Chapter 9 – Preparing For The War
To start my master plan, of calling down extinction upon the cursed giants. I send the minicugas, exploring the mountain, to the lizards' habitat. As I heard from reports, the lizards’ were split up into 3 nests. Each one occupying a third of the outer borders of the area.
They would occasionally fly into the center, in small squads. There they would cultivate, but eventually, retreat when another nest looked like it would attack. After analyzing their behavior, I concluded that the three nests were rivals.
So as not to risk the destruction of their small environment they regulated themselves. Every small nest was only allowed a specific amount of time in the mana-denser center of the area.
Sometimes small squabbles would break out and destroy quite a large swath of land.
The power these little fellas held within them was quite scary. Especially their fire, which consumed the mana around it to never extinguish.
I reckoned that, when evolved further, they would become quite formidable opponents.
They would probably be able to rule over this area if it wasn’t for them fighting amongst themselves. Having finished my analysis I send in my minicugas. They were ordered to abduct only one member of every nest.
So to not destabilize the equilibrium in which the environment was held. The plan went by relatively smooth, with only one nest retaliating. This lead to a third of my attacking force dying, and also 4 of the nest’s young drakelings.
The remaining minicugas took the kidnapped lizards into my domain and remained to be used in the coming experiments. While inspecting the creatures, I noticed their special blood. It was extremely hungry for mana and promised great power and fortune.
The drakelings themselves were roughly two meters long and they had scales ranging from blood red to silvery. Though one of the specimen’s scales were slightly lifted and smaller, similar to the hard needles of pines.
Their bodies were a mixture of the power of my bears and the mobility of the lava dogs but had the slight elongation of snakes. Particularly the pinewood-like creature was very similar in body structure to the canines.
The most interesting thing about their body was their special breath attack. They used a second heart to pump a bit of blood into a lung-like organ. There it would transform into mist and then combust. The flammable blood would then be either directly spilled out of the creature’s mouth, resulting in a cone of fire, or it would collect in the organ, heating up and getting more dangerous.
The creature was heavily limited in the use of this ability because it was taxing on the organ. Once the ball of flaming and combustible plasma hit the target, it would explode in a rain of fire.
After further analysis, I concluded that the blood’s mana-consuming attribute was what allowed the fire to burn the mana around it. Finished with my examination, I tried to include the drakelings into my new minicugas. At first, quite a lot went wrong and nothing came out successful.
They would evolve heavy scales and were unable to move quickly. Or they would ravishingly consume the mana around them until they died from mana poisoning. After I while though I came upon the solution, I slowly infused the drakelings’ blood into the minicugas body.
Switching it with theirs and transferring the potential to the creature. I came upon this idea after looking through the lesser nargacuga’s body. In it, I saw a weak imitation of the blood the drakelings held.
Now that the creature was finished I analyzed it and the commander again. The minicugas transformed into baby nargacugas and the commander into a young nargacuga. The megacugas split up into either baby or young nargacugas, dependent on the amount of mana they held.
They were quicker, stronger, more intelligent, and overall better. It was an improvement in every possible way. I was elated to have finally finished my first ever self-creation. Now that I had the perfect base creature I returned to experimenting with combining them with aggrands.
This time it went way smoother, it was as if the blood was the missing puzzle piece. And now that I had it, everything fell into place. The new creature I created was a Hybrid between the intelligent and relatively civilized aggrands and the powerful and agile nargacugas.
Standing slightly taller than the aggrands’ 3,5 – 4 meters they were very imposing. More than a third the size of the giants and way bigger than the minicugas and even the baby nargacugas. Only the young nargacuga stood above them, being a colossal creature, only slightly smaller in size than the solar bear. But still being able to fly and having the ability to breathe black fire.
Back to the new creature, they were called baby Nacullians. From their shoulder blades, two wings spread across the whole length of one of my first caverns. Their hands and feet had sharp claws on their ends. And on their lower back, a prehensile tail with a guiding wing that would assist them in fighting and flying.
Intelligence-wise they were a mixture between the two originators, the aggrands and nargacuags. Though they were able to speak, their snake-like tongue and sharp teeth let their speech sound very different. The s was pronounced and let their speech sound alien.
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They split up into three evolutions, the tier 2 baby narcullian and the tier 3 young Narcullian. The commander though, that evolved from a nargacuga into a mature Nacullian was awe-inspiring.
It stood larger than even the giants and was my first peak tier-4 creature. Supporting its two main wings were a secondary pair, a third of the other’s size. Otherwise, it was identical to the younger and baby version but more powerful all around.
Intelligent wise it was at the same level as a clever normal aggrand. I was completely empty of mana and would need a long time to replenish any again. Now that I had my attacking force ready and waiting for my orders, I initiated the mission.
The tier four commander and its troops consisting of young narculians and normal ones were ready for departure. They flew into the forest bordering the plains and then split up into four teams.
The singular commander though, traveled through the steppe alone, reporting its findings regularly. They continued their search for only 2 weeks. Their extreme speed allowed them to quickly find the giant's source.
