After Fae spent her mana making much of the target base into a disaster zone, she was recalled and for mana resupplying, next in line was Dustan, Balin who had not given any commands other then deploy and retrieve said something that made both Leader and Fae have him in a headlock, he got a beating but it was already too late for the two with practically empty mana cores.
"Arm prototype mech with shield attachment and two axe attachments, deploy", Balin made the order, he then called Dustan to give him his obvious orders "use taunt, block as much as possible until half the mana is gone, then feel free to use both axes as you will". There only response given by Dustan was his beautifully ugly smile. When he hit the ground he took out a shield and one axe, used taunt and then rampaged in the base. Balin's decision to send the first two unarmed proved correct, by the time he sent out the shield, it was sorely needed, as soon as the mech landed it was targeted with magical attacks.
Dustan really cut it close when he roared his taunt after taking his shield, but he still took all the head on attacks with the shield, the rest ended up on the back plating. The mech changed again for the ground troops, this one was more intimidating and sturdy, add in the shield and how it was now moving like an armored adventurer. That was the critical thing they could not figure out, what was this thing and why was something made of metal moving like a living being and not like a golem, they all thought that this was an advanced golem created by some faction but the floating castle did not make sense at all, if you had a floating castle with discernible cannon holes why are you using golems to attack, the answer came too quickly when the barrage of magic was over and Dustan started fighting like he always did, except this time he was the giant monster making the adventurers shiver in their boots.
Swinging the axe at both buildings and defenders alike, bashing anyone who attempted to get into the range of melee in order to try to disable the"golem" from the inside, when the mana was half gone and the magical barrage was becoming a trickle because of exhaustion and desperation, the two axes shone with bloodthirsty gleem and Dustan started reaping out any that stood in his path, Dustan was able to go all the way to the centre of the base all the while paving a path of corpses and destroyed buildings, he found some resistance here but still decimated the defenses before he was recalled back for mana resupplying.
Next in line was Lucian, he got two short swords and was sent down to kill the Leaders of the faction, this time the mech shrunk to only the size of 5 meters high, and was affixed with a few extra agility spells, the new mech was indeed faced with the leaders simply because they thought it was weaker, unfortunate as they were, Lucian dodged their magic like it was slow dandelions in gentle breeze, he did not kill but wounded mortally, they would live for a bit before they die.
The battle fortress issued a very loud announcement "the leaders of this faction have been defeated, this faction shall be leveled to the ground, leave as you are this moment and you will live, stay in the radius of 20 km and die"
Balin made the announcement as grim as possible and with intimidation from the mechs, many adventures left the area as fast as they could, Lucian took this opportunity to read the minds of the leaders and locate their wealth before sending them to the prison cells inside the portable dimension, when he was recalled he hurried back to the command capsule and took a seat at the console. At Balin's order, all the magical cannons were charged and fired down at the nearly empty headquarters, "fire" he said before magical energy turned the whole area into a blazing flame, in the ruins, nothing but dust was left behind, many who were watching this scene ran as fast as their feet or wings could take them, they immediately headed for the safe spot in near the trading post and begged to be taken inside, the genie obliged them and created rental rooms for them to stay in, payment was only mana for staying but anything else required money, even water for a drink or a bath.
The fortress disappeared just like it arrived out of thin air, many saw it and did not dare to return, unbeknownst to most people who stayed away in fear of mana contamination, the place was safe to tread, when mana was burnt into magical power it lost it corrosive ability and the resulting energy faded harmlessly, but who would take a risk when the amount of magic leveled an area that big, 7 people were in the ruins sitting beside a mountain of valuables.
"How bright of you, to create such cannons that destroyed anything without value to dust while the good stuff was buried beneath, how did you do that?" Balin felt very happy with the praise and pretend to comb his beard sagely. "We thought about it a lot and decided to make a spell that attacks anything that is not touched by magic for example anything built using magic is safe, we thought that most of the faction headquarters would be built by ordinary materials because if it was built using magic it would become a beacon for monsters, no faction can hunt a tide of endless monsters that keep spawning after you kill them". With a double thumbs up from Fae, and Leader The group started walking towards the locations of the hidden vaults only known to the faction leaders, as well as those used by the faction members. Looting never felt so good before, it seems that fun fights that lead to a mountain of loot were the type Debauchery party liked the best