Chapter 317: The Trap Closes

The Skyreaver hovered a thousand meters above Windward Isle’s western coast.

It had made the voyage from Divine Province in less than a week. Speed was the little ship’s greatest strength, bought at the expense of almost everything else. Its hull was cramped, its firepower weak, and it could not support a Gate installation.

For bringing Cassian to Sunhaven, it had been ideal.

Odette had supplied the essential information on Western Beacon’s forces. He had asked one more favor of her as well.

Now he stood beside the rail, watching a recording from Lethria. In it, a grim-faced Black Banner Lord directed his troops against a pack of monsters.

Varric Kestrel, of Blackmere Province.

Far below the Skyreaver, Divine Province’s hunting parties were hard at work. Every First-Age Coin they found went straight to Cassian. Nobody asked for payment. Nobody complained about handing them over.

His standing among his own Lords needed no better proof.

An angry message appeared in the Channel.

[Blackmere’s people are here again. Kestrel’s leading them this time!]

[Seraphine Valcrest: Send your coordinates. I’m coming.]

[Darian Frost: I’ll come too. They’ve got older-sector veterans with them.]

Windward was more than ten thousand kilometers across. Once the land Western Beacon made available had been divided among the visiting Provinces, however, the hunting grounds felt much smaller.

Blackmere’s allotted ground lay close to Divine Province’s. Its Lords resented seeing so much space occupied by so few competitors and kept crossing the boundary to take monsters. Some had even launched ambushes. Dozens of Divine Province’s Epic troops had been killed or wounded in those clashes.

Blackmere also had a surprising number of older-sector Lords supporting it. Perhaps Western Beacon was deliberately looking the other way.

Only the need to gather coins had kept the two sides from open battle. That restraint was wearing thin.

[No need, Lady Seraphine. Lord Darian. We were ready for them this time. They saw how many of us were here and backed off.]

Darian moved the argument into the management Channel.

[Darian Frost: We can’t keep letting them harass us. Let’s wipe out Blackmere’s army. At worst, we lose a day’s hunting.]

The veterans on the other side did not trouble him. Replies of agreement came immediately.

Cassian stopped them.

[Cassian Vale: Wait a little longer. When the time comes, I promise you’ll have all the fighting you want.]

They did not understand what he was waiting for. They trusted him enough to leave it there.

An hour later, Crystal Seven called down from above the Skyreaver. Her Echo Crystal Bat form circled high over the ship, sweeping the distant land with Echo Survey.

"Lord, dozens of Gates have opened roughly a thousand kilometers from us. High-grade troops are coming through."

She paused, checking the pattern.

"The Gates form a ring around our position."

Cassian’s eyes brightened. He sent an order through Divine Province’s Channel.

[Cassian Vale: All Legendary troops, assemble.]

Then he took out the two Legendary scrolls he had bought through the Exchange for this expedition: a Spatial Lock Scroll and a Communication Seal Scroll.

Everything was in place. He only needed to let his guests arrive.

——

A thousand kilometers to the east, one of the Gates swelled until its opening was two hundred meters wide.

Tyrants, Behemoths, Nanite Warriors, Giants, and Silvermoon Rangers poured out. Similar columns emerged at dozens of points around Windward Isle.

Western Beacon’s planners had selected the positions carefully. Far enough away to avoid detection. Close enough for the armies to converge quickly and surround Divine Province’s hunters.

Piers Haldane stepped through and looked over the growing force with satisfaction.

"Did Cassian really believe we would leave him alone? Hunting on our land as though he owned it..."

For nearly a month, Western Beacon’s leaders had watched foreign warships parade through their inner waters. Piers had faced fierce competition from the other Governors before winning command of this operation.

Destroying Divine Province’s main army would be a great achievement. If he killed Cassian as well, he might even receive the Medal of Independence—Western Beacon’s highest honor.

Then Cassian’s Spatial Lock took effect.

Piers’s Legendary Nanite Warrior Hero turned sharply toward the Gate.

"My lord, the Gate is being disrupted. It’s closing!"

"What?"

"A Spatial Lock Scroll."

The opening contracted while they spoke. Two hundred meters became a narrow slit, then nothing.

At least the Gate did not cut through living bodies as it closed. Piers stared at the empty air. Less than half the army assigned to this point had made it through.

"Someone leaked the plan!"

The accusation came out as a roar.

Every War Lord involved had been barred from external communication for the past three days. The operation should have been secret. Yet the enemy had timed the seal almost perfectly, catching them just after the Gates opened.

Piers read the notice that had appeared before him.

[Fifteen days.]

"A Legendary Spatial Lock Scroll?" His voice rose. "Damn it!"

He tried to contact the commanders at the other Gates.

Nothing.

The Communication Seal had taken hold as well. Its duration appeared, and his face twisted.

"Another fifteen days? Another Legendary scroll? Where does Divine Province get these things?"

Descending Lords could bring Legendary scrolls with them. Passing them to someone else was another matter. Items brought down from an older sector became bound for three hundred and sixty days, unless their owner died. Exemption from that binding cost hundreds or even thousands of times an item’s value.

Piers looked at the army around him. More than seventy thousand troops, all of respectable Quality. His expression remained ugly, but he quickly made his decision.

"Advance toward Divine Province at full speed. Every unit with a detection skill, keep it active. Report anything you find."

Western Beacon had assembled five million troops for this operation, more than ten times the size of Divine Province’s expedition. Every one was Rare Quality or higher.

Across the scattered landing points, only two million had crossed before the Gates closed. Almost half of those were Epic or better, and many powerful older-sector Lords had arrived with them.

Those separated forces still had the strength to win if they could join up. Blackmere was already in position beside Divine Province’s hunting grounds. Its Lords had agreed to support the attack too.

Piers pushed his own column onward.

The high-grade troops covered several hundred kilometers before his Hero brought him a new report.

"My lord. Several thousand life signs, two hundred kilometers ahead. They’re moving toward us."

The report gave him numbers and direction, little more. Compared with Crystal Seven’s Nine-Star Echo Survey, their detection was crude.

"The Black Banner Lords?"

Piers had more than seventy thousand troops. Whoever those few thousand ahead might be, he saw no reason to stop.

"Move to meet them."

Both forces advanced. The distance between them fell rapidly.

At ten kilometers, Piers saw enormous golden shapes moving at the front of the approaching force. Each was the size of a small hill.

"Golden Behemoths?"

His confidence faltered.

"That’s Divine Province’s army! How did they get here so quickly?"

As the distance shrank, he could make out the troops behind them. Light-and-Dark Templars. Hill Kings. Bone Dragons. Stormlance Valkyries. A whole corps of Dawnwings.

Sweat gathered on his forehead.

"They’ve gathered all their Legendary troops... They knew exactly where we were?"

Before he could decide what to do, twenty-four Golden Behemoths blazed with golden light and hurled themselves forward.

Each leap carried them a kilometer. In a few tremendous bounds, they were above his army, then falling into its midst.

Boom! Boom! Boom!