Chapter 367: Rank XVIII

A Royal Palace was more than a kingdom’s grandest Building. It was the seat from which the ruler issued commands and appointed officials.

Destroy it, and the bonuses attached to those offices would temporarily fail.

The Bloodmaw army would lose a substantial part of its strength.

Until that happened, Cassian had no intention of facing more than a billion Orcs head-on. Pandora’s Elves were no more willing to try.

Several days before the invasion, the Orcs had used Spatial Lock Scrolls to seal the forest. Maereth had anticipated the attack and begun moving the Elven Lords and their Domains farther into the rear.

The Crown Lords hunting in Pandora were much less prepared for the news.

Nerissa posted a recording in the Homeworld Channel. Endless ranks of Orcs were marching into the forest.

[Nerissa Vaust: Cassian hasn’t told you, has he? An Orc army is invading Pandora!]

[Nerissa Vaust: Lords of the thirteen Crown Provinces, that forest will soon be a wasteland. Abandon your Domains and run while you still can!]

Information did not flow freely between Homeworld Lords and the native powers. Most of the hunters had heard vague reports about Orcs. They had no idea an invasion on this scale was coming.

Even the spatial seals had seemed familiar. After what had happened to the unauthorized settlements, many assumed another group from Western Beacon or its allies had slipped into Pandora.

The recording destroyed that comfortable assumption.

[How many Orcs are there?]

[That really does look like Pandora!]

[What are we supposed to do?]

Panic spread among a million Crown Lords.

Darian and the others were worried too. They had confidence in their strength, but that did not mean they could stand against an army numbering in the billions.

Cassian saw the recording as soon as it appeared. He had stopped using Silence Scrolls to ambush Orc forces for the moment; he needed to keep receiving news from outside.

"Troublesome."

He opened the Channel.

[Cassian Vale: There’s no need to panic. Keep hunting. Everything is proceeding according to plan.]

The Crown hunting grounds lay fifty to sixty thousand kilometers from the forest’s border. Even the Orcs’ finest vanguard would need several days to cross that distance.

His enemies found the reassurance laughable.

[Gavin Roswell: I admire your composure, Lord Cassian. Still pretending that everything is under control.]

[Gavin Roswell: If you’d ordered an evacuation before the forest was sealed, you could have withdrawn with your reputation intact. Now your arrogance will cost the Crown its finest War Lords. What a tragedy.]

Gavin had avoided mocking Cassian for quite some time. Experience had taught him that such remarks tended to come back to haunt him.

This time was different.

He simply could not imagine a way for Cassian to turn the situation around.

Nessa answered with a cold little smile.

[Nessa Fenwick: How could a sprout understand an eagle’s ambition? You have no idea what Cassian is planning. None of you can see beyond your own little pond.]

Beside her, Elara covered her face.

"It’s a sparrow."

Darian was more interested in something else.

"Nessa. What is he planning?"

She blinked.

"How would I know?"

The others stared at her.

"You sounded awfully certain for someone who knows nothing," Lyra said suspiciously.

Everyone nodded.

Cassian’s ties with the Fenwicks had grown closer by the day. Add Nessa’s absolute confidence, and it was easy to reach a different conclusion.

Darian moved first. The others spread out around her.

"Tell us the truth, Nessa. Make this easy on yourself."

"He told you everything during the Warden contest last year too! He’s doing it again!"

"Don’t leave her a gap. If she gets past us, we’ll never catch her."

Nessa looked around the tightening circle in outrage.

"This is unfair! I’m telling Cassian!"

Her protests only grew louder.

"I really don’t know! Darian, stop pinching my cheeks!"

——

"Elder Maereth, how much farther are we going to retreat?"

Caldrin could no longer hide his anxiety.

"At this rate, we could lose all of Pandora within half a month."

The other Elders spoke up at once.

"Then we fight. We can’t stand by and watch those filthy Orcs destroy our forest!"

"The Divines devastated Pandora and reduced its map rank. This is the last homeland our people have!"

"We still have room to maneuver. We can strike and withdraw. Even if our people die here, we’ll make the Orcs pay!"

Maereth felt the same urgency. She kept it from her face.

"Three more days. If nothing changes, we’ll fight to the end. We will live or die with Pandora."

