Chapter 173
Bibliophile’s Secret Places And Subjugation Forces
(Mallory)
To say that Cass was hiding something was obvious. The fact that something as monumental as the world receiving a message that someone had somehow found the entrance to the legendary Library of the Tribunal, was astonishing enough. Added to that was the fact that Cass, the number one bibliophile in the world seemed indifferent to the information and that is where Mallory and Gwen’s senses began to go off.
“She is being elusive about the subject, isn’t she?” Mallory asked Gwen, Cass’s real-world daughter and arguably the person with the most experience dealing with the enigmatic woman.
“Oh yeah, most definitely.” Gwen responded, as she too had been present, at least long enough for Cass to perform her daily affection towards the unborn child. As it was nearly midnight, Cass managed to get a double dose in, almost missing the cycle, making it so Mallory would have had to avoid Gwen an entire day herself, had she not returned exactly when she had.
“Also, her arrival seems way too coincidental, right?” Mallory found herself asking.
At this, Gwen paused and actually seemed to debate the answer. “Well, possibly, but she is always zooming about from place to place as she wishes.”
“Isn’t it odd that she chose now to do the guild’s land reclamation quest?”
“Well, we have been talking about doing it for a long time, and maybe she thought that we would do it without her,” Gwen answered honestly.
At that Mallory just squinted, normally this would be enough for Cass to pick up that she wanted her to go on, but Gwen either wasn’t as adept at reading facial queues as Cass, or they hadn’t bonded enough for this to be expressed clearly, in either case she had to ask.
“How could we do this without her?” Mallory finally asked. To her, the statement made no sense, as even with the other elite mages, they all took time to cast the spells, which Cass could do in a fraction of the time. Judging by how quickly Cass was moving in comparison to the other mages, Mallory knew that her initial projections were not that far off. If anything, they were pretty well stopped with the expansion efforts when Cass was not around, as the other mages, even using the giant obelisks that Cass created to assist in the fertilization process of the land, had difficulty using the equipment handed to them.
No, there was something amazing about the way that Cass used and wielded magic that was inspiring. When asking the students of her classes for feedback, they all were extremely thankful for being given the opportunity to learn from her, as she clearly not only understood magic itself, but how to get others to understand magic. Just her passion for all things magical seemed to radiate from her in almost everything she did, and sometimes that radiating light was almost too much to stare at, almost.
“I don’t know. I mean sure we could get by, but it wouldn’t be the same without her.” Gwen answered truthfully.
Mallory was about to ask another question, but was quickly stopped by Gwen raising one finger and then pointing off in the distance.
Seeing the signal, Mallory instantly went quiet as she turned to see three figures come straight towards her, as if summoned by the start of the land subjugation quest.
There was a slight pause, as Mallory took the initiative and decided to meet the three Deolar delegates at the halfway mark between her and them. The three delegates of course were, Knight Captain Glavis De’Arcaneri, Lieutenant Foliv De’Travin, and Arch-Mage Rahul De’Gravitas. These three were the representatives that had been sent ahead to help foster peaceful negotiations between the invading Midnight Hunters Guild and the native undead inhabitants of Deolar.
Each was powerful in their own rights, and while Mallory was certain she could take down one or two of the delegates, she felt that taking on all three would prove costly for her. Especially if she had to deal with the Necromancer of the group, the Arch-Mage Rahul himself.
Honestly, after meeting the Arch-Mage Mallory couldn’t help but feel a bit creeped out. I mean dealing with the undead in any capacity was tough, but dealing with powerful undead who were originally part of the opposing forces meant to combat your occupation of their territory only seemed to heighten the anxiety she felt.
Anxiety she felt, but never showed.
Turning back to see her pregnant girlfriend waddling up closer to their delegation, Mallory was both relieved and surprised to see that Gwen too was stoic in the face of the undead. It might be something about being blind, and only able to see with that weird sight that the whole family now has, but honestly, the undead delegation were imposing to say the least. Each exuded an aura of death and malignance that seemed like it should permeate the ground, but somehow never did.
