"Any progress?""We"re still learning, if that"s what you"re talking about.. You"re free to round up some more of the villagers and sent them towards it, if you think that"ll help anything."
Head research mage Tomas had head of the effects the sphere"s had on their surroundings from advance reports as he traveled from the Empire to a small village called White Lagoon in the middle of the great sea, but he didn"t believe it before he saw. Still even a few months into his investigation of the anomaly Tomas was doubtful in the sphere"s existence, that"s how far it was outside norm it was. The black sphere floating about 10 meters above the ground had an estimated diameter of at least 150 meters, but for what was inside Tomas had no idea. Before even attempting to crack open the sphere approaching it had proved extremely difficult, the object had some sort of nullifying effect on gravity that Tomas judged to be why it was floating, but that very effect could also be used to aggressively increase gravity and crush anything that got too close to it as a defensive mechanism. It was Tomas" a.s.sistance was the one that had discovered that, after overcoming the sphere"s initial propulsive force he had gotten closer to the alien object than any other researcher of the Empire, perhaps that"s why he didn"t hear that strange buzzing sound coming from the sphere when he did, or perhaps he was simply driven by greed.
In the end Tomas never got to ask him those questions, because suddenly the sphere seemed to lash out, with the very force that levitated it it somehow managed to target the greedy a.s.sistant with a polar force.
"I could do that, but then we would simply have another uprising on our hands… Besides, even if we tried that I don"t think anyone would walk towards that thing, even if we forced them."
As the leader of the military force, marquess Leonhart, foresaw what effects such an action would have as he glanced towards the sphere and the multiple small b.a.l.l.s of compacted flesh that floated in its influence, the innermost being what remains of the former research a.s.sistant.
"As always you make stunning observations marquess Leonhart. I"m working on a countermeasure to the sphere"s defenses, it will be ready sometime next week."
"Next week... "
"Is that a problem?"
Picking up on Leonhart"s deep thoughts Tomas wondered if the muslebrain in front of him underestimated the ma.s.sive his own ma.s.sive achievement and felt rage build up inside himself, but managed to hide it behind a smile.
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"No it"s just been awhile since we shot down any of those flying golems so I was going to request reinforcements in antic.i.p.ation of an attack, but if you"re done next week then that"s unnecessary… I will leave you to it."
Leaving Tomas with those words marquess Leonhart turned on his heal as he continued his morning walk, the next destination being the village he had put under his control. The village referred to by the locals as "White Lagoon" was about a kilometer away from the sphere on the same atoll that had an unusually white bottomed lagoon, hence the village"s name. It consisted of some 50 buildings made from palmwood and clay, with the population being a simually premitive group of demihuman called merkin. Marquess Leonhart weren"t looking down on the merkin when he thought of them as primitive, in fact it he felt it was a compliment to the strength of their endurance and tenacity that they could live so spartan lifestyles.
Merkin are more commonly known as mermaids are excellent swimmers and divers that form semi organized village communities throughout the great sea. As they are excellent fishers and harpoon divers merkin don"t rely on agriculture or pisciculture and live a relatively simple hunter gatherer lifestyles having limited trading with outsiders for ironworks that they buy with pearls and other treasures of the sea. As warriors of the sea they are completely unmatched, and even on land they can make use of their extreme strength and reflexes to make truly fierce fighters.
"How has the night s.h.i.+ft been?"
"Sir! Commander Leonhart sir, no issues with the hostages."
How Leonhart had managed to restrain such a people was as simple as it was dishonorable. To make sure he and his soldiers were fed without issue while the merkin didn"t try and call for help from other sides was simple, he took hostages. Holding a knife to the women and children around the clock proved a powerful motivator for the remaining merkin, but Leonhart"s own honor kept it from going too far. No hostages were to be harmed and food was always split equally and anyone breaking those rules would be executed on the spot, no matter who they were, hence the high amount of "flesh b.a.l.l.s" around the sphere. After getting his own soldiers under control and treating the merkin with respect and pride Leonhart had somehow maintained a cold war between the captors and the captives, and in a few weeks it would finally be over.
"Good, remain on alert. Even though this mission might soon be over we need to stay sharp, and remember to treat the hostages with care."
"Sir, yes sir!"
Next stop on his morning walk was checking in with each of the 8 observation towers that were built around the atoll to keep watch of the surrounding sea. Having checked the first 6 that all reported no problems he reached the 7th post, where one of the guards immediately approached him.
"Reporting, sir!"
"Go ahead."
"Sir, yes sir! just before daybreak I managed to catch a glimpse of some sort of light about 5 kilometers out, although my partner insists I saw nothing I believe it"s still worth investigating!"
"A light? Please describe it in more detail."
"Yes sir! It was some sort of orange red flash. It only lit up for a fraction of a second and when I pointed the spotlight towards it to investigate the water that"s usually dead still at that time of night was disturbed."
Taking a few seconds to take a good look at the soldier in front of him, commander Leonhart judged that it was not something he had seen due to a lack of sleep or being overly excited.
"That is troubling news indeed…. Okay we"re going on high alert, expect an attack at any moment."
Quickly making what he believed to be a sound decision Leonhart took out a crystal and channeled mana into it, after a few seconds the crystal started glowing bright red, it turned so did all other linked crystals and started quietly signaling high alert.
"Maintain your post here, I"ll go b"
Cutting his own words short Leonhart leaped for cover as something hit the guard tower about 10 meters in front of him and blew it up, at the exact same time around the atoll the 7 other observation towers were hit in a precision strike that effectively blinded the Empire soldiers.
"Are you okay!? Get on your feet soldier!"
Having recovered from the shockwave faster than the soldier that was right next to him Leonhart shouted into his face until he started focusing.
"WE"RE MOVING TO THE VILLAGE NOW!"
At the same time as Leonhart and the soldiers retreated to the village countless figures emerged from the water all over the atoll in teams of 4.
[BEACHHEADS SECURE, COMMAND ADVANCING, LANDING ELEMENT ADVANCING.]