The Otherworlder's Invasion (2/2)
The defenders of the Threshold look on as a hole is punched through the mountain above them. Fisco looks at this and sighs in frustration. His Enchanter team had been working on laying the ground work to place time lock enchantments on the outer layer of the fortress as well to prevent dragons from being able to punch through...
… but that kind of enchantment takes a long time to make, and the frequent invasions always end up destroying the groundwork they're building.
Fisco then orders his troops on the walls to take cover in the towers and behind the walls, rather than on top of the walls. There are dragons here, and their energy breaths will make short work of the exposed humans.
Even still, he doesn't want the Rehkin to destroy the cannon enchantments so easily - hence he still keeps some defenders in the towers and by the cannons, despite being completely useless against dragons.
Meanwhile, we see the 2 dragons almost slither through the hole Tefka made. The one in front pokes his head through and sees the Threshold in its full glory. It appears to be a giant fortress in a hollow cavern carved nearly a mile high.
Everybody knows that the only reason the mountain's weight doesn't collapse on the fortress is because key points of the mountain are time-locked - acting as impromptu pillars.
On top of the cavern's unnatural height, it's also strange to see that the fortress is also floating over a thousand feet off the ground, with the castle's foundation also being time locked to prevent gravity from bringing it down – a creative use of the same enchantment to make something float.
Of course, this last measure is to protect the Threshold from invaders using burrowing tactics.
The first dragon through the breach in the mountain immediately stretches his neck out and breathes out a plume of white-hot fire. The fire blasts through the air and knocks out layer after layer of previously unseen steel wire nets draped across the air.
All of the nets were enchanted with many nasty trap spells - many of them exploding in a cloud of poison, and others suddenly growing spikes, which would have instantly killed anything that flew into it (except a dragon).
The Dragon, seeing some of the humans' frail defenses fall, gets a little cocky. Roaring out in a confident challenge, he leaps through the hole, unfurling his ginormous wings…
… and he's immediately met with a hail storm of Penetration spikes.
Fortunately, this dragon is just far enough through the hole to shove himself out at incredible speeds and dodge the next wave of incoming wave of spikes.
…Unfortunately, his brother is squeezed tight in the hole right behind him – completely unable to move.
Dragons usually fight alone, so the blue dragon wasn't thinking about his brother right behind him, who had his vision obscured by the big scaley butt in front of him.
The moment the green dragon (Keema) dodges to the side, the blue dragon is met with a face full of metal spikes - 2 of which impale him in the eyes, and the rest poking out of his cheeks.
Roaring in rage, the blue dragon shoots out from the hole. Even though he's completely blind right now, his rage has made him more powerful.
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All the way back at the commander's office, Fisco is watching the second dragon squeeze through the breach, and he barks out another order, "Switch to the spread-fire bolts again and focus on the hole. NOW!"
Within seconds, thousands of cannons all turn towards the hole and start furiously pounding the hole with so much firepower that even the dragons would feel the heat from the strikes.
This happens just in time for the blue dragon to dodge, and the thick stream of Hawk Clansmen to fly through the hole after them.
Over 3,000 of the Hawks die before the green dragon loops back around and covers the hole with his body in order to provide protection for his allies.
"Don't let that dragon protect the hole!" Fisco urgently orders. "All the cannons of the lower wall, switch to penetration spikes, and focus on the green dragon!"
Unfortunately, once the enraged blue dragon hears what his brother is doing after the lad shouts at him, he makes a quick burst of speed, and he rests himself over the green dragon as he clings to the mountain wall and crouches over the hole.
With both dragons crouched on top of each other as they protect the breach, they both add their shielding magic on top of each other. Hence, Fisco watches as all the Penetration bolts bounce off harmlessly from the blue dragon's thick scales.
Commander Fisco clicks his tongue and watches as the cavern fills up with flying Hawks, since their entry into the cavern is unhindered, now that the dragons are both protecting the breech.
