Stage II, Chapter XXVII: Assisting Alpha

Amidst the deafening noise caused by gunfire and magic spells, four of them were the loudest of them all.

And these four noises were... the Kuman ships crash-landing to the ground. Once Lucas' small team had succesfully taken down one Kuman ship, they had decided to crash it to the ground.

Maybe the thrill of destroying multiple behemoth-sized Kuman ships was far more exciting, that causing millions in property damage didn't cross the mind of Lucas. But hey, he's an adventurer. And someone who risked his life to protect his city, albeit with a smile on his face.

At this moment, four Kuman ships had already been driven to the ground. The deployment of troops into the area had substantially reduced already.

While despite it being thrilling to destroy ships, the idea of driving it towards his little brother to assist did somewhat cross his musclehead brain, even for a bit.

But then again, he didn't know how to drive one in the first place! So he really didn't have a choice in the matter.

Everytime they had crashed a Kuman into the ground, they'd wait until another came in.

Kenneth had observed earlier that while the laser fired beneath the ship was used to deploy Karman soldiers, it was also sometimes used to retrieve the broken corpses of the ships.

Possibly to prevent Krodoa's residents, particularly the humans, who were keen on researching new things, from discovering the wonderful properties of the armor plates and materials used in these ships.

But then again, they can't retrieve everything. So ever so often a piece or two of the Karman ships were dug up or found from the battlefields and sold to researchers for hundreds, if not miillions of dollars.

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While Lucas' team were in the middle of clearing the fifth Kuman ship, Kenneth's voice came over the Database Link, which was still connected, despite it being not in use.

"Lucas, you there?" (Kenneth)

"Not a good time, little bro! I've got some unfriendly Karman threatening to shoot lasers through my forehead! HYA!" Lucas' breath was uneven, meaning he was focusing on the fight.

The scream at the end did sound good though, as a punch sound came after.

"Alright, they're dead. Better hurry up, little brother. We've got only a few minutes before the ship crashes." (Lucas)

"Oh, good. Pick up parts of the ships you've broken. We'll need them later. And if you're still good for more, come help us out here. I'll be sending Catalyn to you to retrieve parts and help you get here quickly." (Kenneth)

"Alright. I'm still ready for more!" (Lucas)

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"Is this all, Brother Lucas?" Catalyn asked tiredly as she took the last piece of the broken ship.

With the help of the two magicians, they were able to cram a good portion of the Kuman ship parts into Catalyn's personal storage portal.

"Yeah, that should be good. I already had my fun crashing the ships down to the ground." Lucas replied, also tired.

While the eldest sibling kept his demeanor and was not the least bit terrified of recent events, it was not the same for the magicians.

They were made to follow Lucas around, assisting in the overtaking of the Kuman ships. And everytime, they'd be forced to stay in the cockpit, along with Lucas.

Front row seats to watch the destruction of the ship they were currently on? Well maybe it was a bit too much for them.

"Oh, you two are still here? You can go now. No more ships crashing down today, nuh uh." (Lucas)

The two of them nodded quickly, and hastily retreated towards the direction of the WIzard Guild.

***************

"Oh, you guys are back. Good, good. Welcome back. If you don't mind, we'll get started immediately, since the rest need some assistance." Kenneth for the most part, directed his speech towards Lucas.

"Hell yeah. Oh right, before I forget, here's the loot we collected." Lucas nodded to Catalyn, who opened a sizable portal in front of the siblings, the broken parts falling out.

"Very nice. But could you take that back?" (Kenneth)

"Indeed." Catalyn replied as she took the parts in her hands, and shoved them inside the portal.

"Great. We'll start briefing. So currently we have one team engaged in direct confrontation with the surrounding Karman..." (Kenneth)

*************

Team Alpha was locked in a stalemate with the opposing Karman. While their original ambush had managed to decrease the Karman's numbers by a drastic amount, it could still not be compared to the difference in manpower.

What was left of Team Alpha's mana was being used in returning fire, and no more preemptive attacks came from their side.

"Damn it, baby! You better have a plan! I can't be dying here!" Fawkes cursed. While it would look like a crazed man's ramblings, he was actually directly connected with Kenneth through the Database Link.

"Yeah, don't worry. They should be reaching there shortly. Maybe until then hold on." (Kenneth)

"Heh. I'll be holding you to that." Readying a spell, Fawkes converged his mana into his limb as a wall of fire emerged from his hand, blocking the view of the Karman.

"Everybody MOVE!" Fawkes screamed as the entirety of Team Alpha stood up and retreated further back into nearby cover.

The fire wall was still very much in affect, cutting off eye contact between the humans and their enemies.

Multiple barrages of gunfire passed through the flaming wall, forcing the humans to stay in hiding despite them not being in line of sight.

Yet there was a silence.

Rising from his cover, Fawkes took a peek at the wall, which would be subsiding soon.

The momentary tranquility was thrown out the window as a metallic round, almost the size of a tank shell, passed through the flame wall, under the cover of the fire.

"Shit. Initiate defensive magic!" Fawkes was entirely useless here. A magician that focused more on attaking, he had no way to block the incoming shell.

Lucky for him, he saw the shell early.

Unlucky for them, his subordinates did not have enough time to prepare a strong enough spell to defend against it.