Devourer

Chapter 96: The Fall Part 8

I opened my mouth and sent a jet of fire into the house. I instantly incinerated the group of adventurers and soldiers. I told my soldiers in the house to back off to avoid them being cooked as well. Apparently there was a family in the house, no idea why the mother and child were in this place but the dad isn’t. Well anyway, I can’t have them dying so I ordered my soldiers to drag those two out of the burning building.

The battle was going well, most of the soldiers had been pushed off the sections of the wall that overlooked the inner city. The test run of the new artillery unit was going well, some of them had taken fire from the mages. Luckily the frontal armour I gave them was holding well against the attacks. One of the main design concerns was durability, these ones needed to be numerous enough to be effective. However, if I made them too durable and too powerful they would be too expensive to produce. Hence the design concessions I made of having less armour to cut down on costs.

To be honest using the less armoured anti air variant due to its higher fire rate would have been more effective in this situation but I needed to test the durability so I ended up using this subpar configuration. Still this unoptimised setup looked to be more than enough to repel the attackers.

From what I can tell, the remaining defenders were massing near the palace and setting up defensive positions. It would be beneficial if I could kick all of them into the palace, although the palace did have a section of wall overlooking the inner city. But thus far nothing has been fired from that section of wall, my best guess is that it's because they didn’t want the palace itself to draw fire and attention.

So what I have to do now is decimate the remaining defenders that are massing near the palace and kick them behind the palace walls. Then I can easily contain them inside while I clear out the safe zones and secure the safety of the population of this city. The safe zones were a little too exposed for my liking so we needed to evacuate the civilians there.

“Azatherine how are you doing in terms of stamina?” I asked into the hive mind and I got an immediate reply.

Doing fine my king, although much of my brethren are exhausted. We are approaching the limit of our stamina for today. It may be beneficial for us to pull back and prepare for tomorrow.

Hmm, well Phoenixes naturally lacked stamina. They preferred a blitzkrieg strategy to quickly overwhelm foes. They tend to be less effective in long drawn out battles. Then I heard Legiana chim in.

My king, the remaining defenders are still utilising the nearby houses near the houses as shields. There is also a large collection of mages at that location. Azatherine and her remaining forces should be able to overwhelm the mages defences however it would cost whatever remaining power they have.

“And they would be forced to retreat there after and we would lose much of our air power. That would leave the city vulnerable to bombardment from the palace walls.” I replied into the Hive mind.

It is as you say my king.

“And we can’t collapse the area around the remaining defenders either. If we do that the humans will have trouble storming the palace. Their position is right on the main entrance to the palace.” I replied then I sensed Nafas’s mind join the conversation.

A conventional assault will be difficult with such a restrained combat doctrine. The area the defenders are at is overlooked by a section of the palace wall. Our forces will face downwards fire from the forces on the walls. If we decide on a direct assault without support from the air we will take heavy losses.

“That won't be necessary, we don’t need to kill them off today, there is always tomorrow. They will not attempt an attack when the sun is down.”  I replied as an idea popped into my head thanks to this little conversation. Hives were obviously good at coordination, instant communication was really useful in planning strategy. So why not leverage that for some simple manoeuvres, I never thought to try this but it was worth a shot. Well I did consider it in some capacity but never at such a distance and with no direct line of sight.

“Legiana sync up the artillery units with the flying observers, three of them are close enough to the defence point. Have them fire their projectiles like mortars onto the defences. We may not be able to kick them into the palace but we can trap them in the surrounding buildings.” I said.

A cunning plan my king I never considered plunging fire, should I send adjutants to scout and act as additional spotters?

“Yes. Begin as soon as possible. Nafas have some forces emerge in the alleys once the defenders are pinned in the houses, have them make some noise that should make them stay indoors. 

Azatherine hold your forces back and circle the palace. just threaten them with your presence. Once the sun goes down, pull back to recover. 

Legiana ready some Nutrient Carriers to resupply the artillery units as needed.” I said as I spread my wings and took off. I immediately heard a chorus of replies from my forces.

