104. Chapter
Standing on the balcony that was on the same level as the rest of the mansions wasn't enough to get a clear picture of the situation, but it was more than enough to see the towering cloud of dust. Laying eyes on the ominous sight, my stomach shrank with fear and uncertainty.
The dust was originating from the natural rock wall that circled the entire city. Did the earthquake weaken it, and as a result, a section of the wall collapsed? If that was the case, then what was the explosion I felt? Did the enemy intentionally weaken the structure of the wall through the earthquake so they could destroy it with a well-aimed explosion? It sounded plausible.
The three of us were staring at the ominous sight of destruction while trying to silently figure out what might have transpired here.
At least, until the voice of Alita reached my ears. She spotted us from the front yard. "Hey, Selora! What does your elf eye see?" It jolted me from my shocked state. Did she just? Shaking my head, there is no time for this right now... I quickly described to her what we could gather from our vantage point.
"The rock wall, the earthquake must have weakened it... and that explosion... Alita, I fear the enemy's hand in this." I gulped seeing her features tighten as she allowed the dire news to settle in. Others in the courtyard, hearing my words, wore similar expressions.
The situation was taking a turn for the worse when the sounds of distant battle horns echoed from the direction of the heavy cloud of dust and debris; my suspicions turned into a reality.
"Oh, for the love of..." Hilde cursed beside me, her features paler than ever before. "That settles it; the enemy is about to get inside the walls."
I took a peek at Camilla. The girl stared wordlessly towards the partially collapsed wall. She was clearly shocked.
This was not what any of us expected. No one was prepared for this. I don't think we could even prepare for this if we knew of it before the catastrophe. How do you prepare for a magical earthquake and an explosion like that?
My hand clasped around the metal railing of the balcony as I, too, stared at the slowly settling dust in the distance.
"What should we do now?" Questioned Camilla in an uncharacteristically small voice.
Neither of us said anything for a while, silently watching the spreading panic in the streets below us. Things were about to turn ugly. "The noble district has an internal wall that separates it from the rest of the city," Hilde said, grasping for ideas. "If the walls didn't collapse in the earthquake or weren't hit by a falling stalactite," she added somberly.
"You mean... we should stay here?" asked Camilla. "But it is not enough to include the rest of the city... You can't just leave them to fend for themselves." She argued numbly.
Hilde shook her shoulders. "It was just an observation; we no longer have the time to properly gather our forces and hold them back in a choke point outside the cityscape. They are going to raid the capital, and we will have to fight them on the very streets." She paused, letting the news that all of us were starting to realize sink in. "It is a worst-case scenario." She added her features, contorting with grim acceptance.
Camilla shook her head in denial. "Oh, no-no-no! What is going to happen to the civilians? Shouldn't we evacuate the city?"
"There is nowhere to go." Sounded the grim voice of Dalorsaer, appearing right behind us. We turned around sharply, eyes quickly focusing on his armored form.
"Dalorsaer!" I spoke, surprised by his appearance.
His gaze was focused on the settling dust for a while before he pulled his eyes away from the breached walls and focused his attention on me. "Selora, I see you have found a proper robe at last. You will need it soon enough." He told us, his aged voice dripping with disgust and hatred. "We either force back these intruders or die trying. There is nowhere to run in the deep roads." He turned around, a stone-cold determination settling over his body. "They will breach the city soon enough; prepare yourself for what is to come. Fight to your last nail, girls. Do not show them pity. Remember, they won't either." He glanced over my companions before adding. "Take whatever armor or weaponry you need from the armory. There won't be a better time to use them."
"Thank you," Camilla answered, while the rest of us nodded. With that done, Dalorsaer seemed to have said his piece and walked back into the mansion. A grim determination settled over him.
Half an hour later.
Camilla and Hilde went to the armory looking for better equipment in place of what they had. In the meantime, I included Elin and Alita in Dalorsaer's offer. They, too, have decided to take a peek and exchanged their training weapons for something substantially better suited for the task ahead.
After the girls equipped themselves with better gear, their confidence took a general boost as well. It was good to see some color reluctantly return to their skin, filling them with fresh determination.
They were not the only ones who were in the process of raiding our armories, either. There were quite many dwarves, some affiliated with the Dimhollow house and even more that were simply called in from the streets to arm themselves in the face of the deathly circumstances. Mostly dwarves, with the occasional human, men, and women ready to defend their home and loved ones, were coming in constantly. It was interesting to see the usually silent mansion's lower floors being so filled with life. It only took a raid on the capital for it to happen. I thought sarcastically while glancing over a veritable sea of people.
