[MLV] 40. Our Last Stand (Patreon)

A burning inferno raged on the streets.

Three ‘Red-Black Scorpions,’ the official designation of a type of powerful distortion that acted as the black dungeon’s heavy assault units, lurched forward through the burning streets, their red eyes standing out both in the darkness of the night and the flames tearing around them.

They were a fearsome foe. While massive in length, they were low on the ground and well-armored. Their tail seemed to have ‘evolved’ as well recently, seemingly copying the Alsatian field artillery that the demon brigades employed on the frontlines. It was their primary weapon, capable of firing a small rod at high speeds that could either explode on contact—capable of destroying fortifications and buildings—or pierce and injure even high-level or well-armored combatants with ease.

Defensive barriers, the type usually used on the forts that surrounded suppression towers, were especially vulnerable to these attacks. Such a fearsome creature was a high-priority target at all times since they appeared a few months ago, but at the very least, they weren’t that numerous.

It was different now.

In this city alone, there were at least fifty of them active, demolishing it entirely, as other humanoid-type distortions, numbered in the thousands, ravaged the surroundings. It was an utter massacre. The civilian population of Florimont, a city that was nearly thirty miles from the Rhonne Exclusion Zone that was now under attack, didn't even have the chance to evacuate.

In fact, by the time that Antonio’s battered unit, the 33rd, arrived at Florimont after days of fighting retreat from their original defensive positions at Tower Eight, defenses at Florimont were barely even prepared. Deployed on the city and its fortress walls was nothing but a hodgepodge of a hastily assembled mix of regular imperial soldiers and redeployed demon brigades from other black dungeon disaster zones.

He remembered the city’s garrison commander, an elven noble, promptly ordering them to turn back and ‘buy time’ when they arrived. But by then, it was too late, as scorpions appeared on the horizon and began bombarding Florimont’s walls. Florimont’s static defenses themselves were no slouch, however.

The city’s walls were angled and layered, a standard star fortress design, capable of easily deflecting direct shots from normal field artillery. Coupled with its sophisticated magical barrier and point defense system, and the city was even capable of reasonably defending itself from indirect artillery fire coming from above.

Unfortunately, none of that proved enough, as within hours of sustained bombardment, the curtain walls were breached at multiple points. Three bastions were completely demolished, and one of the ravelin outworks even detonated in a brilliant explosion after its stored crystal used to operate its field artillery detonated.

Antonio had seen all of it, and now, twenty-four hours later, they were fighting in the streets of Florimont itself. The chain of command already broke down, and he knew that he and his platoon, alongside the few other units around him desperately defending this area, were now just one of the last pockets of resistance remaining in the city.

They weren’t reporting to anyone up high any more.

They weren’t even fighting to ‘defend’ anything any more.

This was now the end of the line for them.

“Keep steady,” Antonio ordered one of his men, who was lying beside him, holding a powerful combat stave designed to fire offensive spells against very high-level opponents. Meanwhile, Antonio watched the group of scorpions moving through a burning city block using his binoculars, directing the soldier beside him to aim well.

Right now, they were hiding on the second floor of a house that must have been owned by wealthy people. His men were scattered in other intact buildings on this section of the city, as this gated neighborhood offered surprisingly good vantage points. Meanwhile, the ones armed with melee weapons formed up on blocking positions on the ground, mostly near hastily assembled barricades.

They were accompanied by dozens of regular imperial army soldiers too, most of them human. While they were better armored and their weapons were enchanted, their levels and experience were worse than Antonio’s team’s. Worse, they were nothing but remnants of various larger formations that got obliterated, and the only reason they joined forces with Vaelrin like Antonio was because there was no other option left, so their morale was nonexistent.

For the first time ever, somehow, both man and Vaelrin stared at death side by side. Bad blood between the two seemed to have disappeared for now, both of them cooperating without much bickering, their energy already spent on their common enemy.

It was perhaps the only silver lining of this battle.

“Keep steady,” Antonio repeated, as he watched the scorpion they were targeting stop momentarily. It lowered its head a bit, raising its tail as it aimed it somewhere else. A flash of light came from its tail, and within a second, a building on the other side of the city was unceremoniously disassembled, no doubt leading to the deaths of many people.

