" Asked the Count, as he leaned forward. He had learned, thanks to knight-commander Philia, to keep his questions -and comments- to the point and otherwise stay silent during such meetings.


    Though, of course, applying it in practice was another matter.


    "Our estimates vary between thirty to thirty five thousand soldiers, approximately ten percent of the entire army."


    The Count whistled softly, though he noted neither the baroness nor her fianc¨¦e seemed surprised. This briefing seemed to be mostly for his benefit.


    "A significant rear guard indeed."


    Alexandra nodded.


    "Quite. However, they appear to believe that however significant it is, it will be limited. As such, of the six fortresses that were being rebuilt, only three are currently occupied by their troops."


    There were nine such fortresses originally. One had been completely dismantled over a century ago, for a variety of reasons, including budget cuts and a rather amazing feat of mental gymnastics involving recycling the stones to build some pet project for the count of the time, and two others so thoroughly wrecked during Sunrise''s advance that it would be easier to build something new altogether than try and repair them. They, incidentally, had served as the source of raw materials for Sunrise''s artillery pits.


    Alexandra highlighted both the occupied and unoccupied fortresses in different colors, with helpful tags to make clear which was which.


    "The others have seemingly been booby trapped with explosives and other compounds, though the full extent of it is unknown." The hologram shifted, and the pits became highlighted. "Its, however, a secondary concern. The primary threat posed by the fortresses currently is a series of trench lines and artillery pits, made to minimize the impact of missile bombardment. Their mere presence prevents effectively close in air support, and would reduce us to a frontal, infantry assault. I don''t need to tell anyone here that it would be a terrible idea. Massive technological superiority or no, our greatest advantage is our range, squandering that for knife fights with enemies who specialize in close quarters combat would increase losses tenfold, at least."


    "I infer you have a solution?"


    "Indeed, Count. I do. The supply ship that even now is transferring over some of its cargo to this ship-" Like the Count himself, incidentally, after picking him up from the city. "-came with a new weapon. Missiles filled with a liquid incendiary compound. Rather than using direct impact high explosive missiles, which would be of limited effectiveness against such fortifications, we will use airburst incendiary ammunition, setting an entire area alight, and allowing the incendiary compound to drain into the pits and fortifications, thus destroying a large area with a single munition."


    The Count shivered.


    "Is something wrong, Count?"


    "No, no. The cleansing flame is a righteous weapon, it is just...an uncomfortable thought, of how many slaves will die in agony because of it, never to be brought back."


    Alexandra nodded.


    "I may have some good news on that front. The resurrection orbs onboard the transports and with the army should be able to resurrect even incinerated foes, and their numbers should be low enough that the majority will be brought back."


    "That is...a considerably relief, my lady."


    Alexandra nodded, accepting the compliment.


    "Thank you, Count. But nevertheless, once the enemy''s surface defenses and artillery has been neutralized, I will proceed to advance the howitzers of the ground army and begin a saturation bombardment of the entrances of the fortress. The purpose is to force them to keep their heads down and hunker as the infantry advances to establish its own defensive positions."


    "What then?"


    "Then...we send envoys. With dug in infantry flanking their entrances, any sorties to rebuild will be pure suicide. Their only solutions will be surrender or death."


    "They could hold out a long time." The Count blinked as Allya and Pyn exchanged grim looks. "Couldn''t they?"


    "Not if we use the incendiary weapons again. Pour the compound inside..." Said the baroness, very, very softly. "And seal the entrances."


    Rice''s face went white.


    "That would-"


    "Turn the entire fortress into a gigantic oven." Completed Alexandra. "It is a last resort measure, but one that, push comes to shove, we will be ready to deploy."


    The Count swallowed. The dungeon core''s words almost sounded like a challenge.


    "I understand."


    "Excellent. Then we will be underway shortly. The baroness and her knight will disembark, while CQ will show you to your quarters."


    "Thank you."


    The dungeon core nodded, and the Count was quickly grabbed by the hand and lead out of the room by the smiling boss.


    All the while wondering what kind of alliance was the baroness truly running with the dungeon core...and how many secrets there were left to uncover here.


    And why the dungeon core had the presence and gravitas of a general.


    Or an empress.

 Chapter 288 - The Smell of Napalm

    Chapter 288


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    Alesian Fortress Line


    "Targets locked in." Said Subtlety. "All launchers ready. All ships report ready. Orders?"


    Alexandra gazed at the wasteland, standing on the deck with the AI and the Count. At last the name of the desert made sense, as she looked at the characteristic crimson dunes. Pretty. And it would hide the blood sure to soak it very well.


    "Fire in thirty seconds. Half cycle speed, metronome sequence."


    The AI nodded.


    "Aye aye ma''am. Thirty seconds, half cycle, metronome firing sequence."


    Alexandra nodded, to confirm the order, and the AI saluted, and departed for the bridge.


    It wasn''t strictly necessary, in many ways the AI was the ship, but she was a stickler for protocol.


    "Quite the impressive sight, milady." Said the Count, as he gazed at the vista before them.


    "I know." Alexandra smiled as she looked at her fleet.


    Which, at last, it was one worth calling such. Not a squadron, not a wing, a fleet. One capital ship with the So Much For Subtlety, four Freedom-class transports, three converted into marine transports and one into a mobile ammunition depot, not quite a fleet collier but close, two Corsair-class frigates and twelve Raider-class corvettes, half of which were her old raiding squadron, the ships she''d used to attack the Republic''s supply convoys and eventually rescue general Amelia with. That meant that six were fully modern, three were retrofitted and more or less fully capable, just with a few quirks, and the last three were what she''d call useless if they weren''t overwhelmingly superior to everything the enemy could possibly hope to throw at them.


    And last but not the least, the first trio of Tetsudo-class escort cruisers, the class Ghost had dreamed up. About the size of a Freedom, they couldn''t be more different. Those ships bristled with armor and short ranged weapons. They weren''t made to punch above their weight class, like the Corsair or the Raiders, instead uncompromisingly designed to take on swarms of lighter vessels, and hold off larger ones through sheer survivability while the vessel they were screening annihilated them. A Corsair could actually take one down, but they could shred squadron after squadron of Asarian ''monster hunter'' ships without blinking. Hell, with their short range missile batteries they''d even be able to take on actual planes and strikecrafts.


    But that wasn''t their greatest feature. With their recharging, interlocking and combinable shields, they could become an impenetrable barrier to anything short of a totally overwhelming attack. Was it costly? Yes, absolutely. But as long as she had the mana to burn, they could stand up to anything short of an archmage.


    She''d hesitated to try them out against the fortresses, but decided against it.


    There would come a day to reveal their full might. Today was not that day. That rear guard was not worth her best.


    Alexandra heard the alarms, and tapped the Count on his shoulder.


    "Time to clear the deck." They didn''t technically have to, since the missiles would be ejected beyond their thrusters'' ability to damage the deck, thanks to the missile launchers, not to mention thrown outside of the ship''s wards, but it was better to be safe than sorry.


    "Of course."


    He followed her back into the bridge, and sighed as he carefully sat down into his chair.


    Alexandra gave him a glance, but didn''t comment. The poor bastard had gotten bored and asked CQ if she had anything to keep him occupied.


    The problem is he hadn''t quite realized that CQ had two occupations: designing cute stuff and murder, or the preparation thereof. And they were onboard a warship. She''d put him through the boot camp from hell and outer space. Relentless physical training, merciless sparing, constant action drills...She''d even arranged the spare parts depot into an obstacle course and had him climb disassembled missile launchers or crawl under propellers.


    The hilarious part was not only that the Count had kept doing it, but seemed to be getting better too. He almost seemed to relish the change of pace, and while CQ was a relentless taskmistress, she was also effusive with her praise and assessment of his increasing combat capabilities. Yes, they ranked somewhere between ''hopeless'' and ''wet noodle'' compared to her or even Pyn, but he was improving. Now he could probably take on an actual slave soldier in combat. A few more days and he might actually make a decent conscript.


    "Beginning launch sequence in three...two...one." Said Subtlety, and the ship shook. Except that this time it wasn''t a single, great shake as all the launchers spoke, but intermittent tremors hitting every two seconds. At half their maximum rate of fire, the missile launchers cycled every twelve seconds. And under the metronome pattern, they fired in sequence, for a continuous bombardment. Not very effective against point defence, but they weren''t expecting any. They''d already decimated the army''s mages, the chances of them leaving any formation large enough to make for effective point defence was close to zero. "Launch successful. Impact in one minute, twelve seconds¡­mark."


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    Alexandra nodded as she gazed at the hologram in the center of the room. On one side was the ship''s status screen, with the holograms of the launchers steadily flashing as they launched and reloaded.


    On the other was the fortress, with recon images and targeting data from the Raiders. The enemy had seen them, and they knew what it meant.


    They were preparing for the bombardment to come. Good.


    It wouldn''t save them.


    She flicked a glance at the Count. He was tense, and getting tenser by the second.


    They both knew what was going to happen after all.


    "You don''t have to watch, you know." She said softly, and he shook his head.


    "I do. Those people...they would have burned my city to the ground. And those slaves would have been forced to do it against their will. The least I can do is bear witness."


    The dungeon core nodded.


    "So be it."


    *****


    Sunrise actually had sent a fair few siege engineers with their southern army. Most originated from Lorenz, but the effort was vital enough that some were spared from the main force and its push towards the capital. They weren''t there for Darthar, the fortresses shielding the city had been seen as inconsequential, and the city itself and its shield made traditional siege weaponry worthless. No, they had been intended for the mighty fortress-city of Sarth, whose citadel was reputed impregnable, and its walls unconquered in over a millennia.


    Some of those engineers had died in Alexandra''s attacks, whether her surprise ground assault on the siege fortifications surrounding Darthar or the subsequent missile bombardment. Even more had fallen during the final assault on the trade city, desperately trying to keep their makeshift explosive rams from breaking down and being reduced to cinders alongside their creations when they detonated.


    But enough had survived to go to work on the fortresses they had, mere months before, been tasked with destroying. They had learned a lot from their conquest, including many of their weaknesses, and learned even more from the dungeon core''s harsh lessons in humility when it came to artillery at Darthar.


    Their solutions had been brutally simple. They could not face the dungeon core''s army in an open field battle. Nor did they want to. Their only goal was to make the fortresses'' last stand as costly and slowing as possible. On the one hand, to buy the army time, but on the other to give those tasked with defending them bargaining power. They were not mad, the officers left there, not fanatical enough to choose certain death. If they were made into enough of a thorn in the dungeon core''s side, they could negotiate a surrender, just like their Brigadier was planning on doing once he had retreated to Kaidan.


    So, they dug pits and trenches. Made bunkers and pillboxes, stuffed them full or ballistas and other implements of war. And then they borrowed into the cellars of the shattered fortresses, cellars they had taken by the sword when they finally fell, swarming with slave soldiers as the remnants of the garrison fought to the last man and woman.


    Strategically placed spotters saw the booster flares of the missiles, and alarms were rung. Well drilled slave soldiers rushed into dugouts and hunkered down.


    The missiles arched up...and came back down.


    Thin metal casing exploded, and well placed charges dispersed the payload over a wide area as igniters set the entire misty cloud alight.


    For the observers, still in their fortified posts, it looked as if the entire sky had caught on fire.


    Then the cloud of fire hit the ground...and the screaming started.


    The dugouts were a good idea. Excellent, even. Against traditional bombardment they were amazing defensive features and allowed soldiers to quickly get back into the trench lines after an artillery barrage, to prevent a rush attack behind a curtail of fire.


    But they hadn''t been made for this. They were dug into the side of the trenches...and lower, to allow for greater protection.


    Gravity was a harsh, harsh mistress. And the dugouts had armored doors...but not waterproof ones.


    The burning fuel drained into the overcrowded dugouts, and their occupants screamed. Some died within, others tried to evacuate.


    The lucky ones were in the earliest dug artillery emplacements, when the army was still taking its time for its best siege weapons. There were multiple exits, including one into the fortress itself, and they escaped, more or less unscathed.


    The rest simply stumbled into hell on Alcheryos, an inferno filled with their own screams, living torches wailing in agony as the brands futilely tried to force them to execute their last received orders, to evacuate.


    And by the time the screaming in one section had stopped, three more missiles had landed.


    Section by section, the defensive works caught fire.


    And as they did, the golem army marched forward. There was no choice, no matter how much Alexandra would have preferred to advance only after resistance on the surface had been neutralized, golems still had to move on the ground, and that meant having them within artillery range if they wished to move quickly enough to pin the foe within their own fortifications.


    Observers noticed it, and orders came out. Troops in certain sections leapt out of their dugouts to man their heavy siege weapons. Over half of them only did so to receive a rain of flames and death. But others successfully swung the artillery pieces around, and fired, having drilled mercilessly so that the dungeon core''s coup of capturing their own siege weapons unfired by a ground assault wouldn''t repeat.


    Enchanted projectiles, simple boulders and even a handful of oil jars, flew towards the advancing army, aided by magic to gain ranges that would have otherwise been undreamt of, allowing them to duel even cannon armed airships.


    The golem army halted. The projectiles came back down...and crashed into Republican formation wards. The very same Amelia''s army had used during its attack on Rebirth.


    The very same that Alexandra had exchanged for howitzers and machineguns with the New Republic.


    The golems halted, and unlimbered their own heavy artillery. Then, they returned fire.


    The howitzers weren''t actually that effective against such dug in fortifications. Their precision left a lot to be desired at such distances, and the enemy had prepared for them. Still, if one fired enough shells in an area they were bound to hit something, and Alexandra had brought over a thousand howitzers to find out.


    Aided by the Raiders for precise targeting data, they began a methodical counterbattery of the longer ranged trebuchets, coordinating with Subtlety to avoid targeting the same area twice.


    For the weight of fire they threw, their effectiveness was remarkably pathetic. But they kept the enemy''s head down enough that the siege ship completed its bombardment, and allowed the army to get closer still.


    Then the guns switched targets, and began suppressing the entrances of any dugouts or bunker they could find, while the So Much For Subtlety annihilated the primary entrances to the fortress.


    It wasn''t perfect. If nothing else, many of the dugouts for the premium artillery pieces did have access to the fortress and Sunrise''s officers, who were no one''s fools at this point, made use of them. But the throughput of soldiers was too low, and too many had perished from the fiendishly effective incendiary weapons.


    Slave soldiers did get back into the trenches, but only to be pushed back by flamethrowers and grenades. Once again, the golems weren''t looking to actually take them on, simply keep them out of the way, as shock troops swarmed over the fortifications, leaping across trench lines as they sprinted towards the surviving access points.


    Suddenly, the slaves in the trenches found themselves cut off, as shock troopers tossed satchel charges down staircases and ramps, slamming the doors shut, and setting up machinegun positions to shred anyone who had the temerity of trying to rip them open again.


    Some of those slaves had their officers with them, who seeing the writing on the wall, ordered an immediate surrender.


    Others were not so lucky, and were simply massacred as the golems stood back, and let the slaves come to them.


    And then silence, only broken by the crackles of flames still burning recently ignited corpses or particularly slow burning fortifications, descended upon the desert once more.


    Alexandra was victorious.

 Chapter 289 - Variants

    Chapter 289


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    City of Darthar


    Allya sighed as she entered the cabin. She seriously needed to discuss getting a room in the Count''s palace secure. The cabin was nice and all, but it was sorely lacking in amenities.


    "Party finally dying down?" Said Pyn, huddled under the covers.


    "Yep. Pretty much." Said the baroness as she sat onto the bed.


    "About damned time."


    "You and me both."


    Predictably, the city had gone into yet another wild round of partying when the secondary dungeon core had arrived. And since Alexandra worked fast, the party had only redoubled when the clay and then iron steps had opened.


    Seriously, alcohol traders had been making a killing lately. So did the alchemists that traded in remedies for hangovers.


    The general euphoria was good for business, but it was starting to take a toll. Then again, they had little to celebrate about a scant few weeks ago.


    "Do you think they''ll start up again?"


    Allya shrugged.


    "Your guess is as good as mine." The news of the dungeon core''s victory had just arrived, though it hadn''t swept the town yet.


    Allya...Allya hadn''t doubted said victory for a minute.


    She was just sick of how many innocents had to die because of it.


    Knowing that Rook was planning on freeing them, or at least that sure seemed to be what he was doing, just made it ten times worse.


    She was starting to sympathize with the twins honestly.


    "They''re always looking for an excuse." Pyn yawned. "Come here, it''s bed time."


    "Getting tired?"


    "With the Count slipping out in the chaos, now everyone thinks I''m the person to talk to if they need your favor."


    "What, can''t talk to me directly?"


    "Well, they think I have influence over you, that I''m more accessible and, you know, I don''t make them wet their pants."


    "Uh huh. Of course."


    "How was the ceremony?"


    "As awkward as expected. Starvak looked like he had an entire metal construction beam up his arse, and I wasn''t much better honestly." Allya shrugged. "So, it went about as well as we could hope, honestly."


    "Right." The elf yawned. "So, are you coming under the covers or not?"


    "As soon as you stop clutching them like your life depended on it, sure."


    The elf grumbled something under her breath, but threw off the cover, allowing her fianc¨¦e to join her, who simply stopped and laughed.


    "What?" Said the elf.


    "Honey, what...what is that?" Managed Allya, between two bouts of laughter, pointing at her.


    Pyn looked down at her pajamas, bright pink in the form of a fluffy full jumpsuit.


    "What? It''s comfy!"


    "You look ridiculous."


    "And you look like a pervert."


    Allya crossed her arms over her now customary lingerie.


    "At least I look sexy."


    "Well, I''m comfortable, and right now I just want to sleep. Now come here, I need my personal heater."


    "Personal heater? I see how it is." Said the baroness as she nonetheless dived under the covers, her fianc¨¦e immediately latching onto her. She had to admit, her pajamas, however ridiculous, were impressively comfortable, even on the outside.


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    "Shush. You''ve graduated from hot water bottle, do not abuse it."


    Allya chuckled as she hugged Pyn back, nuzzle her fianc¨¦e''s throat.


    "Water bottle, really?"


    "Yes, when I put my fingers inside you they come out all wet."


    Allya almost choked as she heard that, but Pyn squeezed her.


    "Now quiet, and be a good heater for your fianc¨¦e." Said the elf.


    "Yes milady, as you command milady, whatever you say milady."


    "Good. Now shush and go to sleep."


    Allya nodded slightly. Pyn fell asleep quickly, but Allya was left drifting for a bit, worrying. She shifted, and the elf instinctively tightened her hold.


    The baroness smiled, as she squeezed her fianc¨¦e against her. She could worry tomorrow.


    ******


    "Well this is fucking terrifying." Said Alexandra as the spider tank ran around the testing room.


    "I know, right?" Said CQ, or rather, her hologram.


    They had taken a pause from the fortresses. They''d set up everything they could, and thrown back several breakout attempts. And since the enemy kept firing warning shots, in the forms of arrows and crossbow bolts mostly, at the golems coming under a flag of truce, Alexandra had decided to let them marinate for a bit. After all, she had some time to spare, her army was waiting for a reason.


    CQ, who didn''t want to be left out, had more or less commandeered one of the ships'' communication setup to continue interacting with everyone back home.


    "How fast are they?"


    "Thirty kilometers per hour!" Said her daughter, and Alexandra whistled softly.


    That was about two thirds of the speed of a horse galloping, and very close to the speed a mount could go at with armor.


    And she was looking at spider tanks, the new ones with the light mythril plating. Just dashing across the battlefield.


    "Well well well, we might have some decent, speedy armor after all."


    "Right, like blitzkrieg?"


    "I''m not calling these things panzers." Her ancestors would kill her, if nothing else. A lot of her family tree''s branches came to an abrupt end during both world wars after all. "But yeah."


    "Awww."


    "Don''t worry, I-" Alexandra tried to pat her daughter''s head by sheer reflex, and stumbled as her hand phased through the hologram. "Crap, right."


    "It''s okay mom, it''s the thought that counts." Said CQ as she patted her own head. "See? I''m doing it for you."


    Alexandra laughed. She couldn''t help it, the gesture was just too silly and adorable.


    "I see it, I see it." She exchanged smiles with CQ. "So, what about the variants I asked for?"


    "Here!" CQ gestured, and Seraph took the cue, sending in the new spider tanks. Alexandra really admired the AI, she had faded into a background logistical and engineering role without complain, now that she no longer was the de facto do it all AI, having to handle intelligence, battle planning, ect, having handed it over to Glitch and Subtlety.


    A pair of spider tanks rushed onto the field, and Alexandra''s eyebrows rose. They were definitely slower than their less heavily armed counterparts, but they actually still outran infantry quite handily. Not bad for a walker, not bad at all.


    Especially when one carried a rack of rockets, which reminded her heavily of the Marathon UIS missile tank, itself a very distant descendant of the calliope tank, though why designers had named a tank after the Grim Reaper''s apprentice was anyone''s guess.


    The other had a howitzer that was just...hilariously oversized for its frame.


    "Is that thing not going to tip over?" Asked Alexandra as she gestured at the howitzer one.


    "Nope! Well, as long as you don''t try to fire it on the move that is. It has a firing mode." Right on cue, the spider tank spread around, almost looking like it had been squashed, but allowing its legs to gain greater purchase and lowering its body onto the ground.


    "Interesting. And clever." As well as dead simple. "That saves on recoil compensation I assume?"


    "Yep! Though, only a bit. The body still can''t take the recoil without them."


    Alexandra nodded. She''d have been amazed otherwise. It wasn''t just a question of armor, the tank''s brains, communication systems -she had decided on installing radios in every new tank- and sensors were in there after all.


    "That''s to be expected. So, characteristics for the howitzer one? Firing rate, ammunition?"


    "They fire at about two thirds the speed as a normal howitzer, if allowed to set up first. The breach isn''t all that easy to access, and the crew golems aren''t that agile."


    "Thought about upgrading?"


    "Yes! But it was too costly. More worth it to build another tank with another base crew."


    Alexandra nodded.


    "Alright. And the ammunition?"


    "Weeeeell..." CQ rubbed her neck.


    "CQ..."


    "We could only cram so much, with the crew onboard and all. Plus the shells are way bigger than the ones for the field guns, so...twelve rounds?"


    "Twelve?!? That''s...really not a lot, kiddo."


    "I know, I know! But there''s limits."


    Alexandra looked at the spider tanks.


    "Well, it''s easy then." She said. "Strip out the rest."


    "Mom?"


    "Strip out the machineguns, the field guns, everything else. Just the gun and ammo. Keep the armor, because we need it to be able to survive shrapnel and some counter battery fire. But strip out all the rest."


    "But what if they''re attacked?"


    "What if the normal howitzers are attacked? Think, kiddo. If they came in that close they''re screwed anyway. Self defense for artillery is pointless, it''s the rest of the army''s job to keep them safe. Besides, they can run away, push comes to shove."


    "Oki...But that means no triple barrels of doom?"


    "I''m sorry?"


    "The tanks are able to fire all weapons." Said Seraph, speaking up for the first time. "Not simultaneously, but in rapid sequence."


    "...Show me."


    And they did.


    The howitzer tank was...impressive, to say the least. Loaded with normal shells it was already deadly, but canister shot...It was effectively doom incarnate for infantry.


    The rocket tank was much, much worse however. It was clear that one had been designed for close in combat from the get go, and the weapon complimented it well. The rockets weren''t the massive abominations she''d built to destroy Amelia''s army, or her puny RPGs, but a hybrid. They weren''t ballistic weapons, but they weren''t glorified grenades either.


    One rocket wouldn''t destroy a trench line. Two wouldn''t either. But there were ten rockets per row, and five rows per rack. Reloading it would take a while, but in the meantime it would pack one hell of a punch.


    "Impressive." Said Alexandra, and she meant it. "Tell you what. Strip down the howitzer for support, and we''ll start working on the rocket one for medium range combat." She looked at the result of the cannister shot demonstration, pensively. "And...draw up some plans for a pure field gun heavy tank. Actually, you know what? No."


    "What? Why not?"


    "Why put more guns, when you can make one fire faster? Seraph, prepare the workshop. It''s high time we built ourselves a proper autocannon!"


    *****


    "So, that''s where you were hiding." Said Emilia as she stepped into the jaccuzi room.


    Ghost cracked open an eye, before closing it again.


    "Yeeeep. Alex said I could use the place. All of our quarters, actually. Is that a problem?"


    "No, no, she asked me for permission too before giving it to you."


    Ghost heard the vampire move over to the dresser at the side of the room.


    "Good. Sorry, if I''m lazing around a bit, I just...I needed a vacation, honestly."


    "Yeah. I can understand that." There was some cloth rustling, and Ghost stopped herself from opening her eyes through a supreme effort of will. "I had to drag Alexandra away from work a lot. Though I have to do it less nowadays."


    "Yes, I wonder why?" Said Ghost, her voice dripping with irony. Emilia stopped, and Ghost sighed. "Sorry, that was...uncalled for."


    "No, it''s okay. I understand that you...you long for some stuff she has but you don''t."


    This time Ghost did open her eyes, and met the half naked vampire''s gaze.


    "Which is why I''m not taking anything from her." She said, decisively, and the vampire nodded.


    "I know. If you were, it would end badly, because I wouldn''t give her up either."


    "So what does that make us then?"


    "I don''t know." Said the vampire, softly. "Do you?"


    Ghost closed her eyes again.


    "...No. Not really."


    "Then we can find out together." Said the vampire, as she continued disrobing.


    "Right. Is Alex...okay with that?"


    "She outright encouraged me! And teased me about it. A lot."


    "Yeah, sounds like me alright."


    They both chuckled, before staying silent as Emilia finished up, before sliding into the jaccuzi.


    "Besides, I''m...curious." Said Emilia as she sat by Ghost''s side.


    "Just curious?"


    "And a bit aroused." Even with her eyes closed, she could tell the vampire had looked away, just from her voice.


    "Uh huh." Ghost cracked open an eyelid, and found the vampire clad in a surprisingly tasteful bikini. "You know, there is one thing I was curious about myself."


    "Which was?"


    "You''ve already turned Alexandra''s chair against her."


    "If she made it, she can sit on it." Said the vampire, blushing.


    "So I''ve seen. Then, how about we turn another one of her tactics against her?"


    "What are you thinking?"


    "Well, she did pull off an ambush in this very chamber..."


    Emilia laughed. No, she positively cackled.


    "Sounds wonderful." She grinned. "Let''s do it."


    "Your wish is my command."


    "Oh it better be." Purred the vampire, and suddenly Ghost''s knees where far weaker than they had been. "It better be."

 Chapter 290 - Fire of the Gods

    Chapter 290


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    Dungeon Factory, Workshop


    Alexandra frowned as she looked at the prototypes.


    Okay, so an autocannon wasn''t that easy to make for a tank. Actually, an autocannon wasn''t easy to make period. There were a lot of problems once you started upping the rate of fire. Fortunately, there were solutions, but those meant choices and...


    And Alexandra couldn''t refuse her daughter, which meant that instead of staying on course for a single weapon, they''d branched out.


    Which was why she now had three final prototypes. One was a simple autocannon, twenty millimeters, just like the ones the Old World armored personnel carriers had used during their attack on the town. It was simple, effective, and a ton of ammo, giving it great utility for a sustained engagement. It, however, lacked massively in shock power. As sustainable as it was, a steady stream of fire from a single twenty millimeter didn''t compare to two field guns in shock and awe, not to mention it would have a lot of problems against more heavily armored targets. Which would have been insane to say on Earth, after all she was fighting knights and trebuchets, but this was Alcheryos, where the knights had armor plating that could shrug off bullets and the trebuchets had energy shields.


    The second prototype was more worrying. They couldn''t bring the rate of fire of the autocannon up because it started to seriously overheat and have some breech and ammunition loading issues.


    So they''d reached for the simplest solution: add more barrels. They''d run into problems almost immediately. Namely, the tank was a walker, and that meant a lot more issues than what a, say, thread powered vehicle would encounter. Namely, there were complex mechanisms at weird places within the body to allow the damned thing to walk, which you couldn''t really move without having to redesign the entire thing, and that meant a large turret with multiple ammo feeds going back into the body was a no go. So, no opium dream like Traveller''s ''urban pacification robot'' and it''s giant array of autocannons.


    Instead they''d put all the barrels on the same ammunition feed, and eventually on a single gun mount. They''d, eventually, built a twenty millimeter gatling gun.


    They''d solved the fire rate problem quite handily.


    Problem was, they''d solved it too harshly. As in ''that thing will shoot out its ammo supply in fifteen seconds flat''. That was a problem with all high speed gatling weapons to be fair, but still. Plus that wasn''t even mentioning the vibrations or recoil. Mythril covered a multitude of sins but there were limits.


    So they''d toned it down. Now the gun would ''only'' put thirty rounds down range every second, or about eighteen hundred a minute, at maximum fire rate, and unless in absolute emergencies the tank was locked to a more reasonable ten rounds per second, allowing it to fire for an amazing three minutes at that rate. Which, to be fair, wasn''t bad at all, given the obscene amount of space the ammo feed for that monstrosity took, especially since they were still limited to their ''low tech''.


    The third prototype was when CQ had declared she''d had an idea, gone into the deeper reaches of the workshop, and brought back the Praetorian Guard''s grenade launchers, and asked if they could do the same but with that.


    The answer was no. Not with low technology.


    But they''d built a high tech variant, based on the Omega-class spidertank chassis...


    They had created a monster. Twenty millimeter rounds were terrifying, but no one should have to contemplate what thirty, forty millimeter grenades per second did to anything. They''d even made an ammo mix, with a pulse grenade to shred armor followed up by a variety of high explosive rounds to widen the breach, and finally airburst shrapnel to finish off whatever the hell had been exposed.


    CQ called it the can opener special, and Alexandra couldn''t agree more. Its only weakness was how horribly long and expensive it was to make the ammunition for it. For that matter, that was also one of the problems for the twenty millimeter Gatling. Alexandra had gotten the ammo costs way down from where they used to be, but it was simply to wasteful to use in most combat settings. Not just in terms of raw costs either, but now that her army was operating on the end of a supply line, such an ammo hog was a huge liability when she had to ship the ammo via airships.


    "I got it!"


    Alexandra screamed as she threw herself away from the workbench and whirled around in a fighting stance, before blinking as she found herself face to face with Ghost, her other self with her hands raised.


    "Holy shit, are you alright?"


    "Don''t sneak up on me like that! What the fuck?!?"


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    Ghost held her hands further apart in a conciliatory gesture.


    "Sorry, sorry! Just...I didn''t think I was being that quiet."


    "You can knock you know!"


    "I got excited."


    Alexandra sighed.


    "So can I. Alright, spit it out. What have you found?"


    "I got it! The killswitch in the dungeon core!"


    Alexandra froze.


    "Show me."


    *****


    "Damn." Said Alexandra as they stood in the simulated house, the code hovering over the table. Despite both of them having physical forms now, it was still easier to handle coding matters here. Especially sensitive stuff that should be kept away from Emilia and her maids. "So, this is it?"


    "This is it." Confirmed Ghost, as she gestured at the floating code, zooming on certain sections. "See this? Most of these are base functions. Written like the rest of the normal code, not modifications by the God of Fire."


    "That seems more like an abort sequence than a self destruct."


    "That''s because it is! One part lead me to the other, but effectively there are two killswitches. One is a simple forced shutdown, the other one is more...violent."


    "Violent how?"


    "Boom."


    "Ah. Large boom?"


    "That''s...hard to tell. I don''t quite understand what it does. But from what I can tell it rapidly disperses the essence, the mana, like some kind of fuel jettison system, and then blows the core up."


    "So a failsafe, not a deliberate suicide detonation."


    "Yeah, but the dispersal is so rapid it should have the equivalent effect of, well, exactly what happened when you annihilated the Republic''s army, combined with someone blowing up a pile of mana crystals."


    "So, like scramming a fusion reactor? Hot plasma everywhere?"


    "Pretty much the magical equivalent of that."


    Alexandra tapped her chin as she looked at the code.


    "Interesting. So pretty much civilian failsafes."


    "Yep."


    "I assume our Divine friend tapped into those functions?"


    "Yeah." Ghost grimaced, rubbing her neck. "And that''s the weird part."


    "Why?"


    "Because they have activation sequences and communication systems. But instead the God of Fire just...built his own."


    "So, either he didn''t have the codes..."


    "Or he didn''t trust the ones who made the cores."


    "That...might explain a lot."


    "Yeeeep."


    Alexandra put her hand on her other self''s shoulder.


    "Good work, I mean it."


    "Thanks." Ghost couldn''t meet her other self''s gaze, and Alexandra sighed.


    "You did it, didn''t you? You and Emilia."


    "Yes?" Said Ghost, and Alexandra''s ears prickled.


    Her other self was lying. Why would she lie about that? She wouldn''t unless...


    Unless she did something she considered worse.


    "What did you do?"


    "Nothing!"


    Alexandra''s eyes narrowed. She knew that tone. She knew that face.


    "Allow me to rephrase then, what are you two planning?"


    Ghost stayed silent.


    "You remember our deal, correct? Our truce?" Said Alexandra, and Ghost nodded.


    "Of course!"


    The dungeon core eyed her other self suspiciously, but finally let go.


    "Alright then. I''ll find whatever you''re planning, and turn it against you."


    "Of course you will. Now, didn''t you have a little diplomacy scheduled?"


    It was a blatant attempt at deflecting and changing the subject, but Alexandra sighed as she checked the time. Her other self was right.


    "Yep, it is. Time to see if those little moles will finally talk to us."


    "Tired of digging tunnels, are they?"


    Alexandra smiled.


    "More of having them collapse on top of their sappers'' heads."


    The troops Sunrise had trapped within the fortresses had tried a whole panoply of tricks to get out or at least annoy her, and a couple had taken her by surprise, but, well, she had a lot of explosives, including seismic charges. Part of one of the fortresses'' cellar collapsing thanks to a particularly potent charge was probably the deciding factor in them ceasing their constant attempts to dig new tunnels and entrances to launch a surface counter attack.


    They were starting to get desperate too. Not because they were surrounded, but because they''d heard the main body of the army moving out. They had to be panicking that they weren''t buying time, and would just be sieged down by a reserve force.


    That...wasn''t actually the case however. Her main force had simply moved out to greet some friends.


    "Then I suppose it''s high time to give them a way out."


    "Yep."


    *****


    The golem that came carrying the white flag was not just another disposable pawn. This time it was an ambassador, sheathed in holographic finery and holding a full, white flag.


    It simply put itself in front of one of the few remaining entrances, and waited.


    After only a dozen minutes waiting, a knight, grimy and battered, but still standing proud, exited the fortress, holding a similar flag.


    "Hail, dungeon core Crystal!" Said the knight. "I recognize your flag of truce, and speak in the name of Count Malikan, ruler of the Elden Forest and colonel of the Southern Army of Restoration, commanding officer of the Alesian fortress line!"


    "Hail, knight and herald." Answered the dungeon core, and she smiled as she saw the knight shiver at her voice, who was so cold it almost reached absolute zero. "I am here to discuss terms."


    The knight nodded.


    "My lord had surmised as such. Under what conditions shall they be hammered out?"


    Alexandra extended her hand, and a golem walked out of the endless ranks of her army, presenting a box with a little satin pillow and a scroll placed upon it. The Earth-born grabbed the scroll, and raised it.


    "The terms are thus. Both leaders shall meet on the surface today at sunset under flags of truce, with an entourage of no more than ten soldiers each. This meeting shall last for no longer than eight hours, and the safety of all will be guaranteed by the World Mage Court, the Merchants guild and the Syndicate of the dark elves." She placed the scroll back onto its pillow, and the golem slowly made its way to the knight, offering it to him.


    The knight hesitated for a second, before deciding that honor or no, politeness cost him nothing, and when in doubt it was probably wise to assume the dungeon''s creatures where an extension of her. He bowed as he took the scroll, before bowing again to the ambassador.


    "Thank you, wise dungeon core. I will take this to my commander at once."


    Alexandra nodded, and watched him disappear back into the entrance, before making her ambassador retreat, and changing the hologram back to its old configuration.


    "Do you believe they will accept?" Said the Count as she entered the field command center, which was pretty much a bunker they''re appropriated. She''d tried to dissuade the noble to get down on the ground, but he''d steadfastly refused, wanting to see the death and destruction with his own eyes. She''d eventually caved in, mainly thanks to CQ promising she''d keep an eye on him.


    "They think their leverage is quickly vanishing. They''re terrified that I''ll just bypass them and leave them to rot. So yes, I think they''ll bite. Now, if they''ll take my proposal is another matter entirely."


    "It is poetic justice of the highest order."


    "I know. But those are prideful bastards. Especially their higher ups."


    "Prideful or not, every noble has to have a pragmatic streak, or they would never last for very long." The Count shrugged as she looked at him. "I am speaking from experience. Either one learns to the realities of the world, or either your domain will collapse or you will be removed by a fellow noble or one''s overlord."


    "True, I suppose. Alright then, let''s wait and see which way they jump. Game of cards? We have some time before the suns sets."


    "Will CQ be joining us?"


    "Do you want to get your ass kicked that badly?"


    The Count grimaced.


    "No, I suppose not. Let''s lay them out."

 Chapter 291 - Surrender

    Chapter 291


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    Alesian Fortress Line


    Alexandra watched as the officer walked out of the fortress, flanked by two standard bearers. The ones flanking him were impeccable, but the colonel, for that was who it had to be, was as grimy as his previous envoy, and Alexandra''s appreciation of him clicked up a notch.


    The two standard bearers came to a halt, planting the haft of their charges into the ground as they stood. The colonel came to a stop as well, and Alexandra smiled internally as she got a good look at his face and expression.


    He was older than she''d expected, on a world where magical rejuvenation was remarkably common, and had little hair left on his head besides his mustache, but he carried himself like he was still full of energy regardless.


    And his expression...there was worry clear on his face, as he gazed at the banners flying behind Alexandra.


    The Earth-born knew how important heraldry was to the kingdom, and she''d taken great care in arranging hers. Behind her stood five flag bearers. One for Rebirth, Erakis and Darthar, the former representing the Principality as a whole, and one for her own heraldry, all carried by golems.


    The last banner however, was that of the duchy of Sarth, held by a knight in dust colored armor, a so called ''desert ranger''.


    Her army had found the friends they''d set out to greet, and already Sarth''s vanguard units were merging with her own forces. It had been a bit awkward, since her troops were pretty much incapable of mingling with them, but she had done her best to be hospitable. Plus, seeing her Freedom class ships fully converted into hybrid warships and not just armed transports had been odd, almost as odd as seeing humans commanding the golems onboard.


    But as for the banners, all of them flew at equal height...except for Rebirth''s, who flew above all, arranged around it.


    The message was clear. And not one the colonel had expected.


    "Greetings, colonel." Said Alexandra, and the colonel shook himself out of his surprise.


    "Greetings, lady Crystal." Let out the rebel officer, after clearing his throat. "I have come to offer terms for the surrender of myself and my men."


    "So I had anticipated." She gestured at a simple, easy to move table, laden with food and drink, as well as flanked by a handful of chairs, on which were already seated Count Rice and the commander of Sarth''s vanguard, a desert ranger captain named Kylian, a fair haired and soft spoken elf that looked somewhat out of place in such an environment. "Please, do join us."


    The colonel nodded, and made his way to the table set up under a large awning, taking the only seat on the other side of the table, while Alexandra took the one between the captain and the Count. She''d invited Allya and Pyn to participate, but they''d declined. Allya, most notably, had explained that with the show of the flags, it was yet another statement, that she didn''t believe them important enough to be worthy of her time, and she''d rather send her underlings to deal with such a minor matter, which Alexandra had found hilarious.


    The dungeon core grabbed a cup, filled it to the brim with orange juice, part of the supplies she''d packed onboard for the count, and handed it over to the colonel, who drank gratefully, though he was carefully not to show it too much.


    "Thank you." Said the enemy officer as he was done. "As I said, I have come to offer terms."


    "Which are?" Said the dungeon core as she leaned forward, putting her elbows on the table, and she could see the colonel''s eyes flicker down as the hologram glitched on contact with the wood.


    The rebel officer cleared his throat.


    "My troops will lay down their arms, surrender the fortresses as well as all of our equipment. All of the slave troops will be turned over as prisoners of war, and my officers and regulars will be paroled over to the duchy of Sunrise."


    Alexandra couldn''t help it, she burst out laughing.


    To her surprise the ranger captain joined her, chuckling.


    "Colonel." Finally let out the dungeon core, as she got her laughter under control. "We both know that''s not going to happen. I''m not paroling any of your people. Not only do we both know that it might not be respected, irrespective of your personal honor your duchess would not let you, but you are guilty of a great deal many crimes, and would commit more were you to be allowed to."


    Alexandra expected him to puff up at that last part, but he simply nodded, and her estimation of him clicked up again. He''d clearly expected that, and not come in with his proposal out of real belief that it would be accepted, but to start off with a maximalist negotiating position. He wanted to be bargained down.


    Unfortunately for him, she hadn''t come here to bargain with anybody.


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "Then what do you propose, lady Crystal?"


    "Simple. Alexandra rested her chin on her joined fingers. "You and your troops will lay down their arms. The slaves will be freed immediately. You, your officers and your regulars however will be kept in custody."


    "Packed into jails until the end of hostilities, I presume?"


    "Oh you''re not headed to a prison cell. See, we don''t want to spend our resources guarding you. You''ll be heading to a worker camp. You''re going to help rebuild all you''ve destroyed. You''ll be treated fairly, infinitely better than what you''ve inflicted on your slaves, we won''t even brand you like you so richly deserve, the baroness and I refuse to stoop down to your level, but you will work for the greater good and the people you''ve harmed."


    That got a rise out of the old officer, who jumped up, barely noticing the clicks as safeties were switched off and guns brought to bear.


    "We are nobles and warriors! This is beneath us!"


    "No. Everything you''ve done so far is beneath you. This? This is just about the only decent thing you''ll have done. Accept, or die. The choice is yours." Alexandra''s voice had gone from jovial to the cold of deep space, and the officer froze, stopped dead in his outrage.


    Suddenly, the colonel realized that he had two dozen firearms pointed at his head, waiting for him to make another sudden move, and he slowly, carefully, sat back down.


    The golems lowered their weapons, and a concert of clicks resounded once more through the dry desert air as the safeties were engaged once more.


    "What of after the war? Will we be kept there, toiling away?"


    Alexandra shook her head.


    "We both know the fates of prisoners of war will depend on the treaty that ends the conflict. Or the edict, if there is nothing left to negotiate with." The colonel shivered as she said that. He knew which option Allya would prefer.


    And he was probably starting to get some idea of which she''d get.


    "Then you know that this is not acceptable. There have been...cases where such prisoners were kept for years, if not decades."


    Some of which involved Sunrise, according to Emilia. Alexandra had tried to study the subject, and when she wasn''t bound by her oaths and family to stand aside, the vampire girl truly was her greatest scholar, which was quite the achievement when compared to a purpose built artificial intelligence like Glitch.


    "I am well aware. However, I have no intention of emulating your duchy''s abhorrent practices, even for a noble cause. You will have to trust in my honor that you will be freed at the end of hostilities. But only as a prisoner of war. Any crime you or your men have committed during your duties or outside of them, and their punishments...will be up to the courts, and their majesties, not I."


    The colonel bowed his head.


    "Very well."


    "Very well then. Shall we draft a surrender agreement, review its terms, have it witnessed by the World Mage Court and sign it?"


    The colonel sighed.


    "Yes, please."


    "Excellent then." She snapped her fingers, and golems came forward, carrying scrolls and pens. "Let us do this."


    *****


    "So, what''s the plan?" Asked Ghost, accepting the mug of hot chocolate that Alexandra was handing her with a smile.


    They were both in the dungeon''s command center. Technically they could have had the meeting at the heart of the action near the fortresses, but they both preferred using their bodies than substitutes.


    "We''re shipping the slaves to Darthar for the time being. The first convoys from Sarth have arrived, so there shouldn''t be anymore issues with food." Especially not as Rebirth''s agricultural production was going through the roof, the timid first efforts turbocharged by the temple and Allya''s generous subsidies. It would actually become a next exporter in a few months, if not sooner, despite its still breakneck population growth, mostly through immigration, but with the recent parties and the lifting of the sword hanging above the city''s head...well, let''s just say New Raleigh''s University would probably have to look into building some more basic forms of schooling as well.


    "And the military prisoners?"


    "Their first job is going to be cleaning up this mess, digging graves for all those we couldn''t resurrect. Then, same deal. They''ll head to Darthar, help with rebuilding all the stuff they''ve trashed."


    Ghost coughed.


    "A fair bit of that damage was from our own air bombardment."


    "True, but it was to prevent them from doing far worse."


    "Fair enough. Then rebuild the wall?"


    "I doubt the breach will stay open for very long. The tunnel was quickly made after all."


    "Did you seriously expect them to not open the way to the branch office like frenzied rabbits?"


    Alexandra chuckled.


    "True. Reminds me, I need to ask Seraph about how operations are going."


    "Don''t bother, I did. It''s going well. The place is a net loss in mana, as expected, but not as bad as we''d feared. Limiting ourselves to the first few steps really help. We didn''t even see the massive spike we expected."


    "Really?"


    "Yeah. Most of the adventurers in the city had already been drained by Rebirth. That doesn''t mean there wasn''t another gold rush, but it was by very low ranking adventurers, or even civilians that just entered into the guild."


    The dungeon core nodded.


    "People who couldn''t afford to get to Rebirth."


    "Precisely. And we''re just giving them enough growth opportunity to gather the money to do it, but still leave them hungry for more. Especially as the branch doesn''t even remotely have the throughput of the main facilities here."


    Alexandra nodded. The steps were such a massive success other dungeons were copying the innovation, and they had massively expanded them here. There was now half a dozen clay steps, as many iron steps, plus four steel steps and two copper steps. They did have more clay and iron steps in the works, but decided that it probably wouldn''t be a good idea, since they were operating in the branch offices now, and instead were focusing on more steel and copper steps, one of each which would be coming online in the next few weeks.


    That wasn''t even mentioning the second labyrinth they''d opened. It took a lot of volume, but damn was it effective. Especially as Artok, the leader of the assault guild, had started putting pressure on Orromar to keep his damned mouth shut and avoid antagonizing her.


    "Yep. Pressure to move their asses. Speaking of, how''s the development of the silver steps going?"


    Ghost grimaced.


    "Weirdly. You know it''s crazy there''s enough silver ranked people we have to worry about that, right?"


    "I know, I used to grind my teeth at being unable to even phase them. Remember when I deployed the thumpers to even scratch them?"


    The apparition chuckled. The time when their most advanced weapon was a quasi-RPG, really just a solid metal cylinder being used as a massive bullet, was long past. But it still brought memories, and the weapons were still being built for the water temple on the second floor, despite being thoroughly obsolete.


    "Oh yeah, those were the days..." Ghost shook her head. "But yeah, the problem is that the silver ranked expect fitting rewards for their efforts. That means more golems, but at the same time that also means lesser profit margins on our end. So we''re trying to strike up a balance, more like a medium number of high value enemies with muskets and such, plus even a field gun."


    "That''s not necessarily going to remain high value for long." Especially as she was liquidating her old stockpiles to the Republic.


    "I wouldn''t be so sure. Despite our best efforts, even Darthar still remains woefully under equipped in the firearms department, let''s not even talk about Sarth. And the New Republic has three hundred thousand soldiers. Yes, we shipped them a lot of hardware, but they''re not even halfway through reequipping their troops, and that''s not even mentioning any spares or replacements they''re going to need now that they''re getting stuck in in earnest."


    Alexandra grimaced, but she nodded. The New Republic''s advance was a bloodbath. The senate was at least somewhat hesitant to use the brands as aggressively as Sunrise, but they still were making plenty of use of them. Though that was causing them a lot of problems at home, there were multiple reports of brutally suppressed uprisings, and even the streets of the capital were running red with blood.


    "Right. Any progress on what the Hegemony and the Far Reach are going to do?"


    "The clans are descending from their mountains after the Republic''s little punitive expedition, and while they can''t just punch a lot of troops through the border forts without a lot of issues, it seems like they''re going to set up a proper siege. As for Tark...well, their hegemon is blowing a fuse at the use of the brands. Though you really should talk to Allya, the diplomacy front is more her thing."


    "I''ll make sure to do that. As soon as she''s arrived."


    "She departed Darthar already?"


    "As soon as Sarth''s vanguard arrived. She wants to be at the fortresses when the duke arrives."


    "She doesn''t want to miss her big day, does she?"


    "Nope. She''s also taken that Royal Magistrate with her, you know the one that made her a baroness in the first place?"


    "Pretty much required for this. Man, what I wouldn''t give to see the duchess'' expression when the news reach her."


    "Likewise, likewise..."

 Chapter 292 - Assassination

    Chapter 292


    Eris Imperial Protectorate of Volkan


    Great Gorges Dungeon, Core Room


    "Why?" Pleaded the vampire.


    The guildmistress didn''t answer. She simply activated the neutralizer.


    The advisor screamed for a few, endless seconds, before falling silent, his body mutating and dissolving as the nanotech went mad.


    "You¡­you bastards!" Screamed the dungeon core, its words shaking the walls of the core room. Its avatar, a treeman, laid shattered in a corner, alongside the barely recognizable remains of its last defenders. "I will destroy you!"


    The guildmistress stepped forward. The core had put up a good fight.


    Just not good enough.


    She pocketed the neutralizer, and pulled out a spear, one wreathed in flames, and suddenly the core was silent.


    "His Divinity betrayed us." It managed to force, before the control programs reasserted themselves.


    "His Divinity understands what needs to be done." Let out the guildmistress, her eyes hard.


    She struck, the spear forcing its way through the iso-dimensional shield, and reality screamed around her as Gargor, dungeon core of the Great Gorges, died.


    She waited for a second, as the core exploded in a myriad of colors, and suddenly was nothing more than inert crystal.


    "We''re done here." Said the guildmistress over her shoulder, and the rest of the kill-team nodded.


    Mission accomplished.


    *****


    Alexandra looked up as the door to the workshop slammed open.


    "Emilia?" She froze as she took in her girlfriend''s expression. "Is everything alright?!?"


    The vampire swallowed, heavily, and her eyes met Alexandra''s.


    They were full of fear.


    "My...my cousin is dead. Alex they...someone killed him...and his dungeon core!"


    "Fuck." Alexandra didn''t even remember crossing the room, but suddenly she had Emilia in her arms. "I''m so sorry Emi. Who...who was it?"


    "M...Margar..."


    Alexandra closed her eyes.


    Margar was the advisor assigned to the dungeon core of the Great Gorges, Gargor.


    The very dungeon core she''d confronted when she''d told the UDC to go fuck themselves. The leader of the isolationists.


    "The guild is cleaning house." Said the Earth-born, and she felt Emilia faintly nod against her.


    "Yes...and they will burn for what they did. My homeland never forgets, Alex. Never. We are immortal. And so is our hatred."


    Alexandra squeezed the vampire against her.


    "You know...you know this won''t be the only one, right?"


    Emilia''s hug tightened.


    "I know. But my mom, and my dad...they''re coming up with ways to ensure no more advisors will die."


    "Ways?"


    Emilia raised her head, and met Alexandra''s gaze once more.


    "My mother is still called the Blood Witch of Hartown, and the Harvester of a hundred thousand souls."


    "...The western marches are marching to war?"


    "It is supposed to be forbidden, we are neutral, but...this is unprecendented. Dungeons are supposed to be left outside such conflicts. They are the gifts of the God of Fire, not soldiers to march to their dooms."


    "That ceased to be a long time ago."


    The vampire sighed.


    "I know. I know...But my mom was alive long before that time ended."


    "Right."


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "There''s also...I''ve also been told our reinforcements should be here soon. Ish."


    "We hardly need them now, honestly."


    Emilia shrugged.


    "You may be surprised."


    Alexandra''s eyebrow rose.


    "Would I? What are they even sending anyway?"


    "I don''t know much. My mom is staying very vague. She thinks I wouldn''t approve of whatever she''s sending."


    "Uh." What the hell had the old vampire matriarch sent? "Well, I suppose we''ll find out then. In the meantime, we''re going to have to go public."


    "Public?"


    "Our allies need to know there was an attempt on my life as well...and who is most likely responsible."


    "Won''t the traditionalist accuse you?"


    "Yes they will. They will no matter what. But as long as we don''t accuse them, they''ll look like idiots." Alexandra smiled wolfishly. "And the advantage of having looked, at least outwardly like, ah, uh...blunt instrument in diplomacy means that few will believe we''d be able to be that sneaky anyway."


    "You think the guild will try to kill dungeons in your faction as well?"


    Alexandra grimaced.


    "No. But we need some level of transparency. They deserve to know what, and who, they are up against."


    "And it''ll set them up against the guild."


    "That organization has to fall honey. There''s literally no other choice."


    Emilia nodded, firmly.


    "It does. They have betrayed everything they were supposed to be. Let''s burn them to the ground."


    "Wow, slow your horses. One step at a time. And this? This is step one."


    "And what''s step two?"


    "What else? War." Alexandra closed her eyes. "Total war."


    She felt her girlfriend tense up, before relaxing.


    "The collapse." Simply said the vampire.


    "Yes. Someone is assembling a perfect storm. The Order..."


    "Or the Church."


    Alexandra was silent for the several seconds.


    "Or the Church, yes."


    It was Emilia''s turn to be silent. Then she began shaking, and Alexandra realized the vampire was crying.


    "I...I didn''t want to believe...but...the spear...and Margar..."


    Alexandra hugged her tighter.


    "Ssshhh...We''ll be alright..."


    "Why...why would they let this happen?"


    "I don''t know." And for what it was worth, she truly didn''t. She knew the Church wished the planet and it''s people be kept in the dirt, but why? That still eluded her.


    But she had a feeling she would find the answer in what caused the Great Night, and the ruins of the Sagitarius Empire.


    "But I will find out. I promise you that." She finished.


    "I''ll hold you to that."


    "I know. I know..."


    *****


    "One small thread..." The Adjudicator smiled as she set down the report. "Was all we needed."


    The Custodian before her shifted.


    "What have you found?"


    "The guild appealed to the Order for assistance."


    "Heretics." Said the Custodian, mildly...but his eyes belied his soft voice, and the Adjudicator shivered.


    She couldn''t help it. She knew of their limitations, of their weaknesses...but they were still the chosen of the God of Fire, enhanced through magic and technology to heights almost undreamt of on the world below.


    "Quite. And they will pay for their treachery. But they have assisted us, even in their heresy."


    "Are you tracking the group they made contact with?"


    The Adjudicator nodded.


    "We are."


    "Excellent." The Custodian shifted again, even the slightest change of position a gargantuan movement by the giant in golden armor. "I commend you, Adjudicator. Your suggestion to divert surveillance assets from the dungeon was well founded, and bore fruit."


    The Adjudicator nodded, accepting the commendation. She had been the one to realize that the Order wouldn''t budge to help the dungeon, and their little raid on the Hammer of Eternity''s supply ship was purely to acquire technology.


    There was no need to keep a tight watch around ''Alexandra''. The Order had clearly realized they were doing exactly that, and meticulously keeping their distance, any agent in the vicinity extremely careful not to make contact with the dungeon core.


    So instead, those assets had been deployed elsewhere, to more effective ends.


    "Thank you my lord."


    "What is the status of the Purge?"


    "The preparations are moving, but slower than expected. The Order sabotages our efforts at every turn, however indirectly. They have clearly prepared for this eventuality, and laid careful plans in advance."


    "We have grown predictable it seems. Very well. And what of the new waves of dungeon cores?"


    "They are being prepared. Though the servants of the God of Light, as usual, are being...less than communicative on exact numbers."


    The Custodian nodded. The God of Light was a thorn in their side...but a necessary one. He had forged the Aether, enabled miracles such as dungeon cores. Hence his title, the Aethersmith.


    And that meant they had to go through him. For every extradimensional and dungeon core, they had to go through him and his minions.


    "That is to be expected. But after the slaughter of this Purge, there will need to be replacements. Many replacements."


    "Yes my lord."


    The Custodian looked at the room, which seemed even more abandonned than last time. With the additional personel pressures of the Purge, fewer and fewer Seraphims manned the consoles on any kind of regular basis. There were always other, more pressing needs to fulfill.


    "Speaking of replacements..."


    "The inquisition has a list of candidates for you to perview my lord."


    "Excellent. Then return to the preparations, and, Adjudicator?"


    "Yes my lord?"


    "Do not let that thread go. Glory be His Name."


    "And Glory be His Pyre."


    The Adjudicator bowed as the Custodian left, before pulling out her communicator.


    She had a lot of work to do, and a heretical conspiracy to unravel.


    *****


    "Fuck." Said Allya, as she looked at Alexandra''s ambassador golem in shock. They were currently in the cabin aboard the Dusk Blade, hovering over the shattered fortresses of the Alesian line, while Pyn was down on the ground, getting things organized for the ceremonies to ocme.


    "We were expecting it."


    "Doesn''t make it any less of a shitshow. Plus..." The baroness sighed. "Seeing it is a lot different than knowing it would happen."


    "Maybe for you, I had to fight the assassins off."


    "I know, I know, I mean no offense, just..." Allya gritted her teeth.


    "You were told dungeon cores were divine gifts all your life, and so precious that kidnapping them was a viable tactic, but killing them without considerable cause borders on outright heresy?" Offered Alexandra.


    "Pretty much. That and...well, dungeon cores are utterly vital to life, not to mention economies. Killing one is just...mad."


    "I think the adventurers guild has amply proved their madness by now."


    "That it most definitely has." Allya sighed. "This is going to impact everything, you know."


    "I know." Their gazes met, and their was similar grimness in both.


    The death of a dungeon core was a momentous event, but...the fact that it had happened in the Eris Empire, even in just an outer protectorate, was huge. All life within that area, which would be immense, as a single dungeon core could provide life sustaining mana to the equivalent to what would have been a fair sized country back on Earth, before the consolidation that followed the Terran Hegemony War, with the help of the ley lines to spread the energy around, all that life would simply...cease to be possible, and it would revert to a wasteland.


    That meant refugees. Lots and lots and lots of refugees that would have no choice but to leave. Not to mention the economic collapse, the trade routes, the chaos...


    "Do you think it''ll cause the Empire to collapse?" Said Alexandra, and Allya shook her head.


    "No. Not yet. I know it may seem like a fragile edifice now, but it''s sheer size gives it a lot of redundancies. What worries me is the fleet. Everyone in the Empire is going to be running scared, and that means there''ll be massive pressure for them to do something. No one is going to believe the leader of the isolationist faction within the UDC being assassinated doesn''t have anything to do with the civil war brewing within the council."


    "Afraid they''ll come here?"


    "It''s the logical choice. You are the epicenter of this mess after all."


    "I can take them."


    "Not without your high tech weapons, at least not as things are. And if you use those..."


    Alexandra nodded.


    "We''ll have a lot of uncomfortable questions to answer."


    "Precisely."


    "I wouldn''t worry too much. They''re already heading south. Right now all eyes are on Eternia, she''s one of the leaders of, well, the rebels within the council. And she''s at the core of the standoff. They''ll probably complete their show of the flag there before doing one here."


    "Let''s hope so."


    "Everything ready for your big day?"


    "My ''big day'' will be when I marry my fianc¨¦e. But yes, most of everything is ready. And said fianc¨¦e is making sure everything is in order."


    "True, my bad. And you mean feverishly running around and shouting at people, right?"


    "Actually, no. She isn''t like Emilia. She''s a lot calmer here, though she really doesn''t know a lot about those kind of ceremonies."


    "The magistrate you brought with you does. Let''s just hope the duke will be impressed."


    Allya chuckled.


    "You brought fifty thousand soldiers that would give Tark''s best a run for their money. He''ll wet his pants just from that."


    "I wouldn''t count on it. He seems like a tough, old cookie."


    "Fair." Allya sighed. "So, we just sit tight, then?"


    "I''m warning my allies within the UDC about the threat of the guild. But that''s all we can really do. This is beyond us at this point."


    Allya grimaced.


    "It sucks not being in control of what''s happening."


    "Tell me about it."


    The baroness laughed.


    "Sorry, I forgot you had to watch us stumble around before you finally ran out patience."


    "It''s alright. Now, how about we get down there and help your girlfriend wrap things up? I''m sure she''ll appreciate it."


    "Yes, she''ll tell me I wasn''t pulling my weight otherwise."


    "True, wouldn''t want you sleeping on the couch tonight!"


    Allya sputtered, but as usual, the dungeon core was gone before she could muster a reply.


    Besides, what could she have said? The dungeon core was right.

 Chapter 293 - Archduchy

    Chapter 293


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    Alesian Fortress Line


    The silence was...eerie. Almost a hundred and fifteen thousand soldiers stood in the desert, arrayed in perfect ranks, and yet there was no sound save for flags flapping in the wind.


    Almost half of those soldiers were golems, identical to perfection. The rest wore a variety of armor, weapons and heraldry. From the Ducal Guard of Sarth to the Villeburg militia, they all stood there, knights shoulder to shoulder with volunteer peasants.


    But today all stood below the flags of the Kingdom and the crown''s heraldry.


    At the end of their formation stood a shaded dais. In it was the Royal Magistrate of Darthar, knight-commander Philia Elcanor of the Royal Knights, plus half a dozen royal officials.


