The Call to War

Chapter 29

Arthur, Sylvie, and about seventy-five members of the trailblazers quietly walked down the tunnel leading to the boss chamber, with Tess' unit leading the way, while Arthur reluctantly was in the middle with the Captain. He would have preferred being up front, not only because of his sharper senses, but also because he didn't like the idea of any of his loved ones being in such a dangerous position. Although he did take some comfort in the fact that Sylvie was up there with her, so at least he knew she had some up there trying to protect her.

The walk down took a little longer than before, since they didn't jump down from the ledge this time. Instead Darvus showed off a bit, creating a flight of stairs in the rock wall, then raising the ground up higher when they reached the wall of bugs created by Tess. Everyone was shocked and amazed at her handiwork, as it was rare to see her do anything at this scale.

After a few more minutes Tess raised her fist in the air to signal for everyone to stop, they had arrived. The Captain and Arthur made their way to the front and looked around the corner. A few less of the bipedal frogs were there, but one of the large metal doors was also half open. After moving back around the corner the Captain nodded to Arthur, and a sound dampening spell was cast engulfing everyone there.

"Alright everyone, the doors to the boss are open so once the battle starts we'll keep on pushing through. Once the boss is identified General Arthur and Sylvie will attack, with conjurers providing ranged support," the Captain announced.

"Correction," Arthur interjected. "Sylvie and I will focus on the boss, the rest of you will focus on the other beasts. We'll see who can complete their assignment first," Arthur concluded with a smirk.

Most of the unit saw this as a challenge, a friendly competition that they planned to win. The Captain just shook his head in resignation, knowing that arguing with Arthur on this would be pointless.

"And lastly, watch out for one another. If you see someone go down be sure to administer one of their antidotes as soon as possible. Only treat the wound on the spot if it seems life threatening, then get them to a medic or emitter," the Captain added before he and Arthur then moved back into the formation as faster augmenters moved up behind the tanks, and the conjurors behind them.

As Arthur passed Tess she grabbed his arm to stop him. "Good luck," she said, and got up on her top toes and gave him a quick kiss.

There were some hoots and hollers from some who saw it, as well as some older mages who patted Arthur on the back, all showing some respect for him for having such a beautiful lover. Once in position next to the Captain Arthur nodded to him.

"Charge!" The Captain yelled, and the sound spell ended.

The tanks ran around the corner, making sure to keep in formation of a simple straight line, as their shields were raised in front of them. The frogs saw them coming, and started spitting large globs of poison.

"Water Barriers!" One of the tanks yelled.

They all immediately stopped and several water barriers formed protecting the line. The poison blobs harmlessly collided with the barrier, and were moved aside by the moving water, as the other tanks ran through to continue, followed by the remaining augmenters. As soon as the water barriers were dispersed a line of conjurers and archers was revealed, who quickly released a barrage of ranged attacks.

"Incoming!" A conjurer yelled.

The tanks that kept moving forward immediately stopped and raised their shields without casting any spells. Before the frogs could reach the tanks the spells and arrows rained down on them mercilessly as arrows pierced flesh and spells ripped through their ranks. Even the spells that missed created explosions that blew the beasts off their feet and created chaos on their side. With the chaos breaking the advance of the beasts, the faster close range attackers cleared the tanks and began cutting down the beasts.