The first ones to engage the enemy were the fire spirits. Even though they were somehow humanoid in appearance these creatures were more feral than most animals.
If one of them lost a limb he would just the remaining ones more ferociously.
If one lost all the limbs he would crawl, trying to bite the enemies' feet.
Monsters of the deep weren't slower than their counterparts from Cataclysm, but if fire spirits were berserkers, that these lurking creatures were more like hunters.
From time to time Alex could see someone jumping from the liquefied ground, grabbing one of the enemies and diving back.
"By the way." – Said Alex. – "How can these creatures swim in the ground?" – He asked James who was also observing the first clash.
"It's the special ability of Maw, and Captain Jarnar." – He pointed towards a certain spot. – "You can think of it as these creatures exist in a special, parallel to ours, space."
The boy showed a confused expression. – "Parallel…? Space…"
"Yes. Normally this space exists inside the ship, somewhere in the lower part of the hull. Captain Jarnar expands this space to allow his minions to be more efficient since they are actual aquatic creatures."
Alexander could only nod since he could guess that this was already the clearest explanation he will get.
Now he also finally managed to clearly see the creatures spawned by the defensive towers.
[…]
At first, when they were just flying, he could not spot any limbs but only an aerodynamic body and insect-like wings.
Right before engaging the fire spirits suddenly their flying speed dropped, and six slender limbs covered by a carapace appeared. 'Probably they have retractable limbs or something.' Thought Alex.
"LOOK DOC, AREN'T THOSE YOUR RELATIVES? HAHAHAHA" – Roared James while pointing towards a random shadow and zapping it with small lighting.
The shadow wiggled visibly enraged. – "How dare you, Fat Boar." – Doctor hissed while appearing. – "Not mentioning these bad copies, even the true thing would be inferior to me!"
"True thing?" – Interjected Alex.
"These are just Rank II artificially created creatures." – Doc explained. The boy shuddered at the mention of a Rank II creature. Moon Triq he fought at Gemini was also a Rank II creature. – "Just poorly made imitation of a Rank IX being." – He scoffed.
Alex gasped. Rank IX was something unthinkable for him right now. Even Rank II could kill him in case of a bad matchup.
"Their durability is nothing like a Rank II, but a few strong abilities make them comparable to one. These things can consume every type of material and energy, and then convert it for its own use."
"They would be unstoppable if this process had higher efficiency." – He concluded.
[…]
In the meanwhile, ghostly warriors from the Spirit Queen also joined the fray.
They had small formations of 5 and fought in extremely orderly, even a bit mechanical, fashion. Their arrival heralded the wave of white fog which flooded a big chunk of the battlefield.
Fog apparently did not impair their vision and, it even greatly mended their overly rigid fighting style.
Alexander was impressed but the next moment Sorrows' striges finally arrived.
"Minions also become stronger with the ship and captain." – James said out of the blue.
The boy understood what exactly the round man meant the next second.
[…]
Fire spirits were ferocious, deep creatures were cunning, ghostly warriors were methodical.
Raven Striges were all these things combined and elevated to another level altogether. Like a black tide, they started a massacre.
While maintaining their formation they ripped and tiered in the most efficient and brutal way. If before their arrival the situation was still manageable for the defenders now it became just a one-sided suppression and decimation.
[…]
"Told ja that our Cap is the strongest." – James smiled proudly.
[…]
Inside the city, Prince was calmly observing the destruction of his defenses. 'Just a meaningless battle of puppets…I am also just a puppet. Of my father, of Emperor…of fate maybe…'
"Master." – A loud voice interrupted his vague thoughts. – "Master! Your orders?"
*Sigh*
"Let's wait…" – With striges suppressing his insects some of the fire spirits broke through and started climbing the walls. – "They will enter the outer city in a few minutes if this goes on." – Said his aide.
Hearing some urgency in aides' voice Prince smirked. – "In the end, we will abandon this city anyway. Let them climb the walls. The more the better." – His face returned neutral. – "Is the conversion completed?"
"Yes, Your Highness."
Prince nodded – "How many compatible ones?"
"A hundred and two."
'Not as much as expected but still enough to entertain our guests.' He thought slightly furrowing his brows.