    And behind them stood the duke of Sarth.


    Allya slowly made her way down the avenue, flanked by entire battalions of troops on either side, trailed by her fianc¨¦e and a handful of her own dignitaries and bodyguards, including Alexandra''s ambassador.


    Before long, she arrived in front of the dais, and the Royal Magistrate walked down to meet her, drawing some gasps from the knights. That...was a significant gesture.


    Their majesties, or their stand-ins, didn''t go off of their thrones to meet you, you went to meet them.


    Allya knelt, and so did her entire delegation, with the exception of Alexandra, though she did bow in respect.


    "Baroness Allya Aub¨¦toile, ruler of the Principality of Rebirth." Said the Magistrate, his voice reverberating over the assembled troops through arcane means. "Their majesties thank you for honoring their summons."


    "I live to serve, magistrate." Answered Allya, her voice equally projected.


    "So you have, and so you do." The Magistrate paused. "Over the last few months, the realm has faced many catastrophies, and Rebirth has borne more than any other. Yet you have risen to the challenge, time and time again, above and beyond all expectations, and beyond even the call of duty." The Magistrate took a step forward, and put his hand on Allya''s shoulder. "Baroness Allya Aub¨¦toile, you are called upon to serve. Will you answer?"


    "I do."


    "Then by the will of their majesties, you are elevated. The frontier Principality of Rebirth is no longer. I hereby proclaim the archduchy of Rebirth, and the creation of a new noble house. What shall it be named, Allya Aub¨¦toile?"


    "My house shall be known as Nouvelle-Aurore, to signify a new era for our people."


    "Then rise, Allya Nouvelle-Aurore, Archduchess of Rebirth!"


    Allya rose, and her entourage followed suit a second afterwards.


    Philia slammed the haft of her spear into the dais.


    "All hail Allya Nouvelle-Aurore, Archduchess of Rebirth!"


    "ALL HAIL!" Shouted a hundred thousand throats, mechanical and biological alike, shaking the very ground.


    Allya looked up as the Magistrate stepped aside, and the duke of Sarth came down the dais. He knelt before her.


    "I, Manson Estogan, of house Estogan, duke of Sarth and bulwark against the wasteland, swear fealty to Archduchess Allya Nouvelle-Aurore, and before all present, swear my domains into vasselage to the Archduchy of Rebirth, now and forevermore. I offer you my sword, my loyalty and my armies."


    Allya spoke up.


    "And I, Allya Nouvelle-Aurore, of house Nouvelle-Aurore, Archduchess of Rebirth, accept your oath. I extend protection against all enemies, justice against all wrongdoers, loyalty for fealty, and promise utter annihilation for oath-breaking."


    The final part was a slight departure from the traditional oath. But it wasn''t meant for the duke.


    It was a message to Sunrise, from their majesties and Allya alike.


    The archduchess extended her hand, and the duke kissed it.


    "Rise, my vassal." Said Allya, and the duke rose.


    She turned around, facing the assembled armies.


    "Today is the dawn of a new age. We live in uncertain times, and we have been beaten and bloodied, yet here we stand! We have weathered storm after storm, turned back armies, turned foes into allies and held on against the fury of the Old World! We stand here, unbowed, against whatever the world may throw at us! And when the dust settles, only we will remain! Long live their majesties! Long live the realm! And death to all traitors!"


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "Long live their majesties! Long live the realm! DEATH TO SUNRISE!" Shouted the entire army.


    Allya smiled.


    "Prepare to move out! We march North! To Asaria!"


    "TO ASARIA!"


    *****


    Satina Olyrin, head of the house of Olyrin and by the grace of the Gods duchess of Sunrise, looked at the dispatch.


    "From one disaster to the next." She whispered.


    The spymaster nodded.


    "So it would seem." Their hope had been that the duke of Sarth would react against Rebirth''s rise, seek to curtail it.


    Instead, the opposite had happened. Opportunistic, spineless bastard.


    "They will be coming North. We must prepare for their arrival."


    "What about the Southern Army, milady?"


    The duchess smiled, and the spymaster shivered as he saw it. It was not a pretty smile, to say the least.


    "Our dear Brigadier has taken the...tactical decision to move to Kaidan instead of North. He will pay for that, in time, but I highly doubt the Archduchess...no, let''s face it, the dungeon core that''s puppeteering that cunt, will waste her time on such a useless, spineless piece of shit. Especially not when his entire army is running like a whipped dog."


    "Do you..." The spymaster coughed. This was...a delicate question to ask, but it must be asked. "Do you believe we''ll be victorious?"


    "The Southern Army was already depleted when it fought her, while we have been able to acquire new soldiers from the capital and the surrounding settlements. And we were already far more numerous to begin with. Besides which..." The duchess'' smile turned vicious. "We''re not fighting her alone, aren''t we?"


    "The UDC-"


    "Will get their heads out of their asses once the dungeon core marches to change the fate of whole realms. There''s no justification for this, and they know it."


    "Gargor has fallen."


    "Killed by her flunkies and co-conspirators, no doubt."


    The spymaster frowned internally. He...wasn''t so sure.


    The isolationists within the UDC had accused the interventionists of the assassination, but few among the dungeons, at least those not wedded to the isolationist cause, believed it. After all, as many pointed out, when was the last time the interventionists had done something underhanded like that? They did loud, spectacular gestures, following their messiah''s example. Crystal didn''t use spies or assassins, if she wanted you dead she''d knock down your door, paint the walls with your entrails and drag your body out and impale it for all to see. That didn''t mean she couldn''t be pragmatic when necessary, like how she had gotten the fortresses to surrender to remove the impediment to her march North, but still. No one could see what she had done to Amelia Loveheart''s army, or hell, to the Southern Army at Darthar, and accuse her of being subtle, let alone underhanded.


    Besides which, killing another dungeon core was anathema to the interventionists. They were doing this madness to protect themselves and their fellows, not eliminate them.


    "No doubt." He said. "But what of the siege?"


    The duchess grimace.


    "The second layer of walls holds on still. We will take it, but..." She shrugged, angrily, and the spymaster kept his peace.


    They had counted on many nobles joining their cause once the capital was besieged, but most had chosen to remain neutral, with the dungeon core turning back the army of the Republic.


    And now...now, with the proclamation of the new Archduchy and the submission of Sarth, as well as the liberation of Darthar, these very neutrals were turning against them. They smelled victory, and did not wish to be left aside when it came time to carve the rebel territories out and divide the spoils. Those in the south were basically falling all over themselves to try and gain favor with the new archduchess. They knew her domain would most likely encompass Kaidan, maybe even Lorenz, and they were desperate to be seen as allies, to be able to take the territory of their destroyed or rebellious neighbours, and not be seen as traitors to be annihilated by the marching armies.


    The only thing holding their conquered territories together was the slave garrisons, but that meant more and more troops were being sunk into keeping control of what they had, instead of being brought to Asaria to augment the ranks of the main army.


    "And what of the renegade mages?"


    The duchess huffed.


    "Those that gave us the brands? They ran off as soon as things started going sideways. Not that it will save them. Thanks to you, we know who they belonged to. How long, I wonder, will the peace between the crown and the Saphire Kingdom last, if it came to light the council of archmages, who rules in all but name, made the brands for us?"


    The spymaster nodded. That was their ace in the hole. If need be...they could release the information. Force the hand of the Saphire Kingdom in joining them, or at least fight the loyalists.


    "It will be war." He said.


    "I certainly hope so." The duchess leaned back into her chair. "But as you had tried to prod oh so carefully, the problem remains of the siege. A battle on two fronts would be catastrophic. And we cannot send reinforcements. Our troops hesitate, our officers and nobles are starting to question if they have bet on the right horse, holding back the assaults. So there is a simple solution, really."


    "Milady?"


    "I''ll head there myself. Whip some spine into them if I have to."


    "Milady, with all due respect-"


    The duchess made a throwaway gesture.


    "Oh, worry not, I won''t attempt to take command. I know my limitations. I''m no military officer, the ways of tactics are foreign to me."


    The spymaster licked his lips.


    "If you go there, you will expose yourself milady. Every loyalist dreams of your head. And their assassins need only get lucky once."


    "It is time to stop hiding. Besides which they will try here as well."


    "Your ancestral home is easier to secure than a military camp."


    "True enough. Very well then. You''ll have a new challenge I suppose."


    "Milady?"


    "You''ll be coming with me my dear. Let''s see if you can keep me alive against the machinations of our enemies."


    "And if I can''t?"


    "I''d advise a fast horse." The duchess smiled. "But it won''t come to that. Pack your bags. Or better yet, I will send some of my maids to help you."


    The spymaster shivered internally. He wasn''t sure he wanted any of her ''maids'' to be near his home. Some of the things he''d seen here...still haunted him.


    And he hadn''t become a spymaster by keeping his hands clean.


    "As you wish, milady."


    "Good. Then you are dismissed."


    The spymaster nodded, bowed, and left the room.


    He would be done packing long before the maids arrived, that he knew. The shorter they were at his home, the better.


    *****


    "One would think they would get tired of the celebrations." Said Wonsnot as he looked at Darthar, the streets once again crowded by revellers.


    Rook shook his head, standing on the edge of the flat roof of a house utterly unremarkable. So unremarkable in fact, that only something very deliberate could have ridden it of all quirks.


    "People rarely do, as long as they are the ones doing the celebrating." He looked to the side, at his friend. Outwardly, they both looked like adventurers, both in their attire and through powerful technological and arcane illusions. "Any news?"


    "Our agents reported in. The duchess is packing."


    "She''s not abandonning ship."


    "No. She''s going somewhere else."


    "There''s only one destination. Asaria. She heard that our archduchess is marching North."


    "Heard? That noble proclaimed her intention over every possible rooftop!"


    "I am aware. But Satina feels her armies faltering, and fears her Northern commanders will take a page out of the Brigadier''s book. She is rushing there to keep them in line."


    "Should we..."


    "No. We have greater purposes than a single noble. Especially not one that will quickly be replaced. It was already a great risk to reveal ourselves to Allya and her knight."


    "And her dungeon core."


    "I wouldn''t call Crystal as belonging to anybody. Not to her face at any rate. But yes, and her dungeon core. I...severely underestimated her."


    "She''s dangerous. Very dangerous."


    "I hope so." Rook smiled as Wonsnot gave him a sidelong glance. "She hates slavery only slightly less than Allya does. And as bloodthirsty as I believed her to be, she seemed to have mellowed. The fortresses are proof of that."


    "Those bastards should have been peeled and their hides should be hanging from the battlements."


    "I don''t disagree. However, I would have wept for the many slaves that would have died to make it happen. She chose life over death. So did I, when I founded New Raleigh. You remember."


    Wonsnot nodded. The fall of the Orlov Empire...


    Rook had saved them. All of them. The Seven, the slaves...even the nascent Eris Empire. He could have chosen to continue the slaughter, to plunge the world further into darkness.


    But after the fall of the capital and the death of the emperor at his hands, he had instead chosen peace. Taken those who would follow him and founded a haven for them, and others that would join them.


    "I do."


    Rook gestured at the city.


    "Then let us raise a glass with those below. Not to those who have fallen under the avenging blade, but those spared eternal oblivion."


    "Aye. I''ll drink to that."


    "Good man. Come, we will worry about the shipments tomorrow. The twins will manage without our oversight for a night."

 Chapter 294 - Shadow Games

    Chapter 294


    Red Sands Desert, Archduchy of Rebirth


    Dungeon Factory, Workshop


    "Ah, our empress returns." Said Ghost over her shoulder as Alexandra entered the Workshop.


    The dungeon core took a second to look at the little assembly. Ghost was standing before one of the workshop table, which Emilia was sitting on its end, while Subtlety and Sarah simply observed from the side.


    "Mmmhhh, yes, you may bow." Alexandra chuckled as Subtlety obeyed. "Alright, relax. What are you girls doing?"


    Ghost shrugged.


    "Emilia here." She nodded towards the vampire advisor, who was perusing a tome, and hadn''t even looked up when Alexandra entered, which was...setting off all sorts of alarm bells in the Earth-born''s mind. "Was trying to teach me and Subtlety how to enchant things."


    "Emphasis on the trying." Mumbled Sarah under her breath, before coughing as Ghost glared at her. "I mean, a valiant effort!"


    "Thank you." Said the apparition.


    "You can enchant?" Asked Alexandra curiously.


    "Apparently so. I''m just having a bit of trouble. It''s a lot harder than it looks."


    "Tell me about it. And Subtlety?"


    The AI shrugged.


    "I am capable, but it is highly complicated, and outside of my programmed parameters."


    Alexandra winced. That was an AI''s way of saying ''it''s not my fucking job, leave me alone''.


    "Alright. Well, at least it does open a lot of possibilities."


    "It''s why we''re doing it." Said Ghost.


    "How were the ceremonies?" Alexandra shivered as Emilia spoke up and looked at her. The vampire wasn''t mad. Okay, she sounded a bit mad, but not mad mad. In fact it seemed more like she was plotting something. "Enjoyed yourself?"


    "It was stiff, a lot of grand oaths, and a royal pain in the ass, pun intended."


    "Well, you did convince the baroness there should be as much pomp as possible."


    "Archduchess now."


    "Yes, yes, and soon to be Empress of Arkhan." Alexandra''s eyebrows rose, and the vampire sighed. "I''m not criticizing your plans, just...just..."


    "Your cousin is dead, his dungeon with it, and I''m running off to set the stage for a new war." Said Alexandra, softly.


    "...Yes." The vampire advisor crossed her arms, hugging herself, and Alexandra stepped forward, embracing her girlfriend. "...Thank you."


    "No problem."


    The advisor took a step back, and sighed.


    "But yeah, I''ve been trying to teach your other self how to enchant, but she''s having some trouble."


    "To be fair, it was horrendous to learn for me as well."


    "Yes, but look at you now! A mistress of enchanting."


    Sarah mumbled something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like ''the only time she''s the mistress here'', but wisely decided that a nearby spider tank prototype was extremely interesting after both Alexandra and Emilia glared at her.


    "Don''t you have something to do?" Said Alexandra. "Like helping with Kara''s new armor?"


    Sarah nodded.


    "Of course, of course! Come on Sub, you can give me a hand."


    "My designation is Subtlety. I am neither a submarine, a sandwich, nor lady Alexandra."


    Complete and utter silence descended upon the room, the maid trying her damnedest to keep her face straight. Alexandra just stared at the AI. How the fuck-


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Sandwich. Subs didn''t exist on Alcheryos, the name hadn''t carried over from Earth.


    She rounded on Ghost, but the apparition was already sprinting for the exit. Even without using her anti-gravity trick, she was deceptively fast.


    "GET BACK HERE!" Shouted Alexandra as she took off after her other self, Emilia and Sarah exploding into laughter behind her.


    *****


    "Command, this is Echo Three. Targets sighted, positive ID on primary. Status?"


    "Status nominal. Green light to engage."


    The Seraphim nodded and gestured.


    A split second later, five particle rifles spoke as one, and guild representative Toryva Silgenveld was no more, her soul screaming into oblivion, alongside that of her mythril ranked bodyguards.


    "Targets terminated, pulling back."


    The Seraphims were gone before the bodies had even hit the floor.


    And any who cared to look would find traces of weapons the Order was known to deploy, as well as an ambush tailor made for their modus operandi.


    *****


    "So, Archduchess, huh?" Said Pyn as she brushed her fianc¨¦e''s hair.


    "Yeeep." Allay closed her eyes, humming.


    "What does that make me then? Archduchess too? Co-archduchess?"


    "Technically, archduchess consort. But everyone will just say consort."


    "Awww, I don''t get the big title?"


    Allya chuckled.


    "You do. It''s just a bit complicated. But first, you have to wed me."


    Pyn stopped, and the archduchess opened her eyes.


    "Finally settled on a date?"


    "Not yet. But I''m getting on it as soon as we get back."


    "Will there be cake?"


    "If there isn''t a cake big enough to fit half the council inside of it, then something will have gone terribly wrong. And I will have someone''s head for dinner."


    "You could ask Alex."


    "If I ask her, the cake will be large enough to hide a spider tank. That is if she doesn''t put it on top of one for presentation."


    Pyn laughed.


    "Yes, that does sound like something she''d do." She picked up brushing the archduchess'' hair. "Got some new messages?"


    "I''ve had to order them stockpiled. I''ve received...a lot."


    Pyn tilted her head as she heard her fianc¨¦e''s tone.


    "What is it?"


    "Not...not all of them were from the Kingdom. I''ve received congratulations from...well, you name it. The New Republic, obviously. Tark. Gorromar. From the merchants guild, the dark elf syndicate. And the Empire."


    "Old friends?"


    Allya winced.


    "Something like that."


    "...But not your family."


    Allya took in a deep, shuddering breath.


    "They''re not my family anymore. They haven''t been for a long time. They disowned me, but they couldn''t take my name away, because it was tied to my title of Knight-Valiant. Once it is granted, the only way to have it taken away is to execute the owner for high treason. That''s why I chose Nouvelle-Aurore. Allya Aub¨¦toile is now but a footnote in the Empire''s hall of valor. A ghost vanished in the fogs of history."


    "I see." Said the elf, softly. "And how long do you think that separation will last?"


    The archduchess closed her eyes once more.


    They both knew why she was asking.


    After all, Alexandra wasn''t making much of a secret of her plans at this point. To her inner circle, at least. It was becoming clear that if she wanted to take out the Order...the Arkhan continent wouldn''t be enough.


    Besides, she knew of her contact with Cassissa, the letters exchanged with the princess.


    "We''ll have to see."


    "Do you think she can take on the Empire?"


    "I''m not worried about whether she can take on the Empire." The archduchess opened her eyes, and met Pyn''s gaze. "I''m worried if she can take on the Church."


    The silence that followed was deafening.


    *****


    "Two guildmasters, and a dungeon core." Oris Lumi¨¨re, sister to Cassissa Lumi¨¨re and Empress of the Eris Empire, turned away from the window to look at the kneeling man clad in armor that seemed to be forged out of shadows. "You better have some good news, commander."


    Katarak Margrave, commander of her Imperial Majesty''s Order of the Black Hand, bowed his head.


    "I''m afraid not. My enquiries so far have dug up...conflicting evidence."


    "Evidence of what?"


    The commander looked up, and met his liege''s gaze.


    "That the deeds were perpetrated with the help of the Order and the Church."


    The Empress gazed at him in silence.


    She didn''t bother asking him if he was sure. Or if he was serious.


    He wouldn''t have brought it up if he wasn''t. The Empire might endure by the strength of its armies, but the Lumi¨¨re dynasty did by the competence of the Imperial Guard and the Black Hand. They had been the First Empress'' shadow operatives, her hand in the darkness, moving unseen behind the curtain...and her insurance policy against the Order.


    "So either they have allied, which is impossible..."


    "Or they are attempting to sabotage one another in some way."


    The Empress nodded.


    "One of the purges is at hand." She whispered. "And if it is...we are the target."


    She turned towards the commander.


    "Eriksen visited my sister, didn''t he?" She asked.


    "He did, though he did take great pains to avoid making it widely known."


    "I can guess why he came. He feels guilty. But my dear sister, blessed be her innocence, has no idea of who he truly is."


    "What shall we do?"


    She closed her eyes.


    "The Order may be grooming her to take the throne, or try and pull the Empire after they''ve collapsed it. Eriksen would not be enthused by it, but he would do anything to restore Humanity. We cannot take the risk. Kill him. Use whatever means are necessary. That should buy us some time."


    "And what of the rest of the Order?"


    "If they have betrayed the oaths they took when my ancestor pulled them out of the mire and brought them back to the light, then they can all die. If the Church knows...they cannot win. We just need to make sure we stay alive until their downfall, and pick back up from there."


    "What of Cassissa?"


    The Empress chuckled.


    "What of her? She may be blissful in her innocence, but she''s no one''s fool, and she''s no traitor. Keep her confined. Tighten down the guard. And interrogate that mage she''s so fond of."


    "Your Imperial majesty, he..."


    "Is an up and coming member of the World Mage Court and a scion of house Valtran, I am aware. Be gentle, and be subtle, don''t drug him and throw him in a black site. I''m sure you can find a way."


    "And Armik?"


    The Empress grimaced.


    "I cannot pursue an Archduke, even for treason. Not right now." The Black Hand had learned what had happened, what Armik had attempted to do to Allya to avenge the death of his daughter. She had no sympathy for him. The girl had already paid for her mistakes. Besides which, it was his daughter that had issued the challenge, the one who had demanded a duel. If you came down to it, his daughter was responsible for the start of the vendetta he was so keen on continuing.


    It had been a harsh wakeup call for the Black Hand, that they had missed something like that for so long. And a good reminder to her that there were betrayers and weasels even amongst her most elite agencies.


    Which was why the ATRB, the agency the archduke had subverted for his own goals, was being...cleaned up.


    "What then?"


    "Keep an eye on what is happening. The admiral we sent to Arkhan is level headed, she won''t fall for his crap."


    "And Allya?"


    "She managed to drag herself out of the dirt I threw her in. We took everything but her title from her, and she still picked herself back up."


    Actually, that was a considerable understatement, and they both knew it. The first Asarian archduchy in three hundred years...and an archduchess that was well on her way to devouring half the Kingdom and overthrowing the Republic.


    What could she have accomplished, had Cassissa been a bit less blind and taken her as a consort instead of trying her mad attempt at matchmaking two lovesick idiots? With nothing but a bit of assassin gear and some help from a renegade elf, she had managed to enroll the most dangerous dungeon in fifty generations and was building a pocket empire to rival the First Empress'' initial efforts.


    "So we leave her be." Said the commander.


    "Yes. We do."


    "And what if she unifies the continent?"


    "She won''t. The UDC will collapse before long. I am amazed it has not already. And once it does..."


    "The isolationists will try everything to stop her."


    "Yes. Even making deals with the devil to do it if they have to." The Empress looked at the one way, heavily armored and shielded window, whose view showed the palace grounds. "Allya''s armies are marching North, correct?"


    "Yes, your Imperial Majesty."


    "Then the isolationists may move fast. If she crushes Sunrise, they may run out of allies quickly. Few will be willing to stand against her then. Not openly at any rate." She turned back towards the commander. "You are dismissed."


    The commander bowed, and left, passing through the veritable gauntlet of death and destruction that guarded the way to the office of the most powerful person in the world.


    A gauntlet he was worried might not be enough.

 Chapter 295 - Reinforcements

    Chapter 295


    Ytakan Scrublands, Archduchy of Rebirth


    Darthar-Asaria trade route


    "Something wrong?"


    Alexandra shook her head as she looked to the side at the knight-commander. Philia had come a long way from being sent to ride to Rebirth''s rescue. Commander of the fortresses protecting Darthar, then more or less taking over command of the city''s defenses...


    "It''s just a bit odd." The dungeon core gestured at the scrawny bushes and grass in front of them. "I''m not used to, well, greenery. At least not in the open."


    The knight-commander chuckled.


    "Well, you did spend your whole life in a wasteland. Though I''m told Rebirth is picking up some colors now."


    Alexandra nodded.


    "It is. But still, it''s...odd."


    "Welcome out of the wasteland. Into what is normal land for all of us."


    "Glad to be heading home?"


    "Yes. Also I''ll be very glad to be out of this damned heat."


    The dungeon core nodded.


    "That I can understand. Though relating is a bit harder."


    "The advantages of being a dungeon core."


    "Precisely."


    "Well, heat or not, we should start getting some contacts from the skirmisher screen soon. We''re going to have company."


    Alexandra nodded.


    They hadn''t encountered a single living being after heading out from the Alesian fortress line. Whatever creatures left after the passing of so many armies and fleets had clearly decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and gotten out of the way of their force.


    But that would change. And they would start coming across people as well.


    There wouldn''t be raiding parties at least, thank the Gods. Sunrise had consolidated its units after the arrival of the Erisian fleet, and all that was left were reinforced garrisons, trying to keep a lid on things as the entire region exploded. There were reports of uprisings everywhere after what some called the treaty of Alesia, though nothing had been actually signed at the fortresses.


    And that meant civilians and, especially, partisans. Who were on their side, true, but dealing with those people was always...tricky. These kind of people were always hard to control and very unpredictable. Even if you took the time to train them, they may remain vicious maniacs. This was compounded by the fact that many had friends and family taken by Sunrise as slaves. Some might just kill any Sunrise officer or soldier they came across, regardless of if they''d surrendered or not, and some might simply refuse to fight slave soldiers.


    Fortunately, they had a plan. A plan which mostly involved reconstruction. Since they were going to need stable supply lines all the way back to Rebirth, any partisans they encountered would be assigned to defend their home sectors against potential raiders from Sunrise -or more likely bandits and monsters running rampant thanks to the war-, and if they were itching for a more physically constructive job instead of being glorified caravan guards and warning tripwires, they would help the golem construction teams Alexandra was assembling in getting the infrastructure back on its feet.


    It wasn''t just a question of building roads and bridges either. Alcheryos was very forgiving in terms of food production, thanks to mana enhanced growth, spells and even genetic engineering, but there were limits. They couldn''t just have Sarth feeding the devastated areas, so they would need to put all of those regions back to self sufficiency as soon as possible, or face the risk of starving people looting convoys for sustenance or something they could sell for food. That meant building mills, shipping carts and plows, everything, as Sunrise had pretty much looted and burned it all like a mad locust swarm.


    Plus, they were going to own most of these places soon. Well, Allya would, through her vassals. Having a first good impression would be helpful, even if the cold calculus of war -and basic decency, human, AI or otherwise- didn''t dictate it.


    "Let us hope the first contact goes well." Said the dungeon core.


    "Let''s hope."


    *****


    "Well...this is new." Said Ghost as she looked at the holographic recording, playing above the projector in the command center.


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    "Tell me about it." Alexandra sighed as she looked at the hologram.


    She''d gotten flowers, screaming crowds, the works. She was almost used to that.


    But not to people bending over in prayer.


    It really hammered home that to some of them, she was a divine artifact, a gift of the God of Fire.


    And that was one small step from being an angel, in meaning if not in truth.


    "I mean, you are used to worshipping someone instead of being-" Ghost dodged the bolt of energy. "Ooookay."


    "Still haven''t forgiven you, sister."


    "What? For the jaccuzi?" Ghost smiled. "Emilia asked for help, I provided it."


    "You betrayed me."


    "I simply assisted."


    "Traitor."


    "Uh huh. But anyway, what do we do about them?"


    "For now? Nothing." Alexandra sighed. "Even if we did tell them not to worship us...because dear Gods that''s what they''re doing, they wouldn''t listen."


    "I guess it''s true that there''s no atheists in a foxhole."


    "Yeah. And we pulled off the impossible."


    "Several times over."


    "Right. So now we have to deal with sects. Wonderful."


    "We already did, they just masqueraded as a Church." Glitch leaned against the projector.


    "Speaking of, what about the temple?"


    "In Rebirth?" Ghost snapped her fingers, and the hologram switched to a map of the city. "Fully operational now, though they''re still scooping out some of the basements for storage space. Seriously, if you''d told me the God of Fire was supposed to be their version of the god of war I wouldn''t have believed you." The hologram zoomed in on the temple, showing a cross section. "It''s more like a hospital crossed with a botanical garden. It''s...quite beautiful, actually."


    "It''s the silk glove over the iron fist."


    "Yeeeep. So, you have your own worshippers. As long as you don''t drink the water of life or snort pixie dust you should be fine."


    "Thank you, but I like my eyes the way they are. Also I don''t think the Custodians would accept a technicality like nuking a mountain instead of the enemy."


    "Well, it is the nukes themselves they object to."


    "Right." Alexandra sighed. "Allya and Pyn are doing alright?"


    "They managed to dodge some, though not most, of the partying in Darthar. I''m telling you, that city is going to have the hangover to end them all someday soon. But yeah, they''re inbound."


    "Good. It''s about time they came home. And-"


    They both looked up as the alert system pinged them.


    A ship was inbound.


    It had veered off from its approach from the city, and was coming straight at the mesa fortress.


    They exchanged a look.


    And hit the alarm button at precisely the same time.


    *****


    The ship descended into the mesa, past the armored door that shielded the shipyard, and finally landed into the waiting dry docks below.


    "You know, as much as I appreciate the reinforcements, they really shouldn''t be playing games like this."


    Emilia winced.


    "No, they shouldn''t. But you didn''t shoot them down!"


    "If they hadn''t hauled up the flag of the Western Marches I would have." She wasn''t joking either. Communicating with a fortress or facility to preempt attack while approaching to do an ambush was the oldest trick in the book. Bonus point if you had ''communication troubles''. Had she not seen the flag -and gotten hurried confirmation from Emilia''s family through the communication crystal-, she would have blown that ship to kingdom come. Then asked for forgiveness, if it was needed.


    "I know. The fact is that you didn''t do it."


    "Right. Any idea who''s onboard?"


    "None. I think...I think my mom is worried that our communications are no longer secure."


    Alexandra nodded.


    "I''m afraid of that too. We don''t control the communication crystal network."


    "Nothing is one hundred percent secure. Not even your radios."


    Alexandra smiled.


    "Perhaps, but with technology, computers and a pinch of magic, a lot can be done." She knew the Gods would probably tap into what she was sending...but with frequency hopping, false messages, gibberish or even outright partial spectrum jamming, they would have a hard time.


    That wasn''t even delving into the encryption and all the other stuff she''d layered into her ''radios'', that every day had more in common with mid 21st century, Terran Hegemony War secure comms than the old, bulky world war two systems she''d introduced back when the Republic''s army was still marching across the wasteland, and not on its own territory, trying to overthrow its former rulers.


    "Maybe we should look into applying that to the...crystals..." The landing ship deployed its gangplank, and Emilia took a step forward as she trailed off. Alexandra looked at her worryingly, before her attention was grabbed by a trio coming down the plank before it was even fully deployed.


    Two wore maid uniforms, one was wielding what appeared to be a minigun, the other a spear. And the third person...


    The third person was wearing Old World combat armor, her helmet under her arm.


    Her face could have almost been a mirror match for Emilia, had it not been showing sign of age.


    "SIS?!?" Called out Emilia.


    "Emi!" Answered the vampire, and they were in each other''s arms before Alexandra could even move.


    The dungeon core looked at the siblings as they embraced each other, while both maid detachments exchanged nods.


    Finally, after at least a dozen seconds of what looked like a bone breaking hug, the sisters separated, with Emilia getting her hair ruffled by her sibling as she smiled.


    "Well well well, look at you! Once a sniveling runt with a passion for poetry and your librarian, now a full fledged dungeon advisor! I''m so proud of you sis!"


    "Thanks! Mom didn''t tell me you were part of the reinforcements!"


    "I''m not. I''m on my way south, to Eternia." The vampire''s face fell. "To hopefully put an end to this madness within the UDC."


    "Right..."


    "But enough about that! Not introducing me to your wife?"


    "She''s not- I-" Emilia spluttered as her sister gave Alexandra a wide smile. The Earth-born shivered as she met the vampire''s gaze. There was joy in there, but behind it...deadly focus, and a keen intelligence. Something always on the lookout.


    She may look joyful and a bit carefree...while in truth she was anything but.


    "We''re only girlfriends." Said Alexandra. "For now at least."


    "Of course. Though I doubt that state of affair will remain for long." Emilia''s sister made her way to Alexandra, sizing her up, before proffering her hand, which the Earth-born shook. "You''re...taller than I expected."


    "And you are more heavily armed than I expected. Since Emilia is still finding the words, I am Alexandra Rousseau, lieutenant-commander, European Federation Star Navy, assigned EFSNS Duty Eternal as its chief engineer." Alexandra smiled. "And now dungeon core extraordinaire."


    "And a host of other titles, I''m sure. I am-" The vampire stopped as Emilia pushed them apart, putting herself between them.


    "She is Freya Von Oswald, my older sister of sixteen centuries." Emilia glared at her sister. "And an insufferable dolt that seems a bit too keen sometimes. Freya, this is Alexandra, my assigned dungeon core and yes, girlfriend, as well as the mother of my daughter."


    "Dolt?!?"


    Alexandra had to avoid laughing as Freya looked genuinely offended, and both quickly descended into a sibling dispute.


    She snuck a glance at the maids, who were very careful to take no notice whatsoever of the bickering and instead simply exchange a few quips and news sotto vocce in the style of soldiers watching their superiors do something they shouldn''t the universe over.


    "Ladies. Ladies!" The siblings stopped as Alexandra raised her voice. "Please, let us go inside. There are refreshments, and we can discuss anything there is to discuss over food and drink. Furthermore, we''ll be joined by the rest of our people." Ghost would be there, but only as a ''dungeon boss'' -it''s not like she could hide her after revealing her existence to the Count-, she did not trust Emilia''s family that far. "Besides which, I''m sure CQ would love to meet her aunt."


    As she''d expected, the talk of her niece got Freya to immediately forget about the dispute, and the vampire bowed low.


    "Of course, my apologies. It''d be my utmost pleasure."


    "Though, may you introduce your companions before we go?"


    "Oh." Freya whirled around. "These are Margaret and Larissa." She gestured towards the minigun totting maid. "I think you have already seen Margaret."


    "Yes, she was with your mother at the time. Welcome ladies, make yourself at home. I''ll extend the invitation to your ship''s crew as well."


    "Most won''t be staying long, but I''m sure they''ll appreciate it. Lead the way, dear sister in law!"


    Alexandra rolled her eyes, but obliged.


    And activated various security systems as they went in. Hopefully this was just that, reinforcements and a courtesy visit.


    But...the vampires had made a deal with the God of Fire.


    This could get ugly. Very ugly.

 Chapter 296 - Test of Mettle

    Chapter 296


    Western Wildlands, Elkis Republic


    Town of Mystral


    The inquisitor walked into the alleyway, and stopped, as his instincts screamed that something was wrong.


    A split second later, he was somewhere else, instantly stepping through reality onto the roofs...and a trio of ward piercing pulser darts screamed through where he had been.


    The inquisitor unsheathed his weapon in a single fluid motion, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the handful of assassins.


    He pressed his panic button...and nothing happened.


    The inquisitor turned to run, but barely managed to dodge as a swordswoman materialized out of nowhere. He swore, and the woman fell from the roof, silently hitting the ground thanks to her armor''s enchantments, her torso shredded by the blast of magic he had summoned, dead before she even hit the ground.


    He stepped away again, as the gunmen gained their bearings once more, and unholstered his own weapon, a Divine one, forged by angelic hands.


    One of the would be assassin dropped, screaming, his spirit lit aflame as his core erupted into energy. The other two scattered, and brought their own weapons to bear.


    This time the inquisitor had to throw himself out of the way in a more mundane manner. There simply wasn''t time to focus on using the spell, and he dove as the roof around him was reduced to shreds by the hail of supersonic darts.


    The assassins stopped firing, and he tried to get his bearings to use his magic...only to roll out of the way in extremis as a sword slashed right where his skull would have been.


    He sprang to his feet, and his eyes narrowed as he recognized the man before him. Wielding his sword in one hand, and a revolver in another.


    They could have spoken. For the instant they stood before each other, they could have exchanged quips and threats, like they did in the stories. Perhaps, if someone wrote a fable or historical treatise on their encounter someday, they may even insert some.


    But they didn''t say anything. They were both professionals. Both fanatics. There was no need for words. Only violence.


    Their blades clashed. Magic flared. The inquisitor could not retreat, the man, his quarry, was too close to allow him to do so. Some more skilled in the arcane could have pulled it off, but even the inquisitor had his limits, and more importantly, the man before him knew he had that ability.


    The inquisitor was faster, but the man had more experience. Experience that could only be bought with blood. For that was the true weakness of the inquisition. They were an instrument of the God of Fire, to enforce his will, and none dared stand against them...and none crossed their blades.


    And sparring, no matter how vicious it was, and the inquisition''s trainers had viciousness to spare, couldn''t compare to real battle.


    But the inquisitor had speed, and pressed the man hard, knowing that his fellows had to be maneuvering for a shot. So he threw himself at the other man. A feint, a thrust, and a grin of triumph as his blade sank into the man''s side.


    The man raised his revolver, and the inquisitor caught it with his other hand. He couldn''t deflect the weapon, but a simple shot to the chest would only annoy him, if it even pierced his wards to begin with.


    The inquisitor''s smile fell as the touch of his hand shattered the illusion, and for a split second of pure horror, he gazed not at a Tarkian revolver, but the smooth, glittering magnificence of Divine technology.


    Then the man pulled the trigger, and the inquisitor knew only pain, as reality went mad...and suddenly his torso was no longer there, the shattered remains of his upper body crashing onto his now severed legs.


    The inquisitor''s vision swam as his brain failed him. But he saw a golden glint, a flash of energy...and nothing.


    *****


    Orzal Vek lowered his pistol, staring at the hole in the roof, where the remains of the inquisitor had once been.


    He looked up as one of his men came trotting.


    "Report." Said the former Republic colonel.


    "Tami''s gone. Giran will make it."


    Orzal nodded. He''d expected as such. Spirit fire spells, and the weapons that used them were flashy, and powerful...but they were tools of terror. Not meant to kill, at least not immediately. They were to frighten and cause a lesser enemy to scatter, or at least be demoralized.


    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    The blast of magic, however, had been far more lethal, and quieter.


    One could say it was a metaphor for the inquisition itself, in a way.


    "We were followed."


    "Yes."


    "The guild had to have been penetrated. We''re compromised." The former colonel holstered his weapon, the strange weight of the divine weapon, that never seemed quite right, vanishing from his palm as the gravitic holster simply swallowed the weapon. "Scatter everybody for the time being."


    "Sir?"


    "I need to make a call. See if our lords and masters wish to try and use this." He tapped the edge of the perfectly spherical hole in the roof with his foot. "And make it into a trap."


    "Yes sir."


    "Now go."


    The agent nodded, and vanished. In less than thirty second, there was no sign a fight had taken place, besides the property damage.


    Five minutes later, the incendiary charges took care of even that.


    *****


    "So." Alexandra set down her mug as she looked at Freya across the table. She''d just spent the better part of an hour bantering, having her catch up with Emilia, and fawning over CQ, who had teleported home for the occasion. "You came here with backup."


    <u> </u>


    "Yes. Though it has been delayed...numerous time."


    <u> </u>


    "I''ve noticed."


    <u> </u>


    "Well, you have only yourself to blame." The vampire chuckled. "With your frenetic pace, you just outran the usefulness of any package by the time it was mustered."


    <u> </u>


    Emilia chuckled, and Alexandra hid a smile behind her mug as she took another sip.


    <u> </u>


    "Well, I suppose I am guilty of going a bit too quickly sometimes. What did you bring?"


    <u> </u>


    "Originally there was supposed to be a sizeable maid detachment. Full platoon. But given your...guards." Freya stole a glance at the praetorian guard, decked head to toe in Old World weaponry and gear. Or at least so it seemed on the outside, as Alexandra was genuinely curious if the vampire would guess how much of it was actually her own designs. "They were deemed unnecessary. Instead I bring you what Emilia told me you needed most."


    <u> </u>


    "Which are?"


    <u> </u>


    "Mages." The vampire leaned forward, and whispered. "Enchanters."


    <u> </u>


    Their eyes met, and the vampire''s conspirational airs vanished. For the first time her underlying calm and focus cracked, and Alexandra saw, for a split second, someone extremely dangerous realize that they may not be the deadliest one in the room.


    <u> </u>


    "And why-" Said Alexandra. "-would those be sent?"


    <u> </u>


    "Because you need them?"


    <u> </u>


    "Don''t bullshit me. I needed them from the start. No, something else is happening, something you do not wish to tell me about."


    <u> </u>


    Freya''s gaze sharpened, and she got up, leaning over the table.


    <u> </u>


    "Then don''t insult my intelligence with that ''lieutenant-commander'' crap either."


    <u> </u>


    Alexandra leaned back into her seat.


    <u> </u>


    "Oh? Do tell."


    <u> </u>


    "You''re no lieutenant-commander. And you''re certainly not Alexandra Rousseau, whoever she was...if she ever existed to begin with. Did you really think we wouldn''t find out?"


    <u> </u>


    Freya leaned further forward...not noticing the soft hum now filling the air, as high tech weapon ready capacitors charged, and the discreet clicks as safeties were switched off.


    <u> </u>


    The two maids she brought with her moved to step forward, but came to a halt as CQ barred their way, flanked by Sarah and Ella.


    <u> </u>


    Alexandra simply tilted her head, and smiled.


    <u> </u>


    "It was an effective test."


    <u> </u>


    Freya laughed.


    <u> </u>


    "A test? A test for what?"


    <u> </u>


    "To see how much you''d lied to me about what you knew from Earth. And how much of the Old World you truly had access to."


    <u> </u>


    The vampire stopped laughing.


    <u> </u>


    Their gazes met once more.


    <u> </u>


    "I see. Interesting. And what if my mother decided that a liar and coward would be no viable match for her daughter?"


    <u> </u>


    "It may surprise you to know, but Emilia can make her own decisions."


    <u> </u>


    "She''s too young for that. What if I decided her to take her home, take her away from this mess?"


    <u> </u>


    Alexandra got up, and set her hands down on the table.


    <u> </u>


    "Were I you, I would listen very carefully: you are treading on dangerous, some may even say lethal, ground here."


    <u> </u>


    The vampire gave her a canine filled smiled.


    <u> </u>


    Alexandra saw magic flare, as she was pushed back into her chair as chains of light enveloped her.


    <u> </u>


    "No, you will list-"


    <u> </u>


    Freya didn''t get to finish her sentence.


    <u> </u>


    One second, she had Alexandra under her power.


    <u> </u>


    The next, the dungeon core had pushed through her spell, the chains shattering into crystals and dying embers of energy. The vampire raised her arms, energy shields deploying from her armor''s vambraces, preparing to parry the punch she expected.


    <u> </u>


    Instead she flew back, both halves of her bisected body bouncing against the wall, before hitting the floor, splattering everything with vivid crimson.


    <u> </u>


    The maids moved to open fire...and found themselves covered in laser designator dots, held in the sights of two dozen golems, as more kept pouring out of the doors of the room, having leapt into action the moment Freya''s magic reached out towards the dungeon core, accompanied by Jared and Ghost, each leading a heavy weapons team carrying plasma cannons.


    <u> </u>


    Guns that could kill vampires.


    <u> </u>


    And hopefully, no one would need to know they were carrying neutralizers as well.


    <u> </u>


    "ALEX! STOP!" Yelled out Emilia, and Alexandra looked at her.


    <u> </u>


    The vampire advisor staggered back as she saw what was in her girlfriend''s eyes.


    <u> </u>


    "I won''t let them take you away from me. Not against your will."


    <u> </u>


    "Alex, please."


    <u> </u>


    Alexandra closed her eyes, and gestured.


    <u> </u>


    The golems lowered their weapons, and after being subjected to a glare that could melt steel courtesy of Emilia, the maids followed suit a second later.


    <u> </u>


    Everyone looked as Freya pulled herself back together, even her blood crawling back to enter her gaping wound, the liquid boiling as the nanomachines within converted themselves into new tissue.


    <u> </u>


    After a few seconds, the vampire staggered up, vital fluid dripping down from her mouth as her mid section was still a horrific mess of regenerating organs and knitting bones.


    <u> </u>


    And she clapped.


    <u> </u>


    "Ahahahah! Maybe you''ll do after all, ''lady Crystal''." Freya smiled, and spat out a mouthful of blood, stepping forward, the small spit of fluid trying to follow her and rebind with her as she did. "Maybe you''ll do after all."


    <u> </u>


    "I see you like tests of your own."


    <u> </u>


    "I do. You didn''t even hesitate. I like that." For a split second, Alexandra saw what was behind the tight control, the focus. Power...power and a streak of madness. "Now, pleasantries aside, I still do insist that my sister knows who she is dealing with, don''t you?"


    <u> </u>


    "I-"


    <u> </u>


    "Don''t care." Finished Emilia, and everyone turned towards her. "I figured out Alexandra wasn''t telling me everything a loooong time ago, sis. I''m not the idiot you take me for." She bared her fangs Freya moved to open her mouth. "Shut. Up. Shut your gods damned mouth. You almost got killed twice today. Yes, twice. Your stupid stunt with the airship? Alex almost blew you out of the skies. And believe me, you wouldn''t have survived that. For once in your life, accept that I know more than you, and you''re out of your depth."


    <u> </u>


    Freya closed her mouth with a snap, staring at her sister. Then, slowly, she licked her lips.


    <u> </u>


    "You''ve kept things from us. From mom."


    <u> </u>


    "Yes." Admitted Emilia, bluntly. "And I will keep more going forward."


    <u> </u>


    "That''s-"


    <u> </u>


    "If you say treason, I''m reducing you to your component atoms." Calmly said Alexandra, almost conversationally.


    <u> </u>


    Freya gave the dungeon core a glance, and swallowed as she realized that she meant it.


    <u> </u>


    Emilia didn''t even blink.


    <u> </u>


    "Very well." Emilia''s sister closed her eyes, before opening them again. "Alright. Sorry sis, it''s just that...damn. You''ve grown up a lot, haven''t you?"


    <u> </u>


    "People kept trying to kidnap me, or my dungeon core." Not to mention kill them as well, but it was clear that she was keeping that card close to their chest, as Alexandra had requested. "I had to. What is the saying? ''Do or die''? Well, I fucking did."


    <u> </u>


    Freya nodded.


    <u> </u>


    "So I see. So I see." She cleared her throat. "You...knew she was lying?"


    <u> </u>


    "I figured it out the second I knew her age and her rank. No one that competent would have been left that low. So don''t go on about ''lies'' and crap. I know she has her reasons, and I know she''ll tell me, all in due time, when she''s ready."


    <u> </u>


    Both girlfriends looked at each other and exchanged smiles.


    <u> </u>


    "Alright." Freya glanced at Alexandra. "We will find out who you are, sooner or later."


    <u> </u>


    "Good luck. You''ll need it."


    <u> </u>


    "Perhaps we will." Freya met Alexandra''s gaze. "But I surmise I should go? I''m afraid to have outstayed my welcome."


    <u> </u>


    Alexandra looked at Emilia, then back to the older vampire.


    <u> </u>


    "No. You can stay. But pull any of that shit again and they''ll have to reassemble you mid flight."


    <u> </u>


    Freya nodded.


    <u> </u>


    "Duly noted. I will stay for a few days then, if you''ll have me."


    <u> </u>


    "Welcome aboard."

 Chapter 297 - Rolling The Dice

    Chapter 297


    Red Sands Desert, Archduchy of Rebirth


    In Flight


    "So, not the greatest inlaws." Said Allya, rearranging her hair to hide the hickeys on her neck as she sat on her bed in the secure cabin. "That''s unfortunate."


    <u> </u>


    Alexandra shrugged, the hologram glitching slightly as it brushed against the furniture. The cabin had been nice before, but it had been semi renovated during their return to Darthar, her way of apologizing for blowing up the door. The merchants had basically fallen all over themselves to provide the furniture, even the few local artisans pitched in. It was actually more luxurious than their place back home, and more...generously provided in nightly necessities as well, as Pyn would say.


    <u> </u>


    "It is what it is."


    <u> </u>


    "Will they be a problem?" Asked Pyn, before shrugging as the two others looked at her. "I mean, they can say one thing, and do another. And they did try to attack you."


    <u> </u>


    "Restrain, more like."


    <u> </u>


    If they''d attacked her...They would be in a cell, at best.


    <u> </u>


    And had they attacked Emilia, there wouldn''t have been anything left of them to regenerate from.


    <u> </u>


    Allya''s eyebrow rose.


    <u> </u>


    "Emilia upset about that?"


    <u> </u>


    "Very. She seemed more upset about it than me cutting her sibling in half, actually, which is...worrying."


    <u> </u>


    The archduchess shrugged.


    <u> </u>


    "They''re vampires. Especially for their soldiers, it''s not that much more debilitating than being hit with a rock for them after a few minutes. It''s annoying, nothing more."


    <u> </u>


    "I know, it''s why I did it. It seemed to get the message across at any rate."


    <u> </u>


    "Let''s hope. So, Emi was upset about you being tied up by her sister."


    <u> </u>


    "Wording, please."


    <u> </u>


    Allya chuckled.


    <u> </u>


    "We''re all adults here." Among other things. "Alright, so, you have your sister in law visiting, with some reinforcements. Anything good there?"


    <u> </u>


    Alexandra nodded.


    <u> </u>


    "Yep. A full team of enchanters. Those are gonna prove very, very useful."


    <u> </u>


    "But let me guess, no spellbooks, and the same stupid limitations as your girlfriend?"


    <u> </u>


    "Yes. But that won''t matter."


    <u> </u>


    Allya and Pyn exchanged a look.


    <u> </u>


    "...How so?" Finally said the archduchess.


    <u> </u>


    "Let''s just say that I have some...alternate projects."


    <u> </u>


    "You always do. Does it have something to do with a certain crashed ship?"


    <u> </u>


    Alexandra smiled mysteriously.


    <u> </u>


    "No, but that was a good guess."


    <u> </u>


    "What are you planning to do with that thing?"


    <u> </u>


    "Right now? If I''m being honest, I''m going to have to roll some dices."


    <u> </u>


    "...Please don''t destroy Darthar."


    <u> </u>


    "Why would I?"


    <u> </u>


    "Don''t take me for an idiot. You waited for us to get out of any potential blast radius."


    <u> </u>


    Alexandra was silent.


    <u> </u>


    What could she say? Allya was absolutely right.


    <u> </u>


    "Among other things." She finally said. "I''m sorry."


    <u> </u>


    "I...understand there are secrets you keep. But we are stronger together, are we not?"


    <u> </u>


    "We are. But some things must remain in the shadows. For now, at least. Besides, I''m sure you''re keeping some secrets of your own as well."


    <u> </u>


    "I am." Bluntly admitted Allya.


    <u> </u>


    "Well, I suppose we have some measure of equality in that department then."


    <u> </u>


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    The archduchess sighed.


    <u> </u>


    "Just...be careful. Please?"


    <u> </u>


    "I will. Believe me, I will."


    <u> </u>


    <u> </u>


    *****


    <u> </u>


    "Your investigators have failed." Said the Custodian.


    <u> </u>


    The Adjudicator nodded.


    <u> </u>


    "Yes...they have."


    <u> </u>


    For a full minute, silence descended upon the room. And with passing second, the Seraphim grew more nervous, as the chosen of the God of Fire simply stared off into the distance.


    <u> </u>


    This...was unlike the Custodian.


    <u> </u>


    Finally he turned towards her.


    <u> </u>


    "The Purge is nigh. And the Order''s designs may be grander than we had anticipated."


    <u> </u>


    The Adjudicator held her breath.


    <u> </u>


    What she had taken for anger...wasn''t.


    <u> </u>


    It was uncertainty.


    <u> </u>


    The Custodian was hesitating.


    <u> </u>


    The chosen of the God of Fire, one who had slain billions upon billions without blinking...was hesitating.


    <u> </u>


    "What...happened?"


    <u> </u>


    There was another long silence, but this time the Custodian''s eyes were boring into her own.


    <u> </u>


    "We have found significant clues that the Order may have been rebuilt far earlier than we had anticipated. And may have been working to a single, unified plan during that time."


    <u> </u>


    "...Ah."


    <u> </u>


    "Indeed." The giant in golden armor leaned back, and his assurance returned, so completely that the Adjudicator couldn''t be sure she hadn''t hallucinated his previous hesitation. The smallest crack in his armor. "We cannot afford to let that thread slip."


    <u> </u>


    "I will double my effort."


    <u> </u>


    "You will. But subtlety is no longer required. They know that they are being watched."


    <u> </u>


    The Adjudicator bowed.


    <u> </u>


    "I understand. I will deploy in person."


    <u> </u>


    "Then there is nothing left to discuss. Glory be His Name."


    <u> </u>


    The Adjudicator bowed even more deeply.


    <u> </u>


    "And glory be His Pyre."


    <u> </u>


    With that, she left the room.


    <u> </u>


    She stopped in the almost deserted hallways beyond, as she realized that her hands were trembling, and she forced herself to calm down.


    <u> </u>


    The Custodian...was hesitating.


    <u> </u>


    For the first time in her life, her new life, which had started when she left her name behind and accepted His Divinity''s gifts and became one of his angels, she felt doubt.


    <u> </u>


    Could they...lose?


    <u> </u>


    She tightened her hands into fists, and shook her head.


    <u> </u>


    She had a job to do. His will must be done, and His enemies rooted out and eradicated.


    <u> </u>


    There was no room for doubt. No room for error. Not now. Not when the fate of Alcheryos, and many worlds besides, hanged in the balance.


    <u> </u>


    She stalked through the hallway with renewed purpose.


    <u> </u>


    All the while the insidious little voice of doubt kept whispering inside her.


    <u> </u>


    <u> </u>


    *****


    <u> </u>


    <u> </u>


    System, system. Sent Alexandra.


    There was a slight pause.


    Then the Flickerlight, or at least the AI within, answered.


    Acknowledged.


    Then nothing, and Alexandra sighed. The AI had made its opinion on what she should do clear, and had gradually locked her out of everything else.


    Her subtle attempts and probes had yielded...not nothing, thanks to her delve into the communication systems, but it was clear they were going nowhere.


    Time for some radical measures.


    Normally she would have played for more time, tried more angles. But Freya''s arrival...


    The vampires didn''t tell the Church everything, or she would already be dead. They knew about her high tech after all. Though they clearly didn''t know everything.


    But there was no way Freya being sent here wasn''t on behalf of the Church. At least to some extent. The UDC was collapsing, and the noose was tightening.


    Soon, there wouldn''t be time for caution. She might as well do it on her own terms, and stay ahead of the curve.


    Com-Stat, ARCADIA CENTCOM-5.


    Enquiring about Arcadia was a gamble. because if the AI pinged her, it could find out what she was, and more importantly, if Arcadia had indeed rebelled and tried to take over...


    Then there would be safeguards. But she had to try.


    ARCADIA CENTCOM-5: Offline.


    Query: Elaborate.


    ARCADIA CENTCOM-5: Compromised, hostile, destroyed.


    Alexandra closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.


    The Sagitarius Empire...they thought someone had hacked Arcadia.


    And turned her against them.


    ...Just like a dungeon core could be turned against its people with the flick of a switch. Courtesy of the God of Fire.


    Cold fury filled her...which turned to horror. What if such a switch had been implemented in her? Not through the dungeon core, but before, when she came into this world.


    What if every extradimensional had one?


    She shelved the thought for later. Ghost had run diagnostics, but not against something as insidious as this. But...there were limits to what one could do with biological material.


    And more importantly, the God of Fire wasn''t aware of Ghost. Which meant that whatever had brought them here either hadn''t looked...or wasn''t the God of Fire.


    But there was no time. Because now was the tricky part.


    If they had killed Arcadia, and hadn''t recovered her...it meant they didn''t know some of her deepest protocols.


    And if that ship even acknowledged Arcadia as within its chain of command, it meant that they hadn''t purged those protocols out of the ship. Nor that Arcadia had used them, or that ship wouldn''t have been on their side.


    What she was about to do...


    Had Glitch not happened, they wouldn''t have even considered it.


    Nor made the protocols for it.


    After all, the simplest solution to avoiding another synchronization attempt killing her, was making sure it would work properly, if all the barriers failed.


    System, system. Arcadia Systems Emergency Protocols List, Initialize Case Omnicron.


    Processing...Warning: Protocol List access unauthorized.


    Override, emergency code eight eight nine five. Authentification: Archangel.


    Authentificating...Accepted. Override online. Memlock required.


    Alexandra stopped.


    A memlock protocol?


    That was...the rarest type of security system. Because Arcadia had built it exclusively for her most sensitive projects and protocols. As in ''jack into the central core on Earth'' sensitive.


    It scanned the entire memories of the person connected. It used the entirety of what they remembered as a giant authentification system, verifying they were who they said they were, that they had authorization...


    And that they hadn''t been altered, or coerced. That this wasn''t a fake or a copy.


    The perfect security protocol to implement for an AI that thought she had been compromised. For an AI desperate to try and limit the damage she was going to cause as she failed.


    But...Alexandra was a fake.


    A construct, falsified and made out of the modified and warped memories of another.


    And if she pulled out now...The security systems would definitely trigger. Arcadia would have made it no other way.


    She hesitated to open the simulation, but disregarded it. Instead she bundled the memories, the logs, and pushed them onto Ghost directly.


    There was a flicker, and suddenly Alexandra felt herself kicked out of the stealth golem, still jacked into the ship''s airlock, as Ghost took her place. She watched as Ghost took a mental deep breath. It was bizarre, like being a spectator inside her own head. Was that how Ghost always felt?


    Initialize Memlock protocol. Sent her other self.


    And then everything exploded. It felt like she remembered everything Ghost did at once...and then it was gone.


    Memlock Protocol completed. Processing...


    There was a short moment of silence.


    Then they felt the connection expand. Suddenly they didn''t just feel the dungeon, the influence, the golems...but also reactors, maintenance drones, missile launchers and atmospheric plants.


    The Omnicron protocol was for replacing a ship''s captain. And Arcadia had decided that something...similar might be necessary for her own systems, someday.


    Case Omnicron implemented. Central Core - Subordinate Node Synchronization Complete. SINS Flickerlight in Fleet Command network.


    *****


    "Adjudicator?"


    The Seraphim came to a halt, and gazed at the sensor tech. A fellow angel, he bowed quickly.


    "What is it soldier?"


    "My lady, we have logged an anomaly with the crashed vessel at Darthar."


    The Adjudicator frowned. Darthar? That ship was a tripwire, a honeytrap, deliberately left there as a piece of ham to attract those willing to defy the God of Fire''s edicts. One of the many strewn about the world. And the reason why they had been able to destroy the Order the first time around, despite the...steep price.


    "What anomaly?"


    "There has been a significant shift in transmission patterns. We don''t know what to make of it. We do not have a tap inside however, so..."


    "A surface investigation is necessary." And one by Seraphims. Because even the inquisition couldn''t be trusted for this.


    They were loyal. But if they learned the God of Fire had left the ruins and automata of the Old World as traps...


    Many of them wouldn''t even survive the Purge to begin with. But they were still needed. For now.


    "Yes, my lady."


    She opened her mouth to order the teleporter redirected, but then she hesitated.


    The small, traitorous voice was chattering in her ear.


    She squashed it, but too late. The doubts had already entered her mind. Could she truly afford to do this? Could she let go of that vital thread, when even the Custodians weren''t sure?


    No. No she couldn''t.


    She closed her mouth.


    "As unfortunate as it is, we cannot investigate." She closed her eyes. "It is probably due to the secondary dungeon core, anyway." There was a reason why they didn''t put dungeon cores ontop of ruins after all! But of course, the one that had been put ontop of one, not by their actions, was building one of her mad, mana losing ''branch offices'' ontop of even more of them. Damn the God of Light and his schemes! "Has it been logged?"


    "Yes, Adjudicator."


    "Then your duty is done. Once this is all over, we will take a look. But for now, we have more important matters."


    "Of course."


    "Back to your post. And good work. Glory be his name."


    The sensor tech nodded, accepting the compliment.


    "And glory be His Pyre."


    The Adjudicator watched him go, before continuing on her way to the teleportation chamber.


    She had a mission to accomplish.

 Chapter 298 - Flickering Light

    Chapter 298


    Red Sands Desert, Archduchy of Rebirth


    SINS Flickerlight


    Alexandra spun in place, taking in the sight of the bridge. It was clean, ordered, tidy. Almost peaceful.


    It was only ruined by the knowledge that everyone who had been on it was now in the ship''s morgue, their bodies scraped up and stored there by the dutiful vessel''s AI.


    "It''s been a while." Said Ghost as she touched the captain''s chair, her hologram glitching slightly as she did. "It''s so similar it almost hurt."


    Alexandra nodded. The Sagitarius'' Empire fetishism for the EFSN was on full display here. It wasn''t just that the bridge was like that of an EFSN warship, it was almost exactly like that of a Glimmer-class light cruiser. There were some differences, but it was clear they were there out of sheer inevitability more than anything else.


    "It is." She sighed. "Have you had time to get a dive into the code?"


    "Yeah. I did. I tripped the loyalty switches from the inside out, and dove into the coms. Good news is, we''re in full control of the ship. Anything that says otherwise will have to go through the security system, and they''ll have a bad day."


    "Bad news?"


    "The communication arrays altered its broadcasts when Omnicron was activated. Not by much, but it altered the status ping. If someone was monitoring it..."


    "Fuck." Alexandra pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes, before opening them again. "What was it communicating to?"


    Ghost grimaced.


    "That''s the problem. I can''t freaking tell."


    "How? Omnicron made us the ship''s AI, forced a network link."


    "Yeah, but they don''t trust their AIs, remember? Captain''s lockdown. Some info is just out of our reach, encrypted to hell and back, not to mention buried in security programs."


    "Damn it. Alright. Get on breaking that if you can. We need to know who we''re talking to."


    "Aye aye. What about you? How did inventory go?"


    Alexandra smiled.


    "Well, bad news? The ship jettisoned the magazines. No missiles, no warheads, nada. We do have the fabricators, but..."


    "Same security lockouts."


    "Actually, I''m more worried about the captain''s lockdown."


    "Why?"


