“This is ridiculous. Who in the world would remove their shield one day early instead of taking all the time in the world to enjoy the last of your days for betraying King Baal?” Forcas, the Knight of Hell asked rhetorically as he assembled his troop of demon cavalry and foot soldiers, ready to be teleported and take down the traitorous Lord Moloch.
The heavily armoured infernal Tiefling paced himself hastily as he checked up on his captains and everything else before the teleportation.
Were it not for a mage who noticed the sudden change and reported on the status of the Dungeon Fortress Lord Moloch had stolen from the grasp of King Baal, they would still have been busy relaxing for the day. Yet continuing to do nothing would bring further disgrace to the Demon Army for not acting promptly against their traitors.
“He must have gone insane with fear and prefer to accept his fate instead of cowering in fear.” One of his squires concluded while the others chimed in that Lord Moloch might be vying for forgiveness, knowing that he’s unable to compete against King Baal’s mighty army.
“I’d love to see the face of that arrogant cow puppet begging on his knees!” Forcas grinned while dreaming of the riches he could get from King Baal. It would be a dream come true if he could become the one to gain Moloch’s title of Lord before killing him, sending that cow puppet either into exile or to the rank of knights… That is if King Baal was still willing to forgive him.
“Mages! Teleport us the momen-” Forcas shouted, but the demon mages had already prepared the teleportation circle and activated it the moment they heard Knight Forcas utter the word ‘teleport’. There was no time to waste, especially since one of their own had informed them that he felt the presence of King Baal coming towards them. If by that time Knight Forcas’ army wasn’t on the battlefield, their heads wouldn’t stay on their shoulders.
*SAAZAM*
“Bloody mages…” Knight Forcas grumbled as he suffered a slight headache, realising it was a forced teleportation. He suspected that the mages had skipped a few chants to get them to their destination even faster.
“Regardless, we should be in the safe zone now. Assemble our troops! We need to get into format- …what in the world?!” Forcas could not believe his eyes as he gazed upon the land’s horizon. There were no gates nor buildings right in front of him. Instead, it was littered with stone-cold clay statues except for the ‘safe’ zone that they were in.
Tens of floating islands right above them with bridges connecting each one made the demon army start to doubt if they hadn’t mistakenly been sent into a dungeon cave rather than the city. Further, beyond the shoreline, was just a massive body of water.
Naturally, Knight Forcas assumed that there must be some magic in play. “The old cow must have spent his time drawing up a giant magic circle to show them this illusion hoping to get them to flee. How the bloody hell did the mages manage not to detect it? What were they even paid for?!”
“Are they using any relics?” Forcas asked his senior Tiefling mage for information but their leisure chatting time was interrupted by a series of distant blasts from afar. While it took the commanding knight a moment to realise that it could be the enemies’ attack, a series of explosions happened simultaneously right in front of their eyes, causing disbelief.
“I thought magical spells are disallowed in the safe zone!?” Knight Forcas changed the topic as he raised his shield and used a defensive magic spell to ensure his survival. He was fortunate to have done so, as he got hit by a blast the very next second.
Somehow the impact had caused his magic shield to break. Even though Forcas was able to withstand the initial blast, the splash effect of the explosion caused him to be knocked backwards, indicating it was no ordinary fireball or magic spell.
“That’s correct, but physical projectiles are still able to pass through! Therefore, I believe it must be some form of-” The senior mage was talking protected by a mana shield, yet was suddenly killed by subsequent blasts of whatever that traitorous cow had managed to acquire.
The shell not only pierced through the senior mage’s defences but also exploded right in front of Forcas, making his ear start to ring and disoriented him. All there was left of where the other Tiefling had stood was fire and ‘brimstone’.
“What kind of sorcery projectile is this then?! Why can’t we see them!” Knight Forcas shouted in despair as he saw his troops getting decimated in a matter of seconds. They had no time to regroup, and he couldn’t even find any mages to relay the message back to the main demon metropolis to report about this strange situation.
As the bombardment was sequentially released by the Orc Artillery Company, Nubwort was not giving them any chances to relax just yet.
Even after they had rained down waves of artillery barrage into the safe zone, it was not enough unless the System informed them that it was absolutely clear of any enemies. A few of Que Er’s magpies were also on the lookout for the System to accurately adjust the barrage’s coordinates so that they were not wasting any ammunition.
At the same time, General Hou Fei was pleased with the Orc Artillery Company’s display of continuous bombardment. Although they knew this was all a giant simulation, the Royal Snake soldiers in the artillery section felt itchy to use their own big guns. Unfortunately, the strongest they had were mortars and anti-tank guns they had rented from the Dungeons and Panda’s weapon section. It was mobile enough for them to be able to adapt for varying situations, but the soldiers wanted some big ‘pow’ to blow off some steam.
“Stop.” General Nubwort commanded, and everyone understood that this meant there were no more enemies back there. Even the fabled Knight Forcas who had brought fear and terror to countless of King Baal’s enemies with his cavalries stood no chance against the overwhelming bombing.
Still, this was the Dungeon World, so even if all of them would fall, given time they would definitely resurrect again… Or that was what had Knight Forcas thought before he succumbed to the explosive power of Lord Moloch’s attacks.
