--- Portal Outskirts, Matique City ---
Grandmaster is currently in his tent, sipping tea. By all indications, the invasion that started two hours ago is proving to be a success. Bartolomeu, the general in charge of the entire operation, has recently crossed the portal; he was called to deal with some unspecified issues within the army ranks.
Grandmaster Colt is thinking that his concerns were in vain; perhaps conquering other worlds is easier than it seems. He then stands up, grabs his staff, and steps out of the tent. Guards are protecting the entrance; they salute him and continue to stand guard. Colt looks at the portal and sees the last military unit enter. Now it was official; over 200,000 soldiers of the empire were venturing into a new world. However, there are still about 100,000 soldiers in the outskirts of Matique awaiting orders, and the next batch of 20,000 soldiers is already being prepared to enter the portal. If all goes well, all 300,000 recruited soldiers will have passed through the portal by nightfall the following day.
--- 3 hours after the invasion ---
Colt is back in his tent, reading a book about the concepts of magic in the ancient wizard kingdom. Suddenly, one of the guards outside his tent enters with a soldier who appears to be a messenger. He salutes Colt and informs him that this messenger is one of the soldiers who crossed the portal. Colt signals for the guard to leave them alone.
Colt leans forward in his chair. "What brings you here, my young man?"
The messenger kneels as a sign of respect and says, "My lord, I regret to inform you that General Bartolomeu has died in combat." Colt stands up from his chair, this time with a look of astonishment. "How did this happen?" he asks with a concerned voice.
"We're not entirely sure. We were hit by some kind of magic or long-distance attack. In an instant, he was there, and the next second, he and hundreds of soldiers were dead, and the entire base around the portal destroyed. All that was left were craters."
Colt listens to the messenger's words and is left speechless. He doesn't know how to react to this information. "You say this might have been a magical attack, but I assure you that there is no magic in that world," Colt says as he sits back down in his chair.
"The mages who crossed the portal said the same, and we believe you, but this enemy fights in a completely strange way, and we can't predict their movements and attacks," the man says with a trembling voice.
"This last statement catches Colt's attention. "Specify to me how this enemy acts," Colt signals for the messenger to stand up.
Then the man begins to speak. Colt is left speechless and somewhat incredulous with everything the messenger told him. Flying steel beasts and ground monsters made of steel that spew fire were extremely concerning. But one of the things that caught his attention is that the defenders of this other world don't use swords but some kind of mechanical fire-spitting weapon, according to the messenger's description.
However, he cannot deny that this battle may be quite costly. As he went out to inspect the troops, he noticed some imperial soldiers crossing the portal back to their world. They were not alone but brought captured people, possibly to be sold as slaves.
He noticed that the clothes of these people were indeed unusual.
---
Selena and Thalassa are fleeing with other surviving adventurers, planning to reach the portal as quickly as possible. The strange sounds of explosions and enemy weapon fire echo around them as they run for their lives, making the situation even more desperate. They reach a crossroads but halt instantly upon witnessing a horrifying scene. Countless Imperial soldiers and all sorts of Imperial beastly creatures lie dead by the thousands on the ground as far as the eye can see. Many are torn apart, others covered in blood, and some simply riddled with holes in their armor. Everyone there knows where those holes came from, but one thing is certain: they are all dead. One of the adventurers, upon witnessing this sight, begins to vomit. Another remarks, "Look at these craters on the ground; it seems what happened to them was the same as what happened to us earlier."
Everyone seems to agree, and Thalassa says, "That's one more reason for us to keep running and reach that portal soon." They begin to run through the bodies of their fallen Imperial comrades. They encounter a group of Minotaurs who seem confused. Then they see a beast-tamer mage beside the creatures, accompanied by some members of the Royal Guard. They notice the approach of Selena's group and inquire, "What happened?"
Thalassa promptly responds that only death and destruction remain along the path they came from. Before they could respond, a roar is heard approaching. They look up and see a Wyvern preparing to land. Upon landing, everyone can see the admiring gaze of all witnessing this beautiful and powerful creature. The rider dismounts from the creature and then speaks in a firm, direct tone. "They're all dead," he says. Confusion is now evident in their eyes. "I'm the last Wyvern rider left."
"Are you saying all your comrades are dead? But how? That should be impossible," asks one of the Royal Guards with a raised voice.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
The rider confirms again and says he is willing to provide some aerial cover so that everyone can retreat back to the portal. As they converse, a new sound can be heard—a loud sound, as if the skies above are being torn by something. Their eyes turn upward once again. They see a large formation of metallic objects flying at high speed. They launch these fire javelins against something in the distance and then retreat again with that deafening sound.
"What are those things?" Selena asks, fear evident in her eyes.
The rider quickly responds before mounting his Wyvern again. "I'm not exactly sure, but I believe they are metal monsters. I saw that inside those things are people controlling them, just like I control this winged beast."