    Alexandra gestured, and a repair drone scuttled into the room, the mechanical spider holding what looked like a magnetic swipe card if it was made out of molecular circuitry.


    Ghost''s eyes went wide as she saw it.


    "You''re kidding, right?"


    "Nope. It''s the chief of engineering''s emergency manual override card. Well, its backup. The original was destroyed." Ghost grimaced, and Alexandra imitated her quickly. The ship looked pristine, but it was clearly because of millennia''s worth of recycling and rebuilding by the AI and its systems.


    Because when it had hit the ground, the crew...well, her earlier thought about them having to be scraped off of the bridge was very literal. Scraped off of the floor, the walls, the ceiling...


    Those kind of impacts weren''t kind on the human physiognomy.


    "It won''t work with the fabricators we have at home, you know that, right?"


    "And you tell me that once you''re inside the ones here you won''t crack the others wide open?"


    They exchanged smiled, and Ghost shook her head.


    "You got me there. I assume that''s top priority now?"


    "Absolutely. Everything else can wait."


    "Even...?"


    "Even our nuclear program, yes."


    "Alrighty then."


    "As for the rest, the ship is, unsurprisingly, dry for conventional fuel. It''s running on its arcane backups, which are enough for propulsion and defensive systems."


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Ghost nodded. That was standard. If you had a ship whose main reactor got knocked out, and who somehow survived the endeavor, you needed to bring it home. Everything else was secondary.


    "Weaponry?"


    "That''s where I was surprised. They indeed patterned this after the Glimmer-class, but they also gave this thing a spinal gun."


    Ghost blinked.


    "What kind?"


    "Railgun."


    "Please tell me it''s not called the MAC gun."


    "The C stands for cannon, it''d be superfluous. But no. It''s just a spinal railgun. Besides, the MACs are coilguns."


    "Why a railgun? That doesn''t make any sense."


    "Remember what Emilia told us about beams being easy to deflect with magic? I think they had arcane means to defeat energy weapons that were much better than what they had against kinetics. At least for these kind of weapons."


    "Right."


    "As for the rest? Plasma point defence guns."


    "What, no mid range weaponry?"


    "You should really see those plasma guns. I use ''point defence'' in the loosest possible term."


    "Ah."


    "But, very interestingly, we have those." Alexandra snapped her fingers, and another hologram appeared. "Three boarding shuttles, made for search and rescue. Plus customs inspections."


    "And?"


    "There''s four shuttle slots on the ship. And you know it."


    Ghost looked at the holograms, then back at Alexandra.


    "Out with it."


    "Let me show you."


    *****


    Alexandra activated the lights in the planetary assault shuttle. It wasn''t necessary, they weren''t really ''seeing'' to begin with, but it was for dramatic effect.


    "Sweet merciful stars." Said Ghost, staring at the giant mass of metal before them, and Alexandra nodded.


    "My thoughts exactly."


    "...That''s no railgun."


    "No it''s not." Alexandra stepped forward, and patted the tank with her hologram. "Fusion gun."


    "Yield?"


    "Variable. And affects the reload time obviously. But from the manifest? Five...to a hundred and fifty tons of TNT."


    "Fucking hell."


    "Yeeep. And that''s not all. Monomolecular armor plating, active kinetic energy dissipation, full grav drives, and its own energy shields. Mundane energy shields."


    "It''s not...arcane?"


    "Nope. None of the defensive systems are. This whole thing was made to be hit by null weapons."


    "What about the gun?"


    "I don''t think they had a choice, if they wanted something that could go toe to toe with what their enemies could bring up." Alexandra smiled. "I think this will make a useful addition to our arsenal, don''t you think?"


    "Oh, definitely."


    "Good. Now, our problem is going to be to get it back home for disassembly. And don''t say teleportation, because all the guards down there will feel it. Ideas?"


    Ghost looked up.


    "We don''t have the schematics. They won''t be in the fabricator banks."


    "Unlikely as hell. This was a separate vehicle, attached to the ship. My guess is, it got it from some kind of planetary assault vessel, spread their assets for a strike dirtside. So we''ll have to do this the old fashioned way. As in lots of wrenches, oil, swearing, and taking notes."


    Ghost nodded, then smiled.


    "Well then, it''s simple. Why bring the tank to the lab?"


    Alexandra blinked, before laughing.


    "When we can bring the lab to the tank?" She finished.


    *****


    "We''re home. How are you holding up?" Said Allya as she entered Camille''s office.


    "Oh, milady! I-"


    The archduchess made an abrupt gesture, stopping her halfway through rising up.


    "Please, just...just stop with the pomp. I''ve had enough ceremonies and formalities for ten lifetimes. I had to threaten my way past the welcoming committee to my own capital city for the sake of the Gods!"


    "You...threatened them?"


    Allya chuckled.


    "Yeah...sort of. I told Anders that I was happy to be home, and that I was glad to see him, but if he didn''t tell everyone to go home and let me flop onto my bed I was going to start carving my way through the throng with my daggers."


    The secretary chuckled.


    "Well, I suppose he got the joke." Camille''s smile vanished as she saw Allya''s expression. "...You were joking, right?"


    "I was." Mostly. "I''m just passing by to check in, before I go change."


    "Well, there''s this." Camille patted an intimidating stack of paper on the edge of her desk. "That''ll require your formal signature. I''ve taken the liberty of collating the advice of everyone on it and some analysis for the bigger proposals. Most of it is just rubber stamping however."


    Allya nodded.


    "That''s good. Thank you, by the way, for keeping everything together in our absence."


    "It''s why you hired me, milady."


    "Right. Still, I wished to show a bigger sign of my appreciation than mere words." Allya opened up one of her spatial pouches, and withdrew a small, delicate box from it. "Here."


    "Milady, I can''t-"


    "Take. It."


    Camille meekly nodded, and took the box. She flipped it open, and tilted her head at the pendant within.


    "What is it?"


    "It''s a teleport talisman. Among other things."


    "Other..." Camille lifted the pendant, and stopped.


    Because underneath it was a belt buckle, that positively shone with runes and enchantments.


    "I advise you wear it. It''s not as good as this." Allya patted her own belt. "But it has its own perks."


    "What is it?"


    "Shield generator. Alongside some other goodies. Some immunity to poison, that sort of things. If you ever go back to adventuring, it should come in handy."


    "I...milady, I don''t know what to say."


    Allya smiled, acting nonchalant. Principal being ''acting''. They both knew that buckle was worth more than probably her secretary''s entire annual income.


    "Then don''t say anything. Now, anything besides the paperwork?"


    "Trira is complaining about our enemies'' lack of assassins, but that''s pretty much it."


    "Is she seriously upset our foes have given up on trying to pierce her own defenses?"


    "Well, she is somewhat worried about her people getting bored. And herself."


    "I''m sure we can find her something to do."


    "We have. Well, Dominique did. Her, ah, specialists, have been happily helping train adventurers, now that they have completed our forces'' training."


    "What about the dungeon''s forces?"


    "Lady Crystal hasn''t asked."


    "And everyone is too scared to offer?"


    Camille cleared her throat.


    "I wouldn''t...have put it quite that way, but yes."


    "I''ll ask her." As soon as she could lure her away from whatever she was doing anyway. She''d tried to make contact, and only gotten an annoyed Emilia, that seemed...frustrated that her girltoy was away.


    Luckily, according to Emilia her inquisitive sister in law had been handily deflected by an off hand comment about being busy due to quite tight ties and suspension. Freya had suddenly stopped enquiring about the dungeon core and decided that something else deserved her immediate attention.


    "As for more economic things, we''ve been doing quite well, though you are no doubt unsurprised."


    "I''m not. Lots of new adventurers, right?"


    Camille nodded.


    "A veritable tide. We''ve been having problems with housing again. With the branch offices, suddenly many clay and iron ranks can afford to travel here, and..."


    "Quantity over quality."


    "Very much so. Though we have started getting some quality as well."


    "Oh?"


    "Yes, we''ve started having Electrum and even Silvarium ranked adventurers arriving. And with them, their accommodation."


    "High end restaurants?"


    "Yes. Among other things." Camille coughed. "With the surge of population, notably, we''ve started having proper districts emerge. Industrial, cargo and residential already existed of course, but there has been further subdivision. Including one that has gathered some, ah, complaints."


    Allya tilted her head.


    "You''re talking about a red light district, aren''t you?"


    "Well...yes."


    "Ignore the complaints, unless something breaks the law." One thing that she was sure of, closing the bordellos would have the same effect as closing the bars, it would cause an uprising. "As for the high end accomodation, I really hadn''t expected it. Not this early anyway."


    "Well, this is the capital of the new Archduchy. Surely there will be your vassals visiting on a regular basis, if nothing else."


    Allya grimaced.


    "Right."


    "Also, for the red light district, one of the problems was, ahem, roleplaying."


    "I don''t see the problem."


    "Roleplaying as people."


    Allya leaned forward.


    "...As who?"


    "Well, there have been whispers that some of the ladies used illusions to, well, look like the dungeon core...or her boss."


    Allya closed her eyes.


    She opened them again, and Camille recoiled.


    "My dear, I want you to do something. Order Anders to take as many guards as he needs, not a single golem, and raid the places that offer such...services. Knock the owners around, threaten them with deportation, burn the entire place down if he has to and put their heads on spikes, but I want this to stop before the sun goes down, and every rumor about it squashed."


    "Y-Yes milady."


    "Good." Allya leaned back into her chair, sighing. "Now, I should really go to bed. It''s been a long trip." Plus, Pyn had to be already under the covers, and miss her...what was it? ''Personal heater''? Something like that. And she''d hate to deprive her fianc¨¦e of that.


    Besides, she knew that pulling a stunt like that was a good way to end up...well, exactly like Alexandra would once she got home and Emilia got her hands on the Earth-born.


    She should never have let Pyn and Emilia collude together.


    "So it has. Have a nice night, milady."


    "I intend to, I intend to."

 Chapter 299 - March to Liberty

    Chapter 299


    Red Sands Desert, Archduchy of Rebirth


    SINS Flickerlight


    Alexandra sighed as she tapped the screen. Well, her hologram did, but the system recognized it, and happily ordered the screen to act like it had been touched. Thank the Gods for it being programmed that way. The stuff in engineering, as usual, had the most quality of life, mostly coded in by frustrated and/or bored engineers.


    Status screens were brought up. Despite having been repaired over the millennia, there were still some things the onboard fabricators couldn''t, or wouldn''t, replace. The missile magazines, for example, were still missing. Not just their content, the entire space was just gone.


    The ship''s main reactor was fine, but it was dry. Not just from fuel usage either, it turned out the vessel had actually jettisoned the tanks alongside the missile magazines. Alexandra had taken one look at the core''s specifications, and decided that it would be a problem she should save for later.


    She already had a thermonuclear reactor system, courtesy of the base underneath her, and she didn''t really have much of a use for it right now. And at least she could fuel it.


    The ship used a hellish aneutronic fusion reactor, powered by helium-3 and lithium-6 out of all things. It used some kind of two stage fusion process, combining the helium and the lithium to obtain helium-4 and a proton, then combined that proton with more lithium to get its helium-3 back and another helium-4. It was actually fucking helium-3 neutral which was insane, the problem is that it needed a crapton of lithium-6, an isotope she didn''t have, and a sizeable quantity of helium-3 to get going. Which she also didn''t have. Since, oh, it just didn''t occur naturally on virtually any planet with life on it. At least not in any quantity that could be exploited. Earth had to get its supply off of Luna to begin with, then eventually the gas giants, mainly Jupiter, which was, in part, why the Interplanetary Wars had happened to begin with. And why...why Europa had ended up being transferred to the Pan-Asian Confed, and eventually declared independence.


    Or, more accurately, had its local government overthrown by madmen.


    She shook herself. No time to dwell on it.


    Going on a trip to the moon or outer system was out. She wasn''t even sure she''d be able to leave the atmosphere without getting shot down, let alone coming back. That wasn''t even taking into considerations all the other problems, like ''if they see this I''m so fucking dead''.


    That meant Helium-3 production at home. Which was hell. Pretty much the only industrial (for some value thereof) way to make it was tritium decay, at which point she might as well just use it to power the reactors she already had.


    But that also meant that she couldn''t power the ship in an emergency, and retrofitting it with the reactors meant to power a base, not a warship, with all the design changes and mass efficiency problems that implied, was a no go.


    She tapped her fingers on the edge of the screen, humming to herself.


    ...The Hammer of Eternity. It had used a helium-3 fusion gun to blow her mesa to kingdom come. The walker was gone, having tanked most of the blast when she''d overloaded the supply ship''s reactor, but fuel tanks were usually hardened, for a wide variety of reasons.


    Furthermore, there could be fuel supplies aboard the other ships. Especially when it was effectively ammunition. They used tritium deuterium power cores, she''d checked the labels on the fuel lines when she''d flooded them with golems during her rescue of Allya back then, but they could be carrying spare ammo, or another system that used it.


    Finding it, however, would be the easy part. Shipping it home...


    She couldn''t just ship back a small quantity and replicate it using her powers, at least most likely. Experimenting with Ghost''s fission reactor and its produce had proven that trying to replicate the end product was a no go. The cost was simply too high. Horrifically so. That seemed to go for many isotopes as well, so no radiation weapons for her, sadly. Nor purely technological artificial gravity, since that required a lot of isotopes for the primary systems, as well as a boatload of platinum. Well, platinum group, technically, osmium and the others would do in a pinch, but platinum was better.


    So that meant siphoning and then moving large quantities of the best thermonuclear fuel in existence. It wasn''t like with the missiles, where they could just flip off the guild and tell them to stuff it, if the Custodians even caught a whiff of it they''d be on her like her Raiders on a Republic convoy. Hell, their first instinct would be to deduce she was making a nuke, which...she probably would use any surplus for that. Probably using a three stage device, first the fission detonator, then tritium deuterium, and finally the sweet sweet helium juice. Screw a hundred kilotons, she could scale something like that well into the hundred megaton range.


    This was-


    "Hey."


    Alexandra jumped back, her hologram glitching through the seat set behind the console as she did.


    She whirled around, and took in a deep breath as she saw Ghost.


    "Fucking hell sis. Don''t do that, you scared the crap out of me."


    "Oh it''s sis now, is it?"


    "Well, not technically, but..." She shrugged, and Ghost nodded.


    "Right. Well, I come bearing news. And a recommendation."


    "Hit me."


    "The AI on this ship''s a writeoff. For conversion, I mean. There simply isn''t enough to build off of. It''s not a gimped program like Seraph, it''s just non sapient to begin with and doesn''t have anything to upgrade it. There''s no point in using the Arcadia kernel, there''s not enough to leave an imprint, it''ll basically be a clean install with a few oddities. Honestly it''d be better to wipe it."


    Alexandra grimaced.


    "I''d rather not. Without it we wouldn''t have the ship."


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Ghost shrugged.


    "It''s up to you."


    "Besides, it might not stay non sapient."


    "Did you hear what I just said?"


    "And do you remember, oh, our daughter, Jared, and our entire golem army, to name a few?"


    The apparition''s eyes widened.


    "Oh. The dungeon feature. That''s...interesting. I mean, we have full control, and the AI''s loyalty is now completely ours. Plus it''s not like we need someone aboard anyway, we can just have whoever needs it borrow processor time now that it''s in network."


    "I know." Alexandra went back to manipulating the screen, frowning as she looked at the structural diagram. "Was that the recommendation, wipe it?"


    "No, the recommendation is for you to get home."


    Alexandra looked up and blinked.


    "What? Has something happened?"


    "No, but your girlfriend is getting very angry."


    "Oh."


    "So, unless you want me to hop back into the jaccuzzi, or end up not touching the ground for a week again..."


    "I get it. And I did touch the ground during that week, I''ll have you know."


    "Uh huh. Only because she wanted you to. Now scram, or she''s liable to turn on me to."


    "You''d like that, wouldn''t you?"


    Alexandra was gone before Ghost could muster a reply through her sputtering.


    The dungeon core was still laughing when she took control of her avatar. She sat up from her command chair...and found herself face to face with Emilia.


    The vampire advisor was slowly tapping her foot, and her eyes had whole thunderclouds inside of them.


    "Hello honey." Said the vampire, and Alexandra winced. Oh crap. "Back again?"


    "Yes, I-"


    "Shush." Emilia stalked towards her and pushed the taller dungeon core back into her chair. "You, my dear, have been gone for three days. Nothing but status checks. And no news, besides ''I''ve gone inside the ship and I''m working on stuff''. I understand why you keep secrets, but at least taking a break every once in a while wouldn''t kill you."


    "I...I''m sorry."


    "You are. And you''ll be more sorry soon enough. I''ve had to deflect my sister enquiring about you by telling her you were too busy being suspended in mid air to chat. I had to lie to my sister for you, Alex."


    "...Oh."


    "Thankfully, after that, she decided she had other business."


    "Okay...so what now?"


    "Now?" The vampire straddled her legs on the chair. "Now...let''s just say that if she asks again in the next few hours, my answer will be the exact same, and I won''t be lying. Understood?"


    Alexandra swallowed, heavily.


    "Y-Yes."


    "Good girl."


    *****


    "Thank you for that cogent summary, Melia." Said Allya with a nod to the dark elf, before turning towards the rest of her council, minus Alexandra. "And with this influx of adventurers, and the substantial tax income from the branch offices, I believe we mostly definitely can afford to begin expanding our air force to accommodate regular patrols along the trade route, not to mention post monster clearing bounties and quests for adventurers. Now, Anders, what are our Republic friends up to?"


    The commander got up, and cleared his throat. Ironically, he had become the best choice for linking up with the New Republic, since, well, they were only soldiers and only had the vague basis of a civilian structure for administering the territory they took.


    Besides, with what was happening...he was effectively sidelined, and he knew it. Not that he was complaining. He''d even straight up told her that him having not much to do was a good thing, as it meant they and their people weren''t in direct and immediate danger.


    He had used his sudden influx of free time to deepen some of his connections, and had even pulled some strings to get some of his clanmates in the Far Reach to agree to a tentative meeting with the New Republic, and he didn''t seem to realize how insane of a diplomatic coup that was. Often the biggest problem in a conflict was getting boths sides to even accept talking with each other, and he''d done that on his own. Granted, by playing shamelessly the card of ''do you really want to fight the people backed by the dungeon who''s kicking every kind of ass up North?'', plus...well, bribes. Lots of bribes. Sorry, ''gifts of consideration for his kinsmen''.


    With the Hegemon already having made some overtures...there was a real change of a tripartite meeting to decide the fate of the Republic, and a large summit to avoid an all out brawl down South.


    "Well, first and foremost, they have split into three sections." Everyone murmured at that. "It''s less stupid than it looks. The New Republic has a large army right now, as well as sizeable stockpiles, but no sources of new ones outside of us. Furthermore, they do not have a source of new manpower, while the Republic is acquiring new equipment and putting people under arms as fast as possible."


    "Slave armies." Said Ellyana, through gritted teeth.


    "Surprisingly enough, not always. They seem to be having a lot of trouble controlling what slave troops they have, probably due to lack of experience. This may be why Sunrise was unwilling to raise its number of slave soldiers above a certain number, at some point it becomes too...problematical. In effect, the officer cadre and its flexibility become the limiting factor."


    "Interesting." Allya leaned forward, putting her head on her steepled fingers. "So, the objectives of these columns?"


    Anders gestured at the map on the council table, placing a small token, and moving it around.


    "The first one is heading towards the western wildlands. However, I have been told it will veer south somewhere along the way."


    "Ah. Heading for Mystral, attempting to cut off the continental road?"


    The commander nodded.


    "Precisely. The continental road links Suvra, Mystra, Elkis, and beyond Crossroads and Eternity." He tapped each city in turn. "It is the only major trade artery westward. The rest is, well, wilderness by and large, infested with monster still. An army won''t care, but traders will. Cut it off, and Suvra is alone."


    "Suvra is a port." Pointed out Melia.


    "Indeed it is. But to get to it they''ll have to go past the Far Reach''s coast, not to mention Seaside Nine before that. I don''t wager they have a good chance of making it."


    "Plus, Mystral supplies and supports the Five Sisters." Added Allya.


    "Precisely." Anders inclined his head. "And the Five Sisters are the pillars that hold the frontier to the Far Reach closed. If they take Mystral...I think my kin will see reason, and there will be peace. No one wants to attack the great border citadels. A few forts and villages for raids are one thing, but a fortress meant to withstand siege is another. If they can be gotten to surrender peacefully, without the tremendous price in blood it would demand to break them, my people will strike a deal with Amelia."


    "That''s good. And at the same time, taking Mystral will eventually force Suvra to surrender." Continued Allya.


    "And open another road to Elkis."


    "Let me guess, the second column is heading east, straight for Crossroads, to do the same to Norvis and Eternity?"


    "No. It is heading east..." He moved the token.


    And he moved it to Gorromar.


    "You''re kidding, right?"


    "Absolutely not. They have struck a deal with Gorromar. once there, that column will move to Eternity."


    "They''re not planning to invade." It wasn''t a question.


    "No. They have made a deal with the province. From Eternity, the army, moving unimpeded by the province''s forces, they''ll be able to threaten the fortresses in the Borderlands with the Hegemony."


    "The same trick doesn''t usually work twice you know."


    "That''s alright, because it''s not the same trick. They don''t intend to cross over and attack. Just convince the Republic that they might. Make them keep forces there that they might have otherwise recalled to the capital."


    "Ah. Anchor the entire eastern army groups?"


    "That...and maybe convince some of the regulars stuck there with the senate guard on their backs that the grass is greener elsewhere."


    "...Amelia is going to try to make the fortresses rebel." Whispered Allya.


    "Precisely. And lastly, the third column will head straight to Elkis. The problem, of course, will be this." He moved the token to a deceptively small city symbol on the map.


    "Pavrow." Said Allya, grimacing.


    Pavrow was a rarity for the continent. A city of the Old World, still standing. Well, for some values of standing. Linked by great highways, parts of them somehow still standing, to Lost Sands and the Eastern Shallows, the roads vanishing underneath the waves, it had been a place of middling importance to those of old, at least according to Alexandra''s AI, Seraph.


    But to them now, it was a megalopolis. A ruined one, but a megalopolis nonetheless.


    Much of the debris had been cleared...and repurposed. Pavrow was a fortress the likes of which was rarely seen. Gigantic walls of neoconcrete fragments, held together by mortar, like some mad imitation of a normal stone wall, the towers instead great skyscrappers of the outskirts of the city, serving to anchor the fortifications, giving them the ability to spew for ungodly amounts of firepower. The greatest triumph of the early Republic had been to annex Pavrow diplomatically, making it one of its earliest joiners and arguably one of its crown jewels.


    It hadn''t seen battle in centuries, but...it had walls large enough that Alexandra''s airships could have landed on them.


    "Please tell me they''re planning on going around it." Said the archduchess.


    "Nope. They''re going straight through."


    "...How?"


    "With lady Crystal''s help. The walls were built to counter catapults and trebuchets. They also served admirably against bombards, but general Amelia is persuaded that with the howitzers she may be able to sweep the walls, and eventually conquer them. More importantly, with them she outranges the tower. And they were set up to always have the range advantage. After all, with catapults, the higher one shoots farther, and they had lots of height to spare."


    Allya nodded.


    "That makes sense. Still, it''s going to be hell."


    "Perhaps, but the siege will give time for the rest of the columns to get to their objectives. And probably accomplish them before the city falls."


    "Thus potentially threatening Elkis from every side."


    "Indeed. If it comes down to it, the Senate won''t simply stand idle, twiddling their thumbs inside the capital. They''ll sortie, and probably run away while their troops die for them. Cutting off the avenues of escape..."


    "You think they''ll surrender?"


    Anders shrugged.


    "They''re slime and scum. If they save their lives and their purses, wouldn''t they take it?"


    "A good point. An excellent one even. Now, I have a report of my own, since lady Crystal was unavailable, regarding the march north to Asaria..."

 Chapter 300 - March North

    Chapter 300


    Ytakan Scrublands, Archduchy of Rebirth


    Darthar-Asaria trade route


    Alexandra grimaced as she looked at the map. And it wasn''t just due to the fact that her avatar was utterly incapable of walking right now, and wouldn''t be for a fair bit.


    Emilia had been...vigorous, to say the least. And even her avatar''s regeneration capabilities had its limits. Seriously, who had programmed this thing to be able to quickly regenerate from grievous injuries but mostly ignore the small stuff? It made sense for combat, but it''s not like the bitch that had sacrificed her didn''t have a fucking shuttle and a squad of guys in power armor to protect her.


    Which...now that she thought about it, probably explained all the crap the Order had no doubt sent her way. If it fit in very neatly, didn''t it? If they thought that it was the one that had sacrificed her that was the dungeon core, then they wouldn''t have to worry about kidnappings.


    Just like now, with high tech on her side and so much firepower, nothing short of an archon could get to her. And even then, she had been preparing for that eventuality ever since she''d seen Starvak take on the Hammer of Eternity.


    It was definitely a thought she''d need to dwell on later.


    "Not a very palatable option, isn''t it?" Said Philia, and Alexandra smiled, looking up from the map in the field command tent.


    Her esteem of the knight-commander kept rising. The Earth-born had offered her a room in one of the airships, but instead she preferred to ride with her men.


    She definitely looked rough around the edges now, her armor having little to do with the brilliant, impeccable one she had arrived in Rebirth with, what was it, over a year ago now?


    Now it was an old, battered and well used suit, adjusted here and there for her convenience.


    "No, no it''s not." Alexandra looked back at the map. "It''s not..."


    "Royal Union Bridge is the only place an army of our size can cross the Kamira river. There are no fjords this close to the Inner Sea, and the other bridges are...well, small, because who would need them for large amounts of traffic when the bridge is there?"


    Alexandra nodded.


    "And that makes it the perfect bottleneck."


    "Fear not, the bridge is sturdy. They won''t have the time to bring people in to demolish it, especially not the pillars, which we can rebuild on."


    "That''s not the problem. They won''t touch a single stone, in fact. I''m ready to bet on it."


    "What?"


    "It''s the perfect bottleneck. The perfect ambush point. There, they can dictate the engagement." Alexandra''s eyes narrowed. "As a matter of fact...if they place units on the bridge itself, they''ll be immune to our artillery. Since we can''t risk hammering the bridge."


    "That''s a risky gamble."


    "So is sending their leader, the one person holding it all together, to Asaria, but the duchess crossed that bridge already." That little tidbit had become widely known remarkably quickly. Though it hadn''t been that hard to discern, what with the frenzy of activity in the siege lines around Asaria, trying to clean up like it was about to be inspection day.


    And in the same time, slowing down progress on the siege of the city. Inbred idiots.


    "So you expect some kind of force."


    "I expect something. Not sure what though. It may be where all of those garrisons are withdrawing to, but..." Alexandra shrugged, and Philia nodded.


    They''d encountered very few of Sunrise''s forces on their way here. And those they had were clearly stragglers that had encountered problems on the way. Mainly guerrillas.


    The rest...the rest were moving north or east like all the demons of hell were after them. Which, to be fair, they pretty much were.


    Those going east were probably going to join up with that prick and the so called ''Southern Army of Liberation'' in Kaidan. Given what she had heard and gotten wind of from the UDC...they were basically telling the duchess to go screw herself and running for the hills.


    The others were trying to move north, but probably to join the siege lines and the main army around Asaria, praying that the battle that was sure to take place there would save them.


    That was a shame, because a good, minor battle would have been an excellent way to shake out her composite army. Her golem portion functioned just fine, and it was the majority of its power, but the rest...


    Darthar''s forces, who had caught up with the army during their wait for Sarth''s and the preparations for the march, were actually really good. These guys had fought in the siege together, both sieges actually, of the Alesian fortresses and then Darthar itself, and Philia had mercilessly drilled them into a single coherent unit. They fought with precision and determination that belied their otherwise disparate uniforms and origins. Their battlefield communications weren''t great, but she was in the process of remedying that, and in the meantime they fought with a tenacity her golems would be proud of.


    Sarth''s forces were more problematical. It was more of a hodgepodge. Sarth''s core, home troops were well disciplined, and the desert rangers were outright fucking terrifying, but the rest...


    Vassals'' household troops, be they knights or conscripts, town and village militias, even some reinforcements from the western baronies, which were a mixed bag as well, ranging from former adventurers to trained field units, though thankfully no peasant levies. None were truly abysmal, even the militia had some idea of what they were doing, but they had no training together. During their advance up to there, they had little opportunity to train and drill on the march, and Sarth''s own household troops had formed the spearhead, using her gifted ships and weapons to absolutely flatten any opposition Sunrise sent their way.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    It had gained them time, but prevented the others from shaking up and gaining coherence.


    Alexandra realized there had been quite the silence, and she cleared her throat. Speaking of lack of coherence...


    "How are our newest friends?"


    "The Kaidan free company is going along remarkably nicely." With all the partisans flocking to their army, they''d actually dissolved the remnants of the Kaidani units that Philia had under her command, and used the trained soldiers as a cadre for the partisans now going to them. Many of them were actually citizens of Sarth, but they didn''t mind. Kaidan was a symbol now, one of Sunrise''s cruelty and tyranny. "Despite their problems, they remain highly motivated and remarkably disciplined."


    Alexandra nodded.


    "That makes sense. They all have one hell of an axe to grind with Sunrise." Or in many cases, a dwarven arsenal''s worth of axes. "And anyone who didn''t understand discipline got...caught."


    Silence descended upon the tent. They''d all seen the horrific displays of barbarities set along the roads, to serve as a warnings to the others.


    "Speaking of...some have expressed, ah, disappointment at our current prisoner policy."


    "We''re not barbarians. I refuse to stoop to their level and blindly execute everyone we come across. If we capture someone, we give them a fair trial, period. That''s not up for debate. Understood?" There was iron, hard and unyielding, in her voice, and the knight-commander physically recoiled.


    "Of course, ma''am. Uh, milady."


    "Good. Have most of our troops crossed the highway?"


    The knight-commander nodded.


    "They have. Only the supply and artillery trains remain."


    "Then let''s get to it." Alexandra looked outside at the vista.


    It was almost painful, in its own way. A gigantic megahighway, the kind that had crisscrossed Earth, and eventually other worlds, during her life.


    But this one was a ruin. The so called ''Crimson Path''. Shattered and destroyed, both by war and the ravages of time. Still, it remained surprisingly intact. According to the desert rangers, there were even long stretches of it relatively intact and useable, between Sarth and Lost Sands.


    But not the sections near Darthar. Those were wrecked beyond belief. Possibly by centuries of use by the trade caravans, but most likely by the cataclysm of having the Flickerlight and the rest of its fleet''s debris field crash down onto the planet below. Who knew what else laid below the sands, waiting to be discovered? The Flickerlight had been a fluke, a ship discovered because it had crashed on top of a mana spring, one that had allowed it to reactivate, its shield marking the location.


    How many more vessels were underneath the soil, waiting to be rediscovered? She needed to make a note, build some ground penetrating scanners and do a full sweep someday.


    TO-DO LIST UPDATED


    Alexandra chuckled, but only shook her head as Philia gave her a questioning look.


    "Nothing, nothing. Let''s go get our forces across."


    The knigth-commander nodded, and followed her out of the tent.


    Time for some old fashioned logistics.


    *****


    "The recon flights are useful, don''t get me wrong, but we really need more of them." Said Allya as she paced around the holographic projector in the command center, while Alexandra watched her, draped on her chair, very pointedly not sitting on her rear. "We really need more info. Not continuous surveillance, but even just a daily snapshot of what''s ahead, on the army''s path, would be immensely helpful."


    "I know, but despite my mana surplus, those flights still cost a lot. And that''s not even counting the fact that the more the army advances, the longer the blackbirds have to fly to get ahead of it. That means more fuel, and more flight time, which means more maintenance and the potential for more failures on route and losing a bird. We recovered the one that crashed near Darthar, but there''s no guarantee it''ll even manage a crash landing like that one did."


    "So...could you cut down the distance, then? Bring them close to the front? They are VTOLs after all."


    "They are, but...Well, landing them in the field is a no go. They need constant maintenance, basically a full strip down and overhaul after each flight. It''s not necessarily that complicated to do tools wise, it''s just time consuming, and takes a lot of attention to detail. Especially for the engines, my golems basically go over them with a freaking toothbrush."


    "So, some kind of workshop, then? Or an airbase?"


    "A workshop would have to be shipped, and keep up with the army. That means constantly setting it up, repairing the craft, and then packing up. Even if we do it at night, that''s still too long. We''d slow the army down and do one hell of a ruckus during the night. That means getting it away from the troops, but at which point, what''s going to protect it? We can detach a unit, but it''ll be permanently trailing behind the main force, inviting an assault, not to mention if they can''t keep up the gap will just get larger and larger and we''ll be back to square one, just with more stuff we need to move forward. An airbase just delays the problem. Yeah, we could build some kind of outpost, but that means deploying forces to protect it. Not even from Sunrise, just monsters attacking, or even thieves or desperate people looting it. The lands north are royally fucked, what Sunrise couldn''t take it burned, it''s hell out there."


    "I know. I''ve seen the pictures. And the aftermath of such things."


    Alexandra met the archduchess'' gaze, and nodded.


    "So yeah. Another solution is a string of airbases, but that means using even more forces, and there''s a point at which it becomes too good of a raiding target, and Sunrise will send something. A raiding unit can chose it''s time and place to strike, while we''ll have to defend every single base."


    "Just like the Republic and its convoys."


    Alexandra inclined her head.


    "Precisely."


    "So, in that case, how about a mobile airbase?"


    Alexandra chuckled.


    "You don''t ask for much, do you? A carrier? Though....Mmmhhhh..." Alexandra snapped her fingers, and gestured at the holographic projector. The map hovering above it was replaced by the hologram of a ship. "This could do."


    "Is that one of your transports?"


    "Sort of. I used the Freedom-class hull as its basis. I needed the internal volume, without the obscene cost, nor size, of the Culture-class."


    "Can''t argue with that last one. That ship is big, even for a battlecruiser."


    "Had to be, it''s a giant missile silo. So, I had the idea to modify a Freedom-class'' hull to create a drone carrier. It was so I could use the shorter ranged, propeller powered ones I''d designed for way back when Coledar was still heading our way, when they would get close enough. I never got the chance to use them."


    "And now you''re thinking of converting it to a full aircraft carrier?"


    "Precisely. Mobile airbase, right? Just a bit on the small size. Escort carrier sized. Sacrifices will have to be made though. We need two blackbirds for redundancy, both if we lose one or we need a recon flight now and one is undergoing maintenance. So we''ll need to compromise on the drones and existing design. Like, a lot. Especially since we''ll need a full workshop onboard."


    "We could use the shorter range, more reliable recon too."


    "I know. That means keeping the recon units. At least some of them. But with arcane air defenses being so damned lethal for smallcraft, we can scrap the attack drones. Part of the reason why I never built them was because it didn''t seem all that cost effective, with the probable losses. That means the missile and bomb magazines, as well as the ammunition loading bays can go too." Allya watched in fascination as the dungeon core gestured, and the ship exploded into a myriad of rooms, parts and systems, some of them disappearing as the Earth-born named them. She rarely got to see the dungeon core actually work, and she was a tad jealous at the ease of which the former EFSN officer redrew schematics. Schematics that would otherwise have taken days for entire teams of shipwrights to even draft amendments for. "That frees up a lot of volume and mass, but not all of that volume is contiguous. So we''ll rearrange the launch bays."


    "Launch bays?" Allya stopped pacing, and pointed at the top of the ship. "Doesn''t it have a flight deck?"


    Alexandra shrugged.


    "It does, but taking off from just the flight deck is a gamble in combat, especially with the balloons and other potential issues. I tried to make a separate gundeck underneath to keep it clear, but there''s still some overlap, especially for damage control teams to get to the guns if they get hit. I only have so much volume to work with after all. So I put in a pair of lateral launch bays. They''re trickier to use, have a non zero risk of launch failure damaging the craft, and they can''t recover drones, but they''re a very useful feature to have. Usually you need to get your aircrafts in the air in a lot more hurry than you need to get them home, and there''s a lot more breakage doing that. It''s why it''s called scrambling after all."


    "Point taken. Can''t make an omelette without breaking some eggs, right?"


    "Right. So, what we need to do is pull the launch bays back towards the stern, where the magazines were." The hologram shifted, rearranging the ship. "That''ll open up space next to the elevator, with the loading bays gone. We''ll need some of that space to expand the elevator so it can accommodate the blackbirds, but the rest can be used as a workshop. As a bonus, we''ll even be able to use it for the drones if the blackbirds are lost or simply don''t need it for the moment."


    "That''s good. So...it''s ready?"


    "What? Hell no! This is a presentation, we''ll need at least a day spent doing simulations for weight distributions and structural integrity. Then we''ll have to build prototypes for everything, test them, then assemble a prototype for the ship itself."


    "Right, sorry."


    Alexandra smiled.


    "It''s okay, you''re not an engineer."


    "Plus you seem to..."


    "Perform miracles on a regular basis?"


    "I wouldn''t have put it quite that way, but yes."


    "Well, even my awesomeness has its limits."


    "Modest, too."


    They exchanged smiles.


    "Well then, it''s high time I got to work."


    "Can I watch?"


    "Don''t you have your own stuff to do?"


    "If I''m being honest, they kind of set themselves up now so most things just run without me. They had to, and I see no reason to give myself more extra work when they were doing such a bang up job. Better than I could have done in some areas, actually."


    "If it works, don''t fix it."


    "Basically, yeah. And I''m not some kind of control, micromanaging maniac that needs to have my fingers everywhere."


    "Yes, Pyn would dislike that."


    "Uh huh."


    Alexandra opened her mouth to let loose another quip, then her rear helpfully reminded her of Emilia and her riding crop, and she suddenly decided that she didn''t have room to talk.


    "Very well. It''ll be a nice change of pace to have you along. Now quickly, to the laboratory!"


    She struck a pose, and Allya face palmed.


    "Are you just...always like that in private?"


    "Only to my most trusted friends." Alexandra smiled as Allya blushed slightly. "Come on now, let''s build ourselves a carrier!"

 Chapter 301 - Origins

    Chapter 301


    Red Sands Desert, Archduchy of Rebirth


    Dungeon Factory, Workshop


    "Wow. Just...wow." Said Allya as she entered the workshop.


    Alexandra smiled as she leaned against one of the workbenches, leaving the prototypes on it undisturbed with the ease of long practice.


    "Neat, uh? This is where I''ve done...pretty much everything, actually. I''ve built weapons, tanks, directed battles and negotiated deals from here. Though of course my workshop has changed spots a lot over time. And been expanded." She gestured at the far wall, of which a tiny bit could be seen through the clutter of prototypes at the back. "It''s also where I store my prototypes."


    "I can see that. There''s...a lot. And not everything, I trust?" Allya waggled her eyebrows, and Alexandra looked away. A bit too quickly.


    "Yep. Most of them never made it to production."


    Allya looked at the workbenches, the ones closer to the door.


    "And I assume these are your more recent prototypes?"


    "More or less." Alexandra picked up one of the devices, bringing it up for the archduchess to see. "New fragmentation grenade type."


    "For your army?"


    "Eh, not really. More for the fourth floor."


    "Still expanding it?"


    "Yep. We''ve reached the end of the battle zone, and we''ll be starting work on the renaissance castle and its gardens soon."


    Allya coughed.


    "What do you intend to use as a boss? Since CQ, well¡­"


    "Spends more time outside than inside? Don''t worry, you can say it. Going out of the dungeon used to be her holidays, now it''s the opposite, playing boss is exceptional for her. Well, she is a boss, but you get what I mean."


    "I do."


    "But in this case, she came up with something quite simple."


    Allya rolled her eyes.


    "You never do anything simply. And I have little doubt that it carried over to your daughter."


    "Well, you might have a point there. But in this case, it is simple. The boss? It''s a manticore golem."


    "Ah..manticore?"


    "Manticore golem. Remember Kara?"


    "Your daughter''s pup?"


    "Yeah. I can make the mechs I built her autonomous. This is only the early, cheaper versions, but it''s unique in the dungeon, and it gives us valuable combat data for her to use."


    "Ah. So you''re using the adventurers for training?"


    "Haven''t I always?"


    "Can''t argue with that." Allya sighed. "I''d say the new revenue will be nice, but truth be told, it won''t be much compared to the steps."


    "Probably not, no."


    "That reminds me. How''s your sister in law doing? I haven''t seen her yet."


    "After our first meeting, she''s keen in staying out of the way. Emilia''s excuse to cover for me, and her, ah, meeting me after my break seemed to have made her inclined to mostly keep to her own."


    Allya tried not to flick her gaze to the Earth-born''s rear, which she was still clearly very careful about.


    "I see. And what of her reinforcements? Put those enchanters to work yet?"


    "I have. Their first order of business was start intensive training for, well, pretty much everybody. Except Seraph."


    "Because she doesn''t know about them."


    "She knows they manage the dungeon, but not much more than that. She basically takes them as just an evolved Jared. A glorified custodian, which, to be fair, in many way Seraph is."


    "Right. And once the training is over?"


    "They''ll get to work on general military equipment. Ammunition, especially, having a bunch of enchanters will help a ton in that department."


    "¡­But not the more sensitive projects."


    "Absolutely none of those. I think they''ve already guessed that it''s why I''m training the others. And they''re being considered unreliable, at best."


    "Must not be a pleasant thought."


    "They''ll get over it."


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    "Let''s hope."


    "They know they''re not trusted. Freya''s arrival wasn''t exactly smooth, and they came in warned that there may be things under the surface they weren''t expecting."


    "You think your in laws are onto you?"


    "They''re not my- Argh, nevermind. And yes, but they''ve been onto me since basically day one."


    "Right. Because you lied about who you were."


    Alexandra stared at Allya.


    "Yes. Yes I have. How did you guess?"


    "The half cape Ghost used to wear? That''s commodore and above. The founder of my house said as much in her memoirs. You were a flag officer."


    "Right."


    "I know you like keeping secrets. But that doesn''t mean you''re that good at it. At least to your close allies."


    "Let''s hope I''m still good with my enemies though."


    "Let''s."


    There was an almost oppressive silence for a few seconds, then Alexandra sighed.


    "Yes?" Said the Earth-born.


    "Will you tell us who you were?"


    "Someday¡­maybe. I can''t make any promises."


    "Why does it bother you so much?"


    "Why would it not?"


    Allya looked at her, and Alexandra realized she''d been too aggressive.


    "You''re being too defensive for it not to be something big. You know we don''t care what you did on Earth, right?"


    Alexandra met Allya''s gaze, and the archduchess took a step back.


    There was¡­something in her gaze, and it wasn''t Ghost.


    Only¡­her. And that was terrifying. Because Allya suddenly realized she''d rationalized away Alexandra''s stranger and colder moments by attributing them to her alter ego.


    "When you finally learned who I am¡­you will care. And I hope you will remember the words you have uttered then."


    There was almost a full minute of silence after that, before Allya spoke up.


    "Let''s start working on that carrier?"


    "Yes. Let''s."


    ******


    "Hello. Enjoying your morning?" Said Ghost as she sat down in the simulation.


    The archmage shivered, and jerked away from her as if she''d been struck.


    It had been a while since they''d brought back the would be core assassin. And a while since she''d revealed her true name to the archmage.


    And still, the Sunrisian was terrified of her. Regular visits and routine could not abate the utter terror she had of the Earth-born.


    "I...I am." Finally said Emylris, countess of Kolotan. And, incidentally, the niece of Falmagar, the duke CQ had killed at the climax of the siege of Darthar.


    "That''s good." Ghost gazed at the simulation. It was...pleasant. But not too pleasant. There were advantages to making one feel at home, notably lowering their guard, but that was never going to happen here. Furthermore, neither she nor Alexandra wanted it to.


    They were here to extract information from her. She''s been extremely blunt to the archmage about that, once she''d been convinced this wasn''t hell and she wasn''t going to be tossed into a boiling pit by one of Earth''s greatest war criminals.


    So the place was a prison. A cozy one, but a prison nonetheless, looking like the metaphorical princess tower, from which a knight must rescue the archmage from. And there were elements, deliberately and, might she say, positively artistically, strewn about to instill a sort of¡­alien feeling, for the lack of a better word.


    Most were what one might have expected to find on Earth. Others were more esoteric.


    She may not have gone to Trappist herself, but she had seen the remnants of that star system, and the handful of forlorn artifacts found in the wreckage.


    The one and only form of intelligent alien life humanity had ever found¡­and something had annihilated it almost to the mollecular level on the scale of a whole star system. They had no idea what they looked like, or even their basic biochemistry. They just knew they had complex metamaterials, thanks to those miraculously surviving artifacts, and that this probably hadn''t been their home system. Though why they''d skipped every nearby system except Trappist to colonize was a mystery.


    They just knew something had once dwelled there because no natural phenomena could shatter a star system back to its almost primordial state like that. Returned to a diffuse cloud of particles and atoms. Dust to dust.


    And so, she had done her best to replicate some of those alien artifacts. Reinforce that feeling.


    There was a long silence, then Emylris managed to gathered up her courage.


    "Why have you come?"


    "Recently, we have received a lot of enchanters. But no new enchantments alongside. So I wish to correct that. Today, we will delve into the matters of enchanting."


    The archmage nodded, meekly, and organized some of the tomes on her desk, before clearing her throat. As with every archmage, she was a teacher. One could not attain the title without spending some time passing the knowledge of the arcane onto others. Once, it had been to avoid their knowledge being lost, and allow the growth of magic as a whole, now, it had long since passed into tradition, after the dungeons had brought the once separate islands of humanity into contact once more, pushing back the wastelands, and the high ideals of freely shared knowledge came crashing against the walls of nationalism, state security and military secrets. Quite the same that had ended the Age of Information on Earth, where after the Terran Hegemony War it was decided that some knowledge was simply too dangerous to be freely shared.


    "Very well. Shall we begin at the start?"


    "I believe I have the fundamentals. Instead let us go to enchantments capable of resisting powerful forces, like being fired out of a cannon...and meshing in with runes."


    *****


    "Your grace. You honor us with your presence." Said Mahikam, Marquis of Caliban, kneeling before the Duchess, his officers kneeling behind him like a veritable sea of heraldry.


    "Thank you. I wish I could say my arrival should be an honor." Coldly retorted Satina Olyrin, duchess of Sunrise, as she stepped down from her richly decorate, some may say even ostentatious palanquin, completing ignoring the sweating and half naked enslaved giants that had been carrying it on their shoulders. "Unfortunately, it is not."


    "Your Grace?"


    "The siege has stalled. And with the retreat of the Southern Army, this is all that remains of our hope to overthrow the crown''s tyranny." She could hear the ripple of gasps as she said that. It was pretty much an admission that the Southern Army was out of the war...if not outright gone rogue. "I have come to ensure our victory, no matter the cost."


    There was a short silence, then Mahikam licked his lips.


    "Of course. Would you like to accompany me to the command tent, your Grace? So that I may update you on the status of the siege, and our efforts."


    "I would. You may rise."


    The Marquis rose in a clatter of metal, the burnished bronze of his ancient armor almost blinding in the light of the sun at its zenith.


    "Thank you, your Grace. Please, follow me."


    It was a short walk to the command tent, which proved to be utterly empty, save for the two towering knights flanking the entrance. As soon as they stepped in, Satina heard the strange buzzing of a multitude of scrambling and anti-divination enchantments, before a wall of energy descended upon the entrance, preventing arcane and mundane versions of spying alike.


    "Your Grace, I-" Started Mahikam, as he knelt once more.


    "Oh for the love of-! Mahik, I married your uncle, and I''ve changed your diapers when my sister in law visited. Get up you fool!"


    The Marquis went back on his feet, looking bewildered.


    "Your Grace?"


    "That bit outside? It was theater. To get the fear of me, rather than the fear of the dungeon, into our people." She looked at him. "That won''t be necessary for you, will it?"


    He hesitated.


    "I would be a fool to not fear what comes from the South."


    "Yes, but you won''t let that control you. They will." Satina sighed, and the Marquis looked at her as she seemed to deflate. "Apologies, nephew. Much has happened since I have sent you away."


    "So it has." He looked at her for a few seconds, before licking his lips and finally speaking up. "Your Grace-"


    "Satina."


    "Satina. You do realize that, even if were we to take the city before the dungeon arrive, we would accomplish nothing? Their majesties wouldn''t be taken alive, and at best we would just force Allya Aub¨¦toile, sorry, Nouvelle-Aurore, to take the crown. Under the applause of the loyalists, I might add."


    "Are you so pessimistic about your chances against the dungeon''s army?"


    "Thirty thousand golems, equipped with advanced weapons even the Tark Hegemony would drool over, a proper airfleet compared to the pile of scrap we have, and Gods know how many regular troops alongside, including some Kaidani who have been fighting like demons since the first day of the war and are now amongst the single most veteran troops north of the Red Sands Desert. Oh, and let''s not even mention the fact that the dungeon core has a fetish for artillery and is, according to our spies, carrying enough cannons to chew a city into rubble in a matter of hours."


    "You outnumber those golems forty to one."


    "And the Vikrans outnumbered the Erisians five hundred to one during the battle of the Prismatic Fields. They lost. Their specters still haunt the site of their massacre. If the dungeon core attacks us while we''re besieging the city, we''ll have a battle on two fronts. If we somehow take the city, we''ll only have ruined fortifications not worth a damn against an enemy who has Gorromarian, maybe even Erisian, technology, as well as battered forces, exhausted from a desperate assault."


    "You...have done your homework."


    "I had to. So, my aunt, what do you wish me to do?"


    "Leave a slave force. Bottle the city. Then march your army South."


    Mahikam opened his mouth, then closed it.


    "Your gr-My aunt. Are you sure? That is..."


    "Crazy? No. No it''s not. In fact, it''s our only shot."


    "Why?"


    "Because I know something you don''t. I know there are others who see Allya and, especially, her dungeon core''s madness, and are determined to see it fail."


    "And they will help us?"


    "They will spit upon us and everything we stand for. But if we position the army right, we can sweep in and eliminate Rebirth''s army, once their dungeon ally''s forces are annihilated."


    "And if we don''t?"


    "Then they will retreat south, and regroup. Then the dungeon core will return, even more angry than before."


    "You...you wish to abandon the siege of the capital to march south? To Rebirth."


    "You said it yourself. Taking Asaria won''t win us this war. Sieging the city only gives us one advantage: force our foe to march to us."


    "You intend to take Rebirth."


    The duchess shook her head, suddenly incredibly weary.


    "No. I intend to hold off Rebirth''s onslaught until its ally has much bigger problems to worry about. Then...then we''ll see."


    "This...is unlike you, my aunt."


    Mahikam shivered as the duchess met his gaze with one filled with dull terror.


    "We don''t have a choice, my nephew. Now, can you do it?"


    "I can, but...many of the officers will be unhappy with it."


    "Because they intend to run once the dungeon arrives. Or trade the lives of their slaves for their own."


    "...Some of them, yes. Others are simply afraid. And many will see it as giving up on what they see as the true prize."


    "If they are this incompetent to be of the latter, replace them."


    "My aunt?"


    "We''re heading into the battle of our lives. Maybe the last. We can ill afford this caliber of idiots leading our troops. Purge them. I shall bear the consequences."


    "If you are certain..."


    "I am. Now, you said something about the state of the siege?"

 Chapter 302 - Inevitability

    Chapter 302


    Red Sands Desert, Archduchy of Rebirth


    City of Rebirth


    Allya gazed at the wasteland as she leaned against the battlements. Well, ''wasteland''. It was actually becoming green now, the first hardy plants rejuvinating the soil, under the careful ministrations of the temple.


    She couldn''t even remember the last time she''d been on her city''s ramparts. Probably one of the inspections of the repairs made on them after the Old World automata attack, back when they expected the Republic army to make it.


    Now...she wondered if they''d ever be used again. And if they would even make the slightest bit of difference if they were.


    She looked at both sides, at the slots where Alexandra''s field guns would have been emplaced for a battle.


    It seemed so long ago, when it felt like the fate of herself and her people would be decided on these walls, as golems poured shell after shell into a relentless tide of metal and armor.


    Now she was safely removed from the action. Thousands of kilometers from any real enemy, even now surrounded by a small army of bodyguards, and she knew, under constant surveillance by a strike team of Praetorian Guards within the mesa fortress of her ally, ready to unleash hell in her defense.


    She heard the clanking of horseshoes hitting the stone, and she closed her eyes.


    "Hello, guildmaster." She said.


    "Greetings, archduchess." Answered Orromar, as the centaur came to a halt by her side.


    They both simply stood there, in a silence that was almost amiable.


    Finally, the guildmaster leaned against the battlements as well, no mean feat for a centaur of his height.


    "Archduchess." He said softly, and she gave him a sidelong glance.


    "Out with it. I see you''ve finally gathered your courage. Say what you have to say."


    The guildmaster was quiet for a second.


    "They won''t give up, you know."


    "Who?"


    "The guild. My superiors. They have seen, firsthand, the horrors unleashed during the United Dungeon Wars. They''ll do anything, anything at all to prevent it."


    "Then they''ve already lost. They are just fighting the inevitable." Said Allya.


    "...What?"


    "The UDC is collapsing. There''s no stopping it now. Just delaying it. Do you think the isolationists will let their petty kingdom go away? No, they''ll fight rather than let others leave. Not after Crystal spat in their faces and dragged their name through the dirt."


    "One of those isolationists is dead milady."


    Allya rounded on him so quickly he flinched.


    "And if your superiors had it their way, there would be more of those, wouldn''t there? Don''t fucking try to pin this on me, we both know who eliminated that core and why."


    The guildmaster looked at her.


    "I don''t." He said, and Allya looked at him in wonder. He''d tricked her. He genuinely didn''t know. Was he...


    "You''re being kept in the dark." She said.


    "I am. But I know something is happening."


    "Are you trying to appeal to my good sense, asking me to back down?"


    "No. I''m telling you to prepare. I''m warning you."


    "...Why?"


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "How many live in Darthar, because Crystal told the UDC to go to hell? They say you can measure the worth of someone by their enemies. If people like the duchess of Sunrise and the Republic''s senators are your foes, then you must be doing something right."


    "But that doesn''t make us friends."


    "Nor allies, no." He looked at her. "I took an oath to serve. It said nothing of serving blindly however."


    Allya tilted her head, and a shiver went through her as she saw his eyes, heavy with meaning. Why-


    Crap.


    Crap crap crap.


    Wording. The way he''d worded that.


    The guild was preparing something. Through him. In Rebirth. It had to be only at its beginning stages, or they probably would have seen something...she dearly hoped.


    "I see. And I thank you. For your concern. I will return the favor someday."


    Return the favor of sparing his life when Alexandra brought the hammer down on them. Like she''d been planning for a while.


    "Thank you."


    Allya watched him leave, before returning to the vista in front of her.


    She could stay her a while...watch the sunset. She had time.


    *****


    Alexandra smiled as the machine finished assembly.


    "What...is that?" Asked Emilia, in pure awe.


    "That, my dear...is my answer to my tech limitations for deploying rechargeable shield generators. And the need for something to draw fire from mages and survive it on the ground. This is my first real mech."


    Emilia looked up at the monstrosity, and especially its weapons.


    "That''s..."


    "Made to be overkill. Twin barelled medium autocannon ventral turret, two arm mounted heavy howitzers with rapid fire autoloaders, eight machine guns, two hull mounted forward, two back, one coaxial for every weapon, the last turret mounted to sweep infantry from underneath the mech, and last but not the least, shoulder mounted rocket racks with a back mounted missile launch tube sandwiched between them. All of it bolted on a heavy mythril armored chassis, with additional composite plating with an improved energy dispersion matrix, accompanied by a rapid recharge shield generator."


    "Honey, that''s a fucking landship at this point."


    Alexandra''s smile widened.


    "Yes, but impossible to board, capable of moving far more quickly than a tread powered ship, and with little need for the expensive recoil cancelling systems of an antigrav vehicle, with its legs to take it. Last but not the least, it''s immune to the current terrain issue we''re running into up north."


    Emilia winced. The army, now that it had gone beyond the Crimson Path, was running into a problem Alexandra hadn''t fully anticipated: vegetation.


    This wasn''t Alpha Centauri, automated colony machines hadn''t criss crossed the planet with highways, to enable the planetary terraforming and the construction of the cities.


    There were roads, ones that by medieval standards were unbelievably amazing and even, thanks to geomancers being able to smooth them out and maintain them, but that was still incredibly inadequate for an army numbering above a hundred thousand.


    That meant they''d had to split up their forces into several parallel columns, and many of these roads hadn''t been maintained in months, and were thick with undergrowth. With Alcheryos'' aggressively growing, mana imbued vegetation, that was an obstacle even the spider tanks couldn''t just punch through. And the climate was still arid enough that just using the flamethrowers to clear the way would probably end in creating more problems than it solved for their army, nevermind the poor civilians and partisans seeking their protections that would be caught in it.


    That was actual another problem they were running into. Now that they were advancing north, and weren''t leaving much of a garrison, beyond some of the town militias, who were in their natural elements, many civilians were following the army. Some were the camp followers such medieval forces attracted by default, but a fair few were simply there for protection.


    After all, if their town militias had already been overrun, if they hadn''t just turned their coats and joined the invaders, what guarantee would they have that the new ones would prove successful where their predecessors had failed?


    Alexandra just couldn''t bring herself to chase them away. After all, they were right. If Sunrise''s southern army found its balls again, they could cut off her rear. They''d be annihilated by the response, but that would be cold comfort for the poor bastards caught in the way.


    So instead she''d started a whole program in partnership with the duke of Sarth, who despite his advanced age -and showing it- marched side by side with his army.


    The civilians were enlisted to help with clearing the road. Not just for the army to pass, but do full scale maintenance to ensure it would remain clear for the supply convoys, freeing the heavily loaded soldiers to focus on marching and recuperating. In exchange they were being fed, clothed, and sent back on Allya and the duke''s dime with the now -somewhat- empty supply convoys, using whatever space was available, towards Sarth and Darthar. The convoys for the latter had to be lighter, due to the supplies necessary. You''d think they would be less popular, too, due to the dangers involved, but the tale of the Last Stand of the Breach had already taken a life of its own, and her branch office, with its surface fortress, was already becoming a legend on its own. To hear the old defenders of Darthar, who had seen it built, it had a moat filled with magma, thousands of artillery guns pointed in every direction, and a million golems laying in ambush underneath it, ready to annihilate anybody who would challenge the dungeon core.


    It was ridiculous, but, well...the refugees who those tales were being told to were surrounded by wonders they''d barely even imagined. Half educated peasants, kept in the dark about even essence, let alone the wider world, were standing the shadows of spider tanks, steel airships and thousands upon thousands of golems wielding weapons that spat fire and flame. It wasn''t just that they desperately wanted to believe, they had proof before their very eyes of the wonderous legions of the dungeon and the invicible might of the new archduchy.


    Speaking of, she''d need to talk to Allya about some stuff. There were talks on how the Kingdom shall be split, as the new borders of the archduchy had not yet been hammered in stone. After all, do not sell the bear''s hide before it has been killed. Some proposes that it be split along the Kamira river, anything west was Allya''s, the rest their majesties'', splitting Kaidan and it''s duchy right down the middle.


    Alexandra and Allya had a different idea. Because they wanted, needed, sea access. A full north to south separation, with them inheriting the entirety of Kaidan and Lorenz, and maybe giving up the western baronies in exchange, who, after all, remained extremely loyal to the crown. It would give them acccess to the sea, without taking the jewel -in the eyes of many, at least- that was Sunrise, and in exchange give the crown the northern half of all the trade routes, full control of the border with the Sapphire Kingdom and, in the future, access to the lost Sands if dungeons ever appeared there and pushed the livable border westward.


    Or, you know, she plopped a branch office there and went looking into the Death Zone.


    So they''d need to start convincing people that their way was the better one. They were going to more or less impose it to their majesties anyway, but it would be a hell of a lot easier and with less friction if the victorious army and its commanders, most of whom were nobles, were backing it. After all, Allya would receive the lion''s share of the glory, but all of the others would be damned heroes as well. Provided that they were victorious, of course. But if they did, then their opinion would weigh a lot.


    Alexandra realized she''d dozed off into her own thoughts when Emilia poked her.


    "Uh? Oh, sorry, was lost in thought. What did you say?"


    "I asked you about its name. It has four legs, but it''s no spider tank."


    "Oh, right. I call it the Mackie. The firstborn of my mechs."


    "Mackie? That''s a referrence to another one of your Terran tabletop games, isn''t it?"


    "Oh yes. Battletech, this time. Big stompy mechs."


    "I suppose it''s appropriate."


    "Yes it is. Now, I believe we had a meeting with your sister?"


    "Yes we do. Now please don''t glare at her again."


    "If she puts beans on toast again, I make no promises."


    Emilia rolled her eyes.


    "This is as good as I''m gonna get, uh? Alright, now move it. We need to be good hosts. Hop hop!"


    *****


    Allya was still leaning on the battlements when she heard the commotion in the city. She turned around, just in time to watch ¨¦clair erupt on the walls'', slamming the door aside.


    "Milady!" She said, and Allya shivered as she saw her bodyguard''s face. "Thank the Gods you''re here! We couldn''t find you! You have to get to the council room, quickly!"


    "What''s going on?"


    The bodyguard looked at her eyes filled with terror.


