CHAPTER 8: BATTLE OF UNDERHAVEN PART 3
Year 2000 AGS Underhaven Calendar
"Draaagooons!", a white flame soldier shouted.
"Legate, we are not in formation!" another white flame soldier informed Laios.
"Do not worry. Only low-tier solar drakes and wyverns. Continue the fight, captain. I will handle them myself!" Laios immediately flew toward the noble creature known as a dragon.
One solar drake and three wyverns came flying above the battlefield.
Solar drakes. Variant of noble creatures known as sovereign dragons who live in Luminos.
Cave wyverns. Unique creatures known as lesser dragons who live in Unlighted. Blind variants of spine-wyverns that use echolocation.
"Noble dragon! Why did you join the Domcreans? Why did you spit on the honor of the noble creatures such as yourself?" Laios asked the solar dragon, which is known to be incredibly smart and powerful, even low-tiered.
"…", no response came from the dragon. Laios noticed that his eyes had been giving him a blank stare.
"Then you give me no choice! Lightning hounds!" Laios' blue lightning mana turned into hounds of white and blue running in the air, charging towards the creatures who seemingly looked empty and unexpressive. "Detonate!" Nine hounds, each targeting the dragon and wyverns, detonated near their wings. Laios planned to damage their flight to interrogate the dragon after the battle.
CRACK! BOOM! Blinding flashes of blue-white light appeared, then a deafening, localized thunderclap sounded. Jagged forks of electricity branching outward from the epicenter, instead of a standard fiery mushroom cloud, were seen.
Laios looked to see if the attack had its intended effect. It was so for the three cave wyverns, but the scales resembling polished brass and gold of the solar dragon helped it survive the attack, although wounded.
The dragon turned its attention to the other templar soldiers, as if something in its mind had shifted, amid its blank, empty look.
"Dragon fire incoming! Back to formation!" Laios made a full-throated scream to shift the focus of his fellow templars, who are focused on battling the enforcers of Neo-Illumina, back towards the dragon.
The creature exhaled a roar and white-hot, superheated fire that sounded more like a crashing wave of liquid ironthan fire, sizzling and bubbling as it hit many of the templars and enforcers on the battlefield.
Some white flame cinerary apothecaries were able to notice and protect others by spreading white flame mana to all templars near them. But those far from the battlefield were unable to receive support.
A chorus of high-pitched, ragged shrieks of both templars and neo-illumina enforcers tore from the front lines. The mantle's templars first major casualties.
"Hahahaha! That's it. Cry and scream, templar scums!", Apex laughed defiantly from his safe location.
The black smoke began to slowly lessen, but still enough for the Templars to use as concealment.
---*
"This is trouble, legate. We are receiving more damage now since we are all spread apart," a white flame soldier on the special unit with Natasha commented.
"Do not worry. Laios is an able commander as well. Believe in him." Natasha replied.
---*
"Blue lightning soldiers, with me!" Laios called the blue lightning soldiers who are on the front line.
"Yes, legate!" Five blue lightning soldiers came to him.
"Start dragon counter maneuvers. Initiate Thunder Helm! We will subjugate this dragon as fast as possible."
Blue Lightning Clan naturally generates loud, crackling thunderous booms, which they can weaponize to create their own atmospheric noise.
Laios and his squad began to fly in a tight, overlapping spherical formation directly around the dragon's head. They unleashed continuous, overlapping shockwaves of thunder to deafen the creature, shattering its spatial equilibrium and leaving it unable to track swift targets outside its immediate line of sight.
The dragon began to fire its breath at random. Attacking both the Templars and its own allied enforcers on the ground. Its roar thundered once more, followed by blasts of white, superheated fire.
"Dragon flames!" a white flame captain shouted, and immediately the templars began to form temporary squads, each with its own white flame cinerary apothecaries.
Chaos began in the battlefield for both sides.
---*
"Milady, the solar drake is on a rampage. It even attacks friendlies," an enforcer informed Catalyst.
"Move back for now! Tell Cipher to push forward the flank even more. Overpower them. Tell him it is time!", Catalyst ordered.
---*
"Milord, order from Lady Catalyst. 'Overpower them. It is time' she said, an enforcer told Cipher.
"Finally, I thought we would all die before they allowed us to use it." Cipher looked at the enforcers at the battlelines fighting the templar flank, then looked at the rest of his soldiers. He took a deep breath. "Use the purple signal flares. Now!" Cipher shouted.
PFFT! PFFT! PFFT! POP! POP! POP!
"The signal!", one enforcer shouted. "The signal has been sent!" another enforcer shouted.
"Use the soul element! Destroy the Templars!", many of the enforcers shouted. Everyone began to coat their weapons with the mysterious soul element, now with renewed vigor.
In Bastion, there are only four elements. Terrum (earth), Aquea (water), Stormut (wind), and Igneus (fire). The source of the light and dark elements of the Templars, on the other hand, comes from both the Maker's heavens, which also have consciousness. Lux (light's heaven) and Murk (dark's heaven), through them, the light and dark energy circulate in Bastion. There is no such thing as a soul element in Bastion. At least, for the Templars and the rest of the world except Neo-Illumina.
"Advance!" Cipher barked his order
---*
"Legion captain, the enemies have coated their weapons with something strange." A squad captain told Magna.
"Be caref…" AHH! GASP! Every templar begins to drop down. Magna suddenly saw a Templar struck in the neck by a sword. He was parrying, but the enemy sword passed through his sword, immobilizing him. "I can't feel my body! Help me!" the templar shouted.
Time seemingly slowed down. Magna's vision sees each templar fall one by one. She became petrified, not knowing what to do. EEEEEEEEEEEEEE! She hears an eerie, high-frequency wail that feels like it's inside the skull.
