City of Sin

Book 9, 72

Blackrose Under Threat

Asa and Greyhawk separated from Richard and advanced towards their next target, continuing the war for Faelor’s survival. However, the casualties of the plane continued to rise; even with an increased rate of destroying the enemies, most reaper squadrons still managed to wipe out large swathes of land before they were taken care of.

Another chaotic fortnight thus passed. This was only a little over a day in Norland, but to the knights guarding Blackrose Castle the past few days had felt like a full month. They had been withstanding ten times their number in enemies swarming them from all directions, the Sacred Tree Empire seemingly possessing an unending supply of troops. Many of the other castles in Azan had been lost and retrieved multiple times, both sides throwing away thousands of corpses on the battlefield.

Alice truly showcased her excellent ability as a commander, making do with her limited forces with creativity. While she didn’t have Richard’s ability to micromanage nearly every soldier, she had outmanoeuvred the enemy repeatedly and turned the tides every time the Archerons were about to collapse. While the defence had only lasted a little more than two days, her reputation skyrocketed once more.

While it was unknown if the Archerons could last another hour, it was the generals of the Sacred Tree Empire who were the most nervous of the lot. They had planned a blitz of an invasion that would capture Blackrose Castle in mere hours, sealing Richard within Faelor. While an epic being couldn’t simply be trapped in a legendary plane, they hoped to use this as an opportunity for negotiation that could grant them some concessions from him. Of course, many wanted to just kill him, but without any epic being stepping forth there was simply no way to accomplish such a task.

These generals knew that they didn’t have much time remaining. Every few hours that passed was a day in Faelor, and the war between the Archerons and the reapers would soon draw to a close. Whether it be in victory or defeat, Richard would eventually recall all of his forces and bolster Blackrose’s defences once more.

Starting the third day, these generals started supervising the battle themselves, going all out to advance inch after inch as they removed the obstacles in their path. Blackrose Castle was proving its reputation as an unassailable fortress, the layered defences making it near impossible to capitalise on any one opening and rush in.

However, the slow advance of these troops was starting to choke Alice out. She was left with nowhere to go, with the defence soon reaching a critical point. Even the famed ancestral castle of the Archerons couldn’t hold on against such a superior opponent forever.

......

When Richard returned to Bluewater after his last hunt, he found the latest war report already on his table. Scanning through it quickly, he adjusted his map of Azan and started examining it once more. The Sacred Tree Empire was already charging in from the north, and ships had sealed off any hope of escape by see. The entire peninsula was locked in by enemy soldiers; the only way out was through.

“Lively,” he smiled softly, sending an order in his mind.

......

Originally returning to Bluewater after a successful hunt, Asa and Greyhawk found themselves suddenly redirected to another target. The Prince flared an aura that wasn’t much weaker than the barbarian’s, making his annoyance clear, “He’s pushing us to our deaths! Just what kind of son-in-law did we end up with?”

Asa snorted, “Stop complaining like a baby; can’t you do something for Mountainsea? If we’re being directed to suppress the reapers, that means Richard has something else he needs to do right now.”

“Of course the brat does, he’s going to give those angel slaves a surprise!” Greyhawk said with a chuckle.

......

Richard walked towards the portal to Norland in Bluewater Oasis, a giant shadow flitting across the sky above him and unloading hundreds of winter soldiers. These giant drones now came with steeds of their own, a new type of mount from the broodmother called the steel drake. These were similar in appearance to most earth-bound draconids, but at five metres tall towered over the average earth dragon. Their huge mouths could break a warhorse with a single bite, and their metal scales could survive attacks from anything below sainthood. The mounts themselves were level 16, so the combination could go toe to toe with even the best of rune knights.

Besides the winter soldiers were a thousand night elves, split into equal numbers of archers and druids. They had originally been meant to get rid of the reapers, with most of them perishing in that battle, but with the arrival of Asa and Greyhawk he could afford to place them in this battlefield instead. On the other hand, the slow but powerful knights wouldn’t be missed in Faelor; they simply couldn’t deal with the power of the reapers.

Before stepping through the portal, Richard hesitated and sent his summons once more. Thirty mantis-like drones flew up from one end of the city, rapidly landing before him in perfect formation. Each of these units was three metres tall and covered in bright metallic armour that could reflect most of the energy of the reaper beams. These units were overbearingly fast and powerful, their blades capable of stretching up to five metres away to slice spider warriors in two. They were the most optimised drones the broodmother had made to date, and were called the bladed hunters.

The hunters’ bodies were covered in complicated patterns, not for decoration but to act as something similar to natural runes. Although these things only had the power of an elementary rune, they were optimised to boost the power of the drones by nearly a fifth. This brought them to near-saintly powers.

The bladed hunters were a hidden card that Richard hadn’t used yet. He had planned to reserve them for the final battle against the reapers, but at this point he made a different decision as he imagined the map around Blackrose Castle. Laughing grimly at the crowd of troops that he would meet on the other side, he walked through with his elite army.

Since the eyesores had actually dared walk into his lands, he would wipe them all out.

......

A legend and more than ten saints walked into the teleportation temple in Faust, heading through the portal to the Archeron island. Meeting with the Celestial Sage Ruben in the island’s castle, all of them stood at attention as they carefully passed over a prisoner to the Archeron guards.

This was the group headed by Calamity, followed by Ghoul, Blood Axe, and a number of powerful saint assassins. Each one present was a famous killer, but they were all cautious here. While being in the presence of an epic being was one part of it, another was that they were in the core grounds of the Archeron Family; Richard Archeron’s nest.

Countless saints were walking through the portals here every day, even more than the guards placed around the place. Legends were a common sight as well, with many being clumped together in discussion from time to time. Only here would people like Calamity feel like legends like herself weren’t worth much.

Ruben personally examined Weiss, whose arms and legs had been knotted around his body. His face was filled with deep fear, but he couldn’t spout a single word. He quickly nodded, “Not bad, the mind and soul are intact, and he can even think, speak, and feel. Perfect live capture.”

The Celestial Sage signed a confirmation and handed it to Calamity, giving her the right to withdraw the gold or traded equivalents from the Archeron warehouse. However, she didn’t even look at it before passing it on to Blood Axe, instead staring at Ruben seriously, “Calamity’s core members are all gathered here to show our sincerity. Would it be possible to join the Archerons and become followers of His Grace?”