《The World Inside a Dream》Chapter 24
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A week later, the day of the battle arrived. Lucius felt as prepared as he wanted to be.
Most of the forest was blocked off. In the week, the entire village rolled boulders around the forest to enclose the village, and the only entrance is from a tree-free area that would concentrate the mass of soldiers.
Lucius refilled and did maintenance on all of his guns. He put every useful crystal he had into cartridges and put them on top of the wall for quick use. He patched his armor and shirts and, even though he knew it would be pointless, wrapped his upper body in the white bandages.
Then, with the help of Luna, Lucius created the medicine concoction that healed him after he fought the Eloon. He created a bunch of glass vials and filled them with medicine and put it on top of the wall. He also brought some bread up there.
The beast-men were ready for combat. The wolf-people donned leather armor, but their hide already was hard. They had no need for weapons as they had long claws already and very good battle instincts. The Royal Slimes didn't require any armor since they had their ability to shape shift and had very good synergy.
His turret was loaded with crystals. To start off, he loaded up Blast Crystals as they were the most practical. Next to it were cartilages with an , a >, and the . He had the other crystals ready to load up too. Also, unlike his gun, he packed a ton more Rebound Powder inside for a bigger explosion which would make the crystal fly faster and hit harder. And, he elongated the chamber and where the crystal would be. This would make it so the crystal wouldn't break when the Rebound Powder triggered. It would only fly out, and when it hit something at high velocity, that's when it would break.
There was a nervous tension in the air as the entire town of Baylight waited. Lucius paced the walls while Luna flew above the walls and scouted, but no one showed up.
Lucius brought the runaway soldiers out and stationed them on top of the wall, next to where Lucius would be.
Then, there was a blue flash that Lucius was expecting. A woman stepped out of the portal and looked at Lucius. She wore long, blue robes that had the crest of Poris Kingdom on it and carried a staff with a green gem on top.
"Are you Lucius?" She called. Lucius nodded and climbed down from his spot on the wall.
He approached her and shook her hand. "Name?"
"Tethla," she said. Lucius nodded again.
"Come with me to the top of the wall. That's where you'll be fighting," Lucius said. They went on top of the wall.
"Can you fight from here?" Lucius asked. Tethla nodded.
"I think so," Tethla said.
"Great," Lucius said. The soldiers didn't really talk much; they seemed to be just as nervous as Lucius.
They waited. They weren't sure how long they waited, but they were always on the edge.
It was about midday when Luna came back in a frenzied retreat.
"They are coming!" She yelled. Everyone jumped and prepared to fight.
"Remember, do not charge out and attack until they attempt to attack the walls!" Lucius yelled. A wave of nods indicated that he got his message across.
"Now, the instant you see them, just start casting spells," Lucius said to Tethla.
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There was the sound of a massive battle cry over the forest. Lucius went to the turret and took aim at the opening in the rocks, the only way the soldiers could get in unless they decided to move the boulders.
Then there were the soldiers. They surged forward on horses in a tsunami wave. Immediately, Lucius started his attack.
He fired the Blast Crystals as fast as he could. Already, the soldiers were flying off their horses or got blown to bits.
"Just keep thinning out the cavalry," one of the soldiers said next to Lucius. "That's the strong point of the army."
"Okay," Lucius responded. He quickly switched cartridge to the and fired it off.
When it came in contact with the army, it cracked and released a fog in the air that immediately started to dissolve the soldier's armor and weapons. They were left undefended, which Lucius took the opportunity to use the Blast Crystals to blow them up.
He continued to fire off the Blast Crystals until most of the cavalry was gone. Soldiers were screaming in pain as they were thrown off their horses or as their limbs were ripped off.
"What is this?!" One of them yelled. "How are we losing?!"
While the cavalry was being blown to bits, Fourth General stared at the situation in horror.
What is going on?! How is the cavalry losing to a mere town? What is going on? He thought. He could feel the use of magic, but it was too small compared to the damage that was being done.