Blue lightning soldiers fell.
Prescient eye soldiers.
White flame soldiers.
Each fell one by one.
"Captain! Captain! Snap out of it," SMACK! A soldier then slapped Magna in the face to snap her out of confusion.
"Lioel. Oh. Is the signal of divine presence back yet?" Magna asked randomly out of the blue. "Not yet. But that is not the problem. We are losing! Your orders!"
"Right." Magna then looked at the confused soldiers and ordered. "Everyone! Retreat! Regroup with the front lines!"
---*
PFFT! POP! Natasha saw purple flares in the sky. "Calm down, everyone. That's not ours." She immediately ordered.
"Legate, the frontlines are being overwhelmed. I don't know why, but we are suddenly at a disadvantage. We need to help them."
"Okay, I understand. The special unit only needs 2 of each: blue lightning, white flames, and prescient eye. The rest support the front lines." Natasha gave her order. "And white flame soldiers. Coat your weapons with white flames, martial energy. Tell the cinerary apothecaries to coat others with white flame mana. It might help against the enemies. You will serve as the front lines. Blue lightning stays behind them. You are to be the second line. Prescient eyes, position yourselves as far as you can from the enemy, but not too far from the white flame soldiers." Natasha looked at the sky. "I am proud of you all. Do your best to survive!" she then ordered.
"Yes, legate!" all of them shouted in unison. "May your plan succeed, legion commander. Fate be with you." One of the white flame soldiers said to Natasha. "Indeed, brother. Now go!"
---*
The solar drake is now pinned to the ground, wounded, and its wings are made useless.
"Do not kill him. Immobilize only, we need to study him after the battle." Laios ordered the blue lightning soldiers under him.
The squad infused their weapons with Blue Lightning Martial Energy and delivered swift, electrified aerial strikes directly into the solar drake's scale gaps, leaving it unconscious.
"If the dragon awakes and retaliates, utilize Eclipse Weaving and instantly shift to Dark Martial Energy to absorb the catastrophic force of its attack. Stay here and …" Laios turned back and saw that many of the front-line soldiers had fallen. "How in the Makers!" ---
"Legate, the flank has retreated to us. We are pinned down!" Laios was informed.
Laios then clutched his head in frustration. Then looked at the enemy formation.
"Never mind the dragon. Blue lightning soldiers with me. We will destroy their right formation near Apex. The rest, regro…" Laios noticed some of the special units under Natasha heading towards them. "What happened?" Laios asked. "Legate Natasha ordered us to support the front lines. She instructed us to use white flame martial energy on our weapons." One of the soldiers replied. Laios pondered a bit. "Go regroup with the flank, relay the orders to Magna. Tell her she is now in charge of the troops."
"Men of blue lightning, we will immediately destroy their right formation. Whatever you do, do not let their blades hit you. Among all of us here, we have the best reaction times and optic nerves. Evade, evade, and evade." "Yes, legate." They replied. "Once I signal the flares, retreat immediately. Let them follow you. Then support the front lines." "Yes, legate."
"When I say 'go!', all of us would use our top speed and attack! Am I clear!" "Yes, legate!"
"Go!" Laios commanded.
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"100 meters away, and they look so small. I thought this was the optimal engagement range." Tamael stated. "No, this is about 300 meters away. If you knew that was the optimal range, why in the Makers did you position here?" Elder Abaddel said aghast. "You kids are in big trouble after this." Elder Abaddel added.
Elder Abaddel took out his small molecular digitization device and reconstructed binoculars from it.
"Cool! I did not know spatial storage could be this small! Tamael said rhetorically. "I know. This is not available for civilians." Elder Abaddel replied. "Here. Use these. Since all of you are already here, might as well help me. If you see blue flares and I missed it, inform me immediately." Elder Abaddel further added.
Tamael and Equirel used the binoculars and were suddenly surprised.
"Are we losing?" Tamael said, clutching his hair, surprised. "Look at them. They are outnumbered by a lot!" Equirel added.
"Elder Abaddel, what should we do? They are losing!" Tamael asked, his eyes going wild from side to side. "My sister! She is stationed there. Equirel's parents as well!" He further added. "I know. Such is the sight of war. I told you to stay at the house, and you didn't listen. Don't blink and observe. This will teach you the reality of life and death, which you kids think is fun."
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CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Laios and his squad of blue lightning soldiers charged the right side of the enemy formation near Apex.
"They are planning a suicidal attack against the Supreme! Stop them." A Neo Illumina enforcer shouted. "Defensive forma" ---
"Thunder Strike!" Laios shouted.
Because the use of Blue Lightning is naturally accompanied by a loud, crackling thunderous boom, Laios can weaponize the acoustics of his magic. He concentrated blue lightning martial energy in his sword, forcing his weapon to mimic the scientific properties (lightning & thunder) of that divine elemental variant and directly attacked the enforcers' right formation. The resulting concussive thunder wave physically shattered the defenders' eardrums and spatial equilibrium, blowing their heavy shields apart and leaving a massive gap in the formation for the Templar forces to exploit.
"Not enough! Regroup formation in the sky! Use lightning bombardment!" Laios issued his command.
Laios and his squad ascended high above the battlefield. Identifying the densest cluster of enemy forces' right formation, they condensed a massive amount of Blue Lightning Martial Energy into their bodies and weapons and plummeted downward. The sheer kinetic force of their landing, combined with the explosive release of electrical energy, acted as a localized, devastating payload, physically scattering the enemy ranks and breaking their defensive line.
PFFT! PFFT! POP! POP!
Two red flares shot above and popped in the sky. A signal for Natasha's special unit that the ambush would be difficult.
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End of Chapter.