Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Chapter 1319: If you start a siege...

---West of Beta, 2 days ago---

“Emerald City was overrun,” Adam said seriously. They had finally found the governor in this cave, together with a small ragtag group that had assembled around him. The reunion was a bittersweet one, as they found Adam in not the best situation.

After the initial happy greeting, the conversation had quickly turned to the reason Mike and his party were here, which was already a grim situation, but when Adam began explaining, he outdid the situation of Thres by a mile.

“The situation in the city had turned worse, and after the discovery of the cyber worms you warned us of. The completely holed up in their barrier, kicking out strangers and mercilessly letting people die outside of the barrier,” the governor explained.

That was the time Adam decided evacuate their hide out and stop their operations in Emerald City with a last evacuation. They had been in the middle of preparations, assembling the people they had freed and recruited, when Emerald Cityʼs barrier was penetrated.

It was not a hidden hole in the defense as the one Adam used to smuggle out people, but the barrier was literally overcome. He didnʼt know how, but the cybernatically enhanced beasts and humans, that had been stopped by the barrier to this point, were suddenly able to simply charge through.

“We had no choice but to flee with our half-finished preparations. In the chaos, I was forced to leave my communication orb behind, in favor of carrying more provisions and equipment. I didnʼt think much of it at the time. Even with lacking preparations, the journey wasnʼt supposed to take longer than a couple of weeks,” he said wryly.

Things didnʼt turn out as expected once they fled Emerald City. The surrounding jungles had turned extremely dangerous. They were filled with infected beasts and the human victims of the cyber worms, that had seemingly lost their minds.

It was as if everything affected by the worms had assembled in the surroundings of the city, making their break through and subsequent journey an ongoing tragedy. By the time Adam entered the vicinity of Beta, he had already lost many good men and half the people he saved from Emerald City.

But things didnʼt end there. They had set up camp outside the mushroom territory, and Adam went ahead to scout a path with the people who were now seated in this cave. When they returned to camp, it had been laid to waste.
The people from Emerald City and many of his subordinates had been taken away, the rest lay dead in the dust and embers left of their camp. The governor couldnʼt leave his friends, men, and the people he promised a new home behind.

Their group took a while to track down the enemy all they way until they found this secret base. However, this place was an absolute fortress, probably a repossessed bunker form the time before the districts. They had spent the past weeks observing it to come up with an infiltration and rescue plan.

“What we came to observe led us to believe that this is actually a base set up by the people of Emerald City,” Adam finally revealed, as he started to explain about the mountain, which Ray found to be filled with malice and suffering.

“Why do you think so?” Mike asked grimly. Just how many secret bases and laboratories did the upper class of Urth operate?

“Because soon after we found this place, a helicarrier bearing the logo of Emerald City, protected by a bunch of flying mounts and helicopters, arrived here. Those were probably the people responsible for this base, who had also fled from Emerald City some time after our own rushed exit.

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Itʼs also the reason why I concluded that Emerald City must have ultimately fallen. The rats have left the sinking ship,” he added disdainfully.

“I see. You must have been watching this place for weeks now, do you have a plan?” Mike finally asked the important question. Adam had not contacted Thres for over a month now, he must have had something to show for the time he sat in this valley. However, Adam grimaced.

“The longer we observed... the more hopeless things became. Every time we thought we might have found a loophole, we found that it either was covered by another measure or that we would not be able to use it,” he revealed with a sigh.

“To be honest, I was already deliberating to return to Thres to get reinforcement...” the governor revealed.

“I see, maybe we can help? Iʼm sure if we pool our knowledge and skill together, we can do something about this place, even if we simply end up breaking down the front door and charging in,” Mike said jokingly to lift the mood. He worked slightly, getting a wry smile out of the governor.

Over the next two day, Mikeʼs party and Adamʼs people worked together to observe the bunker base and come up with a plan to infiltrate and rescue the captured people. Ray was especially motivated, as this was one of the Place SolʼFiam would urge him to eradicate.

---West of beta, Present---

“Everyone got the plan memorized?” Adam asked in the small cave. He was surrounded by a group made up of his own and Mikeʼs party. Everyone nodded grimly. They had spent two days getting ready for today.

Everyoneʼs eyes were filled with determination, especially Adamʼs people. What had seemed like a hopeless endeavor to Adam and them after spending weeks stagnating in this place, finally seemed to come together with great chances of success.

“Are the preparations done?” Adam turned to TanoʼMol, the goat demon and soul trader. The goat nodded slowly.

“I finished setting up the magic circle yesterday. I just need to activate it now,” the demon assured him. Adam nodded. After making sure everything was in place, they left the cave. Everyoneʼs gaze turned to the hateful mountain at the end of the valley.

it seemed like and ordinary mountain from the distance, but knowing what was inside made it look like a looming danger, towering over them menacingly. After listening to Adam and scouting it himself, Mike realized that this was not just a mountain or a bunker base, it was far more. he also understood the difficulty Adam had faced with it.

Thanks to Ray, they knew that the mountains were hollowed out with tunnels and rooms, as he could detect the people and miasma inside, but the outside was far more worrying. The mountain itself had a shield comparable to the one of Emerald City, which stayed invisible until something collided with it.

The only entrance through the shield and into the bunker base was huge hermetically shut concrete gates reinforced with epic materials and strengthened with magic. Adam may have been able to break through that, but it would have taken him at least an hour.

Meanwhile, the entrance was guarded by magic turrets, a product of past Y-City. These things were manned by cannoneers who would blast any player or beast to bits from a mile away. Even with Tekarʼs defenses, if they concentrated fire on them, they probably wouldnʼt have to break the gate.

So, how could they possibly break through a city-grade barrier and gates made to withstand the roaming beasts of Betaʼs wilderness with a group barely counting twenty people?

“Are you sure they are coming?” Adam asked, looking at the sky with worry.

“Donʼt worry, once I begin, they will be here in a second,” Mike assured him with a knowing smile. Then, turning into a huge anthropomorphic lion, the Chosen of Maahes reached his hands to the sky and focused his powers.

In the skies above the mountain, dark clouds started brewing and faint thunder echoed in the valley. The Scarlet Lord was a god of war, but also the god of weather, mostly know for thunderstorms. It was not weird for mike to have a few skills associated with manipulation the weather on his declared battlefield.

When the heaven had blackened above the mountain base, the faint thunder from before suddenly roared with unprecedented power and bright lighting arched through the clouds. In the far distance lightning strikes cast the shadow of an eagle on the clouds. Adams heart quivered at the sight.

“Thereʼs our reinforcements,” Mike stated as heavenʼs gates opened and an ungodly amount of rain poured onto the mountain before them.