We have no idea what happened to our dragon. Fury is missing, and now the sky fills with screechers. As we rush to set up our defense, the bat lizards begin attacking our webbing. The webbing shakes and bounces with each body that crashes into it, yet it doesn't break. The screeching that accompanies the lizard bats is significantly muffled. What usually is a bone-churning high, pitch shriek is now a soft unpleasant pitch. Even though the noise is manageable, I craft noise-suppressing headbands for our team.
Quickly and without argument, all fifty packs are sent into the secured academy, which now also holds all our food. Extra security measures were added to the multileveled dome building, making it the safest place for the kids and, much less importantly, our food supplies.
Four arachnoids are placed as guards and are armed with their choice of weapons. All four choose a bow and arrows, taking after their queen in fighting style. Fen picks four shields for secondary weapons, all of which she equips on her back legs and two swords that she secures around her hip. She and Apper take point on top of the dome of the academy just a few feet below the webbing. Apper has gone all in on ranged weapons and is holding two crossbows over her shoulders. A spear strapped to her back is her only close-range weapon.
Standing guard at the front and back doors are Noth and Cher. Cher equips several short swords and then disappears into her shadow realm. Noth grabs a sword and shield and runs to the back door. I barely get to the spiders in time to pass out their headbands.
Gene, wrapped in matte black shadow armor, also accompanies the arachnoids in the academy defense. Before she leaves, she grabs the best-looking bow, a handful of spears, and the remaining shields. She disperses her extra weapons to the pack leaders inside the academy quickly before taking her spot with Fen and Apper on top of the dome.
Upon Gene's arrival on the roof, the academy disappears in a shroud of darkness. As unnatural as the pitch-black fog is in the early evening, the sight looks more daunting than strange. It might paint the academy as an important target. Still, anyone who can see the insidious darkness and feel up for the challenge wouldn't have problems locating the children.
Annette has the bow she took from me after I died in her den. I'm about to give her Giver when I decide to let Bloom use it for now. It was her weapon, after all, and she'll be able to use it the best in this fight. However, when I try to lend Giver back, Bloom pulls out a newer design and gives me a wicked grin. I'm guessing while I was playing with swords, she was playing with bows. Instead, I give Nette the pair of whips.
Nette happily accepts Giver. I have one or two more items for her, and when I show her the whips I snatched from the earth harpy, she grabs them with covetous hands. Based on her practiced motions with the whips, I sense she's strangely familiar with this type of weapon.
The spider queen is a beautiful nightmare holding a golden bow and devilish whips. Pure white armor flows around and sparkles randomly from energy spikes. Unlike Gene's thick shadow plating, Nette's mind armor resembles a fine leather that hugs her tightly. She seems confident it's enough protection, and I don't doubt her.
Together, the spider queen, Bloom, and Glimmer's clone cover the back half of the fortress, accompanied by three-fourths of Bones' remaining army. That leaves Bones, Glimmer, and me at the front gate.
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"Anyone know where Fury is yet?" I try not to worry, but it's not often a dragon disappears. Fury has a strong presence even when he's in the sky on defense duty, so it's odd that we have yet to sense him.
No, Nette's voice says in my mind. We are all within Nette's domain, allowing us to communicate collectively. It's a massive advantage that only takes a moment to get used to. His presence has been wiped like he's under a cloak.
Shortly after he disappeared, many of my minions were destroyed as well. Bones' voice carries a weight of worry with it. At the same time, he looks confident, standing on top of our front gate. The rhythmic strum he casually plays on the lute adds to his confident allure. I tried to hide the lute in the stash of inventory we left in the barracks, I even told Bones it isn't practical to use in this fight… or any fight. He ignored me, and now we have pump-up beats that not even my headbands can block out. Fortunately, the tune isn't bad to listen to.
Except for the lute, Bones looks every bit the part of a Boss. His black-scale armor is thick and intimidating. When I first summoned Bones, he was only a few inches taller than me; now, he's at least two heads taller. He has the most prominent presence without Fury here, outsizing Fen and the Synth Sisters by a good margin.
Bones' dragon-scale armor, compared to my iron-scale armor, is much thicker. His armor looks like it's a part of his structure instead of mine, looking like expertly crafted custom-made armor. His is much darker than mine and shines more than my dull plating. Other than two large axes hanging from his back, most notable are the massive bear pauldrons upon his shoulder. Each head is slightly different yet similar, like they were fashioned after a specific bear. They look as fierce and intimidating as Grundle's set, especially their dead, dull eyes.
Glimmer Stands leisurely to my left, twirling a wand in her right hand. Her battle robe is predominately blue with golden accents lining the front, bottom, and sleeves trim. If it weren't for the protective plating that covered her chest, shoulders, and hips, I'd think the robe was more fit for a fancy dance than a battle. Her staff in her left hand glows with runes that fade in and out with golden yellow light. On her hip is a slender sword with elegant curves. Until now, I didn't know Glimmer had a sword.
The front gate of our fortress is completely sealed off, making it more of a wall than an actual gate. The only way through is to punch through solid bone and stone walls. Not to mention the tangle of trees that line our walls on the outside. The three of us stand together on our front wall waiting for the invading demons in irreverent silence. Bones is still strumming his lute, I'm stretching out my muscles, and Glimmer is tapping her foot to the beat of the music.
Should we be more worried that the dragon is missing? This time it's Bloom, I hear in my head.
Fury can take care of himself. The worst that can happen is that they kill him, and the dungeon suffers a loss of energy. If they don't kill him, perhaps we can use the dungeon bond to track him down and murder whoever thought it was a good idea to capture him in the first place. I can feel the venom seething from Gene's thoughts. She very much wants the enemy to pay for the mistake of taking Fury.
We continue to wait for the host of demons to crash into our fortress. The Screechers above haven't had any success in penetrating our web barrier. I had doubts that the webbing would hold, but between the spider's skills, Glimmer's runes, and Gene's rituals, the bats have yet to get close to breaking through. They keep pounding and shrieking away regardless.
Finally, after the slowest moments, the trees outside our walls shake violently. The demons are attacking.