Micchi Versus the New World - Chapter 131

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Chapter 131

We watched as six airships sailed in from a distance. The flagship leading the way was almost three times the size of a regular airship. It flew banners off the hull of multiple kingdoms that were part of the UKD alliance. Flanking me was an army of soldiers waiting to receive them. Kawa, too, who was eager to see Loraine again after so long.

They landed in a triangular-shape formation. When the magical barriers of each ship dropped, passengers immediately began to unload cargo.

A heavy door in the hull popped open. Prince Kain emerged first, then Commander Rugal who gave a hand to help Loraine down. They beamed as soon as they saw us.

"Everyone knows their station. Start helping them unload!" Pino ordered.

The flood of soldiers moved forward to help the new arrivals. Kaoru headed for one of the airships that mostly flew Jinwa flags. Looking up at the deck, I could see why. Theo and Yonnu were waving to her from above. Meanwhile, the VIPs came to us. I couldn't hold Kawa's collar for long. She broke free and rushed up to Loraine for hugs and pets.

"You're in some new digs." I grinned at Kain and traded nods with Rugal.

The Prince of Scoth donned a fresh set of shining platinum armor. A blue sash crossed from one shoulder to the other. He pulled the lion head helmet off and clasped my hand.

"They belonged to Father. He said it was about time I wore it. I see you have been hard at work on an outpost, and Legion-Commander Pino… that looks like a nasty bruise," Kain remarked, wincing as he pointed to his cheek.

"It… hurts a lot more than it looks." Pino sighed.

Kain glanced over his shoulders. Loraine was waiting patiently for her turn. He bowed out to make room, and Loraine threw herself into my arms. The moment, however, was ruined as Mildred and Ririko bickered on their way through.

"Kain, my beloved! I've been waiting— Insolent bitch! Get out of my way!" Mildred pushed her magic staff that was electrified with energy to Ririko's chest.

"Fuck you, cunt! The prince in shining armor should decide who he would like to embrace first!" Ririko breathed shards of ice poised to skewer Mildred.

"Ladies, please! We have important matters to discuss. Like the war!" Kain panicked trying to get them to calm down.

Yui vaulted over the deck of her own ship and tackled us into a group hug. Behind her, familiar guild members from Cynderace, Taiq'ae, and Ash'tar branches descended from the ship.

"Looks like the gang's all back together!" Yui exclaimed.

"Indeed." Kain nodded. "Let us return to the flagship. There is much to discuss. Micchi, will you catch us up to speed?"

Anyone who was worth a damn headed into the flagship. Kain led us to a spacious conference room with papers and maps already scattered over the table. I gave them the short about what happened, including the capture of Menagerie's leader, Lord Vermin, who I brought in a dog cage to prove it.

"We got two more before we can even think about pushing up to Chika. Two demons named Garran and Katrine who have crystals like this to open the way." I tossed the red jewel, extracted from Vermin's ring, across the table for Kain to check out.

Kain passed off the ring and folded his hands on the table. "If what your succubus friend and the imp say is true, then we have no choice but to take the fight to the Kartolan Badlands and Roila. I see two paths: we split our forces to attack both at once and hope for a swift end to the war, or bring our combined might to bear on one after another in a protracted war."

"The second option is out of the question," Jouann interjected. "Amarinth has already spared much resources. The longer our forces stay here, the greater we risk a civil war from the disgruntled lords and emirs."

"Who the fuck do you think you are? You're lucky to even be at this table," I snarled.

"Micchi, I know you may like it, but I've made Jouann Minister of Trade because he understands the situation in Amarinth far better than I do. He's right that we're struggling. The people of Kajar line up for hours at the palace to receive rations," Loraine said, squeezing my hand.

"Tch. Well, it ain't like I'm against hitting them fast and hard. If we're making a split, I wanna hit the bitch named Katrine."

"I'll go wherever Anego goes," Yui said.

"Then I'll lay siege to the Kartolan Badlands to even our strengths." Kaoru moved a marker with Jinwa's flag to the opposite end of the map.