"But one can use gravity magic." – Added the aide. – "Oh? Then I guess we can be considered lucky."
'Gravity…that's beyond rare…nice.'
The walls were now covered by the fire spirits climbing them. Prince clapped once. – "Ok, I think that's enough. Overload the external towers and wall circuit, then detonate them."
Aide froze, but then nodded and started tapping quickly on the control panel. – "Also prepare to send in our soldiers. It will be manageable if we wipe out more than half of their minions…"
"Yes, Your Highness!"
[…]
*BRRRRRRUUUUUUUU*
"Hmm!!" – A unnervingly deep sound distracted Alex from the siege. Red dots, fire spirits, like ants were climbing the walls. Others were cleaning up the remaining insects.
All the towers suddenly trembled and hundreds of thousands of small runes shined on the walls' surface.
"Wha…!" – A blinding flash of light was followed by a shock wave so strong that the whole ship was pushed back.
The boy fell and hit painfully his head.
"As expected." – He heard James' voice. – "He chose the mutual destruction."
After Alexander stood up the sight left him speechless.
A whole kilometer around the city was destroyed. Obviously, the external walls were also no more. Around 90 percent of the troupes were wiped out.
"It's our turn, boy." – Said Doc and pushed Alex. – "What do you me…WAIT!"
Alex fell inside his own shadow.
[…]
The only sensations he was left with, were cold and the sound of his own blood being pumped through his veins.
Probably the whole trip lasted less than a second.
'It felt like an entire year.' Thought Alex while being ejected from another shadow.
He was right in front of the city. He saw other crew members: James, Doctor, Law, Loranna the Weapon Master, Old Hound, Klein, Benjamin, and others who he didn't know for now.
He saw other people appear. 'These are probably from other ships.'
"Let's go." – Said Loranna and materialized his weapons.
New minions from both sides were slowly reappearing. James pointed back towards the new batch of striges. – "You stay with the bird-guys. Try not to die!" – He grinned.
*BRUMM* His body transformed in a bolt of lightning and flew towards the inner parts of the city.
The others followed closely behind.
In the same moment from the city appeared new enemies. 'What are those?'
Golden, deformed lumps of some sort of metal were floating menacingly towards them.
Alex took out his dagger but suddenly shook his head. 'Better having more distance…'
"Hei!" – He called the nearest strix. – "Have a spare spear?"
The birdman glanced at him for a moment but then materialized a spear identical to his own. – "Craaw!"
"Thanks."
The spear was cold to the touch. Smooth and well-balanced.
Alex was ready for the fight.
[…]
"What do you think about this?" – Asked John to his old vice-captain. – "I have no idea what these things are." – Willmar helplessly scrolled his shoulders. – "I can feel some curse energy from them, so I guess there is some esprit part in these abominations, but I cannot be sure unless I dissect them."
Captain Blake frowned.
"Their spirits smell like s**t." – Added Helena.
"We must absolutely interrogate Sixth Prince before killing him." – The old man nodded.
[…]
From the inner castle floated a tetrahedron surrounded by 9 golden spheres.
*Bzzzzz*
The runes on its smooth surface flashed and the ground in the radius of 50 meters around him visibly caved in. A few unfortunate minions were crushed into meat paste.
*BZZZZ*
[…]
Rayan from his ship saw this scene and, still grudgeful after being tossed around by Vice-Captains Willmars' gravity magic. His eyes shone dangerously. 'Let's see how your gravity a*s will survive!'
"SNOW! LET'S GO!" – Roared Captain of Cataclysm and flew like a flaming meteor towards the enemy.
Vice-captain sighed and followed.
[…]
"Want to participate, Rufus?" – The young aide trembled and shook his head. – "I don't want to die, Your Highness."
"At least you are honest." - Prince smiled.
*Tap*Tap*Tap* - "When they start attacking this place activate the portal."
[…]
In the boundless space outside the words, in some unknown location, a golden throne surrounded by battleships was floating.
Emotionless Lord of the golden tapped on the armrest and the whole fleet was set in motion.
Thousands of battleships moved in the same direction like a massive river of gold.
"Let me start the closing act of this cursed fate."