Deep breath.
Still, if Gwen and Cass both could deal with these delegates and treat them like they are living entities, then Mallory at least could follow suit.
“Do you have any objections to our purifying and claiming the Blighted lands?” Mallory asked, as she just got the first status update that they had claimed the first 73 acres, and were already set for a rather large land claim. Normally, such a massive grab for land was considered unwise, particularly when your opposing force was the world as there was generally a ten enemy to one acre of land ratio of forces that a guild could face from claiming unoccupied lands. This meant that right off the bat, the Midnight Hunters would have to deal with at least seven hundred and thirty well trained elite forces that were par for the area, and the area was exceptionally high level, particularly in comparison to the majority of the guild’s members.
“Not at all my queen,” Knight Captain Glavis De’Arcaneri began as he immediately went into a kneel. “In fact, we were ordered by our King and Princess to accept these changes, for once you are officially married to our king, the lands you guard we will guard as well.”
Relief.
With that Mallory felt a bit of the tension she had been holding, and once again she saw the planning and foresight that Cass had put forth into this effort. As always, Cass seemed to have planned at least two steps ahead of the current moment.
“Can we ask you why a rather large contingent of Deolar forces have suddenly appeared?” Gwen asks, a sudden note of panic in her voice, though she does manage to keep her voice calm as she points towards the dungeon entrance that leads to the undead Deolar capital.
Seeing the large force, Mallory too instantly felt her blood run cold as she realized these are the forces that she and her guild would normally have to face off against if the two factions were not at peace.
Turning, Knight Captain De’Arcaneri faced the portal, and then had a slight questioning glance to his face, before he seemed to recognize the first few soldiers.
“Those are my elite guards, though why they are here versus guarding our entrance I don’t quite understand.” Knight Captain De’Arcaneri stated, as he walked over and began talking to the forces.
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There was a slight pause, before everyone else, the Lieutenant, the Arch-Mage and of course Gwen and Mallory also moved forward to join the Knight Captain.
“What is the meaning of this?” De’Arcaneri asked, clearly feeling that he still had a measure of authority over the troops that were coming out of the dungeon exit in droves.
Quick salute.
“Sir, we have been sent to inform you that we have once again contacted the rest of the Deolar Empire. The tunnels that were once sealed have now finally been cleared and communications with the other outposts has once again been reestablished. Since those with me are mostly new, we thought it best that we introduce these new soldiers to their King and Princess as quickly as possible.” The soldier said, while quickly rendering a salute.
Hearing that Mallory instantly knew this was going to be a bit of a distraction, as the King and the Princess were both currently busy trying to gain more lands for the Midnight Hunter Guild, as both of those were in fact avatars owned by Cass.
“Okay, so why are you all here?” De’Arcaneri fortunately asked the very question that Mallory had been thinking.
“Sir, given the recent addition of lands, our detachment was considered to be surplus and was thus sent here by the ministers as a means to help with any tasks that might need to be done during this great unification project. While also swearing fealty to our King and beloved Princess.” The Soldier said.
And like that Mallory knew this was the game’s way of stating why a contingent of over seven hundred soldiers were being pumped out to the exact center of the Midnight Hunter’s Guild’s territory. Normally this would be done as a means to force the Midnight Hunters to both attack the hostile native forces, while continuing to grab more land segments, but in this case the soldiers were just extra.
In her mind Mallory realized that the size of the dungeon for the Deolar Empire was likely growing at a rate that was both equal to and proportional to the amount of land being claimed by her Midnight Hunter’s Guild. While this had the future implications of effectively doubling her guild’s landmass in the future, currently all she could think about was how tenuous this situation was. However, before she could get too lost in her own thoughts about what to do, the Knight Captain made sure she had no time to think of an appropriate response to this situation.
“Well unfortunately the King and princess are both away tending to delicate matters, but said, let me introduce you to your future queen, so that she might be able to better allocate you all during this process.” The Knight Captain said, as he then gestured to Mallory.