The two other scorpions behind it followed suit, firing a fully coordinated salvo. It was a terrifying display to Antonio. These monsters were supposed to be mindless creatures. It was their only advantage against the devils of black dungeons—their tactics were usually simple and predictable. Now though, not only were they able to concentrate their numbers at specific points to attack with proper mass, they were also seamlessly fighting together, each type of monster seemingly having different roles in the battlefield.

As if someone was commanding them.

Briefly, he remembered the rumors about ‘the Nameless,’ a special distortion that had a uniquely fearsome reputation in the Rhonne Exclusion Zone. Some said that he was once a powerful soldier of the Vaelrin brigades before becoming distorted himself, a phenomenon caused by prolonged exposure to severe amounts of miasma.

Many of the humanoid-type distortions, for example, were once Vaelrin soldiers themselves, hence their weaker strength but greater numbers on the field. A part of Antonio wondered if this sudden explosive and organized attack was because of the consciousness of long-dead Vaelrin, finally deciding to enact revenge against the world that left them to die.

None of that mattered, though.

They were enemies regardless of their origin.

“Its side is exposed!” Antonio said, lowering his binoculars. “Fire!”

His subordinate channeled a small amount of his magic to trigger his combat stave, firing off a powerful beam of red light straight into their target scorpion, hitting its vulnerable side carapace. The creature immediately collapsed dead on the spot. Right then, before the two other scorpions reacted, follow-up shots came from Antonio’s platoon, destroying them all at once.

Unfortunately, everything was still far too grim for Antonio to celebrate about this meaningless victory.

“Prepare another shot,” Antonio ordered. “How many crystals do you have left?”

The soldier placed a small magic crystal on a slot at the side of his combat stave, tossing away the used one, which now resembled a mundane rock.

“Two, sir.”

“Shit.”

He looked back at the horizon. The city was still burning.

There was truly no hope left.

He then froze right as he placed his binoculars in front of his eyes. He saw a distant scorpion standing on the rooftop of a half-destroyed building, aiming its tail straight at them. A bright flash of light blinded him of everything else momentarily.

Then, everything hurt like hell.

Hah…fuck me…

I can’t even breathe well anymore. Why did I survive?

Painfully, Antonio walked onward, drops of blood falling on his wake. Everything around him had been reduced to rubble. He wasn’t entirely sure how long he was out of consciousness, as by the time he woke up, his men were already dead, including the imperial soldiers. They seemed to have taken down a fair amount of humanoid-type distortions, so at the very least they must have died valiantly. Unfortunately, the scorpions must have bombarded them in the end, so it didn’t matter.

They truly didn’t even have a chance.

He tightly held his sword, doing his best to stay alert and look for threats around him.

But Antonio was far too injured. Every breath he took was painful and labored, as he felt like his lungs were being stabbed, no doubt because of his broken ribs. The fact he even survived that scorpion’s attack and the collapse of the building they were on was a testament to his strength at level 144.

Unfortunately, he was now on his limit, and there was nothing he could do to change that. He was a dead man walking.

“Mother,” a soft sob distracted Antonio. “Where should I go…?”

With heavy steps, he walked in the direction of those sobs.

Sitting with her back on a pile of rubble was a small girl with red hair. She seemed to be hugging a soft toy with rabbit ears. The girl’s sniveling was far too loud. She would definitely attract devils straight to her.

Taking a closer look, he noticed the girl’s ears were long and pointy.

An elf.

Probably a noble’s daughter.

He breathed in and out deeply, his mind suddenly caught in a vicious debate about what to do. Then, he lowered his head and began walking away. There was no point. He was going to die here, and so would she. Even if his heart protested this act, there was nothing he could do but leave her.

A shout took his attention.

“Lieutenant!”

“Simon?!”

Behind him, a group of Vaelrin soldiers rushed straight at him. They were all in bad shape, including Simon. Barely a dozen were left, all familiar faces. This was what was left of his platoon. Simon breathed in and out deeply as he stopped in front of Antonio.

“I’m sorry, sir, we couldn’t retrieve you earlier.” Simon was a bit out of breath as he gestured at the soldiers behind him. “We were forced to back off because we got swarmed at all sides. I thought you were dead for sure.”

