Lord Of Puppets

(They wanted us to notice the flames?) – thought alarmed Porai.

(It would.... No! I makes freaking sense!)

(The damage is way too noticeable and obvious! To the point it can be spotted way too easily!)

(Does that mean the explosions were nothing more than distraction?)

(...No.)

(Something is still not adding up.)

(There is no way they can hide.)

(This territory sucks for the defense big time, since it does not possess any natural defenses.)

(Forests here are too small and golems would in no time discover the enemies....)

"..."

"Then again... The enemy seems to know what is going on."

(Golems may be consider a familiars in a way, but in reality they are just a tools.)

(The connection between the owner and the golem isn’t exactly per say... Extremely fragile, to the point where if it would snap, you would realize it is gone.)

(You could destroy the golems behind the owners back and they wouldn’t realize it.)

(Still, there are ways for the user to sense their own golems or create a system where the golems raises alarm, for example the alert golem and the search golem.)

(Search golem can use its detection ability to detect enemies, while the alarm golem can release a signal that will call over golems in the range.)

(Still... Where exactly is the enemy and when did those explosions occurred?)

(Did the warning came with delay? Did the enemy realized there was some kind of alarm system in place?)

"Ahhhhhhhh... This is fucking stupid." – said Porai to herself.

(The enemy IS HERE!)

(BUT WHERE?!)

(Are they using a cover of night to move around?)

(How long the enemy was in the territory in the first place? Hours?)

(But wouldn’t the golems detect them?) - thought Porai as she saw Thauma’s two messenger type golems walking out of the dungeon, carrying the massive suitcase.

"Set it up." – said Porai, ordering Thauma to open up the suitcase and take out both the communication orb with mechanical components, as well as antenna like device.

"Done? Good!" – said Porai as she instantly rushed to the set up that Thauma prepared and instantly activated the communication device, trying to establish the communication.

"Common! Common! Pick it up! Pick it the fuck up!"

"..."

"..."

"FUCK!" – shouted Porai as good amount of time passed... Yet there was still no connection.

{"You can’t contact the empire?"}

"No. Not them. I’m trying to reach the guy who is in charge of checking the things... I’m trying to contact the asshole who is just have his people around your territory! Okay?! But I can’t fucking reach him!" – said Porai as she started alarming level of stress.

"..."

"There are two possible reasons why I can’t contact him."

"The first one is communication."

"Somebody may be using some kind of spell or a magic tool that disturbs communication."

"The second reason... Well? He is dead."

"I will try contacting the empire next." – said Porai as she started changing up setting with her device, before then trying to establish new line of communication.

"..."

"This is main connection line." – said the voice from the communication orb.

"The master is currently absent."

"It’s Porai." – said stressed and pissed off Porai.

"Porai Kuris."

"!"

"Miss Porai?!" – asked surprise voice.

"Is this Magellan?" – asked Porai as she recognized the voice.

"Y-yes! How can I serve?" – replied the voice form the orb that belonged to the man called Magellan.

"Listen. This is important." – said Porai.

"The wyvern attack is distraction."

"It is a smoke screen! You hear me?!"

"?!"

"What do you mean? Wait, how do you-"

"There is no time! Listen!" – said Porai as she cut off Magellan.

"Their target was from the very start the golem dungeon."

"I repeat."

"Their aim was the dungeon! You hear me?! Their aim was the dungeon!"

"Are you sure about this?!" – asked the Magellan.

"We are under fucking attack now! Of fucking course I’m sure about this! Now go! Relay this info to that bastard! NOW!" – shouted Porai.

"Y-yes ma’am!" – said Magellan as few moments later the call ended.

"..."

{"They didn’t cut off out communication?"}

"Hm? What are you talking about?" – asked confused Porai.

{"You said once to me that during wars, the enemy often focuses on destroying the enemy communication, by jamming it or destroying the source of it."}

"..."

"Ahhh.... Yeah, I get what you are talking about, I remember now."

"It is back then when I was explaining the power of communication."

"True, communication is a powerful tool, especially the communication device that allow you to communication between different armies to coordinate attacks, or between fortresses to warn about incoming attack and what not."