Cassian had sent word through a messenger earlier. Together with what she knew of the Gates available to Homeworld Lords in the Outer Realms, it suggested one possible plan.

A thoroughly absurd plan.

Before the others could argue, a cool voice spoke from the head of the gathering.

"Elders, I am my lord’s Hero now. There are things I cannot disclose."

They had insisted that Sylvara take the place of honor. She sat there, her beautiful face showing no trace of doubt.

"But I have been with him long enough to know this. He has never disappointed us."

Respect for their queen kept the Elders from contradicting her.

It did little to quiet their doubts.

Her Lord was powerful. He even commanded Heaven’s Battle Array.

But what could one Lord possibly do against this invasion?

——

One day later, Cassian completed the preparations for his Domain’s advancement. He had paid for his return home; now he committed the required resources and confirmed the upgrade.

[Your Lord’s Hall has advanced to Rank XVIII.]

[Building unlocked: Palace.]

[Domain area increased to 3,000,000 square meters.]

"At last."

Cassian smiled at the notice.

After the previous round of army growth, he had held a hundred and twenty billion Battle Essence. His income had hardly stopped since then.

The ten thousand Eclipse recruits ordered at Rank XVII had completed their normal recruitment cycle, with their growth and required Hall trials paid for. That brought the ordinary hunting force back in Riftward to seventy thousand. It earned him around one billion eight hundred million Battle Essence each day—roughly two hundred billion over this period.

His main army’s raids across the Grimward Steppe had been even more profitable, averaging about three billion a day.

Add the smaller sources of income, subtract construction and other necessary expenses, and his current reserve stood at six hundred and fifty billion.

"The home guard can wait. This is enough for the force going with me."

He paid for their growth.

Light rose through the ranks as the expedition’s combat troops advanced to Level 95.

Cassian turned to the Buildings next. The newly unlocked Palace offered no immediate increase to combat attributes. It could wait.

The Faerie Dragon Nest could not.

He brought out the Legendary Blueprint recovered from the old Nest, committed the prepared materials, and paid to build it in the Deep Layer. Then he paid the completion and successive upgrade costs.

"Faerie Dragon Nest. Level eighteen."

He selected the Pool as well.

"Dawnwing Rebirth Pool. Level eighteen."

High-grade resources vanished into the two Buildings.

Deep within the Domain’s folded space, an enormous pink-and-white Nest rose and expanded. Its interwoven structure spread a kilometer across and climbed hundreds of meters high. The Faerie Dragons darted through it in small forms, fluttering between its openings like delighted moths.

"Dragon Buildings take up far too much room."

Cassian studied its dimensions with a troubled expression.

"Without the Folded Sanctuary, this one Nest would take roughly a third of my Domain."

Mara had run into much the same problem. Her Dragon Tomb had forced her onto the path of a City Lord.

He put that thought aside and opened the new Building details.

The Level-18 Nest had gained a trait.

[Phase Dispatch]

[Instantly transport Faerie Dragons to designated positions within 100 kilometers of the Nest. Spatial Locks below Mythic Quality cannot prevent this movement.]

"It ignores Spatial Locks?"

That caught his attention.

Within that range, his Faerie Dragons could appear wherever a battle needed them. The hundred-kilometer limit meant it would be most useful when defending his Domain, but it was still an excellent ability.

The Pool’s new feature was a troop skill.

[Fervor]

[Dawnwing Arcanists, Vanguards, and Marshals may burn Aether to greatly increase their Physique.]

"A burst skill!"

His eyes brightened.

"The Dawnwing corps finally has one."

The Pool kept giving him good reasons to invest in it. Resurrection at Level 7 had already saved valuable troops, and Sacred Light at Level 12 had strengthened the Domain’s defenses. Fervor was another welcome addition.

Rank XVIII had been worth the wait.

The Eclipse Muster Hall mattered most to him, but its upgrade could wait. The Eclipse corps was staying home for this battle.

His expedition’s troops were now Level 95. The gap between them and the Bloodmaw Court’s usual forces had narrowed considerably.

Cassian paid the Gate’s opening cost and swept a hand through the air.

"Prepare for battle."

Beyond the opening lay the heart of the Bloodmaw Court.