Chapter 174 - Mirage Tank

Note : Apologies for the late upload, I was working on book 4's edits and completely forgot to set it up in advance.

Chapter 174

Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth

Defensive Line

Alexandra didn't think, she acted. She reached out her arm, and casted her high powered kinetic strike spell at the wall. The masonry exploded outward as she grabbed the baroness and jumped out of the hole.

Thankfully, their respective bodyguards were anything but idiots, and Anders barely even had the time to say anything before Jared tackled him through the breach, trusting in his creator and mistress to have a plan, while Allya's own men dove after their baroness, heedless of the danger in an effort to rescue her.

Alexandra knew featherfall spells, thanks to Emilia. But they were for a single individual. So she improvised.

Her magic reached out, and the remparts' walkway below them rose, ripped out of the walls as it came to meet them.

The landing was not especially pleasant, but Alexandra tried to match their velocity as it met them, before gently guiding it down, flinching as the tower exploded above them and showered them with debris.

Then she froze as a fine mechanical blade was shoved under her throat. She looked to the side at Allya's pink haired bodyguard, and shook her head.

"I just saved your baroness. Now cut your bullshit, lower your weapon, or Jared here-" She tilted her head towards the boss, who had unceremoniously dumped Anders on the ground and drawn two revolvers. "-will reduce you to bits."

The bodyguard hesitated, then sheathed her sword, and Alexandra handed over the half knocked out baroness. She might have been a bit…too forceful in her tackle.

It was at that moment she noticed the fact that she had two daggers stuck in her torso, right through CQ's armor plate and exactly where her heart would have been.

Fast reflexes, she thought to herself, before turning towards Jared.

"Get to the howitzers! Full retargeting, everything we've got on that mirage tank! Then rush to the reserve rockets and do the same!"

The boss nodded, and ran off, as Alexandra ordered her mesa fortress artillery, which she had been keeping in reserve, to open fire as well.

So much for the enemy using obsolete weapons!

*****

"Fuck me." Said Alexandra as she gazed at the devastation from one of the remaining towers.

The damage from the normal wave of vehicles had been bad. But the mirage tank's had been much, much worse. For one, it had been designed with the purpose of destroying high tech, UIS fortifications, and it was very good at it. But it had also been targeted with malice aforethought. Tower after tower had come down, and then it had begun silencing whatever artillery emplacements it could reach.

Fortunately they had taken it out before it could move on to the exposed adventurers, still dashing to get to safety.

But it hadn't been easy. The mirage tank had its full battlegroup with it, multiple vehicles to cover it, and those were not the pathetic crap that had charged at them. Point defence lasers, umbrella shields covering the entire formation…Hell, they'd even swatted half the shells out of the air before they even reached them! The rockets hadn't even reached. In the end, the one thing that had saved them had been the mages, who instead of running had stood their ground and slung spell after spell into the mirage, from the ramparts or the ground below.

It hadn't been coordinated, but it had definitely been effective. The shields had come down, and magitech or no, the mirage had always been designed as a glass cannon from the ground up. It came apart from the onslaught…and its onboard fusion reactor exploded in a ball of plasma, clearly very different from the EFSN version, taking out all the ancillary vehicles with it.

"I will refrain from, as you say, fucking you." Said Allya dryly, as she stepped up to Alexandra's side. "My girlfriend would disapprove."

"So would mine." Said Alexandra, before biting her tongue.

Allya only chuckled however.

"I figured as much."

There was a long silence, as they both stared at the horizon, and the teams even now salvaging the vehicles, and trying to repair the fortifications.

But the silence unsettled the Earth-born. Very deeply. Especially as the baroness was behaving normally. Too normally.

"Why aren't you asking?" Said Alexandra.

"I beg your pardon?"

The dungeon core turned around to look at the ex-adventurer.

"Why aren't you asking how I knew the name of the vehicle?"

Allya shrugged.

"You said it yourself, you had to deal with the Old World a lot more than I ever did. The same goes for your advisor, I suppose."

The answer was benign. And really, who could blame her for avoiding antagonizing the dungeon core on which her town's prosperity and safety rested on?

But Alexandra saw it in her eyes. That flicker.

The baroness was lying. She hadn't asked not because she was afraid, but because she had expected Alexandra to know that name. She already had the answers, and thus hadn't bothered to enquire.

The Earth-born had already calculated the three best way to kill the young woman before she calmed down, her outward expression thankfully neutral despite her panic in the way only an AI could manage.

It didn't necessarily meant that the baroness knew what Alexandra truly was, or that she was in league with that 'Order'…but it was enough for her to immediately order the stealth golem reactivated.

"Of course." She answered. "And now, I believe we need to meet with the rest of the war council. It seems we have a problem. A big one."

"Agreed. At least your gifts survived the explosion. That's something." Alexandra nodded. She wasn't sure if the bodyguard who had kicked it on their way out had done so on purpose, but the briefcase had followed them down, fortunately with no talismans breaking on landing. Her other self had made the right choice in making them this tough It seems. They were calibrated to only bring the person they were attached to with them, in case they were being held onto by enemies or simply laden with bombs, but she didn't want to tempt fate. "But it looks like we're going to have a rough fight ahead of us."

"Yes. That we do."

And for her, it looked like she had some digging to do into the dear baroness as well.