The three of us turned to Ririko, who was in the middle of painting her nails and came to an abrupt stop.

"What? I surrendered and gave you my airships. You still want me to fight? Ugh… if I had to choose, I'd rather not be with miss frowny-face." Ririko groaned.

"Who, her?" Kaoru and I pointed to each other.

"Micchi, damn it. I choose Micchi!"

"Heh. You're miss frowny-face," I sneered at Kaoru, who rolled her eyes at me.

Kain rose from his seat. "It's settled. Commander Rugal and three airships will join Micchi and Sultana Loraine to assault Roila. Legion-Commander Pino, you will be transferring to my command with Empress Kaoru and Chieftain Breila to assault the Kartolan Badlands. Members of the guild will serve as reserve forces and provide aid where needed on their own airship."

"Prince Kain, before we're dismissed, there is the matter of our current provisions. They will only last three months at most. We'll need another three months' worth before pressing into Sathorayne," Jouann said.

"I've given the report to Frey," Oaks began as he read off from a clipboard. "Just to reiterate, our forces— rather, Boss Micchi, brutalized a giant monster not long ago and stripped it of meat that should last a month."

"Wait… you killed my macetail?" Vermin looked at me all teary-eyed.

That monster did give a lot of food…

"We can just hit Menagerie and kill Vermin's monsters for food. They're sitting in cages anyway," I said.

"N-No, don't do that! Leave my brood out of it! I beg of you!" Vermin cried as he clutched the metal bars.

"What is that, Anego? Is it a dog?" Yui poked at Vermin with her nunchuck, causing him to move to the other side.

"What the fuck part of him looks like a dog?" I glared at her.

"Regardless, we can't afford to risk moving against the other two without first neutralizing the threat Menagerie poses. Commander Rugal, Micchi, can I trust that front to you?" Kain asked.

Both of us stood up.

"Ready to bash some heads?" Micchi smirked.

"Been waiting to fight alongside you since we met." Rugal nodded with a grunt.

We mobilized a thousand troops and moved on Menagerie by foot. An airship would have been a lot faster, but no one wanted to risk our biggest assets getting shot down. By the afternoon, we parked outside of the city with the sun to our backs and an army of demons, monsters, and obelisks to greet us.

"Well, shit. Looks like we gave them time for reinforcements to come," I said while looking at the demon army through a spyglass.

Winged monstrosities soared over the city. A lot of them.

"The same is true for us. However, their numbers, at my best guess, outnumbers us six to one. Not counting whatever else might pour out of the obelisks. That isn't very good odds," Rugal explained and collapsed his spyglass to put away.

Menagerie was defended by strong walls and a big fucking dragon skeleton. They could have waited inside but chose to fight us on the field. Maybe they had bodies to spare.

"Give the order," I said.

Rugal beat his armored chest. "I want to see the whole sky crashing down on these demons. Spellcasters, siege weapons! Open fire!"

Volleys of magical spells and heavy stones from the trebuchets launched into the sky. Many of them crashed and exploded against the barrier raised by their own mages. Only a few spells made it through, scattering parts of the demon forces but barely making a dent in their numbers.

All of the flying monsters poured from a hole in the barrier and came straight for us in waves. There were so many, it was like watching the cover of night pull across the horizon.

"Did I say to stop?" Rugal shouted to his soldiers. "Let loose everything we've got! Mages fall back and focus on shooting those birdies down!"

The spells angled for the swarm now. Each explosion knocked dozens from the sky, but it hardly looked like their numbers were dropping.

"Commander, my trebuchet… the firing mechanism must be jammed!" one soldier cried.

"Yo! Anything I can do to help?" Yui casually popped in to ask.

"What the… Shouldn't you be back at base? We're kind of in the middle of a battle here!" I yelled.

She pouted. "Aww, come on. We haven't seen each other in weeks and this is how you treat me?"

I looked at the malfunctioning trebuchet and then at Yui.

"Maybe we can even the odds." I dragged Yui over to the siege weapon and placed her in the sling.

"What's this? What's this? We playing a new game?" Yui asked.