As you command

Good now that that’s settled I should probably go talk to Mother Justina about what is going to happen. Just as I flew up I spotted a black orb flying towards the area just outside the palace gates. Legiana works fast, but that was to be expected, her mental abilities were almost five times stronger than your average human.

Before I headed over I decided to take a peek at the situation. It was quite interesting, the fact that they haven’t fully reorganised was adding to the entertainment value. It looks like Legiana has decided to make the orbs fly one after the other. It made sense, since the goal was suppression thus a constant threat was more effective. An intermittent large threat would give the humans room to reposition, but a constant lesser threat would pin the defenders in. After all, they had no idea where the next one would land and they were landing constantly.

I watched as the little ants scurried about. I zoomed in on a group of archers who were positioned on the roof. An orb landed right on top of them, I saw the spines carve one of the archer’s faces open. The poor woman ended up flat on her back on the roof. Her cheek was torn to pieces with her teeth exposed. A spine was stabbed into the side of her neck and more were embedded in her thin leather armour.

The wounds slowly turned black as the disease ridden cocktail I concocted did its work. It was a clever little thing I did, the poison was not really a poison. It just looked like one, it was a disease. So the humans will treat it as if it’s poison and the treatment for poison and diseases were not the same. Afterall what would an antivenom do to a disease?

It was a disease that was non contagious and extremely fast acting. So fast acting in fact it mimics a poison. It burns through the body as it travels through the bloodstream causing rapid decomposition. It was basically a type of flesh eating virus. It was a modified version of my original cocktail and the inspiration came from none other than Beatrice. Her little discovery with my feather and Plague Manticore Venom was the catalyst for this little trick. I never told her this little fact, not sure how she would feel that her little discovery helped me create a weapon that could be used to decimate populations.

Still one thing bothered me… 

It was odd, if I were them I would have retreated back to the palace. My best guess was that they needed to buy time for something. Like having them act as a distraction, they didn’t know I was going to continue the attack tomorrow. 

From what Mahaila has sent in from her little spying position within the palace apparently this was the Prince’s decision. The only unfortunate thing was that the Prince was going a little crazy so I had no idea what was going on inside his head…

Perhaps it was just simple insanity but yet I can’t help but feel something was wrong. It was like this nagging intuition in the back of my mind. Everything was going to plan, I expected it to go to plan and I expected to win… but honestly…

Aren’t things going a little too well?

By making his soldiers hang out outside for some reason, it would only further enforce the fact the old rulers were incompetent. I mean the soldiers were literally standing on the wrong side of a fortification.

It would be like if some castle lords planned the worst defence plan possible. Say you were facing this giant army of undead lead by some I don’t know undead based humanoid called something ominous like the… I don’t know Night Lord… King… something. Then the defenders put most of their soldiers outside the castle walls and then put the catapults at the front of the formation instead of at the rear for some reason. Maybe even build some dinky wooden spikes behind the main army trapping them and preventing retreat into the castle. Something like that…

Well you are not going to have a nice time and chances are you are going to be a laughing stock if you somehow survived.

Anyway I’m sure I’ll find out eventually the main concern was that something was influencing the situation from behind the scenes. It was like the Prince was a paid actor, being competent to rise to his position and then doing the worst things possible now that I’m here to make me look good. 

Ah well, regardless the humans below are having a really bad time judging from all the screaming and panic down below. From what I can tell they are fleeing into the houses as expected. I can do a night raid later to pin them in further or wipe them out. 

I need to go talk to Mother Justina and get her to move the people in the People’s Church Safe Zone. More busy work… man I hate talking about all this crap to take care of the humans' pretty little feelings… 

I took off right as another orb landed and more screams echoed out from the Volerians below. It didn’t take long and soon I landed right outside the safe zone. Cecilia and Legiana were already there with the Lord Warden, the Lord Knight Enchanter of Istland and General Montis.

“What’s going on here?” I asked curiously as I looked at the arrayed people. They looked like they were in the middle of a discussion with Mother Justina. Not only that, I saw a group of what looked to be soldiers on their knees in the middle of the safe zone. 