Lucius looked at the army now. The majority of the foot soldiers were starting to come into the clearing, and since the cavalry was pretty much wiped out, Lucius loaded up the big guns.
He slid on the cartridge that had the > onto the turret and took aim at the soldiers.
"Cover your ears!" Lucius yelled at Tethla and the soldiers next to him. They nodded and pressed their hands to their ears.
Lucius pulled the turrets trigger and felt the recoil as the > flew out of the chamber. It was obvious when it hit the army.
BOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!
Lucius winced as the sound penetrated the air and as the heat stung his face. Even though they were far away from the explosion, they still felt part of the shockwave of the explosion and the heat. Lucius waited for the light to die down and looked at the damage.
More than half of the army was gone. Their limbs weren't even in the area: they were either blown off or disintegrated in the impact. There was a massive crater where the > struck.
There was a moment of shock and silence for both sides, then, with another battle cry, the rest of the army surged forward, but Lucius could tell that their moral was badly hurt.
Spells littered the air as Tethla fired off her spells and the spellcasters on the other side casted theirs.
Then, one of the soldiers went up to Lucius. "They are using the last resort formation!" He said. "They are only focused on penetrating the defenses of this town and won't stop. The spellcasters are using high tier support magic and are preparing their ultimate move, >!"
"What does it do?!" Lucius yelled as he switched cartilages to the Thunder Crystals.
"It created a massive ball of plasma and fire that vaporizes everything its path! It can only be stopped by a physical attack that is stronger than it, which there are few of."
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"That's fine," Lucius heard Luna say. "I'll deflect it. Focus on defending the town!"
The formation worked. The soldiers got right up next to the wall where the turret couldn't reach. Lucius cursed and grabbed his sword.
"Attack!" Lucius roared to the beast men. With a savage roar, the beast men surged through the gates and attacked the soldiers. Lucius jumped down from his spot on the wall and ran to join the fight.
Balos was already there, cleaving the soldiers. He waded through the ranks and with every sword slice, he killed three or more soldiers. The wolf-people killed the humans without hesitation and refused to even get hit by one soldier with their massive dexterity and speed. The Royal Slimes were literally flowing through the soldiers as one unit, breaking armor, weapons, and sometimes taking the soldiers in their travel, which they used as a battering ram.
Lucius fought too. He dueled soldiers with accuracy and speed, taking one out every ten seconds.
But even though the beast-men were strong, it would be impossible to avoid injuries. Blood stained the air as humans and beast-men alike were getting ripped apart. Lucius saw some wolf-people getting injured under the attacks of the soldiers, but most of the casualties were from Voxis Kingdom.
Soon, the soldiers were wiped out and the last of the army were the spellcasters in the far back. Lucius ordered everyone to go back inside the town.
Lucius climbed back on top of the wall and grabbed his sniper. His went prone and rested the gun on the ground, aiming at the spellcasters. He changed cartridges to one that just had Brightmetal bullets, similar to his handguns. Looking through the scope, Lucius took aim at mage and pulled the trigger.
The mage was shot in his leg, making him fall down and scream in pain. Lucius pulled the trigger out and took aim at another.
He continued to shoot the spellcasters until there were only five left who were chanting. Before Lucius could fire a shot at them, they raised their hands.
Out of nowhere, a massive, glowing, orange and yellow ball of fire appeared above their hands. It rose up and flew at Baylight.
"Shit! Is that the >!?" Lucius yelled.
The soldier rapidly nodded. "Yes, it is! We need a physical attack that is stronger than it!"
Lucius looked at Luna. "Can you take care of it?"
She cracked her knuckles. "I'm sure I can, but if I don't be prepared to catch me."
"Yes, ma'am."
Luna rose up into the air and flew straight at the >. She raised her fist.
Lucius held his breath.
"UWAHHH!" Luna yelled and drove her fist straight into the middle of the ball of fire.
A shockwave erupted out of the impact that was much stronger than the >. And then, Luna spun around and kicked the sun as hard as she could, making it go in the opposite direction....
