Chapter 164: Central Sector [1]

"What?!"

Alden’s eyes snapped to the horizon instantly.

The western frontier was dead still. Fog over the tree line. Soldiers moving between supply wagons and palisades exactly as they had been five minutes ago. There was no sign of Vampires in their sector.

Luna stepped toward the kneeling scout her expression going ice cold. "Where did they breach? North? East?"

"Neither Lady Luna!" The soldier shook his head hard. "None of the three main perimeter lines have been hit!"

Alden’s frown deepened. "Then where?"

"The reinforcement sector!"

Those words hit the air and just sat there.

"The central hub?" Luna’s voice went sharp. "The reserve position?"

"Yes my lady! The assault came from inside the sector boundaries! We received the distress signal minutes ago!"

Alden’s mind went straight to one face.

’Leon’s sector...’

He stepped into the scout’s space and looked down at him. "How does an entire force bypass three fortified perimeter lines without triggering a single ward?"

The soldier shrank back. "We don’t know Commander! The northern eastern and western units logged zero blood-mana signatures crossing the borders! Not one breach registered on any defensive array!"

"So how did an army appear inside our central camp."

"We think mass spatial movement sir. Grand-scale teleportation. If the vampires have a technique that bypasses regional boundaries entirely they could have materialized anywhere inside our perimeter without crossing it at all."

Alden turned to Luna immediately. "Can you open a spatial gate?"

"No." Her expression was grave. "Those transit portals Alarion built used spatial anchor matrices. Nobody in the kingdom can replicate that kind of mass displacement on short notice."

Alden slammed his fist into his palm. "Damn it."

The scout kept going. "We’ve already transmitted signals to the northern and eastern divisions! Lady Isabella Lord Arvendis and Lord Theodore are abandoning their posts and force-marching back to the central sector now!"

"How long?"

"Half an hour at full sprint!"

"Too long." Alden’s eyes went hard and cold. "We’re not waiting."

Luna nodded once. "Then we move now." She turned to the surrounding guards and her voice carried the full weight of command. "Every high-tier warrior who can move! On your feet! We—"

BOOOOOOM.

The earth directly beneath the perimeter camp split open.

Massive cracks tore through dirt and stone and threw soldiers off their feet in every direction. Dust and shattered rock blasted into the sky. People were screaming before they even knew what happened.

"AMBUSH! DEFENSIVE POSITIONS!"

From the gap in the earth something massive burst upward into the open air.

[Soul Forged Beast: Dragon (Unnamed) has been summoned.]

ROOOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRR!

The golden dragon spread its wings and the wind from the motion alone flattened two supply tents and sent heavy crates tumbling across the dirt. Its roar rolled across the entire western frontier and didn’t stop.

Guards drew their weapons. High-tier mana flared across steel in desperate defensive arcs. Everyone was shouting.

"A DRAGON!"

"FORM THE SHIELD WALL!"

"Stand down!" Alden’s voice cut through all of it clean.

The golden dragon lowered its massive horned head to the ground directly in front of him.

Every guard went dead quiet.

Alden stepped forward put his boot against the snout and scaled the broad golden scales in one fluid motion. He settled onto the dragon’s back and looked down at Luna.

"It’s a..." She was staring at him with genuine shock on her face. "You tamed a dragon?"

"Something like that." He extended his hand toward her. "We’re wasting time."

She looked at his hand for half a second. Then a brilliant amused smirk broke across her face.

’Theodore wasn’t wrong about this one,’ she thought. ’Absolute freak of nature.’

She grabbed his hand and he pulled her up beside him in one clean motion.

Across the northern frontline Isabella and Arvendis were already blurring through dense forest at speeds that shattered the ground beneath each footfall.

"Faster Arvendis!" Isabella’s green eyes were blazing.

Across the eastern sector Theodore was a moving blur tearing through rocky valleys with absolutely no grace and plenty of cursing. "If those bloodsuckers ruin my record before I even arrive I am turning them all to dust!"

Above the western frontier the golden dragon coiled its massive body and snapped its wings downward.

Alden leaned forward. "Maximum speed. Don’t hold back."

Luna wrapped her arms tight around his waist. "Ready!"

BOOOOOOM.

The takeoff shockwave blasted outward across the entire border camp sweeping snow and dirt and loose supplies in every direction. The ground vanished beneath them in seconds. The landscape blurred into streaks of green and brown as the dragon pushed through the sound barrier and the roar of wind became everything.

Luna kept her threads humming at her fingers.

Alden’s eyes stayed locked on the distant column of black smoke rising from the center of the continent. His expression had gone somewhere dark and quiet and very focused.

’Hold on Leon.’

His knuckles went white against the golden scales.

’I’m coming.’

The central reinforcement sector was burning.

CLAAAAANG!

Steel hit fangs hit dark iron and the sound never stopped. The vampire vanguard had hit the human lines like a hammer and the lines were breaking. Soldiers were being driven back step by step and the ones who fell didn’t get back up.

"HOLD THE LINE!"

"WE CAN’T! THERE ARE TOO MANY!"

"DON’T LET THEM REACH HQ!"

"Sir Leon! HELP!"

Leon’s head snapped toward the voice. A young vanguard soldier was pinned against an overturned supply wagon with three vampires closing in from every angle.

Leon thrust his palm forward.

BOOM.

Compressed mana erupted from his hand and hit all three at once. Bones snapped. Bodies launched backward through wood and dirt. He was already moving before they landed blurring forward and grabbing the soldier by his breastplate.

"Injured?!"

"N-No sir!"

"Secondary perimeter. Help move the wounded. GO!" He shoved him toward the retreating column and spun back toward the front.

The encampment was gone. What was left was chaos. Vampires pouring from every shadow. Hundreds of them. Moving too fast and hitting too hard and not stopping.

’How did they get inside?’ Leon’s thoughts were running hot. Not one watchtower triggeredor a ward fired. ’How does an army this size appear inside our territory from nothing?’