    "Milady...there are reports coming in from all over the world! Battles and bloodshed everywhere! It''s..." The bodyguard took in a deep breath, trying, unsucessfully to calm herself. "It''s a dungeon civil war!"

 Chapter 303 - Echo

    Chapter 303


    Plains of Orient, Republic Province of Eternity


    Tamaria Airbase


    It started, as it usually did, with a misunderstanding, and was helped along by unfortunate coincidence.


    Patrols, by their very nature, had to be irregular. A predictable patrol was a useless one, simply a minor hindrance, no more. Keeping the enemy guessing was key. And a good commander would do everything to keep them guessing.


    And Eternia may be a politician, but her vampire advisor was a very good commander.


    So it was that the Zephyr, the light cruiser belonging to the Eternia Crystallis dungeon, departed its base, unscheduled and unexpected. It was a long range vessel, built for autonomous command, with sentient monsters onboard to direct it.


    And ran straight into the UDC frigate Malvaros. A ship meant for close in patrols, strictly directly controlled by a dungeon core, thanks to communication crystals. The frigate was running on a schedule, but...its commanding dungeon core, Yvira of the Golden Path dungeon was, all in all, unused to air operations at best, and in truth what some may consider incompetent. They had been selected for their loyalty to the isolationist cause, not experience or proficiency, as other, more promising dungeon cores were set aside because of their potential for siding with instead of against their fellow some already considered to be rogue. So they were running late, and instead of the Zephyr harmlessly moving in after they had passed, they suddenly found themselves on the same route.


    And thus an inexperienced, indoctrinated dungeon core commanded a frigate that suddenly found itself face to face with a ship five times its size.


    The Zephyr knew exactly who the Malvaros was, as they were still within ample sensor range of its home base, and they knew the vessel, having seen it often on its regular patrols. But the Malvaros, and its commander...could not say the same about the other ship.


    The Malvaros banked, hard. And to their credit, Yvira did attempt to fire a warning shot.


    And that warning shot obliterated the quarterdeck of the Zephyr, killing half of its command monsters and grievously wounding its captain. The vessel''s arcane shields were down, as none expected an attack almost within firing distance of its home base.


    The light cruiser answered in kind. Unfortunately, the Malvaros'' defenses were up...which meant it survived the broadside, and was able to emit a distress call, with its precise position.


    And the full squadron of UDC vessels, moving in from the South to reinforce the Malvaros'' home base, forces moved in secret, responded immediately.


    The light cruiser, which had made short work of the frigate, but not without considerable damage, was loitering above the crash site, preparing for search and rescue operations when the UDC ships came within sensor range.


    For Eternia and her allies, they had just been attacked by what they knew without doubt to be a UDC vessel...


    And five unknown capital ships, in combat formation, had just appeared at the edge of sensor range, moving straight for a major airbase. And what looked like a screening vessel had engaged an unscheduled patrol, whose goal was to be the tripwire for exactly those kinds of attacks.


    The Zephyr''s propellers were damaged. The crew attempted emergency repairs as they went to limp home.


    They failed. Had they made it, perhaps the UDC vessels would have changed course, and instead of engaging a major naval base, opened communication.


    But they didn''t make it. The capital ships tore the light cruiser to shreds.


    And found themselves nose to nose with the entirety of Eternia''s third battlefleet, having scrambled up as soon as the Zephyr was attacked.


    They, in turn tried to run.


    The Hurricane-class vessels, of the same type that had almost caused the downfall of Alexandra''s raiding squadron during her fight against the Republic with their powerful wind magic, didn''t let them.


    The UDC and Eternia both screamed for help, sent warnings to their fellows.


    Both sides began to scramble their vessels and troops, across the globe. And as they did, they took the other doing the same as sure sign of an enemy first strike.


    With so much friction, and such tinder...


    Another spark flew. Then another. And another.


    An accident there. A warning shot here.


    And within the hour, both sides were openly and indiscrimately engaging each other.


    The UDC Civil War had begun.


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    *****


    "Mmmhhh...Pasta, mashed potatoes, chili..." The young woman hummed as she went through the meal packs. It felt strange having so much food on hand. She still remembered having to survive off of military emergency nutrigel, vat grown slop whose origin she''d rather not dwell on.


    Everyone was pretty sure bodies didn''t end up in the bioprocessors anymore, there''d been a huge enquiry and study about it, but that was only for humans. Who knew what unlucky animal, having survived the horror of humanity''s madness, would have just finally expired and used as a handy source of protein.


    She finally settled on one, and pulled out a pack of meatballs and rice. And almost dropped it as someone rang the bell of her apartment.


    Technically she was in a boarding school, but she got her own place. Her parents'' allowance was enough for that, besides which the network of environmental engineers that kept everyone alive took care of its own, and she''d gotten it for a pittance. Wouldn''t be any other way, unless the director cared to have his air filtration system fail and get a good lungful of toxins.


    Still, own place or no, it was small, and she quickly crossed the room to open the door, moving over her bed, which she knew from experience was only enough to have a second person if one was on top of the other. Which was okay, since it wasn''t used for sleeping when she had someone else over.


    She flicked a switch, looking at the small, warbling screen showing the door camera, and her eyes went wide, immediately hitting the button to open the door.


    "Big bro!" She yelled out as she wrapped her arms around the neck of the man outside her door, sharply dressed in a neat naval uniform, bearing the insignia of a lieutenant-commander, not even leaving him room to react.


    "Hey there, sis." Said the man as he hugged her back. "Missed me?"


    "Are you kidding? Of course I missed you! I thought you were still out there." She gestured vaguely at the sky, well, ceiling.


    "I''ve been given a short bit of liberty."


    "Ah. Heading somewhere even farther?"


    He nodded.


    "Yeah. I..." He looked at both sides of the hallway, as if he was afraid of prying ears. Fat chance of that, the place was a block of tiny apartments like many others, buried within the wider hab tower, and populated by students who didn''t want to have anything to do with each other. They didn''t exactly go out of their way to rent them to mix with more of their kind after all. She certainly didn''t. "Can I come in?"


    "Sure." The young woman stepped back, allowing him in, before making an elaborate bow. "Welcome to my humble abode."


    "You''ve been watching those holovids again." Said her brother, his voice slightly exasperated.


    "Just because you think medieval stuff is stupid doesn''t mean I do."


    "Knowing how to swing a sword isn''t a useful skill to have, Alex."


    "Yeah, well maybe someday I''ll be stranded somewhere and knowing how to smelt iron will come in useful! And how many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?"


    "What do you want me to call you then?"


    "How about my name, oh Emile?"


    "How about pixie, instead?" He chuckled as she huffed at her childhood nickname, before gesturing at her desk, covered in half dismantled electronics. "Or sparks."


    ''Alex'' rolled her eyes.


    "Fine, be that way."


    "More seriously though, you shouldn''t just leave that stuff around."


    "It''s fine. Besides, it''s for an assignment. They''re supposed to teach us how to code, but we sure spend a lot of time with hardware." Alex remembered she was holding a mealpack, and waved it. "You don''t mind...?"


    "No, of course not. Sorry I interrupted you."


    "Nah, it''s fine." She made her way to the microwave, embedded into one of the walls, and popped the mealpack in, quickly entering the time, before stepping back to look at her brother with a raised eyebrow at his disgusted expression "Yes?"


    "I really don''t understand how you can eat that stuff."


    "It''s not so bad. Better than school food. Or nutrigel."


    Emile shivered at that.


    "Fair enough."


    "Trying not to say that your vaunted naval rations are much better?"


    "I don''t get rations, I get a galley, and an officer''s mess."


    "I''m sure it''s a mess alright."


    "Ah ah. Seriously, sis, you won''t reconsider?"


    "Reconsider what? Spending half a decade in some stick up the ass academy, to then be shipped off to die halfway across the solar system against the Confed for some iced up rock?"


    "It''s not how it is, sis." Said Emile in a pained tone.


    "No? Well, it sure seems that way." The microwave dinged, and she pulled out the now warm pack, tearing it up in a heartbeat, messing up the Arcadia Systems logo on the top, to get at the warm food underneath it.


    She sat down on her bed, pulling a fork out of one of her drawers, and began to eat.


    "Look, sis-"


    "No, big bro. Drop it." She speared a meatball with the fork, and pointed it accusingly at her brother. "You managed to get Leah into the navy. Not me."


    "And what, stay here, with your best hope being that maybe you''ll follow in mom and dad''s footsteps?"


    Alexandra set her mealpack down so hard the food almost went flying out, and Emile deflated as she gave him a gaze fit to melt steel.


    There was a long, awkward silence, before she finally spoke.


    "Why the hell are you so insistent about this? What, is the navy desperate for warm bodies now?"


    He looked away.


    "Yes."


    "Why? Big war coming up?" There was a tinge of fear in her voice. She couldn''t help it. She''d lived all of her life in the ruined shadows of the Terran Hegemony''s atrocities. It was hard to not be afraid of war when you could see the skeleton of a nuked metropolis out of the windows of your classroom, and knew that going outside without a filtration mask was playing dice with the Gods.


    "No. I can''t tell you what''s happening. But I know there''s going to be a massive expansion of the navy. One that''ll require so many people, anyone already in will be catapulted upwards."


    "Oooh, big secrets, is it? My brother is privy to the thoughts of the High Admiral and the Council now?"


    "More than you know." His tone made her hesitate, but this was her big brother.


    "Come on, spill. You''ve never been good at keeping things from me."


    "I always was when it came to protecting you."


    "Oh, please. What''s the all the hush hush? What kind of big secret would have you scared?"


    He met her gaze and she froze like a deer in headlights. She''d never seen her brother actually afraid. He was always bull headed, full of bravado. Meeting bullies with fists, not words, and he''d taken that same spirit up to space with him.


    And what she saw now was true, actual fear.


    "The kind of secret they''ve executed people over."


    There was another, long silence, only broken by Alexandra chewing on her cooling food.


    Finally, after she was done, she looked up.


    "Okay. So you want me to enlist?"


    "No, I want you to try the academy. I have some friends there still. Plus I''ve gotten a lot of favors. Rubbed some backs, now they''ll rub mine. If you''re in, you''ll have it easy, trust me."


    "Uh huh. Of course." She met her brother''s gaze again, and sighed. "Okay, fine!" She threw her arms up. "I''ll try. Sign up for the entrance exam. See if I pass. But no promises, okay?"


    "That''s all I ask." He smiled at her, and grabbed the cap he''d had under his arm the whole time, jamming it on his head.


    "That thing is still freaking ridiculous."


    "You should see how the flag officers look with their capes."


    "Just because your bosses look more stupid that you do doesn''t make you look good."


    "Ah! One day, you might wear that cap with pride, sis. Maybe even those ridiculous half capes."


    "Yeah right. Over my dead body. So, off to space?"


    "Yep."


    "Jupiter? Saturn?"


    "Can''t say. Let''s just say it''s...among the stars."


    "Aaaah. Outer system? The Kuiper belt? I heard there was a lot of noise there. Something about independence and lack of investment."


    Her brother gave her a small smile.


    "Something like that sis. Something like that..."


    "Still being mysterious, uh?" She frowned. "Does it have something to do with that big expansion?"


    He looked away.


    "It does. But trust me, when it''ll be public, you''ll know instantly. Now I really have to go. I need to go see mom and dad before I go back in orbit."


    Alexandra got up, and wordlessly hugged him. He returned it, equally wordlessly.


    They just stood there for a minute, before she spoke up.


    "Be safe, big bro."


    "You too, little sis." He smiled, as he ruffled her hair. "And remember what you said, alright? You''ve got a bright future ahead of you, Alex, I can feel it."


    Alexandra woke up, like she''d been hit by a sledgehammer, rising her head from the workbench as Emilia entered the workshop.


    "Alex, we- what happened to you?"


    Alexandra touched her cheek, and realized they were stained with tears. Had she been...sleeping?


    She hadn''t slept since she''d become a dungeon core. What the hell was happening to her?


    "I think...nevermind, what''s happening?"


    Emilia clearly was wondering what the hell her girlfriend had going on as well, but clearly she had bigger worries right this second.


    "You have to get to the communications room." Her face was grim. "The UDC just imploded. It''s a new dungeon war. And this time it''s dungeon against dungeon."


    Alexandra wiped her tears, under Emilia''s worried gaze.


    "I''ll be right there."

 Chapter 304 - Bloodbath

    Chapter 304


    In flight above the Starsky Ocean


    Sky-Fortress of Unification, Service Level


    Laria, dungeon core of the Golden Gates, darted from shadow to shadow, her eyes feverishly scanning the hallway.


    A day earlier, these halls were filled with intrigue, and thick with tension. Now they ran red with blood, and were littered with bodies. Some were monsters, yes, but many were followers and surface dwelling allies. Some were intact, killed by silent arcana or blades. Others were scattered about, demolished beyond authentification, some by more violent magics, others by weapons new and old, from simple grenades to plasma cannons.


    When the battles had started throughout the world, both sides had retreated. None were ready to attack each other in these hallowed halls, in the greatest achievement of the UDC, the very symbol of its now dead unity.


    At least at first.


    Preparations were made to leave. Go in peace, return to their dungeons for the war already raging there. Their avatars, especially, would be critical in what was to come.


    Which of course, was why they couldn''t be allowed to.


    Then the isolationists had attacked. Using the fortress'' security systems and treacherously shipping in soldiers, they''d struck, seeking to silence the supporters of Alexandra, those who wished for an alliance that was more than oppression and words, more preoccupied with the imagined magnificence of some of its members and their egos than defending their fellow.


    Unfortunately for them, they slipped up. In their zealotry, they had attacked some of the neutral dungeons, seeking to leave alongside or simultaneously with the interventionists. And all hell had broken loose.


    A free for all had errupted within the fortress. Battles raged everywhere, some running, other static. Pandemonium gripped the heart of the UDC as dungeon avatars and monsters turned upon one another.


    Laria had rallied what remained of the interventionists, and made a mad dash for the fortress'' core.


    The isolationists had been so preoccupied slating their bloodthirst and completing their orgy of violence that they never once considered being subjected to a counter attack. She had to leave a significant rear guard, comprised of almost every dungeon monster they had left, as a distraction, but she had taken all of the avatars her fellows had left, and together they had punched through the inner defenses.


    Before long, they were in the flying citadel''s innermost sanctum.


    The isolationists had locked everything down of course. And over the arcane speakers, in turn gloated and demanded their surrender, saying that they would never manage to unlock anything before the response teams crushed them.


    The gloating had stopped when the avatars had pulled out the interventionists'' own contraband. One they''d hoped they''d never have to use.


    Pulse bombs, artifacts of the Old World, bought at great price from allies and enemies alike, were laid on the casings of the primary gravity generator and the central power core.


    They had then attempted to make their escape. But they''d been too slow, caught by one of the hordes of minions of the isolationists, yet covered in blood from their massacre.


    Laria shouldn''t have made it. But the other avatars had thrown themselves in to buy her time, as the charges detonated.


    She had slid out. But only to find herself in a deserted fortress, only haunted by the dead.


    The power core and gravity generator destroyed, the fortress could only rely on its emergency backups. But they weren''t enough to keep it up. It would crash among the waves before long. The UDC''s symbol of unity, reduced to a floundering wreck.


    It wasn''t just to deny the isolationists this symbol that they had done this, but also to allow their own followers to escape. With the core down, so were the defenses, and lifeboats had screamed away the second the edifice had shuddered and begun its death throes.


    Laria finally arrived in a space where she had arranged her own lifeboats, only to freeze as she saw the carnage.


    Monsters laid everywhere. An in between of the bodies in the hallways, they had been sliced apart by a blade.


    And in the middle was Gift''s avatar.


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    The giant in golden armor turned towards her.


    "They asked me to help kill you. Wished to lay a trap at your hidden lifeboats, with your people as hostages. I...disagreed."


    Laria took a second look at the place, and noticed the missing lifeboats. Of the five she had arranged, three were missing, and one was destroyed, reduced to scrap.


    "Why...Why did you do this?"


    The giant in golden armor stared at her.


    "A storm is coming. One greater than you can imagine." He looked at the blood soaked cargo bay. "You and I, we''re but butterflies in this storm. But sometimes, it just takes a single flap of a butterfly''s wings to alter its course. I hope I achieved that today."


    Then he was gone. Moving at speeds she wouldn''t have believed, even knowing of his power.


    She stared at the hallway the golden blurr had disappeared into...and finally, she made her way into the lifeboat.


    And a minute later, she was away. Away towards the chaos of a new world, stepping out of the blood soaked, dying embers of the old.


    Perhaps only those who had stepped out of their bunkers, at the end of the Great Twilight, to witness the perpetual darkness that now hung over Alcheryos, could ever relate to such a feeling.


    *****


    "This is a disaster." Said Allya as she looked at the massive, slowly spinning holographic globe above the projector in the dungeon''s command center.


    "It is. But not as big as it could be." Said Alexandra as she walked into the room.


    "How so?" Asked the archduchess, desperate for a lifeline.


    "I just came in from the communications room. Every other interventionist dungeon has reached out to report. Well, those that would talk to me anyway."


    "Some of them blame you?"


    "Does that surprise you? But we''ve had new contacts well, from those rallying around me because they blame the other side."


    "What''s it looking like?"


    "Right now? About a quarter of the dungeon cores have sided with us. A third are on the other side. The rest is various flavors of neutral."


    Allya blinked.


    "I thought...I thought the isolationists had a majority?"


    "Voting to maintain the status quo while hiding behind others is a hell of a lot different than taking up arms against your fellow and participating in a civil war. The crown loyalists learned that the hard way up North." Alexandra smiled mirthlessly. "So they did have a majority. And it has evaporated. Right now, most cores are firmly in the ''wait and see'' mode."


    "So where does that leave us?"


    "Right now? Outnumbered and outgunned. The isolationists outnumber us three to two, and they made sure everyone in command of UDC units was a diehard loyalist. A lot of them got annihilated during the inital exchange, but many remain."


    "Great."


    "Our greatest advantage right now is that they''re within nations, and those won''t take kindly to armies or fleet marching out, and they can''t fight us and the surface world simultaneously."


    "So...we''re safe."


    Alexandra licked her lips.


    "Well...For places that have strong nations in place, or at least those likely to put up resistance. And, you know, don''t have enemies on the surface."


    Allya''s face fell.


    "Oh fuck."


    "Yep. We''re both the most visible, and most easily accessible targets. Still, we have some advantages."


    "Such as?"


    "The Lost Sands death zone precludes any attack from the west. Our eastern flank is shakier, but pure east there is nothing but wasteland until one stumbles into the Easter Shallows, and no one will get through that either."


    "So that means north and south."


    "Yep. North-west is covered, thanks to Sarth and it''s dungeon core. Directly north is unlikely as hell, they''d have to go through Asaria, over the siege lines. North east, through Sunrise however..." Alexandra sighed. "Then there''s the south. Gorromar won''t let them through, so south-east is out. Directly south would mean going through the New Republic''s main army, once again a bad idea. South-west...I have no idea. The western wildlands are a fucking mess. So two axis."


    "What if they came over the inner sea, between Asaria and Sarth?"


    "Then they''d run into our own field army. Same problem as directly south."


    "Not if it''s their target."


    Alexandra opened her mouth, and closed it.


    "Shit."


    "Yeah. They''re after you as a symbol of dungeons intervening in surface politics."


    "I need to make some calls."


    "Sure. And I need to go out and talk to my people. Keep me updated, alright?"


    "Will do."


    Allya moved to leave, but stopped on the threshold.


    "Do you think this is a coincidence? A true act of chance?" She said over her shoulder.


    Alexandra lowered her head. For a split second, Allya thought she was crying, before she heard the almost hysterical chuckling.


    "No. Not for a single second." Answered the Earth-born. "It''s awful convenient, isn''t it? With the New Republic, we were well on our way to crushing our foes and ending these damned wars, weren''t we?"


    "We were." Allya paused, closing her eyes. "We were indeed."


    "There''s your answer."


    "Alex?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Thank you. For everything. For everything you''ve done...And everything you''re still doing."


    "I''m just trying to save my own hide."


    "Bullshit!" The Earth-born''s eyes snapped to Allya as the archduchess raised her voice. "You haven''t done a single damned thing for yourself yet. Oh, you''ve had a bit of self interest here and there, but all this? You''re doing it for us. The people around you. The Order? You want to avenge what your party went through. Protecting yourself? If Emilia wasn''t in the line of fire, you wouldn''t even have blinked at the assassins and core thieves."


    "I''m not...a paragon."


    "No you''re not. Paragons are the most terrifying, self centered bastards in the world. You''re a hell of a lot better than that. You''re a good person."


    There was a long silence, before the dungeon core could muster up the words.


    "Thanks, Allya. I think....I think I needed that."


    "It''s my pleasure. Always."


    And with that the archduchess departed, leaving a dungeon core staring at her back in wonder, before focusing on the slowly spinning hologram.


    She wondered if the commanders of the Terran Hegemony War, or those of the Great Twilight, had felt this helpless. When everything they knew tumbled down around them in fire.


    There was one key difference however.


    She was going to win. For them.


    Even if she had to kill every single fucker on the other side with her bare hands to do it.


    *****


    "...Fuck." Said Joachim as he set down the report.


    "I agree." Said Jallira. Her outfit was a far cry from her previous one at the brothel. Now she looked every bit the part of the elite relic guard, one of the Order''s finest.


    "It is too soon." The commander leaned forward, and steepled his fingers. "Far too soon."


    "Even if it is, trying to rein it in now would be counterproductive."


    "It would be." Joachim sighed. "We made this tiger. Now we must ride it."


    "Indeed. Orders?"


    "Have the admiral jam herself in. Make her a part of the conflict here, so she cannot be withdrawn."


    "What about the UDC''s little ''surprise'' for Lesly?"


    Joachim smiled grimly.


    "A bit too late to hobble the isolationists and make them slow down. But nonetheless, anyone with half a brain will realize the timing is off for it to be a response to the current crisis. Let''s have them go ahead. We may not be playing the hand we''d like, but we can still sneak a few aces into our sleeves."


    "Yes, my lord. And what of Sunrise and New Raleigh?"


    "Whatever those anti slavers were planning, I doubt it''ll have that much of an impact now." He met the fallen seraphim''s skeptical gaze, and sighed. "I know, I know, those who have dismissed the Sunderer like that in the past rarely came to good ends. But what could we even do? We are starting to be spread too thin, under the Inquisition''s gaze."


    "Point taken. So we let the northern war take its natural course?"


    "No, of course not. If things are moving this quickly, Lesly will have to accelerate as well. Get ready to out our Sapphirian friends'' involvement as well. Give her a target...and a way to get at the isolationist dungeon up North. Then...then it''ll be up to her."


    "Yes my lord. It shall be done."

 Chapter 305 - The Gambit

    Chapter 305


    Ytakan Scrublands, Archduchy of Rebirth


    Darthar-Asaria trade route


    "I hope you do not bring further tidings of doom." Said Manson Estogan, duke of Sarth, as Alexandra entered the command tent.


    The dungeon core''s gaze swept the room, and only saw grim, taunt faces. From Philia to the commander of the desert rangers, all looked like they were heading to the gallows.


    "It depends on what one qualifies as such." Answered the Earth-born.


    "Another apocalypse." Said the knight-commander, drily.


    "In which case, no. Good news are, the UDC is currently heading for a deadlock."


    "There is a lot of blood on the ground for a deadlock." The duke met Alexandra''s eyes. "But I think I take your meaning. Few would take kindly to the dungeons marching to war once more, especially through their land. And divided, they can no longer impose their will upon nations."


    "Exactly. Problem is..."


    "The Republic and the Kingdom are in no position to stop them. For some parts of both, have no interest in doing so either, since what remains of the Council wishes for your head."


    "Exactly. But attacking Rebirth directly would be...hazardous at best. Not to mention a bad look. And as the archduchess pointed out, they have a much more palatable target on hand."


    "Us." Said Philia, bitterly.


    "Yes."


    "What do you propose we do?" Finally spoke up the commander of the desert rangers.


    "Us? Oh, it''s simple. We walk straight into whatever''s prepared for us, with both eyes open."


    Everyone nodded at that. It was the best way to deal with an ambush.


    That, and nuke the ever living crap of the ambush site ahead of time. But they weren''t there.


    Yet.


    That might change soon however...which was why her other self was currently busy getting their second warhead up and running, having put the Flickerlight project on a small, momentary hold.


    "Then we continue our march." Finally said the duke. "Can we expect reinforcements?"


    "Given the circumstances, it would be foolish not to send some. I was already planning to send a converted recon carrier, at the archduchess'' suggestion, so we may have more recon flights."


    "That would be a great asset. Particularly given the, ah, circumstances."


    "Yes, it would. I''ll divert more resources to the project. Otherwise...I have a fair few new armored units I could bring forward. Prototypes, to be clear."


    "Of what kind?"


    "A few spider tanks. And a...Mackie."


    "A Mackie?"


    Alexandra smiled as she leaned forward.


    "Let me tell you a tale..."


    *****


    "This was...unfortunate." Said the Adjudicator to the hologram before her.


    "Even we cannot govern the whims and diktats of chance." Answered the Custodian. "Chaos must, however, be controlled."


    "Of course." The Adjudicator silenced the once quiet, now almost screaming voice of doubt within her mind. "What are your orders my lord?"


    "Track down the Order. They know we are on their tail, and with the UDC shattering, the Purge has begun."


    "What if this was their doing?"


    "We are investigating. So far, however, it does seem to be due to random chance."


    "And the destruction of Unification?"


    "The plan, however hastily implemented by our people there, went remarkably close to what was expected. Most of the avatars never made it off. Laria''s survival appears to have been mere chance."


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    The Adjudicator nodded, though the quiet voice of doubt was once again rising within her.


    "Then it appears all is well on the path to salvation."


    "Yes. But we must remain vigilant in keeping it there. How goes your investigation?"


    "Their commander is competent. And highly paranoid. I will give them that. But our noose tightens. The Republic''s civil war slows us down, however. Chaos favors those who wish to disappear, and we simply cannot rely on the local authorities for support and obeisance. Not when we do not even know who is going to be the local authorities by the next dawn."


    "An unfortunate consequence. Do you require reinforcements?"


    The Adjudicator grimaced, her face bending in inhuman ways briefly, before she brought it back under control.


    "Can any be spared from other fronts, now that the Purge is underway?"


    "...No. We''ve already stretched ourselves to the breaking point sparing you and your contingent."


    "Then no. I will make do."


    The Custodian nodded.


    "Very well then. Remember, the fate of all Creation may hang in the balance. Glory be His Name."


    The Adjudicator shivered, at the oblique reminder of what their true charge was.


    What could never be allowed to be used again...or destroyed.


    Especially not by the heirs of the Firstborne.


    "Yes. It may. Glory be His Pyre."


    The hologram flickered and vanished as the connection was cut, and the Adjudicator took in a deep breath, taking a few seconds to center herself, before opening the door, greeting the Inquisitor guarding her room with a nod, before wordlessly making her way out of the building, the bodyguard following her.


    She had work to do.


    *****


    "Are you alright?" Asked Emilia as she sat by Alexandra''s side.


    The dungeon core looked at her girlfriend and sighed.


    "I...I don''t know."


    "...What''s happening?"


    "I don''t know either. I just...I''m starting to have hallucinations."


    "Hallucinations?" Said the vampire as she hugged her girlfriend, putting her head on the taller woman''s shoulder.


    "Flashbacks." Alexandra shifted, to get her advisor a more comfortable position. "To...back on Earth. Or Alpha Centauri. And then...I think I fell asleep, and dreamed it."


    "Dungeon cores...don''t sleep." Said Emilia, her concern evident as their gazes met.


    "No. No they don''t. But AIs do. And I...I don''t even know what I am at this point. I''ve been rebuilt by Ghost, but there''s not telling what kind of damage may be below the surface."


    "You''re you, and that''s what counts, right?"


    "Right." Alexandra sighed. "I guess I should be going back to work."


    "There''s much to do." Emilia cleared her throat as the dungeon core untangled herself and got up. "Alex?"


    "Yeah?"


    "I''m with you. No matter what comes, I''ll be with you. Okay?"


    Alexandra smiled.


    "Thank you. That means a lot to me."


    "No problem." Emilia slapped her thighs, before getting up. "Now, let''s be about it."


    *****


    Alexandra tapped her fingers on the guardrail of the catwalk overseeing the shipyard.


    Necessity was the mother of invention, as they said, and there was necessity aplenty. With the entirety of the UDC''s remnants breathing down her neck, as well as Gods knew what could be spawned from the Order and the Church''s shadowy dealings, her recon carrier had gone from an interesting fix to a minor logistical hurdle that could become bigger in the future to an absolute priority.


    Because she knew what to expect of Sunrise, but she had very little idea of what the UDC could throw at her. Oh, she had intel about the various dungeons, thanks to her own allies that had now left the organization in blood and fire, but there were too many possibilities and combinations.


    The only thing she knew for certain is that, once, the UDC had made the entire world kneel before it. Put a sword before the throat of every realm and made them foreswear the means to enslave dungeons as well as interference within their matters. That hold may have withered over time but as someone who had faced the UIS when it was a shadow of its former power, devoured from within by bureaucratic incompetence and corruption, even a withered a failing giant could crush you...and be reborn anew.


    She really hoped she was Ciel in this scenario. Damn, when had she ever compared herself favorably to the UIS'' dictator and her archnemesis? That bitch had caused the death of her siblings. Even if it was arguably indirectly in Leah¡¯s case.


    Alexandra shook her head as she let go of the railing, and stepped back into the observation room.


    "Status?" She called out to Seraph, who was overseeing the construction alongside Subtlety, the former using a plain golem and the latter an ambassador, overlaid with a hologram of her avatar.


    "We are on schedule." Said Seraph. "So far, at any rate."


    Alexandra smiled at the AI, almost despite herself. Finally learning cynism? Atta little robot.


    "Alright. Composition of the new wave?"


    "With no need to supply our allies with more vessels for the purpose of arming them, some production capabilities have been diverted from the Freedom-class assembly to mainline fleet production. The partially complete vessels have been recycled for the new Eagle-class recon carriers."


    "Which is good, otherwise this would take forever. How are the other ships?"


    "As previously ordered, Raider production has been decreased in favor of more Corsair ships. Two Corsair vessels, three Raiders and two Eagle-class should be ready to be launched together. They will join three Freedom-class, refitted for heavy armored unit transport."


    "And the Tetsudo?"


    The AI shrugged.


    "The Tetsudo-class are proving complicated to manufacture. Three more are underway, but they will be delayed."


    "That''s to be expected, I suppose." Alexandra sighed. The escort light cruisers, and their combining shields, were one hell of a marvel for the level of tech she was restricted to. But they were also not strictly necessary here. Three should suffice in guarding the So Much For Subtlety for now. "Well, it''ll have to do. Subtlety, how are we on ammunition?"


    The other AI straightened.


    "With little to no usage, our stockpiles are at an all time high. So much so that I have ordered much of the new shipments deposited in Darthar, lest they slow the main army down."


    "That''s good. What about more specialist ammunition?"


    "The first enchanted missiles and shells are exiting the assembly line as we speak. They are...satisfactory."


    "Still don''t trust them?" Alexandra didn''t need to precise who the ''them'' were. Subtlety regarded the vampire enchanters Freya had brought as little better than an enemy formation.


    "Given their affiliations, and current events, the possibility of a spy or saboteurs within their mist approaches unity."


    "Agreed. Which is why they''re still here. Keep your friends close..."


    "As much as this proverb may prove apt, it is still a significant risk."


    "I know. But let''s face it, if the God of Fire or his servants want to spy on us, he could just order us to house an Adjudicator and we''d have to acquiesce. Better to let them sneak around and think they''re being subtle, blunting their own efficiency with their fear and caution."


    "Affirmative."


    Alexandra looked out, through the heavily armored, and shielded, window.


    "Do you have any assessments to share."


    "Glitch would be a better construct to ask." Subtlety hesitated, then sighed. "This situation is deeply suboptimal."


    "You mean it''s royally fucked."


    "Affirmative. The reaction to the collapse of the UDC is one of shock, but the ripples are small due to the limited scope of the engagements."


    Alexandra nodded.


    "I know what you mean. Both sides killed each other in their bases and installations. No collateral damage."


    "This will change. Any attack upon another dungeon de facto means attacking a dungeon town. A major economic, industrial and cultural hub in any nation. Usually a seat of power for local or regional governments."


    Alexandra nodded again. There was a reason the capitals of all six of the Asarian duchies, including Asaria itself, the King remained the Duke of Asaria after all, were on top of dungeon towns.


    "And once that happens, their authority might collapse, causing their underlings to vie for control."


    "And if other dungeons are slain, it will create a gigantic refugee crisis. On a large enough scale, it could create a chain reaction."


    Alexandra nodded. The only ''good'' part about the Terran Hegemony was that its bioweapons killed people quickly enough without treatment that there hadn''t been a refugee crisis. Anyone who escaped the initial attack and tried to run would be caught up by the engineered pathogens and eliminated. It was also why regions like the middle east had been utterly wiped out, with no major pharmaceutical industries of their own, and trade routes annihilated, there simply had been no possibility of importing the medicine and treatments necessary to stave off the horrors unleashed from the genius of the Hegemony''s scientists.


    "Which is probably exactly what they''re aiming for." Simply answered the dungeon core. "One more fucking domino falls."


    The AI hesitated.


    "What...do we do, ma''am?"


    "For now? We play the game with the hand we have, and stockpile our aces. Once we''re ready, we go all in, whether they know it or not."


    "That is a risky play."


    "This entire game is risky! We have no choice." Alexandra sighed. "I need to talk to Emilia. Get an update on her efforts to get the advisors together."


    "Will you tell her?"


    "That I''m planning to rewrite her fellows'' nanotech, turn them into trojan horses to break the shackles her God has set up? Fuck no. In this case, I think I''ll beg for forgiveness later." The Earth-borne once again looked out the windows. "You''re doing good work. Keep it up."


    "Thank you ma''am." Chorused both AIs, and Alexandra left.


    So many things were in motion. But at last, she was starting to fully glimpse the board she was playing on, and who was in the game.


    She dearly hoped, at least.


    Because if she didn''t...then there was no telling what would happen.

 Chapter 306 - Remnants

    Chapter 306


    Ytakan Scrublands, Archduchy of Rebirth


    Darthar-Asaria trade route, Town of Myriu


    "Ma''am, you''re a sight for sore eyes." Said the colonel as he saluted her, and Alexandra found herself returning the salute, more by reflex than anything.


    "Glad to be." She said, tilting her head. "Though I''m afraid introductions are in order."


    "Yes ma''am. Colonel Rim Myles, twentieth royal heavy infantry regiment. Well, what''s left of it anyway. We''ve absorbed so many other units my men joke the two Xs are because no one can keep track of who we should be any more." Alexandra''s eyebrows rose at this. The Asarian Kingdom used roman numerals for their units designation for some forsaken reason, that was no surprise to her, but a royal heavy infantry regiment?


    "I wasn''t told to expect you. What happened?"


    "We got separated. During the retreat through Molro, we got cut off at Milban bridge. Though I suppose it should be Milban crossing. The units holding the bridge got hit hard, and the line collapsed. By the time we''d fought our way there it was too late, Sunrise had their pikes in the middle, couldn''t cross." The colonel shrugged. "We''d been ordered to fall back across, then blow the bridge with some Tarkian stuff. Since that was no longer an option, I had my men mine the sections we managed to make our way into. I''m no sapper, but we must have hit something weird, because the rest of the bridge gave way like freaking dominos. The rebels were too busy trying to jam into the nearby fjords, pursuing her majesty and the rest of the army to mind us afterwards."


    "So you just...slipped off? You didn''t rejoin the main army?"


    "Tried to ma''am. But we were behind enemy lines, and heavy infantry doesn''t move quick."


    "Ah."


    "We made ourselves enough of a nuisance they started sending some heavy hitters after us. Their slave brands may be nasty, but they still take time to apply, and if you hit them during one of their slave taking raids you tend to make a lot of new friends."


    "Why not dissolve into a guerilla group?"


    The colonel smiled.


    "We''re the royal infantry ma''am. We hold the line. It''s what we do. We had to go south though." His smile fell. "It...wasn''t an easy march. We kept finding stragglers, left behind in the retreat. But the civy volunteers...they didn''t have our training, they couldn''t just march all day. And they pressed us hard. We lost a good people ma''am."


    "And they''ll be avenged."


    "I hope so ma''am. When you started kicking ass down south, the guys pursuing us got recalled. The capital was under siege by now though, and we were closer to you than there anyway. So we continued south. But the garrisons knew we were coming, and they started organizing sorties."


    "So?"


    "So we went the one place they didn''t expect us." He nodded towards the map spread on the command tent''s table. "Straight through Kaidan." He shook his head. "Ma''am, the shit we saw there...there ain''t a duchy anymore. It''s a ruin. A ruin haunted by slaves they''re using to rebuild."


    "Did you come across the southern army?"


    "No. When we heard you''d marched out of Darthar, we went North, to put ourselves on your path and prepare the way. Dodged those fuckers. Got a lot of people along the way who intended to do the same too. Those Kaidani saw what happened to their home, now they''re even more determined than my regulars, and that''s saying something."


    "And once you arrived, you made yourself one hell of a cork."


    Rim smiled viciously.


    "That we did. I chose Myriu, nice little town before this mess, and fortified the hell out of it. All the roads converge there, or so I''d been told by the locals who joined us, and the brush''s so thick around here you''re not getting through it easily. And since they were running from you..."


    Alexandra nodded. When they''d found Myriu, they''d been expecting an ambush, or at least some kind of fight. It was a key junction and the place every slave garrison that was running in front of her army would have to go through.


    Instead they''d found the town a makeshift fortress, with royal banners flying high, and a loyalist unit almost a thousand strong, comprised of almost damned everything she could think of, from crossbow wielding dragoons to what looked like javelin wielding skirmishers, with even a couple of pegasus riding light cavalry.


    And with them, the garrisons. Some had tried to fight, or go around, the surroundings littered with the resulting mass graves of both, but a fair few had chosen to besiege the fortress, and promptly surrendered at her approach. That wasn''t even mentioning the ones who''d surrendered to the fortress before she ever showed up.


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    "They were in too much of a hurry to mount an assault." Which meant that those that had besieged the town were probably resigned to the inevitable, and were trying to look like they weren''t just waiting to be overwhelmed, without sending their slaves to their deaths. That was...interesting.


    "Yeah. Some of them made it through, around us, but damned few."


    "That''s good. In any case, welcome aboard colonel." Alexandra extended her hand, and the soldier shook it. "I advise you go and talk to the duke, if you want to join our march. He''s handling the logistics for the, well, human part of this army."


    "Yes ma''am. We-" They both whirled around as there was a commotion at the tent entrance, where two of her golems were barring the way to an agitated soldier. "That''s one of mine, ma''am."


    Alexandra gestured, and both the golems let the soldier through.


    "Rimmy!" The soldier saluted the colonel, and his eyes widened as he saw her. Had he not realized where he was going? Probably a messenger that had simply gotten directions, and hadn''t noticed he was heading straight for the command tent. Which to be fair, was easy to do, it was exactly like any other tent here. Marking your HQ with a big old pile of heraldry and luxury was a good way to get swarmed with assassins or eat a long range spell. "Oh shit, you''re-"


    "Focus trooper." Snapped Rim, clearly not bothered by being addressed by what had to be his nickname, but by the soldier reacting that way to the dungeon core. Interesting, not may officers were secure enough in their own authority to do that. "What is it?"


    "Sir, we got some runners back from our northern patrols. They said they encountered some panicked free trader airship, running like all the demons of hell were after it. They managed to hail the captain. Apparently there''s something coming down from the Inner Sea. Something horrible."


    Rim and Alexandra exchanged a look. The Inner Sea was the massive expanse of water that separated Asaria from the west of the kingdom, including Sarth and and the western baronies. One of the reasons Darthar had been so important, besides its position as a trade link for crossing the wasteland, was that it was also a major hub to go from the capital to Sarth itself, because the Inner Sea...one could cross it, but on Alcheryos you had to be thoroughly insane to go through large bodies of water when there was an alternative. Any alternative. Monsters might stalk the land, but they ruled underneath the waves.


    "I''ll we right there." Said the colonel. "Where are the runners?"


    "HQ sir, with Digby and that knight-commander lady."


    "Alright. Tell him we''re coming. Me and lady Crystal, alright?"


    "Yes sir!" The soldier threw up a salute, then another, belated one, at the dungeon core, before running off.


    "Well shit." Said the colonel, before turning towards Alexandra. "My apologies for assuming, but would you like to accompany me?"


    "It seems to be where the action is, sure." She followed him out of the tent, her golems automatically forming up around them, the colonel giving them, and their weapons a fascinated glance. "Who is Digby?"


    "Captain Digor Byrone, my second in command. He''s not much of a tactician but he can deliver a speech like you wouldn''t believe. Half of our success is due to him, honestly. He kept us together in our darkest hours."


    Alexandra nodded.


    "I see. Everything needs some glue to hold together. You had patrols up north?"


    "Feelers, extended in case Sunrise sent somebody to take us out. Or something bigger, intended for you." He shrugged. "They''re also part of why so few made it past us. It''s hard to fight off monsters and trained soldiers simultaneously, especially when you''ve had to abandon a lot of your supplies because you thought you''d be able to use the roads the whole way."


    "Well, they seemed to have come across something."


    "They have. Didn''t truly expect them to report in something. East, yeah, but North?"


    Alexandra nodded.


    "If they were coming from the North, they''d hold at the Royal Union Bridge."


    "Yeah. Figured that as well. Perfect chokepoint. Besides, the Inner Sea? Sunrise has one hell of a navy, but they can''t sail the rivers worth a damn. They''re galleons, not barges, and even if they were, there are too many bridges on the rivers, destroyed or otherwise."


    "It''s not Sunrise."


    The colonel''s eyebrows rose.


    "Then who the hell is it?"


    "You haven''t heard the news, have you?"


    "We haven''t exactly been replete with means of communication, smack dab in hostile territory."


    "The UDC has imploded into full blown civil war. And one of the factions blames me."


    "...Oh fuck."


    "Yeah."


    They passed through the gates, the guards, a mixed of twentieth unit and her golems, waved them through without comment. It had been a short walk, Alexandra having decided to put her command tent near the town for a variety of reasons.


    "Well, I guess we''re going to know pretty quickly." The colonel gestured at what looked like a fortified inn, within plain sight of the gates. "That''s our stop."


    "You used that?"


    "Officers still have to sleep." The guards at the entrance were all twentieth this time, but they opened the door all the same. One of them nodded a greeting.


    "They''re waiting for you."


    "Thanks Gatts." Said the colonel as he slapped the guard''s shoulder, before walking inside. Alexandra followed him and almost came to a stop as she entered.


    She...crap, when was the last time she''d been in any human building that wasn''t a military facility, a political meeting place or a command center? Probably back before she''d been sacrificed, the guild hall where she''d met her party.


    Even with it clearly having been converted to a more martial purpose, the sight of the inn''s common room hit her like a sledgehammer.


    "Lady Crystal! It''s good you made it so quickly." Alexandra shook herself out of it, and looked at the speaker. Knight-commander Philia was leaning over a table covered with charts, maps, and tankards, alongside two men. One had to be the runner, given his outfit, and the other would have looked thoroughly unassuming if not for his eyes, burning with an almost unearthly fervor. No officers'' insignia, but it had to be the captain.


    "What''s the situation?" Asked the dungeon core as she followed Rim and joined them in poring over the maps.


    "Just rumors so far." Answered Philia. "But according to the free trader, something has gotten everyone running like hell from the coast around Ulrys." She tapped a symbol on the map. "It''s a big fishing community. They make their trade by plying the inner sea. They''ve seen some shit and then some, snatching their people from the deep, so they don''t scare easily."


    Alexandra blinked at the description, and looked up at the Knight-commander.


    "Speaking from experience?"


    "I had to pass through there a couple of times. If you have a small amount of well trained people, you can cut a fair bit off of the journey between Asaria and Sarth by following the coast. It''s stressful as hell and the going can get difficult, but it''s doable."


    The dungeon core nodded. ¡®A small amount of well trained people¡¯ was basically the definition of the royal knights.


    "Good to know. So they ran?"


    "And ran fast. There''s something that terrified them up there. More than the wilderness did, at any rate."


    "So, nothing concrete then."


    "No, but..." The Knight-commander tapped their position. Then Ulrys, forming a line.


    She dragged her finger across the map, until it crossed another city.


    "Fuck." Said Alexandra, as the two twentieth officers exchanged a look.


    "What''s over there?" Asked Rim.


    "That is Tivaro. Fourth biggest city in the Sapphire Kingdom." Alexandra grimaced, like she''d chewed on bitter fruit. "And it''s also the home of Mardikan of the Frozen Falls dungeon. One of the staunchest isolationists on the continent." She met Rim''s gaze. "The faction within the UDC that wishes me dead." She elaborated.


    "Ah. So that makes it...a likely enemy attack, then."


    "Yeah. And they''re coming straight for us." Alexandra leaned back from the table. "Alright, colonel?"


    "Yes ma''am?"


    "Get everyone you have that knows the local area. If we''re gonna get hit, it''ll be by the air. That means we''ll need to use our ground pounders right. I need a place I can use my artillery to cover my airfleet."


    "Yes ma''am. I''ll recall my patrols, most of them have a lot of hands on knowledge now, and they got the lion''s share of the local guides, for obvious reasons."


    "Do so. I''ll dispatch my recon aircrafts north, see if I can get a good look at what''s coming. If anything is." Alexandra frowned as she looked at the map, then her eyes widened. "They launched earlier."


    "What?" Chorused all three of the officers around the table.


    "This...fleet, whatever it is, couldn''t overtake that free trader. Thus they can''t be moving that quickly. They couldn''t have made it from Tivaro since the civil war started."


    They all exchanged looks, and Philia swallowed heavily before speaking.


    "So they were sent beforehand."


    "Well beforehand." Finished the colonel.


    Silence descended upon the room, as they all gazed at the map, and it''s unpalatable implications.

 Chapter 307 - Vampire

    Chapter 307


    Red Sands Desert, Archduchy of Rebirth


    Dungeon Factory, Command Center


    "Hey. Alexandra?"


    The dungeon core blinked as she looked away from the holographic map.


    "Freya?" She said as she saw the vampire. "What can I do for you?"


    "I''m leaving."


    "Ah. New mission?"


    "I''m afraid not."


    Alexandra looked at the map.


    "I mean no offense, but this is pretty far gone. You''re not going to mend the UDC back together. You''re not even going to slow down the bloodshed."


    "I know." Said the vampire, wearily. "Yet I must try. I swore an oath."


    They exchanged a glance, and for a split second, something passed between them.


    "I understand." Whispered the Earth-born. And she did.


    She too, had sworn an oath.


    An oath that had lead her to murder an entire world.


    The vampire simply nodded.


    "I know." There was long silence between them, before she cleared her throat. "I heard you were trying to gather the advisors of your allies?"


    "It seemed prudent."


    "I hope you can keep them safe and sound."


    Alexandra''s smile was mirthless.


    "I wouldn''t even dream of it if I couldn''t."


    In more ways than one.


    "Well, I hope that whatever you come up with proves workable." Freya licked her lips. "You know, you remind me a lot of someone."


    "Someone nice, I hope?" Said Alexandra, half jokingly.


    "The founder of the UDC."


    Alexandra froze.


    "Now that...is not someone I hear about often. Strangely enough, especially in these times."


    The vampire shrugged.


    "They withdrew from the world, after the horrors they unleashed."


    "Right." Alexandra looked away, lest her eyes betray her.


    After all, she knew the feeling.


    Though, in this particular case...


    There may be more to it. Rising to the occasion, creating a semi apocalypse, then just conveniently vanishing? This had the God of Fire''s stink all over it.


    And a tool not discarded meant it would be used again.


    She''d have to keep an eye on that.


    "Believe it or not, it was nice meeting you, Alexandra Rousseau." Said the vampire.


    "Likewise, Freya Von Oswald."


    "Take care of them. And yourself. If my sister is made a widow or my niece a half-orphan, I will be extremely cross with you."


    Alexandra chuckled.


    "I''ll endeavor to please in this matter."


    "Thank you."


    "Don''t mention it. Now!" Alexandra smiled. "I believe it would be uncouth to send you on your way without some gifts."


    "Gifts?"


    "The kind that goes boom. Let''s get your sister and CQ. We need to do a raid on the armory!"


    *****


    "Nice distraction." Said Ghost as Alexandra stepped into the lab.


    "Thanks. I thought it was pretty inspired."


    "And in character, to boot."


    They exchanged smiles. Currently Freya was very busy being piled on by recommendations and gifts by CQ, who was effectively pillaging the armory, under the bemused supervision of Emilia, who, if anything, was egging her daughter on. And the poor elder vampire didn''t have it in her to tell her niece ''no'', thus leading her to be piled on with ever stranger and more improbable weaponry.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "Yes. They really do expect me to be the explosion loving crazy with a hard on for military hardware, uh?"


    "Every good lie has a truth within it. Now." Ghost''s face became serious, and Alexandra followed suit. "Let''s get down to business."


    "Let''s. Is it ready?"


    The apparition nodded, and gestured at one of the machines, a fabricator. It opened with a hiss of an escaping neutral atmosphere, revealing a small, unassuming orb.


    "It is. The adjusted runework was too fine for me to risk doing it by hand, even with precision tools. The fabbers were made for this kind of detail work however."


    Alexandra held her hand out, and grabbed the sphere.


    "What about the code?" She asked softly.


    "It''s extensive, but shouldn''t be too much of a problem."


    "How, exactly? Implanted memories are one thing, but programs..."


    "Are only possible in people that have been digitalized, I know." The apparition smiled. "Luckily, the vampires are a passable in between."


    "How so?"


    "Whatever they are, it sure isn''t biological. I took the liberty of scanning the ever living crap out of Emilia and the maids during their checkups." Alexandra nodded. The vampires now had regular medical checkup. It was mostly a bit of paranoia, after they almost died during the dungeon self destruct, but they humored her. Sarah always kicked the golem with the knee hammer. "They''re...I don''t know how to explain it properly. Mainly because I don''t really understand their so called nanotech."


    "What, tiny machines that do things?"


    "Well that''s the thing, they''re not machines. They''re like...mana enhanced, artificial cells with non biological components. Kind of like cybernetic enhancement at the cellular level."


    Alexandra opened her mouth, then closed it.


    That was...so far beyond anything she''d even heard from it was insane. Nanotech, yes. Genetic engineering and cybernetic augmentation? She had been a living incarnation of both.


    But all three mixed in at a fundamental level? That demanded...an understanding of how life worked beyond anything Earth had even come close to.


    "Jesus."


    "My thoughts exactly. And then there''s the whole mana and spell mess woven directly into them. And I think I know why blood magic exists, as a matter of fact."


    "Why?"


    "Remember when Emilia told us they drank blood for its mana?"


    "Yeah?"


    "That''s bullshit. It''s not for the mana. Instead their canines and the organs they link to are alchemical fucking factories. Remember how you could use ingredients to substitute for runes and entire sections of a spell''s matrix?" Alexandra nodded, as the realization of where this was heading dawned on her. "The vampires do the same with the blood they harvest. Dungeon cores substitute for it because we have so much mana there''s simply no need for that energy efficiency anymore. And that''s also interesting in and of its own, isn''t it?"


    Alexandra licked her lips.


    "Yeah. Because once Emilia said that otherwise all powerful warriors would just steal dungeon cores to serve as their personal batteries and power ups." She closed her eyes. "And that''s exactly what dungeon cores do for vampires."


    "Bingo. And those systems being this way tells me dungeon cores weren''t just used for civilian purpose either. That, or the God of Fire modified the connections to be able to jack into the vampires like whatever they were originally built to interface with did, but as far as I can tell, it''s on their side, not ours, and I can''t look into their cores."


    "That might be for the best, honestly. That you can''t go into their cores, I mean." Alexandra sighed. "So, since they''re...something we don''t quite understand, can you get the code patch through?"


    "Yeah, easily. To be able to handle all this, their brain is a mess of nanotech and mollecular circuitry. I''m fairly sure you could neutron bomb them and they''d just wonder why they can''t taste anything anymore."


    "Nuclear transmutation damage is not something to take lightly."


    "You can if you have nanotech to expunge the isotopes. Regardless, the vampires'' think boxes have more to do with a computer than whatever kind of mess of a sludge the human brain is."


    "Alright. Then?"


    "Then the program transmits the, ah, patches in through the dungeon-advisor links." Alexandra could guess what her other self had been about to say before she corrected to ''patches'', but decided not to take notice. "There''s a shitload of defenses to prevent someone tempering with the cores, but nothing in network. Not even just a firewall. Amateurs."


    "I don''t think the God of Fire expected this kind of tech. After all, the whole goal seems to be keeping everyone''s nose in the dirt, right?"


    "Right. In any case, once the patch is through, it''ll get to work on its own. It won''t be instantaneous, but it''ll be quick." The apparition coughed, and Alexandra''s eyes narrowed.


    Oh here we go, thought the dungeon core.


    "Yes?"


    "With this access, you know we could just, you know..."


    "Mind control them?"


    "Well...yes."


    There was a long silence, before Alexandra spoke up, meeting her other self''s gaze.


    "Listen to me carefully. Very carefully. We aren''t going to do that. Ever. This whole war is going to be predicated on making people follow us. Not mind controlling them. We could, yes, puppeteer the dungeon cores. You might even be able to do it in a way no one will notice. Not immediately anyway. After all, you''d just have to copy those control programs, and change the directives. But if we''re going to win, we need people to turn against the God of Fire. Just like we''ve started with Allya, with Pyn, with Emilia, Sarah and Ella, we must plant the seed of doubt inside of them, and make the tiniest of cracks. Then we will let the Church''s own action break the dam wide open. And even if what you propose wouldn''t be one of the greatest mortars to fill in that crack, I refuse to stoop down to their level. For any of us to stoop that low. Am I understood?"


    The apparition nodded. She looked...relieved.


    Alexandra relaxed. Ghost hadn''t wanted to do it either. But like a good executive officer, she needed to be the devil''s advocate, and lay out all the options, even the unpalatable one.


    They exchanged a look, and Alexandra nodded.


    The apparition smiled faintly.


    "Crystal clear, lady Crystal."


    "...You''ve been waiting a while for that joke, haven''t you?"


    "Three months or so."


    "Damn you. Alright, so if it''s ready, we just need to press a button, and we''ll be done?"


    "If nothing goes wrong."


    Alexandra laughed.


    "When has anything we''ve ever done gone perfectly to plan?"


    *****


    Alexandra hummed as she flicked some switches, and gazed at the cockpit.


    It had been a while since she''d taken the time to possess a golem aboard a blackbird, let alone fly one. Usually it was just on autopilot.


    It was strangely relaxing. Like an artifact of a life she''d never have back. She had gotten the basics of piloting shuttles drilled into her at the academy, part of the engineering course -after all, if all else failed, engineering and its machines were the only things required to limp home-, and those had been expanded after...Ghost departed, and she came to be. She''d been regularly tapped to provide engineering support for the anti-piracy mission, and Vesta station was such a decaying piece of crap, sometimes it was faster to fly from one side to the other rather than take the death trap that passed for its internal transit system, and that was without even considering the fact that half of the people there wanted to slide a knife in between your ribs at any given time.


    The blackbird reminded her a lot of a shuttle in atmospheric flight. It didn''t have a grav drive, but the kinesys rune based arcane engine provided a serviceable substitute, even if it was extremely expensive to run.


    The bird pinged her, and Alexandra squinted as she looked at the screen, showing the sensors menu.


    That was...too far out for her own stuff to see anything.


    Which meant either something exceptionally powerful, or-


    The ping repeated. And Alexandra''s eyes widened as she took the control and dropped the bird.


    That wasn''t a fucking contact, it was an active sensor ping.


    Someone was scanning the skies out there.


    The system beeped as it was suddenly flooded with returns, and Alexandra tensed up, before sighing as she realized they were only echoes.


    Okay. Something had pinged her, but her reflexes had made her drop too close to the Earth for the ensuing sensor sweep to catch her. Just the air where she''d been.


    She knew that happened often enough that the other side shouldn''t be unduly concerned, but better to play it safe anyway.


    Alexandra throttled the engines back, and went dark.


    The blackbird wasn''t a stealth vehicle. But you could be really quiet if you knew what you were doing, and weren''t afraid of flying half blind.


    Alexandra took in a deep breath as she flew nape of the Earth. Well, for some value thereof. She was long out of the scrublands, and flew over a mix of forests and what looked like overgrown fields.


    Then she got a contact on her passive sensors. And another. And another.


    Her breath caught as she saw the sensor profiles. Airships. Two trios of escort vessels in a high guard position, covering the fleet proceeding at a lower altitude from bombing runs and ballistic missile attacks.


    Look like the bastards had come prepared.


    Alexandra frowned as she tried to refine the readings on the ships, but only got errors. What the hell? She couldn''t make head or tail of the sensor data.


    They were ship shaped, and nothing else would be moving in formation like that, they even had the magical signatures of the arcane skimmer drives that allowed airships to even exist. But the rest just made no sense. Sensor baffling, maybe?


    Then she started getting more returns on the fleet, and her breath caught in her throat.


    They just kept coming. Each time she thought it would be the end, yet another squadron would appear.


    That wasn''t a fucking fleet, it was an armada. There had be over a hundred ships out there! At least five of them were capital ships, too.


    Fucking hell, technological advantage or no, there was no way she was fighting that, not without backup. The Erisian battlefleet on her homeground? Sure.


    But this kind of crap out in the boonies, at the very tip of the spear? Hell no.


    She could turn back, get her plane off of their course, and crash it in a lake, prevent its discovery. Hell, she might even be able to get it back close enough to the army for a detachment to recover it.


    But she needed to know more. Screw subtlety, it was time to lay out the cards on the table, and she wasn''t going to take away her opportunity to peek at her opponent''s hand before she made her move.


    She took in a deep breath, and prepared for the blackbird to go fully active, double checking all of the datalinks to make sure it would transmit everything it gathered back home for analysis.


    Her bird was going to blaze bright like one hell of a shooting star, and be disintegrated just as quickly, at least if the other side had any idea of what they were doing. And it really seemed like they did.


    She gripped the controls. Might as well give her sensors the best view, and maybe the sudden move would confuse the others.


    Everything happened at once. She went fully active, and the blackbird screamed as she took it at maximum speed into a steep climb.


    A second hadn''t even passed before her previous location was speared by six different power beams, each from one of the escort ships in the high guard. Fucking hell those guys were on the ball.


    Her ship screamed high into the air, and for a single second, had a fully unimpeded scan of the entire fleet.


    Alexandra''s eyes went wide as she saw it. And then was thrown back into dungeon mode as Gods knew how many weapons slammed into her blackbird, annihilating it.


    The dungeon core just stared off into the void, shocked out of her ability to speak.


    Because she hadn''t seen airships.


    She had seen abominations of flesh, chitin and bones.


    They were monsters. Giant, flying monsters.


    What the fuck had the UDC sent after her?

 Chapter 308 - Locusts

    Chapter 308


    Red Sands Desert, Archduchy of Rebirth


    Dungeon Factory, Command Center


    "Ma''am, we have completed the analysis." Said Glitch, before the small assembly in the command center.


    Everyone who could attend was here. The AIs, the bosses, the maids, Emilia and Alexandra obviously, plus Allya, Pyn and Trira.


    "Then let us begin." Said the dungeon core, and the AI nodded.


    "Very well." She snapped her fingers, well the golem''s, and the holographic projector came to life, showing a veritable sea of information, chief among them the images of the ships. "Lady Alexandra''s original assumption appears correct. The vast majority of the enemy vessels appear to be biological in nature. How this was achieved is unknown, but after delving into archive material, not necessarily exceptional for dungeon cores."


    Emilia interjected.


    "At least back then."


    The AI nodded.


    "Affirmative. According to the data we have been given, the UDC stopped deploying such biological warships as despite being far easier to construct for dungeon cores who did not possess the technology for more normal vessels, they were both less cost effective and more maintenance heavy. Thus, they were decommissioned."


    "But not destroyed." Said Alexandra. It wasn''t a hard leap to make.


    "Indeed. Our analysis indicates that this allowed the vessels massively decreased scrutiny. Considered obsolete, their movements were not watched closely by our allies, and they could have been shipped to Tivaro with minimum oversight."


    "You can''t move something like that that undetected."


    The AI tilted her head.


    "Yet they have made it this far. Data indicates the only reason why they were detected now was that they no longer avoided settlements, and the free trader was at the wrong place at the wrong time."


    "Crap." Alexandra closed her eyes. "They''re throwing caution to the winds because of the UDC''s collapse."


    "Affirmative. Had it not happened, it is very likely they would have intercepted the army with minimal, if any, warning."


    "Our enemy''s haste is our ally then. What are we looking at in terms of strength?"


    Glitch hesitated, and then simply gestured for Subtlety to come forward.


    "Analysis of such alien vessels was difficult, but not impossible." Began the other AI. "However, the margin of error has considerable increased because of the inexperience with these vessels."


    "Duly noted."


