Devourer

Chapter 160: Frequency Hijack

Ordias sat up from his chair as he examined the scene before him. Something was different, the Hive was moving more precisely, significantly more precisely in fact. To an untrained eye it wouldn’t look that much different but Ordias could see what was happening.

An army formation could often be described as an obsidian shield. Hard and jagged with many ways to harm your opponent. However, obsidian was also brittle, it can cut most materials but if cracks start to form it was liable to shatter.

Most assaults were designed to create major breaches and to cause large “cracks” in the formation. When the cracks begin too much then armies tend to “shatter”. This was more certainly more common amongst the armies of the livings since they tended to rout. However, though his army could not rout, it could be carved into pieces and surrounded in smaller pockets.

The Hive was attempting to create smaller cracks in his formation. His Blood Knights were holding well but they were being pressured ever so slightly in precise locations. The commander of the Hive was also masking this with other concentrated assaults that took advantage of any small weaknesses that appeared.

Ordias could see his lines weakening ever so slowly, there were large breaches forming in certain areas but his Blood Knights were able to quickly plug the gap. However, he did notice those breaches seemed to lack purpose. Yes, it would be devastating if the breaches widened to unsalvageable levels but the breaches seemed to only be dangerous enough to draw his attention.

“Something isn’t right.” Ordias said as he stood up from his seat and scanned the holographic projection before him.

“What do you mean?” Rosa asked.

“The Hive is planning something, we need to push them back.” Ordias said as he continued to scan the projection trying to find some kind of pattern in all the chaos.

“Well obviously we need to push them back but I assume you spotted something?” Rosa stated as she too walked over to the projection.

“The Hive is pressuring us in strange locations, just enough to not be noticeable,” Ordias said as he pointed to small little dimples in the battle lines that seemed to be evenly spaced out.

“You suspect a trap.” Rosa said as she narrowed her eyes as she stared at the projection.

“Yes, the other more major breaches seem to be dangerous but we always to manage to contain them.” Ordias said.

“So why don’t we just remove those weak points?” Rosa asked.

“I’m afraid this is a double bluff. I suggest you get your best troops ready. When you attack you also leave yourself vulnerable. A counter-attack is certainly possible.” Ordias said and Rosa nodded.

“I will get them ready.” Rosa said with a nod.

“The beasts are different now, my mages have detected increased levels of Hive transmissions. Something new has taken command.” Rosa said and Ordias gave her a look.

“Anything else you can find out about those transmissions?” Ordias asked.

“They feel old, very old.” Rosa replied with a grimace.

“The Great Beast?” Ordias suggested and Rosa just shrugged.

“Perhaps but many hive leaders have powerful generals at their disposal as well. Perhaps up till now we have just been fighting a lesser lieutenant. True incompetence is more convincing than faked incompetence.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Great Beast intentionally began the battle with a weaker commander and switched to a more capable one. Or perhaps he even took command himself. Either way, something has changed.” Rosa said.

“It could also be possible that the Great Beast wanted us to find out about the transmission change.” Ordias said and Rosa nodded again.

“The ancients love their schemes.” Rosa said and Ordias sighed as he looked down, his mind racing.

“I suggest we try to remove those weak points and adapt as we go. If we leave them like this, they might just strike every weak point at once and shatter our formation.” Ordias stated after a short pause.

“Feels like we are moving into a trap.” Rosa said as she crossed her arms.

“I agree but I feel we have no other alternatives. We are on the back foot, the Hive’s pressure on our lines is too great. We need to do something to seize back the initiative.” Ordias said as he turned away from the projection.

“We have two choices, either I send in strike teams or we use some of your heavy units. I feel my soldiers would be more well-equipped to conduct a retreat than your beasts thanks to my teleportation array. If that fails we can use your elite units to break through.” Ordias said and Rosa sighed as she nodded, silently agreeing to his assessment.

Ordias expected to be pressured the moment he found out about the Hive. He knew this battle would be difficult even before he raised his army in Necoronas. The Hives were the preferred weapons of the Old Gods. You do not become the preferred weapons of the gods by being ineffective.

“Very well do it.” Rosa said and Ordias swiftly sent down the orders. He watched as his elite Blood Knights split into strike companies, each headed by a senior officer. They began attacking the small footholds the Hive made and as he expected the Hive defended those small areas fiercely. The Hive even sacrificed some gains in other areas just to maintain these small footholds.