Straight into the camp of spellcasters!
The Fourth Commander looked at the >, their best move, slowly fly back toward them.
How did they know? He thought, enraged. He scanned the walls in his retreat and noticed five people standing on the wall next to the person doing all of the damage. After looking at them a little bit, he identified them as some of the soldiers from his unit.
Those soldiers! If I live, I will--
But they were too slow. The > crashed into the camp and detonated, triggering a massive explosion that completely wiped out the rest of the army.
Then all was silent. No one moved or made a noise as they took in what just happened.
Then, a loud cheer erupted as the beast-men celebrated. They didn't expect to win at all against a thousand soldiers, but they managed to do did it. And even better, there were no casualties. There were some people injured, but it was nothing un-treatable.
Lucius kept his eyes on Luna. Something was wrong. She wasn't flying back. She was just floating there, unmoving.
Suddenly, her eyes closed and she started to fall. Lucius cried and attempt to get someone to save her, but he knew that it would be too late.
However, the Royal Slimes also saw this. In a wave, they melted together and surged out of the gates of Baylight and in an instant, caught Luna. They brought her back into the town and rested her on a patch of grass. The healers from both races got to work, healing her.
Lucius sighed in relief. "We did it!" He cheered. He looked to where Tethla was and noticed that she was gone. Then he looked for his sniper and saw it was gone too.
Quickly, he scanned the forest for her. Lucius saw her running with his sniper and once she was far away, she threw something at her feet. She disappeared in a blue flash.
Oh, my, GOD, Lucius thought, enraged. He ran to Balos.
"Give me two Transportation Gem that leads to the inside of Poris Kingdom. Now!" Lucius yelled.
Surprised, Balos dug around in his pockets and held the Transportation Gems to his head, which made them glow blue. Then he handed it to Lucius. Without hesitation, he threw it at his feet and got engulfed in blue.
She DARES TO TAKE MY TECHNOLOGY?! Lucius thought. His vision cleared up and without hesitation, he pulled both of his handguns out.
He was inside the palace room where Tethla and the Queen were. He pointed his guns at Tethla, who was still clutching his sniper.
"Give it. Now!" Lucius yelled. With trembling hands, she handed the sniper back to him. Lucius yanked out of her hands and put it on his back.
"Now," Lucius turned to face Queen Peluna. "You dare send me only a single mage, whom just attempted to take my weapons?!"
"She did it on her own accord--" Queen Peluna started.
"No, she did not! She wouldn't have known about it and wouldn't have taken it unless you told her too," Lucius yelled. "You could've helped Baylight by sending more than one, single, incompetent mage that dared to take my technology."
"We were almost overrun because of your decision of not sending soldiers to assist us," Lucius fumed. "It wouldn't've have been hard to do so."
"You do not underst--"
"Shut. Up," Lucius interjected with such venom that it made Queen Peluna surprised. "I fully understand your situation. Now, let me ask you a question, Queen Peluna, why did you make the treaty with our town?"
The Queen looked a little uncomfortable being talked down to. It seemed like the royal advisors sensed that too and spoke.
"You have no right to talk to the queen like that," one said.
"I have every right to," Lucius said, deadly and quiet. "Now, answer the question."
"I thought it would be beneficial to both sides," Queen Peluna said. This made Lucius even madder.
"I understand now," Lucius said.
"You do?"
"Yes, I do," Lucius said. "That you were using me! That this was all for your, own, damn, benefit!"
"Now, where is the treaty paper?" Lucius asked in a much calmer voice. Nobody dared to talk. The Queen rose her hand and a blue light appeared from it. It took the form of the treaty that Lucius signed with his blood.
"Let me see it," Lucius said. The treaty floated down to Lucius which he grabbed out of the air.
Without hesitation, he raised his handgun and shot it. Not once, not twice, not even five times. He shot it twenty times. After that, it barely resembled the original treaty. With his final act, Lucius tore the treaty in two and dropped it on the floor.
"We are done here," Lucius said and threw the second Transportation Gem at his feet.
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