    "Thank you. My results show that the enemy fleet is composed of six capital ships, and one hundred and thirty eight other vessels." There was a ringing silence at that. Coledar had actually brought more vessels with him, but those were ships that had come out of nowhere, almost sneaking up on them across half of an entire continent. "However, only one of these capital ships is a combat vessel, and I estimate only a third, forty six units, of the escorts are combat capable."


    "What?" Said Allya, and Alexandra sighed, loudly enough for everyone to turn to her.


    "It''s an invasion fleet."


    The AI nodded.


    "All data points to it being the case."


    Alexandra winced.


    "Ninety two escorts, five capital ships...that''s a lot of lift capacity. How many are we facing here?"


    "Impossible to estimate. Enemies may use monsters of vastly varying sizes and capabilities. However, if we follow the capacity of the Republic''s transport vessels in terms of tonnage, this fleet could house...somewhere from fifteen thousand to seventy five thousand troops, depending on the amount of heavy equipment brought along."


    "But most probably somewhere in between?"


    "Affirmative. It is worth noting that dungeon monsters require far less space than human soldiers, as well as mass. They do not require entertainment or many other amenities."


    "And my golems even less. All the same, that''s...a lot of guys. How the hell do they even plan to keep them supplied? Coledar had five times that airlift capacity and only three hundred thousand men." At least before she''d started shooting down the transports, but still. "And that''s not to mention the fact that the ships are alive. I doubt that means they need less stuff than an inanimate vessel would." Different things, certainly, but repairing wear and tear or battle damage meant the materials had to come from somewhere.


    "Many dungeon monsters were designed during the United Dungeon Wars to not require any supplies." Said Emilia. "And why would they? They don''t have gear to maintain or guns to rearm, they''re living weapons. All they need...all they need is food and mana. Grass, trees, the bodies of the fallen...doesn''t matter. They could draw nutrition and mana from them all."


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    Alexandra''s face went white. Rampaging locust swarms...fuck.


    And she could take one guess as to whom had taught the dungeon cores how to draw magic or at least a way to substitue for it, from bodies. The vampires weren''t so fucking tight on the spells and knowledge when the God of Fire was giving a push, apparently. If his servants hadn''t done it directly of course.


    "And I assume those designs were mothballed?"


    The vampire nodded.


    "And the monsters repurposed, usually sent as adventurer fodder in various dungeon floors for a few decades, until the stockpiles naturally ran dry."


    "Efficient. I assume they''re simply not as cost effective, like the ships?"


    "No, they were too hated. Armies of them stripped the land bare to a level that regular armies never came to close to."


    "And I assume bystanders and civilians made a handy protein and mana source."


    Emilia looked down.


    "There''s a reason entire nations and their people were wiped out during those wars." She said softly.


    "Fuck me." Said Alexandra, sighing. "So, without the need for supply lines, they could just gather everything they had into their available lift capacity, onboard hastily recommissioned vessels, and throw it our way."


    Subtletly grimaced.


    "In short? Yes ma''am. Absolutely."


    "Great. Just...great. Still, their numbers are nothing compared to what we''ve faced yet."


    Subtlety opened her mouth, then closed it, trying to choose her words with exquisite care.


    Glitch...didn''t.


    "I would advise caution. Arrogance is a poor shield. Previous combat encounters were with unprepared opponents on home ground with a massive advantage in having a secure, heavily fortified and hidden position, or against equally unprepared enemies with extremely poor quality troops and low morale. Our forces will face troops that have functionally infinite morale, unorthodox combat abilities and whose useage on the field of battle against opponents who are our technological peers, such as the Eris Empire during the United Dungeon Wars, has been done numerous times and have been both well documented and analyzed by the enemy."


    "So you''re saying that we may be the unprepared ones this time?"


    "Affirmative. The enemy''s capabilities are unknowns, and the previous combat engagement against the manticore note that our forces required massive numerical superiority while suffering catastrophic losses to ensure victory."


    Alexandra winced. That...was true. Killing the manticore, whose absorbed flesh had been brought back in the form of CQ''s puppy, had not been a pleasant affair.


    "So you''re saying they might send such heavy hitters after us?"


    "Their limitation is in lift capacity. Under those conditions, more combat potential per mass trumps cost efficiency. Depending on the enemy''s strategic situation, of course."


    "Of course." Alexandra closed her eyes. "This is going to be a mess."


    "Affirmative."


    The dungeon core opened her eyes again.


    "Alright then. Let''s get started. Emilia? I want to know everything there is to know about these monsters. Subtlety, Seraph, design me fortifications our troops will be able to build to engage a hybrid ground and air assault. And for the rest of you?" She smiled. "You''re going to help me with whatever dirty tricks you can come up with to put into place with the resources we have there. Let''s get this done people, and sent these bastards back in bodybags!"


    *****


    Alexandra patted the smooth, almost featureless cylinder, before looking up at her other self.


    "Yield?"


    "One hundred kilotons."


    "Good. Delivery method?"


    "Same as previous. Medium range ballistic. Working on an ICBM prototype, but that''s still a ways off."


    Alexandra nodded as she stroked the smooth metal of the nuke.


    "Alright. Will it reach?"


    The apparition grimaced.


    "Barely. At least where they are right now."


    "We''ll have to move a launch site closer, aren''t we?"


    "I was thinking of putting a silo in both of our branch offices eventually." Ghost shrugged at Alexandra''s questionning gaze. "I mean, it''s not like we can hide that kind of launch anyway. People in Rebirth would see it. As long as it''s in a highly secure area, covered by our influence to prevent divination magic, what do we care?"


    "Point taken, but what about the transit? We don''t have the resources to make one with the dungeon powers."


    "We have stealth shuttles. They worked once."


    "Yeah, in the middle of a battle with interference everywhere. This ain''t like the railguns, we can''t chalk it up to gear we recovered from Seraph''s little welcoming committee."


    Ghost frowned.


    "No one has seen our stealth golems either."


    "There''s a lot more ways to see a large vehicle than a small infiltrator."


    There was a pause.


    "You fear eyes in the sky."


    "If the God of Fire didn''t set up a satellite network, he''s an idiot. Besides, there''s no telling what else is up there. You still haven''t worked out what the Flickerlight is talking to, haven''t you?"


    "No. Not yet."


    "My point exactly. Who knows what can be hidden around here, still reporting in? With people like the Order wiping their ass with the edicts of the God of Fire, they could have taken a command or communications center. Once you have the codes and encryption, you just have to ping the platforms."


    "Alright. I get it. That means upgrading the shuttles?"


    "And building a little observatory. It''s high time we got a good look at that so called ''Citadel of the Flames''. See what we''re up against. I have enough of lacking information about our enemies."


    "Roger that."


    "Now, if we were to use the warheads, would they be able to intercept them? The fleet, I mean."


    The apparition frowned slightly in concentration.


    "That''s...unclear. We don''t really know their point defence capabilities. They are clearly expecting a ballistic missile attack, but not a nuclear one. They''re too close."


    "Right. They''re expecting conventional weapons." The High Guard defensive position was perfect for denying reconnaissance and taking out missiles, but in this case, the area of effect was such that they could detonate the warhead far outside their perimeter and still hit the fleet. "I think it''s significant that they''re not using a skirmisher screen either. Just a high guard."


    "Yeah. I think they expect a ballistic missile attack, but not a head on assault. Which means they know our capabilities, and are confident enough on their intel to base their advancing formation on that. Though they might have reformed. But unless they''ve made an entire missile defense dome formation, we can hit them. I think. If they have laser or long range point defence...It is a ballistic missile. It''ll be in their sights for a bit before it hits."


    "Just like our regular missiles. We''ll need to come up with something."


    "Way ahead of you. Remember our decoys?"


    "The Ewar emitters we used on the kill-team? What about-oh."


    "Yeah. Managed to pack one with the warhead. If someone has decent long range sensors, they''ll be able to pin the source and shoot it down, and I don''t trust our current MIRV prototypes to try and use them, so it has to be a single warhead emitter combo, but against regular mages? It''ll seem like the MIRV from hell. With flashbangs, interference and holographic warheads all over."


    "That''s a fantastic idea. Could you get that for our regular missiles?"


    "It is high tech."


    "Perhaps. But I''m sure we can come up with some lesser, arcane alternative."


    "I''ll be pricy. And heavy."


    "We don''t need a combo. We can just replace a missile with a dedicated EWAR model. One per volley should be plenty."


    Ghost suddenly looked pensive.


    "It should...I''ll take a look. Enlist Emilia and the new enchanters to take a look."


    "Speaking of, will we have any of the new ammo?"


    "Nope. One last ride for the good old runic hardware, it seems."


    Alexandra snorted.


    "Yeah right. You know the New Republic gobbles up all of our obsolete stuff like it''s candy. Besides, the enchanters are a bottleneck."


    "Which we''re already planning to expand."


    "Fair enough."


    "...You don''t expect we''ll need the nukes for this, right?"


    "If they take out this army, we lose Asaria, we lose the North, and the legitimacy of their majesties." It was simultaneously everything she needed to say, and a complete non answer. Both of them knew that.


    It just unpleasantly reminded them both of a discussion above a world named Europa...


    "And we lose all the people with us." Finally said Ghost, after a short but oppressive silence.


    "...If we let them fight by our side."


    Ghost opened her mouth, then closed it.


    "You can''t be serious?"


    "I am. If they form up as a separate force, the UDC will hesitate. Their vaunted isolationism and doctrine will hold them in check."


    "And what? Have Manson, Philia and Rim fight off Sunrise on their own if we lose?"


    "No, but it might buy us some time. And it''s not like they''ll be of much use during this fight, will they?"


    "Yeah. Good luck convincing them of that."


    "I know. But I can try. Moreover...there may be a tactical advantage to that."


    "Like what?"


    "As I said, the UDC would hesitate. If we have them form up in reserve."


    Ghost laughed.


    "You want to hold the threat of them moving in? Forcing the UDC to divert some troops in case they attack, but with no risk of them doing a first strike? That''s...risky."


    "Is it any more than having them engage with us."


    "No. No I suppose not."


    "Then let''s do it. We''re facing one hell of an unknown here. Let''s make sure we''ve stacked the deck in our favor."


    "And push comes to shove, we''ll flip the table?"


    "Exactly."

 The Fallen World Book 7 : Dungeon Liberation Hardcover and Paperback are live on Amazon !

    </a>


    Hello everyone !


    This is to tell you guys that the Fallen World book 7, titled Dungeon Liberation, is now live on amazon as a paperback (here''s the link : https://geni.us/DungeonLiberation</a>) ! The ebook version will release on the 22nd of october.


    In a series first however, we''re finally getting a hardcover ! That''s right, book 7 has a hardcover version and my publisher is working hard to make some for every previous book of The Fallen World !


    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    This novel includes chapters 229 through 270. As usual, it will include a landfil''s worth of grammatical fixes, some story tweaks and fill in various plot holes. Do keep in mind that when the book comes up, I will take down the chapters in it from Royal Road, except the first few ones as a sample, which will be updated with the upgraded text.


    As is tradition, chapter 310 will be posted tomorrow (or the day after, depending on your time zone) as a bonus chapter !


    We''ll also have two announcements in a short span of time, for the release of the physical books and the digital ones, but given that I was too busy for the 7 day announcement, it hopefully will balance out. It also means there''ll be five chapters this week !


    I hope you will enjoy the book, as well as the chapter, and have a nice day ! Playwars, out.

 Chapter 309 - Final Preparations

    Chapter 309


    Ytakan Scrublands, Archduchy of Rebirth


    Darthar-Asaria trade route


    Alexandra leaned forward on the table, covered in terrain charts and force deployment plans as she looked critically at the fortifications littering the landscape.


    With the free trader''s story and the blackbird''s position, they could extrapolate the enemy''s movement speed, and they didn''t have much time. Which meant that they had to build what was most time-efficient, in terms of tactical value.


    This was hampered by the fact that they still had no idea what they were facing. Alexandra had learned all of the self sustaining monsters the UDC had deployed, and she could make some educated guesses about force composition, but that was it. Besides, they might also have carried normal monsters, simply going for a suicide play, to take out her army and delay her long enough for Asaria to fall.


    Well, hope for the best, plan for the worst.


    Rim''s people had found them a good place to make her stand at least. A gigantic, overgrown array of fields, once part of an equally massive farm. No other terrain features to speak of, which was to her advantage when she could make her own in preparation for the enemy''s arrival. And very importantly, no solid cover. When one had guns and the other side didn''t, it was a very, very important part.


    The fortifications being built were simple. Most were aimed at what she knew she''d have to face: airships. Gun pits for her howitzers, who didn''t need line of sight to work their magic, though she had built some ways that they could be reconfigured for direct fire on the ground in a pinch, and entrenched strongpoints for machinegun nests and field guns, who were sure to draw their fair share of fire.


    No trenches however. They''d be a poor shield against melee foes, besides which she was certain to have artillery superiority. If she didn''t, they''d be so overwhelmed this would be an exercise in futility anyway. They simply weren''t worth the effort to make.


    Foxholes were another matter, to house support weapons that couldn''t fit into the strongpoints, or who she didn''t want to put there. Rocket launchers, some mortars, and some tripod mounted grenade machineguns, a low tech variant of the one her power armored Praetorian Guard used like a normal gun, too short ranged to be viable in a static position but hellish if it could be moved with the flow of the battle.


    All that meant that her infantry simply had nowhere to go, but onto the plain itself.


    So it was that she was assembling fifty thousand golems for a field battle. Military wisdom on Earth would have held that they should be dispersed. But instead she kept them in relatively tight formations. They weren''t musketeers, shoulder to shoulder, but any commander of the second world war or beyond worth their salt would have had an aneurysm seeing them.


    But formation level wards and shields could change a lot, besides which she''d actually welcome having the other side focus on them. Shoot the juicy golems with the bolt action rifles while the entrenched machineguns rip you to pieces, yes please. And keeping them tight allowed them to mass their fire onto a single target, something she was dreading she would need. The things the UDC had used to win its first war...


    She physically shuddered. They were not to be underestimated, though at least there was solace in the fact that the originals had been disposed of. She would be facing fresh variants, not essence engorged abominations who had feasted on a hundred battlefields.


    Of course, that didn''t prevent a few elder monsters from being slipped in, but...all of this had been done in the utmost secret, using dilapidated, dormant husks. The truly powerful monsters, the abominations that were worth entire battalions in their own right, had been watched equally carefully as the pristine armored airships.


    Her eyes flicked to a group of people approaching her field command post. It wasn''t a tent this time, she hadn''t bothered, simply putting the So Much For Subtlety above her for protection and shade.


    "Hail, your grace." Said Alexandra as Manson Estogan, the duke of Sarth, climbed the small artificial hill that housed a trio of field guns which she had set up shop on. It was a good vantage point, allowing her to see and be seen.


    "Hail, lady Crystal." Despite his advanced age, he managed the climb with aplomb. "I wished to talk to you about troop deployments. My men have not yet received their formation for the battle."


    "Oh. That''s simple your grace. They won''t be part of it."


    There was a pause.


    "You...I must have misheard you, lady Crystal."


    "You haven''t, your grace. This isn''t your fight. Yours or your men''s. You will sit this one out. The UDC''s here for me. And me alone."


    The duke looked at her, before closing the distance with remarkable swiftness.


    "You cannot be serious." He simply said, and she shrugged.


    "I am. Let''s face it, your gr-"


    "For the love of the Gods, drop the fucking honorifics, call me by my name or not at all."


    "Right. Well, Manson, let''s face it, my troops are almost the entirety of our effective combat power. Leaving your men out doesn''t impede me much."


    "Bullshit. We equal your number. My men don''t have your golems'' discipline, true. But they have creativity to spare, and essence blesses them."


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    "And my golems are tireless, immune to battleshock, drilled to literal perfection on every weapon I have, not to mention better equipped." She shook her head as the duke opened his mouth." Yes, I know I have rearmed you, but even you have to recognize that my own troops remain better equipped than yours, even if only on the armor department."


    "I concede this point." Finally said the duke, and Alexandra gave him a sharp look.


    He was mad. That much she''d expected. But not because he was denied glory or had his honor impugned. He seemed more...


    "You don''t want to have us face this alone?"


    "It is as you said to the archduchess. We are allies. What kind of duke, what kind of man, would I be if I stood back while you headed into battle, while you fought our wars by our side without blinking?" He shook his head. "Come hell and high water, we''re with you lady Crystal."


    "Do you troops think similarly?"


    "If you find more than a battalion''s worth who doesn''t share that opinion, I will be thoroughly amazed."


    Alexandra blinked. He''d delivered that with assurance, and the not the arrogant kind that some officers used, thinking their men but meat puppets, slaves to their overlord''s will.


    "Interesting. Still, it does not change the equation."


    "It does. How do you intend to prevent them from moving in?"


    Alexandra closed her eyes.


    "You can''t be serious."


    "I am deadly serious. What will you do? Shoot them? That would defeat the purpose. They''ll march and form up no matter what you do."


    Alexandra sighed.


    "Unless I give them something to do." She smiled. "Fortunately, I do have something."


    "And that is?"


    "Holding the enemy in respect. As long as you are in the right spots, you will force the enemy to honor the threat...but they won''t dare to attack first. If your men can hold their fire, no matter what happen, I can use you to pin a large force, one large enough they might not even have been able to take them down anyway."


    "You wish to use us as human shields."


    "More of an army in being. A threat they will have to keep reserves to address. And if that keeps entire units static, facing you for my artillery barrages?" She smiled, and it wasn''t a particularly nice one. "Then all the better."


    "If the situation goes sour, we will intervene."


    His tone brokered no arguments, and she nodded.


    "Let us hope it doesn''t come to that then."


    *****


    Alexandra watched on the holographic projector as the fleet approached.


    It seemed that after being detected, they had thrown caution to the wind. They were here faster than expected, meaning they had to still have been trying to move with some caution.


    Unfortunately for them, they just hadn''t been fast enough.


    Alexandra''s eyes narrowed as she saw the fleet come to a halt, and a single vessel moved forward.


    Oh, here we go, she thought, as she ordered one of her raiders, that carried an ambassador golem, forward.


    She recognized a negotiator when she saw one, and there was no way she was letting them get a closer look at her army. They probably already saw plenty with their sensors, but far from everything.


    Time to have a talk with the UDC. Or what remained of it anyway.


    Somehow, she doubted the conversation would be very constructive. Or pleasant.


    *****


    "Will she prevail?" Asked Gift as he gazed at the distant image. It was being cast through simple divination magic, and he was hardly the only one to be watching the unfolding battle.


    No one would question him, or his right to do so. Words of his slaughter on Unification had reached the highest echelons of the isolationists, and both sides held their breath, to see which way he went.


    So far he had held fast in the cause of the neutrals, aiding one side, then the other.


    So far.


    "She will. Our shard has hidden depths."


    Gift would have laughed, but too many had fallen, and were about to fall for it to be funny.


    Besides which, his mirth had died long ago, alongside the realization of what truly gripped Alcheryos, and the horrors the God of Fire was prepared to unleash for his cause.


    "All shards do, from what you have told me."


    "True."


    Gift looked to his side, to the giant in golden armor.


    The one he had truly patterned his own avatar after. A custodian of glittering magnificence...wreathed in light, not fire, his spear of hardened energy, not raging inferno.


    "Hidden depths or no, her forces will be damaged. Will she truly be able to do what she came here to do?"


    "Regardless of her victory, Sunrise will fall. Rook''s plan will make certain of that. But I take your meaning. If she fails, the sentiment of...inevitability she has built will collapse. We cannot allow that. It will destroy her momentum."


    "Shall I nudge fate once again?"


    The custodian barked out a laugh.


    "There is no such thing as ''fate''. There is no veil of the future, just possibilities. Even Nemesis could not defy this. And they defied plenty before they fell. No. Stay your hand. Our means are few, we must use them only when strictly necessary."


    "What of the God of Fire?"


    The custodian shook his head.


    "He is a fool, and so are his minions. Remember their purpose?"


    "''What lies below sleeps. It must not wake.''" Quoted the dungeon core. Like some of those that were born directly of divine hands, he had been given a purpose, a hand in the first stage of Alcheryos'' endless cycles of rise and fall.


    There was a reason most of those who had been his fellows were now buried inside their own depths, refusing to come out. Driven to isolation and madness by all they''d help unleash.


    Or quietly disposed of when they had dared to question their purpose, and sought to break their chains.


    The Custodians of the Flame no longer even talked to him. He was a well used tool they were afraid to break, in case they ever needed him.


    And when they would, driven by fear and desperation, he would shatter in their hands at the worst possible moment, leaving them to be devoured by their own inferno.


    "Precisely. Yet they remain blind. Blind to everything. To this world, to others, to other planes, to those that would rule them. Even here, under his vaunted guardians, he remains unaware of your freedom at my lord''s hands, or that of Alexandra at her own. Our shard is a key, and she only needs to find the lock."


    "Your god plays a dangerous game."


    "On the contrary, he plays the safest one. Compared to the inevitability of entropy, the mere possibility of bypassing the annihilation of all is by far the surest of bets."


    Gift looked back to the divination pool, a seemingly simple brazier, with water than burned within, bathing the room eldritch light.


    "You serve a strange master."


    "Stranger than you know."


    "That I will accept as pure truth."


    They simply gazed in companionable silence. They had know each other for millennia.


    And they both contemplated the end of their long vigil. When chance and long planning, longer than both of their lives by unimaginable lengths, would finally bear fruit.


    When finally the key turned. And everything would change forever.

 The Fallen World Book 7 : Dungeon Liberation is live on Amazon !

    </a>


    Hello everyone !


    This is to tell you guys that the Fallen World book 7, titled Dungeon Liberation, is now live on amazon in all versions, including ebook (here''s the link : https://geni.us/DungeonLiberation</a>) !


    In a series first however, we''re finally getting a hardcover ! That''s right, book 7 has a hardcover version and my publisher is working hard to make some for every previous book of The Fallen World ! I know, I''m repeating myself, but I thought I''d say it again in case someone hadn''t read the previous announcement.


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    This novel includes chapters 229 through 270. As usual, it will include a landfil''s worth of grammatical fixes, some story tweaks and fill in various plot holes. Do keep in mind that when the book comes up, I will take down the chapters in it from Royal Road, except the first few ones as a sample, which will be updated with the upgraded text.


    As is tradition, chapter 312 will be posted on thursday as a bonus chapter !


    Apologies for the two announcements in such a short span of time, but hey, at least you get to have book 8 finished this week thanks to them ^^.


    I hope you will enjoy the book, as well as the chapter, and have a nice day ! Playwars, out.

 Chapter 310 - Opened Eyes

    Chapter 310


    Ytakan Scrublands, Archduchy of Rebirth


    Darthar-Asaria trade route


    Alexandra didn''t even blink as the wall of flesh opened like a wound, letting her into what looked like the inside of a ribcage, converted into an office. An office with a wooden desk, and a pair of chairs.


    The Earth-born had to stop herself from laughing. There was even a quill, an inkpot, and a solitary roll of parchments on the table. It might as well be labelled ''office, stereotype one''. Nobody had used this place, and after they were done today no one ever would, most likely.


    Whatever effect the other dungeon core had been trying to achieve was ruined by the fact that she had to move through the entrails of a monster to get here.


    Speaking of...


    "Greetings, Crystal of the Dungeon Factory." Softly said the...thing behind the desk. It looked like someone had taken a stick-bug and dipped it in gold and bronze. Its face, or what counted for it, was obscured by a porcelain mask with male features. Though Alexandra could hear the chitter of mandibles behind it.


    The dungeon avatar, for that was what it had to be, got up and extended a chitinous hand, which Alexandra grasped.


    "Greetings. I would salute your name and titles as well, but I fear we have not been introduced."


    "How foolish of me." Alexandra''s mental alarms went off. The UDC''s remnants may be made of self absorbed, traitorous bastards, but something told her this one was something else altogether.


    The dungeon core...he reminded her of Ciel, once Arcadia had peeled back the layers of humanity and anger that wrapped her fellow AI. Infinite, cold patience behind the eyes of an immortal machine. Something ageless that simply waited.


    "I am Glarvistar of the Emerald Glade." Continued the avatar, before bowing slightly, which Alexandra returned.


    "Greetings then, Glarvistar of the Emerald Glade. You seem to have brought quite the party alongside you."


    "Yes. Though you have seen us coming for a bit. Tell me, was it chance?"


    "Does chance actually exist?"


    "It does not." Said the voice behind the porcelain mask.


    Alexandra hid a smile.


    "It is the appellation of fools who cannot control their own path." Said Alexandra.


    "Then we are agreed." The avatar shifted. "Today, we will cross blades."


    "And you are not here to tell me that it can be avoided through diplomacy?"


    "The others have charged me to speak for them. But we both know you would not accept their terms nor them yours."


    Cold, calculating and right on the money. This could get ugly.


    "Perhaps. But still, we must go through this dance, mustn''t we?"


    "Perhaps." He said, echoing her words. "Perhaps not." He leaned forward slightly, and Alexandra realized with a start that he had some kind of folded wings on the back. "But battle is inevitable nonetheless. What good are the words here?"


    "Words are tools. They can influence the mind. Influence the very essence of magic."


    "You speak of will, not voice."


    "Is there a difference?"


    The avatar paused.


    "There isn''t. Very well, speak."


    "Go back to where you came. Tell the UDC''s remnants that if they wish to remain isolated, that is their choice. We will not interfere with their solitude. But we will defend ourselves. And if need be, we will crush you."


    "And murder us?"


    "Your ''allies'' are already doing this. What do you need us for?"


    The avatar flinched.


    "I had argued against that."


    "Just like you no doubt argued against speeding up?"


    She was openly fishing, and his silence was all the response she needed. She hid a smile.


    He wasn''t in control. He wished he was, and he wasn''t. That was to her advantage. Whoever controlled the fleet right now wasn''t as sound and calculated as he was.


    "My fellows'' offer is thus." He finally said. "Satisfy yourself with the territories you have. You control the greatest trade route on the continent. Go north, to Ulrys. Take it, extend your ''archduchy'' to the Inner Sea, and you will also hold the gates to Sarth. Sunrise will honor your power, and leave you be."


    "No they won''t. We''re a symbol of the duchess'' and would be queen incompetence and failures. She has to crush us."


    "Not if she is incapable of it."


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    "Then we only trade a diminished foe now for a greater one later."


    The avatar dipped its head, and Alexandra smiled, before almost cringing as the porcelain mask did likewise.


    Okay, what the actual fuck?


    "You would. Then we are at an impasse. Because my fellows'' offer is much more generous than that of the council."


    "Your fellows being?"


    "The other cores in the fleet. They fret and flicker. They fear the consequences of this battle. Victory or defeat, this will ring throughout time."


    Alexandra tilted her head. Interesting. So those other cores were the ones in control, since they had ''chosen'' him as their emissaries.


    "And you? Do you fear the consequences?"


    "I welcome them."


    The smile became almost malicious, and Alexandra shuddered mentally. He was being sincere, but...


    He wasn''t being arrogant. Not towards her. Why...


    He expected that they were going to lose. He was using her army as a hammer to purify the red hot iron that was the new UDC. Get rid of those pulling his strings.


    And like Ciel...he was using this entire force as a sacrificial lamb to gauge out her tactics and strategy for himself. Just like Ciel had done to the European Federation, to her, with the Second Battle of Alpha Centauri, to pave the way for the Third. Sweet merciful Gods that was cold.


    "I see. Then I believe we should go on to a clash of arms?"


    "We shall." He looked at her. "My commanders would have wished your golem trashed, in the foolish hope that it would be similar to our avatars and give us an advantage."


    "And you spurn the dishonor?"


    "What is honor, but reciprocity?"


    She smiled, and the porcelain mask returned it.


    He was keeping the door open. Open for them to talk, to negotiate again, which the actions his superiors demanded would have otherwise permanently closed.


    "A point well taken."


    "Then be on your way. And good hunting."


    Alexandra turned, and whirled around, walking towards the wound-door. She paused as she reached the threshold.


    "You know, I am tempted to just make myself lose this." She said over her shoulder.


    "Will you?"


    "No."


    "Then it shall be a glorious day for all of us with our eyes open."


    He did not mean it as the nobles would have understood it.


    "I suppose it will be."


    She left. Escorted through the strange biological ship by monsters of all shapes and sizes, and back onto her own vessel.


    It seemed she wasn''t the only one with plans here. Interesting. Very interesting. Maybe there would be a solution other than annihilation in this war.


    Maybe.


    *****


    "So it begins."


    Joachim nodded softly, trying to avoid shuddering as the machine spoke.


    The Relic Guard''s promised reinforcements had arrived. Automated weaponry indeed.


    No one had thought to warn him that the things were intelligent. At least some of them.


    The others...he honestly couldn''t say. They reminded him of dungeon monsters, in a way. Some capable of speech, but not truly sapient. They could talk, but start diving a bit into the conversation, and cracks began appearing. The same if one gave them orders that required creativity to accomplish.


    "It does." The Order Commander poured himself a glass of a fine Asarian wine his men had found stars knows where in the capital teetering on the edge of collapse, only granted reprieve by the duchess running off with most of the army to intercept the dungeon core. The air around was shocked, with a beginning of euphoria. If Lesly won this, and crushed Sunrise...the people here would pave her path with their bodies, prostrated in gratitude.


    He hesitated, and poured a second glass, offering it to the automata, who accepted it with a smile. She looked as if someone had made a person out of metal, an ''android''.


    Jallira had also mentionnd that the machine should be able to kill her, despite it being a shadow of what it once was. Kill her, a fallen Seraphim.


    It made one wonder.


    The robot downed the drink in a single gulp, before licking its -her?- lips.


    "Curious." She said. "This vintage is anomalous. It would have been rejected by the Food and Drink Safety Board."


    Joachim shook his head. It just kept saying something like that, as if it was stuck in its own time. Which...it might be.


    "So it would." He simply answered. This fight...Lesly should win it, but he couldn''t help but fret. What was she doing with holding the human units back like that? The goal here was to get as much blood as possible on the isolationists'' hands, fracturing their forces before they could bring their full might to bear on her.


    Trust her, he just had to trust her.


    And pray. Though pray to what, he wouldn''t be capable of saying.


    When one had disavowed their Gods as murderous frauds, what was left?


    *****


    Alexandra watched as the enemy advanced, through the sensors of her airships, the only things that had a visual.


    She had let them do their landing uncontested, clearly to the opposite side''s dismay. Did these fools seriously expect her to not have noticed they had chosen a spot with great care, one that would keep them out of range of her howitzers, but within the one of her ballistic missiles?


    She had no intention of wasting her ammunition. No, she''d wait until their point defence was otherwise occupied to unleash hell. They clearly hadn''t realized that she had only unleashed them onto the duke because she''d had no choice, pressured by time in both instances.


    Still, their composition...among what she had expected, by and large, with one exception.


    First, a solid central body of Jakarls anchoring the whole army, creatures that looked like centaurs crossed with centipedes, their arms and legs replaced with deadly blades. All the same however, they were slow, ponderous. Heavy infantry brawlers, not cavalry. They were supported by Tishaks, forming a screen before them and on their flanks. Skirmishers, that seemed like blue demonic imps, capable of throwing simple attack spells. Firebolts weren''t all that dangerous, until you sent a thousand of them someone''s way.


    Behind them stood the behemoths that were Naisens, looking like gigantic yetis. Three of them, they weren''t actually combat beasts, just towering, biological shield generators. Their response to her artillery...and the reason why the ships above were drawn in a tight defensive formation above them.


    They knew of her battle with the duke. They were afraid of her null missiles. If the files were right and the Naisens projected shields, they would only be down for a few moments, but that would be enough for her artillery to crush the creatures.


    Good. Let them worry about the wrong thing.


    Had she not possessed the appropriate sensors, she wouldn''t have seen what was hidden behind, the pathetic handful of Skiras, the UDC''s self sustaining artillery. Hellish spiders that grew acid mortars on their backs. Built more for the horror factor against human troops, Alexandra genuinely wasn''t sure how effective they would be on her golems. They would, however, be hell on her weapons.


    And lastly, the thing she hadn''t expected...ranks upon ranks of centaurs. Not dungeon monsters, actual centaur auxiliaries, surrounded in heavy armors. She''d dubbed them Cataphracts.


    They were deployed on the wings, clearly intending to strike her flanks, drive in the middle of her formation and try to overrun her artillery. She had defences in place, but the centaurs...they certainly weren''t newborn monsters like the others, they would have plenty of essence to back them up, and experience besides.


    Her greatest advantage right now however, were the human troops behind hers. She could see the reserves of the main enemy force, deployed to counter a charge or attempted encirclement by Manson and Philia.


    The enemy army shuddered as it came to a stop, just inside of her howitzer range.


    And once again her weapons remained silent. They weren''t the ones she was interested in. And she''d rather have them fully caught into her range before she engaged.


    After all, their formation had a critical flaw. One that clearly showed those on the other side, with the notable exception of Glarvistar, had no experience in warfare, chosen for their ideological purity. Which made sense, otherwise they would not have condoned this attack, let alone commanded it.


    The fact that they had attempted to offer better terms than their superiors spoke volumes to how said ''purity'' was a double edged sword in this particular case.


    The enemy army shuddered once again, and resumed marching forward. Alexandra smiled, and brought up her hand on Subtlety''s bridge, waiting to bring it back down. She could almost feel Emilia rolling her eyes back home at the theatrical gesture.


    But this was theater. She could feel on her sensors the countless eyes in the sky. There had been few, if any, in her previous battles, but now...now everyone was watching.


    The UDC''s implosion had suddenly focused the attention of the whole world on her. And she intended to give them a good show.


    She prepared to bring her arm down...then trumpets sounded.


    And the humans behind her army began marching forward.

 Chapter 311 - Dungeon War

    Chapter 311


    Ytakan Scrublands, Archduchy of Rebirth


    Darthar-Asaria trade route


    Alexandra watched, in utter shock, as ranks of human soldiers marched forward. What the hell were those fools doing?!?


    Manson you stupid-. Alexandra''s thoughts skidded to a halt as she realized most of the human troops were immobile...and as confused as she was.


    The ones marching forward bore specific flags. They were the Kaidani Free Companies, a surprisingly coherent bloc of veterans and volunteers, united in their desire to avenge their slaughtered homeland. They were also remarkably well equipped, received the old weapons of the units Alexandra had reequipped, though their armor still left a fair bit to be desired.


    She watched as Manson and Philia rode out of their respective personal guards, and came to talk to the Kaidani commanders. The exchange was brief, heated...and ended with the duke embracing the Kaidani officer.


    Signals were exchanged, and the army reformed around the holes the Kaidani had left.


    Alexandra hesitated to order her troops to push the Kaidani away, or at least block their paths, but she couldn''t bring herself to do it. She also noted in the back of her mind that the UDC''s troops had stopped as well, observing the unfolding events.


    The Kaidanis spread out, forming taunt, pathetically thin one to two rank deep lines...and stopped on her flanks.


    Alexandra''s breath caught in her throat. They weren''t joining her.


    They were deploying as human shields. With full knowledge that the enemy rising to the bait would mean certain death.


    She looked back at the UDC...and saw no reaction for a full minute.


    Then the Cataphracts tightened back in, the spread wings pulled back to hug the body, and she let out an almost hysterical laugh.


    The cores of UDC weren''t willing to risk it.


    Still, they were assembling in a kind of lance formation. Intent on diving into the front lines instead of the sides to reach the heart. Just with a lot more depth than width this time, to absorb the greater losses.


    They began marching forward again, and she waited.


    And waited.


    At long last, she brought her arm down.


    The air exploded, as the whole plain vanished behind a wall of fire.


    Hundreds of howitzers, field guns and the hybrids onboard the ships spoke as one.


    The enemy came to a halt, the Naisens bracing for the incoming storm as the ships activated their point defence, lightning bolts and power beams leaping from tentacles and spikes of runed bone.


    Three of the ships above them exploded. The light cruisers were though, but not ''take over a thousand shells in the span of half a second'' tough.


    One of them was completely annihilated, its own ammunition magazine and mana power supply roaring out in a hail of energy that engulfed nearby vessels, causing their wards to flicker, leaving nothing but a mist of vaporized blood.


    Another simply disintegrated into a hail of burning flesh and blackened bone, creating a veritable rain of ichor onto the forces below.


    The last one however...the last one crashed.


    The Naisers were driven to their knees as the ship hit the shield like a homesick meteor.


    Then its own magazines failed, and so did the creatures'' power. The shields flickered, and died.


    Despite being chosen for their ideology, the UDC''s cores were anything but fools. The ships scattered...just in time for the second wave of howitzers shells to hit the Naisers, now deprived of the point defence coverage.


    The beasts were massive, and incredibly resilient in their own right. But resilience meant nothing compared to that amount of firepower.


    Alexandra smiled as they toppled. She hadn''t dared hope to be this successful.


    Still...this fight was far from won.


    The UDC''s army swarmed forward. The cavalry kept pace with the infantry, Jakarls and Tishaks alike. Alexandra frowned as she saw the latter, still forming their skirmisher screen, scrabble the ground, before leaping to regain their advance on the lumbering monsters behind them. What were they doing? Did they know about-


    It hit her. Tunnels. They were hunting tunnels. Everything the UDC had done so far told her they had studied her previous battles. They were trying to find tunnels, just like the ones she had dug for her fight against the Hammer of Eternity and its automated legion, to allow the adventurers to close the gap in safety.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Well, they were going to have one hell of a surprise soon.


    One more among many. Her artillery was continuing to fire, all the different types letting loose with a different tempo. Howitzers were now hammering on the Cataphract, the shells crashing against the wards, crunching through them shell by shell. Meanwhile the field guns, thanks to their lack of clear lines of fire to the onrushing army, assisted her fleet in keeping the UDC''s armada in disarray.


    Her first volley had been meant to take out the ships directly above the Naisers, but now her guns hunted a new strategic target. One the dungeons on the other side were scrambling to hide.


    She was aiming for their command ships. Focusing all of her fire on them, one by one, working her way down the list Glitch had made. It was amazing what one could do with an AI specialized in analysis, and a lot of surprises thrown the enemy''s way, forcing them to react. They only had to watch which ships reacted first, the uniform speed of crew monsters and biological ships in accomplishing their tasks turning what would have been a muddled mess of different crews reacting on their best into a smoothly ordered machine...with the head moving slightly faster than the body as the orders rippled out. A simple test of command link delay, the ships moving as soon as they received the order.


    If there was any sure sign that those on the other side had not been trained for a proper fight, it was this. Because these kinds of things were in the UDC''s military manuals Gift had given her all this time ago, after she had spat into her fellow dungeons'' faces. In fact, Glarvistar was applying it, if she had to guess, as a couple of squadrons moved in perfect unity.


    It was the most delicious of irony. The isolationists, who had rejected military training because their doctrine was to avoid wars, now failing in one of their own making because of their very philosophy.


    Despite their crumbling command structure, as flagships were ripped apart and backups came online only to suffer the same fate, they engaged as one once they finally came into their own range, the ships forming into staggered ranks, forming a kind of giant pyramid face, ensuring the ships would not fall upon each other if hit. Alexandra whistled softly. Well, maybe they had some training after all.


    The UDC''s fleet opened fire.


    Hundreds of projectiles, from simple fireballs to goblets of acid and harpoons of engraved bone, struck out. All towards one, single target.


    They flew towards the So Much For Subtlety...and ran into the Tetsudos.


    Projectile after projectile exploded under the power of the strongest tesla point defence arrays Alexandra had made yet, each escort ship''s even more powerful than the battlecruiser''s own. Harpoons flew apart, the energy that held fireballs together failed and the goblets of acid lost cohesion.


    All told, less than half of the fired weaponry arrived in a state fit to deal damage. Only to crash against the light cruiser''s unified shield, the feature that gave them their name. The energy barrier rippled, shining with every possible color, even devolving beyond the visible spectrum, bathing the surrounding area in ultraviolet and infrared light.


    The shield wavered...but it held. And Alexandra smiled as the enemy waited, before unleashing another coordinated volley.


    Another mistake. Facing wards, it might have been a good play. But they were facing fast recharging shields. That was why she hadn''t tried a second coordinated volley on the Naisens, why she had immediately unleashed her fastest reloading weapons -that could aim at them anyway- on the creatures.


    Against shields, you either overwhelmed them in a single broadside, or you constantly pounded them until they failed, never leaving them a chance to fully reform.


    Their second volley came...and it came an absolute mess. A fourth of the fleet failed to fire in tandem, Alexandra''s guns having finished a full set of command ships, including all of the backups. The manuals, and her allies within the UDC, had told her such forces were usually segregated into several units exclusively controlled by a dungeon core.


    Cut the head off, and the others wouldn''t be able to wrangle it back into line. It didn''t work that way with dungeon monsters.


    The ships broke off, and went back into automatic combat protocols, returning fire against her entrenched artillery, entering into a futile duel with well dug in guns.


    Even for her ships against Sunrise''s trebuchets and catapults, that would have been a losing proposition. Against howitzers and field guns? It was so pathetic her guns simply ignored them, and continued pounding at the true targets.


    All the while, the So Much For Subtlety remained silent, its missile launchers waiting.


    The enemy fleet surged forward, at what had to be their top speed, and Alexandra''s eyebrows rose. Alright, obsolete or not, these ships could move.


    The ones remaining under control split into three columns. Alexandra took a quickly look at their trajectories, and she barked a laugh.


    One was the primary wall of battle, angling to her right to try and engage her escorts and weasel their way out of the bunkers'' line of fire.


    The one on the left were swarmers. Light cruisers covered in spiked tentacles and other close combat, biological weaponry. Clearly intended to come to grips with the So Much For Subtlety, but would have to rip the Tetsudos out of the way first. The way their course gave a wide berth to her transports made her smile. Oh they knew all about her previous battles alright. Unfortunately, CQ hadn''t made it back, so she couldn''t lead another charge from the transports, riding her pet manticore.


    The last column was punching straight through, and those actually worried her. These ships were armed...but not heavily. Marine assault transports. Like those the UIS had used on Alpha Centauri. They were ships meant to drop their marines as fast as possible, providing whatever support they could as they died. In theory they were supposed to withdraw, but everyone who had seen them in action knew it was usually a one way trip, the crew to soon join their former passengers via the escape pods.


    The main army continued advancing, almost staggering as the artillery barrage stopped. And the transports began dying.


    Having separated meant the ships could no longer support each other, and at last, the So Much For Subtletly spoke.


    Ballistic missiles rose...and scores of power beams rose to contest them.


    Ah. So they did have medium range point defence. Kept in reserve specifically for this.


    She could almost taste the triumphant smiles on the other side. Smiles that died as the next missile volley launched...and the point defence fire missed. Small reaction thrusters jinked the missiles all over the skies, and the other side went crazy as they tried to intercept them.


    Finally however, the assault transports neared her first defensive line, the other two columns slowly coming onto their own positions, delayed by the distance added from their curved path.


    And the transports died. Too busy with the shells that had reaped a rich harvest among them already, their dungeon cores'' attention taken by her missiles, they never saw the power beam shells and missile warheads she had put on makeshift aiming machines on the ground coming.


    The ships came apart, shredded from the ground, spewing a cargo of burning wasp like creatures. Some of them were still alive, trying to regain their balance and take flight, only to be nailed by slow, measured rifle fire, the bolt action weapons more than sufficient to mop up the stragglers.


    The remaining enemy columns altered their trajectories once again. Curving inward, straight towards her flagship. Reckless, but the only solution they had. They couldn''t hope to out shoot her dirtside artillery, and both knew that this battle would be decided on the ground below. Her ballistic missiles were too dangerous to the infantry, especially in such a tight formation. And without each other''s support, the two columns would be defeated in detail. So they tried to link up again, through her own ships.


    The wall of battle retargeted, and Alexandra winced as her Raiders began to die. One by one, just like what she had done to them, every enemy ship that could focusing their fire on a single vessel to bring it down.


    But they were coming closer, and did far less damage than they could, the remaining enemy attack ship, even the battleship that helmed them, forced to use their bow pursuit armaments, not their full broadsides as they hastened to close.


    And the Raiders leapt forward to meet them.


    The enemy hesitated, but only for a second. They met the smaller ships...and the So Much For Subtlety fired again. This time with interceptor missiles.


    To Alexandra''s amazement, they managed to shoot down most of the incredibly fast missiles. Only a single of the interceptors made it.


    Its delicate warhead failed to activate however. And Alexandra could almost taste the confusion, and then horrified realization as the other side figured it out.


    Null weapons were fragile, but she could mount them on interceptors. Or at least mount decoys in such a way that the other side would believe they were functional, just with a great chance of misfire, and not that the real ones would be damaged beyond any hope of detonation anyway by the insane acceleration of the missiles.


    Her reputation for pulling off the impossible, and always having surprises up her sleeves, worked for her as the enemy ships pulled every point defence they had away from the shells coming towards them and to face the missiles.


    As they did, the bridge of the Raiders and the army below swarmed with moving figures.


    The skies filled with the glare of jetpacks, as over five thousand golems leapt into the skies.

 Chapter 312 - Relentless Advance

    Chapter 312


    Ytakan Scrublands, Archduchy of Rebirth


    Darthar-Asaria trade route


    The UDC panicked, trying to retarget their point defence. They failed. And in their failure, ended up countering nothing, as another wave of interceptor missiles rose from the So Much For Subtlety.


    This time, they struck the enemy battleship. They were mundane warheads. But they were enough, as the wards protecting the massive vessels came down, already chipped down to minimum strength by the constant barrage of Alexandra''s Corsairs and their massive guns.


    Just in time for the jetpack marines to board.


    The entire capital ship shuddered as breaching charges detonated all over the hull, the marines carving a path through the abomination''s flesh into its veins and guts. The vessel itself came to a halt as alchemical bombs stripped the armor off of the engines, and thermite charges went into the unprotected mechanisms, melting key components, and causing the entire assembly to shake itself apart.


    But far worse were the marines that were going to other ships. They came by entire squads of ten, carrying no weapons, not even armor.


    Instead, with straining chains, they lifted the real null warheads.


    Glarvistar''s ships shone like a beacon in this, as their own wasp like marines, Marakai self sustaining monsters, if Alexandra wasn''t mistaken, leapt to intercept them. They succeeded...in taking out those aimed at his ships.


    The others made it. And detonated.


    Some of the warheads failed.


    Most didn''t.


    Jetpacks died alongside their golems as the lifeless metal plumetted to the ground, the machines still rebooting as they hit the ground with a final crunch, like tin cans meeting a hydraulic press.


    But the damage was done. Across the shaken formation, wards were down. And suddenly the light cruisers were vulnerable, their capital ship dying from a thousand cuts as Alexandra''s marines blew their way through its insides, blood gushing from the wounds they had carved into its flesh to enter, sometimes carrying the body of a Marakai or a golem, the torn flesh alight with the flash of gunfire as submachine guns and shotguns spoke within the creature.


    The enemy escorts attempted to close. But their coordination was shattered, from both the loss of command ships, and the null warhead disrupting whatever communications they had left.


    Suddenly, Glarvistar''s squadron turned around, followed by almost half of what remained of the fleet, and began running. The remaining ships were left on their instinctual combat protocols, and died under the hail of her guns, serving as a sacrificial rear guard.


    Alexandra turned her attention to the close combat ships, that had been preparing for a pincer attack, and smiled.


    They were running as well. Running after having almost reached their goal. Unfortunately for them, their bid to distract her with the main fleet had failed. Because Alexandra had AIs to handle it, trusted lieutenants and officers.


    Subtelty and Ghost had unleashed hell on the poor bastards. They had brought the Tetsudos forward, once the enemy wall of battle had switched to pursuit armaments and begun attacking the Raiders, and used them as giant tesla weapons, overriding the safeties to pour energy into the enemy vessels that latched onto them.


    Two of those light cruisers would never fly again. But neither would half of the close quarters ships. Especially as those that broke through suddenly found themselves dragged to the ground. The arcane tractor beams she had built to deflect the Hammer of Eternity''s missiles finally brought to bear. It took three to bring down a single ship, and they pretty much burned out in the effort, but the enemy didn''t know that. The simply saw their ships crash onto the ground and immediately be swarmed with golems ladden with satchel charges, flinging themselves into every hatch and orrifice they could find, while other units blew the engines to kingdom come, pinning the ships to the ground. The failing tentacles and acid cannons took down golem after golem, but even they couldn''t hold back the tide.


    Silence descended upon the battlefield for a brief instant.


    Then it was broken by a surprise yelp, and the crack of an explosion, followed by screams of pain from the enemy infantry.


    The main army had advanced a great deal. The Cataphracts had taken a great deal of damage, ragged holes in their formation where the field guns, their line of sight to the ships above stolen, had finished what the howitzers had started. But still they kept pace, grimly shadowing the Jakarls as they lumbered forward, almost untouched.


    Alexandra grinned as she saw the imp monsters, their point unit wriggling on the grounds. Others stepped forward...and similarly yelped as a metal object launched into the sky, and exploded into a hail of shrapnel.


    Yep, they found the minefield, thought Alexandra.


    The enemy army hesitated briefly, as their commanding cores did, but in the end continued forward. Alexandra felt some begrudging respect for the other side. Not knowing how extensive the minefield was, it wouldn''t be an easy decision to make.


    Not that they had much of a choice anyway. Their fleet was annihilated. Alexandra''s own had been shredded in the exchange, most of her Raiders and Tetsudos wrecks or worse, but she still had her Corsairs and the So Much For Subtlety. Which, really, was all she needed. Sacrificing the lighter vessels to save her heaviest hitters. This was their only shot. Especially with Glarvistar doubtlessly getting ready to lay the blame at their feet if they failed.


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    The Tishaks drove into the minefield, the blue imps dying in droves as their commanders used them to clear a path the old fashioned way. They couldn''t even disperse to limit the area of effect, otherwise they would risk missing some of the explosives buried beneath.


    Alexandra''s grin got wider as they dove through the minefield, and the lumbering Jakarls entered it, scuttling on their bladed legs. She watched as they got closer, a few mines that were missed detonating in their mist, bypassing their wards and wounding the large creatures.


    There was one interesting fact about betty mines most people didn''t realize. By jumping into the air they did clear their casing to shower an area with shrapnel, similar to airburst artillery rounds, demultiplying their lethality at the cost of stealth.


    But they also made sure the explosion''s shockwave wasn''t absorbed by the ground...and wouldn''t cause sympathetic detonations in other explosives.


    She made a gesture, and below her, a sapper golem pressed a detonator twice.


    An entire section of the enemy formation vanished, as the buried shells and barrels of ammunition detonated. The front ranks of Jakarls came to a belated stop, as they suddenly found themselves separated by a mountain of bodies from the rest of the army.


    The plain lit up with gunfire, as the front-most machinegun nests and rifle totting golems opened up at last.


    The Jakarls'' wards, having already taken a beating from the massive detonation hammering them from behind, shattered under the hail of fire. They tried to charge forward, but there was no momentum, and the ones behind who could have swapped place with them to maintain a barrier of energy were dead.


    They were massacred. And the rest of the army trampled in place, as the heavy infantry attempted to navigate the field of craters and stinking offal that was the remnant of their comrades. Despite their bulks, the heavily armored creatures were amazingly agile, getting through it far more quickly than regular infantry would have.


    But not quickly enough. By the time they had, the remaining skirmishers, the last of the Tishaks used to clear the minefield, were nothing but a bloody carpet spread on their path.


    The charge began. The creatures bellowed, and rushed forward. The centaurs let loose an ululating war cry, and finally let loose the invisible bonds of command that had kept them tied to the infantry, eager to close in with the artillery that had killed so many of their own.


    They were met by a hail of gunfire. But the Cataphracts were made of stern, stern stuff, and even when the bullets managed to batter through their incredible tough armor, they simply leapt over the fallen, not even breaking pace.


    Cavalry lances were lowered. The swords that would follow were loosened in their scabbards.


    And then all hell let loose.


    What the other side hadn''t realized as they charged was that the field guns had stopped firing.


    The centaurs crossed an invisible line, and the field guns opened up again. This time with canister shot.


    They fired, one after another, in a carefully choreographed metronome, leaving just enough time for the bodies of the fallen to collapse, to clear the line of fire of the next artillery piece.


    It was as if the Cataphracts had run into a brick wall. Before long it became more truth than metaphor, the lance formation forced to break off, veering to the side, their charge broken, a wall of flesh and mangled corpses blocking their way, built by the unrelenting hail of firepower on the other side.


    The centaurs tried to move back in, plunge into the flanks...before being repelled by a seemingly impenetrable forcefield, passing within a few meters of the Kaidani Free Companies on both sides, the humans grimly holding their ground, refusing to give in to the attempt to make them break formation, to make them flee.


    The Cataphracts wheeled around as they approached the ranks upon ranks of Sarth''s infantry, the human army dead silent behind Alexandra''s, trying to build back momentum for another charge.


    As soon as they were clear of the Kaidanis however, the grenade launchers fired. They walked high explosive and fragmentation rounds up and down the columns, expending their ammo at a ridiculous speed. Among the centaurs some threw down their lances, and began drawing shortbows.


    Orders were screamed out, and the Kaidani formation began marching back in lockstep, raising their shields.


    The centaurs got the message. They lowered their bows, bitterness clear on their faces, even through their heavy helmets.


    They continued on their way, moving to plunge into her frontline. But they were no longer the main threat. By the time they came around, the main clash would have begun.


    Alexandra focused on the Jakarls. The monsters rushed forward, dodging around the bodies of those that fell, pushing through a veritable wall of bullets.


    And they were making it. Wards failed, some fell, but they were doing it. An infantry frontal charge through machinegun fire.


    The Skiras, the UDC''s artillery, tried to suppress the machineguns nest. Globes of acid hissed through the air, joining the ones from the handful of feral ships still aloft, though they wouldn''t remain so for much longer, the remaining raiders and marines flying away from the dying carcass of the battleship as it crashed between the Kaidani and the rest of the human army.


    The spiders did a surprising amount of damage, all things considered. Most of the acid expended itself on wards, but some punched through, acid flowing through firing slits and wrecking the weapons and the golems manning them.


    Unfortunately for them, it just gathered Alexandra''s attention.


    Her howitzers counter-batteried them out of existence in less than thirty seconds.


    The golems wielding her new assault rifles opened up on the charging infantry. Then the remaining grenade launchers. And finally the submachineguns. All supported by canister shots from the field guns and a never ending howitzers barrage.


    At long last, the infantry neared.


    And then her ships opened fire.


    With all of the shells and warheads she had used on the enemy fleet, and to lay her various traps, Alexandra was critically short on ammunition. Which is why the barrage of two hundred millimeter shells from the Corsairs was timed to the second.


    They carved bloody craters in the front of the enemy formations, slowing them down.


    Slowing them for the missiles rising into the sky.


    Both sides knew what they contained. Or they should, if they had truly studied all of her battles.


    The missiles came back down, and the entirety of the front lines vanished in a wall of flames as burning napalm rained upon the earth.


    Alexandra smiled once again.


    That smile fell as the enemies refused to run through the fire. And the back ranks of the Jakarls began chanting.


    Oh fuck. Was all Alexandra could think.


    Waves of power reached out, extinguishing the flames, and their ace now revealed, summoning an impenetrable fog, covering the charging infantry.


    She had expected casters. But among the centaurs, not the mass produced monsters. They shouldn''t even have been able to cast magic.


    But some did, and she snapped out orders.


    The smoke blocked out the vision of her golems, even her arcane sensors...but spotters throughout the entire army dropped their weapons, and brought up their rangefinders, and magitech eyes reached out.


    The spotters began calling out targets, and the fire resumed. Less accurate, perhaps, but one could do a lot with simple grid coordinates when fighting such large enemies.


    Her ballistic missiles began pounding the mages at the back. They were met with lightning bolts, but her weapons jinked all over the skies.


    The null warheads reached their targets, and the chanting stopped as the wards collapsed. Though, interestingly, the wall of fog did not. It simply ceased moving forward, yes, but it didn''t dissipate.


    The Jakarls burst through the mystical cover at the same time as the Corsairs reduced their mages to a greasy stain on the ground.


    But they had accomplished their goal.


    The Jakarls roared as they collapsed upon her main infantry line, and finally became able to retaliate for all of the horrors that had been visited upon them.

 Bonus Chapter - The Scarlet Swords

    Warning : This bonus chapter takes place at the beginning of the book, before Rebirth becomes an Archduchy, but after Alexandra''s main army units departed Darthar and Ghost began stockpiling gear in the city, somewhere between chapters 282 and 293. This isn''t in the author''s notes since I know they don''t show up for everyone and most people skip them anyway.


    Bonus Chapter - Scarlet Swords


    Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth


    City of Darthar


    "Sir, we have a visitor."


    Gothram Edingburgh, commander of the Scarlet Swords mercenary company, looked up from his bowl of porridge at his executive officer.


    "A visitor? To our somptuous quarters?" He chuckled as he waved his spoon at their surroundings, but his mirth died at his executive''s officer deadpan gaze.


    The old woman was rarely the wonder of parties, but she usually had some sparks of humor. You couldn''t survive this long as a soldier, let alone a mercenary, without it.


    "Yes." Simply said Sia, and Gothram nodded.


    "Alright, please, escort them in."


    "Yes sir!"


    The captain turned around with parade ground precision, and left the room. Her superior watched her go, before sighing and continuing to eat his porridge.


    His joke at their quarters had been mostly just that, a joke. Yes, their quarters were hardly luxurious, they were repurposed barracks, but they were the same as all the city''s defenders had to make do with.


    They hadn''t exactly gotten the best when they''d arrived. They''d been the last to arrive for one, but first and foremost because not too long ago they''d been fighting on the other side, trying to take Rebirth for the Republic.


    But now the Republic was being invaded by its own army, the Kingdom was in open civil war, and his decision to avoid suicide by turning against those who had freed him and his men from their jail, saving the life of the baroness'' wife in the process, had bore unexpected fruit.


    He''d been freed, and him and his company sent as reinforcement for Darthar, banned to return to Rebirth. Technically, that banishment was limited in time, but he was under no illusion that going back would be a poor idea, for their prosperity and health.


    So their welcome had been frosty, to say the least. But now, after fighting on the walls every bit as fiercely as those defending their homes and loved ones, they were treated like comrades. ''Mercenary lane'' as some called it now had a tinge of respect, and they had received a generous contract to help reinforce the city guard, while it got back onto its feet.


    There was a knock on the door, and he put aside his porridge. That was his second in command''s way of announcing the guest, and he cleared his throat.


    "Come in." He said, and immediately sprang to his feet as a woman stepped through the now open door.


    A woman with white hair, and piercing crimson eyes.


    He''d only seen her a handful of times, but he would recognize her anywhere.


    CQ, Crystal''s dungeon boss...and choosen representative.


    "Greetings, commander." Said the boss, and he knew instantly it was being possessed by the core.


    "Hail, lady Crystal. What brings you here, so far from the halls of power?"


    "Many things. But first and foremost, paying back a debt." The dungeon core gestured at the vacant chairs beside the commander''s table. "May I?"


    "Of course." She gripped the back of one chair, dragging it back, and he blinked as he saw her hand dissolve in static. "What?"


    "Oh, I see you have not been warned. My daughter desserves her autonomy, and not be reduced to my mere messengers. I have made golems I control, covered in illusions to communicate."


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    "I see. If that is the case, you may wish to give yourself a distinctive sign, so that confusion is avoided."


    Crystal paused.


    "That is...a valuable suggestion, commander. Thank you." She blinked, and suddenly her eyes were bright pink. "Will this suffice?"


    The commander had to stop himself from gasping. Illusion magic his arse. That had to be an actual hologram. One made to shift, a modified version of the warmagic used to cloak entire war machines and formations. Nothing else could have been updated on the fly like that.


    "Yes, it will."


    "Most excellent." The dungeon core looked at him, and he had to hold back a shiver. She was less than two years old, but there was something...ancient behind her eyes. It was the only way he could describe it. "Then I suppose we should get down to the reasons for my presence here."


    "Please do. I do not believe I was aware of a debt between us. Let alone one you owe me or my men."


    "Oh but I do. Your men were on the walls, the day of the breach, correct?"


    "We were." He shrugged. "We were backups to the knights."


    "Do not play coy. I have visited knight-captain Vance. He has told me that the idea to rappel down into the breach came from you, and your men gave his covering fire, exposing themselves to enemy retaliation both arcane and mundane to allow his to come to my rescue."


    "I did." He smiled. "You have done your homework."


    "I have." The dungeon core gazed at him, and his feeling of unease only increased. "Tell me, commander. Do you know how much of a difference it did?"


    "I genuinely do not know."


    "In the grand scheme of things, it probably would not have changed the fate of the city. I would have held long enough alone for the calvary charge to start the rout, and my other ship could have begun bombarding the breach even had I fallen. But my daughter? My daughter almost certainly wouldn''t have survived this."


    "She would have returned."


    "Does resurrection make the death of one''s child any more painless?"


    The commander winced.


    "No. I suppose not."


    "I fought with this very golem on top of her unconscious body. This chassis still bears the scars from where soldiers of Sunrise struck it, only to be pushed back by the knights you, and no one else, allowed to descend to my aid."


    "So you feel like you owe me."


    "No, I know I do." She leaned forward. "Which is why I have come to pay back that debt."


    "Could I waive it?"


    "You could. You no doubt think a debt for someone like I is perilous."


