R landed back on the ground, regrouping with the others as the Sun Elf forces began to move. A ten-thousand strong army of Sun-Elf Spellblades bore down on them, led by seven Archons. 01R grinned.

“Now this is a fight worthy-deserving of the Wise-Mighty-Gracious Boss-Queen’s servants, yes-yes.”

Lilussees just groaned. Cominia frowned.

“Hello Mister Ratkin?”

R held his head up high and crossed his arms.

“You may call-name this one as 01R, the blessed name granted by the Wise-Mighty-Gracious Boss-Queen, yes-yes.”

Cominia furrowed her brow.

“Right…so…01R, was it? There happen to be more than the two of you? We’re a bit short-handed…and those stupid elves are Fire resistant too.”

R grinned.

“Wait and see-observe, man-thing, and we shall show-display the Wise-Mighty-Gracious Boss-Queen’s glory, yes-yes.”

He then boosted into the air and held his arm out. A massive vortex appeared in the air.

Several dungeon airships flew out into the sky, flanked by formations of drone-golems. Humanoid variants began to land on the ground along with the rest of Seero’s monsters, led by 00B.

As it turned out, powering 01R’s suit with a dungeon core had another benefit. Mainly, that as a dungeon connected to Seero, it could open an entrance to the Primary Home Base.

Cominia blinked.

“Ah. That should work. Thank you.”

Even Aulus gaped at the sight, while Amulius chuckled and shook his head. 01R smirked.

“This is only the start-beginning, yes-yes. All unit-servants, begin-commence attack!”

The flying drones launched a volley of missiles while the humanoid drone-golems formed up on the ground. Barriers formed over the Sun Elf army, and the missiles exploded overhead, dealing little damage. Then the Archons retaliated. Sun Beams, Sun Bolts, Sun Lances, and other Sun attribute spells streamed towards the airships, all boosted by the light overhead. The dungeon airships created barriers of their own, stopping the spells. However, cracks began to form on the barriers.

Snuan, sitting on an elevated throne in the bridge of the lead dungeon ship, jumped and squeaked as an alarm started blaring.

“K-Kill-slay those elf-things, you crazy fanatic! O-Our ship-things can’t repel-resist firepower of that magnitude!”

R nodded as Snuan’s voice came in over the comms. The dungeon ships may have had an endless supply of mana, but only a finite quantity of it was available at any one time, and their mana density did not come close to the Wise-Mighty-Gracious Boss-Queen’s. Their barriers would not hold forever. The dungeon ships themselves were protected by Spatial Angling and a dungeon’s ability to repair damage to itself, but that did not extend to the other drone-golems…or to the people on the ground. So it would be wise of him to target the biggest threat on the battlefield.

He turned to look at his fellow servants…plus a few allies or two who dared not to bow at the Wise-Mighty-Gracious Boss-Queen’s feet.

“The drone-golems shall block-distract the weaker elf-things, we shall attack-assault the strong ones, yes yes. I and Lilussees shall handle-defeat one each.”

He turned to Amulius and his party.

“Can you insolent man-things handle one yourselves, yes yes?”

Amulius rubbed his chin, then slowly nodded.

“I don’t know if we can defeat an Archon, but we should be able to contain them for a while.”

R sighed. But perhaps that was the best he could expect from man-things who were not blessed to follow the Wise-Mighty-Gracious Boss-Queen.

“That will have to do-suffice. Then, 00B, Estrith, you two must lead-guide the others to confront-face four. Can I count-rely on you? You can take the insolent snake-man-thing with you.”

Agedia smirked.

“Thanks. But sure, I’ll help.”Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

B looked up at the Archons, his robotic eye flickering. A flash of lighting surged around his eye as 00B-Beta assisted with the calculations. He then turned to 01R and grunted. 01R frowned.

“Four is a lot for a clean fight, you predict-calculate?”

R rubbed his chin. 00B’s analysis of the power the Archons were displaying indicated a significant chance of taking casualties if their group had to deal with four simultaneously. Only two dungeon suits were ready, so the rest of the CELIU units would be fighting on their own, and most could not match the Archons in mana output.

“How about three?”

At that moment, everyone turned around. Nolnyth had jumped out of the Primary Home Base where she had retreated to, and flew down to the group. Cominia smirked at her.

“Oh, is the cowardly little Archon suddenly feeling brave?”

Nolnyth scoffed.

“Only a fool rushes to confront a High-Archon unprepared. But the Queen of the Dobhar, unlike every other human I have ever met, has surpassed my expectations.”

Nolnyth turned as Cominia scowled, facing 01R.

“You there, servant of the Queen of the Dobhar. I will assist you, so long as you allow me to face Madanri alone. He and I have a score to settle, now that the High-Archon is no longer forcing us to play nice.”

