"Then take your own path, no one here is more fit to lead than Erik."
Before anyone could say a thing, Tomás stepped forward and announced in a cold voice, his mana vibrating dangerously and his hand on the hilt of his sword. Looking at the terrifying expert of the young generation ready for a fight, the young man from the Boreal League couldn't help but open his eyes a little in surprise.
It was basic common sense that the leader should be strong and experienced, never a mere whelp barely 30 years old, no matter how talented or powerful his background might be. Something like that, someone like Tomás Arismendi, who was well-known on the frontiers, should know better than anyone. But, even so, such a powerhouse was willing to follow that whelp, and from what he could see, he did so sincerely, something that inevitably left him silent and pensive.
Seeing the silent young man, Tomás let out a subtle snort and swept his gaze over the more than hundred young people present. Soon, he added with a voice that resonated in the place while igniting his mana to the maximum, unleashing all his power without reservation.
"This group got to where it is thanks to Erik Verne, and you are here also thanks to him. So, if anyone is thinking of questioning his authority, they'll have to face the consequences. We rescue the corpses of over a hundred geniuses from across the galaxy; a few more won't make much difference."
Tomás's warning caused a sepulchral silence to fill the place, at which point Erik turned to look at him and nodded calmly. After Tomás took a step back, Erik looked at the solemn young people and asked in a quiet voice.
"Any other questions?"
…
…
…
After answering some specific questions about war groups and logistics, Erik left the auditorium with Zoe and the others, leaving behind Elara, Chen Ming, and Tomás, who stayed with three Bikereas knights to guard them with the golems. As he walked towards the shelter, Erik looked at Zoe and instructed in a calm voice.
"Zoe, I need you to start preparing the equipment, potions, and everything else necessary for the battle. Coordinate with Elara to select weapons and such according to the fighters' needs."
"Leave it in my hands." Zoe quickly nodded with a serious tone, so Erik turned to look at Ethan and commented.
"Ethan, I need you to coordinate with Chen later to deploy formations around the portal. Although we have a good defense there, it's very likely the Illuminated-levels already know about us, so we must be prepared for anything."
"I was thinking about that, but there really isn't much room for improvement over the formations already installed. It'll simply be a matter of removing the formations we used for infiltrator detection and replacing them with containment and similar ones. To deploy formations capable of dealing with Illuminated-levels we're going to need formation flags."
"We've been working on repairing the flags that were damaged fighting the Virelian; they'll be ready in about two days." Erik replied calmly, to which Ethan nodded satisfied before speaking.
"Perfect, then I'll adjust the plans a bit and have a work scheme ready for when Chen finishes with the registrations."
"Good." Erik nodded, satisfied, and then looked at the tired Frank and Christine, who had been creating magical artifacts non-stop with him lately.
"You two can rest for now; tomorrow we'll continue working on the artifacts to send with the golems on the front lines."
"Understood." Christine and Frank replied with subdued voices, at which point Erik turned to look at the Bikereas alchemy apprentice who had come with them and commented in a calm tone.
"Paul, you come with me; today we'll focus on creating potions."
"Understood!" The young man responded seriously, at which point Zoe looked at Erik and commented in a worried voice.
"You should rest, Erik. You've been working non-stop for days and barely sleeping."
"When we get out of here, I can rest all I want. Now I have to work; we have to get out of here as soon as possible." Erik shook his head and commented in a serious tone, then looked at the wolves at his sides and ordered.
"Tiberius, you'll be in charge of bringing the golems with the gas lamp. We need to accumulate more."
The wolf barked affirmatively, so Erik nodded while extending his hand into the air. Soon, the gas lamp came flying out from the giant metal squares, landing softly in Erik's hand, who quickly put it in Tiberius's muzzle while looking at the others.
"Half of you will rest, and the other half will take the golems that Tiberius brings and organize them in formation. The core can't handle the maximum activation state of all the golems for long, so I need you to organize them in the formations we've decided on to maximize their power."
""Understood!!""
The others replied with seriousness, so Erik headed towards the shelter with Paul and Kaiser under Zoe's worried gaze, while the others split up to perform their tasks. After a few seconds, Zoe let out a heavy sigh and followed him to start organizing all the artifacts in the shelter.
…
…
…
"Is everything ready?"
A couple of weeks later, standing on a floating Myst platform, Erik looked at Elara to his left and asked in a serious tone. The beautiful blonde nodded seriously and replied solemnly, her gaze fixed on different holographic screens in front of her.
"All set. The 75 young people who joined the attack group are fully armed and ready; Tomás leads them and is awaiting orders. Meanwhile, Paul is in charge of the logistics team, and they are already on guard and prepared. Also, the box with the prisoners is already on the upper floors surrounded by golems and formations."
Erik nodded calmly, then looked at Chen and Ethan to the left of Elara, who were also reviewing holographic screens, and asked seriously,
"Are the formations working correctly?"
"Fully operational; they should give us good odds against Illuminated-levels." Chen quickly replied seriously, to which Ethan added, his gaze focused on one of the holographic screens.
"We're also fully synchronized with the artifacts that Disciple Taylor is operating for joint deployment in case of an emergency."
"The containment barriers and the experimental plasma cannons are also at 100% and ready to be activated." Christine soon added, standing near Ethan. Erik nodded and then looked at Zoe to his right, who was also reviewing holographic screens, and asked.
