Chapter 116

Left Hand of God 8

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It has been approximately 30 minutes since the invasion of Atlantis has began and it has entered the ‘calm before the storm’ phase.

These were the events that transpired since the very beginning of the invasion.

The first ship to get past the barrier was ship #4 with Juno’s ship, ship #5, bursting in about 30 seconds later.

Ship #4 crashed about 15-20 kilometers north west of Ship #5 in a thick forest that was generally uninhabited.

Thanks to this, they were able to unload all of their troops and equipment without any resistance.

At this time, Juno and the warriors in ship #5 were rampaging at full swing.

Naturally, there was no way defenders of Atlantis would be taking this lying down.

While their military was indeed caught off guard and was scrambling to deploy as fast as possible, they did have some small force on standby in case of emergencies.

This small force was the one that attacked Juno’s force and lobed off one of the Troll’s arm.

The Atlantis force was comprised of 10 trident wielding knights riding Land Dragons.

What are Land Dragon?

Imagine a Komodo Dragon the size of a tank. Now add more spikes, armor plating and a razor sharp tail made out of its own bones.

Land Dragons were terrifying shock cavalries, powerful line breakers and a whirlwind of violence and destruction in melee.

But it did have 2 major weaknesses.

Namely, it was a big target and it was a living thing.

Being a big target meant that it was easy for Juno’s Duergar riflemen and human gunners to shower it with bullets.

Being alive meant that there were many simple, well known yet effective means to disable or kill it.

While the head and the body were well protected to the point of near invulnerability, the legs were less armored.

After the initial shock of seeing a Land Dragon tearing apart their allies, Juno’s forces moved with skilled military precision.

The druergar blunderbuss units and the human gunners focused fired on the Land Dragon’s legs, effectively taking away a little of its mobility.

The Trolls then went in and beat the shit out of it with clubs the size of trees.

The Land Dragons might be powerful and durable, but they were severely outnumbered

However, this was part of the atlantian strategy.

Land Dragon Cavalries required excessive amounts of punishment to put down.

They could even outlast multiple Trolls in combat, which was saying something since Trolls were known for their high regeneration abilities.

The Land Dragons were meant to hold Juno’s forces until their reinforcement arrived.

A very good strategy if it was implemented properly.

While the Land Dragons fought valiantly, their reinforcement never came

Why?

It was because Juno’s reinforcement came in first

Ship #4 and #5 of Juno’s cargo fleet landed at the southern part of the island, though this was mostly by accident rather than intentional.

There was a bit of distance between their landing area and the city proper which was located in the middle of the island north east of Juno’s location

As the defenders of Atlantis began their march to overwhelm Juno’s team, ship #1,2 and 3 abandoned all efforts on pretending to be normal cargo ships and cranked up the ship’s speed way above its natural limits.

They made a large U turn and slammed into the northern part of the island.

Ship #1 and 2 were approximately 5 kilometers from each other when they entered from the north while #3 was thrown a bit off course by the massive waves and ended up in the northeast about 20 kilometers from both #1 and 2

The island was shaped in a way that the northern tip was much closer to the middle of the city compared to the southern tip.

Each of the ships had approximately 3000 warriors with a breakdown as follows:

20 flaming bull riders

100 trolls

10 duergar master daemonsmiths

The rest would be a mix of warriors, gunners or cybernetic enhanced soldiers from both humans and duergars

The exception to this was those on ship #4 and 5.

#4 had 0 trolls but has 3 Doom Cannons.

Doom Cannons were massive cannons (duh) with a fire demon sealed within it.

In all intents and purposes, it was nothing more than a massive mortar with a very long range and makes a really big boom when the shell hits the ground.

It was really fortunate that #4 landed in an area without enemies. This allowed the Doom Cannons to fire uninterrupted.

In the case of ship #5, it had Juno, Shale, the massive troll Bob, 200 trolls along with the standard line up of the other ships.

It was fairly obvious that Juno’s ship had the greatest amount of firepower

With a little over 9000 strong on their northern coast, the Atlantian military was forced to abandon the Land Dragon vanguards and create a defensive perimeter around the center of the city in order to avoid exposing their backs.

Those combat personnel left outside of the perimeter who refused to retreat were slaughtered with brutal impunity.

And now, we have the present situation.

Juno stood at the bridge of her cargo ship in front of a screen with 4 other individuals on the other end of the display.

These were her 3 lieutenants in this campaign.

“Now then, we have a little reprieve in our hands. Tell me the situation.” said Juno

The first one to report was One-Eye, a duergar master daemonsmiths of the 4th ship.

“Doom Cannons are ready to fire and my assault troops are ready to attack. Just say the word so that me and my assault squad can finally crack some skulls.” said One-Eye.

“You’re not going to stay with the doom cannons?” asked Juno.

“Hell no! You promised me blood when I joined this campaign. I will not be denied!”

“Hmm… I did say that… oh well. I’m sure your crew are good enough to handle the doom cannons on their own.”