At that Mallory felt both apprehension and a slight wave of relief wash over her. While these were clearly friendly forces, and likely a lot easier to deal with individually than the three delegates that had already been here, Mallory had no doubt that her guild would suffer extreme losses if they but made the wrong move here. They could instantly go from being potential allies to extreme enemies within seconds.
There was also the fact that the thought of a large contingent of hostile forces being stationed right at the center of her Guild’s empire made her squeamish to say the least. Nothing good could come from having so many opposing forces just sitting around idly within her borders without any clear mission or without any people to watch them.
Unfortunately, everyone who Mallory would normally place in charge of monitoring this foreign force was already occupied with different logistical concerns related to monitoring the other mages, transporting the different mages from one section to the next as needed, and ultimately trying to ensure their full borders are protected from possible roaming bands of Blighted creatures.
Honestly, this whole thing was turning into a giant cluster of chaos that Mallory knew she wasn’t quite capable of handling on her own.
Kneeling bow of respect.
The leader of the invading soldiers faced Mallory and then instantly bent the knee and showed supplication towards Mallory. “You grace, we await your command.”
At first Mallory wanted to tell them all to go away, that they were unwanted and unnecessary and would likely cause problems, but that was not an answer that would help improve the relationship between both factions. Instead, Mallory paused, wondering if she could get the groups to take on border patrol.
Just as she was thinking about a way to make these soldiers look busy while being out of the way, she heard it.
“GRAAHHAGAHHHAAA!”
An ear-splitting sound of primordial violence that stirred deep fear within Mallory’s heart. Just hearing the sound, it was clear that this was the cry of a world boss, or at the very least a zone boss for the overpowered and over-leveled zone that they were in.
Seeing the monster, Mallory instantly realized that this was likely the first of many tests sent to come. Suddenly she knew what to do with all seven hundred soldiers, though in her mind she instantly realized that the forces being provided would not make it in time to the attack site, then most importantly it meant that she would be weak if she ran the full forces to face this foe, only for a second foe to appear from an alternate side.
Realizing the test before her, Mallory decided to split up the forces for perimeter defense as she had originally planned to do, but now this would actually be an important task given to others.
“Divide the troops into seven groups of a hundred, I need one group to go to each corner, and then the remainder to start filling out the centers of our territory.” Mallory said, pointing towards each corner of the overall area that her guild was attempting to cover, then pointing towards the rough center. In her mind she was already planning on there being more soldiers coming through, thanks to conquering more land masses, which would force more soldiers up to the surface.
“Kight Captain De’Arcaneri, I am going to task you and the Lieutenant on organizing the forces and distributing them out equally to help cover our territory while we deal with any other monsters that might come during this time.” Mallory began giving out orders crisply and clearly, her mind quickly going into crisis prevention mode.
The Knight Captain just nodded his understanding, before he could open his mouth to say anything, Mallory continued.
“Lieutenant, it will be your job to guide any new forces to the appropriate areas, and then to come back here and help the Knight Captain however he needs you.” Mallory said, and true to form the Lieutenant gave a quick fist clench to his chest and bow in acknowledgement.
With that Mallory turned towards the troops. “Now you all, I need the best hundred of you to form up on me, so we can take down that beast,” Mallory said as she pointed off in the distance towards the monster that was little more than a dark spot in the distance.
GRAHHHH!!
Hearing that sound, Mallory knew that the creature had already found a target or targets to attack. As it cried out, a large ball of death shot from its mouth.
The ball was so far away that Mallory could actually see the projectile get slightly larger, like a miniature burning sun, before it seemed to just vanish.
“What the?” Mallory asked, the spots were so far away that they were just at the edge of her exceptional Perception range, even still, she could only make out the sight due to the sheer volume of energy being released and thrown about.
“How?” Was all Mallory could ask, trying to understand how the fiery ball of death suddenly dissolved in mid-air. Then just as she had the thought, the answer came to her.