"The golems and the Combat Probes?"
"Ready." Zoe replied seriously, so Erik turned to look at Frank beside Elara and asked.
"The communication systems?"
"Fully operational. The different antennas are already installed near the anthill entrance in case of any problems and are working without issues." Frank replied in a serious tone, wearing a kind of metallic earpiece in his right ear and also looking at holographic screens.
"Perfect, then the time has come to leave this place."
Erik commented in a serious tone, then took a deep breath as the giant core floating above him in a Myst barrier moved closer to be in front of him. At the same time, the ancient gas lamp also floating above him began to fly towards the giant metal box surrounding the portal.
At that moment, the Myst barrier surrounding the core opened a hole for Erik to put his hand in and place it on the core. Soon after, a holographic screen with a confusing and visibly damaged map appeared over the core.
"The portal can be activated at any moment; perform a final check."
Erik announced in a serious tone while looking at the fortress they had built and now remodeled. Now the metal fortress was no longer a single unit; instead, different giant metal boxes could be seen in various parts of the anthill's enormous square hall.
Inside these metal boxes now, besides functioning as "houses," there was also an infirmary, an armory, and more, as among the young people they had found some Alchemists and Artificers who helped create weapons and improve the entire defensive setup.
Meanwhile, the metal cube surrounding the portal had changed greatly; it was now several times larger, as it was like an onion, composed of several layers of metal walls filled with rune arrays to enhance their resistance. At the same time, huge futuristic-looking turrets with runes carved all over their surface could be seen around it, all pointing at the box.
These turrets were actually a poor imitation of the turrets normally found on spaceships, something Erik had learned to make by reading the books on the space station and had reproduced with what he had on hand. Although they were much worse than the real ones.
But, even though they were worse than real turrets, they had also used the best materials he had in his shelter, so an Illuminated-level wouldn't come out unscathed if hit fully. The only problem was that they couldn't fire more than a few times.
…
After reviewing the entire "camp," especially the exit towards the dark passage, where there was a metal box without runes on the outside, Erik took a deep breath as everyone gave a new announcement that everything was functioning correctly. Once the announcements ended, Erik looked at Zoe, Ethan, and Chen and ordered with seriousness.
"Zoe, start moving the Combat Probes. We'll proceed according to plan; we start with the grenades, and then the golems enter. Meanwhile, Ethan and Chen will try to deploy formations on the other side."
"Understood."
Zoe replied seriously and began operating the holographic screens, at which point Erik ordered the golems to activate fully and begin advancing to the central box.
From the depths of the colossal hall, where thousands of perfectly formed golems could be seen, the first two rows lit up completely and began advancing agilely towards the central metal box. When the golems arrived in front of the box, Erik announced with a serious expression, looking directly at the holographic screen in front of him.
"Opening the portal! Act quickly!"
With Erik's words, Christine and Zoe sharpened their gazes and concentrated on the images on their respective holographic screens. On Christine's screen, they could see the interior of the center of the giant metal box, where the portal's fire began to fluctuate, while turrets in the corners of the huge box came to life, pointing directly at the portal.
At the same time, dozens of black and silver metallic spheres flew to form an orderly formation in front of the portal, which soon took the shape of a door. But the instant the portal formed, dark figures jumped from the other side as if they had been waiting, which caused Christine's eyes to sharpen. She quickly began manipulating her holographic screens full of controls, something Chen and Ethan also did.
The trio's quick reaction caused a rain of physical and plasma bullets to greet the group of dark figures while the black and silver spheres rushed at full speed towards the portal. But at that moment, Erik, Elara opened her eyes with disbelief and announced aloud.
"They're not just hunters!!!"
Along with Elara's words, everyone could see on the screens that it was indeed 4 hunters carrying bound young people. The group of people landed lifeless on the ground, full of holes. While everyone bit their lips full of anger, Erik, with a cold expression, announced aloud.
"Do not hesitate; shoot anything that comes through and begin deploying formations. I'm going to send in the golems."
Upon hearing it, everyone turned to look at him seriously, while Erik simply looked at Zoe's holographic screens, where real-time images from the other side could be seen, but these quickly lost signal, most likely destroyed. But those scarce images allowed Erik to get an idea of what had happened.
On the other side of the portal, there were at least 50 hunters who had about 20 young people from different factions as hostages, though knowing if they were alive or dead seemed impossible, as they all appeared unconscious. Knowing that could affect morale, Erik briefly commented in a serious voice.
"Until now the hunters have never taken hostages, so those young people could well be dead, and they're using them to make us hesitate. After all, my Mystic Awareness can't cross the portal. And even if they were alive, if they discover that hostages are useful, it won't just be 20 lives; the over 150 here will be finished. Remember, they don't want to capture us; they want to kill us and use us as ingredients for some ritual. No matter what happens, we cannot lose.
"Even so, I'll make a small change of plans; hold off on the grenades for now. I'm going to send the golems to try to overwhelm them. 50 hunters are far fewer than we expected, so there might be a chance to rescue them, or at least recover their bodies without much damage. But don't get your hopes up; it could be a trap."
Upon hearing Erik, Elara let out a long, heavy sigh, then sharpened her gaze and commented in a serious and determined tone while watching the golems run into the portal at full speed.
"You're right, Erik; let's not waver. Let's go all out; we've already done everything we could by rescuing over 150 people. Now we have to focus on surviving!"
***
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