Chapter 59
Conflict at Balloon Plains
The Celestina Empire, Adventurer Expeditionary Fleet Headquarters, 20km North of Avest, 20th February 1527/228
After the Continent of Pandemonium situation is secure, the Main Council dispatched Rokari to the Magikarraich Community to escort Fenrir Wilbur and Shikami to examine one of the Ravernal Empire's ruins. Rokari left Setzer in charge of security at the Pandemonium Continent and two thousand adventurers to perform regular subjugation and train Bastogne and Rakasha soldiers.
Magikarraich Community has a strong relationship with Celestina, especially in the Studia Territory ruled by Alicia Permeal due to unusual academic teaching. Mu already put the Sherman Tank into the production phase, and soon, they will start to make a local production for the Jet Fighter Gloster Meteor. Magikarraich is studying everything about Astral ships as it has an anti-gravity system that allows the ship to levitate.
Both Mu and Magikaraich conduct a series of Airborne Assault War Games at the Celestina Empire. Unfortunately, Celestina does not allow them to participate in the Drop Pods attack since it's restricted to Shock Troopers and above rating, meaning it's only reserved for the Elite Soldiers. Mu witness one of the most lethal drop pods, known as Meteor Pods, designed exclusively for Sasha and those who are bold enough to be launched above Mach speed from the disintegrated pods when attending joint War Games with Celestina. No one can withstand such speed, with the exception of Sasha and her unit that was already trained for freefalling in Mach speed.
Rokari is reading the report of the excavation site at one of Ravernal's laboratories. Her base was 10km south from the buried tower when the Adventurer's Digger Party discovered another ruin a day ago for exploration. Above her is a Rogdor of Kirah, the Coalition-class Astral Ship for Adventurers, the Flagship for this expedition. The Frozen Bracelet was in charge of the Flagship for the Pandemonium Continent's security when Rokari departed for Magikarraich three months ago.
"How's the news of our military at Mu?"
"Currently, they're preparing the defensive line around Mu. The Main Council decides to defend North and Western Mu. The Northern front will be defended by Battle Group Rookie and Battle Group Valkyrie, while the 1st Ballistic Ranger Army will be defending Central Mu. Intel received from our spies indicates that the Gra Valkas Empire continues to amass their troops at both fronts. As of right now, the total number of personnel deployed to Leifor for the offensive is five million five hundred thousand personnel.
They separate into Three Army Group, where the Two Army Group will try to gain ground against Celestina and Mu, while One Army Group will break through to the center and trapping them."
"Manstein Plan? Interesting."
"It's reported that they were also preparing a fleet to provide support fire to the Northern Battle Lines in addition or Air Support."
"Let's hope we can hold Mu for a while. Another pressing matter is we need to keep an eye on the Sonal Kingdom and judge whether we need the military reinforcements or we can do this on our own."
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Tell S Legion Adventurer to move out. We will be heading to the lab ruins today."
"Understood."
Magikarraich Community, Excavation Site, 100km North of Avest
"Study all of their magic signatures. Don't leave anything behind, and don't touch anything."
"Yes, Ma'am."
Shikami is leading her Research Commando 14th Regiment, specializing in excavating the site and containment protocol. Working together with Magikarraich researchers, they explore every document they can find. Fenrir Wilbur is currently returning to the Celestina Empire to deliver and study specimens obtained from the laboratory not long ago.
Celestina Zealots caught wind of the Annonrial agents successfully opening the ruins, which prompted the Magikarraich Community to investigate. Initial recon found no trace nor sign of the Annonrial Agents, indicating the area was clear of hostiles.
"Ma'am. The magic signature seems strange."
"What is it?"
"It feels like we have some kind of armory that stores armor for infantry and tanks. We need to take a closer look."
"Alright. Let's check it out."
Later, Shikami took five of her men and explored what she thought was an armory, but it was different. Then, she realizes something.
"Oh, this ain't good. This isn't the armory; this is barracks! Get to the control room, tell the Magikarraich Scientist to evacuate now!"
"Y-yes, Ma'am!"
But, Shikami's discovery is a bit late as one of the Magikarraich's scientists presses a button out of curiosity. A pod inside the barracks opens, revealing a creature that has a similar appearance to Nosgorath. Shikami quickly summons her spear and orders an evacuation from the ruins.
"Security! Evacuate the researchers!"
