Chương 39: 38- Outside the Palace

18: 42 Captain Taylor watched in disbelief as the headquarters transformed for the second time in one hour. First, it had been a subtle affair—it looked more like a makeover than a real change—the building just looked shinier, in better repair. The second transformation had been very different in nature: it had become a giant, shining structure in the form of an Icosahedron, half-sunk into the ground. She was on a floating platform, which gave her a clear view of the battlefield.

She used her communication talisman to give orders to the troops.

"Captain Taylor speaking. I am taking command. We must assume Colonel Hawking is missing in action. Await new orders." Taylor had been coordinating the defense of Milwaukee for the last ten hours. The damn Circlers had arrived this morning. They were no more than three miles away from their position. Then, they had stopped advancing. Taylor was good at her job, and she already had an inkling of what was happening. These bastards do not really want to invade.

They want us to commit as many troops as possible to defense. She realized Hawking was right. The real battle would not be fought with armies, but inside that frigging thing that had just replaced their headquarters. The Losers were inside, and they had the Icosahedron. If they could take it from them, this war would be over. Time to end this all. She communicated briefly with the scouting squad leader—the new dungeon had four huge entrances, one in each cardinal direction.

She gave new orders: "I want the third, fourth, and sixth infantry companies, as well as the second Mecha squad, to enter that dungeon. Look for the Losers, kill them, and take the Icosahedron from them. Do anything you have to do." She suddenly detected movement in the front.

"Hold that order. Resume your former positions." The Circle was attacking. 18: 43 Alarel examined the Federation Army. Unlike Taylor, she did not need a spyglass—her powers gave her phenomenal eyesight.

"There is movement along the rearguard," she told Dignity.

"They are going to send troops into the dungeon."

"Let's make them rethink that move. Signal the attack." Alarel sent an order to the vanguard using an Elven hand-sign. Trumpets sounded the attack order. The vanguard marched towards the enemy army. Amazons, Citizens, and Avatars had been distributed in hybrid units, trying to get the perfect mix of classes and abilities. Elven cavalry, experienced bowmen mounted on stags, marched on the wings. A small group of Valdar Treemen preceded the main vanguard, shock troops ready to absorb the worst of the enemy attacks.

All of them were veterans of the Tribulation wars, much more experienced than their Federation opponents. The Feds had numbers and better gear on their side—that usually sufficed. 18: 50 Von Neumann loved his job. When he had been chosen for the Federation mage corps, he thought they would give him a crystal ball and a wand. He could have stayed at his old job for that. Once a carnie, always a carnie. His life took a turn for the better when he discovered that he had signed up for magical artillery.

He rode with five of his peers on an elegant and comfortable floating platform, as the grunts walked and sweated on the ground below. He was the spotter—that meant he aimed and channeled the magical power of the whole group. It was like shooting fish in a barrel, really.

"Ok, boys, those treemen look big and mighty… brrr… I am so scared! Let's begin with Black Ice Symphony. Our targets are the ones at ten o'clock." Black Ice Symphony! His five companions began to utter the spell as Von Neumann pointed his staff at the largest treeman in their target group. It would summon an icy tornado that would shatter their bodies and scatter them to the winds. An orb of black light condensed at the tip of his staff. He released it with a mental command and saw it fly towards his target.

Then it hit a blue spear of lightning that was heading towards the same zone. It had been launched by the platform on his left. Von Neumann turned angrily towards the other mage squad.

"Gonzalez! You moron! What are you doing? That was our target!" he screamed. Then he shut up as he saw two other magical attacks hit each other, seemingly by chance. And again. And again. What were the odds of that happening? Then he understood. He opened his communication talisman and called the head of the Artillery Company.

"There are Beli players present, I repeat, there are Beli Players present. They are using luck against us!" 18: 54 Corporal White led the point Mecha in the heavy infantry squad. From his position inside the creature's helmet, he controlled the construct as if it were an extension of his body.

The experience was unnerving, as it took his sense of touch and left his whole body numb for hours after he disconnected—feeling the earth tremble under his steps and casually flinging an offending car out of the way, as if it were a LEGO, more than made up for it. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. A group of three soldiers in the chest of the construct acted as a magical battery, providing power for the Mecha's body and its weapon array.

They were following closely behind the infantry squads—Mecha were vulnerable to traps, and the infantry were supposed to clear the way for them. A host of elven bowmen mounted on white stags suddenly surged from the sides, as swift and lethal as elven bowmen mounted on white stags—when you struggled to find metaphors for what you did, you knew you were the best. The bowmen released arrows with incredible speed and unerring aim, downing several Federation soldiers.

The squads were well-trained, and the Guardians in each soon deployed force fields that stopped the barrage. They could not move while they were using that maneuver—it was time for White's boys to take charge. At his signal, the six metallic golems doubled their speed. Their eyes began to glow, ready to release magical pulses that would turn the stag riders into confetti. The cavalry sensed the incoming danger and dispersed into the side streets.

"Try to get a few shots, but do not wander too far from the infantry. They are trying to make us break formation!" said White on the communication web. He reached a side street, just in time to see the last of the cavalry retreating. He had time for a clear shot. The ground trembled, as if readying itself for the incoming carnage. Wait. Why was the ground trembling? They had stopped. The Mecha could not shoot while moving. And why were so many skyscrapers in the street?