*****

The Hammer of Eternity's computer core glew as it thought.

All units destroyed. Including those under its command. Massive increase in enemy tactical and combat effectiveness. Tank battlegroup arrived too late due to distraction forces dying far quicker than expected. Destroyed before it could withdraw. Mission accomplished regardless.

It revised its strategy, and began adjusting its plans.

Attrition unworkable. Enemy recovery extremely quick. Automated troops backed with living soldiers. Probability of production center in mesa approaching unity.

Massive sustained attack optimal. But no bunker busters remaining to destroy the production center. No long range weapons with enough power to penetrate the mesa.

One solution.

The Hammer of eternity shivered as it accelerated its pace forward, massive mechanical legs impacting the ground in unison.

Do it personally.

*****

The baroness didn't even blink as yet another messenger ran into the command center. Well, 'command center', a requisitioned room in one of the bunkers in the second line of defense, really. She really needed to get some radios and a communication staff, manually delivered messages and reports weren't going to cut it for much longer. And while she was rich, communication crystals were both extremely expensive and too finicky to make for good combat communications.

Besides, she had other things to worry about right now. Like if she'd blown herself with the dungeon core.

"New contact! Airship, coming in from the south east!"

Allya froze as she heard the report. An airship? And the only thing to the south east was wasteland, more wasteland, and eventually Gorromar. No one but madmen came from the south east, travelling the wasteland that cut the continent lengthwise was stupid, especially when you could veer off north or south and fly over the much safer lands of the kingdom or the republic, respectively.

Not that, she supposed, the Kingdom's lands were very safe now.

"I'll be right there!" She called out, as she ran off to the tower where the observers were set up.

It only took her a few minutes to get there, her not so small group of bodyguards, councilors and hangers on in tow. She bounded up the stairs and practically ran into the watch officer as she erupted onto the topmost level of the tower.

"Milady!" Said the officer, turning his grab for his sidearm into salute with surprising grace as he recognized her. "I was just about to send in another report!"

"What's going on?"

"Well, I…if you're here, you better see it for yourself." He nodded towards one of the soldiers, who took the hint and stepped away from the tripod mounted telescope.

The baroness gave him a quizzical look, and shrugged, before stepping in where the soldier had been, and looking down the telescope.

At first what she was seeing didn't register. Then it hit her.

That 'airship' was a fucking battleship, gleaming from top to bottom in heavy steel armor plating, dotted with guns on every side, and…

And it was flying Rebirth's colors, with the Omega Consortium's flag underneath it, just like the Sakura.

Elkaryos' reinforcements had arrived at last.

*****

"Damn. The baroness got some really good friends." Said Alexandra as she looked at the capital ship flying into town on the command center's holographic projector.

"Yeah. Not sure if they're going to make a difference though." Said Emilia.

"Against the ground targets? Probably not. The tanks will shred it. But against the strike crafts?" Alexandra smiled. And it wasn't a particularly nice smile.

"I mean, they have anti air weapons, but I don't think they'll be enough."

"Oh they won't be. But remember how I refused to deploy our own AA defences once we finished them?" Emilia nodded. They'd finished the missiles and some kind of power beam anti-air battery yesterday, but the dungeon core had insisted in keeping them stashed in a staging area under the fortress proper, afraid that the enemy had drones observing and marking important targets, with what had happened to the command center and the tesla tower it was in. "Well, the only thing we need to be able to pull them out is a distraction, to keep them from suppressing the fortifications as we do it. And it looks like we have one hell of a target for them now."

"Well, as long as they're able to keep their attention for long enough."

"Indeed." Alexandra looked at the delegation assembling at the top of the docking tower. "The baroness invited me, I have CQ on the way to attend, I'll hop out once she arrives at the entrance. I'll see you later?"

"Sure. I'll continue working on that tractor beam you wanted in the meantime."

"Thanks." Alexandra kissed Emilia on the forehead, who then unceremoniously grabbed her collar and dragged her down, kissing the Earth-born fully on the lips.

"For good luck. Try not to scare the baroness to death again!"

"No promises!"

*****

"Thank you for joining us." Said Allya as Crystal's boss stepped up next to her.

"Well, with everything that's happening, I hardly couldn't. Besides, it pays to know everyone who's in town."

"That it does." Said Allya, not commenting on the fact that she knew about the twins' little stunt with the steel…and the fact that the resources the twins seemed to need in great quantities had suddenly started becoming more and more common in the dungeon. Or that Eismi was working on a secret project.

She had a lot to thank Trira for. And she was starting to plan if an intervention was needed. Not against the dungeon directly, but she was hoping she could send a message if she limited herself to surface contacts, push came to shove, and get the Earth-born to negotiate.

They both fell silent as the ship docked in a great clang of metal, and the tower extended a bridge for the crew to disembark.

Allya stepped forward, ready to greet the captain…and froze as two banner carriers in full plate armor stepped on the bridge, splitting up to leave the way open, bearing the flag of Arsir, the dark elf kingdom, and the medallion of the syndicate, the same Elkaryos wore everywhere he went.

They slammed the tip of their banner staff on the floor in unison and shouted as someone stepped in between them, emerging from the ship.

"Her lady Alfyris of the house of Sparal, crown princess of the Kingdom of Arsir! All hail!"