Shikami feels ashamed as she can't bring too much personnel for containment. Right now, her top priority is to keep the Demon Lord that looks like Nosgorath occupied.
"Hoh… What do I have here in my sight…? A cute lady wolf~ I'm pretty sure your body can fetch a good chamber to produce our master's underling."
Shikami's tail spikes up, annoyed at what the Demon Lord has just said. She better retreats for now and asks Rokari to assemble the adventurer's party to subjugate him later. Then, aiming her spear at him, she will wait for him to make his first move.
"Oho… So you let me move first? Then…"
With some psychokinesis spell, Shikami brace against the attack and resists it. She counterattacks by engaging Nosgorath in close-quarter combat. Later, one of her personnel manages to identify the creature stored inside the ruins she was and radio in to report the discovery.
"Ma'am! The creature is confirmed as a Lyonos, a lesser version of the Nosgorath. Possible threat rank is S-."
"Evacuation is almost complete! Ma'am! We've cleared the control room! Only the entrance remains! Madam Rokari is currently on the way to the ruins!"
Hearing both news, Shikami instructs her underlings to withdraw and regroup, "Tell her to withdraw and prepare the defensive line!"
"Yes, Ma'am!"
Rokari continues to trade blows with Lyonos, and she quickly withdraws as soon as the evacuation is complete. Her job is not to kill Lyonos as she chooses to contain him until the evacuation is complete. Lyonos grins as she retreats.
"Hehe… Run, you inferior creature…! Soon, everyone will kneel in front of our Master, the Ravernal Empire!"
Lyonos heads to the control room and awakens more of his being. Then, they rally up and prepare for the invasion at Avest, Magikarraich's Capital. A total of ten Lyonos has been awakened from their slumber, ready to conquer those who dare to revive them.
Two Days Later, the Ravernal Empire's Remnants, Tower of Bio-weapon
The mass-produced bio-weapon codenamed "009-Lyonos," are talking to each other. The Lyonos awakened by the Scientists, dubbed as "009-1," talks with his fellow "009" with a plan to conquer Magikarraich Community.
"It looks like the Demon Emperor is not here anymore."
"But that girl, she looks different as she knew that we're the threat."
"Hmph… She's still a weakling, after all. She chooses to run while I'm not having enough fun of her yet."
The encounter between Rokari and Lyonos 009-1 left an impression on him two days ago. She's strong, but he judges her as not strong enough to fight their masters. They are now equipping their armor with MGZ-type Magic Armor, with a height of 2 meters and a width of 1.2 meters. The armor itself can amplify their strength as the Lyonos believe that the wolf girl they encounter wouldn't stand a chance against them with this armor.
"What should we do with her once we capture that wolf girl?"
"We will study her and have our master absorb her capability. Then, our master will be pleased to use her power for our benefits."
"Speaking of which… We need more subordinates to ensure the conquest of this country."
"Then, shall we go?"
The Lyonos equipped themselves with MGZ-type Magic Armor, and they are preparing for battle the next day.
Three days later, Balloon Plains.
The adventurers line themselves up and prepare for the battle. Those who own an offensive mount are mounting it to provide support. Around 500 Adventurers are riding their mount, from Overlord Aegis, Overlord Throne, and June Dreadnought. The Magikarraich Community dispatches a Capital Defense Army to defend the capital, Avest.
Numerous Artillery, Infantries, and cavalries are line themselves up behind Celestina adventurers. Captain Ruijiru quickly assembles his army when Rokari informs him that the scientist has released Lyonos.
"What's Celestina doing when Lyonos was released three days ago?"
"Well… Shikami contains him, but she withdraws once the scientists were evacuated."
"Why she didn't choose to eliminate it right away, Captain Rokari?"
"If we do contain it and then we continue to excavate it and repeat the same mistakes, you know what happens…."
"Ah…"
Celestina did several times, eliminating the hostile right at where they were at the excavation site. But because of repeated mistakes, Celestina creates a defensive perimeter around the ruins classified as dangerous.
But, because Celestina assists Magikarraich in excavating Ravernal Empire's technology and they can't just deploy their personnel for security, Rokari cannot set up a defense perimeter as protocol did. Once Shikami retreats, Rokari gathers all adventurers stationed at Magikarraich to prepare for the battle.
"What do we have here?"