“I practically am,” Antonio said with a strained chuckle, gesturing at one of the soldiers to hand him a cigar. While Simon briefly checked Antonio’s injuries, he lit up the cigar on the corner of his lips using magic. “Hah…that’s good.” Then he noticed that Simon was about to pull out a potion from his pocket. “Fool, don’t waste a potion on me.”

“But sir—” Simon was about to protest, but Antonio blew a puff of smoke at the sky, dismissing him. Whatever potion Simon had was low quality and wouldn’t actually help Antonio’s severe injuries. It would be better used for his less injured men.

“So, where’s the rest of the boys?”

“Dead. It’s just us left.”

“What about the imperials?”

“Same thing. Some of them retreated to the east side of the city. But two scorpions were on their ass when they were pulling out, so I bet there are no survivors.”

Antonio nodded, briefly turning to look at the elven girl. It seemed that she noticed them.

Her little blue eyes were wide in terror, quivering at the sight of a ragtag group of horned soldiers, tears still streaking down her cheeks. It was clear that she thought they were the same monsters that probably killed her parents.

“What do we do with her?” Simon asked.

“What can we do?” Antonio focused on calming himself with his cigar. “Do you want a pipsqueak making noises while you sneak out of here?”

“No, sir.”

“I figured.”

“I… I think if we continue onward to the south side of the city, we can escape, though it’d be a tough journey in the countryside again. We might even get punished for desertion this time…”

“Sounds like a plan then. Now leave. I’m not in the condition to keep up.”

“Oh, shut up. On your feet, everyone!”

Before Antonio knew it, Simon helped him walk properly. Antonio groaned in annoyance.

“This isn’t the time for insubordination.”

“Piss off, man.”

Reluctantly, Antonio went along with Simon’s decision to save him for a bit. Before they left, Simon glanced briefly at the elven girl they passed by, who was practically glaring at them. As if they just killed her whole family, or something.

“I don’t think we should leave her behind,” Simon said. “I know they don’t give a rat’s ass about us, but—”

“Exactly,” Antonio cynically answered as he looked away. “An elf isn’t going to save you either. Hell, they sent us here. Why care so much?”

“That girl isn’t ‘they,’ sir.”

“That’s that, and this is this. Focus on surviving. In fact, you should leave me behind. You and I know I won’t make it.”

“That tough act nonsense isn’t fooling anyone, sir. You sound scared shitless. I bet you’ll piss yourself if you die alone.”

“Halfling bastard, not everyone is like you.”

When they neared a corner of the road, they all stopped on their tracks.

A scorpion, surrounded by humanoid-type distortion, was right in front of them. Antonio immediately went back on his feet to prepare for a fight, and his men did the same, but, as the distortions ominously turned around, their lifeless eyes locking at them, Antonio realized that it was over.

He felt like a cruel trick had just been played on them again.

“...I see,” Antonio chuckled. “I’m going to die, and the last thing I did was leave an innocent girl behind.”

Simon looked at Antonio nervously as his face hardened. He knew this wasn’t going to work, but he refused to let himself and his men die standing doing nothing. If this was to be their fate…

Then they’d go down fighting viciously.

“Screw it!” Antonio shouted. “Charge! Kill them before they kill you!”

Simon aimed his sword at the enemy without hesitation. “Onwards!”

Screaming at the top of their lungs, Antonio and his men surged onward to certain death, not an ounce of self-preservation left in their minds. In fact, perhaps, in the back of their minds, they knew well that getting vaporized in one last charge might be the least painful way to die.

But right as the scorpion fired off its attack spell, a golden barrier blocked the explosion, right as a star seemingly fell from the night sky. For a few moments, dust obscured their vision, their charge’s momentum breaking apart completely.

Then, as the smoke parted away, Antonio found himself staring at a woman wearing a dress interlaced with her armor, her bright golden hair and cape fluttering freely. Her ears were sharp and pointy, indicating that this woman was an elf. She turned her head sideways slightly, glancing at him with her azure eyes.

“Apologies, I was too late,” the woman said. “Stand back for a bit. I’m taking care of them.”

Right then, she threw an orb in front of her. The orb flashed before spawning a fiery beast on the ground, resembling a large, regal lion. Its body, however, was pure fire. The elven woman then pointed her finger at the scorpion in front of her.

