PftA Book 5 - Chapter 13 - The Assault on Dominion

I felt something odd when I targeted the Assassin with Stasis, but I wasn’t worried since he would be transported within the stasis section of my demesne. Even if he managed to somehow retain awareness, he wouldn’t see much with how I’d positioned him.

His was one of the first covert assault teams in place – not because I wanted Cin’Specter out of my demesne faster (which I did), but because ‘Team 1’ was one of the three groups assigned to assault the Collective’s military headquarters where the Supreme Leader was supposed to be.

Aside from the Supreme Leader, there were reportedly more than a dozen major leaders of the Collective’s military forces present at the headquarters, a handful of which were reportedly Tier Ten.

While five individuals might not seem like a big deal, each one was significantly stronger than the strongest Tier Nine. It was just a fact of reality. The power disparity made me wonder if three teams would be enough to neutralize the threat.

But I was sure the Council had a plan.

One of the other military sites attached to the portal hub also got a second assault team, but the rest made do with a single team.

The Council didn’t bother sending anyone to the small refuges linked to the artificial space since they were unlikely to contain high-value targets. However, Anya mentioned the army would be taking control of the hub itself through the access point on the Baron’s estate.

In addition to Baron Akyrono’s estate, members of the army would be targeting the academy where the Necromancer had set up shop. Both were within Alliance territory, so the Council wanted to ensure both sites were carefully controlled.

Unlike the rest of the assault teams, Team Eight was assigned to the battlefield on Domination. Though it was no longer an active field of war, enemy troops were still using the area for training and the staging of assaults on Alliance cities.

[8A to (party): Be sure to set up our surprises on your way to finding your targets. Mark them on the shared map to prevent overlap.]

I pulled up the party’s mini-map. I didn’t need it to keep track of my team’s movement since I could sense their beacons, but it was handy to have anyway.

Since I didn’t have a specific target – or really anything to do during the initial phase of the assault aside from placing a few exploding talismans – I carefully moved myself into the air to get a better overall view of the site. I’d already viewed the enemy base from above during my initial recon, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to do it again now that a little time had passed.

Perched invisibly above the repurposed battle camp, I imagined all of the ways that I could obliterate the people below as I teleported dozens of talismans into place.

I could turn the whole area into a mixed Time/Space distortion field, then set the field to motion. It would basically turn the whole area into a blender, destroying everyone and everything weaker than a Tier Ten caught within.

Even I would likely die if caught in a similar attack.

It probably wouldn’t kill a Tier Ten due to how ridiculously powerful they were, but I felt confident it would at least hurt them. The gap between tiers really was that significant, especially at higher tiers.

I could also drop hundreds of consumable talisman beads instead of just a few dozen, spreading them telekinetically to cover the entire area before triggering everything at once.

That one was basically what we were already planning to do, just on a larger scale.

Most of the loot was going to be lost aside from what was collected during the initial attacks, but that was probably part of the reason they’d wanted the leaders assassinated directly in the first place.

The leaders were likely the only ones with loot worth gathering as far as the Council was concerned.

Either approach would be overkill since it looked like the gathered fighters were mostly Tier Six to Tier Eight, with a few higher-tier leaders. But it wasn’t like we had to worry about violating the Accords since we were actively at war.

Since the enemies below were undoubtedly gathering to attack more Alliance cities, I had no qualms about destroying them. They certainly wouldn’t feel bad about killing me or my family.

It was just too bad that Onor only saw me as a method of transportation and distribution.

He’d been briefed on my background, but I got the feeling that he didn’t quite believe that I was as capable as the briefings implied.

Sure, he knew that I’d survived a Tier Nine Challenge Rift while at Tier Eight, but I’d outright admitted that I only survived because of the items inside my inventory. He probably thought I’d been carrying Tier Ten weapons or something. It certainly wouldn’t have been hard to level up and clear a higher-tier rift with a bunch of overpowered equipment.

Kinda like getting a bunch of experience from placing a bunch of talismans.

I was a Trinity Mage. That meant I was catered to and protected – even in the dungeon. That was just reality as far as most people were concerned. The fact that I hadn’t been a tri-affinity mage when I entered the dungeon never seemed to register to most people.

