Chapter 22: The Moment He Was Waiting For
He checked. Just as the console in the Lower Gordu Dungeon told him he could only spawn one dragon, this console indicated two wyverns at a time were the maximum. He wasn’t sure why, but it probably was some type of energy or soul limitation. Still, being able to summon two wyverns was pretty neat.
“It looks like you’re done,” Karen called out to him as she sauntered over, clearly not trying to sneak up on DM this time. “Before you summon an army, let’s see if we can finally control those damn wyverns. Summon one.”
“Uh, Sister—“
Before Jonathan could intercede, DM entered the command. He wasn’t particularly trying to obey Karen, but he himself was quite interested to give summoning a wyvern a try.
DM was kind of surprised she wanted to summon such a dangerous creature so suddenly. Karen must have really trusted DM to be able to handle the challenge of controlling a wyvern. She also must have still trusted that he was actually following her commands.
The wyvern appeared right in the chamber. Karen, Jonathan, and the soldiers all took a few steps back, waiting with bated breath to see if it would behave itself. The wyvern looked around, glanced at DM, and then settled down for a nap, having received no commands.
“See! Our efforts were not in vain!” Karen shouted to her allies. “All that effort to seize control of wyverns has finally paid off!”
“Congratulations, Sister…” Jonathan looked relieved, but he still clearly thought Karen’s decision has been way too reckless. “We lost quite a few soldiers putting down all the wyverns that escaped during all the experiments, though…”
“Creature, summon an army from this dungeon as well. The wyvern will spearhead our monster army in the battle to come.”
While DM got to work assembling another army, he attempted to communicate telepathically with the wyvern. It seemed the wyvern was similar to other monsters in that it could understand only basic commands, and it couldn’t communicate effectively.
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Karen’s father dismounted, barely paying the guards any attention as he stormed into a mansion. He started up the steps, only for an elderly maid to bow and point in a different direction.
“Oh, he’s over there?”
“Yes, Lord Burger.”
“Lead the way.”
“Of course.” The maid proceeded down a ground-floor hallway with the visitor in tow. “How are Karen and Jonathan?”
“Fine.”
The maid knocked and opened a door. Several men stood around a large map, staring at it. The maid made an announcement. “Lord Charles Burger, Sir.”
“Chuck.” The host gestured, and the rest of his group exited the room, nodding to Lord Burger as they went. The last person out, the maid, shut the door behind her.
“Any changes, Andrei?”
“Nothing major except for those monsters camping out over by Adzah. I assume you already know about that. Is it Karen’s doing?”
“I’m afraid so. My daughter encountered a few hiccups, but overall things are proceeding on schedule.”
“Well? How about a status report?”
“Oh, pipe down.” Lord Burger glanced down at a particular spot on the map. “Just as I left the wyvern dungeon, Karen and that tentacle monster were in the process of taking control of the dungeon. They’ve already mustered an army of kobolds from the dungeon near the border with the Holy State.”
“Kobolds? Will they be useful?”
“Well, it’s not the choice I would make, but my daughter does have her idiosyncrasies.”
“Chuck, that only accounts for two armies so far. Are the monsters north of Adzah from the Lower Gordu or Upper Gordu?”
“According to Karen, they’re from the Lower Gordu. We’re… not sure where the army from the Upper Gordu is yet.”
“What? Why are things so chaotic?”
“To my daughter’s credit, she’s taken a variety of precautions while dealing with the tentacle monster from the Lower Gordu Dungeon. It seems the restrictions she chose hindered the creature from directing its armies properly.”
“Is that really necessary? I’d think your daughter, of all people, would throw caution to the wind.”
“She’s… unpredictable.”
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“What about your son? Jonathan? Isn’t he there?”
“He is. It seems like he’s worried about what will come after the battle.”
“Wow, Chuck, I’m impressed. We’re all figuring out how to get that kid off the throne and your son is already thinking a step beyond that?”
“Perhaps. Karen and Jonathan will finish mustering the monster armies shortly. We should focus on what’s next.”
“Indeed.” Andrei gestured to Zirahahazi, a city due south of the capital Gazahanar. “We’ll push straight up the gut. I’ve already received word from the south that we don’t have to worry about any southern military drills around Shathargun if you get my meaning.”
“Good. Let it be known that Lord Vosk is living up to his responsibilities.”
“You’re making me blush.”
“What are your nephews up to?”
Andrei Vosk moved his eyes to the symbol representing a dungeon near the Holy State’s border. “They’re still chasing down that blacksmith.”
“What? Still?”
“I don’t know what’s going on. When I received word that they joined a party with her, it was all I could do to contain my laughter. But they’ve been traveling with her all over the Empire it seems, and they haven’t requested any aid.”
“Are they under some kind of duress?”
“No. What do you take me for, Chuck? Of course I had one of my men independently verify their wellbeing.”
“And?”
“They’re continuing to travel around as adventurers—obviously to keep an eye on her.”
“Just the three of them?”