It seems the Hive truly did not wish to relinquish control of these areas but what was the plan? Or more importantly, where was the trap?

His answer soon came when the ground beneath those areas suddenly caved in. He watched as all his strike companies fall into the dark depths below. Luckily for Ordias, his teleporter array was still working so he could recall most of his troops. If he left them down there it would be a definite loss so he ordered their instant return to his Ziggurat.

However, the moment the recall teleportation was completed red warnings started flashing all across the screens. Ordias’s eyes widened when he saw the readings. He had been played, but he didn’t even know what just happened was possible.

The Hive has somehow hijacked his teleportation array and although it did send his troops back the Hive now had a backdoor into his base. Portals have opened up inside his teleportation chamber and Hive soldiers were flooding into Ziggurat.

“Damage control, now! Seal off the hallways!” Ordias barked into the comms but all he heard back was static.

“Jamming…” Rosa said with a grimace.

“Stabilise the lines, I will handle this.” Rosa said as she turned away.

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Erin looked around in confusion at all the sirens blaring in the corridor. She was a pleasure thrall who spent most of her time warming the bed of a Vampire Lord. She knew she had it good, once you got used to it the sex actually felt quite nice. What was even better was that she wasn’t confined in a cage like the other lower castes. This was the only reason why she was able to move around the Ziggurat freely and she was just heading to visit her mother in the breeding pens when every siren in the Ziggurat went off. The sirens screamed of an assault and an incursion. It screamed for all available troops to head for the floor where the teleportation array was.

Unfortunately for Erin, her mother’s breeding pen was on the same floor as the teleportation array. At first, Erin was confused, in her mind how could anything threaten the might of the Vampires? As far as she was concerned they were like gods, powerful, beautiful, immortal, what could possibly threaten them.

She got her answer when she saw this large white creature with scythed arms smash through a door its blade buried in a Blood Knight’s chest. It had four insectoid legs and was as large as a horse. Its body was broad and heavily armoured with jet-black blades for arms that held this cruel curve to its edge. She watched as the creature slashed through the impervious black armour of the Blood Knight like a knife through butter.

The Blood Knight desperately swung his blade at the creature but with the beast so close he couldn’t deliver a hard slash. The blade just bounced off it’s ivory white armour and the beast responded by closing it’s large jaws around the Blood Knight’s helm. The pair of mandibles snapped forward holding his head in place. There was this horrifying sound of metal warping as the beast slowly crushed the helmet in it’s jaws. The Blood Knight continued to flail trying his best to break free of the beast’s hold. However with each passing moment the helmet started to buckle more and more under the strain until finally with a sickening snap the helmet caved.

Erin’s eyes widened in horror when she saw the head of the vampire pop like an over rip fruit. The red mush erupting from the edges of the beast’s maw. The beast hacked out the crushed helmet and turned to face her.

Erin stiffened as she gazed at the creature, she was sure she was going to die here. But then the creature turned its head away and faced the other end of the corridor. Erin looked down the same direction and saw a squad of Blood Knights.

Then from the same doorway emerged a dozen more of the creatures the all clambered out of the doorway and some even went onto the walls. One of the beasts bore special markings on the side of its head and Erin also noticed this one had a larger head as compared to the rest.

The outlier in the group started to roar at the other beasts who all paused to listen before charging the Blood Knights. Some charged directly down the hallway, others went on the walls and a few even started moving on the ceiling. Their insectoid legs easily digging into the walls and allowing them to clamber along the walls and ceiling.

Erin turned and ran she had no idea where to run to but she just wanted to get as far away as possible from those creatures. She hurtled down the hallway feeling the cold stone beneath her feet. She rounded a corner just in time to see more of the beasts just burst out of a nearby wall. Erin froze as she saw the beasts look at her for a moment before running right at her. She felt her blood turn to ice and she raised her arms to cover her face as she let out a blood-curdling scream of terror. She waited with her eyes shut but she only felt these small gusts of wind blow past her. She opened her eyes and realised that the beasts had just run past her and disappeared down the hallway.

“Wha…” Erin sputtered as she stood there in shock. Then she heard the shouts and the sounds of combat echoing down the corridor.

