212 10,000 deaths

The number of Wilds killed by humans or human activity in the Wildlands hit 10,000.

With furious roars, the hordes under the command of the Dark Fang King, the Storm Pegasus King and the Bone King erupted into action. A massive flood from the left headed toward the western settlements, a wave that would hit the La Vive, Ashdale, and Itarim colonies simultaneously. A throng from the Five Lakes streamed north-east, found the river created by the Deep Emperor, and followed it north toward the lands of man. A third horde moved out from the far south, heading toward the eastern colonies of Bellas, Kara-Goth, and the Nine Mountains.

By the way, just in case anyone was wondering…

Asda was still on board the Ira mothership, having lost her entire fleet to mutiny. At this point, she was served and surrounded by Ira's slaves, and none of the people or airships who had gone there with her from Fal'Herim remained. A good many of them joined Ira's air fleet. Was that the plot of someone's doing? Asda had no proof, but she had strong suspicions about everyone on board the Ira Mothership.

Mandy did not return to the warfront. She returned to Ashdale and was involved in the coordination of fifty shipyards and twice as many manufacturers to build parts and assemble Type-A Wasp Bombers.

Mindy, Raven, Robin, Dove and Sparrow went with the Red Fang and the Free Wings to Fal'Herim, and docked as evening approached. They planned to go to the Tavern in the morning to recruit the crew.

By that time, the western horde led by the Dark Fang King was already halfway to the La Vive settlement. The Storm Pegasus throng was already in the middle of the desert, easily making their way north without getting lost thanks to the guidance of the river, plus they never had to worry about water. The eastern horde passed by the Nine Kings Range and gathered up numbers en route.

Back at the world war, around midnight, the Germat and Aurian armies broke past the La Vive lines and charged through their national borders forcefully. The war that started over a mana vein in the neutral zone had escalated to the point of territorial invasion. This showed Germat's and Auria's true ambitions; they wanted more than that one mana vein. Once they defeated their enemies' armies, they wanted to take everything. That was why they were willing to spend so much more on preparing for this war than Ashdale and La Vive; it was because while their opponents considered the costs of fighting over a mana vein, they were sparing no expense to conquer whole countries.

As morning broke and the news spread, there would be yells of international outrage from many a country, but what could anyone do? La Vive's defenses had already fallen, and their border towns were already occupied.

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With their army in tatters, the outraged, proud citizens of La Vive began to form a secret Resistance.

Upon hearing the news, Ashdale's entire industry was given over entirely to military application overnight. Orders were sent for their entire population to be all but drafted into emergency labor and volunteer defense corps. Within hours, the amount of military spending skyrocketed, but the banks basically threw away the credit limits and the country began to spend in a frenzied manner trying to fend off the oncoming attackers.

Also around that time, Germat began to roll out new vehicles, a sort of tracked armored carriage bearing armored turrets armed with heavy magic cannons on top. The first tanks were about to join the world war.

Complete unknown to them, the Deep Emperor was headed straight for the warfront. He had already made it into the Midlands Sea, with the Storm Pegasus King and his share of the Beast Tide merely half a day behind him. Also, more and more Wilds from the Great Deep and the Midlands Sea were joining up on the Tide…

***

When morning broke, Mindy brought Raven and her siblings to go meet her old friends and invite those old friends of hers to join her in the skies and travel the world.

By that time, the Dark Fang King had the La Vive settlement in his sights. It was abandoned, everyone having fled to the Ashdale colony. He turned and led them eastward, while other, quicker elements of the vast Tide already began to surround the Ashdale fortifications.

The Ashdale militia sounded the alert. Their troops and volunteers scrambled to battle stations. Itarim's colony likewise was aroused, and quickly found their own share of the Tide almost within artillery range.

It wasn't hard to figure out. Just taking one look southward in the light of dawn was enough. The entire south was covered in a massive, teeming surge of movement. You couldn't see a single bare patch of grass or ground any more. As far as the eye can see, across the whole horizon, one only saw Wilds.

"The size of this Tide is already three times more than the last and getting bigger even now. Do you think maybe they're overdoing it, just a little?" Darian asked Doom, way, way back at Dragon Lake, both of them monitoring the advance Psionically.

"Considering how fast this Tide broke out after the last one? No, I don't think so. I don't think so at all." Doom answered.

By that time, the quickest Wilds from the southern/eastern Tide had already reached Dragon Lake, and many of the wyverns around the place itched to join them. Doom did not say a single word to deter them from joining.

Incidentally, the quickest Wilds in question were mainly Skeletal Serpents, a specialty of the far south. They mainly lived in or around the Black Fields around the Source of Magic. They were a rarity in that their bones covered the outside of their flesh and organs, rather than hiding inside. They were fast, they were tough, and they were absolutely ferocious, powerful enough to be considered in the lower Tier 5 despite being a lot smaller than most Tier 5 Wilds. They were some of the deadliest creatures in all the Wildlands, and they weren't going to sit around waiting for the rest of the slow horde to catch up. About a hundred of these Skeletal Serpents hissed and like wriggling flickers of white bone, streaked toward the north. About twenty impatient juvenile dragons joined them. The bigger, older, less hasty adult dragons considered it, then slowly readied themselves to join the main southern horde when it passed by. All of them headed toward Kara-Goth, and the settlements in the north-east.

"I'm going to Three Pines to keep an eye on it. Just in case." Darian declared.

"They're not going to be attacked. The Flame Emperor ordered so."

"Still. Just in case. I'm going."

***

Over on the west side, battle erupted.

"Open fire!" Sir Stout Senior roared, then burst out coughing.

Cannons boomed. From nine emplacements heavy magic artillery launched explosive globs of naphta, nasty, sticky, burning stuff. It was old, obsolete weaponry, but against scattered formations of oversized wildcats, they did the job well enough.

It was just… too little. Nine explosions lit up the early morning, but the sheer flood of Wilds coming at them was barely even scratched. Thousands of Tier 4 and Tier 5 Wilds covered the entire southern approach, and a good many of them were coming from the east too. Sir Stout Senior had his back to the desert, his other flank to the lake, and nowhere to go if this colony fell.

Nowhere to go, but up.

"Get the children onto the airship." He said quietly. "Set course for Fal'Herim and make sure they know enough to be able to get that far on their own."

"Sir…?!" his aide was aghast. The battle had barely even begun and already he was evacuating the children.

"Get them to safety, just in case. If there's extra room, bring their mothers on board." He ordered. There should be a little extra room, just a little. Enough for a few mothers, surely.

A handful of women and a half hundred kids on board an airship. It sounded like the beginnings of a disaster, but that was the best Sir Stout Senior could do at this point.

What was this about little beast waves being no match for the disciplined Ashdale regulars? What was this about a score of Tier 3 and 4 Wilds running suicide raids during the night?

Was this what they meant by twenty Tier 4's? Sir Stout Senior wanted to choke his advisor to death. Can you even count the Tier 5's in this mess, much less the Tier 4's?!

"Who was it that said Kara-Goth's warning was an exaggeration? I want him shot!" Sir Stout howled, and then aimed his staff at the sky and started casting long-range magic at the incoming Beast Tide.