“Ashkar!” She shouted. “Take that scorpion down!”

The lion let out a powerful roar that sent a shockwave on the streets, rattling both the scorpion and the humanoid-type distortions around it. Before the devils could react, the fire spirit already pounced on them, its fangs tearing through the flesh of the scorpion. The scorpion tried to slice the fire spirit with its pincer, but it was to no avail.

Instead, the lion incinerated the scorpion’s head with its breath.

Behind them, dozens of smaller orbs flew out of the elven woman’s hand. She chanted something underneath her breath, and then each one of the orbs flashed brightly again, creating larger orbs made out of fire that were capable of flight.

Each one of them then fired off blazing rods straight at the humanoid-type distortions, the salvo instantly killing every last one of them. By the time the short fight was over, all that was left was the burning remains of their enemies.

The elven woman turned to face them, and then she began walking toward them.

“Soldiers, are any of you still willing to fight? If you are, I’m giving you healing potions, and you’ll be placed under my command,” the woman declared bluntly. “We need to locate and rescue survivors quickly. If you’re not willing, then I’ll evacuate you all out of here.”

“...Wait,” Antonio frowned at her. “Who are you? Why are you here? You’re definitely not of the imperial army, are you?”

She then placed her hand on her chest.

“No. I’m Crown Princess Lucille,” she introduced, as Antonio’s eyes widened in shock.

The crown princess?!

Then, with full conviction, she continued.

“And I’m here to personally fight with the valiant defenders of the empire.”

“Does it hurt less now, little one? I promise you, we’re going to get you out of here,” Lucille said to a young elven girl, a girl she found crying on a street just behind the band of Vaelrin soldiers she found.

Lucille’s hand glowed a bit as she personally administered healing magic on the girl’s wounded knees.

“You must be from one of the noble houses here, aren’t you?” Lucille softly asked. “Can you tell me which one?”

“I’m from…” the girl snivelled. “The House of Villard…”

“House Villard? Ah, I remember that. Your father must be Viscount Philippe, yes?”

The girl teared up further.

“I don’t know where Father and Mother are…”

“Don’t worry. I’m going to find them for you, okay?”

Lucille offered her pinky, and the girl interlaced hers with Lucille’s. She still cried, but, as if trying to control her emotions and regain her aristocratic bearings in front of the crown princess, the young lady suppressed her tears.

“Alright, on your feet now, if you can stand,” Lucille said. “We need to get moving.”

“Your Highness,” a draco Vaelrin officer named Antonio called out to Lucille from behind. “We’ve made our decision. No one wants to be evacuated. We’re willing to fight on. We’re not running away from this war, not when our brothers in arms are still fighting for their lives.”

“Oh?”

Lucille stared at the assembled Vaelrin soldiers. When she saw them earlier, they were all in bad shape, many of them injured, their uniforms and armor battered, their eyes grim. Even now, after they all had healing potions, their condition didn’t truly improve, so she was surprised that they were willing to fight with her.

She expected earlier that they were going to desert or ask for evacuation. If they did, Lucille was going to help them out. Her nation already asked far too much from these soldiers, without any proper compensation. She wouldn’t blame them for turning their back on Lucille’s nation.

But these men didn’t seem so eager to do any of that.

Lucille smiled, as this behavior felt vaguely reminiscent of her hero’s honor.

“Well, if that’s the case, then—”

Her eyes widened as she stared face to face at Antonio. She hadn’t noticed this earlier, as she was far too focused on too many things, but, now, she froze. Antonio looked every bit like her hero, the man who saved her many years ago. Some things were different—the armor and uniform he wore were changed, and he seemed a little bit younger, yet he looked practically the same as the draco who saved her.

In fact, now that she was noticing things, Antonio’s voice was eerily similar as well to her hero’s, just a bit more monotone from what she remembered.

She was speechless for a few seconds.

“Your Highness?” Antonio asked, bewildered.

“Ah, ahem, nothing.” Lucille looked away, realizing that she was staring too much at his face. Was it just a coincidence? She recomposed herself. “Uhm, anyway, as I’ve said, our goal is to secure survivors and get them out of here. Then, we’ll figure things out as we go.”

“Alright, Your Highness. But what about her? That girl?”