"Something like that. Cut the rope!"

"A-Are you sure, Commander?" A soldier looked worriedly at me.

"I said cut the fucking rope or you're going on the next one!" I shouted.

"At once!" The soldier climbed onto the trebuchet and brought his sword down on rope.

Yui's eyes traced the mechanism and realized too late. The arm flung her into the sky.

"Wait, I just ate— ANEGO, YOU FUCKEEEEEEEERRR!"

As Yui disappeared into the swarm of darkness, a blinding light lit up the battlefield more brightly than the sun. Lightning surged across the swarm. Hundreds of flying monsters fell from the sky, and Yui continued in an arc into the demon forces.

"Hmm. Launching soldiers instead of stones. I shall remember this," Rugal said.

"Please, don't!" nearby soldiers who heard exclaimed.

"It ain't over yet!" I cursed under my breath as still hundreds of flying monsters attacked the siege weapons, tearing many of them into unsalvageable scrap.

Even after all that, more were coming out from the obelisks. We needed to destroy them or nothing mattered.

"Rugal, leaving the rest here up to you!" I hollered over the fighting.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"To crash the party." I stormed up to the last working trebuchet, pushed off the stone, and sat on the sling. "Someone launch me!"

Two soldiers rushed up to the siege weapon amidst the chaos. Together, they lifted a hammer and struck the release block holding the sling down. I flew through the sky with wind coursing through my hair.

The last thing I heard from Rugal shout was, "On me! Onward, charge!"

A massive barrier suddenly erected over the demon army.

"You think that's gonna stop me? Bring it!" I slammed Sacchan into the barrier as I descended, breaking through and landed in the middle of the demon army.

All kinds of fearless demons and monsters surrounded me. Guess it was time to put the fear back in them.

They threw themselves at me by the butt loads. Every time I swung Sacchan, hordes of demons went flying, set on fire, or frozen in blocks of ice. I fought my way up to the largest obelisk, possibly a hundred feet in height, when a giant smelly foot stepped out first.

"Nu-uh. Back in you go!" I bashed the big toe, causing whoever it was to howl in agony and fall backwards.

Once they were inside, I hit the side of the obelisks and blew chunks off it. The portal shimmered before vanishing, and the obelisk began to sink into the ground.

"Now for the—"

"ANEGO! YOU COULDA WARNED ME FIRST!" Yui stampeded through the army, throwing demons into the air as she blasted through them to get to me. She pushed past the demons, forehead bloodied, eyes blank with rage, and electricity sparking through her body.

"Hold on, Yui. We can talk about this— Oh, shit!" I dove to the dirt.

Yui swung her nunchucks once. A wave of thunder rippled outward, shocking everything in its path and destroying the two nearest obelisks. When the dust settled, Yui was swaying back and forth.

"Ahh, crap… I feel sick… I can't move anymore… I'll… be angry at you later…" Yui slumped down against the base of a broken obelisk and shut her eyes.

"You're falling asleep here?!" I cried.

A monster with scythes for arms descended upon Yui to take advantage of her exhaustion. I wasn't going to make it. However, Rugal's charge cut a swathe into the army of demons and monsters. The armadillo beastling himself rammed through them undeterred, his natural armored plating protecting him from spears and swords.

"Micchi, their ranks have been broken and their obelisks destroyed! We should advance into the city!" Rugal exclaimed.

"Watch Yui. I'm going in first," I said.

Two demon giants stood in my way at the skull and jerked back in confusion.

"Uhh… This small one looks familiar?" The fatter of the two scratched his head.

"Don't matter. Smash little one—"

I kicked the other one's leg out from under him. He crashed to the ground with a heavy thud. As he tried to pick himself up, I slugged him across the chin and knocked him out.

"You remember me now?" I asked, pointing at the second one with Sacchan. "Get some exercise, will you? Go run around the city and tell everyone it's time to surrender. Or I'm coming in to make them."

"Ah! I remember! Mean scary demon! Please, don't hurt… I go. I go tell!" he said, running off into the city.