The enemy didn't sit around either. They had already invaded the outskirts of the city while smaller groups, made up of elite soldiers, were breaking through and heading for the merchant district and the noble district. I used my magic to take a peek at the incoming army and swiftly decided not to mention what I witnessed to anyone. They didn't need their hopes shattered any further. It was enough that my heart quickened, lingering panic dancing on my nerves, which I felt seeing the endless black army that poured through the breach. They were raging through the city's outskirts, easily overwhelming the slowly gathering soldiers trying to defend the fleeing civilians.
Their heroic last stands only gained several minutes before the all-consuming horde of dark ones overtook them and started massacring the unfortunate citizens who couldn't escape in time. I felt faint seeing the way the orcs and goblins ripped apart men, women, and children alike. Breaking into barricaded houses, ripping the men apart, then falling on their women. Their hopeless cries as they toyed with them, sometimes raping them; other times, ripping them apart, some were going as far as to taste their living flesh to satiate their unnatural hunger.
That was how far I could force my inner eye to watch the horrifying spectacle. Before, I had to stop my technique if I didn't want to vomit all over the floor, that is.
Waking from my disembodied state was like waking from a nightmare. My mind was racing with possibilities driven by the terror I just witnessed. My heart is thundering against my chest, with the distant echoes of screams still in my ears. The sight of the people dying by the dozen, just out of my reach to help them.
I shook my head, trying to get rid of the horrifying images.
The gates to the noble district were opened, letting in the flow of unarmed citizens, unable to defend themselves. They were traveling through the district. Those capable of fighting were given weapons, and the luckier even got some armor, while the rest were directed towards the castle or inside the mansions, where they could gather themselves for the time being.
In the end, we remained in the Dimhollow estate. The walls and entrances were constantly being reinforced and barricaded; the process was happening all across the district in those houses and mansions that survived the earthquake relatively well. The noble district's walls were reinforced with guards sent from all of the houses. The mansions were being fortified for the inevitable scenario of the gates' destruction.
A lot of soldiers, just like armed civilians, left for the merchant district too. I heard that it was in a state of utter chaos, with a third of the district flattened in the wake of the earthquake. I didn't have the spirit in me to take a peek with my inner eye, not after my previous experience.
One hour later.
The king ordered that the merchant district must be defended. Since losing it would mean losing the supplies of food stored there. The castle and the noble district also held a lot of consumables, but the majority of it was stored in the heart of the city, inside the merchant district.
Even a prince was sent from the castle with a considerable elite force to defend that crucial location. I didn't get to know which prince, though. Not that I particularly cared in the present situation. After all, I also did what I could to reinforce the defense of our mansion. Channeling the mana straight from two of my manastones and creating eight earth golems, although a lot smaller in size compared to the last one I made. I ordered four to defend the mansion and sent the other four to defend the gate to the district. Anyone who saw the two-meter-tall marching golems with such lifelike features broke into loud cheers. It was an eye-opening experience, one that brought a considerable boost to the general morale.
I leaned against a nearby giant mushroom after creating the eighth golem. A thick layer of sweat covered my forehead from the sheer effort of concentration. Channeling mana directly from the manastones, as I have learned recently, was a lot less taxing than refilling my own supplies with said mana before using it in some spells. That said, when using such a high-tier spell as golem creation, even if on a smaller scale, the effects were not something you could shrug off.
I felt my limbs shaking subtly from the strain of creating eight fucking golems in a row. It was definitely worth the effort, though, seeing the cheering people in the yard. Alita, Elin, and Hilde were presently occupied helping reinforce the mansion, creating artificial chokepoints to trap the incoming enemy.
Camilla, on the other hand, was staying by my side, watching the entire process of golem creation. Her curiosity and excitement for magic somehow managed to shine through even in our dire situation.
"You should make some archers as well..." she commented, watching in careful fascination as the most recent golem walked by heading towards the district gates. "I bet one of them could shoot an arrow with the power of a ballista." She added excitedly.
"A good idea, but I can't make a bow from compressed earth," I told her. "If they had proper bows of that size, they could likely use them, though," I admitted, not wanting to dishearten the human lass.
"I see, do you want to make more of them?" She asked instead.
I shook my head slowly, thinking about the last filled red mana gem in my pocket. "I only have one more filled mana gem, and I want to keep it for emergencies," I admitted. "Besides, I don't think making more of them right now would be a good idea; the mental effort of creating those things is suffocating, quite literally."
Camilla nodded to that, eagerly. "Oh, I see, you need some rest... Still, if not having enough mana gems is an issue, we could solve that easily."