Rokari and Ruijiru look at the Ravernal Tower that was risen by mass-produced Demon Lord Lyonos. It was erected overnight, much to both Rokari and Ruijiru's surprise.
"Looks like that thing can rise the tower. All units, guard position! Overlord Throne! Battle position!"
"Yes, Ma'am!"
The Overlord Throne changes its stance into a battle position, with the guns aiming for the tower and keeping itself stationary. Three pairs of League-class and Empire-class are broadsiding to provide a support fire with their Astral Cannon. They will welcome any threat that comes from the tower.
The Magikarraich Army assemble their artillery and aim towards the tower. They're preparing to welcome the attack from the Ravernal Empire's remnants. Three thousand units, supported by twenty-five wyverns as the air force, are preparing for battle. Slightly elevated hill on the rear is the command Headquarters as Magikarraich Infantries are taking the left side of the battlefield, and Celestina's Adventurers are taking the right side of the battlefield.
"2nd Artillery Battalion, awaiting new orders!"
"4th Cavalry, ready!"
"18th Gun Infantry Battalion, deployment is complete!"
A scout reports incoming enemies from the tower, "Incoming enemies! We've got two thousand goblins, five hundred orcs, and fifty three-meter tall golems! No sign of any mass-produced Lyonos!"
Celestina adventurers prepare to fire their weapons as Rokari will issue the command. "Prepare for bombardment as soon as they're at five hundred meters in range!"
Captain Ruijiru also gives an order to his men to prepare for battle.
"Prepare to fire the cannons!"
"Yes, sir!"
The magic cannon towed by a horse is ready for deployment to support Celestina's bombardment. Rokari looks at the Tower three kilometers ahead of them as it was inside the effective range of Overlord Throne and Astral Cannons. Of course, Overlord Aegis's attack range can reach it, but the strong point for Overlord Aegis is combat support, dealing damage while afflicting certain ailments to the target.
Ruijiru opens the command.
"Fire!"
BOOM! BOOM!
The artillery fires in unison from Magikarriach Artilleries, Celestina Astral Cannons, and Overlord Thrones towards the tower, bombarding it. The dust quickly gathers around the tower as Ruijiru orders his men to stop firing.
"Ceasefire! Ceasefire!"
As the firing stops, the dust settles around the tower. Once the dust is clear, the tower was still standing, albeit damaged. Ruijiru wondered if either Magikarraich's weapon was the one that can damage the tower or the work of Celestina's weapon.
"Magic detection shows enemy movements are coming out from the tower!"
"Everyone, pick your targets!"
The adventurers are picking their targets, and as soon as they are in the range of five hundred meters, the Overlord Throne opens the battle by firing its weapon. Likewise, the crew aboard Astral Ships are firing their Astral Cannon as soon as the Overlord Throne opens fire to the enemy.
BOOM! BOOM!
"Gyaaahh!"
"Pigyaaahh!"
The Overlord Throne's heat magic laser allows it to deal reduced additional damage to three random enemies surrounding the primary target, while the Overlord Aegis are firing their ice beam to slow any bigger threat down. Finally, the Astral ships are firing their cannons, aiming at the mobs of goblins to suppress them.
"Fire!"
The Magikarraich's Infantries are firing their artilleries to the golems, destroying them one by one. Rokari summons some water as she makes some chant, and it solidifies into ice.
"Ice Partisan!"
The ice struck some orcs and goblins behind it while the bombardment continues. Finally, Rokari gives the Astral Cannon a signal to cease firing and order the Overlord Aegis to slow the Golems down.
"Commence the containment!"
Fifty adventurers at the Overlord Aegis recharges its energy with a mana canister and firing its ice beam to slow the golem down. The adventurer scouts notice something amiss with several golems.
"Ma'am! We found several Lyonos are disguising as Golem! We can prioritize the target to slow them down further!"
"Good thinking! Overlord Throne! Keep suppressing the Goblins and Orcs! Overlord Aegis, concentrate on the target marked by the scouts!"
The adventurers at the Overlord Aegis quickly change their targets to the golems marked by Celestina Scout's spell, and sure enough, some golems start to reveal their true identity as Lyonos's units.
*beep beep beep*
"Ugh! What's this annoying ice magic! How's this possible!?"
The MGZ Magic Mobile Armor wore by one of Lyonos's unit detect abnormality at the Adventurer's Overlord Aegis and Overlord Throne. The Magic power detected by the Celestina Adventurers inside their mounts can be considered lethal because of their power.