Everyone looks stunned; this is a lot to take in. After mounting up, he continues to speak. "And it's not just that; they have metal beasts that spew fire and destruction. Nothing can stop them. And did you see they launched those fire arrows from the tips of their wings?" Before anyone can respond, he finishes, saying, "Those fire arrows are being launched against our troops guarding the portal. By now, at this stage of the battle, they are likely all dead. If I were to guess, they are cutting off our supply lines and dividing us, conquering us. The portal will soon fall into their hands as well."
"That's impossible! We have over 100,000 soldiers ready to cross the portal; we will go back and destroy those bastards!" shouts one of the Royal Guards.
Before he can respond, explosions hit near their position. Everyone drops to the ground, and the Wyvern takes flight, moving away from the area. They all rush into a huge building they had conquered and order the Minotaurs to guard outside; they throw some prisoners out to feed the creatures.
---
Inside this strange building, Selena and Thalassa unintentionally separated. In their desperation, each had run in a different direction within the building. Selena now found herself with a small group: a young Imperial soldier, a mage, and two Royal Guards from the Imperial Palace.
Their expressions were filled with terror; clearly, they did not know what had just happened moments ago. The mage kept repeating that this world showed no signs of magic present, so how were they able to carry out these explosive attacks? It was all very frightening; just the thought of the possibility of something much more destructive than magic left her inwardly terrified. "Alright, let's find a place to take cover in here and wait for reinforcements," said one of the guards.
---
Captain Juliano had taken flight to protect himself from whatever was attacking at that moment. After the situation calmed down, he decided to return to provide cover for his comrades on the ground. As he approached stealthily, he witnessed those Minotaurs trying to fight against those strange soldiers and their iron beasts.
He saw practically all the Minotaurs being killed. He landed on top of a building, being cautious not to be seen by those flying beasts and the iron beasts that had massacred the Minotaurs. After some time, he noticed that the enemy soldiers were distracted and decided to attack them. He dove with his Wyvern toward the soldiers and unleashed a powerful fireball; he realized he hit one of the soldiers on the ground. He then prepared for a second dive, while his Wyvern prepared its next fireball, he was abruptly hit by something unknown. He quickly looked at what had hit him and saw a young soldier from this world with this strange staff on his shoulder.
He fell to the ground, his Wyvern now dead. He saw no alternative but to fight with his own hands, but before he could react much, he was immobilized. They didn't kill him; they only made him a prisoner. In his mind, he would prefer to be dead; now he could only imagine that his fate would be torture and slavery in this strange new world.
---
Master Colt sees several soldiers, some injured or with shaken expressions on their faces. They are fleeing from something beyond the portal.
Colt mounts his horse and rides slowly towards the men coming out of the portal. Unlike the large number of soldiers who ventured beyond the portal, the few men returning create several uncertainties in Colt's mind.
Thousands of soldiers are anxiously watching these men retreat through the portal; they still do not know, but something very bad awaits them beyond that portal.
Colt observes a high-ranking officer with a long gray beard mounted on his horse. He rides slowly while being escorted by soldiers with weary and terrified appearances.
Colt approaches, bringing his horse alongside the old officer. The officer looks at him and tries to greet him, but Colt interrupts, saying, "You don't need to act formally with me at this moment. Tell me, tell me, why are you retreating from the portal?"
The officer's expression changes to that of a frightened man, not because of the old wizard's question, but because of what he saw in this new world. Before the officer can respond, Colt notices that the soldiers have stopped retreating from the portal; no one else is coming back. This makes him think that perhaps the group this officer brought back was just a group of wounded soldiers retreating to the rear.
"Have you received orders to retreat with these wounded men?" Colt asked.
The officer looks him deep in the eyes and says, "No," then he looks ahead again and continues speaking, "we are retreating because we had no choice."
Colt is a little confused by this response. "What do you mean by 'we had no choice'?" he asked.
"You saw, didn't you? These wounded men were all that was left. 20,000 men under my command guarded the entrance to the portal," said the officer with a serious tone.
"So why are you here and not guarding the portal?" asked Colt.
"That world..., it's not as we thought. They have strange weapons and metal beasts."
Colt thinks all this is madness but continues to listen to the officer speak.
"They attacked us from the skies; no Wyvern survived. We lost air cover, so those steel dragons came and unleashed their fire arrows upon us, and that's not all... they bombarded us constantly." Colt stares at the officer as he speaks; he certainly doesn't seem to be lying. "Suddenly, everything stopped; I looked around and saw only destruction and death. From what I counted, just over 10,000 of the 20,000 men guarding the portal survived. I wouldn't have retreated, but what came next was the worst of all. Steel monsters and soldiers from that world, they carried staffs that fired magic at us, yet we detected no magical power, but it was certainly much more destructive than any of our weapons, they forced us to retreat."
"So you're telling me we lost control of the portal... to those barbarians?"
The officer looks at him in the eyes again and says, "They are not barbarians..., they are demons."
Colt then walks away from the officer, who continues on his way for treatment.
He thinks about what he just heard; if even 1% of what that officer said is true, it means the empire has a big problem on its hands now. He decides to return to his tent and write a letter to the emperor detailing all the events. Throughout the rest of the day, no more soldiers from the empire retreat from the portal. He doesn't know, but soldiers will return to cross the portal, but they will not be soldiers of the empire...