I was breathing heavily from the magical exercise. Feeling the magical drain from the last two golems, still heading for the gates. I ordered the other six into a state of slumber, at least until some unfortunate darklings manage to find their way to them. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to handle their constant drain on my mana. It was a powerful defensive technique, indeed, but there were still weaknesses to it. For one, if my mana level dropped under a certain degree, they would be forced to shut themselves off, even if it happened in the middle of a battle, also meaning that the golem controller needed to keep his or her personal mana pool filled.
I couldn't handle more golems of this size, and making smaller ones had no point in my opinion. Still, I was slightly curious about what Camilla said. "I can't handle more golems; they drain my mana when activated. Still, I am curious, what do you mean by solving the mana gem issue?"
Camilla's eyes glinted mischievously as she smiled at me. "Oh, I believe that in a life-and-death situation like this, certain rules could be ignored for the betterment of the many, don't you agree, Selora?"
I nodded. Starting to get curious about her proposition.
"Well, why don't we visit that alchemist place you keep complaining about never being open?" She smirked like a cat. "Perhaps I could open it for you."
My jaw dropped, staring at the magnificent redheaded lass. I straightened my body and stepped up to Camilla, giving her a tight hug. "Girl, you are a genius," I cheered. "There might be other useful items in the shop, some that could help you cast some more serious spells as well."
Camilla's smile widened considerably, seeing my reaction; I could even spot a hint of pink gathering across her cheeks. "That sounds awesome!" She chuckled. "I always wanted to try some of that stuff, but I would never have the money to pay for it. Let's head there already!"
"Right!" Agreeing on our next action, we run out of the mansion. I shouted over to Hilde, who was working on a nearby barricade in case they were looking for us. She nodded and told us to be careful; nobody knew how far the enemy forces had gotten exactly.
"We will be careful," I shouted and waved towards her. Then we turned around and ran out of the yard, heading towards the alchemist's shop.
Ten minutes later.
As we neared the shop location, we were hastily cutting through the hundreds of people flooding into the noble district in hopes of finding some shelter. Knowing that we were nearby and seeing the unusually extensive damage this particular section of the district suffered, an ominous suspicion started to crawl up my spine. Seeing the burn marks covering the nearby structures and houses, well, at least the few that were still standing, I was starting to suspect something.
After a few minutes of going against the incoming refugees, we reached our goal. It was just as I feared.
There was barely any sign of the alchemist's shop. In its place was nothing more than a meter-deep crater that was scorched black. No sign of a stalactite crashing into the building. The safety net was still functioning above the building, meaning that no rock or stalactite cut through it. The reason for the explosion was different in nature. I suspected that some chemical reaction must have been the cause of it as a consequence of the earthquake.
It was fortunate that we weren't that close to the alchemist's shop at the time. If it had happened when we were nearby, we might have been blown to bits. I thought about the unfortunate people being present at the moment of the explosion. There must have been an enormous number of victims. It also explained the large number of injured suffering from various degrees of burns among the first wave we encountered.
Camilla was staring down into the scorched crater by my side, sighing heavily. "I guess that plan just went up in smoke." She said, shrugging her shoulders helplessly.
I patted her on the back. "Yeah... it was a good one though. We couldn't have known that it exploded."
Camilla sneaked a glance at me, making sure that I wasn't angry, before asking in a soft tone. "So, what now? Back to the mansion?" She wondered.
"I guess... The prince brought a shaper apprentice with him, so he hardly needs my support, and Dalorsaer said we should stay in the mansion. Defending our home and the rest of the family. Our best warriors already went out to help in the defense of the merchant district," including Emrum and Aria.
Camilla nodded. "You are right, shouldn't we at least check on the district gate? We are almost there already. I mean, just to make sure your golems got there in one piece."
I closed my eyes, reaching through my magical link, sensing seven golems. Three of them are actively draining my mana.
I froze, eyes snapping open. "One of my golems was destroyed, and three others are currently fighting. " I stated, a shiver running over my spine.
Camilla's eyes widened unnaturally as her head snapped towards me. "Do you mean to say we are already down with one golem?"
My voice trembled. "Y-yes..." I strengthened my connection through my magical link and once again opened my inner eye to see what was happening at the district gate.
Just as we suspected, the gate was under siege. Our soldiers pushed out, supported by my golems, in an attempt to cover the escaping citizens. To keep the gates open just a few more precious seconds, creating the chance for several dozen citizens to narrowly escape behind the walls.
The soldiers, on the other hand, paid a price for their heroic action. Dwarven warriors clashing with orc berserkers and hundreds of agile goblins that seemed to overwhelm their opponents with their numbers and cruel attacks.
