Peter quit paying as much attention to his dungeon. The next few floors would fall almost as fast as the enemies could move. There would only be a small number of defenders and a litany of traps on the next 3 floors. Merlin and his subordinates had armed them as the defenders retreated. The traps were likely not strong enough to kill A tiers, even most B tiers would survive a direct hit or two, but they would slow the hordes as well as killing or wounding thousands of insects.
Merlin and the other causality wizards were only able to keep barely ahead as the insects pushed on. It was a graceful game of leap frog as mages set traps then retreated past other mages that were still setting the next successive traps. They had of course trained for this, so things proceeded smoothly.
Peter’s focus had shifted to his own assault force any moment they would burst through a dungeon entrance and a new screen would populate to show the battle. Peter’s target was the Katydid. The leaf-like bug core was providing tons of air forces for multiple attacks as well as half the alternate realm forces on all fronts. Plus Peter thought it would be one of the easiest to take down.
Beasts burst through the entrance only half a minute after Peter had given the official order using the replicator book. It was a large open room, which was a bit unexpected. Most insect cores liked to keep things nice and confined in their dungeons, but this floor was just rolling hills and wide open air. Of course thousands of green units took off as soon as it became clear they were attacking the katydid core. The ground was covered with beetles… thousands of beetles of all tiers.
Krista led hundreds of archangels through and they instantly honed in on the now thousands of flying insects preparing to receive them. The insect core had clearly not expected to be attacked. The units were slow to get ready, but the shock did not last. Soon tens of green balls of energy were launched from the opposing side. When they landed they exploded outwards. They were basically acid because they ate away from any flesh they came into contact with. Other beasts struggled despite only being close to the impact zones. It took a minute for Peter to get a good enough angle to see what was happening.
There were literal dung beetles forming balls of refuse out of the air before they set them down. A moment later green humanoids with ladybug like wings set them alight with green energy before launching them down the hill and off an adjustable ramp, sending them arcing through the air. Inelegant but it was proving effective. They did not make it through to Peter’s forces for long.
Soon greenish black streams were pulled from hundreds of already dead beetle and katydid bodies to concentrated points in the seemingly empty air. Seconds later much of the blood was diverted to form magic barriers or even dirty turquoise roses that were then sent streaking forward. Peter used one of his personal screens to focus on the sanguine rose fairy S tier. The fairy was cackling maniacally as new streams of bug goo streaked into her. Her hair matched the greenish black liquid as did her energy, or the glow of her eyes. She looked like she was having the time of her life. They all were.
It was a pretty good match. The beasts pushed forward into the beetles, generally killing more than they lost. It gave the fairies the resources they needed to defend their entire force from the ranged attacks, as well as the ammunition to throw their own rose darts out. It had taken a moment for the beasts to kill enough to get things going, but now it was running smoothly. Boris pulled up multiple screens being recommended to him. Some of the beetles who were not yet dead but only wounded had their own blood…well goo being pulled from them. The S tier fairy drained an unfortunate C tier beetle in a matter of seconds through a smashed section in its carapace. Then she targeted a B tier of the same type. The flow still came, but it looked like it was more contested.
“Damn, if I had known about this I would have had Gearhead design something that could wound hundreds of enemies all at once from a distance. Then the fairies could just suck them dry,” Peter posed. Boris reliably jotted it down as something to look into.
But after a while it became clear, there were some limits to the ability. The closer the sanguine fairies were to a victim, the easier it was to draw in the blood. This applied for both dead bodies and those who were merely wounded. It meant the fairies would have to remain close to the battlefront. Not necessarily a terrible thing. Over the course of the five minutes of battle not a single fairy had fallen so far.
Their attacks however had no such limit. The dirty roses of energy could be launched at anything within sight. When they hit a living target, the roses caused some sort of poisoning effect as all the energy channeled through the stem and point of impact into the target. If they hit something else like the stone or equipment, the energy seemingly dissipated, but after careful study nearby enemies were still affected to a lesser degree.
However the attacks were just a bonus. It was the rolling barrier of mage shields and blood siphoning abilities that made the fairy a great unit. This was an excellent dayview for them. The Katydid’s first floor was falling rapidly despite the ten thousand plus defenders. Krista and her archangels were taking minimal losses as they worked together against ten times their number.
The beetle ground forces were tough, extremely so, They were not quite as mobile. Their movements were predictable, but they had hard armor shells and were strong. On a one on one basis Peter’s beasts were weaker assuming they were of the same tier. If not for the fairies his assault force might have had difficulty pushing through so many. The berserker ape was going absolutely wild, but there were dozens of enemies in the A or B tier. The berserker ape only had its own one offs, and the S tier spirit guardian and its one offs for support. Peter had prestaged a dozen bodies for the S tier in no man’s land, and positioned it so that he could send it to aid on any front. A few of the extra bodies were even brought in, and would be taken forward as the assault force advanced.