He did not think Milwaukee was famous for its skyline. The nearest building uprooted itself and charged at the Mecha squad. White panicked for a moment and then aimed at the enormous Brick Golem and released the magical eye beam. It sizzled. Some component had misfired. Then White realized the windows of the animated building were filled with Beli players, holding Arcana. Bounty spells could take any form, but they were easier to cast when they manifested as chance.

The Brick Golem kicked Corporal White's Mecha in the groin. White discovered, as he lay groaning on the ground, that the Mecha did not really negate his capacity to feel. It only transferred the sensation to the Mecha. 18: 56 Von Neumann received a frantic call through his amulet.

"We are back in business, boys and girls. The Beli are tied in combat!" Sure enough, this time it worked like a charm. He selected the former group of treemen and shouted in joy as their magic tore three of them into splinters.

"One for the Federation!" shouted Alice, his second-in-command on his right, "take that you ugly bas—aargh!" Von Neuman watched in horror as an arrow speared her through the throat. Vana the Skymaiden had shot her while mounted on Ironbeak, her gryphon. She flew right over them.

"I want that bitch down! Concentrate fire on her!" shouted Von Neuman. Then a heroic figure jumped from Ironbeak and landed on the platform. Vana had not been alone. She was carrying another rider. Von Neuman looked at the beautiful but grim Elven warrior, covered in blazing runes, as she kicked him in the chest and threw him from the platform. He was the one powering the levitation spell. The platform began to fall as soon as he dropped from it.

Elariana jumped from it, falling gracefully on Ironbeak's back, ready to repeat the maneuver on another platform. Just before he hit the ground, Von Neuman realized he had been killed by a Queen. A footnote in the Chant. 19: 10 Taylor reassessed the battlefield.

"Captain, we have them. They are dispersing. We have much superior numbers; if we commit, we can do a pincer movement and surround them. Not one of them will walk away alive," Lieutenant Smithy told her through the comms. It was a pretty accurate assessment, but it was also wrong. Taylor breathed slowly for a moment and focused. This seemed rehearsed. This was not the chaos of battle—this was a well-executed plan. First, they bloody our nose and make us angry. Then they set themselves up for a counterstrike.

They want us to pursue them. No. That was not it. They wanted the Federation to leave the Losers alone for whatever hellish plan they were following inside that dungeon. It had nearly worked—they had made her think like a tactician, not a strategist. She had nearly won the battle at the cost of losing the war. The Icosahedron. That was the only thing that mattered—everything else was secondary.

"Retreat to starting positions and entrench yourselves. Prepare for a defensive battle. Third, fourth, and sixth infantry companies, and the second Mecha squad, resume your original orders.

"Enter the dungeon." No one discussed her orders, unconventional though they were—a tribute to her leadership skills. 19: 12 Bilto watched the battle unfold outside. How he missed his alchemy shop. He was just not cut out for this.

"They are going to charge into the dungeon," said the silent, creepy woman at his side.

"It must not happen," she added.

"Why?" asked Bilto, knowing he would not like the answer.

"The Inside-Out Palace is a manifestation dungeon. It brings what exists inside into reality. If a few hundred soldiers enter the dungeon, they will manifest monsters from their nightmares. That would not bode well for our friends."

"Why don't you enter and help them?"

"I have lived millions of lives, Bilto. I have seen the best and the worst this universe has to offer. I have a catalog of horrors inside my memory. I can only enter for a few minutes, and even that will take all my focus. Any more time, and you will open Pandora's box. I must wait until it manifests."

"Until what manifests?"

"The Compendium. Sooner or later, it will crawl out of the Icosahedron. I will destroy it, then." Bilto shut up, stunned by what he had heard. He finally mustered enough strength to speak.

"How long?"

"Not long, now. Even when it manifests, I will need a few minutes to reach the center of the dungeon and face it. I am betting everything on the chance that the Losers are capable of standing against it."

"Well, that is about to become a moot point, seeing as the dungeon is about to get swamped with Feds."

"What do you see when you look at an army, Bilto?" the strange woman said pensively, ignoring his remark. Bilto looked at the Mecha squads turning towards them and the infantry falling into formation.

"Right now, I think you should probably ask my underwear that question," Bilto confessed. Dawn went on.

"I have watched millions of them. Tens of millions of battles. I have lost and won countless wars. I have been a general and a soldier, and everything in between, many, many times."

"Do you know what I see when I look at them, Bilto? Do you know what they really are?" Bilto remained silent. He was smart enough to know this was a purely rhetorical question.

"A gigantic house of cards," Dawn answered herself. Then she fished an item out of her pocket that Bilto recognized. A Federation communication talisman. She activated it and began to speak in a voice not her own.

"Mecha Squad gamma, Captain Taylor here. We have been infiltrated. The infantry squad to your left is made up of disguised Beli players. I repeat, enemy infiltration. Code Black Wool. Code Black Wool." Bilto watched in awe as Dawn repeated the operation three more times, changing the message slightly each time. The Feds began to kill each other.

"It will only last for around fifteen minutes. Then, their commander will personally intervene and stop the carnage. She will give them orders and make them destroy their amulets. Add that to the few minutes I need to reach the center of the dungeon, and we can safely assume we've lost if the Compendium does not manifest soon."

"I could sell you a watch," Bilto volunteered.

"It belonged to the Skillmaster."