Chapter 286: 275. Securitree Concerns

C275

Year 268

Delvegard

The security situation in most of the newly controlled towns were stable. The dwarves were fairly respectful of power, and they voiced their disagreements and dissatisfactions in a straightforward manner. In the face of strength, they respected and accepted that, and so didn’t make much of a fuss. 

These small towns didn’t have much concept of pride and it’s identity as a town or nation state wasn’t fully formed. This was due to the relatively short history, and the lack of unique selling point. As a result, the five lords from Treehome were generally free to consolidate their power and make changes.

It’s likely things would be trickier, with older dwarven nation-states. These states and cities would have longer history, more pride, and generally, a stronger desire to keep control within itself. 

But for now, nothing much occurred.

The void creatures found in the mines of the other dwarven cities were nowhere near the five towns we now controlled. But it wasn’t that difficult to find them.

The dwarves, incredibly, had a special class for it. [Sunmetal Prospector].

These dwarves seemed to have an inbuilt radar that detected the presence of these Sunmetals whenever they approached a new land, and stronger, higher leveled prospectors could even sense their presence just by standing on top of them. 

From our informants, it seems that the Dwarven Lords themselves usually have some [Prospecting] or [Mining] classes, because of how valuable the sunmetal was to their war efforts. 

Sunmetal, in other words, was Delvegard’s gold. 

The void creatures were the dragons that guarded them. Large veins somehow generated and caused the creation of particularly strong void creatures, and in Delvegard mythology, there were stories of the Void creatures as the spirit of the Sunmetal, expelled from their flesh due to their crimes. 

In those stories, the void creatures guarded the sunmetal veins like an obsessive spouse, and would fight tooth and nail to protect their bodies. 

In other regions of Delvegard, another version of the story places the veins as the remains of an old dwarven god, the void creatures were the poisons that killed the old god, and now feasted on its remains. 

Kafa found the stories fascinating, and traveled to learn more about Delvegard. His levels and domain made his physique exemplary, and he used it to his full advantage, moving from place and place. We wanted to visit all the large kingdoms of Delvegard, and improve our knowledge.

One of the key concerns the Lumoof had was whether there was divine presence in this world. We wanted to find out who these dwarves worshiped, and whether there are other domain tier individuals. Most of the dwarves we met so far seemed to believe and worshiped a god called Eras. 

But Eras was more like a craft god, and it was a familiar name. We had records of Eras, as mentioned in the Margmarian recordings. But unlike the records in the Margmarian city, Eras’s faith in the world of Delvegard was more casual and unregulated. 

Here, the teachings of Eras were passed down from parents to children, and so were twisted in bits and pieces. What’s left of the original Eras scriptures were scattered across the dwarven nations, but no one actually attempted to piece them together. 

In some ways, the dwarves didn’t take Eras all that seriously, and the pious was a real minority. 

It is a blend of an old faith with dwarven superstition. 

***

One of the largest dwarven factory-academies on Delvegard was an institution called the Delvegardian Yards. It was a large mountain that was hollowed out over the centuries, and home to the third  largest war machines and factories on all of Delvegard. 

It was, politically, a subordinate of the nearby Dwarven Kingdom of Ruthfyord, but in substance, the Factory master of the Delvegardian Yards was the true king of Ruthfyord. Even today, it is the Ruthfyord King’s father that controlled the Delvegardian Yards. 

Kafa tapped the illusionary device, and it cloaked his presence. He could do so with his scales, too, so the illusionary device was made not to interfere with the functionality of his colorful scales. 

Colossal War Machines stood motionless in the yards. Here, hundreds if not thousands of dwarven crafters worked on separate parts of the war machines. Some worked on their legs, some worked on their body, some worked on the weapons that would soon.

Kafa walked about untouched. In this factory-academy where masters taught their apprentices, the sound of metals banging and hammers hitting steel was the background music. No one noticed the invisible lizard. 

He snuck through the vast academy, and then into the hangers located on another side of the hollowed out mountain. They had at least thirty war machines just under maintenance, and another ten more that seemed ready for use at any time.

They had pilots. Dwarven [Machine operators], each forming a bond with their gigantic war machines. 

The war machines had to be charged. They had large crystal power units, and the [Operators] themselves supplied some of the war machine’s power requirements. Just as sunmetals were used for joints, they also used some kind of Sunmetal-Crystal mixture for batteries. 

I was tempted to steal one and even suggested it. I was fascinated. Such equipment and design were unseen on Treehome, and I believe Alka would love it. 

But I was interrupted. 

“But what if this leaves a bad mark? Do we really want to start a relationship with these dwarves on the wrong foot?” Some of my dwarven diplomats advised otherwise. “I believe we can obtain this above board, through trades.”

“Very well. Let’s try trades, then.” We could easily trade void weapons for it. My void mages produced enough void weaponry, but that’s something we wouldn’t reveal. Not yet. 

