{{Author note: Chapter 288 has been remade.}}(Shit! The hell is going on?!) – thought Porai as she was using her bird golem to fly through the skies... While noticing more and more rising clouds of smoke in the distance.
(Are we getting freaking invaded?!)
(Did the wyverns gotten here some.... No.)
(If the flock of them had gotten here, I would had seen from the distance already their freaking swarm.) – thought Porai as her golem flew further away from the dungeon in order for the woman to obtain better vision.
"..."
(Should I go and check it out myself?)
(No, something is still isn’t right.)
(Why is there so many sources of a smoke in the distance?)
(It is nowhere near our location... But still...)
"..."
(Some wyverns that broke off from the flock?)
(Maybe that is it?)
(Still... Something doesn’t make sense.)
(The alarm golem.)
(A special golem that would releases 3 type of signals.)
(The released signal would travel between the golems, bouncing off, before then arriving at receiver in the dungeon, where Thauma would be able read the signal.)
[Signal levels.]
[Level 1 – Small Incident.]
[Level 2 – Big incident.]
[Level 3 – Attack.]
(Still, something isn’t right.)
(The alarm came and there are already several smokes?) – thought Porai as her golem traversed the skies at the incredible speed, aiming to reach at least one of the sites that got.
(This guy that I’m using, the Sky Hawk, it is a golem that cannot really operate for long term, but it can quickly traverse the skies while not making too much noise.)
(I should be able to somewhat reach at least something and not waste freaking days of going back and forth.)
(...Still... Something isn’t right.) – thought Porai as she slowed down her golem and used its enchanted vision to take a closer look at the situation below her... Noticing the golems moving... And nothing else.
(Are the wyverns really here?) – thought Porai as for hours her flying golem traversed the skies... So far, she didn’t encountered any wyverns... However, as her golem was slowly approaching one of the villages that were emitting the spoke-
"?!" – she saw it.
(THE HELL?!) - as Porai golem flew in the sky, the destroyed village that her golem was close to suddenly exploded, catching the woman’s attention instantly.
(Where?!) – thought Porai as she looked around with her golem... But she couldn’t find wyvern anywhere.
(...Are they at the village?) – thought Porai as she ordered her flying golem to fly towards the burning village.
The golem flew closer and closer to the smoke... But still, no wyverns were in sight.
And then, the hawk golem arrived at the village that was once destroyed by the golems.
The whole settlement was burning.
(Magic.) – thought Porai as she used the revealed a hidden middle eye on her hawk, which had magic detection function that allowed the woman to see through the eyes of her golem as the magic was present in the whole area.
(But... Where are the wyverns?) – thought Porai as she looked around, noticed several destroyed golems... But not all of them, as for example the heavily damaged knight golem tried standing up.
"..."
(Wait... It isn’t here?!) – thought Porai as she realized that the wyvern was nowhere.
Not in the skies.
Not in the cloud of dust.
Nor even on the ground.
The wyvern was nowhere to be seen.
(What the hell is going on?) – thought Porai in panic mode as she had her golem take into the skies once again, scouting the area around... But still not finding anything.
"..."
"Fuck." – said Porai to herself.
(It wasn’t a wyvern that did that!)
(If that is the case, then there could be only one explanation here.)
(SOMEBODY DID THAT!) – thought panicking Porai.
"THAUMA!" – shouted Porai on top of her lungs... Before moments later a humanoid golem with several eyes, the messenger golem appeared,
"Listen to me! Somebody is attacking your land!" – said Porai as she recognized the golem and knew Thauma was watching through it.
"Not some monsters, SOMEBODY! People!"
"?!"
(People?!) – thought alarmed Thauma as it began controlling the humanoid golem, having it take out the notebook and pen.
{"How many enemies?"}
"I don’t know... I only see smoke and traces of magic."
"There is no doubt about it. Somebody may had planted some kind of explosions or unleashed long range attack that blew up the village." – said Porai while using her golem to continued looking around.
(But something isn’t right. We finished the upgrade in detection... And yet... Something like this is happening?!)
(How?!)
(Normally...)
"..."
"Thauma."
"The enemy is aware that your golems have obtained a detection type ability."
{"But we haven’t fought anybody for real since we installed it."}
"I know! But that is the only logical explanation here!"
