Commander Manga was busy going through the field report of the number of units under his command. He sat in what was the Queen's office as it had now become his.
As the commander of an entire city, he had his hands full, but at least he was doing it in such excellent chambers. Only during wartime could a warrior's fortune change so drastically.
However, despite it being around noon, the sky was darkening. As he continued to read, Manga found it difficult to even see the writing, to a point he needed to light a candle.
Curious, Manga went to the window to see what was happening. A massive black cloud had formed over the city. The cloud seemed to be descending, and as it did, the Commander could make out a distinct buzzing sound, as though the cloud was made of insects.
The city was thrown in a pandemonium. Civilians who had been going about their business were running scared, going to their homes. The guards on the walls had already raised the alarm, alerting everyone of the impending doom.
The Queen's castle was the tallest building in the city, and Commander Manga got a close look at the coming attack. With a frown, he decidedly locked his windows and ran down to the armory.
Many people did the same, running to their homes and locking their windows and doors. However, by the time the swarm had descended, there were still a lot of people who were stranded, running around. They hadn't found a place to hide.
In the loud extremely creepy buzzing of the insects, screams could still be heard as people were being consumed by the insects.
Something was weighing heavily on the Commander's mind, and it was not just the sound of the people screaming. He guessed that this was just the beginning, but if this was such a beginning, what next?
Barda collected all the smiths that were in the palace with him and questioned them, hoping to find an answer to this scourge. One smith presented some tanks that had tubes and straps.
"What are those?" The commander asked.
"These are the Lord Commander's latest inventions. With this, ordinary people like us can wield fire as a weapon, just like mages do. I believe he called them flame throwers my Lord," one of the smiths came and presented a device.
The man proceeded to equip the flame thrower, strapping the fuel tank. For the gas itself, Barda had spared no expenses and gone for the best option. The militaries, in the era of petroleum, still used napalm for their flame throwers.
However, there was a caveat. Because of the threat of sucking out the oxygen, Barda had insisted that the device should not be used indoors.
After creating the refinery, Barda ensured that the process of creating the napalm was as hands-free as possible. All the mechanics had to do was follow the procedure as he had written down, turning the machine on and off at prescribed intervals.
Barda had not yet automated the process, otherwise, no human would be involved, especially given how dangerous the process was.
The problem arose that since none had ever used the weapon, even in testing, they did not know how useful it was. If they opened a door and the flame thrower was not as effective, then they would be dead in a few minutes.
"I cannot ask any of you to do this, I will do this myself," The commander declared as he strapped one of the flame throwers lying on the ground.
"Lord, at least let me come with you," Kord, Commander Manga's second in command, said as he ran after him.
"Lead the troops in my absence," He managed to sound magnanimous as if he was laying down his life.
To Kord's surprise, his commander did not go out the door but went into one of the rooms and locked himself in. Only then did it dawn on Kord what his commander wanted to do.
Commander Manga readied himself for the hell that would soon come. He kicked hard at the window and waited.
Outside, it looked pitch black. The insects were numerous and extremely fast, hence they ended up looking like a black sandstorm.
The moment the window was opened, the small bugs came flooding into the room. The commander did now hesitate and pulled the trigger.
At first, Manga had expected the flame thrower to be like the rifles that Barda had made previously, shooting small bursts of concentrated fire. What he saw was beyond his wildest dreams. The device was able to project a long, controllable stream of fire.
In one fell swoop, all those bugs that had entered the room fell to the ground, incinerated. Manga did not stop there. He went to the window and started spraying at the bugs.
He planned to clear the bugs from the window so that he could get enough time to close it. He had done his test, now it was time to formulate a plan.
Little did he know that several miles from where he was, a mage in elegant green robes had his hands outstretched. He was the cause of this calamity.
"How is the progress so far?" Lady Gwendolynn asked anxiously. She may have been cold-hearted, but she still cared for her city. Nevertheless, her definition of caring was not that of a normal person.
"They are primed and ready for you, your Majesty," The man was calm in his response. However, the next moment, his burrows frowned.
"Who is that causing me stress?" He muttered to himself.
The next moment, all the small bugs changed direction, headed towards that window. Suddenly, Manga found himself dealing with 10 times the number of insects coming at him.
As the number of bugs assaulting him continued to rise, Manga could barely hold the bugs from entering the house. He swung the flames violently at anything, but he could not divert the heat from.
Something interesting started happening. Despite the carnage Manga was unleashing, some still managed to slip through, attaching themselves to the wall.
The next moment, the bugs that had snuck through started rearranging themselves, and ultimately, a humanoid figure emerged. Commander Manga was so shocked he stopped pulling the trigger, allowing the rest of the bugs to flood the room.
The bugs got in like a river breaking a dam. Before Manga could react, the wave of insects coalesced to form a figure. Amazingly, the bugs were shaping into a humanoid shape.
One the human was fully formed, he seemed to be looking at Manga. Since the figure was just a mass of black buzzing figures, Manga could not tell what he was looking at, but the head was aimed at him.
Amazingly, the physical silhouette started clapping. By now, Manga had forgotten to breathe. He could barely even react. However, this taunt brought out the warrior in him.
With rage and fury, he aimed at the figure and blasted away. At least he'd have the satisfaction of knowing he would go with as many as he could.
Boom!
The next moment, Manga found himself backed up against the wall. However, he was still alive. Completely disoriented but alive. The bugs were raining all around him. Moreover, the room he had been seemed to have a massive hole in it.
Manga tried to get back to his feet, make out what just happened. However, just as soon as he could stand, he saw a swarm of bugs coming at him. Just as he was about to raise his flamethrower, he saw it.
A ballista bolt. He knew these bolts, and they were not the ordinary kind. They were the ordinance-tipped ones.
Unfortunately, even though he had seen it, he had no way of reacting to it in time. The next moment, he found himself being smashed against the door, which he went through. He found his men looking at him in shock.
Kord quickly pulled his commander from the wreckage. It was no miracle that he had survived that blast though, Barda's heavy kevlar also provided heat resistance.
On top of that, Barda had used standard contemporary designs on the flamethrower. In ancient history, flamethrowers could have been used against the wielder, but not anymore. They were made with flame redundant materials and heavy insulation.
The shaft also came equipped with a blast shield that automatically activated when certain temperatures were exceeded.
The blast shield worked more like an umbrella, popping out immediately on activation. Barda had designed the metal ribs and stretchers of the umbrella mechanism to be extremely sturdy. Even though they gave in, they still took a lot of the blast, shielding Manga from the blast.
"Light 'em up!" Manga shouted as he raced to the room, firing the flamethrower as he did. Kord and 10 other men had already equipped them too, in anticipation of the command.
It was a magnificent sight watching 10 flamethrowers unleash unto the bugs. The best part was that after the onslaught of the ballista bolts, the wall was effectively demolished.