Kafa soon learned that the kingdom of Ruthfyord controlled about seventy war machines. There were a few other kingdoms with such similar size. Most smaller kingdoms and city states controlled two to three such war machines, and even those were of a lower quality than the giants. 

The war machines themselves had surprisingly powerful beam weapons, and the legs were pretty much stabbing weapons. By my own estimates, two of these war machines could take down a demon walker. 

“Their protections are rather weak.” Kafa noticed, as they mainly relied on the natural endurance qualities of the Sunmetal and Sunsteel. “Most of them were focused on energy reflection spells.”

Kafa’s espionage continued, and he snuck through the Delvegardian Yards easily. He quickly detected the presence of a hidden chamber, and entered it. The factory master worked on a super-colossus. Ten legs and enough weapons to match ten colossus, it was engineered for the Factory master. 

It wasn’t that unique. Kafa’s exploration of the other large factories and academies revealed that most kingdoms worked on some superweapon. 

Bigger. Stronger. Each Factory Master wanted to go above and beyond a war machine. 

It seemed even dwarven kingdoms needed a trump card. His visit would be cut short. For now. He would return for another visit.

“Kafa. Time to go back. Demon King coming.”

***

“Rift emerging. The demon king is departing from the Core of the werewolf world.” The void mages on the demon world now linked to Mountainworld sent the message. I wonder how hte Canari would react to another canine world, but the wolves of Werewolf-World were shapeshifters. I wondered what sort of people they had, when they were still populated. 

“Well. Moment we’ve been waiting for.” Edna laughed as she took out a gleaming blade of silver. Everyone was armed with enough enchanted silver to properly stock a jeweler, but in many ways, it was a shame.

We even modified our bombs to embed little bits of silver beads and alloys, in order to amplify their effectiveness. In theory, it should work.

But every demon king’s skillset is unknown. Demon Kings could be resistant to things their demons were weak to. Adrian, the lead defender, prayed. He prayed to his friend. Even his older friends, those that passed away long ago. 

[Demon King Marchosias has arrived].

The place of battle on Mountainworld was a large forest. We’ve rigged the place with bombs. The werewolf champions emerged from the rifts, and were swiftly shot down.

Then we all felt the demon king’s presence, it emerged from the rift, its fur was like a living liquid. Once we detected it, the bombs exploded. Edna and the domain holders prepared for battle. I was partly expecting the fight with Multipus first. 

The pulse of the chained explosions blasted upwards, and I knew it was slightly weaker. Without Alka’s presence, some of his skills were inactive, and that impacted the strength of the bombs.

The large forest was instantly transformed into a crater.

It was a pity. I felt pain in my soul when such a large forest was leveled. But I would restore this forest later. I made a note to my artificial souls to do so. 

“The wolf is coming.” Marchosias, the wolf-shaped demon king lunged for Adrian like a furious war god. 

It was wolf shaped, but not a wolf, because that was when we saw a few more magical claws and limbs emerged out of nowhere. 

“Stay back!” Edna charged ahead, and her silver blade shone like a glorious full moon. She slashed, and the demon king recoiled. Her power was fully activated then, and she tanked the demon king’s powerful claws. 

Each claw strike contained the power of a demon king, and though Edna took it like it was nothing more than a pillow strike, the aftershocks from each strike still left small craters around the domain holder.

She landed a few slashes, her silver blade left magical wounds on the demon king, but it was clear those wounds mended. 

The heroes continued to bombard the demon king with spells, and immediately noticed how lackluster their attacks were. 

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“It’s magical resistance is astronomical.” Prabu frowned. “Switching to blended magical spells.”

If magic didn’t work, the heroes were each given a nation’s arsenal of physical spears and projectiles. They would wrap these projectiles in their magic, and use them as bullets, empowered by their hero weapons.

The heroes’ magical attacks bombarded the wolf-demon, and impaled it. It’s fur was magically resistant, but physical weapons still hurt it quite a bit. I don’t really get why silver weakened it, but I suppose it’s some [system] shenanigans. 

The demon pulsed. 

We thought it was going to blow.

But it didn’t. Instead, it merely shapeshifted, and transformed into a different form. A smaller, much smaller demon. 

Faster. Smaller. Edna tried to step in the way, and slashed it. Edna traded a few blows, but the demon king wasn’t keen on fighting the domain holder.

Instead, it looked around, and aimed at the four heroes present. It tried to battle Khefri, and soon realized Khefri’s armor was too strong. Khefri, the scorpionoid heroine, was quite good at close range combat, and her natural carapace could take more hits than most heroes. 

She traded blows with the second form, and the demon king immediately realized it didn’t want to engage Khefri in combat. It shifted, and tried to target the mages instead. But Prabu and Colette were too close, and they were also protected by my domain holders, Lumoof, Kafa and Ezar. 

No go. I watched it try to attack Roon and Johann, but my rangers’ move speed meant they were able to maintain a distance. 