"There are ways however to deal with communication."

"Like special tools."

"But it depends on what sort of tools are you using."

"For example, a jammer that blocks off any signals from going in and out from the specific zone, like everybody inside of that zone cannot be communication with or they cannot sent any message themselves."

"There is something like a ’wall’ type devices, which will prevent signal from the communication device to travel through it, effectively blocking anything."

"However, these ones, the Long-Range Communication Magic Machine Devices, A.K.A LRCMM, they are devices I’ve made."

"It cannot really be mass produced, but still, with the help of the special relay towers, we can use these devices to effectively communicate from across the entire empire."

"Simple put, the connection bounce between the towers, one by one, before then reaching the receiver."

"And I’ve made sure that the signal is extremely strong, so it wouldn’t get easily disturbed."

"This device I’m using also applies my signal even more, so there wouldn’t be anybody easily disturbing the signal." – said Porai as she pointed at the antenna like device, which was attached to the communication device.

"And even if they take down one tower, it won’t do. The signal can bounce off the other towers."

"Still... It is problematic, since I can’t tell if they did used a jammer or no... I could try aiming to connect with different towers and what not."

"...Then again, there is really no time."

{"What do we do now anyway?"}

"..."

"That is... A question."

"We still don’t know strong the enemy is."

"Nor we know how fast are they."

"..."

"And there is another problem."

"Wyverns and conspiracy."

"We don’t know how much forces the empire will need to dedicate."

"...Meaning one thing."

"We will be still the ones fighting them."

Hours went by.... And silence was the only that was present.

The golems didn’t encountered any enemies.

There was no commotion.

There was no alarm.

Just dead silent night.

...And after the more time passes, the sun once again rose up, bringing forth a new day.

"...Welp... Shit." – said visible tried Porai.

"I’m going to ask it again, but still nothing?" – asked Porai as she turned towards the messenger golem... Which shook its head in response.

"Thought so."

*Sigh*

"I’m really being turned into a fool here, aren’t I?"

(Where are they?) – thought Porai.

(The enemy clearly used the flames as distractions, to buy themselves some time to do something.)

(But what?)

(Move?)

(Hide?)

(We are not making any progress.)

(Is it just double distraction?)

(Like they want us to believe the dungeon is the one being attacked?)

(Or they really just want to pin the blame on the empire in order to have relationship between us worsen?)

"..."

(No.)

(With wyverns on the loose like that, there is no way that is truth.)

(They are coming HERE!)

(But where?)

"..."

(Neither me or Porai found anything.) – thought Thauma.

(The main problem in the whole situation right now is that we have no information about our enemies, nor we even know where they are.)

(How are they hiding here?!)

(Doesn’t this entre territory sucks in terms of defiance!? There shouldn’t had been any spots them to hide in!)

(Are we overlooking something?)

(Maybe we are doing it wrong?)

(...)

(No.)

(Don’t get scared.)

(You are different.)

(And you are not alone.)

(Not only that, there is still an army of golems out there.)

(...Still, they avoided the-)

"..."

(Wait.)

(Why I have my army scattered around, searching for them, when they are the ones aiming to come here?)

The messenger golem clapped its hands.

"Yes?"

{"I have idea."}

{"I’m going to abandon my territory."}

"!?"

"Wowowowowowow. Slow the fuck down?! What the hell do you mean abandon?!"

{"The enemy is aiming to come here, so why are we searching for them?"}

{"It is defensive battle."}

{"I mean, is there any point in defending this place?"}

"Well...."

"..."

(Wait... Shit! There is none!) – thought Porai as she realized the truth herself.

(There is no people or important structures that we need to protect! This entire place is fucking empty!)

(WE HAVE NO FUCKING REASON TO EVEN LOOK FOR THEM!)

(If that is the case then... Fuck.)

(How the hell did I made such retarded mistake?!)

(Why the hell I was aiming to be so aggressive when we all had to do is defend!?)

"...Do it." – said Porai with pissed off expression.

"Let these bastards come, so they can get slaughtered like pigs."