"Well," he mutters to himself, "I guess this is where the battle really starts for us."
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Haalfrin is hobbling through the underground halls…, and he's thoroughly lost. He can almost smell the Death Aura up above, and he's itching to join the battle up top.
Normally, he'd just smash through the walls, but they're all Time locked. Arg. Plus, these stupid corridors are very maze-like (by design.)
So, he decides to try something that worked last time; he tries releasing his Wills and having them find the exit for him.
…He waits for a bit, but he receives no response from the Wills.
"!!!"
What Haalfrin doesn't know is that little Frey had used her Reh Name to convince his Wills to not help him run about when he should be resting in bed. Feeling a strong, intimidating pressure from her, they all complied with her wish.
With nobody to help him find the way out of these maze-like halls, he's left to wander pointlessly around.
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While Haalfrin is running about, a troop of elite Hawk soldiers run through the fortress, and they're expertly ripping apart any enchanted traps in the hallways...
Their expertise in destroying enchantments isn't always helpful, since many of the traps are purely mechanical. Hence, they're still facing losses from the natural defenses in the hallways.
Even still, this troupe has trained well for this mission, and casualties are minimal – minimal in comparison to what they reasonably should be, anyway.
As for their mission, they were tasked with finding the dragon slayer and killing him while he's still crippled. They've even memorized the route down to the medical clinic!
After weaving their way through the hallways, the dozen or so of them that are left come upon the clinic, and they knock the door down.
Marching in, they see dozens of rows of sick beds and 5 startled, harmless-looking physicians. The head doctor looks at the Hawks and says while wagging her finger, "Oi! These people are sleeping. Please keep it down."
The Hawk captain picks up the young-looking woman and lifts her clean off the ground. "The dragon slayer! Where is he?"
The woman immediately kicks the Hawk in the balls, and the Rehkin man goes pale in the face.
While he's momentarily stunned, Doctor Balri curls her fist and punches him in the throat. The Hawk bites his tongue through the pain, but he still holds onto her by the neck.
Just before her neck snaps, one of the patients sits up and throws a knife at the Hawk.
As the Hawk dodges, the doctor catches the dagger out of midair and stabs the Hawk in the neck while the Hawk was turned towards the patient. "I said SHUT UP!" she shrieks.
The Hawks all charge at the patients, and all the doctors reach for their weapons hidden in their large coats. You'd think these many pocketed coats are filled with surgical tools or something, but they all manage to slip a weapon or two in there.
Everybody in the Threshold is trained for combat, so it isn't all that surprising to see nurses and doctors pick up weapons. Part of a doctor's job here is to defend their patients, after all.
The Hawks are no slouchers either, and within moments, they all whip out their short spears, and they leap into battle.
On one hand, we see one of the Hawks transform his head into the bird form and head-butt one of the patients - impaling his sharp beak through his eye and blinding him on one side. The only reason the sharp beak didn't go through his brain is because Threshold soldiers are always trained to put their protective spells over their brain first, then their heart.
On the hand, we see several of the patients surround another Hawk and stab him multiple times, while some of the weaker patients have their spirits yanked out of their bodies - killing them instantly
It's pure chaos.
Even though the Hawks are winning the brawl, the Hawk's sub-captain yells out, "Retreat! Go to the next room! The dragon slayer isn't in here right now!"
Right when the Hawks exit the room, they're greeted by a platoon of Threshold soldiers with shields and fiery spears surrounding them on both sides of the hallway.
The doctors and patients see this and realize that the Hawks will probably try to take refuge in their room and use the choke point to their advantage. So, they leap at the Hawks with renewed vigor, trying everything they can to push the invaders out of the room.
After moments of being assaulted from all sides, the remaining Hawks pull out spirit stone bottles at their waists and uncork them. A Torrent of angry spirits spill out and fly towards the soldiers.
In turn, the Threshold soldiers all pull out silver swords from their hips and start slashing at the spirits, cutting them badly and removing them from combat.