Marchosias was trying to pick off the weakest member of the party, and domain holders were not it’s priority. It wanted heroes, and so, it’s sights landed back on Adrian. 

Edna immediately retreated. “I don’t like how it’s looking at you.” 

Adrian laughed. “You think it’ll get me?”

“We don’t know. It tried everyone and couldn’t get far.” Prabu and Colette’s combined bombardments meant they could sufficiently prevent the demon king from getting close, and so that meant only Khefri and Adrian were in the ‘melee’ range. “Lumoof’s with the mages, so I’ll be with you.”

It also seemed quite afraid of Lumoof, and my avatar mode. So long as Lumoof was there, Marchosias seemed to understand it wouldn’t be able to get near the two mage heroes. 

Khefri immediately leapt over. “Well, it’s weakened, and looking to pick the weakest of us off. Who wants to be the bait?”

Adrian frowned. “I suppose that’s me, since it didn’t seem to like fighting with you.”

They watched the demon king dodge attacks from my ranged heroes, and my roots. It was surprisingly still speedy, and the rift above continued to release smaller wolves. 

“Is that necessary?” Lumoof asked, as he activated his [fury of the avatar]. “I’ll try to restrain it.”

The entire terrain was surrounded by roots, and for once, the gigantic wolf seemed tiny. It was a wolf trapped in what seemed to be a mess of vines and woody tentacles. Marchosias immediately emitted an aura, a layer of black energy that formed around it’s body like a protective barrier. It briefly protected itself from all attacks, and my vines.

“A demon king with shields.” Lumoof smirked. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen a demon king with shields. Well, let’s go for it.”

Immobilized, despite it’s shields, the demon king was sitting ducks.

We charged our weapons, and waited for that protective layer to fade. Once it faded, we blew up the demon king. 

[Demon King Marchosias has been slain]

There was no explosive destruction. The demon king left a core that was tainted by star mana, but that was no matter. The entire crater was seeded with crystals, as the remnants of the demon king’s corpse transformed into daemolite. 

“Well. Time to clean shit up.” Lumoof declared. The Valthorns quickly descended on the forest to mop up the residual energies. 

Adrian looked at Khefri. “You know, I had the strange feeling like I was supposed to die today.”

Khefri laughed. “You think too much. With so many other combatants present, you think you’d die today?”

“Well, it’s just a weird feeling. Like it was written in the stars, but it did not happen.”

Khefri frowned. “Don’t say such inauspicious things. There’s still Multipus.”

“I don’t think so. It’s inevitable that we will die.” Adrian laughed. “I just wonder when.”

 

***

The Cometworld floated through the vastness of the void sea. It’s bubble of reality expanded slightly, very slightly. This was a world with no core remaining, and so it’s bubble of reality is maintained by my existence. I wonder whether only domain holders emit a bubble of reality, or whether it is something that all living creatures have. 

It floated by places. Darkness. 

It’s movement in the void sea brought us even further away from the demons, and I wondered where it was headed.

We’ve been working on manipulating an object’s trajectory through the void sea for ages, and even now, we’ve not succeeded. With the void layers, we wonder whether this is even necessary. 

Perhaps, in one version of the void layers, the Cometworld was headed in the right direction after all.

“That’s so optimistic.” Stella laughed.

“But true.” I countered.

“It’s like falling upwards.”

“The void sea defies all normal types of logic. The void sea is pretty much whatever your mind thinks it is. It’s like a painting on a canvas.”

My void domain holder chuckled. “I can’t wait to start exploring the void layers. We need to hunt Multipus down and be done with this meteor storm.”

The demon king is out there somewhere, on one of the meteor remnants.

I doubt it was consumed by the void. It just didn’t seem like a thing for demon kings.

***

Chung was alone in his part of the world. He trembled, as his mind weighed on him.

It wasn’t the demon king of his world. And yet, when he heard that a demon king came for Mountainworld, his mind seemed to strain. 

A hero was compelled to fight demon kings. It wasn’t that strong, if the demon king was of another world. 

But it tugged at his mind, and he lashed out. 

He abandoned his puppet state, and found a place in the mountains. There were no sapient beings here, only animals and monsters. He lashed out, his arrows blasted the surroundings. Everyone knew the area was off limits. It was where the Archer Hero went to blow off steam. 

The place was filled with craters and holes. I’ve not bothered to repair it, and left the mountainous region riddled with all the scars of his attacks. 

It happened more and more. Especially in recent years.

I spied on him, and realized that he was slowly losing it. Conflict with this hero seemed inevitable, and the only one left on talking terms with him doesn’t want anything to do with him.

Internally, we prepared for conflict. We ran simulations of battle against the hero Chung. If he actually turned on us, the ideal state was a surprise attack. 

I didn’t want to kill a hero. 

Yet, as his erraticism grew, I knew that it was inevitable. 

I only hoped that there wouldn’t be too much collateral damage.