"I will get rid of you with this armor!"
Lyonos 009-1 quickly dashes forward to attack the nearby Magikarraich's soldiers, but Shikami stops him on his track.
"Oho… We meet again, young fox."
"This time, I won't hesitate, unlike our previous encounter." Shikami looks back at Magikarraich's Platoon that aims its guns at them. "Move back! I will handle this!"
*beep beep beep*
Upon scanning Shikami's magic power, he found a horrendous discovery. "Y-you bastard! You're hiding your true strength!" The rating shows that Shikami's magic power when she intercepts him is around 500, but as soon as Magikarraich's men make a distance from her, it spikes up to ten thousand.
Shikami only grins, "So that's how pathetic you are."
"Grrr! Hear me as your mind shall be broken by the hands of your masters! Obey your masters and prostrate yourself before me!"
When Lyonos finishes his cast, he aims right towards Rokari, believing that even with her monstrous magic power, all of it will be nothing if she can be mind-controlled. However, much to his horror, not only Shikami embrace it, the spell didn't work on her as she remains as who she is.
"I-Impossible!"
Shikami pierces through his MGZ Armor with a thrust, shatter it to pieces as it shoves out his heart.
"G-guh…"
"Ice Execution."
CRINK!
In a blink of an eye, the first Lyonos was executed by Shikami's Ice Execution. It froze his entire body down to his bone, effectively killing him. But as Shikami finish eliminating Lyonos-001, there was a fire phoenix heading towards her, and she blocks it with her spear. She could dodge it, but it will affect the Magikarraich's infantry.
"Not bad…"
"Two Astral ships got hit! The starboard shield is down to five percent! Both aft and rear shield are down to ninety percent!"
"Turn it around!"
Two Astral ships receive damage from other Lyonos attacks with their Fire Phoenix. As a result, they have to switch sides to recharge the shield and maintain covering fire. The engine quickly turns on, and the gunner on the rear provides covering fire to suppress Lyonos. But this time, the rear section got hit, and the shield shatters. One of the Astral ships, named Sulphur, is taking damage. The ship captain, B rank adventurer Bluecher, assess the damage at the command room.
"We're hit! We got damage on the rear hull and rear engine!"
"Provide shield regeneration immediately! Divert some of the power to heal the hull! If someone has a cooling capsule, use it immediately when the reactor reaches two hundred percent!"
"On it!"
The Empire-class Astral ship that got hit by one of Lyonos's Fire Phoenix attacks slowly turns around as the Astral Shield recharges to refill the shield on the starboard, aft, and rear side. Because four out of six shielding devices are commencing restoring their shields simultaneously, the reactor power exceeds one hundred percent, but the cooling capsule prevents it from overheating further.
"The capsule won't be able to sustain the heat further!"
"But our hull can't regenerate if we let the reactor cools down! Bridge! Status!"
"It's almost done! Just a little bit longer! I'm already at full port!" Then, after two minutes, "The ship is at the portside view and ready!"
"Fire!"
BOOM! BOOM! KA-BOOM!
Alarm sounds at the engine room as the reactor reaches the peak of overheat.
"Ah shit! Shut it down! Shut it down! Stop the regeneration!"
"Regeneration offline! Reactor start to cooling!"
"First capsule effect is off!"
"Inject the second one! Don't let it stack with another cooling capsule!"
The Astral Cooling Capsule was designed to cool the reactor immediately by 33% of its current heat capacity. When they use another Cooling Capsule during the duration of the first Cooling Capsule, the effect diminishes to 25%, the third one will reduce to 16%, and it will continue to stack until five percent of each capsule. The cost of the Cooling Capsule was 15 gold coins or fifteen thousand Ceny. Adventurers must conserve it wisely since the Cooling Capsule is expensive, but it's effective to make an instant cooling without side effects. However, using it multiplicatively can diminish efficiency. Every two minutes, the crew can insert another capsule into the reactor.
The Astral Reactor can sustain the heat up to 200% of the output, except for several Reactors such as Glittering Reactor and Superior Grade Reactor, which can sustain the heat up to 300% of the power output. Bluecher's ship is equipped with the fifth-generation Superior Grade Reactor, which he bought it a year ago with the cost of two hundred thousand Ceny or two hundred gold coins. His ship's value is at one Platinum Coins, practically because of Reactor, Motor, Navigation, Shielding, and hull at fifth-generation aside from the Astral Cannons and Artillery. He plans to upgrade the Astral Cannons and Artillery once this battle is over.