“No, no, no, no no.” Mallory said, as her mind processed all the factors, the fact that there was a storm cloud in the top left corner of her eye. The fact that a magical attack of a veritable God had been thwarted. “You stupid…”
Shaking her head, Mallory could only feel fear wash over her, as she knew the only one crazy enough to jump head long into battling a calamitous beast was Cass. Then realizing she didn’t have a moment to spare, Mallory turned back to the troops that were all staring up in awe at the spectacle.
“Follow me, and keep up!” Mallory shouted, then without waiting to find out if anyone would listen, Mallory began to first run, then sprint, then Burst her way forward.
As she moved her way through the territory, she found herself instinctively heading towards the wide open strips of still Blighted lands that existed between the different sections. When she first heard the process provided by Cass, she was a bit skeptical, even now she had her doubts particularly with how much the world was seemingly throwing at their guild. But right now, the idea of having a straight line to go down made everything so much easier.
For the first time, Mallory didn’t even feel the fear of walking on Blighted lands, instead all she could think about was getting to her friend and providing as much assistance as possible.
Even running, it would still take time, maybe even minutes to get to Cass, minutes that would likely prove costly. This was why Mallory found herself watching the creature the entire time she ran. As she got closer, she saw a giant creature that seemed to float the same way a brick would. Mentally she knew this was the effect of parallax, the act of seeing an object while moving.
Yet, despite knowing that both she and the monster were moving exceptionally quickly, everything seemed to go in a slow crawl. That was of course, until she saw that the creature was flickering. It took Mallory a second to figure out exactly what was happening, but the creature was swatting itself with its long tail the same way a horse might swat at an annoying fly biting at its flesh.
“Cass.” Was all Mallory could let out mid stride, as her breathing was already being pushed to its limits. Then to her shock and horror, she watched as the giant creature slowly plummeted to the ground.
KA-BOOM!
Silence.
Mallory first heard the sound of the giant beast falling, then felt the aftershocks in the ground as the beast’s impact was also finally felt.
All the while Mallory continued to run forward.
In the next seconds following the ripples, Mallory heard the creature let out an annoyed scream.
AARRRAGGAAAHHH-ARRAAHH!
Hearing the sound, Mallory couldn’t help but let a slight smile of understanding crest her features as she understood that cry. That was the cry of a monster who was being put to its limits by something that it should easily be able to outmatch, but somehow couldn’t.
Tear.
It was definitely the cold wind rushing into Mallory’s eyes, and not the slightly overwhelming dread that had been plaguing Mallory’s thoughts about her friend being in danger that caused a tear to form in her eye. The tear also had nothing to do with the fact that Mallory just knew, somehow she knew that if she hurried she would be able to see her friend overcoming one of the greatest enemies ever recorded in BiPrism history.
As she got closer, the exact location of the enormous beast became more apparent, as it was easily over ten meters tall when it fully exposed its wings to the air.
“Keep going Cass, I’m almost there.” Mallory said, realizing that the creature was still acting like a rabid spider monkey was clawing at its sensitive bits.
For a moment lush trees and gardens covered the majority of the movements of the great dragon, and it was clear that this was a dragon. Arguably the largest dragon ever recorded. Given the size of the dragon and the size of the forest that Mallory was now charging through, most of the movements were missed. It was clear that by now others had come to help Cass out, as the creature now moved about like a colony of ants had climbed into its pants and began stinging wildly. Which given what Mallory knew about Cass didn’t seem too hard to imagine.
Finally, she broke through the last vestige of vegetation, and looked out to see the beast on the ground. Mallory even let out a sigh of relief as she saw that Cass was there still alive and healthy.
Then she paused.
Mallory went from a full-on sprint one second, to a complete and abrupt stop the next as she stared on in wonder as she watched what Cass did next.
“What the?” Was all Mallory could manage to say, before she heard Cass cry out clear as day.
“Now…”