The golems, even with their reduced size, were very effective against the goblins, less so when faced with similarly sized orcs. They could overpower a single orc since golems didn't feel pain or fear, but when faced with two or three, with the occasional goblin, my golems didn't stand much of a chance.
I could see my missing golem lying on the street, its body crushed and cut in several places and then trampled by the horde.
Seeing that another one of my golems was getting into a pinch, I sent a mental command through my link instead of allowing the golem to walk into a trap. I ordered it to fall back towards the gate. The soldiers were already retreating, and now my golems were falling back as well, still fighting off the attacking enemy group in the process.
It was at that moment when I was forcefully woken from my trance and brought back to my body. My eyes snapping open, I could feel a dull sense of pain pulsing through my right side and hip. I glanced around, confused, just realizing that I was lying on my side and radiating with the uncomfortable sensation.
I felt a pair of arms circle around my torso, hugging me from the back, with the arms locked under my chest.
The previous sense of calm urgency that filled the street was gone, replaced by panicked people escaping in a wild frenzy, trampling over one another.
"You woke at last?!" Camilla's familiar voice screamed into my ears, making them twitch along with the rest of my body. "Next time, you decide to stare into nothingness with a glazed-over look for several fucking minutes, don't do it in the middle of a street filled with frenzied citizens!" She scolded me harshly before throwing in several stupid elves out of spite.
Seeing the chaos in the street, I easily figured out what had happened.
The seething human was still in her angry tirade, though; she pulled me farther away, hiding both of us next to the wall of a partially collapsed building.
She unceremoniously let me go, landing me on my bum from half a meter's height. She was still pulling me backwards, heels scratching the ground along the way. I would have stood up, but I couldn't really while constantly being pulled backward in an awkward pose.
Finding myself sitting on the ground against a wall wasn't enough for the annoyed Camilla, though. She rounded on me once again.
"I can't believe that I am saying this, but perhaps Aria is right. We can't let you roam freely if you are such a scatterbrain to daydream like that!" She grumbled. "You were lucky that I was there; otherwise, you could have been trampled over by the panicked refugees. What is wrong with you?" she demanded, frustration bordering on hysteria leaking from her every pore.
I looked up at her, giving an explanation she more than deserved after pulling me out of that situation.
"I was manually controlling my golems. The enemy lured them out, and they would have been lost if I hadn't acted. "I thought for a few seconds before continuing. "Should have specified their original commands more clearly."
Camilla grunted, her annoyance getting to a more controllable level. "Fine, but next time, warn me beforehand. I didn't know what to think about it. You stiffened up and stopped responding in any manner." She huffed. "Then the people went crazy, and one of them pushed you away. I could barely get a hold of you before the chaos spread." Her words sent a chill down my spine, just realizing how close I was to an unfortunate one that wouldn't shine in the pages of history books very well.
I turned to Camilla and spoke my feelings. "Thank you, you saved my life." She stiffened, then looked aside, scratching her cheeks awkwardly.
"Well... ah... that's what friends do? Yes... no worries." She glanced at me and added, embarrassed. "Eh... sorry if I came off a bit harsh... I lost my cool there." She held out her hand, waiting for me to grasp it.
I didn't let her wait for long. Taking her hand, she easily pulled me up, and I was standing once again. Dusting off my clothes with my free hand.
"Back to the mansion then?" Camilla smiled at me, and I nodded.
"Back to the mansion," I agreed. Quickly sending out another burst of mana through my mana link, I silently noted that in the end, another one of my golems fell. I couldn't save it. Losing control at a crucial time must have made them retreat carelessly, allowing the enemy to attack.
I could feel the cold sweat gathering on my palms. As my hands subconsciously formed into tight fists.
If we keep losing ground like this, we are going to die in a day or two. We have to do something. But to do something, we need more information, no matter what. Using my inner eye when I knew there were enemy mages was dangerous; seeing what these creatures did to the innocent was terrifying. Even if that was the case, someone has to do it.
My eyes refocused on Camilla's proud form standing by my side. The human lass seemed to be in her element after my earlier praise.
I looked at her, searching for her attention. She quickly noticed my glance and turned towards me curiously. "Can you take me back to the mansion?" I asked her, hesitantly."
She blinked. "I thought we just agreed on that." She blinked, uncertain of what to make of my question.
I narrowed my eyes and added. "I meant, literally."
It was time to gather enough information using my inner eye, even if I throw up in the process. Well, of course, I failed to mention that potential outcome to Camilla.
The girl was too distracted with blinking at me owlishly anyway. "I guess so, but why?"