On the battlefield, Celestina Adventurers and Magikarraich Soldiers are working together to subjugate Lyonos's unit. The Magikarraich Soldiers fire their cannons with support fire from Astral Ship.
Rokari casts her spell, and this time she aims straight at Lyonos's MGZ Armor.
"Flame Earth Spear!"
Multiple earth elements clump together, forming a spear while the flame ignites it, transforming it into a Flame Earth Spear. Rokari summons six of it while Shikami starts to advance to suppress another Lyonos. With the first Lyonos eliminated, they need to defeat or capture another nine Lyonos to gather more information about the Ravernal Empire.
"Fire!"
BOOM! BOOM!
*Beep**Beep**Beep*
"W-what!?"
Several of Lyonos's units look at Rokari's magic power meter, and the reading exceeds their expectations. The reading reaches twenty thousand, which can break their armor in one hit should they embrace Rokari's attack.
"Suppress them!"
BOOM! BOOM!
Rokari launches her Flame Earth Spear while Celestina Adventurers are suppressing the Lyonos. The Lyonoses are casting the Black Phoenix while attempting to stop Rokari, but they can't cast it properly because Celestina Adventurers are suppressing them with barrages of Overlord Throne's weapon, June Dreadnought's Cannon, and ice beam from Overlord Aegis.
"GRAAAHH!"
Six Lyonoses receives the impact of Flame Earth Spear, destroying their MGZ Armor, and suffers incapacitation. Shikami beheads another two Lyonoses with her spear, and all that's left is one Lyonos, codenamed "Lyonos 009-7."
"Curse you, inferior being! You will pay for this!"
The golems are destroyed by the Magikarraich's Artillery when the Lyonoses are attacking Celestina's adventurers. The Goblins and Orcs are also being taken care of by Celestina's June Dreadnought.
"Don't let him get away!"
As soon as the Lyonos-007 makes his retreat, Fenrir arrives on the battlefield, cutting off his retreat.
"What's this thing? A kid version of Demon Lord?"
"Fenrir! Don't entice him!"
Sure enough, Lyonos-007 is angry when he was ridiculed, and as he was about to chant a spell, Fenrir quickly transforms into a wolf form, smacks him with his paws, and buries his head to the ground. Fenrir not only buries his head to the ground, but he also destroys his head by smashing his paw.
The incapacitated Lyonos are captured by the adventurers once Rokari and S Rank Adventurers Party confirm that the Lyonos numbers are not capable of fighting anymore. The injury sustained by Rokari's firepower destroyed their armor and crippled the Lyonoses without mercy.
"Send three of them to Celestina for interrogation. Leave the rest to the Holy Milishial Empire!"
"Yes, Ma'am!"
"Those who can still fight, let's enter that tower and see what we can get."
Two Hours After the Battle, Tower Raised by Lyonos
The Adventurers are exploring the tower, but what they found is something that even the Main Council doesn't want to keep the tower operational. The tower can produce a lot of monsters, including Mountain Trolls. But, before the decision takes place, Maya interferes with the task.
"I will send some of my personnel to investigate the tower. Also, tell Alicia to prepare some of the experiments, as I would like to know if we can produce some of the products that can be useful for us."
Suppose the Ravernal Empire can produce these monsters. In that case, Maya hypothesizes that if Celestina can reverse-engineer it, then Celestina can produce monsters that can benefit them, but that will require abundant research. Alicia herself wants to study the tower's characteristics further, but this time, Celestina deploys a containment team to supervise the research with their own protocol instead of inquiring with Magikarraich.
If Celestina can reverse-engineer it, they will able to learn how Ravernal can mass-produce these creatures.
The Conflict at Balloon plains ends with a light casualty from Celestina and Magikarraich's side, while the Ravernal Empire's remnants are entirely wiped out, with six Lyonos units captured. The tower was also captured as Maya wants Shikami and Fenrir to investigate it. Two Celestina Astral ships suffer moderate damage, with Sulphur sent to the repair docks after the battle for repairs.
Author's Note: Next chapter will feature a list of armies participate in the Invasion of Mu.