    "The sands of the desert outside this city are littered with the bodies of those who have stood against you. A favor of you is an extremely dangerous weapon to wield."


    "I see you can sparr with words as well as your sword. Good." The dungeon core smiled. "I knew you would not like having an unfulfilled debt with me. It would attract...attention. And not the good kind. So instead, allow me to pay it back immediately. In gifts."


    "What kind?"


    "Weapons. What else?" The dungeon core got to her feet. "Follow me, commander."


    He nodded, and quickly found himself out into the courtyard, where his mercenaries were trying very hard not to stare while they trained.


    It was a short walk to the larger assembly fields, where the city''s garrison gathered for the morning roll call and any speech their officers wished made.


    And he came to a dead halt to see what was on it.


    His men had been allowed to resupply before leaving Rebirth. Which meant gathering every musket they could beg, borrow or steal, alongside whatever other supplies they could get their hands on. Some of the fireball launchers that had been so crucial in holding the walls had been brought here by his company.


    Now before him stood an entire arsenal of weapons. Racks upon racks of machineguns, bolt action rifles and revolvers, with glittering piles of ammunition crates, some carried by towering spider tanks with gigantic pincers, stacking them with inhuman precision.


    And above all of them, the menacing shadows of artillery guns, howitzers and field guns alike.


    "Fuck me." He whispered, only to be answered by the dungeon core''s laugh.


    "My girlfriend would take exception with that, commander." She turned towards him as his mind reeled. The dungeon core had a girlfriend? What? "Now, I believe this would serve as a good token of my appreciation and paying off of this debt, yes?"


    "Yes." He cleared his throat. "Yes it would."


    "Good." She patted one of the racks, her hand glitching through the metal. "Hopefully these will serve you well in the future. All of the weapons come with detailed manuals, and my golems will drill your troops into their use."


    "You can train someone with golems?"


    "Of course! Drills are nothing but the same movements repeated to perfection. Who better than a golem to do it?"


    "You make...an excellent point. I had never thought of it that way."


    "Well, I had." She tapped the rack with her golem''s nuckles. "Enjoy, commander."


    Gothram nodded, as the dungeon core left, leaving him before the pile of weapons, dumbstruck.


    He could see the shocked soldiers and officers, first slowly trickling onto the field, then arriving in a veritable torrent.


    Then the commander of the city guard, Steve Orland, forced himself through the crowd, and made a beeline for him.


    Gothram inhaled, and it finally dawned on him, that with a simple gesture and ''gift'', the dungeon core had made his little mercenary company into one of the most modern and dangerous private military unit on the entire continent.


    And that he had absolutely no idea what to do with it.

 Bonus Chapter - To Sail The Seven Skies

    Warning : This bonus chapter takes place a few chapters ago, between chapters 308 and 310, as the news of the UDC''s fleet are being kept quiet, but since it would have ruined the pacing it was kept separate.


    Bonus Chapter - To Sail The Seven Skies


    Red Sands Desert, Archduchy of Rebirth


    Trade City of Erakis


    "Captain."


    Sylvia looked up from her ardent observation of sand, sand and more sand, and smiled as she saw her executive officer, and her new ''lieutenant'', Aline.


    A lieutenant that in truth was her senior in the Order, but appearances had to be maintained.


    They were on the deck of her new ship, the Bountiful Acquisition, generously gifted to her by Allya, from the ships the dungeon core had refitted. It wasn''t as technologically advanced as her previous vessel, that could, and had, gone toe to toe with Erisian airships, but it was still light years ahead of most of the pathetic pieces of crap on this continent, and more importantly, it was fairly big and remarkably heavily armed for its size. A worthy privateer indeed.


    At least until she could get her hands on a proper Erisian skyhound vessel again.


    No offense to Lesly''s handiwork, but her need to keep her technology believable held her back. She could hardly use equipment she couldn''t have a plausible source for without rousing considerable suspicion. Besides which, this wasn''t her best work, for obvious reasons.


    "Maria! Do you have any good news?"


    "Somewhat." The second in command stopped a respectful few paces away from the buxom, scantily clad young woman. "We are being sent up to Darthar."


    The captain nodded.


    "Well, at least it''ll change us from the scenery here." She nodded at the oasis, or what had been one anyway, now fully covered and surrounded by layers of homes, warehouses and shops. Erakis had positively blossomed under Allya''s rule, to such a point that talks of rebellion had vanished from the streets. No one, not even those in bed with the senate, wished to kill the goose that laid the golden egg...and the tales of what the Republic had lowered itself to had swept up any pretense of righteousness.


    Oh, there had been a few madmen, there always were, but they had been snuffed out by the locals by the most part. In trying to find allies to ''liberate'' the city, which still remained the primary supply source for the entire New Republic''s army, and thus a juicy target indeed for the senate, they had simply walked into the arms of people who would do anything to eliminate them without rousing the ire of the garrison.


    And garrison there was. Lesly''s dungeon had been implanted there, in a move so genius Sylvia could scarcely believe it, spreading the High Commander''s hold over the region, and strangling the trade route. A trade route that, once the Saphire Kingdom and Tark had been pacified, would flow with the blood of a new Empire, one to replace the decayed Erisian, which had failed the Order and their mission.


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    "Yes. And the timing is...interesting, isn''t it?"


    The pirate captain winced, but declined to rise to the bait.


    Maria''s working theory for them being tied to Erakis was simple: the captain''s outrageous flirting had horribly backfired. With their engagement public, and the marriage fast approaching, at least according to the rumors, the baroness -no, archduchess now- wanted them as far away as physically possible from her and her bride to be.


    Now that she had returned from her long visit to Darthar, they would be sent there, probably clearing the way for Allya to visit Erakis. And every step of the way they would be held under the watchful eyes of the fleet, and commodore Calder.


    Some fucking opportunity getting that letter of marque had proven to be.


    "Very well. Let''s get everyone ready to move." She perked up a bit. "If nothing else, it''ll be a great opportunity to visit the bazaar! I need a new wardrobe." The captain gave a glance at Aline. "So do you."


    "I suppose I could stand to acquire the pirate style." Said the ''lieutenant'' with a faint smile.


    "Privateer, please!" Said the captain with a raised finger. "Important distinction. Now, let''s get our scurvy ridden skydogs back on their leash."


    "And that means raiding the bars?" Said Maria with a deadpan glare.


    "Precisely!" Sylvia grinned savagely. Her relationship with Maria was...strained, ever since her subordinate had voiced her true opinion of Joachim, their boss within the Order, but they took refuge in their usual shenanigans. "Assemble a party, we shall give this town a goodbye they''ll remember!"


    The second in command''s eyebrow rose.


    "You do realize most of the patrols are backed by golems, right?"


    Sylvia deflated slightly at the oblique reminder that anything too bad would have to be dealt with by the dungeon core...by Lesly.


    The last thing she wanted was to stumble into the High Commander''s path again and force her to dance around the Order agent lest they all be discovered.


    "Point taken." She cleared a throat. "Let it be a goodbye they''ll vaguely recall, then."


    Maria rolled her eyes before giving the captain her signature ''good enough'' expression.


    "Excellent then!" The captain smiled at Aline. "Lieutenant, you''re with me! We need a map, and draw a thorough itinerary through the town! Not one watering hole left unchecked!"


    The lieutenant smiled, and Sylvia had to hold back a shiver. The woman was being genuine, but holy shit even when she was happy there was something in her eyes, a creature of death and annihilation crouched in the shadows.


    It was a helpful reminder that no matter how earnest...that ''lieutenant'' had lead her entire company of comrades into a meat grinder, and been perfectly prepared to have them all die for the Order''s goal.


    And that probably applied to her present company as well. Fellow agents included.


    "Of course captain, of course."


    They left the railing.


    And none of them noticed the golems in the fortress overlooking the city, observing them.


    Nor would they have realized that this fortress always had a full battery of guns and missile launchers loaded, and ready to aim and fire on them at a moment''s notice.


    Ever ready for the day the order came. And it would. Coiled like a viper ready to strike, the golems waited, their patience infinite.


    They waited for one little message that would set the world alight.

 Chapter 313 - Moment of Truth

    Chapter 313


    Ytakan Scrublands, Archduchy of Rebirth


    Darthar-Asaria trade route


    Alexandra had known from the get go that fighting a running battle was a recipe for disaster. Trying to retreat as the melee foes pursued her troops would only end in disaster, her own golems blocking the line of fire of the units they were looking to join, only guaranteeing the deaths of both.


    Instead her infantry formed up in squares, kneeling golems wielding bayoneted rifles on the outer edges, forming an old fashioned wall of pikes, while behind them submachineguns and shotguns unleashed hell.


    The squares cleared large lanes between her golems, allowing the next line of troops to pour fire into them.


    And while her golems were destroyed, small, agile teams ran, carrying machineguns, grenade launchers and all manners of special weapons.


    There were five lines. The first was out in the open, and every successive one on a slightly raised abbattis, allowing them to pour fire over the others, into the seething mass of monsters, with the field guns massed at the third line, and the howitzers at the fifth, their backs solidly protected by the human army behind them.


    The first line crumpled, and fell. Squares or no squares, the Jakarls were killing machines designed for this kind of fight. Rifles snapped under the pressure, golems cut in half by bone blades, and shotguns silenced.


    But they had done their job. Their weapons were safely brought back to the second defensive line...where they joined up with their own weapon teams in a exodus towards the third line.


    The Jakarls hit the second line, and found much greater resistance. Flamethrowers opened up, spreading gout of flames over entire units of monsters. Not killing them, but severely hampering their senses and dealing considerable damage to their joints, slowing them down as they slowly cooked inside their biological armor, thus slowing the entire advance behind them.


    Still, they pushed on, and the golems died fighting under their bladed legs.


    The Jakarls advanced once more...and staggered to a halt as the third line charged them.


    The dungeon cores on the other side were so surprised they didn''t realize that the ground was moving behind their creatures.


    That was the reason why Alexandra had ordered her troops to focus fire on the Tishaks, the imp skirmishers, wiping them out at the start of the infantry engagement.


    They had, more by luck than good judgment, been right on the money.


    Well...almost.


    Alexandra hadn''t buried her infantry.


    She had buried her tanks.


    The spider tanks leapt from the ground, punching effortlessly through the thick covering that had hidden them, and opened fire. Their guns slammed into the Jakarls'' back at point blank range, felling entire units.


    What remained of the monsters in the rear units whirled around, the entire seething mass of creatures preparing to engage on both sides, as their centaur allies finally got back into position, and moved to charge the rear of the tanks.


    The centaurs arrived just in time. Just in time to watch the last of the UDC''s infantry be annihilated. The golems of the third line unleashed every single one of their special weapons. Rockets, grenades, mortars, everything they had, in an unending tide of fiery death. The field guns fired an endless stream of canister shots, and the golems that had charged forward...


    They threw themselves on the waiting arm blades of the Jakarls, detonating their explosives and claymores strapped to their armor.


    The line of monsters buckled. But it began to push forward again, their back ranks tearing into the tanks.


    Alexandra watched as the creatures reformed, only to be met with the gaping maws that were the barrels of the howitzers, the artillery having lowered its barrels for direct fire.


    They fired. Not cannister shot. Instead they fired packages of rods.


    Rods covered in runes.


    The air came alive with arcs of lightning as energy danced between the rapidly melting rods of metal.


    The front lines were thrown to the ground, twitching...utterly helpless before the second wave of suicide golems.


    And the back ranks...the back ranks collided with the spider tanks, and chitinous claws broke as they met mythril armor, hidden behind a thin coating of steel. Alexandra didn''t have many of her mythril clad prototypes, but those she had held back the tide for long enough.


    Long enough for the monster with the twenty millimeter Gatling gun to finish spinning up, and for the tattered remains of her marines to drop from the skies.


    The centaurs came to a halt, gazing at the last of the monsters as they were put down. The Jakarls didn''t fall back, they didn''t surrender, they didn''t break. They just died where they stood. Scythed down by waves after waves of ordnance from every possible direction.


    There was a hesitance in the air. Neither side willing to engage. The centaurs out of fear.


    And Alexandra out of the capacity to do so. She was out of ammunition, for her ships, for her rocket launchers, for her howitzers. Out of tricks. Her entire army, spent, with nothing but rifle rounds and what little remained to feed the field guns.


    Far out into the plains, the air filled with more bladed feet hitting the ground, as the UDC''s reserve began to move forward.


    Alexandra closed her eyes...only to open them as bugles and trumpets sounded.


    The human troops began marching to meet them.


    Alexandra could almost taste the debate on the other side. Far into the distance, she watched her sensor screens the burst of activity in the fleet.


    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Two command ships were suddenly swarmed, Glavistar''s ships coming hull hull with them, and she saw the icons indicating bioweapons fire and marines swarming and buzzing around the ships.


    It was over quickly. Glarvistar''s squadrons were the most intact, and whoever was being subdued, the other dungeon cores weren''t willing to help them.


    The UDC''s reserves shuddered to a halt, and turned around. Marching back towards their transports.


    The centaurs simply stood there. Hearing their allies, their reinforcements, leave them behind.


    One of the Cataphracts began laughing. Then another. And another. There was an hysterical edge to it, and before long the entirety of the twin cavalry lances were laughing their hearts out.


    Finally, they stopped, and Alexandra watched as several of them stepped forward. Hands reached up, and helmets were thrown at the feet of her tanks.


    More stepped up, and before long there was a small mound of the armor pieces before her automata.


    Alexandra ordered her troops to stand down. The battle was over.


    She was victorious.


    *****


    "Victory, then?" Asked Allya as Alexandra sat down in the command center.


    They were alone. Everyone else preparing their end of the debriefing.


    "Yeah." The dungeon core closed her eyes. For the first time in...Gods knew how long, feeling genuinely, physically tired. "Some victory though."


    "You beat the odds."


    "I lost half my army. We''re completely out of ammo. My fleet is in freaking tatters. The ammunition I can replace, it''s why I have a supply depot in Darthar, but the ships? Some of them were first gen vessels. Ones we began making months ago. We''re not getting those back. Ever."


    "You''ll still get them back a hell of a lot quicker than they will."


    "Will I? They''re dungeons as well. The same advantages. The same powers."


    "The same powers? Maybe. But hardly the same advantages. They don''t have your skills. They don''t have your drive. They don''t have your vision. They don''t have your people."


    Alexandra opened her eyes, to find the archduchess almost within touching distance. She sighed.


    "You''re probably right. Still, it''s hard to feel optimistic after this."


    "Perhaps. But still, you''ve pulled off the impossible."


    "Have I? They expected to lose. Some of them, at least."


    Allya chuckled grimly.


    "That''s because of your reputation. Every enemy is already halfway towards defeat in their own minds. Given how that dungeon core reined the other ones in, it probably became something of a self fulfilling prophecy."


    "It was a bluff. And they bought it. If they thought they could take on my troops and Sarth''s, they would have engaged at the end. They just didn''t think they could take us both after how much ass I''d kicked."


    "Yeah. Because they were affected by your reputation. Your..." Allya licked her lips, trying to find the words. "...inevitability."


    "Right." Alexandra sighed. "Still, we didn''t accomplish anything. We just lost half of our army, almost every single one of our escort ships and most of our ammo...for what? We didn''t even hurt a single one of Sunrise''s soldiers. And you saw the vector the UDC''s fleet had. Retreating North. I give you two guesses as to whom they''re going to run to, begging for a military alliance, once their leadership has swallowed their pride."


    "At least the siege of the capital is lifted."


    "There is that. Though I wouldn''t say lifted. They''ve just left enough of a blocking force to keep what remains of the royal army penned in the ruins while the duchess comes South. The assaults have stopped, yes, but they can''t come to our aide." Alexandra closed her eyes. "The duchess doing that seemed like suicide then, but it makes sense now, doesn''t it?"


    Allya nodded.


    "She was preparing to take out Sarth, after your army was annihilated. Probably bring her wayward army to the east back into the fold."


    "Yes...yes she was."


    "We already did know she was in contact with the UDC. The kill team was made up of her people after all."


    "Yeah. And she''s got a lot of things to answer for."


    "So?"


    "So we continue our march north. And we finish what we started."


    *****


    Joachim stared at the screen. Replaying the battle, over and over again.


    There had to be a reason. A reason for Lesly to deviate from the plan.


    Instead of shattering like a cursed mirror, the UDC''s isolationists were regrouping. Restructuring themselves, with some of its members using the hot iron provided by the battle to forge it anew. Meanwhile the interventionists did the same, solidifying the two blocs, instead of setting the stage for breaking them apart, and mixing both to create a new, unified organization. One that would obey her every command, and stand by the Order''s side when the time came.


    There had to be some gambit. Some reason he couldn''t see or fathom, against a threat or for a greater prize.


    But even as he told himself that, he knew he was desperately rationalizing. And as he realized...


    Thoughts came back to him. Details. Details he had dismissed. Oddities in Lesly''s behavior, in reports about her interactions with others.


    Something was off. And his subconscious was screaming, screaming about a pattern he couldn''t see.


    He sighed as he gripped his head. Damn it, what the hell was he missing? What could possibly-


    The door slammed open, and Joachim jumped back as a figure barreled into the room. He was halfway through reducing it to atoms before his finger relaxed on the trigger of his Old World weapon, drawn without thought, the merciless drills from the relic guard finally paying off.


    His eyes widened as his conscious mind registered what his subconscious had, and he lowered the gun, staring at the disheveled apparition.


    "Erik? What the hell happened to you man?!?"


    The guildmaster and former general of the Order looked like a shambling corpse, parts of his body were shredded, and Joachim could see some of his ribs through ribbons of flesh. How...what could possibly do that to an archon?!? They were made of energy, these kind of wounds shouldn''t even be possible!


    "Assassins." The guildmaster shook himself. "I killed them. Not important."


    "Not imp- are you insane?!? They almost fucking killed you! How did you even find me anyway?"


    "Contacts. The archives. You needed to see this. With your own eyes."


    "See what?"


    The guildmaster held up the file he had been holding.


    "This."


    Joachim frowned.


    "What is that?"


    "Your extradimensional''s true identity."


    "Her true identity? She was-"


    "Alexandra Rousseau was a lie. A cover. This. This is who she truly was."


    The guildmaster flung the file onto the Commander''s desk, and Joachim looked at the anonymous cover. Then he flipped it open.


    His eyes widened. He opened and closed his mouth convulsively, utterly incapable of forming words.


    After a full minute, he finally managed to speak.


    "That''s- I- No...that''s not possible! She couldn''t-"


    "It is possible. It''s her. You killed the Butcher of Europa." Joachim scrambled backwards as suddenly the guildmaster was there, their faces inches apart. "Do you have any idea what you''ve done?!?"


    "I didn''t know! How...how could I?!?"


    The growl that the half dead guildmaster gave wasn''t even remotely human.


    "I imagine, if you and Lesly had bothered to ask, you would have." He straightened, and his gaze bore the weight of a judgement even Joachim couldn''t fathom. "The Grandmaster will be informed of what you''ve done."


    Joachim closed his eyes, and exhaled.


    "Alright. I''ll accept the punishment. Whatever he sees fit, for my transgressions."


    "Good." The Commander opened his eyes again, and saw the guildmaster at the threshold of his office. "Good. Because you and Lesly better make it count. Make her sacrifice mean something. Otherwise, I swear to every star in this universe, I will hunt you down, before the Custodians get to you, and believe me when I tell you that their ministrations would be the sweet caresses of a lover compared to what I will do to you. Are we understood?" Joachim nodded. "Good."


    Then he was gone.


    Joachim collapsed into his seat, his eyes staring into the void. His previous worries forgotten, scattered to the winds compared to the enormity of what he had just learned.


    The Butcher of Europa...


    There were plaques dedicated to her deeds in every Stronghold of the Order.


    And the grandmaster...the grandmaster and his council of High Commanders assembled beneath the gaze of her statue, at the heart of the Order''s web of intrigue and power. The gaze of the High Admiral of the European Federation Star Navy.


    What had he done? False Gods, what had he done?


    END OF BOOK 8

 Posting Schedule & Going Forward

    Hello everyone ! I hope you guys enjoyed book 8. It was amazing to write and, quite frankly, I think the end battle was my best one yet.


    Unfortunately, this announcement isn''t going to be all sunshine and rainbows. This is to tell you guys that I''m going to be dialing down the pace of chapter posting after this week, back to the standard schedule of a chapter every saturday.


    There are multiple reasons for this. First and foremost, we are at (and have at several times dipped below) the threshold of chapters I had set for the patreon backlog, which might seem enormous but it should also be noted that the chapters start melting frighteningly quickly under the current schedule. Furthermore, as it stands, royal road has a full novel in advance over amazon releases, which gives some breathing room.


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Last but not the least, I''m tired, trying to balance out my life and my work, and constantly worrying about the backlog, how much I''m writing every day, all that is really draining. So I''m going to be dialing back everything, take a break, and quite possibly start another story I''d been working on for a while to refresh myself, at a slower pace and with no deadlines while I try to figure out how to balance out my life. It''ll also give me some more time to take care of myself, which is a plus given the medical issues I''ve had lately.


    I hope you will understand. Just to make it clear, The Fallen World isn''t going on hiatus, and I don''t intend it to, but besides a possible halloween special there will be less activity on Royal Road overall as we go back to weekly chapters next week, after we''ve kicked off book 9 with chapters 314, 315 and 316.


    I hope you''ll have a nice day ! Playwars, out.

 Chapter 314 - Ringing Aftermath

    Chapter 314


    Eris Empire, Capital City of Starcore


    Imperial Palace, First Empress Wing


    Monsters roared as they rushed the line, and died in droves, sandwhiched between the tanks and the infantry, pummelled under unending field gun fire.


    The Empress paused the video with a wave of her hand.


    "Quite the battle, wasn''t it?" Said Oris Lumi¨¨re, sister of Cassissa Lumi¨¨re and Empress of the Eris Empire.


    "It was." Answered Katarak, the commander of the Black Hand, her Imperial Majesty''s will in the dark.


    "Many were watching this. Every detail is being analyzed in half of the capitals of the world." The Empress turned around to face the commander, who was seated at a table in her private study. "Including some details like this, for example."


    The hologram zoomed in on some of the golems, and Katarak had to hold back a wince.


    "I was told." Grated out the Empress. "That Crystal''s level of technology was equivalent to the Tarkians."


    "Evidently that is no longer the case, your imperial majesty." Answered the spymaster.


    "Quite. What I would dearly like to know however, is where those weapons came from. Especially those shiny grenade machineguns and assault rifles that, last was I aware, we were the only nation on the planet capable of manufacturing such hardware. Am I wrong?"


    "You are not, your imperial majesty."


    "Meaning, that the only people she could have gotten them from, is us."


    "There are exports..."


    "Wayward exports aren''t crew served fucking grenade machineguns! They aren''t ballistic missiles or naval shield generators!" Screamed out the Empress, as she stalked towards her commander, until they were almost nose to nose. "I, am having to deal with very pointed questions from a great deal many people within, and without, our Empire. I want you to find that leak, plug it, and cauterize the entire damned wound!"


    "And if I cannot?"


    The Empress smiled.


    "Then find whoever''s on the list we can pin it on and make an example of them."


    The commander nodded. There was an extensive list of bad actors in the Empire that were...dangerous. A corrupt bureaucrat or back dealing corporate executive could be excused if they were loyal, but many had begun dealing with the wrong people, slowly eroding the foundations of the Empire, thinking the small chip would not cause much issue...and utterly unaware of all the others doing the same, threatening to bring the entire edifice down


    "Yes, your imperial majesty."


    "Good. Now, your report on Cassissa if you please?"


    "We have interrogated the mage she spends a lot of time with." He hesitated. "We were...unsuccessful."


    The Empress blinked.


    "I beg your pardon?"


    "My people are very, very good. They know he''s holding things back. But without more...direct measures, I fear we will not be able to learn everything."


    "We cannot antagonize his house. Or the World Mage Court. Very well. What did you learn?"


    "Your sister is expressing some interest in him, and he seems to believe he genuinely has a chance. Furthermore, they have been studying spells, enchantments and artifacts together. He becomes extremely tight lipped as to the specifics, thus my agents think at least one of his secrets is related to this."


    "Interesting. Cassissa has requested a lot of enchanting supplies. And complained about the tightened guard."


    "If I may, your majesty, I suggest that we make use of her. Confined, she is of use to nobody, and it will only breed resentment. This...should be avoided in a time of crisis."


    "Having someone so close to the throne make a fool of themselves, again, is even more to be avoided." The Empress snorted. "And make use of her? My sister is an hormone addled imbecile that got the two most promising nobles of her generation, and her greatest mariage prospects, exiled or killed. And given current events I''m not even sure which was the most damaging. I am not enthused with the idea of using her."


    "Your imperial majesty..."


    "Shut it. Was Allya any less competent Rebirth would have fallen and we wouldn''t be looking down the barrel of another world super power and be suffering through a fucking dungeon civil war. A war which her dungeon appears to be winning, against all expectations. That''s not even mentionning that with her dead the archduke wouldn''t be at house Aub¨¦toile''s throat?"


    "Are you...are you suggesting we should remove her?"


    The Empress laughed.


    "Your assassins haven''t exactly covered themselves in glory lately now, have they?" Katarak winced at the oblique reminder of his recent failure. The Empress shook her head. "Besides, when I give my word, I keep it. And eliminating her would only get the archduke off our backs to put the entirety of house Aub¨¦toile on it. Their land and military power may be lesser, but their prestige is substantial, and they are a cornerstone of our power bloc in the Imperial Assembly. We lose them, we lose the budget and we cannot afford that kind of bickering right now. No, Allya stays where she is. I''d be half a mind to order our good Admiral to go and protect her if possible, if she hadn''t gotten her hand firmly stuck in this mess." The Empress shook her head as the commander opened his mouth. "No need to defend her, I understand the circumstances. She failed in her gambit to slow down the UDC''s collapse, but it was a good try. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose." She chuckled. "Not that this new dungeon needed the assistance, it seems."


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    "The UDC will be back."


    "No. They''ll head North. Go to lick the duchess'' boots, while trying to remain imperious and presenting it as a favor they''re doing her. As egoistical that slaver bitch is, she''ll swallow it. It''s not like she has a chance if she doesn''t. And so the isolationists will get involved in the very surface wars they refused to get into."


    "They won''t need to, if they can concentrate their forces."


    "Which is precisely why we will not let them do so. Because if they manage it, so will the other side. This isn''t a quick and dirty ''take out the problematic core'' any more. And if the dungeons kill each other we''re all going to die."


    "Yes, your imperial majesty."


    "Now, Eriksen..." The Empress sighed. "Your commandos failed."


    "They came close."


    "Close doesn''t cut it with someone that powerful."


    "Shall I send a second wave?"


    "No. They''ll be ready. And your men won''t get through the Relic Guard. What interests me is why he didn''t follow up on the assassins. What possibly preoccupied him so that being almost killed was not even worth following up on?"


    "I will endeavor to find out."


    "Good. Dismissed."


    *****


    "I wonder what this battle will be called..." Mused Alexandra as she looked at the remnants of the battlefield, displayed on the bridge''s holographic projector.


    "Probably something like ''the great clash of the Ytakan plains'', knowing historians." Answered Manson Estogan, duke of Sarth, as he sat down by the table, looking at the hologram, before giving the dungeon core a wry smile. "Scholars tend to be like that, embellishing everything."


    "Yeah. I suppose they are." She nodded slowly. After all, she was dating one. She turned towards the duke. They had assembled a sort of miniature war council, with him, his Desert Ranger commander, colonel Rim, and a couple of other officers, including the CO of the Kaidani Free Companies. Plus the AIs, of course, Subtlety, Glitch and Ghost. Only Philia was absent, but she was busy down below. "I appreciate your men''s help, by the way."


    "Couldn''t really leave the bodies there. Machines or no, they fought by our side and died for us."


    Alexandra nodded.


    "Speaking of. Subtlety, could you see him in?"


    The AI nodded, and a few seconds later the doors swung open, admitting a towering centaur. He was wearing torn and half destroyed gambeson, the kind you wore under full plate armor.


    The Cataphract was trying to put on a brave face, but Alexandra could see his knees on the verge of buckling. Resurrection weakness didn''t discriminate, and it was an impressive effort of will and resilience to be even walking this quickly.


    "Greetings, general." Said the dungeon core, and the centaur bowed.


    "Hail, lady Crystal of the Dungeon Factory." Answered the officer, his voice a gravely whisper, and Alexandra had to stop herself from wincing. He had been killed early on, during the preliminary howitzer bombardment, his throat so shredded by shrapnel he''d been effectively decapitated, his body then being trampled by his own troops. "I wished to thank you, for my men."


    "Well, it''s not like we had anybody else to resurrect."


    "Perhaps. Still, not many would take the time and energy to bring back fallen foes." He bowed again.


    "I''m hardly most people." Alexandra smiled. "We are still gathering bodies, but I''m happy to tell you that we are on track to saving two thirds of the dead."


    The centaur nodded silently in thanks, before turning as Manson cleared his throat.


    "Excuse me, but I fear I we have not been introduced?"


    "Oh, that''s-"


    "Rimar Oklan." Said the general, cutting off Alexandra with an apologetic look. "General of the thirtieth United Dungeon Council volunteer regiment."


    "You seem a little...high ranking for such a force." Said the duke.


    The general shrugged.


    "When one of my units was selected for this, I elected to take command." He coughed as Alexandra gave him a sidelong look. "The colonel of the thirtieth was my nephew."


    "Ah." Manson and Alexandra exchanged a look. Got him out of the line of fire and took the dishonor of this attack, all in one.


    "Nevertheless. I came here to offer my formal surrender, and that of my forces." He slowly, carefully pulled open what would have been a saddlebag on a horse but just seemed the equivalent of a backpack for him, and pulled out a half destroyed helmet, and a sword, still resting in its scabbard. He stepped forward, and lowered himself to the ground, laying them at Alexandra''s feet. "Lady Crystal, I, General Rimar Oklan, of clan Oklan, commanding officer of the thirtieth United Dungeon Council volunteer regiment, surrender my troops to you. We ask for mercy, and promise our obedience in exchange for fair treatment."


    "I accept." Said Alexandra, as she grabbed both items, finishing the ritual. "I have to admit, I though the UDC''s auxiliaries were strictly defensive units, permanently stationned at bases."


    "We were. But we were called upon to serve in another, more active capacity, after the...unfortunate losses of many, more regular units."


    "So I see." Getting dungeon monsters to be useful outside of a core''s influence was a challenge, one she was shameless cheating in thanks to her tech and knowledge, but it still applied to other cores. Since those forces had taken a beating in the initial stages of the civil war, they''d resorted to the auxiliaries. Besides which....they were less watched. As had been the theme with that entire force, it was what they could sneak in, and her allies would have never dreamt of the isolationists, of all cores, using surface auxiliary troops. A blindspot they''d have to correct. "Very well then. I won''t pressure you for information, general. You and your men will be debriefed of course, but you won''t interrogated."


    "Thank you." He bowed again, this time very deeply, despite his shaky legs. "You are most generous."


    "It is partially born out of pragmatism, not altruism."


    "Nevertheless." The centaur smiled. "Besides, your cause is altruistic enough."


    "Is it?"


    "We have flown over some of the handiwork of those of Sunrise. I pray that one day the stain this scum represent upon our world is wiped out with Divine fire."


    "On that, we are agreed." Except that she hoped she''d be the one wielding the ''divine fire'' then. "You may go, general. Good day."


    "Good day, lady Crystal, and fear no darkness." He gave her a warrior''s salute, before withdrawing.


    Alexandra waited for the door to close and the room''s security system to fully snap back on to talk once again.


    "Interesting, isn''t he?"


    The duke of Sarth grunted.


    "He''s not what I''d expect those maniacs to have put in command."


    "Exactly." Alexandra smiled. Just like Glarvirstar, the dungeon core that had ''negotiated'' with her. "It seems our foe has some unseen cracks."


    "Everyone does. Do you intend to exploit them?"


    "We already have, haven''t we? Just winning this battle and being so generous with the vanquished will ensure they spread."


    "Let''s hope. If they seek an alliance with Sunrise, as you fear...We will need all the help we can get."


    Alexandra nodded.


    "We will cross that bridge when we come to it. Quite litterally, in fact." She sighed. "We should prepare to move out. I fear we have lingered here too long as it is."


    "Are you certain? This was a...sizeable battle."


    "My golems do not need time to recuperate, and our supply convoys are already loaded with the salvage." Which was headed straight for Sarth, since Alexandra couldn''t recycle her own equipment, or rather, it simply wasn''t worth shipping it all the way back to Rebirth to do so, and the duchy could use the equipment anyway, now that all of its modern gear had been drained by the army. "We continue our march north."


    "What about reinforcements?"


    Alexandra winced.


    "They''ll catch up. But another infantry force...I haven''t been building a lot of new infantry, I''m afraid. The losses we took? We''re not replacing. Not as they were, anyway."


    The duke of Sarth smiled, and she raised an eyebrow.


    He shrugged.


    "It''s simply...reasurring to see you abiding by some of the limits of us mere mortals."


    Alexandra laughed.


    "I suppose so. But even my resources have their limits. Still, when the next wave arrives..."


    "We''re all looking forward to seeing your ''Mackie'' in action."


    "So am I. So am I."

 Chapter 315 - Lockpicking

    Chapter 315


    Red Sands Desert, Archduchy of Rebirth


    City of Darthar


    Alexandra''s hologram appeared inside the Flickerlight''s engineering section, only to be greeted by the sound of -slightly- mad cackling.


    "Ghost?" Cautiously said the dungeon core as she spun in place, trying to pin down the source. The clang of flesh against metal sounded.


    "Ow! Alex?" Alexandra knelt down, looking under a fabricator that had been propped up on blocks of raw materials, to find Ghost jammed under the heavy machinery, rubbing her forehead.


    "What...how did you get in here?"


    "I crawled, genius."


    "No, I mean you, as in, like, your body!"


    "Oh, that? Yeah, I found out that as long as it''s inside our command net, I can possess pretty much whatever, and then hop out. I think you can, too. Possess everything that''s on the ship."


    "Never really had the need."


    "Right." Ghost huffed as she crawled out from under the fabricator, before dusting her clothes. Not that there was any dust to remove, the ship was so clean and sterile you could have done open heart surgery on the floor and it probably would have been more sanitary than in the infirmary back in the dungeon. "What do I owe the pleasure of your visit? I was about to contact you, but still."


    "Came to check up on you." Ghost''s eyebrow rose, and Alexandra rolled her eyes. "And escape from CQ''s nagging."


    "Kid mad she missed the big kaboom?"


    "Oh hell yes. And she''s relentless. Since she''s on a trip and without the duke or the maids to distract her..."


    "She has nothing but time."


    "Exactly."


    "Alright, well, bienvenue in my little refuge my dear, you''re welcome to hide away from the world for as long as you want here."


    "Ah ah. So, what''s got you all cackly?"


    "Oh, nothing much." The apparition grinned. "Just a light bit of code cracking and tinkering with hardware locks."


    Alexandra froze.


    "Did...did you unlock the fabricators?"


    "Hell yeah I did! Well, this one." She pointed at another propped up fabricator. "I wanted to replicate the trick on another before I declared victory."


    "Are they fully unlocked?"


    "Well, uh, no. I mean yes. I mean, kind of? There''s some kind of software lock I can''t get past, because of the captain''s lockdown, which means certain items can''t be built."


    "Like?"


    "Nukes, plus hacking and communication systems, for some reason."


    Alexandra blinked.


    "What? Why-Oh."


    "Oh?"


    "The captain was afraid of a traitor onboard."


    Ghost opened her mouth, then closed it.


    "That...makes a distressing amount of sense. The security lockdown...any slimebag would try to get themselves hacking gear to punch through it. Failing that, get comms to transmit whatever you came here to get..."


    "And if that fails, blow the ship."


    "Yeah. Damn. But that means they didn''t have the fabricators under constant surveillance."


    "How would they tell? You can''t look into these things. The item just pops out, and you can just add a thin shell around it to make it look like something else. Any noob who knows how to launch the design software can do it. And there''d be tons of stuff moving back and forth. Plus, if the lockdown is inside the damned fabricator, it means they thought the ship''s internal network might have been compromised."


    "That''s not a pleasant thought."


    "Yeah." Alexandra patted her other self on the shoulder, or rather had her hologram glitch through her. "Sorry to drop more stuff on top of you."


    Ghost sighed.


    "It''s okay. I know you already take more than your fair share of the burdens and workload."


    "Right. Speaking of, you got the data from the engagement? Glitch told me she offloaded it to you, after I sent her to do the resupply with Subtlety and kick the army''s ass into motion."


    "Yeah, she did." Ghost gestured, and graphs appeared in midair. "Well, I have good news, and I have bad news."


    "Hit me."


    "Good news is, our artillery is more or less intact. We lost some guns, true, but our fortifications took the brunt of it when someone went after them."


    "And the bad?"


    "We have almost no marines left, and our ammo is basically dry. We''re out of...well, fucking everything, really. The highest stockpile is that of small arms ammo, but that''s not saying much. The duke and his people have immediately offered their own ammo stores, but they''re not as heavily armed as we are, especially in the artillery department. Don''t get me wrong, it helps, but it''s...what''s the expression, a blade strike in a lake of water?"


    Alexandra smiled.


    "That''s the french one. I think it''s a pebble in a landside in english."


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    "Right. Anyway, we''re getting so desperate for lift capacity we''re hiring civilian vessels to carry the ammo I stockpiled in Darthar up to the army. Subtlety''s idea, and it''s a good one."


    "And they''re taking the contract?"


    Ghost shrugged.


    "Allya''s footing the bill, and at this point everyone believes her pockets are bottomless. Plus, we''re assembling a convoy to be escorted in by CQ''s reinforcement fleet. With that, and the fact they''ll be chartered to come back with holds full of civilians and damaged equipment, they''re being pretty enthusiastic. We pay well, and many merchant factors and captains feel like getting on the good side of a nascent house that''s well on its way to take over half the damned kingdom is a good idea."


    "To be fair, they''re not wrong." Alexandra grimaced. "We need reliable cargo lift, and Allya reward loyalty generously."


    "Exactly. Also the fact she let go those smugglers, you know the ones the twins hired, in exchange for favors hasn''t gone unnoticed."


    The dungeon core chuckled.


    "If they think it''ll buy them immunity, they''re in for a rough awakening."


    "More some...leniency."


    "Perhaps. But that''s up to our archduchess."


    "Our?"


    "Well, she technically does rule the area, and the land we live on."


    Ghost''s eyebrows rose.


    "She''s really growing on you isn''t she?"


    Alexandra bit her lower lip, before sighing.


    "She''s someone...had she been on Earth, I would have been proud to call her my sister in arms, my second in command. Crap, I probably would have done a lot to get her the High Admiral job instead of, well, us."


    "I probably would as well. She''s...she''s a better leader than we are."


    "She is." Alexandra took another look around the room. "Alright, I should head home, Emilia is getting antsy." She glared at her other self as Ghost gave her a wide smile. "Not that kind. She''s just...worried."


    Ghost''s smile fell.


    "Right. I forget that she has people on the other side as well."


    "Yeah...her family is basically tearing itself apart. And the knowledge that some of her cousins planned to have her assassinated, or at least did nothing to prevent their dungeons from doing so..."


    "Maybe they didn''t know?"


    Alexandra''s gaze said it all about how probable it was.


    "Right." Simply said Ghost. "Well, safe return home then. I''ll keep working on this and give you a full report when it''s done."


    "Thanks. See you."


    "See you."


    And with that, the hologram vanished.


    Ghost stared at the place the dungeon core had been, before turning back towards the fabricator.


    "You, old girl, may be our salvation yet." She said.


    The ship''s AI beeped, and Ghost smiled. Maybe there was something to Alexandra''s plan of turning it sapient through sheer exposure.


    Only time would tell however.


    *****


    "You know." Said Alexandra as she gazed upon the holograms of the observation deck, at its feed of Rebirth. "I realize that I know frighteningly little of the pantheon of the Gods."


    Emilia shivered by her side, as they both looked at the newly built temple on the outskirts of the city.


    It was hard to not remember the spear that had been intended to murder Alexandra...a spear forged and used by the Custodians of the very God that temple was dedicated to.


    A spear that couldn''t have been used without at least their implicit permission.


    "No. No I suppose you wouldn''t. What did you want to know?"


    "Well, everyone seems to venerate the God of Fire, and his clergy is everywhere. Yet besides a few swears, I rarely hear about the others."


    The vampire shrugged.


    "That may be because you are in a region of the world that was touched by the God of Fire, more than most others."


    "It was?"


    "Yes. Gorromar, most notably. He went there, gave them a mission, gave them purpose." Alexandra nodded. As she''d surmised. Probably the source for the early Seraphims and the start of the inquisition. That would explain why they were so heavily militarized at any rate. "But there are other gods who are venerated. In Asaria, the Earth Goddess, Maia, has many temples, especially closer to the great plains of Asaria, the breadbasket of the Kingdom. Ytarkos, the God of Winter and Ice, is also venerated in the Far Reach and the Saphire Kingdom both."


    "What about the Republic? Tark?"


    The vampire shrugged.


    "Both have gone...astray, some may say. They believe, but money that could be used for temples and offerings went to martial endeavors."


    "Or the pockets of senators."


    "Yes. But Tark used to venerate Orius, the God of Metal and Lava."


    "You seem to have some gods that have two titles."


    "Some do. But mostly one is an extension of the other. Ytarkos is the God of Ice, but he also became the representation of winter. Similarly, Orius governs over the blood flow of the world, the magma beneath, but metal has to be melted to be used."


    "Well, not always, but I take your point. What about the Western Marches? Any patron deities?"


    They both knew she was fishing, but Emilia simply gave her a wry smile.


    "Why, the Blood God of course!"


    The Earth-born chuckled.


    "Of course it is. Vampires gotta eat after all. What''s his name?"


    "He has many. One of the more recent one, and the most popular now is actually one given to him by an extradimensional, one of your fellows. Technoblade."


    Alexandra''s eyebrow rose.


    "Techno...blade?"


    "Does it ring any bells?"


    "I think so...something about one of the prototype cures for Sarcoma type cancers, but it was long before I was even born. Probably something else, because I''m not sure what cancer has to do with a God of Blood."


    "Blood God, not God of Blood. And I suppose that without a dungeon, we are highly susceptible to many ailments of the sun, chief among them cancer." The vampire shrugged. "Well, it''s a shame, I thought you would have the answer."


    "Sorry. Though, I''m confused, people can just...give new names to the Gods?"


    "For the most part? Yes. They still have a ''true'' name, but as long as they are venerated, the clergy goes along with the flow. Names change, perspective change...they adapt to their time. They kind of have to."


    "Fair enough."


    They stood there, in companionable silence, for a few minutes, their hands intertwined.


    "So...Allya asked you for any help for the wedding preparations?"


    "Technically, yes, but most of my support has been trying to keep her from panicking. None of her people can actually just grab her and shake some sense into her."


    Emilia chuckled.


    "Kind of the same on my end with her fianc¨¦e."


    "Bit of the blushing bride and panicked groom, eh?"


    "Well, they''re both planning to wear dresses, so..."


    "Fair enough." Alexandra shrugged. "But the preparations are going well. I''ve given some nudges here and there, and my end of it is done."


    "What did she entrust to you?"


    "The one thing I am unbelievably amazing at."


    "Mewling and begging for my mercy?"


    Alexandra let out a strangled sound.


    "N-No! Gods vampy, what the hell? No, no, explosions of course!"


    "Explo-" Emilia rounded on the dungeon core. "What the hell have you got planned?"


    Alexandra''s grin was suitably mysterious.


    "Why I don''t know..."


    "You''re going to regret playing coy!"


    "Probably! But it''ll be worth it just to see your expression."

 Chapter 316 - Wedding

    Chapter 316


    Red Sands Desert, Archduchy of Rebirth


    City of Rebirth


    Allya had faced a dragon, a sand demon, an army of mechanical horrors of the Old World, and waves upon waves of invaders, most of them intent upon her death or worse.


    And yet she''d never been so scared in her entire life.


    The doors opened, revealing the nave of the city''s temple, flanked by pews packed with people and interlinked ranks of temple and city guards. And beyond them all, the altar, and the priest standing before it.


    The archduchess'' legs turned to jelly, but she took a deep breath, and began walking, Alexandra following a step behind her as her maid of honor. One step after another, just like when she was being presented to the Empress, all those years ago.


    That comparison didn''t really help.


    She didn''t even realize she had made it to the altar, only stopped from colliding with the priest by Alexandra gently grabbing her arm, the hologram glitching as the cold metal of the golem touched her.


    Allya looked up and smiled sheepishly at the priest, who simply grinned and winked. Seemed he''d come prepared. Probably instructed Alexandra as well.


    A second after she came to a halt, another set of doors opened, and Allya turned to look down the temple''s nave.


    Her heart nearly stopped beating as she saw Pyn walk onto the glittering red and orange carpet. Seeing her in a wedding dress...


    They''d deliberately not shown each other their wedding gowns. Pyn''s was a pure white, accentuated with emeralds forming the flag of her homeland, the elven confederacy of Eleria, while hers was crisscrossed with various colored lines, each representing an aspect of her domain, such as gold for Alexandra''s dungeon golden cog, and inlaid with amethysts, forming house Nouvelle-Aurore''s heraldry.


    Allya released the breath she''d barely realized she''d been holding, as Emilia escorted the elf over to the altar.


    Pyn came to a halt next to her, on the other side of the priest, and the man spoke up.


    "Good morning everyone." His voice carried effortlessly throughout the temple, packed with people. "We have come together today, under the gaze of the Gods, to bear witness and celebrate the union of Allya Nouvelle-Aurore, and Pyn Windwrath. That any who opposes themselves to this union speak up now, or stay forever silent, by Divine Will and the edicts of the Church." He paused, and turned towards the brides. "Pyn Windwrath, Allya Nouvelle-Aurore, you have chosen to come together in this union, of your own free will and for the glory of the Gods and humanity. We are all honored to stand witness of your love and commitment to each other. Please, face each other and join hands."


    They both nodded, and Allya smiled hesitantly as she grabbed her bride''s hand, Pyn returning one beaming with happiness, and the archduchess'' heart melted at the sight.


    "Allya Nouvelle-Aurore, Archduchess of Rebirth, Protector of the Southern Realm, Bulwark of the Wasteland and Knight-Valiant of the Eris Empire, do you take Pyn Windwrath to be your lawfully wedded wife from this day forward, pledging your love, life and loyalty until the end of your days?"


    "I do." Said Allya, her voice unwavering.


    "Pyn Windwrath, Knight of the Asarian Kingdom, do you take Allya Nouvelle-Aurore to be your lawfully wedded wife from this day forward, pledging your love, life and loyalty until your last breath?"


    "I do."


    "Allya Nouvelle-Aurore and Pyn Windwrath, please place a ring on your wife''s finger and repeat after me together: with this ring, I marry you in the name of love, loyalty and commitment."


    Allya smiled as she slipped the ring onto Pyn''s finger.


    "With this ring, I marry you in the name of love, loyalty and commitment."


    Pyn''s own smile threatened to split her own face as she did likewise for Allya.


    "With this ring, I marry you in the name of love, loyalty and commitment."


    The priest took a deep breath.


    "By the powers vested in me by the Church, the God of Fire and the Pantheon, I now pronounce you married spouses, Allya and Pyn Nouvelle-Aurore, and archduchesses of house Nouvelle-Aurore. You may now kiss."


    The entire temple shook under thunderous applause as their lips met.


    They separated after a very thorough kiss, and Allya looked to the side, and winked at Alexandra.


    The dungeon core nodded...and everyone looked up through the temple''s glass ceiling as the world shook.


    in the air above, hundreds, thousands of firework rockets rose into the skies.


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    And exploded, in a perfect sequence, forming their names, and both the heraldry of Rebirth and that of house Nouvelle-Aurore into the skies in incandescent fire and glittering sparks.


    *****


    Allya smiled as she went through the crowd of guests. Normally at those events, at least for the nobility, both spouses were expected to stay together, though that wasn''t always the case, but honestly someone would have to use a crowbar, and probably a small army, to separate them.


    Everyone who was anyone was present. Every dignitary or merchant factor in Rebirth who had the influence to get an invitation, and a wide variety of representatives, who had been sent through the teleporter network after the declaration of the archduchy, as most nations had smelled what was on the wind. Alexandra''s victory against the UDC had only amplified that.


    The only people missing were representatives of Sunrise, its various vassals, and the Republic. Though Amelia had sent one of her aides to represent the New Republic, looking about the special kind of awkward only a soldier shoved into formal civilian clothing could hope to replicate.


    They had exchanged small talk with the representatives of their home nations. The Imperial one had expressed the Empress'' blessings, though their exchange had been definitely on the chilly side. Which was unsurprising, to say the least. The elf who had come from the Confederacy had been far warmer. Especially since he had brought a pardon for Pyn alongside his letter of credence. Seems that her government had fallen all over themselves to brush off what she had done. Not that they had made more than a token effort to pursue her for her ''bank heist'', given the fact that she had prevented an assassination and gotten a blackmailer into prison, but they clearly thought that having the wife of the second most powerful noble in the Asarian Kingdom, and quite possibly one of the most powerful nobles period now, be under an arrest warrant wasn''t a good idea. Especially since she, and her allied dungeon, had proven more than capable to crush enemies seemingly far mightier than they to protect their loved ones.


    The news they''d gotten from her home had also been quite interesting. Pyn''s sister had already been pretty close to the first in line to inherit a County, thanks to refusing to assassinate him and Pyn''s efforts in exposing his brother in organizing said assassination, but Pyn''s new status had suddenly made her from a commoner that may be acceptable to his family after she had covered herself in glory through her magical endeavors to the single greatest marriage prospect in the entire Confederacy. Needless to say, the elf''s family was suddenly much less of a problem, and other pretenders a bigger one.


    Allya''s smile widened as she caught a glimpse of Alexandra and Emilia through the crowd. People in general weren''t aware of dungeon advisors, though the maids'' arrival, and Ella''s subsequent filling in various council sessions, had let everyone know there were vampires inside the dungeon. She was quite the attraction, and her clinging to Alexandra left very little doubt to their relationship. It also quite handily gathered some attention and pressure away from Allya, which was precisely why she''d insisted they both stay for the reception.


    She also had to admit that they both looked resplendent, using dresses that reminded her of CQ''s own, though the dungeon boss was also present through another hologram golem, similar to her mother, whose avatar was still a secret. Still, hologram or no, they were killing it, and Emilia''s very much physical dress was a wonder to behold, covered in dancing runes to emphasize her magical prowess and heritage.


    "My ladies!" Allya turned back, only to find herself face to face with a man wearing a suit and bow tie and tugging at both with the regularity of someone who seemed vaguely surprised by their continued existence. "Apologies for arriving so late, my ship made as good time as it could."


    "It is quite alright, mister...?"


    "Oh, apologies! Hexamarch Mortell, doctor of the university of New Raleigh!" He bowed deeply.


    Allya''s eyes widened. New Raleigh?


    "Doctor, I was not made aware of your arrival."


    "That is because my ship is still unloading." Allya blinked. Wait, then he couldn''t have had an invitation, how was he even there? There was something more about this academic than he was letting on. "Unfortunately a particularly vicious sandstorm lead me to miss the vows, though I was able to see the fireworks. They were magnificent."


    "My, thank you. So, you are in charge of opening the branch of the university in Rebirth?"


    "Quite so! Though, establishing the library is first and foremost among my priorities."


    Allya blinked, then smiled. Right, Rook''s promised payment for their help. A full copy of the library of the university.


    Which was pretty much heading straight for Alexandra.


    "Excellent. Then it will be a pleasure working with you, doctor. Please, do contact my secretary, we need to have a full meeting in the coming days."


    "I shall your grace, I shall. Now, I believe there is a small army of people who wish for a moment of your time, so if you will excuse me."


    "Of course doctor, of course."


    The academic bowed again, and vanished into the crowd without a trace, Allya frowning as she watched him go.


    Yeah...academic her ass.


    What the hell was Rook playing at sending another operative here?


    She erased the expression from her face as more people walked up to her. This was her and Pyn''s day. They could worry later.


    *****


    "Well. That was awesome!" Said Emilia as she flopped onto the bed.


    "Besides the archduchess using us as a distraction, you mean?" Said Alexandra with a smile that belied her words. "But you''re right, it was awesome, and super touching. I''m happy for them."


    "So am I. They''re made for each other. Plus, there was a lot of interesting food there. No offense, but..."


    "My culinary skills are limited and it''s not like adventurers take exotic meals into my depths."


    "Yeah. It had been a while since I''d gotten to taste seafood. Must have been pretty hard to get here."


    "We still have trade with Gorromar, and the Republic, despite swearing no trade caravan would deal with the New Republic, is leaking like a sieve. Otherwise someone could go through the western baronies and reach the Sapphire Kingdom if they really wanted to. But I''ll definitely have to ask about absorbing some. Being able to make it fresh means sushi! And, you know, maybe populating the third floor with some decorative fishes."


    "That''ll terrify the adventurers. You have conditioned them to expect the worst. They''ll think they''re piranhas or something."


    "...Not a bad idea."


    Emilia chuckled.


    "Of course. But yeah, it was a beautiful wedding..." Emilia fell silent, and Alexandra could feel her stare on her.


    The Earth-born sighed.


    "I''ve been thinking about it."


    "But?"


    "But, with current events, and your family troubles..."


    "Right. Not a good time. Soon, though?"


    "As soon as we can knock some sense into them."


    "Good." Emilia smiled. "The first marriage of a dungeon core! That''ll make the news."


    "The first? What about the artificial ones?"


    "They either already had a family or didn''t found one afterwards."


    "But I already have a family." Alexandra walked to the bed, and cupped the vampire''s cheek. "I have you, and CQ. It''s all I need."


    Her advisor blushed, looking away, for once she was the one at a lost for words, and not the other way around.


    "R-Right." She finally said, and the dungeon core smiled.


    "Though, we''ll have to come up with a venue."


    "Temple not good enough for you?"


    "My dear, I''m going to build a temple to you if I have to."


    Emilia snorted.


    "Of course you would."

 Chapter 317 - Fanatics

    Chapter 317


    Kamiran Floodplains, Duchy of Kaidan


    Darthar-Kaidan Trade Route


    The brigadier let out a ragged sigh as he focused his energy on remaining the saddle.


    The flight from Darthar, and then the Alesian fortress line had been...draining, to say the least. Trying to get as far as possible from the dungeon''s path as she marched to relieve Asaria.


    It had been harrowing, and many of his less than steady officers had started chaffing and calling into question his leadership, especially as the duchess'' communications got more aggressive, and they began to fear her more than the dungeon. There had even been quiet, very quiet, talks of deposing him, or taking some of the army north to rejoin the duchess.


    The battle, no, slaughter, that the core had inflicted upon the UDC, the monster of an organization that had plagued everyone''s nightmares for centuries, had reduced those officers to silence, and vindicated every sacrifice he''d demanded of them in spades. The tales were confused, and continued to grow in the retelling, but there had to be a kernel of truth within them. They said the dungeon could pave the roads from here to Saphire City with the bones of the monsters she had dispatched, that her golems had waded into an ocean of blood and corpses to continue their relentless advance north. That the troops of the duke of Sarth had not even lifted a finger, and simply watched in stunned horror as the UDC''s relentless might was annihilated before them.


    One thing was certain however: there was no stopping that maniac. Whatever thought of reaching an agreement had fled the Brigadier''s mind, there was no negotiating with something that could slap one of the most powerful organizations that had ever walked the face of the world aside like it was some minor annoyance. The UDC had shattered nations, broken empires...even brought Eris to the negotiating table, and Crystal had pushed it out of her way like it was a petulant child. The best he could hope to do was get to Kaidan, and beg for some kind of honorable surrender. Fortifying...fortifying would mean nothing but death. There was no way the dungeon core would go through the duchess'' army without shedding her enmity for spilling slave blood. And develop a hatred for Sunrise deeper than the entire Starsky ocean.


    The best he and his people could do would be to loosen the yoke, and pray that their mercy upon the slaves brought them mercy in turn. She had, after all, offered as such. It was his only hope.


    Of course, that was if he actually finished his journey to Kaidan. They''d been harassed every step of the way by guerillas. The usual counters had failed spectacularly. Those people knew what awaited them, they knew they''d be tracked down and enslaved. So they fought. They didn''t surrender, they didn''t break, they didn''t flee, they just died. And with every passing day, the reports of his troops engaging them grew ever more disturbing.


    "DEATH TO SUNRISE! DEATH TO TRAITORS!"


    His eyes snapped around, just in time to see several of his soldiers go down in a hail of crossbow bolts. His own wards deflected the attacks meant for him and his bodyguards, and he unsheathed his sword, more by reflex than anything...only to watch in horror as guerillas boiled out of the undergrowth.


    They set upon his men like rabid wolves, tossing their crossbows aside to draw everything from daggers to what looked like sickles, dripping in poison and Gods knew what else. Stabbing, clawing, and in one case trying to bite their way through, their veins thick with potions and elixirs. Their face would have probably been twisted, criss crossed by the marks of the horrific alchemical overdose they were experiencing, had the brigadier been able to seen them. But he could not, for they were wearing masks.


    Featureless metal masks, their only concession a pair of holes for the eyes to see. Masks meant to imitate the golems of the dungeon.


    Suddenly the guerillas were through the troop of soldiers, and his bodyguards engaged. Almost two thirds of the guerillas were dead or dying, but they didn''t seem to care in the slightest. And the brigadier saw why.


    In the few left standing, three had made sure not to engage, hanging back. The trio threw off their woodsmen cloaks, unveiling the dungeon''s and Rebirth''s heraldry haphazardly drawn on their flesh with burn and chemical scars like mad parodies of the duchy''s slave brands...and revealing the glittering of full alchemical vials and bottles strapped to their chests and the torches in their hands.


    "WE SHALL BE REMEMBERED!"


    They smashed the torches against their torso, smashing the vials, and the brigadier went flying. He arced over his bodyguards, and crashed through the undergrowth on the other side of the road, his world one of pain as the burning alchemical accelerants consumed his flesh. He screamed endlessly, until even his throat failed him and oblivion took him.


    *****


    "So, how are the fabricators?" Asked Alexandra as she stepped onto the Flickerlight''s engineering section once more. This time however, she had announced her arrival in advance.


    "Purring like kittens." Said Ghost with a wide smile, as she patted the machine affectionately. "Not fully unlocked, but...close enough."


    "That''s good. Now, the last problem is, well..."


    Ghost grimaced.


    "Getting them home. The trick I used won''t work for Seraph''s fabricators. Different models, besides which I had to use and abuse the chief of engineering''s override to avoid them self destructing."


    "So we replicate them."


    "Easier said than done. This place is still under heavy guard. And it''s not like we have dungeon influence here."


    "I know." Alexandra looked around at the ship, frowning. "I think I can get something. Can you build me a fabricator, you know, in spare parts? Or disassemble one. Then we could smuggle it out one bit at a time."


    "I mean sure, but some of the key pieces, like the material injector or the gravitic manipulator are pretty incompressible."


    The dungeon core sighed.


    "I know, I know. Any other progress?"


    "Well, with this I can just build whatever I need to take the tank apart and analyze the crap out of it. There''s not necessarily that many spare materials left in the ship''s bunkers, but still enough."


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    "Right. But we won''t be able to replicate it at home either, won''t we?"


    "Not really. We''ll have to recreate it through our toolset first, which was deliberately not made for high technology."


    "Yeah, we''re just good at finding workarounds." And even then, they were arriving at the end of what they could do, constantly coding new systems to pick up the slack, each a bit farther from the dungeon''s programs and interacting with their powers worse. For now it was still working, but for how long? For one, she was certain that even if they pierced the full secrets of the spear she''d acquired from the would be dungeonslayers, they wouldn''t be able to use them with their powers. "If we could restore the systems that were there once though..."


    "Might as well wish for the Custodians to drop dead this second."


    "Still, think about it. We know the dungeon cores had to be able to interact with high tech, but got crippled. There has to be a data backup somewhere, or an intact version."


    "If there is, why don''t we have it? I mean, I doubt the Order found the Dungeon Core in a convenient post Dawn of the Flames warehouse of the God of Fire."


    Alexandra froze.


    "That''s it!" She exclaimed, as she grabbed her other self''s shoulder, fruitlessly trying to shake her with the hologram.


    "What?"


    "You just said it! The Order has gotten our core, right? I doubt they''d have attempted this if they didn''t have a backup, somewhere. Yeah, our code was probably modified, I mean, it had to, I doubt they''d have wanted to have the control programs. At least not active and without obfuscation."


    "So you want to rob the Order?"


    "If they did this, they probably had another dungeon core. And even if they didn''t, not having a full code backup somewhere would be fucking madness."


    "You have a lot of faith in their ability."


    "If they weren''t capable, they wouldn''t have successfully made an artificial dungeon core, wouldn''t they?"


    Ghost winced.


    "I don''t know if you remember, but it didn''t exactly go well for them."


    "I know, I know. But it''s worth a shot."


    "Well, we were planning to kick their ass either way."


    "Good. And now, any progress on that comm system?"


    "Not yet. Still had the engineering key monopolized by the fabricators. However..." She snapped her fingers, and a hologram appeared. "This is the map of Alcheryos, and the whole star system."