In a distant part of the steppe, a small oasis provided water for the surroundings. The giants had made this small mound and spring their home. About two hundred of them lazied around and occasionally went out to hunt or cultivate.
The commander, that first found the nesting place, explored its surroundings and analyzed the foe. There were around 40 young giants, their first evolution step, tier 1. The giants were so strong they already started at tier one and not tier zero. 110 normal giants at peek tier 2 build the nest’s foundation, hunting, scouting, and taking care of the young.
Over them stood 30 others. They were the seniors of the tribe, the third evolution, old giants. For their race, relatively intelligent, but not even close to the more clever aggrands. They mentored the younger ones and taught lectures of the past.
The remaining 5 were the leading and ruling group of the small village. They consisted of 4 Ettins, a more intelligent variant of the old giants. They had developed two heads, which allowed them more complex thoughts. A crude but practical take on, becoming more intelligent.
Ruling over them all was an Ephyn. A tier four creature, its 3 heads, and 6 arms made it a confusing opponent. Its vision covered 360° and its arms protected it from all sides.
It was gigantic. A baby giant was about 5 meters, a giant 10, an old giant, 15, and an ettin 17 meters. The ephyn though was 22,5 meters large, making it significantly larger than my higher nacullian, the Commander.
The eyes of the enemy monster and my most powerful creature met and you could feel the surroundings holding their breaths. Their eye contact stopped the winds and calmed the ambient rustling and chirping. The region stood still, in awe and fear of what would happen when these titans met.
My commander broke the connection and flew back to my domain. Coming with him were his troops. Once they arrived, I had already called the aggrand chief to come here. Together with the narcuallians be discussed our plan.
I translated between the different races and made a mental connection.
Dungeon: “ I call you here discuss giants.” “They killing aggrands and attacking me.”
Adding to my, honestly just stupid analysis, the narcullian supplied the necessary scouting information.
Narcullian Commander: “Tseee Giantsss are in see ssssteppe.” “Chieff isss a Tier four creature.” “Vvvery powerful.”
Aggrand Chief: “We just have to kill, not hard.” “I give you 2 third of warriors.”
We threw around different ideas and discussed the coming raid. In the end, we came to the conclusion that we would either have to make a surprise attack or wait until our forces build up.
The only problem with the later plan was that the giants, too, would develop further, maybe even faster than us. This only gave us one chance and we had to do it as fast as possible. Our attack was planned to start in one week.
Until then the narcullians would scout out the enemy and the aggrands would ready their troops. Preparing rations for the march and developing weapons of war to bring down the giants. After a week, the preparations were complete and the attacking force stood ready at the edge of the forest.
My attackers, the narcullians stood at the forefront. Behind them stood the warriors of the aggrands, a large but not highly evolved force. Though my troops' number was quite large the long march and the dangers on the way would make the fight very difficult.
The steppe would also have been possible because of the fewer enemies and clearer path. But too many pitfalls dotted the area and made the travel a stupid decision.
We started our march, the narcullians flew around, scouting out enemies and looking for an ambush.
The first half of the first day was uneventful, everything fled from us. Though once the first attack from the wildlife started, things quickly got harder than we thought. We were constantly attacked, aided by the giants luring wildlife to us, we didn’t get a lot of rest.
The giants quickly turned out to be more intelligent and tricky than we first thought. Over the coming three days we were constantly harassed, the aggrand soldiers slowly losing their concentration.
The first of our troops fell on the night of the fifth day. We only were one more day away from the giants but decided to camp half a day away. This was so we could reorganize ourselves, care for the wounded, and rest before the big fight.
During the march, the area surrounding my dungeon was quite calm, with nothing critical happening. The attacking force made camp and set up boundaries around the small artificial clearing. Everyone was resting and preparing for the coming battle. I was already quite nervous but excited to experience a large-scale battle.
The next day the camp was taken down and the troops readied themselves, setting up proper lines. They marched the last kilometers towards the giants’ camp and stood before the enemy village. Just when the report came in that the attack started I got a message from one of my scout mice.
They were deployed close to my entrance and told me about something surprising. The floor around them trembled and they saw a large number of enemies making their way to me. They were running on all fours and looked savage, but similar to the aggrands. One of the giants I had first killed knew of them, they were called feral graug.
Hellish-looking creatures with abominable and horrendous bodies. They tore their way through the forest, standing similar to size to my baby nargacugas. But not as streamlined as them.
I was scared for what was about to come. The enemy running towards my entrance looked quite powerful and they certainly could endanger my dungeon. Normally I would have my attackers deal with them. But now I regretted the decision to use up all of my mana to develop them.
I had no one really powerful, no tier four creature. No one to defend my domain against outside forces. A very powerful enemy horde was making its way towards me. While my most powerful defenders were away attacking a giant village.
This was going to be a lesson I remembered until my last moment, even though that moment may come sooner than I hope!!!!