BXBX NOVEL Chapter 92 Midnight Saga: The Start
Secret Location at the island in between the Sarid Continent and Nofrena Continent, Military Facility of the Sarid Republic and Nofrena Empire.
All of the military personnel and scientists from both the Sarid Republic and the Nofrena Empire were holding their breath as they watched the missiles carrying the Anti-Matter Bombs fired from this military facility at the Dimensional Pathway.
Everybody was hoping that the Anti-Matter Bombs would be enough to cause the collapse of the Dimensional Pathway, and probably the subsequent explosion would be strong enough to annihilate all of the Orks. Some of the more pessimistic ones already awaited the end of the world due to the sheer number of Anti-Matter Bombs that were fired as they would be strong enough to destroy a smaller world entirely.
On the huge screen, everybody held their breath when they saw a weird green dome of energy created from some unknown energy which many people recognized as the fabled Mana, which was now protecting the entire area around the Dimensional Pathways.
While this created distress in many people, but still, the majority of them believed that their advanced weapons would be enough the destroy the translucent green dome, but then it happened, as the missiles were already near the dome.
Everybody could see tremendous explosions happening around the green dome; everything was enveloped in dust and ashes, and huge mushrooms of ash and dust were in the sky, as it seemed like the sky itself had darkened.
It took more than twenty minutes before the dust finally started settling down, revealing the translucent green dome of energy without cracks or damage; everything was perfect, as countless people in the secret military facility held their breath in shock.
"It seems that we have failed."
Noted the Emperor of the Nofrena Empire, Alexander IV. Nofreanis after more than ten minutes of very uncomfortable silence. While at first, nobody wanted to admit it, slowly but surely, everyone with confronted with the cruel reality head-on.
Nobody could believe what they saw; in the end, even despite being proved that the Magic existed, and somewhere in the broader Cosmos, people who could flatten entire cities were common as clouds, they still believed in the superiority of their technology.
Especially considering the Anti-Matter Bombs were the peak of the weapons of mass destruction that were ever created in their Midnight World, capable of destroying smaller continents with relative ease, as they were the pinnacle of their technology, crystallization of the knowledge of the entire civilization.
Seeing their prided weapons having no effect at all, aside from the absolutely devastated Sharrena Subcontinent, which was turned into a post-apocalyptic wasteland in a matter of seconds, seeing this development, everyone had a gloomy expression on their faces.
"What now?"
Questioned the President of the Sarid Republic Halir in a fearful voice, not known to many, but he was also one of the leading scientists on the project of Anti-Matter Bomb development and was very well aware of their destructive prowess.
What was even more frightening was the fact that he knew for the best that now that this had failed, then the entire Midnight World was doomed to extinction because they didn't have more powerful weapons than the Anti-Matter Bombs.
So right now, they were at the dead end, the last attempt, their last hope had failed spectacularly and right now, the entire Midnight Defense Initiative was without any other plans or means to combat the green tide of countless Orks, Goblins, Trolls and Ogres.
"Nothing... there is now only one thing we can do... fight."
Stated the Emperor of the Nofrena Empire with a severe voice, realizing the grimness of the situation; their last resort had practically ended, as it had been diminished in nothingness in a matter of minutes.
Nobody could have thought that their most powerful and prized weapons were rendered ineffective by the weird green dome. Not even the greatest skeptics thought that this would be the result of their prided technology, which was blocked by the Divine Power of the Ork Gods.
In truth, if the Orks had powerful Legendaries, they wouldn't need to depend on their Gods at all, but since they did not and they were also unaware of the extent of the destructive capabilities of their weapons, they proceeded to call the Divine Might of the Green Gods.
"Such is the fate of the weak world as it seems."
Sounded the voice of Alexander IV. Nofreanis as he exited the room, returning back to the Nofrena Empire, preparing for the final fight against the invaders. His voice was cold, emotionless and filled with despair and weirdly an acceptance towards such fate.
Because in the cruel world, the strong eat weak, and the weak could only succumb, as the strength reigned supreme. Some of them realized that some of them not, and some outright lived in delusions that something would be done and they would win.
Not realizing that the Orks would soon become the smallest issue of the Midnight World.
Other powers from the wider Cosmos were now looking at the 1st Floor of the Tower with great curiosity, and especially those with nefarious intentions for the world, those of the darkest depths of evil, were already preparing their sharpest blades and strongest spells.
***
Suddenly, space started cracking at the unknown location in the Midnight World's Ihor Continent until a stable space crack appeared on a seemingly unknown part of the Ihor Continent, which was home to the United Nations of Prayn Terish.
"Damm... how I hate coming to these kinds of worlds... even Lower World would be a win compared to this shit."
Said a humanoid with purple skin, having two horns over his head, as he exited the space crack; after the purple-skinned humanoid exited the space crack, the space crack stabilized itself, and more and more people started exiting it, all of them wearing the garb of a priest.
"Lord Khardroth, we need to move and start our work before the Red Dragon makes a move."
Both of them were from the Calamity Church, and while technically still not members of the 13 Gates, the Calamity Church was still a mighty and strong organization that spread terror across countless worlds in the Cosmos and Floors of the Tower.
Though it was clear that sooner they would become members of the 13 Gates as they were at war with one of the Gates and managed almost to annihilate it completely, it was clear that they would soon enough ascend to that position.
