Chapter 29
Stand in a Citadel [https://i.imgur.com/OY7YqAK.png]
Guard captain stood at the gates of Delver Citadel and overlooked the Riftlands with a dreamy look. Riftlands stood silent as they usually did so close to the bastion of human might and hope. The only ones who disturbed the calm atmosphere of the land were Delvers who ventured into their own adventures or returned back from them. Mountains safeguarded the city from both sides and only canyon valley had a way into the Riftlands.
Suddenly a captain's attention was captured by a particular party of Delvers running through the canyon valley to the walls of Delver Citadel. Trio of Delvers fought through their steps to reach the gates while carrying a fourth human with them. Group looked like it had been through much. Bloodied and dirty like rugrats, they barely moved their legs to reach their destination. They were naked, only garbed in their undergarments, wounds, and bruises didn’t leave a single healthy space on their bodies. Oldest Delver had his right hand missing, and the woman who was with them had her nose cut off clean.
“Open the gates! we have strugglers!” Guard captain shouted to his underlings with a laugh, " I swear to Divines, youngsters get more reckless by the day. Probably attacked some Eldritch Skewer above their league. Good thing they survived at all.
His men hurried to comply with his order as the chain rattled and large enforced gates opened up wide ajar.
Party passed the gates and didn't stop when asked by guards to do so. Half-naked Delvers just ran past the guards and kept running deeper into the city without saying a word. Guards wanted to stop them, but the guard captain stopped his men.
"Leave them! Let poor idiots go! They need healers more than your stupid comments," the captain said to his men.
Guard captain simply followed the party with his eyes as they run deeper into the city. Other civilians and Delvers split up and let them pass, shouting some jokes after them. When the party was out of his vision guard captain once again looked at the Riftlands and his face lost its color.
“Divines!” he stumbled his words as his gaze fell on the horde of Eldritch standing on the horizon and watching the city with their countless eyes.
Thousands of Fallen Eldritch Priests approached the Delver Citadel in a slow walk. A horde of blobs of eyes and appendages stopped upon seeing the human city in front of them, but after a short pause, they reformed their ranks by clustering together in small groups and began preparing their spells. Guard captain watched in worry as Eldritch monsters weaved their spells while being far outside the range of the traditional fire mages, who usually had the largest reach with their fireballs.
But the guard captain was wrong. He was mistaken in his assumptions. It was not a horde. It was an organized warband of the most deadly artillery mages in all nine Eldritch stratas.
“Ring the bells! We are under attack!” the guard captain screamed, “Ring the fucking bells!”
Bells rang through the Delver Citadel as messengers of doom.
Guards, mages, and Delvers ran to the west wall while civilians hid inside their homes and basements. It was not the first time that Delver Citadel faced an attack, and this will not be the last. People knew very well that for civilians to wander through the streets during the attack wasn’t the most sensible of choices they could make. This rule was not written in ink. Magical shield covering city protected it only from attacks weaved of mana, but riftkin were usually savage fighters who preferred melee skirmish over anything else. When riftkin gonna start climbing over the walls it is better to be as far from the wall as possible.
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“Riftkin are at the gates!”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Emperor stand by us!”
“Out of the way!”
“Luna, where are you? Somebody has seen a short blonde girl? My kid is missing!”
“Why do we even have guards? Why did they let riftkin reach the city?”
“Delvers are not what they used to be! In my youth, we never got this close.”
“In your youth, you were drinking and fucking whores, while your comrades leveled you up, you lazy drunkard!”
“Clear the streets! Don’t be in the guards’ way!”
Screams and shouts were heard on the streets as people pushed through the crowd to their respective homes and shelters.
“Don’t be afraid, good people,” a small beggar boy stood in the middle of the crowd with no fear of riftkin, “Pillars of Empire will not harm get our way!”
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Orbol of the Iron fist – lvl 139
Wind Archmage – lvl 139
Blade who seeks – lvl 139
“What you think, Anisian?” Giant in pitch-black armor from head to toe asked his comrades.
Three pillars stood on the wall watching the horde of Eldritch prepare their spells.
“Fallen Eldritch Priests from Fallen Strata. They wield mana unknown to humans and together punch way above their level. With an army of that size, we are in trouble,” said an old man in loose robes with a longsword strapped on his back, “Walls will not stand more than a week. But what escapes my grasp is the reason for their attack. They are a territorial bunch, but as long as you don’t show your face near their cities, they will not even attack you. I have never seen one of them crossing the rift, and I don’t even speak about an army of them.”
“Hrmm,” Giant rumbled and hit his fists together with a loud ding, “Well, if they decided to cross humans for the first time, let’s make it unforgettable for them. How we should fight them.”
“It won’t be easy. Priests are purely ranged fighters. And by ranged I mean artillery range. They are already casting their magic weaves, and they will start their barrage any second now. Rowa you can hit them from here?”
“Not a chance, they are too far away. Do I look like some Fire Archmage to you?” a woman in a simple grey mage attire asked Anisian,
“Then we need to get closer.”
Blue circles were summoned around the Priests standing in the distance and the roar of magic resounded through the valley in front of the city walls. Thousands of arms were shoved forward and projectiles of moon mana were shot forward toward the city.
Missiles crossed the circles and each grew in size of the house.
Missiles joined together in the flight and grew in size of the mountain.
Sunlight was overshadowed by the moonlight as the mountain of moon mana loomed over Delver city and its defenders. All three pillars of the Empire looked at the looming threat with disbelief.
“Divines! Anisian, what the fuck is that?” the armor-clad giant asked in disbelief.
“Ehe! I will admit, I have never seen so many of them cast at the same time.”
“He said punch over their level,” Rowa snickered, “ How about punching a hundred times over their level?”
Runes on the walls activated and white symbols covered them from one end to another, and magical barriers sprung up covering the city in a white force shield. But it was barely enough.
A mountain of moon mana covered the shield and after a short delay exploded coloring the world blue. Moon mana absorbed and destroyed the landscape around the city. Rocks, dirt, trees, and grass were destroyed with no tracks. Ground was destroyed below the city and Delver Citadel as a whole fell down in the crater which appeared under it in a split second.
A city with all its magically enforced foundations hit the bottom of the crater with a groundbreaking force. Houses in the city crumbled left and right. Humans screamed in fear and pain as many lost their lives from getting crushed under the weight of buildings.
Runes on walls broke and the force field crumbled like an empty eggshell. The walls themselves crumbled too with all defenders standing on them.
The dust settled and destructed city revealed itself in all its shame. Walls were down, many buildings and spires crumbled and thousands of people lost their lives.
Yet Fallen Eldritch Priests were not satisfied.
Eldritch mages started weaving a new barrage of spells.