It was then that Erin realised that the beasts were after the Blood Knights they didn’t have any interest in her. Perhaps they didn’t have any interest in any of the thralls. As her thoughts and her heart settled she heard the sounds of weeping coming from the hole in the wall. Erin shakily approached the hole and saw that the hold led into one of the slave pens for the younger thralls who were selected to be battle thralls.

Erin felt a shudder as she saw that the battle thralls in charge of the pen have all been slaughtered. Their bodies were lying in pieces as if they had been torn apart by those beasts. Even some of the young were not spared, although Erin did notice that many of their bodies were near weapons and all the surviving ones were unarmed.

Could it be that the beasts were only targeting those who were armed? It would explain why she was ignored, she had never held a weapon in her life so she was about as threatening as a bowl of gruel.

Erin heart ached when she saw the young children and teenagers shivering in their iron pens. She could see a hole in the metal wall of the pen that the beasts no doubt emerged from. The bars of the cage were horribly bent and broken as if the beasts have simply charged right through it. Beyond the bars was a corridor and she saw more mangled corpses of battle thralls that had tried to stop the beasts.

“Shhh, its ok.” Erin said as she approached a boy who was bawling his eyes out.

The boy must have been no more than five years old, he reached out as if she was his mother. Erin bent down and took him into her arms. Erin looked around and she saw the room was all staring at her. The oldest were probably only fourteen and were probably a year into a formal training. The vampires kept the battle thralls together in these cramped conditions to save space and also to get them used to the harsh living conditions that the desolate lands of Necoronas offered. It was a completely different life from what she has led. She spent her life laying on satin and velvet. She spent her days feeling the bare cold flesh of a vampire or the warm flesh of a human either on her skin or inside her.

Her life was one of luxury and comfort while these poor souls were being trained so that they could be sent to die in her master’s wars. It was the fate of the thralls and Erin had long grown numb to it. Instead consigning herself to acceptance and a sense of gratefulness of the comfort of her life. She had resolved herself to enjoy this life while she was still young, as once she was older chances are she would be assigned as a breeder thanks to her beauty. When that happened she could only hope her children were born healthy.

But now as she felt the small and warm trembling body in her arms she felt the numbness in her heart start to slowly fade. She remembers some of the other thralls mention a motherly instinct perhaps this was it. Somehow she felt that she needed to keep these children safe.

Just as she was about to speak she heard this bestial growl. Erin froze and she turned her head to see one of those beasts emerging from the hole behind her. She held the child closer to her as the beast slowly entered its white body gleaming from the magical lights that adorned the walls.

“Don’t touch the weapons…” Erin said shakily as she turned to face the children. None of them were making any moves towards the fallen weapons, Erin assumed the ones with courage were probably the corpses around her.

The beast slowly approached her as it bared it’s teeth showing off a maw filled with curved serrated fangs. Though it had no eyes she could feel it’s gaze on her. It approached abit more before pausing and scanning the room. The beast was constantly making this strange clicking sound as it moved it’s head slowly turning, sniffing the air as if looking for something.

Erin could see it’s arms, black serratted blades that were coated with blood. Then it froze and it turned it’s head. It let out a roar as it stomped on the floor creating this loud banging sound. Then it charged back through the hole.

Erin sat there frozen for a moment but then she saw this red glow from the hole and the beast was blasted back it’s body in mangled pieces. Erin heard the sound of high heeled shoes clicking across the stone. Then a woman appeared that Erin instantly recognised. She felt her fear reach new heights when she realised who this was. In all honesty Erin feared her more than the beasts, she would rather spread her legs for one of the beasts than be locked in a room with this woman.

The woman turned her head and she saw the cold red glowing eyes and the long fangs protruding from her upper lip. She was beautiful but also undeniably terrifying. The mistress of the Scarlet Palace. They say few ever leave those perfumed halls alive, and even fewer leave unchanged. The fear she inspired in the thralls and even the other vampires was legendary, none were as cruel, and none were as debased.

Instinctively she released the child and fell to her knees pressing her head to the floor, ignoring the blood that was covering it. The sheer terror she felt overrode whatever shred of motherly instinct she felt before. She didn’t care about the stench of blood or the sticky fluid that now covered her forehead. All she wanted was for this woman to leave her be…

Erin trembling like a leaf stammered out a greeting that sounded like she was on the verge of tears…

Lady Maledicta I am at your service…

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