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The counter came before Peter had fully taken the floor. The final touches of the teleportation mages were in work, and the nightmarish creation was already in place. It had lost its turquoise skull due to its last death, so was eager to gain some new additions. Peter had just not expected it to occur so soon.
Both sides of a conflict could not send units through an entrance at the same time. There was something like a few seconds that had to occur in between. Apparently the bugs had continually tested the entrance until a large enough gap occurred. Now they had wrested control before the second half of the army could make it through. His security force set to hold the entrance was close to full strength, so things were not without hope. He had expected the insects to hit hard as soon as they could so at least he had been preparing for this despite not expecting it quite yet.
However his army had been cut in half, and the insects would not likely give the ability to enter the entrance anytime soon. It was a critical mistake. The teleportation ruin creators scrambled even quicker. Each mage had a designated section and had practiced hundreds of times, so it should not take much longer. They could normally finish their task in under ten minutes, and had already been at work for about that long.
Peter quickly sent a runner to the tenth floor teleportation ruin. The unit would move to the sixth floor and pass the message along. There were already units standing by to move over, but they would need more now… a lot more.
Luckily, the katydid units and the new insect reinforcements had more to worry about then a handful of mages a good way off to the side of the entrance. The ruin was completed and the mages on his sixth floor instantly saw the connection. In half a minute the first wave of reinforcements would be sent over.
The Abyssal crystal construct immediately rolled off after arrival into its set place at the front of the dungeon’s entrance. It could not be positioned on the entrance platform, which would have allowed it to stop the reinforcements entirely, but its spines could extend pretty far out over the platform, skirting the rules. Many unit’s momentum caused them to be impaled anyways. Others were forced to the sides, where even more B tier abyssal crystal constructs started to roll into place. The nightmarish creations shifted to supporting them and holding any gaps. The platform was encircled in under three minutes. Many insects had made it through, but not enough to endanger his forces yet.
Levels of insects started building as those coming from behind climbed on top of others, even as more were pushed into the spines due to the back pressure caused by a steady horde of incoming insects. This resulted in them reaching even higher spines. Hundreds of C tier mages launched fire through the gaps to burn the mass of insects. If they killed enough, the dungeon should aid to an extent, breaking down bodies to keep them from piling up. It was the only reason there weren't piles of bodies everywhere during these mass battles.
Still half the flying insects were able to bank up missing the blockade entirely. Others were able to climb out and then along the wall although the constricted space prevented too many from doing this. Then there were the more nimble insects which worked themselves in between the shifting spines, forcing the construct’s tentacles to try and stop them. It was far from a perfect blockade, but it had stemmed the flow of the reinforcements…
One section burst backwards as a construct and several nightmarish creations fell to a single springtail A tier. The long gray armored insect had a corrosive effect that was also killing many of its own allies, but none seemed to mind. As one they continued to challenge the other sections of the blockade as well as to pour through the new hole. The springtail fought on killing a second B tier construct with a focused green beam. The insect would have continued to rampage if it did not find a 30 foot spine piercing through the armor just behind the head plate.
It cost a lot of energy, but the SS tier could launch the spines like a dart. The springtail was not dead but severely wounded and hampered by its new 30 foot long piercing; it had difficulty taking on several B tier dragons that closed in to finish it off. In moments the containment section was reformed, the hundreds of insects that had poured through during the breach were left for others to deal with. The teleportation ruins flared again, delivering the sixth and final run of abyssal crystal constructs that soon rolled forward to help.
The insects continued to be fenced in despite a different A tier with the right capability creating a breach every half minute or so. Each time normally required the SS tier construct to aid with launched spines. Peter watched as its stamina or energy bar depleted. At this rate, the blockade would not last overly long. The insects were simply endless. How many A and B tiers were they expending?
The general assault force could not help. Neither could the elites fighting them flow back to aid the entrance. The katydid core had also decided to throw everything it had from the other direction. The collapsing star fiend had immediately honed in on the targets that would be easier for it to reach. It had maybe regained maybe a quarter of its plasma, but luckily was quite fierce with just its physical prowess. It had left the entrance for the thousands of high tier insects out in the open.
Another teleportation run completed. This time it was 9 A tier dragons freshly summoned for this battle. They immediately leapt into action. Peter would have liked to send them to help relieve pressure with their flames at the entrance, but they were needed in the skies. Krista was ripping through flying insects almost as easily as she had with the demons, despite them not being vulnerable to her, but her holy power bar was dropping more quickly to indicate it was costing more to do so. The next few runs of dragons would be required to aid her as well.
Peter checked on the sixth floor teleportation ruin, which they were currently using. Already a new round of dragons had climbed aboard. Hundreds of crystals were prepared to pay the mana cost since all the mages were currently in recovery. The crystals were basically like batteries. They would be drained, but would be able to be used again… Just not in time to be used again in this battle. Peter had expected to use them heavily, so he had set a lot aside for the purpose. But they were being burnt through at a prodigious rate. Still things would be worse if he lost the assault force here.