“Give me a few moments. I’m going to try contacting one of my colleagues.”

Lucille looked away, taking out her crystal communication device, which resonated with the ones held by her knights, Lorraine and Alice.

“I found some people near the city center, most of them soldiers,” Lucille said. “Alice, can you come here? I’m going to need your teleportation spell. There’s a young girl here, and I need her out of this place at once.”

“Of course. I’m moving to your location now.”

“Thank you. Lorraine?”

“Yes?”

“How’s your search?”

“Not great. I’m not seeing signs of life on this side of the city.”

“Carry on, please. We need to save everyone.”

Lucille breathed in and out deeply, looking down at the elven girl beside her and gently patting her head. Alice, whom Lucille didn’t believe was that strong, turned out to be exceptionally powerful and was apparently a genius mage herself. She already set up a ‘Warp Gate’ at Lucille’s residence, which allowed her and a few people to teleport there from anywhere, more if Alicia was given time to ‘improve’ them.

She also set up another one of these gates near their landing zone a few miles from this city so she could do a back-and-forth trip with ease. Best of all, like Lucille and Lorraine, Alice had flight magic, though her version was exceptionally faster and more sophisticated. It was still a whiplash learning that such a mundane-looking woman was this capable.

Soon, Alice arrived, landing from the sky.

“Alice,” Lucille smiled as Alice ran toward them. “Please, take this girl back to my residence. Tell my servants to take extra care of her.”

“Will do.” Alice then stopped as her eyes locked on the Vaelrin soldiers behind Lucille, each of them currently resting near the ruined buildings around them, waiting for orders. “Wait, those are the soldiers you found…?”

“Yes. They apparently still wish to fight, so I’m going to have their help finding more survivors going forward.”

“I see…”

Suddenly, Alice’s expression hardened as she turned to Lucille.

“Treat them well, and don’t endanger them too much,” Alice demanded. Naturally, Lucille nodded.

“Absolutely.”

“Thank you.”

Alice then gently took the hand of the elven girl, and then they both disappeared in thin air.

Lucille still felt utterly out of her depth seeing that, and knowing that Alice could do such a thing.

Strange…

She looked back at Antonio and his men.

She seemed very protective of them all of a sudden.

She eyed Antonio, who was sharing a cigar with his men as they stared blankly either at the walls of destroyed houses or at the sky. It was strange why he and his men chose to go with Lucille when their minds were not in the condition for fighting. For seven days, they must have marched miles without sleep, proper food, or proper shelter, trying to survive from certain death.

Even the way Antonio held his cigar was flimsy, his fingers trembling. These men weren’t powerful warriors and champions eager to fight in a brutal war. They were painfully mundane, completely average people who felt great fear and distress when facing a foe that was so beyond their strength and understanding. So why would someone like him still fight if he was this scared and shaken for a nation that didn’t care for him?

Immediately, upon asking that question, the face of her hero explaining why he fought and saved her replayed in her mind.

Why does he keep reminding me of my hero? Just because they look similar…

A strange feeling bubbled inside her, wondering if she should ask or not.

No. It might just be a coincidence.

Slowly, she approached them.

But if he is related to my hero…then… I can’t let this place be his coffin too.

“Let’s move out,” she ordered firmly. The soldiers then immediately stood up in attention, all of them looking at her. She still felt odd about commanding people that shouldn’t even follow an elf like her, as one of her main dreams was to stop this practice of unjustly sending Vaelrin to a war they had no choice but to go to, and she was now doing that too, but she buried those thoughts away for now.

She still had a city to save, and she knew that she needed all help she could get her hands on.

And so, she turned around. Then, she released thousands of orbs containing the artificial spirits she created.

It was time to test out her army.

+++

A/N

Must be a bit of a hectic week in the War Minister's office, I presume.

Black dungeon monsters recreating what is basically combined arms warfare is very concerning, but we'll see what our heroines are going to do about this.

As for the Vaelrin troops on the ground... Yeah, this is nightmare fuel. Even so, I believe it's rather cool that they're fighting as hard as they can anyway even when their backs are against the wall. I've always really loved the whole desperate defense trope, so it's nice to depict it here.

But I've rambled too much. Have a nice weekend, and I hope you enjoyed this one!