I shook my head and entered my demesne while the rest of the team was getting into place. With the idea fresh in my mind, I wanted to start testing my idea about mixing Space and Time distortions to make a killing field.

I made sure to leave a hidden portal above the enemy camp so Lisa could monitor everything, just in case something happened before the assault was supposed to begin.

Taking advantage of the time dilation, I managed to manifest a few effects that I thought would work pretty well. One of those wasn’t even a domain attack, though I suspected it would do a similar amount of damage.

[8A to (party): Start your attacks. 8E, you’re on overwatch. Be ready to retrieve all team members on my call.]

I exited my demesne and shifted position so I was no longer directly above the enemy camp. I didn’t want to get caught in the effects of the ‘surprises’ we’d put into place.

The Council had made it clear that they wanted the facilities we assaulted destroyed if at all possible. They probably wanted to decrease the enemy’s morale and ability to fight back enough that they wouldn’t resist our demands for an official end to the war after their leaders were killed.

Unless they’d spent the resources to build a Tier Ten structure on the Tier Eight planet (which I couldn’t see happening), the Tier Nine artifacts we’d spread throughout the camp should be more than enough to accomplish their goal.

One of my teammates appeared inside my storage. I immediately pulled him out and dismissed the [Stasis] effect before healing him.

“Do you want to go back to the same location or somewhere new?” I asked Ethin as soon as he calmed himself from the near-death experience.

The normally snarky dwarf grimaced before saying, “Same place. Can’t let the target get away, now, can I?”

He didn’t thank me for saving his life, but I honestly didn’t expect him to.

Ura’Somme, the green-skinned elf with a strong Nature affinity, was next to trigger her emergency talisman.

Her injury was almost beyond what I could manage. In fact, I’d never seen anyone survive having most of their neck removed. It looked like something had bitten right through the front half of her throat, taking part of her spine along with it.

Thankfully, it seemed her talisman had activated as soon as the damage had occurred, granting me the chance to save her.

Instead of being shaken by the experience, Ura was incensed. Once she was restored back to full health, the elf demanded I send her back so she could cut down the drakin who’d nearly killed her.

No more emergency talismans activated, though everyone aside from me showed some degree of injury by the time Onor called for their recall.

“Where are we?” he demanded when the group appeared on the hidden platform, mostly still in stealth.

I’d encased the mana construct in Arcane mana with a stealth effect to ensure we weren’t detected, even if my teammates appeared without their stealth skills and artifacts active.

The blood dripping on the solidified mana was enough to inform me there were injuries, so I cast four Restores in quick succession, reversing the recent damage before answering.

“We’re just to the southeast of the enemy camp,” I replied. “I have us shielded from detection right now.”

“Good. Let me reinforce that with an Arcane Shield before we trigger the gifts we left behind. We took down the leaders; now let’s take out the rest of the trash.”

A moment later, a thick circle of layered Arcane mana encased the mana platform holding us.

“It’s only one way. Feel free to fire at will once things settle down. Ready?” Onor glanced around, making eye contact with each of us. “Go ahead and activate them.”

We triggered the talismans and watched as explosions of multiple elements practically engulfed the enemy camp below.

“There’s more than there should be,” Onor said curiously.

“I added a few extras while I was waiting,” I informed him.

The dark elf looked at me with a raised brow before inclining his head slightly. “Unnecessary, but appreciated.”

Once the smoke cleared, it was obvious that I wouldn’t get the chance to test my new large-scale attack spells anytime soon. With the strength of the explosions, there were no longer any enemies left to target.

“We could’ve just avoided the whole bit and blown them up to start,” Ethin grumbled. “Wouldn’t’ve almost died again. I’m done now. I did my part.” The dwarf looked at me. “You, take me back. Mission’s done. I’m going back to retirement.”

I glanced at Onor, who shook his head. “We have to check down below first – make sure we actually got everyone. Then, we need to search for any valuables that might have survived the blast. There probably isn’t much, but anything that did make it is probably going to be worth collecting.”

Ethin muttered something under his breath about the Council getting all of the loot anyway but didn’t openly argue with the Tier Ten Team Leader.

With a shrug, I lowered us to the ground and started searching.