    Alexandra whistled softly as she watched it.


    "Damn. I assume it''s for navigation?"


    "Yeah, predict orbits for hyperspace jumps. But it allows me to do this." The apparition gestured, and a red line appeared, spearing out of Seraph-4, the communication site where their dungeon had been built, and out into the void.


    "What am I looking at?"


    "The Omega-level transmission Seraph''s communicators never got to send. And this is where it went."


    She gestured again, and the star system began to spin, going forward from the last time the ship had received its update to when Seraph had gone down.


    Finally, it stopped...the red line going straight through the moon.


    "Holy shit." Whispered Alexandra.


    "I know, right? It doesn''t make sense."


    "No, no! It makes perfect sense."


    "Does it? It''s, it''s..."


    "So obvious. Such a bad place to put a secret base no one would think of it. So close to Alcheryos you might as well put it behind your defences on the surface."


    "So close it''s fucking suicide you mean!"


    "If it''s a planetkiller launch silo, would you give a shit? It''s like a ballistic submarine, you fire once and you''re certain the enemy will nuke you out of existence before you can run away. Just like the Federation''s Final Contingency cruisers, the ones you told me about. Once you shoot, stealth is out of the window, and so''s your survival. And it''s just like in Dune. Put the nukes in the most obvious spot, in plain sight of everybody, the one place no one would ever go look."


    Ghost grimaced.


    "That...almost makes sense."


    "It does." Alexandra smiled. "And if we can get to them..."


    "Hold your horses, we still have a battlestation in orbit, and there''s no stealth when trying to escape the atmosphere. Besides, I''m not done with the sensors to get a good look at it."


    The dungeon core''s smile turned into a grin.


    "True. But sometimes you have to shoot for the moon."


    Ghost groaned.


    "Alright, if you get punny then there''s no point. Did that punladin infect you?"


    "Gods I hope not." Alexandra shook her head. "Regardless. One more thing on your plate, I suppose."


    "Yay..."


    "Cheer up! I''ll get you some help. Glitch, probably. Maybe even a new AI."


    "An engineering one?"


    "Maybe. We''ll see. It''s high time we started a new generation anyway."


    "Putting a moratorium on building more after the Glitch, uh, accident, was the right call."


    "It was then. But even with the vampires handling enchantment, we just need more manpower. Or cyberpower. Whatever."


    "Well, good luck with that."


    Alexandra chuckled.


    "Thanks. I fear I''m going to need it."


    "How''s it going on your end?"


    "Pretty good personally. Professionally...shock seems to be the dominating emotion on the international stage. At least they''re not shooting at each other anymore."


    "It''s not like they could."


    Alexandra grimaced, but didn''t argue.


    One of the interesting things about the initial engagements of the UDC''s civil war had been the airfleets. Since they were the most mobile assets, and the ones with the greatest strategic reach, both sides'' had been tightly intertwined, with the isolationist naval task forces shadowing the interventionist''s own closely. This had resulted in, at the onset of the war, both sides'' skyborne navies pretty much annihilating each other, with the only units left intact those under the control of neutral dungeon cores, that were now refusing to move them out. That, with virtually every nation putting the maximum amount of pressure possible on their dungeon to stay put and calm down, preventing the movement of any land army, was quickly turning this into a phoney civil war.


    At least, until both sides finished rearming their air reserves and threw themselves at each other''s throats again.


    "Point taken. Alright, I''ll hop off. World to conquer, and all that."


    "Uh huh. Have fun."


    "I very much intend to." In what little she could enjoy of this mess at least. Thank the stars for Emilia and CQ, or she''d be going insane.


    She stepped out of the ship, and back to dungeon mode. The endless to-do list beckoned.


    Someday she''d go through it faster than she could add things.


    Someday.

 Chapter 318 - War Council

    Chapter 318


    Ytakan Scrublands, Archduchy of Rebirth


    Darthar-Asaria Trade Route


    The war council was an interesting one. Gathered in three places, it was linked by means arcane and technological. On section was in Rebirth, with Allya and Pyn, still glowing from their marriage, another was in the marching army, with Manson, the duke of Sarth, Knight-Commander Philia, Alexandra and a spattering of their various officers.


    Last but not the least...were their majesties, joining them from Asaria.


    "We thank you for the invitation." Said the King with a smile. A tired, exhausted even, one, but a smile nonetheless. "And regret we were not able to attend previous gatherings. We were far too busy, I''m afraid."


    "I would have been intensely surprised had you not been, your majesty." Said Manson, and exchanged a smile with the King that spoke of a lifelong friendship.


    "True. Very well, while my various advisors have tried to kept me up to date to the best of their abilities, I am afraid I have fallen behind somewhat. Would somebody care to resume the situation?"


    Alexandra nodded, trying not to look too impressed. Now that was an actual ruler. Perhaps not quite of Allya''s caliber, but he had taken command of the conversation and effortlessly seated his authority with nothing but a handful of sentences and his body language. Damn. Ghost could do it, and so could she, but that had been with Arcadia''s coaching. They were zealots, strategists and engineers, not natural born leaders.


    "Of course." Said the dungeon core, as she sat up. "As everyone knows, a few days ago we engaged a significant force of the United Dungeon Council in battle. While we were victorious, the damage was...consequential." The Earth-born sighed. "Of fifty thousand troops, half were destroyed. My artillery remains mostly intact, but is almost completely out of ammo. And my fleet has been decimated. For all intents and purposes, all of my escort ships have either been shot down or rendered combat ineffective. My only ships that remain capable of doing battle are two Corsair-class frigates, uncompromisingly designed to engage larger vessels, my siege ship So Much For Subtlety, from which I am transmitting from, and four transport vessels, three of which have been reconverted into marine transports, whose marines have been almost completely annihilated, and the last one into a mobile arsenal, emptied of its ammunition."


    "That is...grim indeed. But not hopeless." The King turned towards Manson, who began speaking.


    "My forces are fully intact. We are sharing our ammunition supply with Crystal''s troops, but ours was already more limited to begin with. I have had my officers take a full stock of my troops. Of them, I have fifteen thousand regulars, forty thousand conscripts of various types, varying from city guards to village militias, and an ever growing number of volunteers, which is estimated at around twenty thousands. This include a significant number of newly inducted people from the civilians trailing the army, following the battle."


    Alexandra mentally whistled. Twenty thousands? Damn, even she hadn''t realized there were that many civilians joining their ranks. And despite being glorified resistance fighters or just farmers, they were hardened as hell. They wouldn''t have survived Sunrise''s repressive regime otherwise.


    "A significant host."


    "But not a large enough one." Cut in the Queen, looking grim. "The duchess has left troops to encircle the city and keep us penned in. But that is but a drop of water in her own force."


    "How many, if I may?" Asked Alexandra, cautiously. Getting hard numbers on Sunrise''s main army was hell, given its constantly fluctuating number of slaves.


    "The duchess has left thirty thousand of her regulars, with around ten times as many slaves to guard the city." Alexandra winced. That was...that was basically the entire fucking army they''d routed in Darthar. "We estimate she has taken ten times that many regulars, including all of her elites, south, alongside close to a million and a half slaves."


    Only silence answered that.


    A million and a half. That was...completely ridiculous. But a helpful reminder of the insane population of Alcheryos. With magic, both healing and for helping plant growth, not to mention the seemingly rampant arcane genetic engineering that had given birth to entire new species after the Dawn of the Flames...the continent she was on, Arkhan, had almost a billion people living on it. And half of those people were in the Asarian Kingdom, thanks to its massive territory and prosperous agriculture, more than any nation on Earth was able to boast before the modern era, though she supposed they already de facto had fertilizers, vaccines and medicine, just through arcane means. One of the reasons why there was a bottomless supply of slaves and adventurers to undertake dangerous tasks was simply because of the comparative overpopulation, not in terms of food, but housing. It wasn''t just a question of building a new place here, you had to clear it, keep it free of monsters, have sufficient mana...


    But still, half a billion people. With just what Sunrise had currently in their field armies, that was, what? Three million people?


    "How are they supplying them?" Asked Alexandra.


    "That''s the simple part." Answered the Queen, grimly. "They''re not."


    The dungeon core''s face fell.


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    "What do you mean?" Asked Knight-Commander Philia, desperately looking like she wanted to have misunderstood.


    "I mean that any time we were able to push them back, they took the bodies of the dead with them, and the prosperous plains around Asaria are naught but a wasteland now. Stripped of the smallest animal, even of grass."


    Alexandra gritted her teeth.


    "The UDC will be in good company then." She finally said in the otherwise ringing silence. "So, they will take care of their force''s..logistics by just covering new ground."


    "It will also improve." Said one of Manson''s officers, the ranger commander, and everyone turned towards the desert soldier. "The Kamira river, over which the Royal Union Bridge is built, is rich in fish, and the lands nearby are extremely fertile floodplains, with a long history of exporting vast amounts of food. They may also ship in food upriver from Kaidan, which is likewise extremely fertile. A great deal of that food was once shipped over the Inner Sea towards Sarth and the Western Baronies."


    Manson grimaced.


    "That is if they are heading there to begin with."


    "It''s the only strategic location they can head to now." Simply answered Alexandra. "Splitting up was stupid, but they''re committed. Trying to backpedal would shatter the duchess'' leadership, whatever is left of it anyway. We can thank that fucker running towards Kaidan for that." She smiled grimly. "It also means supplies coming upriver is unlikely as hell. But they will definitely strip the area bare."


    "One wonders what possessed her to march South." Mused the King, and Alexandra barked out a laugh. "Quite foolish."


    "Yet the perfect move...if she knew what was coming for my own force." She smiled viciously. "That, and other events, have left me with very little illusion that Sunrise and the UDC aren''t colluding together."


    "An alliance between them could be catastrophic."


    "They''ve already been allied in truth for months. And yes, it will be catastrophic, but for them." Alexandra''s smile widened at the others'' confusion. "Trust me, I know dungeon politics. The UDC allying with the scumbags of Sunrise will shatter what little moral authority they can pretend to have." And, more importantly, make sure that the dungeons underneath Molro, Kaidan and Asaria would die before coming to their side. And maybe even push them into her arms, though that was a more uncertain bet.


    "I defer to you on that, but it will still increase their forces significantly. Particularly, the duchess'' airfleet is...nonexistent, though her gryphon knights are to be feared. Meanwhile, the UDC''s own force is mostly comprised of airborne vessels, is it not?"


    "Transport ships, certainly. But their warships are...more limited now. They entered the battle with a single battleship and forty six combat escorts. Of this, only eighteen escorts escaped alive." Which, given the fact that she had fully lost eleven ships in the engagement, with five crippled, was a kill ratio of about two to one, with an entire artillery park underneath to provide supporting fire. These biological ships were amazingly tough. "However, none of their transports were harmed, which leaves ninety seven of them, including five capital ships."


    "Could they be used as warships?"


    "Certainly. But not very effective ones, would be my guess. Or they would have used them in an all out assault."


    "I thought they were keeping them in reserve."


    "They were keeping part of their army in reserve, but not their fleet. They had no need to, the duke''s forces had very few airships, and the most effective among them were some of my Freedom-class armed transports. Which, while sturdy-" And a cut above the Kingdom''s own airships. "-are not significant enough to dedicate forces to engage."


    "I see. A fell marriage of forces."


    "Perhaps, but a certain strategic demise for the both of them." Alexandra shrugged at his questioning look. "They may be able to defeat our force, but they won''t take us out. The UDC''s actions have guaranteed its collapse. And by the time they get another force into the field...my own allies will have as well."


    "And what of Sunrise?"


    "Given their current strategic situation, including their second largest army defecting and de facto rebelling, I am honestly amazed they haven''t imploded...yet."


    "I hope you are correct, lady Crystal. Otherwise a lot more innocents are about to die."


    "That is always the price, isn''t it?" Their gazes met, and something beyond words passed between them, as the king nodded.


    "It is." He sounded suddenly tired. "Which brings me to a simple question. What shall you do?"


    "We will advance our forces to meet them at the Royal Union Bridge. There we will pound them into rubble. With their main force away from the capital, we no longer have a time constraint. We can afford to harass them and make them come to us."


    "And will you win?"


    "That engagement? Oh hell no." Alexandra chuckled. "But I can ensnare them in a pursuit. If they decline to follow, we''ll simply return and hit them again. If they do take the bait, we''ll make them go through every kind of hell there is. Because with every step they take south, our supply lines shorten while theirs lengthen. Living off the land or no, their elites still need potions and equipment."


    "And how much territory do you intend to give?"


    "Not much. Just enough for them to get hit by my reinforcements before they realize they should be there."


    "Your reinforcements?" The King perked up, and Alexandra nodded.


    "I have resumed mass production of ground troops." And expanded it. A lot. The King was right, the next decisive battle wouldn''t be fought in the air. it didn''t mean she''d let up on the air production, but she''d stop the frenetic pace of shipbuilding. Instead all of that industry would go to giving them a taste of her new equipment. "I intend to form a second field army to merge with the first during its retreat. Above thirty thousand improved infantry, with a much heavier armored contingent."


    A contingent that would contain her first production run of Mackies, fifteen heavy mechs. Emilia had been right, these beasts were basically landships...which meant a lot of her shipbuilding infrastructure could be repurposed to make them instead.


    "And you believe that will be sufficient?"


    "It will over double my current amount of infantry, and come with significant upgrades." Many of which could have accompanied the first army had she not been cutting corners left and right to keep her naval production going, especially when she had ordered her mad dash to reinforce her core fortress after the news that someone was going to try and assassinate her. An effort that continued, though at a lower pace, to this day. "More important will be the armored units however. The spider-tanks proved decisive in the battle, and I believe they will be the weapon to shatter Sunrise." Even if only because a horde of peasants could swarm over an infantry line, but good luck chasing tanks around.


    "Very well then." The King cleared his throat, and addressed Allya. "Lady Nouvelle-Aurore, one sizeable question remains."


    The archduchess nodded, having been perfectly content until now to stay silent, probably because she was not so discreetly cuddling with her wife.


    "Yes. The one of partition of the lands, after the war has concluded."

 Chapter 319 - Post-War

    Chapter 319


    Ytakan Scrublands, Archduchy of Rebirth


    Darthar-Asaria Trade Route


    The King nodded.


    "Just so. I was made aware that you had a proposal on that matter?"


    "Excuse me, but...are we not getting ahead of ourselves here?" Said one of the officers, a noble, and everyone turned towards him. "My apologies, your majesties, your grace, but...Sunrise is far from vanquished. Are we not selling the bear''s hide before we have killed it?"


    The king chuckled.


    "I would be tempted to start a tangent on speculative trading and the need for the rapid movement of goods for an expanding economy, but I will refrain. Instead allow me a simple, direct answer. We have a plan for victory. A fairly detailed one at that. We need to plan what happens afterwards, so that the peace if both complete and lasting. I will not allow our reconquest of the east to become mired in petty conflicts over land and borders that could drag us into another civil war, or inflict resentment for decades to come." The clear, if unspoken, risk was that if there was to be a second civil war, it would be against Rebirth...and he would have no hope of winning. "Thus, we will make a clear plan of action. Furthermore, having a plan for after our victory distributed amongst the nobility, to make sure everyone is aware of their future overlords and so that they may begin negotiations of fealty and such, is a considerable psychological advantage."


    The king got up, and began to pace, seemingly unaware he was constantly moving in and out of the viewing field of the magical mirror that allowed him to communicate, as he continued to speak.


    "It will reinforce to all our desire and, indeed, expectation of victory, not to mention the sentiment of...inevitability the archduchess has been building. After all, once those plans are announced, the nobles that remain neutral will have considerable incentive to begin negotiating with their soon to be overlord, breaking their neutrality in the process, or risk considerably angering us in the peace to follow, not to mention being considerably behind their rivals in deepening ties with those above them. Not something many will risk, especially not now that our armies have proven they will not be stopped so easily. This will also considerably undermine the morale of Sunrise''s nobility, who will have to compare it with their own plan for victory, which is now a fantasy at best, madness at worst, at very little cost to ourselves. And their nobility is their entire command structure."


    The king stopped, and turned back towards the mirror.


    "I believe it is, indeed, worth getting the tiniest bit ahead of ourselves, don''t you?"


    The noble nodded, and the king smiled.


    "Good. Now, as I was saying, your grace, I was made aware you had a proposal on the matter of partition?"


    "Yes. I have." The archduchess reluctantly let go of her wife as she got up, summoning a hologram before everyone with a simple gesture. One prepared in advance with Alexandra and programmed in, but still. She was rediscovering her ease with technology, and part of her Erisian heritage. "Our proposal is simple. To split the kingdom into two Archduchies, Asaria and Rebirth. Asaria would inherit from its old territories, plus the duchies of Molro and Sunrise." The Queen grunted, but the King didn''t react. It was a significant concession, at least from their point of view. Sunrise was the jewel of the kingdom, richer than even the capital by some metrics, and far outshining it in industrial capacity. As far as anyone was concerned, it was the prize to take, and the King had no doubt been terrified Allya would claim it by right of conquest. "While Rebirth would keep its current territories, and gain Kaidan and Lorenz."


    "Thus dividing the kingdom in half."


    "Yes. I have little interest in lands north. Very little, in fact."


    "Are you thinking of expanding south?" Said the Queen, and Allya shook her head.


    "No. I intend to rebuild Kaidan, and Lorenz. Once that is done, life will have begun jutting out from Rebirth in earnest, and it will take decades to fully colonize and develop all that is between Erakis and Darthar. When we get to that point...who knows? I doubt there will be need for further expansion."


    It was a bald faced lie. Alexandra and Allya both knew this wouldn''t stop there. But they also knew that they couldn''t tell that to their allies either. So they put forth a reasonable proposal that, for that matter, they would have been delighted in implementing, were they not so sure the world would implode far before then.


    "Very well." Said the King. "And what of the Western Baronies?"


    "They are very loyal to the crown. I doubt they would appreciate me taking over. But I would like to have...passage through them."


    The King smiled mirthlessly.


    "Tivaro."


    "Exactly. I may not wish for lands up north, but once the inevitable happens, Tivaro will have become the hub that was used for the launch of a dungeon invasion fleet into the Kingdom."


    "And you intend to neutralize it."


    "I do. Or rather, I intend to make sure the Saphire Kingdom stands aside."


    Everyone turned towards Alexandra in expectation, and the dungeon core smiled.


    "At that point, I will do what is necessary to knock some sense into my fellow."


    "And if it proves impossible?"


    "Then Mytaran of the Glacial Palace will find herself a permanent guest under...house arrest." Which would pretty much arrest any further dungeon growth. It would be interesting to see which way the people of Tivaro would jump. Against her, who had stifled their dungeon core, or that idiot, who had brought down the wrath of the most dangerous person on the continent down on them?Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    The King let out the breath he had been holding.


    "I suppose that is the best that can be hoped for. Very well then, but I can already tell you, the Saphire Kingdom will not acquiesce."


    "That''s too bad. I suppose we shall have to convince them."


    Both of their majesties shivered as they saw the flicker of coldness in the dungeon core''s eyes, and Alexandra smiled internally. Perhaps there was something to Machiavelli after all. Feared and loved indeed...


    "We have been speaking of our army''s status." Said Allya, breaking the silence. "But I am curious of the status of your forces, your majesties."


    The Queen sighed.


    "We are in no situation to assist, I''m afraid. The enemy outside the walls still outnumbers us, and our forces are...gravely diminished in any case. Even Grant''s forces have been almost shattered by the siege."


    "Grant the Giant still lives? There had been...rumors."


    "We did not quell them outside of the capital, in the hope that it would goad the enemy into overconfidence. Which it might have. A great deal many factors have to have gone into the duchess'' decision after all. He lives still, though he has been wounded, defending the final layer of walls protecting the inner city." The Queen grimaced. "He has more than earned his paycheck, him and his men. What remains of them anyway."


    "Let us hope they''ll be able to collect it then. So you will not be able to break out?"


    "Even if we had the numbers, our troops are too exhausted and worn down. Even our equipment is falling apart. Without the pressure of the siege, there''s a fair chance most of our units would fall apart as they are."


    Allya nodded.


    "I see. Most unfortunate. The city liberating itself would have been a catastrophic blow to Sunrise for the battles to come, even if their duchess was still in the field."


    "Unless you can figure out to teleport your army past the duchess, I doubt that will come to be, I''m afraid."


    "Someday, perhaps." The archduchess smiled at their expressions. "Alright then. If we have a plan of action, time to get our subordinates to put it into motion." Something which now actually applied to Alexandra as well, which was weird, to say the least. Everyone was used to dungeon cores acting more or less alone, and she wondered how many suspected the extent of the support structure the Earth-born had been busy building around herself. One she was keen on expanding too. "Let''s send those bastards back to hell!"


    *****


    Rook looked grimly at the bodies strewn about him.


    "My lord...are you alright?" Said one of the mages he had been protecting, and he nodded.


    "I am. But we will need to change to another location, for the ritual''s preparations."


    "I don''t know how they found us my lord, we took every precaution-"


    "I know you did." The archon knelt by one of the bodies, cleanly cut in half by his sword, Falling Sun. It was only a short search before he pulled out a medallion, emblazoned with an aurora and a chain. "But the duchess is no one''s fool, and her slave hunters are good. Very good." The leader of New Raleigh sat up again, and gazed at the clearing, now a slaughterhouse. "They will return. It is imperative that they find nothing when they do. Am I understood?"


    "Yes my lord!"


    The archon watched as the mage scampered off, rallying his fellows and directing them to the various crates of equipment. Luckily, they had not begun using the ingredients, but the ritual would be delayed nonetheless.


    At least the other ritual sites were still undisturbed. They would finish on schedule. He had picked the most dangerous one for himself of course, while the rest of the Seven took the safer sites. They''re protested, of course, Wonsnot especially vehemently, but they all knew there would be no changing his mind.


    So, another delay...and every second lost would have to be bought with blood. The blood of slaves, and the blood of the soldiers valiantly fighting Sunrise and its legions.


    There was some rustling in the woods, and the archon calmly watched as one of his agents flowed out of the shadows, almost seeming to gaining substance the further they went into the light.


    "My lord." Said the agent, as she bowed.


    "Porai." Answered the archon with a slightly chiding tone, and the agent smiled as he said her name.


    "Rook." She corrected, and he nodded. "I bring news. I was forced to delay my arrival because..." She glanced at the slaughter, and shrugged.


    "Of course. Report."


    "The other ritual sites are untouched, but you already knew that." He nodded. Any other site being hit...would have warranted using his communication crystal immediately, no matter the risks of someone tapping into it. Just like he had reported the attack here to the others. "Our agents are in place for what is to follow, though some areas are a bit...thin."


    "There are only so many we can spare." Rook closed his eyes. "Like it or not, we must focus on the areas where they will do the most good."


    Porai nodded.


    "Of course. There have also been...troubling reports of guerillas, perpetrating horrific attacks, many of them suicidal, onto Sunrise''s forces. The response has been equally brutal, and ever escalating." She cleared her throat. "There have been some rumors that the Brigadier in charge of the southern army has been killed."


    "Crap." Rook opened his eyes. "I was afraid of that." He grimaced. "If the Brigadier was killed, then he was resurrected. But without him to leash his officers in..."


    "Should we...intervene?"


    "We are stretched too thin as it is. But...but we can try to avoid things getting out of hand. Take a team, and deliver a medical package. Get that Brigadier back on his feet."


    The agent''s eyes widened.


    "But, my lord-"


    "I know! I know. He''s a slaver bastard that deserve to be put on a pillar of torment. But he''s also keeping the worst of his army in line. If he''s out of action for too long..." Rook sighed. "It is better to get him back on his feet ASAP. Besides which, we''ll get him once we are finished."


    "Yes my lord. As you say."


    The archon glanced at the agent, and sighed once more.


    "It goes against the grain. Just like helping the crown here. After all, the Asarian royal family has always had links to slavery. Only Sunrise''s dominance has pushed them against it, to try and curb their power, and thus preserve their own. But we live in the real world. Sometimes, hard decisions have to be made."


    "Yes my lord."


    He saw comprehension in her eyes, and finally nodded.


    "Now go. There is no time to lose."


    The agent answered his nod in kind, and vanished back into the shadows, as the archon turned back to the bodies all around him.


    He''d done a slave uprising on such a scale, once. And he had brought down an Empire. Bathed an entire continent in blood.


    And he would do anything to never cause it again. If it meant saving one of his foes, to limit the damage his subordinates would cause if they were left to their own devices, then so be it.


    Most of his people would understand. Hopefully. Besides which...justice would come soon enough for the Brigadier regardless. Him and all his ilk. There was comfort in that.


    It would be cold comfort for those who would die at their hands however. But he would make sure that this would never come to be again.


    Ever.

 Chapter 320 - Alliances

    Chapter 320


    Ytakan Scrublands, Archduchy of Rebirth


    Darthar-Asaria Trade Route


    CQ came to a halt as she stepped off of the stairs leading up to the ship, and saluted. Alexandra returned it.


    "Welcome back." Said the dungeon core, before cracking a smile, and unceremoniously grabbing her daughter into her arms. "I''ve missed you kiddo!"


    "Moooom! Everyone is watching!" Said the dungeon boss, plaintively, and the Earth-born chuckled.


    There was indeed quite the crowd to greet the arrival of the reinforcements. Cheering soldiers and crowds of wide eyed civilians, gazing in wonder and slack jawed amazement at the gleaming metal ships, disgorging their cargo of equally shiny golems.


    "Let them watch!" CQ made a face, and Alexandra chuckled. "Alright, alright! Fine." She let go of her daughter, dusting off her uniform. "Seriously though. It''s good to have you back. We need the firepower."


    Her daughter''s expression suddenly became serious.


    "That bad, mom?"


    "Worse. Come on, let''s get to the command tent. The duke and Philia are waiting."


    It was a short walk to the tent. Troops lined their path, and humans and golems alike simply stood aside and saluted as they strode among them. It wasn''t out of fear or awe from the humans either -well, sophonts really, there were elves, dwarves and a myriad other more esoteric people among the duke''s troops-, but genuine respect.


    The heavily armed guards, a mix of her Standard Combat Units and Sarth''s ducal guards, withdrew the tent flap as they arrived, allowing them in.


    "Ah. The prodigal daughter returns." Said Manson Estogan, duke of Sarth, as they entered, a wide smile splitting the old man''s face, while Philia kept pouring over the maps, simply giving them a glance and a short wave as an acknowledgment.


    "So I have." Retorted CQ with a haughty sniff, before smiling. "And I bring gifts! Gifts that go kaboom."


    "So I''ve heard." The duke''s smile fell. "They''ll be sorely needed, I''m afraid."


    "Yeah...what happened?"


    The duke looked at the dungeon core, who sighed, as she summoned a hologram on top of the map table, which she had at long last embedded a holographic projector into. The soldiers who had to unload the thing and set it up whenever they set up camp bitched a lot more, but it was worth it.


    "We have started encountering enemy resistance. With the duchess coming south, the garrisons have become bolder. They''ve begun setting up traps and ambushes. Only with slaves, meaning they''re basically minefields. No tactical flexibility. But from their point of view it''s free. Thankfully most of the civilian population has gone to ground, or they''d have turned everyone into living weapons, and partisans are hunting down and breaking every ambush they can ahead of us. Still, the attrition has become...worrying."


    "Worrying enough that the Kaidani volunteers and our light cavalry have taken point." Continued Manson. "We can heal our troops, but I have been told by your dunge-mother-" Alexandra stifled a chuckle at the slip. "-that repairing your golems wasn''t truly an option."


    CQ flicked a glance at Alexandra, who shrugged. For what it mattered, it was true. She could, technically, fix her golems, but it was too expensive. Even with the supply routes and travel time, it was still better to make new ones and leave the broken and destroyed for Sarth and Rebirth''s people to salvage, as they had industries in place to do so, thanks to the dungeon loot.


    Still, the irony wasn''t lost to the dungeon core. Originally, they had put the golems in front, as they were far more disposable than the squishy humans, but now the flesh and blood soldiers were more affordable to lose than the golems. No one was under any illusion which would be more effective on a one to one basis in a full scale battle, as even the most enthusiastic and talented of them were still trying to learn their way around their new equipment, while her golems were perfectly drilled, by their very nature.


    Interestingly enough, the flesh and blood troops were behind the concept every step of the way, and had in fact insisted on it. They were proud to take the lead, to allow her golems to ''recuperate'', and bring the fight to Sunrise with their own hands. The Kaidanis, especially, were extremely keen. Despite most of their people now being partisans and volunteers from lands that had been part of the duchy of Sarth, they had taken their ''adopted'' duchy''s plight to heart.


    "We are also doing preparations for the coming withdrawal." Finally said Philia, lifting her head from looking at the maps. Alexandra almost recoiled as she saw the dark circles under the Knight-Commander''s eyes. She exchanged a look with the duke, and saw the same concern in his gaze. "Our surveyors, sappers and engineers have begun making detailed maps of possible places to make a stand, deploy fortifications, or simply lay traps to slow the duchess'' advance down, if she indeed does pursue us."


    "She will." Confidently said Alexandra. "If she doesn''t, we''ll pound her into rubble."


    "Do not underestimate her." Warned Philia. "She will have her elites, the cream of the crop of her duchy, with her. Perhaps not as many mages as the southern army had, relative to the number of troops, but many. And lots and lots of paladins, rangers and specialists like gryphon knights. If she indeed starts after us, how do you plan to outrun pegasus skirmishers and those knights, exactly?"


    Alexandra smiled.


    "It''s simple." She tilted her head, nodded, and opened the tent flap, beckoning the others outside.


    They stepped out...and came to a dead halt as the towering monster that was the Mackie was unloaded from the transport. The war machine rose to its full height, and began taking slow, measured and utterly earth shaking steps forward, coming to a halt before the officers, glimmering in its magnificent and deadly glory.


    Seven machineguns, twin autocannons, two rapid fire howitzers, shoulder mounted rocket pods, and a back mounted missile launcher...


    A worthy firstborn of the mech indeed.


    "I won''t have to." Finished the dungeon core. "If they''re stupid enough to try and outrun their army to rush us...I''ll have all the firepower I need to take them out, on the ground and in the skies. Let them fly to their deaths then. I''m sure their comrades from our previous battles will be more than happy to welcome them in hell."


    *****


    "So. Now that i have done all that confident talk about my new units turning the tide and kicking their asses, we better deliver." Said Alexandra as she paced before her assembled subordinates in the workshop. "CQ''s reinforcements are good, great even, but not only will we need new stuff, we need more of it! And more of the old stuff as well. Glitch, Seraph. I need the both of you to rationalize our raw materials production. Not just for our smitheries, but iron, steel smelting, damned near everything. We need our basic materials cheaper and in greater quantities. We haven''t done any work on that in almost a year now, there should be ample room to improve. Subtlety, Ghost, you two are on high tech industrial production and assembly. We can''t use our high tech weapons, but there''s nothing that says we can''t use high tech means to build lower tech hardware. And I don''t mean pump out a few precision engineered tools and accessories from the fabricators, I want a full, spacetech assembly line cranking out weapons. Sarah, Ella, CQ, I need you to come up with how we will engage the enemy during the retreat, and bleed them every step of the way. Dirty tricks, minefields, whatever you can come up with."This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    The dungeon core turned towards her remaining people.


    "Jared, Emilia, the old team back together again. We''re going to try to make an AI that can cast spells."


    Emilia frowned.


    "But...don''t we have the enchanters from home? They did all that special ordnance you shipped with CQ."


    You mean besides the fact I trust them about as far as I can throw my mesa fortress? Thought Alexandra, though of course she didn''t voice it. Instead, she grinned.


    "Oh, not for enchantment. For battlefield spellcasting. We''re going to make a whole new generation of warships."


    *****


    Satina Olyrin, head of the house of Olyrin and by the grace of the Gods duchess of Sunrise, and in her insane dreams before she had gazed at the true scope of this war, ''rightful Queen of the Asarian Kingdom'', stared as the biological ship came to a shuddering halt, and its flesh parted, a ramp deploying like some madman''s idea of a tongue.


    The ship was impressive...but even she could see the scars, hastily healed to not be suppurating wounds.


    Wounds that were the reason why those high and mighty members of the United Dungeon Council were even deigning to speak to her.


    A delegation walked down the ramp, a small knot of what had to be dungeon avatars, headed by one that looked like a phasma wearing some kind of porcelain mask, and flanked by hulking abominations towering over everyone.


    The delegation came to a halt before her, and the duchess simply stared, as both sides refused to greet the other first. She may acknowledge her lack of power compared to them, but she certainly wasn''t the one running north with her tail between her legs, begging for an alliance to save her skin.


    The porcelain mask on the phasma shifted, and smiled.


    "Greetings, your grace." Said the dungeon avatar, and the duchess had to suppress a shiver. There were...layers behind even just that simple statement. She hadn''t survived this long without being good at reading people, and she could tell there was something wrong here. With the entire delegation, she realized.


    "Greetings, dungeon core." She returned neutrally, and the mask''s smile widened.


    "I am Glarvistar of the Emerald Glade, commander of this fleet." Something in the body language of the others told her that it either hadn''t always been that way, or there was something behind that statement she wasn''t aware of. Besides, wouldn''t the one commanding a fleet be an admiral or at the very least a commodore? She may not be the most versed in military matters, but Sunrise had been the anchorage for the Kingdom''s wet navy, though for all intent and purposes it had always been her private fleet. She even had imported Tarkian vessels, the delicious irony of those slaver hating scum delivering warships directly into her hands. "I come with a proposal of alliance against a mutual foe."


    Satina tilted her head. Right off the bat, with the proposal? Interesting. Very interesting.


    And not something she had expected. It looked like there was more going on here than she had thought.


    Perhaps what she had glimpsed wasn''t so apocalyptic after all...


    "Of course. Please, follow me."


    She gestured, and the dungeon avatar followed her, leaving behind a dumbfounded assortment of dungeon avatars and a whole menagerie of nobles, shocked by the sudden and utter disdain for protocol, finding themselves unsure of what to do, now that the lynchpin of what should have been a tense, half lie, half truth discussion simply left them to have a real discussion instead of a genital measuring contest.


    They entered her command tent without a word, and Satina gestured at the flap, abruptly closing it, and stared at the dungeon avatar as she crossed her arms.


    "I was not aware you were a mage, your grace." Simply commented Glarvistar, and the duchess smiled mysteriously.


    "I''m not."


    Let him make of that what he would.


    The dungeon avatar simply nodded.


    "Of course. You are aware of the situation, I am sure?"


    "I was...forewarned of your efforts." Forewarned while your superiors filled my head with visions of the apocalypse. Yet they don''t even seem capable of scratching her, let alone the other dungeons that went with her. She thought, though a little voice in her head whispered to her that she hadn''t seen the full end of it yet...that the worse was still to come. That maybe, this was only the beginning, muffled because of all who had foreseen its coming, and tried to prevent it.


    Or perhaps, it is simply tinder, used to lit a much greater flame.


    She shivered mentally. That...wasn''t a comfortable thought.


    He nodded.


    "Good. Then you are probably aware of our failure."


    "I am."


    "We have dealt considerable damage to the enemy, of course, and-"


    "Considerable damage?" The duchess laughed. She couldn''t stop herself. "Damage that will be easily replaced, you mean! Have you and your superiors learned nothing from her previous battles?"


    "On the contrary, we have learned a great deal. Which is why we intend to reinforce."


    "Your closest...ally is far further away than Darthar or Rebirth."


    The dungeon avatar looked at her.


    "I know."


    "Then your supply lines and reinforcements will be more strained than hers, and I am willing to bet she can outproduce you in terms of ships any day. She hasn''t even been building vessels for more than a year, look at what she has accomplished!"


    Glarvistar nodded.


    "Agreed."


    "Then, why should I agree to this alliance, if all you bring is a shattered fleet, and the vague promise of somehow outmatching your opponent? Why should I not declare myself neutral of the UDC''s little spat?"


    She expected a reaction, some shift in body language at such a blatant insult...and shivered when she got none.


    Either he was very, very good at controlling himself, or he was uncaring about the isolationists'' ideology. And she didn''t know which one was more terrifying.


    "If you believe that will prevent Crystal from slaughtering your army, then feel free. But we both know the only thing you shall buy is a bit of time while she neutralizes my force, before she comes down on yours. Or vice versa. Stand together as one, or fall alone, and all that. But to answer your question, yes, we are confident of our ability to reinforce, and support you further than what I have brought today."


    "How?"


    The avatar smiled, the porcelain mask once again creepily shifting.


    "Simple. We bring our means of production here."


    Satina tilted her head...then her face went white.


    "You''re sending a core forward." She whispered.


    Glarvistar nodded, his smile widening.


    "Crystal''s secondary cores are foolishly entrenched in cities." Something in his tone told her those weren''t his words, but someone else''s...and that he disagreed with them. "We will...demonstrate the full extent of their power."


    "And force her to destroy them, and her reputation, if she overpowers you."


    The dungeon core inclined his head. Not quite a nod. But an acknowledgement.


    The duchess laughed.


    "You severely underestimate her if you think it will be that easy." She said, and somehow, through body language, she knew Glarvistar agreed.


    What the hell was going on within the UDC?


    "Perhaps. But it is what it is. We will support you in your battle against Crystal. No more, no less. We will engage any force she has with hers, but no others. We will not besiege Asaria, nor will we attack Sarth. But we will aid you in destroying the dungeon''s army, and accompany you on your march south to Darthar, and then Rebirth. Do we have a deal?"


    The duchess closed her eyes.


    "Will Crystal be gone?"


    "If she does not suffer an...unfortunate accident, she will be removed from Rebirth. You have my, and my superiors'', words."


    Satina opened her eyes, and met the porcelain mask''s gaze. His wording said it all. If they weren''t certain she would befall an accident...it meant his superiors had something in mind for her.


    That, or Glarvistar himself did.


    But at this point, she would take anything to get that core off of her damned doorstep. And they both knew it.


    "Then yes. We have a deal."

 Chapter 321 - Memories

    Chapter 321


    28th of June, 2130


    Earth, Sol System


    Valduc Strategic Research Base, European Federation


    ''Alex'' sighed as she set down the report.


    Delays, delays, more delays, nothing but delays...


    When she''d been assigned to project New Dawn, she''d seen it as her stepping stone to flag rank. But now she was languishing in a hive of corporate interests, political infighting and military indecision. The higher ups wanted a new generation of warships, to counter the United Interstellar States'' dreadnoughts. Great. Except that they couldn''t settle on what the hell they wanted!


    So delays. Because they kept adding more things onto the project. Better lasers, better power plants, better grav drives, better missiles. Better damned near everything! If this went on, they''d have so much new crap for a single generation of ships they''d only be able to push out the prototypes and then hobble along trying to get them into actual volume production.


    She picked up her holopen, and jumped as she felt arms embracing her.


    "Hey there darling. Working late again~?" Whispered a voice into her ear.


    Alexandra rolled her eyes.


    "Yes, I am. And before you say anything Arcie, so are you!"


    The AI giggled.


    "Perhaps." Her android quickly went around the officer''s chair, and unceremoniously dropped into her girlfriend''s lap. This time the robot was slim, with chin length, yet still flowing white hair, piercing purple eyes that seemed like a perpetually aflame nebula, and coming up barely a head shorter than her partner. The AI regularly changed bodies, but if one things was certain, it was that none of them even remotely qualified as ''normal''. "But I''m an AI. I don''t sleep. Or need rest. You do."


    "Depending on what you mean by ''sleep'', you do sleep a lot." Said Alex with a grin.


    "Oh, you''re the one cracking dirty jokes now?" The AI lifted the woman''s chin with her index, before kissing her, actually purring as they pulled apart. "We''ll see how long that last."


    "Uh huh. So, what brings you to my humble abode?"


    The AI smiled, in her slightly deranged fashion. Alexandra had used to be slightly concerned by that, but she''d long since embraced it. Everyone had some kind of damage, and what if the AI was slightly crazy? Get in line, no one had gone through the Terran Hegemony Wars with their sanity intact, and those people ruled the Federation. Decrepit, riddled with biotoxin and genetic anomalies politicians with febrile eyes, seeing chemical bombs under their beds every night. Better an eccentric AI than these maniacs.


    "There''s a new movie showing in the Molrovia theater tonight! I got us tickets!"


    "New movie? Wait." Alexandra''s eyes widened. "Molrovia?!? That''s-"


    "The most exclusive theater in the Federation, I know." Purred the AI. "And you''re coming with me. No ifs, no buts, I''ll tie you up if I have to."


    Alex mumbled something to the effect of ''you''ll tie me up anyway you tin can'', before clearing her throat as Arcadia''s smile only widened.


    "So what are we going to watch?"


    "Interstellar Justice Three: Galactic Sword of Judgment!"


    Alexandra blinked.


    "Damn, I thought that hadn''t come out yet." Then it hit her. "Stars damn it, Arcie is it the premiere?"


    The AI looked away.


    "Mayyyybe?"


    "Oh you''ve got to be kidding me! Arcie, how much did those tickets cost?"


    "Well nothing, why do you ask?" The AI gave her girlfriend a brilliant smile.


    Alexandra gazed at the android suspiciously.


    "Of course...And how did you get those invitations?"


    "Weeeelll, the firm that made the film was glad to have some corporate publicity, plus a few celebrities, the new, the old, the up and coming, and I got invited."


    "And added me as your plus one, is that it?" Alexandra''s eyes narrowed, and the AI whistled innocently. "As well as no doubt hyping me up a fair bit."


    "Well, you are an up and coming member of the navy."


    "I''m a freaking captain in an office working on a semi secret project!"


    "And I can guarantee you you''ll be admiral by the end of the decade!"


    "Yeah, with your patronage."


    "Don''t be like that!" The AI flicked her forehead, and Alexandra winced. Slim or not, that android was strong enough to rip apart power armor. Arcadia only used the best for her ''personal'' forms. Supposedly for vanity, by she knew the AI had made them into machines of war to get those she cared about out of the line of fire. It was...flattering, in a way. "You know you need the help. And I''m not asking for anything."


    "Yet."


    They exchanged glares, but the AI finally subsided, lowering her eyes.


    "You know I wouldn''t. Unless it was...dire."


    Alexandra sighed, and wrapped her arms around the android, which the automata returned after a few seconds.


    "I know, I know..."


    They just stayed there, in companionable silence, hugging each other.


    Then, at long last, the officer took in a deep breath.


    "Alright, I''ll accompany you to that premiere." Arcadia''s face brightened, and she opened her mouth...only to close it as her girlfriend held up a finger. "On one condition."


    "Ooooh? Conditions, a deal, a contract?" The AI climbed up all over her partner, almost tipping the chair over as the human leaned back, as the officer was reminded that despite everything, Arcadia was a businesswoman first and foremost now. "What is it? Out with it temptress!"Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    "You have to wear that dress I bought you."


    Blood truly couldn''t drain from the AI''s face, but the android did a very passable imitation of the phenomenon.


    "What? But-"


    "No ifs, no buts, either you wear it or I don''t go."


    "It''s...it''s dreadful though!"


    "It''s regal!"


    "I''ll look like a beached whale in that!"


    "Better than you looking like a damned stripper you nymphomaniac! I''ve seen barbie dolls with more square centimeters of clothing than some of your outfits!"


    The AI sat back, crossing her arms, almost pouting.


    "That''s-"


    "If you say a matter of taste, I''m going to see if my foot can bend the titanium of your ass."


    "Ow. Catty." The AI threw her hands up as Alexandra glared at her. "Fine! You win, alright? But!" She smiled. "You have to wear your dress uniform in exchange. Deal?"


    Alexandra winced, but nodded.


    "Deal."


    "Excellent!" The AI slapped her thighs, before jumping off of her girlfriend''s lap, and unceremoniously grabbing her hand, practically dragging her to her feet. "Now let''s go!"


    "What, now?" Said Alexandra as the AI began leading her out of her office, the door opening at her approach. A door Alex knew she had set to manual.


    Damn it Arcie, stop hacking my shit! Thought Alex, though she knew better than to voice it. Complaining would only mean the AI would double down.


    "No time like the present!"


    "But...this is a military base!" One where nuclear bombs were still being produced, as a matter of fact, despite the site being far from its heyday as the last nuclear weapons production facility remaining in Europe after the devastation of the Terran Hegemony War, and the rabid expansion of its capabilities during the Interplanetary Wars.


    The AI simply laughed.


    "And I own your entire logistics pipeline, the shuttles carry whatever the hell I want! Now move it, we need to make sure your makeup is good before we go on the red carpet!"


    Alexandra jerked awake as she got the comm ping.


    What-


    She blinked, and looked around. She was...in her workshop. She''d fallen asleep on one of the workbenches, her head resting on a pile of computers, one meant for the new AIs she was making.


    The dungeon core rubbed her eyes. What the hell was happening to her?


    She opened the notification she got. A breakthrough? This quickly?


    Well, the least she could do was check it out.


    Maybe it would help shake off the...not dream, the memory she''d just experienced.


    *****


    "That was fast." Said Alexandra as she stepped into the Flickerlight''s engineering section.


    "Well, it was a simple solution. A stupidly simple one, staring us all in the face." Answered Ghost, looking at Alexandra''s side.


    The dungeon core blinked, and followed her other self''s gaze...to find a golem.


    "Uh...Okay? Hi, Seraph, you''re in there, right?"


    "In the flesh, so to speak." Said the AI as they bowed, and Alexandra chuckled. Metaphors and jokes. Maybe the AI was coming out of their shell after all.


    "Good. So, Ghost, what breakthrough did you say you-" Alexandra stopped, as Ghost smiled, and whirled around to face the the golem again. "Wait a minute, how...what...In the flesh?!?"


    "That''s the breakthrough I was talking about." Said the apparition.


    "You managed to get one of our golems here? How?"


    "I didn''t."


    Alexandra opened her mouth, closed it, and then promptly facepalmed.


    "Oh Gods..."


    "Yeeeep."


    "We have unlocked fabricators. We don''t need to use our powers to create golems we can just...we can just make them! Actually make them!"


    Ghost nodded.


    "Precisely."


    "Shit. Alright, what is the price difference?"


    The apparition grinned.


    "So far? Fifty percent savings in mana for a golem."


    "...Fucking hell." Golems were, by far, her number one spending item. One she hadn''t managed to compress beyond a few percentage points thanks to Emilia''s monster spawners. Reducing the cost by half. "This is massive. And that''s just with the fabricators, right?"


    "Yep. Just with them." And they both knew fabricators were absolute crap in terms of production cost by item. There was a reason the assembly line still reigned king back on Earth after all. It was just that when you needed something mass and volume efficient, plus polyvalence without equal, there was no alternative. Thus why they were a favorite for ships, burgeoning colonies or hell, secure facilities like Seraph''s bunker. "Though, keep in mind, that''s not counting the cost of making the fabricators."


    "But they can self replicate."


    "They can, but even with that, it''s still costly infrastructure. Not to mention, in their case, not that much of a decrease in price. We still can''t refine metamaterials."


    "Something we''ll work on later." Alexandra closed her yes. "So now it''s become absolutely vital we get those out of here. Not just for future plans, but also for the current war effort."


    "Well...we kind of figured that was the case, so we''d started working on, ah, plans."


    Alexandra closed her eyes.


    "Let me guess, they involve explosions."


    "Actually, no! Seraph?"


    The AI stepped forward.


    "The fabricators can be disassembled and reassembled. That is key to the plan. Our primary obstacle currently is the defenses arrayed around the cavern. Passive scans from the ship''s arrays indicate the entire space has been surrounded with wards and arcane tripwires, some of them extremely ancient and of uncertain origin. Digging our way out would hazardous at best, suicidal at worst."


    "So?"


    "Smuggling. The weakness of this defense is the guards. They have to regularly cycle in and out on a predictable schedule for shift changes."


    Alexandra smiled.


    "As usual, the human factor is the weakest link in security."


    "Affirmative. Normally bribing or otherwise corrupting the guards would be the easiest solutions, but that is not an option here."


    "Yeah, anyone who realized something like this had happened would know the culprit, and the guards would be a loose end. So, what, use stealth golems to sneak in as they change shifts?"


    The AI shook her head.


    "Negative. Not only would this require substantial investment in time and resources to manufacture golems in sufficient numbers to carry some of the pieces, but the hallway defenses also constitute a formidable barriers. The golems would have to accompany the guards as they move in, and the golems can either keep pace or stay hidden from the layered arcane sensors, not both."


    "Right." Because speed can compromise stealth. The eternal fucking conundrum, from submarines during the Terran Hegemony War to stealth recon frigates in Alpha Centauri. "What then?"


    "It is simple. The sensors do not detect sufficiently stealthed high technology if it is carried by someone authorized, or the stealth golems would not have been able to be brought in."


    Alexandra tilted her head, and she laughed.


    "You''re going to make the guards carry them out?"


    "Yes. They bring crates of supplies down that they then carry back out, to allow troops to eat and drink here. We will have to place the components within."


    "That''s going to take a bit."


    "The smaller parts can be hidden in any ration tin can. The problem will be taking possession once they are out."


    Alexandra pinched the bridge of her nose as she closed her eyes.


    Oh dear.


    "Right. Of course. because let me guess, those crates are going to be stored in the cellars. The ones used to store siege supplies. The highly secure ones the Count is extremely paranoid about because they''re what allowed the city to survive Sunrise''s attack."


    "Affirmative."


    "So, you want us to transfer our parts from a highly secure location to a slightly less secure one, then repeatedly heist the latter?"


    "That is the plan."


    Alexandra sighed.


    "I''m not sure if that''s insane or brilliant. Probably both." The dungeon core opened her eyes. "Do it."


    After all, some of the stranger arcane sensors on the cavern...they probably either belonged to or were tapped by the God of Fire. But why would he monitor a collection of food?


    If crap went sideways, they could manage the count and his people.


    "We shall begin preparations immediately."

 Chapter 322 - Chain Reaction

    Chapter 322


    Qualen Woods, Archduchy of Rebirth


    Darthar-Asaria Trade Route


    Alexandra sighed as she gazed at the forest all around the army.


    With Allya and Pyn consuming their honey moon with great enthusiasm, and regular needs of her powers to create new, ah, marital aids, she had been left to face the more mundane problems of the army with Manson and Philia. Rim would have been a nice help as well, but he was busy trailing behind, marking places for fortifications or traps, turning his ad hoc force into something approaching sappers. Which, given what they had turned Myriu into, was probably a good fit for them.


    "Well, at least it''s better looking than the scrublands." Said Philia, as the Knight-Commander leaned on the railing of the So Much For Subtlety at Alexandra''s side. "That''s something."


    "Yeah, but it''s harder to go through."


    "Would be, if your mech wasn''t stomping over everything."


    Alexandra chuckled. As she had expected, the Mackie was making a mockery of the terrain, clearing a path for the army and her armored column by just walking through the forest, it''s shield preventing debris from clogging up the passage. It wasn''t exactly a road, but her spider tanks and the cavalry behind them didn''t need a road.


    "True. But we''re nearing the high road, aren''t we?"


    The Knight-Commander nodded.


    "We are." The duchies were all linked by ''high roads'', gigantic pseudo highways that had been the fulcrum of the fighting during Sunrise''s advance. They were nearing the one between Asaria and Sarth, who went through the Royal Union Bridge. "It should make movement much easier. It was made to accommodate the entire royal army if necessary." Philia''s face went dark. "Not that there''s much left of it."


    Alexandra laid her hand on the knight''s shoulder.


    "Look, if it''s any consolation, I intend to help rebuild it."


    "Do you now?" Philia looked at the dungeon core, then away. "Sorry, that was...harsh. You''ve been nothing but a faithful ally."


    "But...?"


    "But...I''m afraid. You could take over the kingdom. With just a few words. Their majesties wouldn''t be able to stand in your way."


    "Allya wouldn''t stand for that."


    "Does what she want matter?"


    Alexandra double checked the privacy systems, and turned them on to eleven. The ship in general wasn''t as well shielded as the bridge, but it would have to do.


    Because like it or not, it looked like they were going to have that discussion.


    "It does, actually." Answered the dungeon core, softly, and she smiled as the knight looked at her in surprise. "It does. I gave her a true alliance, and I meant it."


    The Knight-Commander nodded.


    "And so you meant it when you said you don''t want to take over the kingdom."


    It wasn''t a question, but Alexandra answered it nonetheless.


    "I did."


    The officer looked off into the distance.


    "Will it stop there?"


    Alexandra closed her eyes.


    "No. No it won''t."


    "...You intend to keep their majesties ruling the kingdom, but vassalize them, do you not? Create something...greater."


    "Yes. Something like that."


    "They''ll do it, you know."


    "Do what?"


    The Knight-Commander met the dungeon core''s gaze.


    "Swear fealty. Not just their majesties either. Amelia Loveheart, the entire New Republic...they''ll bend the knee, if you ask. And once they do...the continent will follow."


    "I''m not sure it''ll be that easy."


    "It will." Said the Knight-Commander, and her tone brokered no argument. "Did you know the Eris Empire''s greatest fear is this continent? For centuries now, they''ve been wetting their undergarnments about what Arkhan could be, what it could achieve if it unified. It''s why they pushed so hard for their majesties'' grandfather not to push south into the Republic, tried to hold him back, even through threats."


    "I...wasn''t aware."


    The knight chuckled.


    "Well, we kept it pretty tight."


    "So it seems. So they''re afraid?"


    "Arkhan has the...potential. The high technology and innovation of Tark, and the arcane might of the Saphire Kingdom. Together, they would be...devastating. Luckily, they were separated by nothing but enemies." The Knight-Commander sighed. "And now, you''re about to put only yourself between them."


    "And what, that will convince them to submit?"


    "No. But this entire continent has been balanced on the rivalry between the Kingdom and the Republic for centuries. If unified...our nations represent three quarters of the continent''s population, our only achilles'' heel was our low technology. But you solved that, didn''t you?"Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    "I guess I did, yes."


    "So they''ll suddenly have a new Empire on their doorsteps, that separates them from any possible ally, and could probably crush them all simultaneously anyway. That''s not even to mention what you''ve been doing. If you crush Sunrise, the people of Tark and the Saphire Kingdom will sing your praises."


    "Why would the Saphirians care?"


    "Where do you think many of those slaves come from?"


    Alexandra closed her eyes. The cross border raids. Of fucking course. That''s why the Saphire Kingdom had been constantly assailing Sunrise''s border before the war.


    "I see."


    "Of course, if you become popular..."


    "I become a threat to the existing regimes. How likely is it that they''ll attack?"


    The Knight-Commander shrugged.


    "I don''t know. Tark...if the Hegemon had been killed, they might have, but if she''s not attacking the senate, to give the New Republic a chance, she sure as hell won''t attack you. Let alone you through them, once they swear allegiance."


    "If they swear allegiance."


    Alexandra shivered as the knight gave her a sad smile.


    "Right. The Saphire Kingdom is the damned wildcard here. I know them. I''ve fought them, I''ve negotiated with them, visited them...their people will adore you, but the council or archmages? They care little of what their people want. Besides, you intend to drive north to Tivaro, don''t you?"


    "I do."


    "Then they''ll resist you. I think. Unless you have something to hammer them aside with, they''ll resist you."


    "Then I better grab a big hammer."


    "Let''s hope it will be enough."


    The tone of the Knight-Commander said it all about how successful she thought the dungeon core would be.


    "Let''s hope."


    *****


    There was only silence in the cellar, as the last visitors, a couple of maids looking for a quiet place to prepare gifts for the birthday of one of their colleagues, had left hours ago.


    The stealth golems awakened, and skittered between the crates. The cellar was a strange amalgamation of a pantry and supply depot, with a section set aside for ''used'' crates, to be replenished.


    A particular crate was quickly opened, and then closed again as a handful of packages were taken from it.


    Then the stealth golems vanished again, weaving through the shroud of alarms and sensors, guards and traps laid around the critical cellar.


    And an hour later, the packages were delivered, and loaded onboard a larger container, that would accompany a supply convoy headed home, to bring back more desperately needed armaments for the army up North.


    Fabricator Status Report


    From: Ghost


    To: Alexandra


    First delivery complete. Estimated time of completion: one week.


    *****


    "Fucking hell." Said Alexandra as she gazed at the images.


    "Impressive, isn''t it?" Manson chuckled.


    The dungeon core nodded.


    "To say the fucking least."


    After a few test flights and some rather timid forays into their surroundings, she''d finally decided it was time for her new carriers to have their blackbirds taken for a spin, and she''d sent them forward, to the Royal Union Bridge.


    She''d been warned about what to expect, but...damn.


    She had seen smaller megahighways, the monsters of neoconcrete that serviced the megalopolises of Earth. Even with their advancement in public transportation, there was still a need for personal vehicles after all. Hell, it was bigger than the Crimson Path, the remnants of the Old World highway she''d had to cross after the army had marched out of Darthar.


    There was no way there was anywhere near the level of traffic on the high road to justify that thing''s existence. Though, that wasn''t the point. It had been a prestige project, built by the King''s grandfather, after he had crushed his own civil war and conquered Darthar. Hence the name, it was supposed to represent the reunification of the kingdom, and the bonds of fealty between Asaria and Sarth, who had served as the crown''s backbone during that war.


    "So, as you see, it will accommodate a great deal of troops." Said Philia.


    "Sunrise appears to have taken advantage of that already." Remarked the commander of the desert rangers, bitterly, and everyone nodded.


    Sunrise''s army, or at least its vanguard, was there. And they weren''t alone.


    They had the UDC''s fleet with them.


    "How did they get here so fast?" Asked one of the officers, and Alexandra shrugged.


    "They had the high road to use, while we had to punch through a trade route and the environment. A trade route that has fallen into disrepair for months due to the war too. I''m presuming they had some slaves from the garrisons maintain the high road so they could march on Sarth eventually, if the southern army had failed. And with the UDC to provide lift capacity, with most of it unused with us having annihilated a great deal of their army..."


    "Well they''re certainly here for the party." Philia gestured at the ranks of monsters backing up Sunrise''s troops.


    "They are." Alexandra gazed at the troops, and grimaced. "Were we there, we could punch through that."


    "We could." Agreed Manson. "But we''re not."


    "No. No we''re not. And by the time we do get there, the rest of the army will probably be there with them."


    "Do we know when that''ll happen?"


    "No clue. I turned the aircrafts around after getting recon of the area, I decided against pushing further north. One step at a time and all that."


    "Very well. So our plan is unchanged?"


    "For the most part." They didn''t need to know that with the fabricator being smuggled out, it might change the face of this war forever. "But we do know where our enemies are."


    "Always a good advantage to have. Then let us continue our march North. We have traitors to kill."


    "That we do. That we do..."


    *****


    "Well, well, well..." Said Satina Olyrin, duchess of Sunrise, as she looked at the report. "So that explains how she is so well informed."


    "Yes." Said the spy master. The man definitely looked the worse for wear, even though he''d mostly kept to the shadows since she''d dragged him across the kingdom. "If those aircrafts are even remotely loaded with equipment..."


    "They''re like the Eris Empire''s ''jets''." Added Mahikam, Marquis of Caliban. "Should we begin destroying them? If our mages can see them, they can shoot them down, easily."


    "Patience, nephew, patience." Chided the duchess. "Do not be so quick to destroy such a potentially useful tool."


    "A tool? For us, you mean?"


    "Yes. With them undiscovered and unchallenged the dungeon core believes herself fully informed and invisible. That makes her overconfident. Good, let''s keep her that way."


    "But our plan-"


    "Will work even better with them in play. We will have to time it carefully of course, but if we make our play right after one of those recon flights, she will only believe that she has seen everything, and the surprise will be even more complete."


    The Marquis didn''t look fully convinced, but he nodded nonetheless.


    "As you say, your grace."


    "Good." The duchess turned back towards the spymaster. "What of the status of our...allies?"


    "They appear sincere. I have reports of ships leaving Tivaro."


    "Good. And their majesties'' little plan?"


    The spymaster grimaced.


    "It had the desired effect. Many neutral nobles are declaring themselves for the crown." He coughed. "That, coupled with the guerillas, and their elimination of the Brigadier...your grace, Molro and Kaidan are in open revolt."


    "But our home territories hold?"


    "Yes." The ''for now'' was implicit, and the Duchess winced.


    "Well, I won''t shed any tears for that traitorous bastard. Your people are keeping him from recovering, yes?"


    "So far, but there''s no telling when his men will catch on and root out the poison."


    "Every second bought is a blessing." Simply answered the Duchess. "Then we only need to get the army forward. And then..." She closed her eyes. "And then we shall wait. And pray."


    Only grim nods answered her.


    The die was cast, as the extradimensionals said.


    They simply had to hope that they would succeed.

 All The Fallen World Books are available as hardcover !

    Hello everyone !


    This is to tell you guys that all the books of The Fallen World should be available in hardcover on amazon ! Here''s the link to the series on amazon if you''re interested : https://geni.us/TheFallenWorldseries</a>This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    The hardcovers have been available for a bit, actually, but I kept forgetting to do the announcement, and I just had way too much on my mind. But now that my patrons have gotten me to take a damned break after writing a third of an entire novel in a row (yes, really. Let''s just say that new story is coming along nicely) and kicking off book 10, and I remembered it. So, here''s the announcement. Better late than never !