R grinned. The elf-thing’s tone was insulting, but she at least understood his relationship with the Wise-Mighty-Gracious Boss-Queen. And more importantly, if she could handle another elf-thing on her own, then the rest of their group only needed to deal with three.

“Understood-agreed, yes yes. 00B, can you handle three?”

B’s robotic eye flickered, and then he nodded and roared.

“Well said-stated! Charge-attack, servants of the Wise-Mighty-Gracious Boss-Queen!”

R boosted into the air. The Archons, frustrated by the lack of burning airships, were trying other elements. Fireballs, Light Beams, Water Lances, Lighting strikes, boulders from the ground, spouts of lava, and other such spells assaulted the dungeon ships’ barriers. 01R shot through the hail of spells, his cybernetic components tracking the mana signatures and plotting out his course as the suit layered Dash spells on its powerful repulsors. He quickly evaded the barrage and rocketed towards the nearest Archon. She frowned and formed a barrier as 01R arrived. His lance collided with a crash, screeching as enchanted metal scratched against the sun-powered mana shield.

Two more Archons turned to attack the armored rat. But Lilussees assaulted one with a Prismatic Bombardment, who hurriedly turned to their own defense. The third shot a Sun Beam…only for a similar spell to collide with his midair, canceling it out. His face contorted in rage as Nolnyth flew towards him.

“Traitor!”

Nolnyth narrowed her eyes at him as she prepared another spell.

“I’ve been looking forward to this.”

She lobbed a ball of white flames at the Archon. He evaded, but was forced to put up a barrier as the ball exploded nearby.

On the ground, the drone-golems had engaged the Spellblades. Machine guns, missiles, and lasers continued to fire, but the Spellblades were no mere rank and file soldiers. Even the weakest Sun Elf warrior in the High-Archon's personal guard was a foe that surpassed an Imperial legionary several times over. Those who focused on the mystic arts put up barriers that blocked any firepower a mass-produced drone could output, while those who trained their bodies simply ignored the barrage as it bounced off their HP and enchanted armor. Powerful spells demolished squads of drone-golems while enchanted blades cut through armor plating with ease.

But…there were a great many of the drone-golems. And most of all…they had help.

Within the CELIU network, 00B-Beta watched through a thousand optical sensors. It reached into the CELIU combat protocol database, running combat analysis protocols acquired from 00B and the Great Mother herself to determine the ideal solution. It selected the chosen protocol and applied it to the drone-golems.

Bolts of lightning, code, and mana shot out of the drone-golems to one another, zigzagging and linking them before shooting towards the quadcopter spell-drones hovering just above. Spell circles began to form in the air…and link together into larger magic circles.

Thanks to 00B-Beta…the drones could now Ritual Cast all on their own.

Powerful barriers began to block the spells shot by the Sun Elves, while the melee fighters were assaulted by Fusion Beams that they couldn’t just shrug off. The elven army was pushed back, and so could not intervene as 00B led the cyborgs and their allies towards the remaining Archons.

Amulius charged up an arrow with a Hero skill and let it loose, cracking one of the Archon’s barriers. The Archon noticed and launched a blast of fire towards the hero…only for Cominia to block with a Fire Barrier of her own while Aulus laid down a Recovery ward to boost them all. The Archon scowled and turned his attention to the group.

One of the remaining Archons turned to assault the group while the other two focused on the airships. A Sun Beam shot towards the incoming cyborgs…but 00Sylvan and 00SO were ready, the cyborg dryad and Sacred Otterkin replicating Seero and Ateia’s defense. Holy-empowered cyber-trees grew in front and absorbed the Sun Beams, before firing back with the improvised railguns 00Sylvan had weaved into their branches.

Estrith and Agedia shot past the Archon as she defended herself from the railguns, aiming towards the remaining two. Their target noticed and launched a wave of fire with a swing of his hand. Estrith boosted in front of Agedia and formed a Water Barrier. The Barrier doused some of the flames, and then Estrith tanked the rest. She may not have had Uscfrea’s infamous magic resistance, but her high-level Dobhar fur was still quite tough. She then boosted away even as her fire suppression systems doused the flames on her body, clearing the way for Agedia. Agedia’s lance pierced through the Archon’s barrier, forcing him to beat a hasty retreat to avoid being impaled.

Within the lead dungeon airship, Snuan watched as the number of Archons assaulting their barriers dropped. At this point, only a single Archon was still flinging spells their way. A single ship could now block the barrage.

And she had three. Snuan grinned.

“Fire-shoot at will, yes-yes!”

The verbal command was just force of habit as Snuan’s cybernetic components were linked to the ships in question. Her mana carried her command as per her Golem Commander skills had before, providing both instructions to the golem cores powering various systems in the ships, and using the additional mana to enhance the cores’ capabilities. The systems thus leaped to execute her will.

The two flanking airships switched to the offense, and Prismatic Bombardments opened fire on the remaining Archon, who was forced to focus on barriers of his own.

And so the battle raged both above and below…