“Oh we were just negotiating for them to relocate the safe zone. We need to move our soldiers through to position to storm the breach.” Cecilia said as she looked up at the massive hole I made in the wall that was right behind the safe zone.

“And those four?” I asked as I looked at the four men who were kneeling with adventurer blades being pointed at them.

“They were caught attempting to rape a priestess in the church.” Cecilia explained.

“Oh that’s bad.” I replied calmly.

“Yes it is… bad…” Mother Justina said in a clipped tone.

“Is that why you look so unhappy?” I asked as I shifted my head to face Mother Justina.

“You could say that…” Mother Justina replied dryly.

“So should we settle this first and then negotiate about the relocation of the safe zone? The criminals seem easier to settle so why not we settle that first?” I said nonchalantly.

“Fair enough.” Cecilia replied with a calm nod.

“So who witnessed the attempt?” I asked. 

Mother Justina looked to the side and two of the adventurers that had them at blade point raised their hands.

“We heard the screams and the commotion then we charged down catching them in the act.” the two adventurers said, both of them with jaws set, scowling in displeasure. They were both younger men being in the silver rank. Not surprising that adventurers are big on justice, most of them begin as idealists. Going out into the cruel world hunting creatures far more powerful than you is not a profession for the faint of heart and weak of will. Afterall an old adventurer is the perfect example of the saying, “beware an old man in a profession where most die young”.  

“So you two caught these four?” I asked.

“We had our swords drawn and we caught them with their pants down.” one of the adventurers replied dryly and the other one nodded.

“Hmm… well the two of you are telling the truth, so what is going to happen to them?” I asked.

“Well they would be handed over to us and then summarily executed.” Cecilia replied.

“Yeah that makes sense, since technically this place will soon be part of the Empire. By the way, I think this whole thing should be done by tomorrow.” I said as I looked down at Cecilia.

“That would be best, I miss my bed.” Cecilia replied airily, although I know it’s not the bed that she misses it was a certain servant that shared her bed.

“I’m sure you do…” I said with a grin and Cecilia shot me a sideways glance to which I let out a small laugh in response.

“So let’s get this out of the way first.” I said and held out my hand, my hands glowed and the four men screamed as they levitated off the ground.

I pulled them towards me and was about to toss them into my mouth but I felt someone tap the side of my body. 

“Friend, move back a little.” Cecilia said as she looked down and I noticed that the four men were hanging over the edge of the safe zone.

“Oh yes, you humans like your imaginary lines.” I said as I moved back slightly and I heard some soldiers scurrying back to get out of the way.

“That we do friend.” Cecilia replied calmly.

Once I was clear of the line I magiced the screaming and squirming men into my mouth. As I calmly chewed the men in my mouth I saw the humans in the safe zone were looking at me in mute horror. I calmly swallowed and as I continued to observe the humans. This was actually part of the negotiation for the safe zone evacuation. Humans often need to be reminded that I am not a humanoid but am in fact a monster. Hopefully this will get it into their heads it would be in their interest if they settle their little human issues before I get involved…

“So I assume Cecilia here has told all of you in detail why we need you to get out of the way?” I asked casually and Mother Justina slowly nodded.

“So what’s the problem?” I asked calmly and I saw the human all dart their eyes away for a moment.

“This zone was agreed to be protected...” Mother Justina began.

“No I agreed to draw these stupid imaginary boxes to make you feel better. You are no more safe in these little zones than you would be in your homes. In reality I wouldn’t have killed all of you as long as you didn’t get in my way.” I said cutting her off and she immediately clammed up.

“Now you see, there is a slight problem… you are currently in my way…” I said as I leaned down to loom over the humans.

I saw one of the adventurer archers panic for a moment as she raised her bow. Immediately two adventurers on either side of her grabbed her bow and tried to wrestle it down. I turned my head to look at her. Mother Justina heard the commotion and turned to look at the three of them. I could sense her anxiety and fear rising when she realised what had just happened.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t see that.” I said, my voice now lower and sounding more like a growl. The sound of my voice caused Mother Justina to twitch in fear. She gingerly turned around to look at me, eyes filled with fear.

I suggest all of you get moving

Or I am going to have to move you…