A knock at the door caught Tessa’s attention, and she opened the door to let a group of clerics in.
“Monarch, We have an urgent issue. There has been a line breach.” The first cleric in the door exclaimed, only to pause in confusion as a server with a large cake on a cart pushed past him into the room, completely ignoring his panic.
“Continue, sir. There has been a line breach where? I take it that you need an Elite of my Rank, or you wouldn’t be here in such a tizzy.”
[Tizzy, that’s a fun word. I like it.] Cara noted.
The cleric nodded rapidly, then a black robed figure appeared at his left.
“Overlord Niall.” Karl greeted him.
More boots were stomping down the hallway, and Dana gave Karl a ‘WTF is going on’ sort of look.
Overlords Tabitha and Ahmad both burst into the room, skidding to a stop so they didn’t bowl over the slower reacting clerics.
Karl cleared his throat. “First off, the advancement of my beasts didn’t trigger a false invasion alarm, did it? There are a total of five Monarch Rank beasts with me now.” Ahmad’s fluffy blonde cat ears perked up as he smelled cake.
“Is that hazelnut and chocolate with strawberries? Oh, no, it wasn’t you who panicked everyone this time. The Mountain Giants are pushing across the border at Soutle.”
The Mage noticed Karl’s confused look and continued.
“That’s under a hundred kilometres west of here. We’re hoping to stop the advance before we have to scramble the entire Capital Defence Force. We have portals.” The Mage explained, holding up a parchment scroll that was most likely the portal spell in question.
Karl sighed. “Cara, Remi. Grab the cake. We will have to party later. Sybil, do we need to take measures, or will you behave while we’re gone?” Sybil gave him a thumbs up and sent a message using the system’s chat function. {I will go hang out with the others for the rest of the day. They were talking about wanting to learn to work as a team, and Lady Rae says to give them a chance.}
Karl nodded, and the Rogue ducked under the table, then vanished.
Tabitha, the Warrior Class Overlord, looked startled.
“You taught an Awakened Rank Rogue to Shadow Step already? You’ve only been back a few days.”
Rae smiled at her. “Not only did I teach her, we also awakened her after activating her class. She’s a good protégé.”
The Warrior gave Rae an impressed look. “Which one were you? I studied the portfolio on the way over, but it didn’t mention a humanoid beast.”
“Lady Rae Bloodbath. I learned how to mimic humans when I became a Queen.”
Tabitha nodded and gave her a wink. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Bloodbath. I look forward to seeing what a Spider Queen can do in combat.”
In his space, Thor sighed. So much for their days off.
Niall made a ‘get on with it’ gesture to Ahmad, and the mage opened the portal, floating over the floor of the apartment.
“If any of you have obligations, you may remain, but we always appreciate more hands. We’re stretched a bit thin today. Everyone else was called out last night.” Niall explained as he double-checked the fastenings on his clothing. It was the outfit Rae had made for him, so Karl knew that it wouldn’t have worn or torn, so it was likely a routine to focus and prepare himself.
Karl’s team changed into their armour, and Cara vanished into her space with the cake.
Keeping the cake fresh was priority one.
They stepped through the portal, and Karl called out the bodyguards, who were still Monarchs, but felt somehow stronger now that Remi had advanced. The skill was a shared one, and it must have improved in some way when the Naga Queen became a Monarch.
Remi came out with all three of her bodyguards, while the others came through the portal behind them
“Careful. The intelligence was wrong.” Niall warned, a half second before trees came crashing down around them, and an entire platoon, or whatever the Mountain Giants called their military units, came into sight.
Six Overlords, ten Monarchs, and twenty Royal Rank warriors. “We should have brought more cake.” Rae muttered as the last of the team came through the portal, and Ahmad closed it behind them.
The leader of the Mountain Giant team stepped forward and began to speak in crude Common.
“Surrender now, and we will grant you a swift death.” He demanded.
“I don’t think that is going to work for us.” Tabitha laughed as she brought out a massive two-handed blade.
The Giant nodded. “Then we will pin you to the city walls as your Capital falls, so you can watch the end of your pathetic church.”
Karl noticed a shiny thing on the ground, and casually scooped it up into his inventory, then picked up a small stone.
“Hey, Tabs. What do you think the odds are that I can brain him with a rock?” Karl could see the vein pulsing in her forehead at the nickname, but the Mountain Giant was literally spluttering in rage.
Karl activated all of his buffs and coated the stone in Disintegration, then Nullify. His hand shot forward with the sharp crack of supersonic travel, and the stone rocketed towards its target.
Unfortunately, Karl was never a professional ball player, and even with his improved physical abilities, his aim wasn’t quite up to that standard.
The [Nullify] spell on the stone shattered the Giant’s defensive barrier, which then crashed into his helmet, sending the golden armour piece flying.
“Good thing we didn’t bet.” Karl muttered as the Giant staggered.
Niall snickered and winked at him before vanishing, then the fight was on.
The Giants surged forward as Tabitha recovered, and the Thor came out to defend the back line in Cerro form.
Behind Karl, Rae laughed. “They are so going to kill you for that. You should slap one to death while you have the chance. We didn’t get to do it last time.”
“Did nobody ever teach you the negotiation tactics of Giants, you psychopath.” Tabitha muttered as she met the Giants’ charge.
“We are negotiating. I learned this tactic from the Troll Emperor himself.”