“No. Apparently the blacksmith joined up with a party in the capital recently. When my nephews saw that, they joined up as well. That was in their first report.”
“Ah, how opportunistic of them. Who else is in this party?”
“Just two more—an elf and a swordswoman supposedly.”
“An elf?” Lord Burger hesitated. “Male or female?”
“Relax, Chuck. Male. And fairly young, apparently.”
Lord Burger exhaled in relief. “Could the elves be involving themselves somehow?”
“I don’t see how or why,” Lord Vosk replied. “This has nothing to do with them. At worst, I could see some visiting just to watch the battle, but this is all developing way too quickly for that.”
“Do you know where the elf and the swordswoman are from?”
“No. But as far as my nephews can tell, neither of them knew Luna before they formed the party.”
“Actually, that’s not really surprising. If the pairing was more than a party of convenience, I’d expect the blacksmith and her two newest allies to deny your nephews’ request to join.”
“Indeed. It’s still odd how slow they’re being. If they had learned something interesting and wanted to investigate further, I could understand that, but they’ve failed to report to me anything of the sort.”
“How much do your nephews know about the plan?”
“Nothing about the monsters. As far as they know, the battle will be human versus human only.”
“Hmm…” Lord Burger brought a hand to his chin. “Perhaps keeping them in the dark has bounced back at us. If they encountered suspicious information, such as about wayward monster armies, they might react poorly to that without specific instructions from you.”
“Could be. I also heard they encountered one of the wyverns that escaped from that dungeon. Perhaps that spooked them.”
“At least they're safe… They don’t know about that affair either?”
“Dammit, Chuck, they don’t need to know about any of this. As far as I’m concerned you’re trusting your own children too much as well.”
“I had to delegate the task. Preparations for the human portion of the battle are taking up all of my time.”
“Yes… I really have to hand it to the Union. Their ability to keep their moves a secret until the last moment is remarkable.”
“Andrei, are you sure you want to aspire to be like them?”
Lord Vosk laughed. “What I would like is to avoid a rout if at all possible.”
“Come on, man. Face the facts brutally. If this fails, we’ll hang.”
“And when we succeed, we’ll return the Empire to a more proper path.”
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With Karen’s approval, DM summoned a flying monster from the Nabilgat Dungeon. Fortunately, bats were on the menu in this dungeon, too. The bat’s role was to fly overnight to the beach where DM’s monsters were stuck. Once it made contact, DM would infect one or more members of the army and then direct them to a designated position just south of the Emperor’s domain. In tandem, Karen’s father and other leaders would fully assemble an army comprised of the central region’s forces.
“Oh, I suppose you should make a second bat as well. Send it to find your army from the Upper Gordu Dungeon.”
DM summoned a second bat and sent it flying northwest. He didn’t bother to explain that there was no army from the Upper Gordu Dungeon, not that he could.
“We march shortly. Ensure your two armies are ready.” Karen walked away to speak with the other soldiers that would be traveling north with them.
Jonathan lingered for a moment, like there was something he wanted to say to DM. After a few moments, he shook his head and jogged after Karen, leaving DM alone.
DM slithered over to a group of tentacle monsters in his standing army. One of them morphed from a T2 tentacle monster, three meters tall and purple, to a T3 tentacle monster, DM’s form. DM was four meters tall and red, so he stood out. Now was likely the only opportunity for a while for one of his embedded morphlings to copy his form and abilities in secret. The morphling grabbed DM’s collar with an appendage and ate away at it with absorb equipment.
While the collar was wearing down, DM had a second tentacle monster, really a second morphling, morph into a mimic. The mimic then used its disguise ability to take the form of the collar DM was wearing. The original collar turned to dust, but DM didn’t gain any stats or abilities. The thing really was defective junk.
Without delay, DM grabbed the fake collar and wrapped it around the same part of his body that Karen had attached the original to. He was a bit worried that the morphling might have trouble mimicking the form and fit of the collar, but the copy seemed good enough.
The other morphling finished imitating DM and returned to its previous form as a standard T2 tentacle monster. DM took note of his surroundings; nobody seemed to have noticed anything.
“Grummanonth.”
“I am here, DM.”
“I owe you an explanation.”
“Then I will listen.”
As DM prepared to explain everything to Grummanonth, he noticed Jonathan walking over.
“Hold on. I need to deal with this.”
“Very well.” The dragon was such an understanding chap.
Jonathan arrived. “I can’t do this anymore. Please forgive my sister. She doesn’t express herself well, but she really doesn’t mean you any long-term harm. I know her behavior has been inexcusable, but…” He seemed to fumble for the right words. “I can’t live my life being the bad guy, and I won’t let my sister go any further down the wrong road either. I’ll knock her out if I have to and take her away from here. That’s the most I can do without betraying my people…” He seemed to be speaking more to himself than DM by this point.
DM just waited patiently.
“Anyway, here.” Jonathan pulled an odd-looking key out of a pocket. He reached for DM’s collar. “Please just take your monsters and go. I’ll make sure that my sister doesn’t do anything else to hinder you.”