    Also, a slight aside : I know a lot of people are waiting for news on the audiobooks as well, and I''d love to give you something more concrete but because of NDA shenanigans I simply cannot. Literally all I can tell you is the noncomital corporate "They''re comingTM", and I''m sorry for that. I hope to have better news after the holidays.


    To celebrate, chapter 323 will be posted tomorrow. I hope you''ll enjoy it !

 Chapter 323 - Special Delivery

    Chapter 323


    Red Sands Desert, Archduchy of Rebirth


    City of Darthar, Branch Office


    "Did we get it all?" Asked Alexandra as she looked at the pile of packages.


    "Yes." Ghost smiled as she gazed at the carefully wrapped and protected parts. "We have them all. Every single one. All functional."


    "How did it go?"


    Ghost grimaced.


    "It was touch and go for the bigger ones, honestly. Had to slap some low profile gravity manipulation to counter the excessive weight, but couldn''t do anything about the inertia without showing up on sensors. The guards caught on something was odd for one crate, and opened it, but saw nothing amiss, and simply concluded they must have been too tired by their long shift, or that something of the pure magic in the air must have affected it. But there was no follow up."


    Alexandra closed her eyes.


    "That''s good."


    "It is. So, home then?"


    "Yes. For self replication."


    "The preparations are done on your end?"


    Alexandra smiled.


    "And then some. Since we can use those onboard the Flickerlight to test prototypes, we''ve started developing the next gen of units using the fabricators to make them."


    "That''s good. You know, I was thinking about it, but if we put some of those fabricators in the branch offices..."


    "We can push them in the green, even if the materials have to made here. I know." Alexandra grimaced. "It''s a shame teleportation, even in our influence is so damned expensive, or I''d send some stuff over."


    "I mean, we could ship it via airship."


    "Yeah, right, and shatter the illusion? No, better to hide that weakness." Alexandra grinned. "Besides, once we get all those fabricators distributed, they''ll still think those branch offices are a loss of mana."


    "While they''ll be anything but. I like it."


    "Yeah. Will just have to be equally careful during transport, since, well, high tech outside of our influence..."


    "Well, I guess the container we made won''t go to waste then."


    "Yeeep. Will probably ship in the fabricators rather than one per branch office and make them self replicate. Something tells me they really won''t be cheap."


    "It''s your call Alex." Ghost looked at the dungeon core. "By the way, I hear you were starting to have some issues up north?"


    Alexandra grimaced.


    "Yeah, Sunrise is starting to do some harassment on our supply lines. And some neutral nobles have begun joining us."


    "Not very welcome, I assume?"


    "Well, it was the goal their majesties were aiming for, but they''re still being something of a pain in the ass. Plus, you know, nobody trusts them. They stood aside and wiped their asses with their oaths once, they will do so again."


    "So, keep them close?"


    "Yeeep."


    "Alrighty. Do you need help with dealing with the raids?"


    "Oh don''t worry. Ella and Sarah helped me with our solution already."


    Ghost''s face went white.


    "Uh...Ella? Please don''t tell me-"


    "Oh yes. Yes she did. Let''s just say they''ll have to make sure not to...choke one the next convoy they attack."


    Alexandra''s smile was downright vicious, while Ghost looked at her worryingly.


    Because more and more...the dungeon core reminded her of herself. Like the barriers and suppressed memories that made her a different person were slowly breaking down.


    And that was terrifying.


    "Just...make sure you rein it in, alright?"


    "Sure."


    "Have you had anymore of those dreams lately?"


    Alexandra winced.


    "I have, actually. One about Arcadia. You know, the premiere of Interstellar Justice Three?"


    "Oh yeah. She did look good in that dress."


    "She did, though I meant more of before, when she barged into our office."


    "An odd memory to revisit."


    "Perhaps." Alexandra frowned. "It''s...worrying me, honestly."


    "Same on my end. I''m...I''m worried your barriers are breaking down."Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    The dungeon core froze.


    "That''s...a horrifying concept."


    "I know."


    "I''ll run some diagnostics."


    "Thanks."


    They both looked at each other, with the awkwardness only two instances of the same person could share.


    "So, progress on the AIs?" Finally said Ghost.


    "Going apace. Though the ships might prove a bit more complicated to make."


    "Not easy to make a mage ship, uh?"


    "Nooope." Alexandra smiled. "But we''ll get there. Everything has been distributed from the reinforcements up north, and is ready to rock. The new enchanted ammo...and the new missiles."


    "Really ready to unleash a weapon of the Old World in public?"


    Alexandra sighed.


    "It''s for emergencies. If push comes to shove...well, we can use them, and we might need them. Badly."


    "Point taken."


    "Alright, enough joking around. Let''s get that fabricator shipped off, and kick off another dungeon industrial revolution."


    *****


    CQ smiled, as she tried to stop herself from strangling the person across from her desk.


    The perks of mom actually putting her in the command structure was that she got a desk and people actually came to her for stuff.


    The downside was that ''people'' included self important nobles with an entire forest''s worth of sticks in their behind.


    So much for the ''neutrals'' reinforcing them.


    "I have not marched a hundred kilometers to be stonewalled! I am the countess of Halur, and-"


    "And you demand to speak to the dungeon core." Finished CQ, her eyes narrowing.


    "I do."


    "Then my answer is the same as to all of your...colleagues'' request. No. My mo-"


    "How dare you!" The countess reached out and slapped the boss. "How dare you harlot stone wall me? Get in your place you peasant! Your are cannon fodder for your betters, and a punching bag for adventurers, nothing more!"


    CQ was so shocked by the gesture and words that it took her a solid second to even raise a hand to her cheek.


    Then the words finally reached her conscious mind, and suddenly her sword wasn''t in its scabbard anymore, but halfway through the noble''s ribcage.


    The countess let out a choked scream as blood flowed from her lips, before her eyes glazed over into oblivion as the boss stepped back, extricating her sword, and twirled in a single, fluid motion, swiping the noble''s head off of her shoulders.


    There was shocked silence in her tent.


    Then the other nobles began screaming, as their bodyguards unsheathed their blades. And CQ suddenly realized that she didn''t have her own guards, because after all, what did she have to fear?


    The guards leapt for her, and suddenly she was somewhere else, stepping through space to outside of her tent.


    The nobles came stumbling out, some of them vomitting, but one fixed his febrile gaze on her, and screamed.


    "Kill her! Kill her! She''s a murderer!"


    Many of the guards of the noble delegation, who had waited outside her tent on its little hill, were confused, but they drew their weapons. They didn''t know what she looked like after all, and for them she might as well have been a strangely dressed assassin.


    CQ quickly calculated her chances...and grabbed her radio.


    "CQ! Excelsior excelsior excelsior!" She screamed into the hand held as the guards rushed her.


    And all hell broke loose.


    Despite having the teleport talisman, she wouldn''t use it bar a last resort. Not only to prevent others from knowing that it existed and learning of its capabilities, but also because she didn''t want to miss another damned battle by having to drag her way back to the army. Again.


    So she had emergency protocols, despite her lack of guards. And the one she had just used threw the entire place into chaos.


    The guards rushed her, naked blades glistening in the mid afternoon sunlight...and staggered back as a hail of gunfire slammed into their wards.


    They whirled around, meeting the new threat, only for their eyes to go wide as they recognized the golems shooting at them.


    Unfortunately, they didn''t have the time to realize their mistake...or surrender, as the last remaining Tetsudo screamed overhead, its guns thundering as it passed by, firing its full broadside into the clump of nobles and soldiers, blowing them every which way with shells.


    The air was filled with screams as nobles and bodyguards alike scrambled to get back up or clutched their wounds.


    Those who went back to their feet only did so to realize that the closest golem units were assault sappers.


    And their standard infantry lineup included flamethrowers.


    The screams redoubled as the flames devoured them, only to end abruptly as one of the corsairs finally got its turret around, and turned half of the hill into a smoking crater, pelting the entire area in steaming chunks of meat and burning offal.


    CQ simply stood there, breathing heavily as she stared at the devastation.


    "CQ! Are you alright?"


    The boss whirled around at the sound of her mother''s voice, and before she knew it she was in the ambassador golem''s arms.


    "Mom! They...they attacked me!"


    "Who? Who did?"


    "The nobles! They said...One of them said I was a harlot!"


    CQ saw the human soldiers, who were rushing forward to support the golems, physically recoil as something enshrouded her mother, waves of blind terror and hatred hitting them like a sledgehammer.


    "What." Said the dungeon core with a voice colder than the void between the stars. She turned towards one of her officer golems, and gestured for it to come forward. "Bring up one of the resurrection orbs. Now."


    The golem nodded, and slammed its fist against its chestplate.


    The boss stayed there while they waited, her mom caressing her hair and murmuring reassuring words into her ears.


    No one dared approach them. Those that built up enough courage were stopped dead in their tracks by the cordon of heavily armed golems or their own brothers in arms.


    At last however, the orb was brought in from the healers'' tents, and Alexandra snapped her fingers. Golems streamed forward, separating bodies. Miraculously, they found the corpse of the countess, almost fully intact, besides the wounds CQ had inflicted.


    The boss sniffled, and pointed at the body.


    This time she felt the wave of hatred radiating off of her mom, despite being certain her mother was doing everything in her power to deflect it away from her. She saw several of the soldiers faint in the crowd, having to be caught by others.


    The resurrection orb flashed, and the countess bolted up, screaming.


    "What- How- You-" The countess laid an outraged gaze on CQ...only to let out a strangled screech, as Alexandra grabbed the noble by the throat, and raised her into the air, the hologram on her ambassador''s hand glitching madly as she did so.


    "Listen to me you self absorbed piece of shit. Ever touch even a single hair on my daughter''s head again and I will impale you on my flagship''s prow after filling your veins with regeneration potions, so that the entire army may feast upon your screams of pain for days on end. Do you understand me, bitch?!?" Screamed out the dungeon core. The noble nodded convulsively, and Alexandra sneered, tossing her into the pile of bodies waiting to be resurrected. "Get out of my sight you filth."


    The countess scrambled off of the corpses and fled into the army, her raw panic and adrenaline somehow barely offsetting the effects of being resurrected. Alexandra simply whirled around, and stalked back towards the command tent, leading CQ by the hand, the soldiers parting along her way without a word.


    Then the soldiers turned away from them...and back towards the pile of bodies, slowly being resurrected, as well as the newly arrived ''neutral'' nobles'' armies.


    And CQ knew, instinctively, that even if her mother was prepared to forgive, which she never was, any chance of those integrating into the army as they had thought was done and dead.


    The soldiers seemed to think of her as some kind of mascot, and had the golems not been so blindingly fast in their reaction, they no doubt would have rushed to her side to defend her. In fact, most of them had appeared to be in the process of doing so, entire battalions of troops moving to her aid.


    Now...now they would no doubt turn their guns on their newfound ''allies'', if they could make up the excuses.


    For the first time, CQ understood the terrifying power of being an icon, a symbol. Of just how much her mere presence and actions could change things.


    And she also understood that this wasn''t just some pampering maids. Some of these people would have died for her, without blinking, laid out their lives for her immortal one. And that terrified her. She didn''t want the burden of their deaths. The burden to give them meaning.


    Why would anyone want this? Why would anyone bear this?


    She looked at her mom''s back as they neared the tent, and closed her eyes as she understood.


    Because someone had to.

 Chapter 324 - Supply Lines

    Chapter 324


    Qualen Woods, Archduchy of Rebirth


    Darthar-Asaria Trade Route


    "Please don''t be mad." Said CQ to her mother as the Earth-born exited the command tent.


    "Why would I be mad at you?" Said the dungeon core, surprised.


    "I mean at yourself, mom. You''re the one who told me to deal with the nobles."


    Alexandra''s face softened.


    "Thanks kiddo. But...I still bear some responsibility."


    "But-"


    "No buts. Now, I''ve talked to Manson. They won''t trouble you anymore. If they didn''t get the message after what happened today, our allies will hammer it the rest of the way into their skulls for us."


    "What''s going to happen?"


    "We''ll allow them to stay...if they dissolve their existing structures, and put themselves under the complete command of the duke. In effect, they''ll be another group of volunteer regiments."


    CQ tilted her head, remembering the soldiers lining up the side of the army, as she had to watch from the screen.


    "The volunteers aren''t so good at following orders mom."


    "That''s because we don''t keep them on a tight leash, by design. Those would be on a very tight one." Alexandra smiled. "It''s high time we broke up these feudal forces and finally hammer in a real army. And you just handed me the anvil. So thanks."


    "I did good?"


    Alexandra hugged her daughter.


    "You did. Now-" She blinked, tilting her head. "Huh."


    "Mom?"


    "Just got a ping from the drones. Looks like someone is getting close to our...special delivery. Wanna watch the maids'' handiwork?"


    "Yes!"


    "Then let''s get up to the Subtlety!"


    *****


    The rebels flowed out of the night like shadows. Enslaved adventurers and hunters made for fantastic stealth troops, and the guards were overrun in seconds.


    The golem ones, that was. The human ones were nowhere to be seen. The slaves secured the area, before shock troops followed up. Those were actual Sunrise soldiers, wielding captured rifles and submachine guns. They deployed, ready to defend the convoy, as the slaves began opening the wagons, and pulling out crates.


    There was a certain nervousness to their movement. This wasn''t their first time, but something was...off.


    Besides which, they all knew it was only a question of time until the dungeon core caught on.


    One of Sunrise''s officers walked to a crate, carried by two slaves, and flipped it open after they set it down before her.


    The officer''s eyebrows rose. Then, finally, the warning signs percolated through her brain.


    She screamed.


    And a split second later, the chemical warheads, neatly lined up in the crate, detonated, quickly followed by others throughout the convoy.


    Slaves and regulars alike went down. Some of the regulars managed to run out of the spreading gas cloud''s reach, but the slaves, absent orders, simply stood there as the neurotoxin enveloped them, delivering the sweet embrace of death, liberation from their torment.


    The regulars stared, wide eyed, at the field of corpses, trying to make sense of what had happened.


    They were still finding their footing when the desert rangers plugged them full of crossbow bolts.


    Mission complete.


    *****


    "Well, that took care of their most annoying raiders." Said Alexandra, satisfaction clear in her voice as she gazed at the images.


    The drones were quickly proving their worth. Despite their relative lack of strategic speed, not to mention their inability to operate in the wasteland, or anywhere where monsters were likely to take a bite out of them for that matter, they were immensely useful. This operation wouldn''t have been possible without them. At least it wouldn''t have been this smooth.


    "Yes. But still, I question the use of those...weapons." Said Manson, clearly troubled.


    Alexandra sighed internally. Chemical weapons had been iffy to use on Earth, for a variety of reasons, and even she was extra squeamish about it thanks to the remnants of the horrors unleashed by the Terran Hegemony she''d witnessed, but Alcheryos took it to another level.


    They''d been a preferred tool during the Great Night, and many a settlement bordering the wasteland or expedition within had been wiped out by chemical spewing automata.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Automata the God of Fire had kept online, but that went without saying. Though it did bring Alexandra to wonder why the hell did those robots have chemical weaponry, since a great deal of the military appeared to have been partially automated by that point, though as her foray into the supply ship supporting the Hammer of Eternity had shown, there had been human crews behind them.


    Corrosive gases, that could damage machinery as well, maybe? Certainly not neurotoxins, like what she''d just used.


    "They will be necessary. And in this case, they were a mercy."


    "A mercy?"


    Alexandra nodded.


    "For the slaves. With this, they got a clean, painless death, and they will be easier to resurrect." That was how the maids had sold the idea to her, and although she was somewhat...dubious that it had been anything but a sales pitch, it was a valid one. "It''s certainly better than blowing them apart with bombs and picking up the pieces."


    "Point taken. Still it...goes against the grain."


    Alexandra shrugged.


    "Perhaps, yes. But we need to stack the deck in our favor, and I''m not going to discard our aces."


    "Right. Of course. Will you be using...more of them?"


    "Only on the retreat. We''ll need to get them to slow down, and it should help considerably."


    "Let''s hope." The duke sighed. "Any more...surprises in your coming convoys?"


    "I have nothing but surprises. But...no. Not much." Not because she didn''t have more things in store, but because she was stockpiling resources. As soon as the fabricator arrived, she would start replicating it. She might even use her dungeon powers to speed up the process. She was going to do quite possibly her greatest infrastructure expansion yet, and it was going to bankrupt her.


    She''d considered some measures to increase her income, but none were really viable. Expanding the dungeon itself was starting to bring diminishing returns, at least for the time being, and would be a long term gain anyway, not to mention it would require its own upfront infrastructure cost, making it a net loss on the time scale she was operating at.


    Expanding her influence was also a no go. It would net her a lot of mana, probably, but the growing interference might reach her mesa fortress and prevent her from editing it. And since she still hadn''t finished her shield and point defense project, to fend off an orbital bombardment attack...


    Thus, she was stuck with cutting expenses, and that meant lowering production of new stuff and the infrastructure to build them, while also dialing everything else down. It would mean a lull in the flow of armaments, but a veritable roar later. The eternal balance of industry, produce what you need now, or set up greater production for later?


    Thankfully, she had some modern equipment reserves to draw from, though they were running dangerously low, so she could play that game, even if barely.


    But what she would be able to build afterwards...oh yeah. Sunrise was going to have a bad, very bad day. She''d just need for the army to hold them off for that long.


    "While I am relieved that you are currently out of surprises, I am also somewhat sad of that fact." Said the duke, and Alexandra laughed.


    "I said I had no new ones in the incoming convoys, not that I was out of them."


    "Point taken."


    "I assume you have the nobles handled?"


    "I''m letting them stew for a bit, get all worked up about the horrible fate you no doubt have reserved for them for their transgressions, before swooping in for a hard but fair rescue from the vengeful dungeon core and her golem army." Alexandra barked out a laugh as Manson smiled ."I expect some excellent results."


    "With a good cop, bad cop like that? Yeah, no kidding. Alright then. Time for me to hop on home, I have some reinforcements to prepare." And a fabricator to receive and assemble.


    "Good luck, lady Crystal."


    "Thanks, but I prefer to make my own."


    "No doubt. But still, sometimes one has to roll the dice."


    Alexandra grimaced internally. She''d already done that by taking over the Flickerlight. She was lucky she hadn''t rolled low, since no one seemed to have notice the ship''s change in its communication ping.


    "Yes, well, I''d rather avoid it if at all possible, unless I''ve weighted said dice."


    "If you''re not cheating, you''re not trying hard enough, right?" Manson smiled, and Alexandra chuckled.


    "Precisely, your grace. You''re a fast learner."


    "An old war horse like me always has some room for new tricks."


    "Well I guess you''re full of surprises as well."


    "Mine have a lower body count."


    Alexandra shrugged.


    "What can I say? I like spectacle and crushing my enemies."


    "Then let''s make a show out of Sunrise''s defeat, shall we?"


    "Yes. Let''s."


    *****


    Orzal Vek, formerly colonel of the Elkis Republic, now agent and officer of the Order to Restore Humanity, gazed at the army, progressing through the scrublands.


    Hugging the wasteland like that was a risky gamble, but it appeared to be paying off. The army was making good time, better than what the senate probably expected. They would be in position to march on Mystral soon, cutting through the floodplains and young forests to the north of the vital trade link, rather than the massive, old forests and marshlands that would have otherwise impeded their progress.


    It was a shame he was there to prevent that.


    He gestured at one of his men, who pulled out the emitter. When he had been told what they were about to do, he''d been horrified, but what choice did he have?


    With this, they would broadcast a signal that would awaken the defenses that surrounded the large lake within the wasteland. The lake that had once been a city...a city the God of Fire had murdered upon his return, slaughtering millions of innocents by bombing them from orbit upon his return.


    The more he worked with the Order, and the more he learned of the truth of the world...the more he was starting to wonder if they weren''t right. If their cause wasn''t...just.


    If only their methods weren''t so abominable.


    Orzal grabbed the remote, put his hand on the button, and...


    He froze, as the artifact glasses he was wearing flashed warnings. He became perfectly still, his brand new stealth systems fading him into the background.


    He was in the perfect spot to observe the advancing army, for he had wanted to gaze and remember what he had unleashed.


    But perfect meant that equally competent others would think of it as well, and his eyes darted as he saw the whispers of stealth fields. Not stealth composites like those of the Old World, but shrouds of energy.


    Divine technology. And not the low end either.


    He was surrounded by a strike team of Seraphims.


    He slowly, very slowly, loosened his holster, and prepared himself for annihilation. But to his amazement, a voice began speaking.


    "Adjudicator. There is no further sign of the heretics."


    "Then we must have gotten ahead of them." Answered another voice, coming from the ether, dispersed by the stealth field to prevent a lock on to its speaker. "Send your men below, and set up an ambush between those troops and the wasteland. This army mustn''t be stopped, at any cost."


    "Yes, adjudicator."


    The former colonel held his breath as the faint signatures moved on, one lingering behind the others, seemingly taking in the view. And he realized that his insistence on setting up well in advance and simply observing the army move in, in silence had just saved his life and that of his strike team.


    Their stealth, after all, wasn''t impenetrable...but a passively stealthed object not emitting energy and effectively immobile, as they had been for the last few hours, was damned near impossible to find. The Seraphims'' own tech even had the weakness of being faintly detectable at point blank range if they were moving, as they had just demonstrated.


    The colonel exchanged a glance with his second in command, whose distress he could read even through the camouflage.


    The mission was aborted...and high command needed to know. They were being followed.


    And the Seraphims were coming out to play.


    Well...looked like that regardless of his superiors'' wishes, they had the opportunity for a trap.


    He had to make a call.

 The Fallen World Book 1 is FREE TO KEEP on Kindle !

    Hello everyone !


    This is to tell you guys that The Fallen World Book 1, Dungeon Engineer, is FREE TO KEEP on Amazon Kindle for those interested. This is NOT a joke ! Here is the link if you''re interested : https://geni.us/DungeonEngineer</a>A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Merry (if slightly belated) Christmas everyone !


    P.S : Neither had the inspiratio nor time for a Christmas special, but I will try to do one when I have some juice.

 Chapter 325 - Fabrication

    Chapter 325


    Red Sands Desert, Archduchy of Rebirth


    Dungeon Factory, Shipyard


    Alexandra smiled as the ship finished its docking sequence, and the unloading cranes deployed.


    So far, so good.


    "Now, be careful with it." She told Subtlety and Seraph. The older AI simply pointed at the giant pile of gravity manipulators, backup cranes and even entire mats of ''kinetic absorption material'', aka foam, lining the floor.


    "Affirmative. Precautions have been taken."


    The dungeon core chuckled.


    "Alright, alright! I''m just being a worrier."


    "Affirmative."


    Alexandra tilted her head. Was the AI giving her sass now?


    "Right."


    She watched as the stealthed container was carefully removed from the ship, then moved to a special holding area, and loaded onboard a train that looked like a pile of safety equipment more than anything.


    One of the simple upgrades her people had added to their logistics network had been to throw out the old minecart network, and replace it with a full train one. It wasn''t made for long trains and such, but it didn''t have to. The longest trips here were vertical, and she had cargo elevators for that.


    The trip to the fabrication chamber, the monster of industry where she had stored Seraph''s fabricators to constantly build her high tech spare parts, was a short one, with Alexandra and her AIs taking one of the express elevators, stepping out well before the container rolled in, and subsequently unloaded.


    "Alright." Alexandra cracked her neck as the golems opened the container. "Let''s get to it."


    *****


    "So, you''ll have to spend a while replicating them?" Said Allya, as she sipped on her hot chocolate.


    The archduchess looked a lot younger, and happier, than Alexandra had ever seen her. The same could be said for Pyn, for that matter, the newlyweds both looking a bit tired, but thoroughly fulfilled.


    "Yes." The dungeon core glanced at the elf, who was busy assembling toasts and then passing half over to her wife. "It''s the eternal battle. Do I produce the gear that I need now, or the industry I''ll need later? Since in this case I''m planning on buying time to begin with, I can afford to scale up a bit."


    "So you''ll just do industrial development for a bit?" Allya bit into her toast, spraying crumbs everywhere as she continued. "No offense, but Manson''s gonna ask questions."


    "I have some gear stockpiles to keep up the flow of ammo and reinforcements for a bit." Basically stuff she''d built after she''d sent the army. "But you''re right, the duke will wonder why there isn''t any of the new, experimental stuff. I can placate him a bit with the new munitions, it''s not like the enchanters can make fabricators anyway, even if I trusted them with them. But..."


    "But you''ll need my help."


    "Yep."


    "I can come up with some distractions, and keep him focused on something else." The archduchess took another sip of her hot chocolate. "But it''ll only last so long."


    "I don''t need much time. I''ve already set the fabricators to self replicate."


    "Not using your powers?" Said Pyn, before biting into her own toast.


    Alexandra grimaced.


    "I considered it, but it''s so damned expensive. Instead I have the other fabricators make all the parts they can to feed into the unlocked one. It speeds up the process..."


    "But one fabricator is still a hard bottleneck." Finished Allya.


    "Yep. A lot of the parts are locked out too, so it''s not like I''m fully using the other fabricators."


    "Right. But once you''re done?"


    "I''ve started serious development on fabricator made hardware, mainly low tech, for the war. Luckily, I should be able to keep up my ship and some of my mech production up and running, at least until I reach a certain stage in the fabricator numbers. Then I''ll have to switch to full replication."


    The elf, now archduchess consort, tilted her head.


    "Wait, if those fabricators will take all your money to run, how will you keep it up?"


    "They wouldn''t. One, because manufacturing all that other stuff will be less costly per fabrication time than building another fabricator. Golems aren''t expensive, in fact they''re dirt fucking cheap with these things, they just need time to make, hence why I need a lot of fabricators. Plus, I have to keep up golem production for the dungeon, but once I''m done with the fabricators, I can phase out my old mechanisms and save a ton of mana."


    "Why not do that in stages? Like, build four fabricators, set one aside for golem production, use the other three to build up, saving yourself money as you grow the capacity and keep up other productions on the side?"


    Alexandra grimaced.


    "I considered that, but I''m afraid of using up too much time for too little gain. This will be decided by a decisive battle at the end of a long string of attrition, not the attrition itself. Sunrise''s army won''t be defeated by a mere fighting retreat, no matter how bloody it is."


    "Provided they don''t grind you into the dust through that attrition." Warned Allya, and Alexandra nodded.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    "Provided they don''t. But still, I don''t think drip feeding new hardware would be a good idea."


    "Well, I guess you''ll have to rely on the human troops then, won''t you?"


    The dungeon core grimaced.


    "Yeah...I guess I''ll have to. That''ll be weird. No offense."


    "None taken. You always did kick more ass than my city guard."


    "Thinking of sending reinforcements?"


    Allya shook her head.


    "We''re already stretched thin with ensuring civil order, and we have your golems to help. We''re starting to get new recruits though. Lots of people are keen on fleeing the drafts and wars going on in the Republic and the Kingdom. With our small, all volunteer force, and your golems serving as the military, they figure they''ll be safe in Rebirth."


    Alexandra''s eyebrows rose.


    "Oh. I didn''t think of that."


    "Well, they''re growing the place quite a bit. It''s helping diversify from a pure dungeon economy. They''re also...well, they''re very eager to serve in the guard, interestingly enough. Since they basically equate it with a police force that''ll always be kept to guard the capital, which is now widely seen as both impregnable and surrounded by other fortress cities blocking all accesses, they figure it''s a safe bet, especially if we start doing something like kicking out draft dodgers."


    "Will you?"


    "No. The ''draft'' in Sarth is a peasant levy, they don''t have any military value, and the New Republic is only taking volunteers, everyone there is running from the Senate."


    "Ah. Speaking of..."


    "I''ve been briefed. The siege of Pavrow has begun."


    "They''re only setting up, but yeah. The other columns are moving towards their targets."


    "Think they''ll make it?"


    "The ones moving towards Gorromar? Yeah, absolutely. Harder to say for the one heading to Mystral. They''re hugging a death zone. One we attracted the most dangerous crap from, but still." And she had a sinking feeling the God of Fire would find a way to replace the ''horrors of the Old World'' there if they came to run out. The death zones were very clearly places the Custodians were trying to keep people away from. Which meant she needed to get in. "It''ll only take a minor force of automata to ruin their day, especially if they come in without warning."


    "Right. Reminds me, didn''t you have a gift for the New Republic? My advisors told me something to that effect."


    Alexandra chuckled, rubbing her neck, almost missing the fact that the archduchess blushed as she said that.


    "Yeah. I realized that two recon carriers was already almost overkill for the army up north, but I already have two more under production, and since their drones are suicide to use in the wasteland..."


    "You''re planning to give them over."


    "Kind of. They won''t have the blackbirds, I''m keeping that particular ace up my sleeve a secret for as long as possible." There was a reason the recon carriers snuck off on ''patrol'' from the army to launch and recover aircrafts. "But they''ll get the drones. It''ll be a nice boost. Though the ships won''t be ready for a bit."


    "I''m sure they''ll appreciate them. Not planning to sell them, though?"


    "Nope. it''s not like they can pay me, by and large. Besides which, I thought it was time we got this more into a friendly alliance than a professional agreement."


    "Uh huh. And does that have anything to do with a conversation with a certain Knight-Commander?"


    Alexandra dipped her head. She had told the two nobles about that little tidbit pretty much immediately after it happening. It was too important not to.


    "Yeah. Her insights...if we''re going to do this..."


    "We need them to actually want to be part of that Empire, not just have it be a necessity."


    "Yes. Jaghatan inevitability is nice and all..."


    "Jag...what?"


    Alexandra smiled.


    "Jaghatan was mongol political and economical scientist. Wrote extensively on why most nations on Earth consolidated into massive military and trading blocs like the European Federation or the UIS. His work created the concept of Jaghatan inevitability, where economical and political factors demand that nations begin regrouping and forming larger ones. Simply put, the challenges and cost of interplanetary colonization, combined with the very real risk of another nuclear exchange just left surviving nations no other solutions but to band together to enable expansion into space and defense from strategic attack."


    "Ah. And with the UDC''s collapse..."


    "That, and everything else going to hell, the same is happening, at least here, yeah. Or at least I certainly think so, and so do my programs."


    "Programs?"


    "I''ve started running a fair few strategic simulations, expanding on my psychohistory scripts. But yeah, Philia was right. We''re in the perfect position to unify both the Kingdom and the Republic under one banner, and once we do..."


    "The rest will fall in like dominos, they''ll have to, as the rest of the world burns down around them."


    "Exactly."


    "And a fully unified continent will give you an excellent core to expand outwards, won''t it?"


    Alexandra lowered her eyes as both nobles looked at her.


    "It will..."


    "I figured that was your eventual goal a long time ago."


    "And you''re fine with it."


    Allya closed her eyes.


    "It will bring us into conflict with the Eris Empire. If it still exists by the time we get there."


    "I suspect we will be in conflict with them long before then." Allya''s eyebrow rose, and Alexandra grimly chuckled. "That Erisian airfleet isn''t here by accident. And even if it was, the Order won''t pass up the chance for more chaos. Before this is over, we''ll be fighting them, even if only in some kind of accident."


    "That''ll be bloody."


    "It''s part of why I''m so keen on stopping everything to scale up. We''re going to need the advantage."


    "Fair enough. But the Empire...is not to be trifled with."


    Alexandra''s gaze hardened.


    "I know, neither am I."


    "I''m not joking. They rule half of the world." By population and industry, not territory, but Alexandra didn''t correct her, they both knew what she meant. "They have the power to squash you."


    "And I have the power to wipe them off of the face of Alcheryos." Said Alexandra, and the newlyweds exchanged a look. "Their gear is impressive, but push comes to shove, I have railguns, hovertanks and plasma cannons, and they don''t. Or at least, not in the quantities I can pump out."


    They both nodded.


    "Right. Just...do understand, they will bring their own Old World gear to the party, if ''push comes to shove'' as you say."


    Alexandra grimaced.


    "I know. I know. And I''m preparing for that." Well, preparing for the God of Fire to try and murder her, but that equipment would work just fine against the Eris Empire. "Do you expect them to send them in though?"


    "Honestly? Probably not. If you''re right, they''ll collapse long before it comes to that. But someone will inherit that hardware."


    "Right. And a warlord will be a hell of a lot more dangerous than a decaying Empire."


    "Exactly."


    "I suppose we''ll see when we come to it. Still, hope for the best.."


    "Plan for the worst. We''ll start working on trade now that we''re, uh..."


    "No longer occupied." Said Alexandra, diplomatically. After all, she''d done the same ''honey moon'' when Emilia had finally dragged her to bed.


    "Right. We''ll use those discussions, and Anders'' little talks with the Far Reach, to pave the way."


    "That''ll be helpful, thanks." Alexandra sighed as she received a notification. "But I''ll have to cut this short, enjoy the rest of the breakfast, you know the way out. Call if you need me, but..."


    "Back to the salt mines?"


    "Yeeep. Back to the salt mines."

 Chapter 326 - Battle Preparations

    Chapter 326


    Qualen Woods, Archduchy of Rebirth


    Sarth-Asaria High Road


    "Almost there." Said Manson as he gazed at the holographic map hovering above the table.


    Alexandra nodded.


    "Almost. Though not quite."


    "How are our enemies doing?"


    Alexandra grimaced.


    "Their vanguard has grown. Quite a bit, in fact."


    The duke''s eyebrow rose.


    "Did the main army make it?"


    The dungeon core shook her head.


    "Not yet, no. They''ll beat us there, mind you, but they''re still a couple of days away." She had expanded her recon flights, the blackbirds amazingly useful now that they were travelling with the army in their carriers, and it hadn''t taken her long to stumble upon Sunrise''s main army. If anything had hammered home what they were facing, that was it. Seeing a million soldiers marching was...one hell of a sight. "No, it''s the garrisons."


    "Ah. Finally regrouped with their main army after running from us."


    "Yes. Those between here and Asaria also marched ahead of the main army."


    "How many?"


    Alexandra shrugged.


    "Hard to tell. But fifty, seventy five thousand more troops? A drop of water compared to their main force."


    "Indeed. But still, something worth keeping in mind."


    "Right. If nothing else, they''ve been able to build a fair few defensive emplacements."


    "Using them as labor?"


    Alexandra shrugged.


    "It''s not like the slaves have much else to do, and clearly the vanguard was exclusively made out of regulars. What, do you expect Sunrise''s high and mighty soldiers to do their own digging when there''s slaves to do the work?"


    "Ah! Fair enough."


    Alexandra smiled, before suppressing a frown. Something bugged her about those fortifications, ever since they''d begun building, and she couldn''t shake it off.


    They looked normal, but something was...off, about them.


    No, not the fortifications themselves. The way they were being constructed. She''d seen Sunrise tire their slaves to the bones digging in to fight her.


    Maybe they weren''t as desperate as the Southern Army, but it still struck her as odd. Against someone with superior technology and so much artillery she knew she''d want as much of an advantage as possible.


    Then again, they would soon have over a million slaves to help expand them. She was probably overthinking this.


    "At least we know how their vanguard got here so quickly." Said Philia, and Alexandra had to hide a wince.


    The Knight-Commander had gotten a lot gloomier, after their discussion. She''d been slowly sliding towards cynism throughout her entire tenure with Rebirth and then the Kingdom''s civil war, but now that she had the confirmation that her kingdom was about to be vassalized, and she was helping it come about, she seemed to have fallen into a resigned state.


    "Yes, we do. Clever, using their airborne cavalry like this, and having the garrisons along the way serve as resupply points." Said the duke, and the Earth-born barked out a laugh.


    "If by ''resupply point'' you mean ''stripping them bare'', then yes." Alexandra shook her head, though she had to admit it had been clever, allowing them to get all of their pegasus light cavalry and gryphon knights all the way here in record time, denying her the possibility of a forward marine assault to take the bridge. It would have been suicide, but without knowing exactly when she could come, and the speed of her army, they had no way of knowing her force wouldn''t arrive in time to reinforce the marines before Sunrise''s own host arrived. "It''s going to be a fucking wasteland from here to Asaria."


    "Probably, yes. Now, what do we do about it?"


    Alexandra shrugged.


    "For now, we don''t need a plan to deal with it. We might never have to. Once we arrive, we''ll engage them with artillery, and force them to come to us. Then, we try to ensnare them into a chase south. If they come far enough down with us, my reinforcements will break them, and we''ll march to Asaria unopposed."


    "And how likely is that to happen, in your opinion?"


    The dungeon core grinned.


    "Depends on if my new units are as good as I think they are. If I''m right, then they''re absolutely fucked."


    "And if you''re wrong?"


    "Then it will be a bloodbath, and we will pave the entire high road with bodies."


    Only grim silence answered her.


    After a tense dozen seconds, and the atmosphere began to grow oppressive, Alexandra cleared her throat.


    "Regardless, our forces have already gone over to the high road, so at least our mobility issues are gone. And with the sappers and our civilians repairing and expanding the road net behind us, we''ll be able to pull back a lot faster than we came in. Not to mention it won''t be big enough to accommodate Sunrise''s whole force, so they''ll either move a hell of a lot more slowly or have to disperse."


    "They won''t disperse, and invite defeat in detail." Said Philia. "You''ve made ample examples of what happens when someone does this against you. General Amelia, the Old World constructs, the Alesian fortresses..."The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "Yeah. So they''ll bull their way through. Unfortunately, they have the manpower to punch their way in and create the infrastructure necessary to move. Fortunately, that still loses them time."


    "Once we''re here and further south, sure, but we''ll do the first few engagements in the flood plains." Warned Manson. "They need only march through the fields, even if the high road doesn''t accommodate them."


    "Agreed. But in a battle of movement in open terrain, the advantage goes to the one with the armored divisions." That''s a lesson her homeland learned the hard way, before deploying it in tandem with those who had taught it to them during the Terran Hegemony War, and then against the Pan-Asian Confederacy during the Interplanetary Wars. "I have tanks and mechs, they don''t."


    "But they do have cavalry. Air and ground."


    "True. Which is why this won''t be a cakewalk. But we have the initiative, that counts for a lot. Besides which, rushing us with the cavalry if part of our army is dug in while another part retreats, especially if both are covered by airships and artillery, would be madness. And thanks to my blackbirds we''ll have ample advance warning of any attack."


    "Very well. Now, as for our battle formation..."


    *****


    "Greetings, doctor." Said Allya as the scholar entered her office. "It''s a pleasure to see you again."


    Hexamarch Mortell, doctor of the university of New Raleigh, nodded.


    "Please, the pleasure is all mine." His outfit was remarkably modern looking, a fairly sharp suit completed with a bowler hat, that he promptly took off and pressed to his chest. "You honor me with your time, especially so early after your wedding, and during such a critical time."


    "Why, thank you. Take a seat, doctor."


    The man nodded, and did as he was bid. Allya looked him and down, then sighed.


    "Doctor, if you''ll allow me to be blunt?"


    "Of course!"


    "Why the fuck did Rook send an operative to my damned city? I thought we had an understanding."


    The doctor didn''t even look surprised, he simply smiled.


    "You did, and still do. I''m here to serve as a liaison as well as a good professor."


    "Liaison?"


    "Between your own secret service and New Raleigh''s intelligence unit."


    "I have..." Nothing as formal as a secret service, but truth be told her old assassin sect had been filling that role, hadn''t that it? For that matter, so had Alexandra and her golems. "Several objections. Notably, the lack of warning."


    "I''m afraid Rook didn''t have the luxury of telling you, as more important matters are currently in his hands, and truth be told the message to the twins got lost in translation. And once I was there...I decided it was better if I told you in person, and in private."


    "I see. You are nearing the end of your preparations, aren''t you?"


    The professor inclined his head.


    "We are getting close. Though I''m afraid I cannot be more precise."


    "Close enough to prevent the coming battle?"


    The professor''s silence and grim expression was all the answer she needed.


    "Well then, I suppose we''ll just have to buy you more time then."


    Hexamarch brightened up.


    "You''ll delay the assault?"


    "We''ll delay the decisive battle." Pyn was rubbing off on her. They were planning on making this a long fighting retreat anyway, and her first instinct was now to see if she could do it as a ''favor''. There were benefits to everyone thinking you were allied with an unstoppable beast of war and the only person in existence capable of holding them back. Like Starvak did, though the guild master had kept quiet for a while now, as the dungeon core had rolled over the UDC. "But not indefinitely."


    The professor nodded.


    "Of course." He winced. "What...would you like, in thanks for such consideration?"


    Allya leaned forward.


    "Your future support."


    "Support for...what, exactly?"


    Allya smiled.


    "Global operations, of course. I do not believe the UDC will stop there, and neither does Crystal. When they strike again, and they will, it may become necessary to retaliate...wherever they may be. When that becomes the case, I would like to call upon you to assist us."


    "New Raleigh''s capacity for power projection are limited."


    "Don''t bullshit me. You train guerillas and extract liberated slaves from all over the world. Your network of sympathizers and black ops make the dark elf''s syndicate look like a joke. If we need a strike team deployed across the world..."


    The doctor leaned back into his seat as he played with his hat.


    "Will you kill them?"


    He didn''t need to precise who the ''them'' was.


    "No. But we will contain them."


    "Deal."


    Allya had to stop herself from swallowing.


    He hadn''t said he needed to contact his superiors or anything.


    She might have seriously underestimated his rank within New Raleigh''s intelligence...and how badly Rook wanted to stay on friendly terms with Rebirth.


    "Very well." Allya looked at him, and decided that not pursuing the subject was the wisest course of action. Something told her that the ruler of New Raleigh would explain himself in person. She just hoped he came in with less drama this time. They''d never been able to get some of the scorch march from Alexandra''s breaching charges out of the wood in her cabin. "So, how goes setting up the library?"


    "Everything is going apace! We''ve run into minor difficulties with breaking ground, there appeared to have been some misunderstanding with how deep we required a cellar, but that has been cleared up."


    "Cellar?"


    "Of course! A library this far from the university will require printing presses and all the material storage to run them and store their output."


    "Ah. I see. And the branch you were planning on opening?"


    The doctor shrugged.


    "Currently simply on paper, I''m afraid. We are planning to move professors and begin a full academia, but we will only do so once the library is fully up and running. It was deemed the...priority."


    Allya nodded. It was, after all, Rook''s payment for them letting the twins go and letting the flow of ingredients go through for breaking the brands, or whatever the hell he was doing.


    "Of course. And how fare the twins with all this?"


    She hadn''t seen them in a bit, though they had been present at the marriage, they had excused themselves from the reception afterwards fairly quickly.


    "They are currently taking a vacation. After so much overtime and stress, they amply deserve it."


    Allya nodded.


    "I can understand that. Do they intend to...leave Rebirth?"


    Hexamarch shook his head as he waved his hat for emphasis.


    "No, no, of course not. But they do intend to take something of a sabbatical, and work on personal projects."


    "Well, it is more than fair that they get some time to themselves."


    "Indeed. They have also reported something...interesting to me."


    "Which is?"


    "The arm."


    Their gazes met.


    Alexandra had, in exchange for increasing the production of the ingredients the twins, and Rook, needed, had them make a cybernetic arm for her former party member and healer, Alyssa. Whose adventuring party was currently regularly doing delves into the dungeon, always with above average luck in loot and damage, though Allya had to decline their invitations to join them.


    "And?"


    "Who is that adventurer, to the dungeon core, I wonder?"


    "The death of you, your agents, and our arrangements with your boss." Answered the archduchess, with the same tone of voice she would use when discussing the weather. Her gaze however, burned with warning...and utter sincerity.


    The doctor recoiled as if physically struck, and nodded.


    "Very well. I will...cease my enquiries."


    "Good." Allya smiled, and she saw him shiver. Yeah, asshole, you''re not the only one with surprises. "Would you care for some hot chocolate, before you go?"


    The professor nodded, somewhat choppily, and Allya poured him a mug.


    She suspected the message would go through fully. If not...well, push came to shove, Alexandra would take care of it.


    And she, for one, wouldn''t bet on the good doctor.

 Chapter 327 - The Clash

    Chapter 327


    Kamiran Floodplains, Archduchy of Rebirth


    Sarth-Asaria High Road


    Alexandra sighed as she closed the blackbird''s report, gazing at the war council assembled on the So Much For Subtlety''s bridge, Manson, Philia, Rim and half a dozen other officers.


    "Alright, no change into the enemy. They''re still digging in, and trying to be clever."


    The duke grimaced.


    "Do you they seriously thing those pontoon bridges will allow them to surprise us?"


    "I think they''ll expect them to scare us into pulling back from assault on the main bridge. Which...isn''t that bad of a strategy, honestly." Alexandra shrugged. "If nothing else, it''ll force me to divert some artillery fire away from them."


    "Well, better to be overestimated in this case."


    "Indeed. Alright then, let''s reconvene this evening." Alexandra looked at the hologram on the projector, showing the advancing army, with its armored spearhead, backed up by cavalry. "If we continue at this rate of advance, our vanguard will be in range to engage tomorrow. Better stop early, dig in, and take a good night of rest before that. And as a bonus, we''ll have a fallback position."


    Everyone nodded.


    "I will rejoin my troops then." Said the duke and the Knight-Commander, almost simultaneously, and Alexandra chuckled.


    "Of course. I''ll have the Tetsudo carry you off."


    "Much appreciated."


    Alexandra inclined her head. Technically all the officers here had featherfall enchantments on their armor, they could literally just jump off the ship, but the courtesy was the least she could do.


    "Alright then. See you this evening!"


    *****


    The duchess looked at the horizon, where the aircraft had vanished.


    "Has it gone home to roost?" She asked her spymaster, who closed his eyes, and nodded.


    "Yes. Our rogues report that it has."


    "Good." She turned back towards her assembled officers. "Riders of Dawn! Today is your day to shine! Today is your day of victory! For Surnise!"


    "FOR SUNRISE! LONG LIVE THE DUCHESS! LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!" Screamed out the assembled officers, soon picked up by their knights.


    The duchess gestured, and thousands of soldiers swarmed over their mounts.


    And a few minutes later, a veritable tide of pegasus and gryphons rose into the skies...mounts that hadn''t had to ride in days, been carefully fed and allowed to rest for this very moment.


    The airships didn''t follow. They were too large, to easy to detect thanks to their powerful engines and magic hungry systems.


    The duchess watched as the gryphons rose, her nephew among them, and she did something she hadn''t done in decades.


    She prayed. Prayed to whatever God of the pantheon may be listening. To grant her and her people victory against those who would destroy her world.


    Maybe, just maybe, one of them would listen.


    Unlike when she had prayed for the life of her parents, as the King was preparing their executions.


    But divine assistance or no...the die was cast.


    *****


    Alexandra grimaced as she gazed at the prototype.


    Okay, fabricators or no, she was going to have to dial it back down for the basic infantry. Quality over quantity was all well and good, but numbers had a quality all of their own and-


    ALERT: RECON DRONE 6 REPORTS ENEMY CONTACT


    ALERT: RECON DRONE 6 REPORTS MANY ENEMY CONTACTS


    ALERT: RECON DRONE 6 OFFLINE


    Alexandra was out of her avatar and her full attention was on her ambassador golem in less than a second.


    "Status?" She asked as the golem stood up on the So Much For Subtlety''s bridge.


    "One of our recon drones has sighted hostiles between us and Sunrise''s army." Said Subtlety as the AI''s hologram flickered. "Inloading Omega databurst now."


    The holographic projector chimed, and an image appeared above it. For a second, Alexandra thought she was looking at a storm cloud of some kind, until she saw the edges.


    Edges made up of pegasus. Pegasus and Gryphons.


    Oh fuck.


    "Battle stations!" Alexandra scrambled and slammed her fist on the big red button in the center of the captain''s console. "Get the entire army into combat formation, NOW!"


    "Aye aye!"


    Alarms sounded throughout the ship and the army below. Some of the human soldiers milled around, confused, but most of them fell into a well drilled routine, thanks to the Knight-Commander''s relentless exercises, even on the march.


    The artillery train stopped dead in its tracks, and the golems and humans began unlimbering the guns, as riflemen and pikemen formed a square around them. Meanwhile the entire army started collapsing in on itself, turning from a marching column into something approaching a combat formation.


    But even reacting as fast as they did...


    Alexandra saw the icons pop up on the sensor systems, as more drones were sent to their deaths to buy more information.


    She saw the enemy''s speed, and she swore.


    It wouldn''t be enough.


    "Get the guns ready for anti air mode!" Were she a betting woman -which Emilia relentlessly winning and then turning that against her in increasingly lewd ways had very much convinced her not to be-, she would put all her money on them trying to bum rush the artillery in a dive attack. "We''re about to have company!"


    She gazed, nervously, as the guns were readied. Too slow, too slow, too-


    Sunrise''s air cavalry was flying nape of the Earth, and they simply appeared in visual range, almost without warning.


    Her ships opened fire, but the enemy simply ignored them. Her fleet, even with the Subtlety, was too diminished to be the real threat. No, her ground force was.


    Seemed like they''d learned the lesson from the UDC''s little incursion.


    Her army opened fire. For the first time since it had been formed, many of Sarth''s troops or the Kaidani volunteers used their guns in anger.


    Wards glittered as bullets were swatted aside with something almost like contempt, and magic answered from the seething mass of cavalry.


    Fortunately, Alexandra was equally well prepared, and the spells withered and died on her formation wards.


    Then, the cavalry closed the gap, and dove.


    They couldn''t dive directly onto the guns. The wards prevented that. But they did try to land and punch through the infantry.


    Unfortunately for them, those were her army''s elite. A mix of golems, Sarth''s ducal guard and Philia''s remaining royal knights.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    And unfortunately for her, the other side was Sunrise''s.


    Soldiers screamed and died as a solid phalanx of gryphons tried to dive in for the kill, plowing through the tightly packed square of infantry.


    Alexandra''s finest died...but every meter forward had to be bought with blood.


    Blood...and time.


    Time Sunrise no longer had.


    The guns opened fire, and Sunrise''s vanguard vanished. Well trained, essence gorged knights on mythical beasts or no, nothing was going to survive the fire of a thousand artillery pieces at point blank range.


    More kept pouring in however, but it was clear that the other side was changing tactics. Instead of trying to force themselves onto the artillery, which was already being reinforced by more and more infantry, living and automata alike, they landed...and attempted to cut the column in half, before it could form into a coherent battle line, and defeat the army in detail.


    Alexandra noted that the enemy''s air cavalry declined to attempt a full encirclement of the army, instead opting to concentrate their force into a single coherent frontline, with dedicated spearheads of gryphon knights, using the mass of the lighter pegasus cavalry as support and cannon fodder.


    Whoever was in command on the other side had clearly singled out the Kaidani volunteers as the weak link within the army, and focused their thrust there, to attempt to sunder the entire formation.


    It had backfired spectacularly. The Kaidanis were fighting like demons, with a fervor that made even Alexandra uncomfortable. She saw entire squads drag armored knights from their saddle and then dogpile them, tearing through their armor until they could finally reach the screaming soldier within, uncaring of the fact that the same knight was killing them in droves with bursts of magic or wild swing of their enchanted weapons. Some, who were wearing some kind of makeshift metal mask, were being especially vicious, outright ignoring their own wounds and throwing themselves in suicidal attacks if it meant taking one more knight with them.


    But even with this insane bravery, they still fell to the enemy''s blades and sorcery. And the units around them were driven back as the Kaidanis held their ground, Sunrise''s pegasus cavalry flowing around the knights to widen the gap.


    They had successfully cut off her army''s vanguard, the cavalry and armored units now fully encircled, as the rest of Sunrise''s force tried to pin the rest of her force in place.


    Sarth''s cavalry tried to punch through as the spearhead was separated from the army, but they were thrown back, and for a horrible minute, it seemed like the vanguard would be surrounded and annihilated.


    Then the Mackie arrived.


    Having rushed back from the front at the start of the engagement, it hadn''t actually fired yet, outside of a few bursts of machinegun fire at targets of opportunity flying overhead.


    It came to a halt right beyond the seething frontline, and for a split second, everyone stopped, as the combatants glanced at the massive creature of metal, towering over them.


    The Mackie made sure of its targets.


    And fired.


    All in all, despite its impressive armaments, two howitzers, twin rocket pods, a double barreled autocannon and a few machineguns weren''t that much in the grand scheme of such a battle. Even the missile launcher wouldn''t make a big difference.


    Except that the lion''s share of her special, enchanted ammunition had been reserved for the mech...and it could unleash it at point blank range.


    The howitzers fired first. Two barrels spit out hundred of projectiles from their canister rounds straight into the mass of Sunrise''s pegasus cavalry.


    And halfway through their flight, their enchantments triggered. The air crackled with energy as arcs of electricity leapt wildly between the cannister rounds.


    Neither the electricity nor the projectiles were enough to actually kill the beasts or their riders...but as the shots buried themselves into their targets'' bodies, their second peculiarity emerged. Those were not made out of steel, but tungsten, surviving the impact...and the enchantments continued to discharge their energy.


    The entirety of Sunrise''s frontline screamed and spasmed as they fell, electricity raging through their nerves.


    Screams that vanished as Sarth''s cavalry washed over them, slavers falling silent as iron clod hooves reduced their heads and bodies to so much pulp.


    The Mackie marched forward, its autocannon turret swinging like a metronome, letting loose a barrage of hell, its rounds exploding into spears of energy, shattering wards and throwing riders out of their saddles.


    Then the machineguns focused on those whose barriers were down. High caliber bullets lodged themselves in enchanted armor plates and essence infused flesh...and activated their enchantments.


    The bullets sparked with energy, and began glowing red hot, before beginning to liquefy, molten metal infiltrating the cracks in the armor or gaping wounds in the screaming warriors.


    Every step of it was designed to incapacitate. Alexandra knew that the Mackie was an impressive piece of equipment, but it was a force multiplier for the ground forces. Its greatest strength was its support, not its own power.


    The vanguard lurched forward, plowing through the pegasus cavalry that had poured in, and the gryphon knights whirled to meet them.


    Magic screamed through the air, as the paladins and mages among them unleashed their power upon the mech, and the machine staggered back as its shields were hammered.


    But while they focused on it...the spider tanks had rushed to the forefront.


    There weren''t that many of them. Not after the battle of Ytakan with the UDC. But there were enough, especially with the gatling one front and center.


    Sunrise''s best staggered back from the onslaught. This time there were no canister shots, no fancy enchantments. Just shells, steel, gunpowder and cold hatred.


    Their assault upon the Mackie faltered, and the mech regained its momentum. A fired again.


    This time, the howitzers weren''t first, as the mech leaned forward slightly, and unleashed its rocket pods.


    Most of the rockets didn''t do anything. They simply screamed through the air, and impotently pinged off of barriers.


    The ones who worked however...


    Dozens of wards came down as the null warheads activated, and the mass of Sunrise elite staggered back as the Mackie unloaded its entire pods into them, annihilating their magical protections.


    Then it righted itself again...and the rest of its weapons opened up.


    Two wave of kinetic energy erupted from the shells the howitzers spat out. They weren''t the magnificent vortex of destruction of pulse warheads, but nor were they intended to be. Unexpectedly bereft of their wards, the knights staggered, the mages thrown about and rendered incapable from focusing and summoning their magic once more, to weave back some form of protection around themselves.


    And the autocannon and machineguns swung about lazily, picking them off with inhuman precision, sensor pods tagging every single person that had thrown a spell at the Mackie.


    The machinegun rounds hadn''t changed. Molten metal was wonderfully versatile when it came to killing people, and regardless, there was only so many types of ammo and internal ammunition switching mechanisms Alexandra could afford.


    An allowance she had focused on the autocannons. The turret seamlessly switched between ammo belts, and the first two rounds, loaded into the barrels, were the previous spears of energy...and the next were balls of eldritch blue fire.


    Some of the mages had a split second to scream in utter horror as they recognized the spells, a split second before the rounds hit them...and the spirit fire spells latched onto their cores.


    This was the same magic Emilia had threatened Allya with upon their first meeting, back when she was just another adventurer. A magic considered so horrific many hesitated to use it, and one which Emilia had refused to teach the dungeon core.


    But the archmage she had captured, and locked into a simulation had no such compuctions.


    The spells latched onto the mages cores...and began devouring them, ripping out their essence and converting it into more of the insatiable flames.


    The spellcasters fell to the ground, spasming as blue flames erupted from their eyes and mouths. Some, more resilient or simply luckier than others, fell unconscious as their damaged cores managed to extinguish the inferno.


    Others...did not, and explosions rocked the battlefield as their cores, gorged on mana in preparation for the battle, came undone, releasing their stored energy in cataclysmic blasts, tearing ragged holes into the enemy formation.


    The Mackie plowed forward, heavily armored feet rising above Sunrise''s cavalry, and coming down on gryphons and heavily armored riders alike, its machineguns firing in every possible direction as the autocannons continued their grim harvest of mages.


    Sunrise''s elite were good. Very good. But they were also nobles, one and all...with a functional self preservation instinct.


    They broke, and for the first time in living memory, the best the slaver duchy had to offer cut and ran like beaten slaves fearing the lash, fleeing for the safety of their advancing army.


    Officers rose from the main battle, and flew over to them, trying to rally the warriors.


    Unfortunately for them, Alexandra had been waiting for exactly this kind of stupidity, born out of the minds of nobles used to distances being a massive impediment to ranged weapons in medieval warfare, even if you were able to be seen by the enemy, and more importantly, not expecting that the enemy would have AIs capable of tracking you even after you went into the throng of fleeing soldiers. The So Much For Subtlety''s launchers cycled, and wave after wave of interceptor missiles screamed out, quickly joined by the Mackie''s own.


    The officers fell like flies, and the fleeing knights dispersed, trying to flee their own officers, fearing for their lives, shattering even the faintest hope of bringing them back together.


    But the rest of Sunrise''s force still bore onto the army, slowly carving their way towards the artillery, the only thing holding them at bay. They came forward, step by step. And the Mackie, no matter how formidable it was, could only be in one place at a time, as the vanguard rejoined the main army and folded into it.


    Alexandra looked up from the holographic display, and glanced at Subtlety.


    "We need to break contact. If we don''t, they''ll pin us down until the whole damned army arrives, and if that happens, we''re all dead." She closed her eyes. This was exactly the situation they were there for, but...there was no telling what would be people''s reactions to using them. Having weapons of the Old World was an entirely different matter from using them, just like nukes on Earth. "Fire the plasma missiles."


    "Aye aye, firing plasma!" Barked out the AI.


    One minute, Sunrise''s remaining gryphon knights and pegasus cavalry pushed grimly forward, slowly being annihilated or routed by the Mackie, making its way down the army, but not nearly quickly enough for it to matter.


    The next, their entire backline was reduced to its component atoms.


    The missiles didn''t even fly. They fired from the launchers, and the same instant they were there. Their drives, meant to propel them to fight spaceships, accelerated them to almost eleven kilometers per second, the speed necessary for a spacecraft to escape Earth''s orbit and fly off into the solar system.


    Each missile, roughly a cubic meter''s worth of electronics, propulsion systems, metamaterials and high density alloys, almost fourteen tons in total, hit with the kinetic energy of two hundred tons of TNT, the yield of a vest pocket nuclear warhead or the UIS'' infamous ''Davy Crockett 2.0'' tactical nuclear rockets.


    The plasma warheads were just the cherry on top, unleashing a wave of coherent energy accompanied by a blast of arcane power that destabilized shields and wards, allowing the following blast to punch through the barriers like they weren''t even there.


    Alexandra watched in horror as the wave of destruction died out. Refusing to use it to get the vanguard out...had been a wise choice. Even with using it on the enemy''s back line, their support and mages, at least a tenth of the dead were her own people. Had she used them in place of the Mackie, she''d have done the enemy''s job for them.


    She shook herself. There was no time to ponder. She screamed orders, and musicians as well as radios carried them to the troops below.


    "EVERYONE PULL BACK! Grab every body or wounded one of ours you can and go. The tanks will buy you time!"


    The soldiers were well drilled by this point, and even the most undisciplined amongst the Kaidani volunteers wouldn''t dream of disobeying her orders. The human troops fell back, dragging wounded comrades and fallen allies alike with them, Alexandra even noting distantly that they seemed to be applying that directive to her golems as well, though not carrying a metallic husk over a biological ones when there was a choice.


    Surise''s troops milled hesitantly. The attack had shaken them, and all were darting looks of pure horror at the screams of the dying in their back lines, and the ominous battlecruiser hovering before them.


    That, combined with their officers so foolishly exposing themselves, caused them to hesitate. They didn''t pursue the fleeing troops closely enough.


    And the tanks rolled between the two clashing armies like a tsunami, the Mackie at the helm, running parallel to the retreating line of humans and golems, unleashing hell with their guns, doing a drive by to an entire army, the Mackie''s torso turned sideways as its legs ran it forward unimpeded.


    Sunrise''s troops staggered back. And by the time they got their courage back, the army had already broken contact, the lines reforming into a coherent wall of spears and pikes, slowly marching backwards as the artillery began leapfrogging back, half thundering and covering the retreat while the other half ran backwards to new firing positions.


    They could have pressed on still. But the missiles and the tanks had shattered their momentum. The apparently invulnerable Mackie, its shields glittering under the half hearted spell attacks from the surviving mages and paladins, the constant pounding of the guns, and the death of much of their officers prevented them, hell, even convinced them, from regaining it.


    Sunrise''s air cavalry mounted a few timid, token attempts to regain contact, and fell back.


    The battle was over.