“Yes yes. Let’s just get to the fighting as fast as possible, shall we.”

With a sigh of surrender, Juno turned to Sheriff, a cybernetic enhanced gunslinger in the 1st cargo ship.

“What’s our status Sheriff?” asked Juno.

“No problems Ma'am. All the weird knight looking guys are either six feet under or running for the hills.” replied Sheriff in an obviously fake cowboy accent.

Juno found it very jarring, but she decide to ignore it for now.

“I’m surprised how easy it was in your end. Didnt you guys go through a port? I assumed that was at least guarded in some level.”

“Right you are. Personally, I was expecting a decent amount of losses myself. If it wasnt for our weird plant friend here, that’s exactly what would happen.” replied Sheriff as he tipped his hat to the last lieutenant of Juno.

“As expected of Lord Ferdinand Marius Cobler. Fine work as always. And to think you’re doing this while directing 2 battlefields. Most impressive indeed.”

The last member was…. A stalk of glowing fungus shaped like a human being.

It was somehow moving and was somehow capable of using computers, moving pieces in the battle map and make complex decisions.

It has no name, so Juno dubbed it Lord Ferdinand Marius Cobler and it is the commander of both the 2nd and 3rd cargo ship.

”Tekeli-li? Tekeli-lililili. Tekekekeke-liiii” said Lord Ferdinand.

“Really? How did that happen?” asked Juno with interest

“Tekelili-lili. Teketekeke-liiiiilili”

“I see….. That changes everything then…. Hmm… We shall talk about this in private in a later date Lord Ferdinand”

“Tekeli-li”

“You are very welcome my lord”

“Err… you actually understood that?” asked One-Eye in confusion.

“Of course. Lord Ferdinand is quite a talker you know? He’s the type of guy who never runs out of things to say.” replied Juno

“Tetekekekeli” inserted Lord Ferdinand.

“Don't be shy Lord Ferdinand. You’re among people with shared interest here. Nothing wrong expressing your joy for conquest and domination.”

“Tekeke? Tekelilili!”

“HAHAHAH! Very good! I look forward to what you have in store for us Lord Ferdinand.”

“Okay okay. That’s enough. I have no idea what you 2 are talking about but don't we have a war to wage?” interrupted Sheriff.

“Indeed. Let’s get back to the topic at hand.” said Juno. “How are the civilians?”

“As per our predetermined plan, I’ve made sure to keep my hands off the civi’s. Not a single hair was harmed during our incursion with the defenders.” said Sheriff

“Tekekekekekelilili-lili. Tekeli-lilili keketekeli.” added Lord Ferdinand.

“Very good. As Lord Ferdinand just said, herding the civilians into the center of the city is central to our plan. The more civilians that survive this war, the better chance I have fighting against our actual foe.” said Juno

“If that’s the case, I should get started with the grand ritual then.” said One-Eye with a displeased grunt.

“No. We’ll have time for that once we secure Atlantis. For now, we need to throw as many bodies as we can at the enemy.” replied Juno. “And besides, I doubt you’d pass the opportunity to feed the blood of your enemies to your forge. You’d probably just abandon the ritual and start killing people”

“Hahaha! You know me well my dear!”

“Indeed I do. But enough about that. Listen to my commands my lieutenants and listen well.” said Juno which caused the 3 to stand in attention. “As you may know, the City of Atlantis is surrounded by a powerful barrier that serves to hide the island and to keep people out. Fortunately, it is a barrier strong enough to even keep signals from entering or leaving the island. I’m not sure why they havent turned it off to contact the outside world for help, but this is a godsend to us. We have to defeat them and gain complete control over the island before the barrier goes down if we are to finish this without outside interference. ”

The 3 nodded to show that they understood.

“Lord Ferdinand, I need you to keep a close eye on our moles within the Atlantian civilians. Make sure to get the info as to where the evacuation centers are and transmit it accurately to the Doom Cannon crew. We dont want them to shoot at the civis by accident.” said Juno “The final phase of our plan hinges on having as much survivors as possible. Your role is critical to our success. Is that understood”

“Tekeli-li!” replied Lord Ferdinand with a salute

“Sheriff, you’ll be the frontline commander of groups 1,2 and 3. Though Lord Ferdinand has given you an outline of his battleplan, it is you who will be executing it. You have the vast majority of our military might. The success of the incoming battle rests on your shoulders.”

“Well well. I am honored indeed.” replied the fake cowboy.

“One-Eye, I know you’re blood thirsty and all, but remember your primary mission.”

“Yeah yeah. I know. Prepare for the grand ritual and keep the Barrier of Atlantis active during the final phase of the plan, right?” said One-Eye

“Exactly. We don't want those annoying Superheroes to know of our operations. Our window is small and our mission is a little bit too flashy for comfort. The less the outside world knows about it, the better for us.”

“Not a problem.”

“Very good.” Juno paused for a moment before making a savage grin. “Well then gentlemen, it is time for what we’ve been waiting for. Let the war begin.”