"Shut up, and let me enjoy my time of freedom for at least a brief amount of time."
Answered Lord Khardroth as he flew to the nearest city, planning to feast on some soul. Khardroth was one of the High Priests of the Calamity Church, originally a human who was transformed by the might of the Evil Gods whom he served into a new species.
What the people of the Nofrena Empire and the Sarid Republic didn't include in their equations was the fact that the overwhelming amount of energy released by the collective detonation of the twenty Anti-Matter Bombs would be partially absorbed by the dimensional pathway and created more space cracks around the entire Midnight World.
It took only several seconds for a peak Legendary Level expert such as Khardroth to appear high above the nearest city, looking down at the huge metropolis, which numbered millions, as a huge Magic Circle appeared high above the city.
It shone in menacing purple color, while not even several seconds later, purple miasma burst out of the Magic Circle and, in a matter of no more than ten seconds, devoured the entire city, as all inhabitants were melted into a glob of flesh, killing more than five million people in twenty seconds exactly.
"All of this lifeforce... though what would one expect from the lifeforms not in contact with Mana."
Stated the High Priest Khardroth, as he devoured the lifeforce of more than five million humans who were killed by him, as he felt a bit rejuvenated. Unfortunately for him, the lifeforce of creatures who didn't have Mana in their bodies was considerably lower compared to those who had.
Of course, there existed some species that had some racial advantages and were unique, but those were exceedingly rare, even in the entirety of the Cosmos.
After the entire city was cleansed of life, and from the humans living, there remained only pieces of melted flesh; the Magic Circle high in the sky didn't dissipate but shone even more brightly than before as it started collecting all of the souls from the killed inhabitants.
"Five million souls, good."
Five million souls were a nice number and would make a nice sacrifice to some Evil God for a small blessing; of course, this was just a start. Apparently, the Midnight World had a tremendously high population.
Meaning there were a lot of things to harvest and exploit. For example, like the various cultists would be coming here to harvest souls or negative energy, Orks would sell slaves, as slaves were always in high need in many places in the Cosmos.
Be it for various Interdimensional Empire for the labor, crazy Arcanists to conduct research, or for Warlocks to carry out sacrifices. Many used slaves as soldiers, with a few Magetech enhancements and Magic Seals to ensure their loyalty and increase their power; they were perfect cannon fodder in large-scale wars.
Especially the Empires like Nesser Dynasty, Mind Flyers Fleets, or other slightly weaker factions controlling entire Worlds would very often use slaves as cannon fodder when they were conquering a new world by pouring the slave armies to break into initial fortifications.
Basically, the slave armies would break the hardest defense or at least weaken it considerably, and then the armies of the nations who were the standard soldiers would just finish the job. This method was commonly used to lower the losses of soldiers' lives during the war, especially when conquering other worlds.
Of course, then there were species that used slaves as source food, like the Demon Tribes, or even the Mind Flyers Fleets, who when are finished with the slaves they were using as a labor force or for experiments, would eat their brains. They served them as food and also, as a method of continuously getting stronger by devouring the brains and increasing their psionic potential.
"What shall we do with these souls, Lord Khardroth?"
Asked one of the priests from the Calamity Chruch that came to this world with High Priest Khardroth. Whenever one of the High Priests of the Calamity Church went, there would be an entire retinue of the Priests and other people following him.
"Use the ritual to summon some of the Legendary Level creatures of the Set."
Ordered the High Priest Khardroth as the rest of the priests instantly went to carry out his orders. For them, it was important to create some Legendary Level creatures by sacrificing the souls to one of the Evil Gods, so they could increase their capabilities in spreading dread and carnage.
***
Somewhere in the Sarid Republic, in the depths of some cave, where the Cardinal Zaldidraax was right now sleeping.
Deep within the depths of the cave, a humongous red dragon was sleeping soundly as he immediately opened his eyes and looked in the direction of the Ihor Continent, at the certain city in the territory of the United Nations of Prayn Terish.
"That bastard Khardroth is here?"
When Zaldidraax awoke, the entire cave shook from his anger when he realized that Khardroth had arrived at the Midnight World; Zaldidraax instantly sensed that when Khardroth slaughtered the entire city somewhere in the Ihor Continent.
"The old man told me just to collect souls..."
Right now, Zaldidraax was weighing his opinions on what to do. On the one side, he got the right and clear order from the old man to just drop dead somewhere in the Midnight World, stretch the soul-gathering spell formation and do nothing besides guarding it.
On the other side, right now, one of his most bitter enemies, whom he had wanted to kill for a very long time, finally crawled out from the hole where he was hiding and came here. Khardroth was slippery as a snake, and he rarely showed himself.
"Ah, fuck it."
He had already decided on the next court of action; as he stood up and went to exit the cave, he stretched out his huge wings as he started flying towards the Ihor Continent, more precisely for the north of the United Nations of Prayn Terish.
In the end, the temptation to finally kill Khardroth was too big for Zaldidraax just to pass it on, so he decided to take his chances and kill that bastard when he could. Khardroth was slippery as a snake, and would always escape during their fights when the situation was looking grim for him, and right now, in the Mana-Less World, it was an perfect opportunity to kill him.
At worst, the Hall Master would just scold him as usual, nothing serious. Usually, when the Cardinals or lower-ranked Clergy disobeyed the orders, then the punishment is severe unless, by disobeying the order, they obtained something of far greater value.