Novel Full Chapter 594 - Taming the Swarm - 9
Chapter 594: Chapter 594 – Taming the Swarm – 9
Aldric was the first to speak, his voice carefully controlled as someone who had spent decades navigating political defeats. “Lady Luna, it seems I… misunderstood the situation. Of course, I’ll be delighted to coordinate under your territorial authority.”
Morgain clenched her fists, the gesture visible despite her attempts to maintain diplomatic composure, but nodded stiffly. “My soldiers will withdraw from your territory immediately.”
The reversal was complete, but everyone present understood it was built on a foundation of force rather than genuine respect.
♢♢♢♢
“God,” Luna murmured once they had moved away from the defeated nobles, “I hope I know what I’m doing, because now I’m officially known as a dual tamer without father’s backing. If the other branch of my family decides to use this to their advantage…”
Larissa approached and placed a firm hand on Luna’s shoulder, the gesture carrying weight beyond simple comfort. “Then we’ll be there to face them too.”
Liora raised her hands dramatically. “Yeah relax, and you know what? I think I like this new version of politics. It’s much more direct than all that dance and courtesy garbage.”
Luna laughed, though the sound carried as much tension as relief. The reality of what she had just done was settling in like cold water. “Liora, you just turned diplomacy into a combat sport.”
“So? It worked, didn’t it?”
Larissa looked at her two friends and felt something she hadn’t experienced in months: joy. Not just for Luna, but for herself. She had managed to face a complex political situation without falling apart, had used her knowledge to help a friend, and had emerged from the suffocating safety of the castle into the world where she could make a difference.
But she was still afraid. She still sensed the weight of what she had lost. She still didn’t know if she was ready to face him and…
It was then that the ground shook.
The tremor wasn’t like the constant vibration of combat, this was different, deeper, carrying the promise of something big approaching. On the horizon, a massive silhouette became visible.
Another corrupted artifact was approaching, and this time Luna had command. If she couldn’t stop it and the wall broke, the failure would be hers.
“Well,” Luna murmured, observing the threat approach with the weight of newfound responsibility settling on her shoulders, “I suppose now we’ll see if I deserve this territory after all…”
♢♢♢♢
The ice mountain wouldn’t hold much longer…
The second crack was barely audible above the constant roar of lesser mutants crashing against the wall’s defenses. Ren felt the third crack before hearing it, a vibration that traveled through his elemental connections with earth and ice… and something more.
“They’re sacrificing half their life energy into the artifacts to break free,” he murmured, pointing toward the crystalline mountain containing the two giant abominations.
From atop the wall, Julius watched the cracks spreading like spider webs across the frozen surface, each fracture glowing with internal corruption that pulsed like a heartbeat.
“What other method do we have to stop them?” Zhao asked, his wings already deploying in preparation for combat that felt increasingly inevitable.
Selphira, slightly exhausted from her previous effort, studied the situation with eyes that had seen too many battles to feel optimism about their current options. “I can’t make anything much more resistant with what I have left. I used thirty percent just in that attempt.”
The small corrupt creatures that normally limited themselves to throwing their bodies against the wall’s defenses now behaved differently. Instead of attacking randomly, they headed directly toward the ice prison, circling around it, their bodies occasionally crashing against the surface and scraping at the expanding cracks.
Each impact released energy that fed the liberation process from within, a consistent weakening that showed coordination beyond simple animal instinct.
A muffled roar emerged from inside the ice mountain, followed by another, louder crack. This time, everyone could see it clearly: a man-sized fissure opened in the prison’s north flank, revealing the purplish glow pulsing within.
But the soldiers were preparing something to greet them upon emerging…
“Increase fire cadence!” Selphira shouted to soldiers positioned in the towers. “Don’t allow more mutants to accumulate around the prison!”
The assault soldiers burst into activity, abandoning orderly shifts and gradually accumulating at the top to add to the offensive. Elemental attacks rained down on the creatures like deadly rain.
For moments, the strategy seemed to work. Most lesser mutants were annihilated before approaching the mountain, their bodies vaporized by the concentrated elemental bombardment’s intensity.
But then Ren felt something that made his blood freeze.
“They’re arriving faster,” he murmured, his connection to the earth revealing massive vibrations approaching from multiple directions. “Much faster.”
As if they had heard an inaudible signal, massive waves of lesser mutants began emerging from underground tunnels that opened around the prison. Not dozens, but hundreds of creatures running in suicidal formation toward the ice mountain.
“They’re sacrificing themselves,” Julius observed, fascination and horror mixing in his voice. “This isn’t random bestial behavior. There’s an intelligence directing this.”
“We can’t stop them all!” shouted one of the captains. The soldiers fired non-stop, but for every mutant that fell, three more took its place.
Selphira extended her arms, releasing another burst of frozen power that created a temporary barricade of ice crystals. Mutants that contacted the barrier were instantly impaled, but the pressure of numbers was overwhelming.
“It’s an impossible war of attrition,” Zhao murmured, launching bursts of sharp feathers that pierced dozens of creatures. “And they have more numbers than we have firepower.”
Ren observed the battle’s development with growing understanding, his mind working through possibilities as the situation deteriorated.
“Grandmother Selphira,” he shouted above the combat’s roar, “can you freeze them again once they emerge?”
“Yes, but only once more.” The source of this content s NoveI[F]ire.net
“If we completely eliminate the organic matter surrounding them, maybe the artifacts won’t be able to escape your ice prison again.” Ren proposed. “But it would have to be everything at once. If any living tissue remains, they could regenerate or inject energy to break the freezing again. We should stop the attack and accumulate powerful synergies for…”
“We increase fire cadence just as they’re freed?” Julius immediately understood the strategy.
“I see… Concentrated bombardment at the moment of liberation, complete elimination of organic tissue, immediate freezing of naked artifacts.” Zhao summarized.
“Exactly,” Ren nodded. “Without an energy source, maybe they’d be permanently trapped.”
It was a solid plan, but required perfect coordination and everyone maintaining their energy levels at the critical moment. With the attrition battle developing before them, there was no guarantee they’d have enough power when the moment arrived.