(SHIT! IT IS DEVELOPING TOO QUICK!) – thought Porai as she tried inspecting the village bit more... But couldn’t find anything.
"..."
"Thauma."
"The enemy is hiding somehow."
"And they are aiming to avoid the detection."
"Order your golems to conduct the search."
{"Understood."} – written Thauma as it instantly cut off the communication and got ready to start relaying the signal to its golems.
(Fuck! How the hell....)
(...No.)
(Focus.)
(Whoever is doing that, they know what they are doing.) – thought Porai as she continued using her flying golem for hours, slowly reaching another village... Which was also covered in flames.
"..."
"..."
(Motherfuckers.)
(WHY THERE ARE NO TRACES OF FIGTHING?!)
(By now I should had seen some kind of golems remains here and there... But the fields are empty!)
(Nothing on the roads... Or even....)
"..."
(What the hell is going on?) – thought Porai as the night was about to come and the golem arrived at one of the villages and began inspecting it.
"..."
"Tch! The hell is this?!" - said Porai as she finished her basic investigation of the village as the night swallowed the skies.
(THERE IS NOTHING!)
(Still... The hell is this damage?)
(Everything looks destroyed... But less by explosion and more by fire.) – thought Porai as she noticed the humanoid golem near her acting up.
"Thauma, you there?" – asked Porai as the golem nodded its head in response.
"Did you gotten anything yet?" – asked Porai, but the golem shook its head.
"..."
"Okay. This is alarming."
(There is damage. There is destruction.)
(It is not wyverns, but 100% a human doing.)
(But why is there nothing?!)
"Thauma. Could you order your golems to inspect the villages under your control?"
"Somebody is targeting them for some reason."
"There could be a chance that there maybe more explosives set up or something like that as well." – said Porai as she continued her investigation with golem once again.
"..."
(What is the plan here?)
(Is the enemy just sabotaging... No. This ain’t sabotage.)
(There are still some surviving golems after the attacks.)
(If the enemy aimed at reducing numbers of the golems, they would go quickly for the finisher... And yet they didn’t.)
(So what the hell is their goal?)
"..."
(Do they know I’m here?)
(That is more important question.)
Panic.
Porai was panicking.
The attack was way too sudden, not only that, too much stuff is going on all at once.
Who is attacking?
How are they attacking?
What did they used for their attacks?
Why I couldn’t find any conflict?
Where are the enemies?
How are they avoiding detection?
How much do they know about us?
Porai’s head was filled with countless questions, but no answers.
Simple put, she was experiencing a sudden "chaos" out of nowhere inside of her own head.
...
But even so, she tried to stay in control of herself.
"Why are they not attacking openly? That is the question."
(What is their fighting style. Hide and run?)
(How many enemies are we talking here about?)
(Enemy is fighting in some pattern, but which one....)
(Is this some kind of scheme? To make it look like empire did that?)
(It would maybe explain somethings... But we can’t be sure of that yet.)
"Thauma. Please bring me my communication set up here. I need to make a call."
"Now!" – said Porai as she shouted at the humanoid golem.
(The timing... Timing, timing, timing....)
(Something isn’t right.)
(Is this by any chance doing of some kingdom?)
(But it would make things way too obvious.)
"..."
"..."
"No."
"Fuck."
(It would make things obvious... But if you think about it, if you REALLY think about it.)
"..."
(Yeah... There is good chance that enemy have information about us.)
(And if that is the case, they may know the "value" of the dungeon.)
(...And if they really do know this... Them they realize the danger of having that thing around.)
(Somebody is aiming for the dungeon!?)
(But how they are going to do is?)
(A full frontal assault? Maybe the explosions were distraction?)
(Were all locations blown up?)
(Fuck! Is the only way to find out is to inspect each village that got attacked?)
(No! Think back!)
(What was about those villages that I’ve checked so far?!)
(What did they all had in common?!)
"..."
"..."
"..."
"!"
"Fire."
(Most of the damage wasn’t caused by the explosion, but instead by fire.)
(And that fire was weirdly strong and powerful... To the point it was way too....)
"Noticeable?"
"..."
(The enemy wanted us to find that fire?!)
Chapter 289: – Sudden attack?
8 min read