Chapter 54

Relying on the safe route information provided by the scout squad, the main force of three thousand jackal-men began to move. They broke into smaller units of a hundred, like countless gray streams, silently flooding through the rugged caves along the moss-covered hidden paths marked by the scouts.

Of course, the operation was not without setbacks; one company nearly alerted two sentries on the opposite bank of an underground river while crossing it, but their captain acted decisively, ordering the entire unit to remain submerged in the freezing water for half an hour until the guards changed shift.

Another unit encountered a swarm of subterranean shell-scorpions; after a brief, silent battle, they eliminated the swarm but left several soldiers poisoned, forced to leave them hidden until rescue could be arranged after the operation ended.

Ultimately, within the scheduled time, three thousand jackal-men appeared like phantoms at their designated attack positions surrounding the earth giant war-fortress. They lay hidden in the shadows of rocks, abandoned mineshafts, and beneath dried riverbeds.

A silent, deadly noose had been firmly tightened around the neck of Blackclaw Pass—and the earth giants remained utterly unaware. The Black Dragon Duke’s rapid-response force had proven their worth and terror with a textbook-perfect behind-enemy-lines infiltration.

When the final messenger delivered the signal—specific owl hoots confirming the Twentieth Company was in position—the entire subterranean world fell into the deathly silence before a storm. Ironclaw, the jackal-man commander, stood at his command post, the faint glow of the subterranean river illuminating the grotesque scars on his face. He drew a deep breath and emitted a bat’s squeak—the signal to attack.

The bat’s distinctive cry, low and clear, reached every company commander and was translated into the internal cipher of the Rapid Response Force. “Listen to my order! Deception squads, storm the main gate! Create chaos, draw their fire!”

“Main assault squads, scale Shadowstrike Cliff! Break through and seize the walls, open the gates!”

“Infiltration squads, enter through the Filth Path! Set explosions, burn the granaries and animal pens!”

“All forces, attack!”

No rousing speeches—only the clearest, coldest orders. The commands, like stones dropped into still water, instantly sent ripples of destruction spreading.

The moment the order was given, thunderous war drums and jackal-men’s savage roars erupted at the fortress’s main gate. Hundreds of jackal-men soldiers emerged from behind massive boulders; they did not charge in dense formation, but spread out loosely, shielding vital areas with shields, pouring arrows and javelins toward the gate.

“Attack! Main gate! All men to the walls!” The earth giants’ shrill alarm echoed through the fortress.

As planned, the main gate became the defenders’ focal point. The wall garrisons were completely drawn in—the twang of crossbows, the thud of trebuchets, officers’ barks—all merged together. Logs and boulders rained down like hail, arrows carpeting the area before the deception squad.

The deception squad’s soldiers used the terrain to dodge nimbly, staging a lifelike assault where every step backward was stained with comrades’ blood—but they succeeded in pinning the fortress’s overwhelming attention firmly on the main gate.

Even as the main gate erupted in battle, true danger stirred beneath the southeast’s Shadowstrike Cliff. The main assault squad, long hidden there, moved like spectral shadows, beginning their silent climb. They used hooked ropes and sharp claw-gloves to scale the rough rock face; the noisy footsteps of earth giant soldiers rushing to reinforce the walls above perfectly masked their subtle movements.

The first jackal-man soldier peeked over the wall—only two earth giant sentries remained, necks craned to watch the commotion at the main gate. Cold blades slashed across their throats from behind; they never uttered a warning.

More and more jackal-man elites surged onto the wall like a gray tide. They did not pause, splitting into two groups: one raced down the inner staircases like tigers descending a mountain, striking the defenders’ backs as they focused on the main gate; the other stormed directly for the gatehouse, aiming to eliminate the gatekeepers, lower the drawbridge, and open the massive gate!

Almost simultaneously as the main assault squad reached the wall, the infiltration squad had successfully slipped through the rusted drainage grates into the fortress interior. The stench and stagnant water of the channel were their best cover. Like ink dropped into clear water, they spread rapidly within the fortress, moving in pairs, guided by reconnaissance maps toward their targets.

A massive explosion erupted toward the granaries—flames shot skyward, thick smoke billowing. The cages holding war-wolves were pried open; terrified war-wolves burst forth, tearing indiscriminately at friend and foe, further intensifying the chaos within.

At the same time, shouts of rage from the earth giant chieftain and the clash of weapons echoed from the command post—the infiltration team’s elites had already engaged his personal guard!

Amid the heavy creak of winches and the clatter of chains, the massive iron-banded gate of Blackrock Pass was slowly lowered from within! The drawbridge crashed down onto the opposite bank, proclaiming victory. In the instant the gate swung open, the main force of jackal-men, long waiting on the periphery under Iron Claw’s personal command, let out a roar like a storm surge.

[22] Amid the heavy creak of winches and the clatter of chains, the massive iron-banded gate of Blackrock Pass was slowly lowered from within! The drawbridge crashed down onto the opposite bank, proclaiming victory. In the instant the gate swung open, the main force of jackal-men, long waiting on the periphery under Iron Claw’s personal command, let out a roar like a storm surge.

[22] With the heavy groan of winches and the clatter of chains, the massive iron-banded gate of Blackrock Pass slowly lowered from within! The drawbridge crashed heavily onto the opposite bank, proclaiming victory. The instant the gate swung open, the main jackal-man force—waiting in reserve under Ironclaw’s personal command—roared like a tidal wave.

An hour later, the cries of battle faded, the fight nearing its end; only mopping up scattered enemies remained. Only then did Ironclaw take time to “appreciate” the earth giant war-fortress. The jackal-man commander seemed deeply satisfied with his masterpiece.

He sniffed deeply—the air was thick with a cloying, sweet stench of blood, nearly overpowering the subterranean world’s natural sulfur odor. Intertwined with it was the faint, rotting stink of corpses, the smoldering reek of burning wood, and the pungent odor of herbal disinfectant being splashed by jackal-men soldiers to mask the smell.

Everywhere he looked, the earth giants’ carefully placed spikes and caltrops were stained with black blood. The several watchtowers embedded with “True Sight” crystals now stood dark, their surfaces scarred by axe blows and scorched by explosions, the crystals themselves shattered halfway—like eyes gouged out.

Outside the main gate was where the fiercest fighting had occurred. Earth giant corpses piled atop one another, mixed with the few remains of jackal-men from the deception squad, nearly covering the ground. The massive gate bore deep gouges from axes, swords, and blades, and dried bloodstained handprints—testimony to the brutality of the deception and the despair of its final breach from within.

Smoke still rose from the granaries, but the fire was contained, leaving only blackened skeletons. The animal pens were utterly destroyed; corpses of war-wolves and earth giant mounts lay scattered among the ruins. Jackal-men soldiers formed “cleaner” squads, silently separating, carrying, and stacking the dead of both sides.

“Bloodscar, have the casualty figures been compiled?”

“Report, Commander: twenty-three dead, twenty-six incapacitated, one hundred fifteen wounded. Two thousand three hundred earth giants killed, two hundred thirty-five captured.”

“Also seized: one thousand five hundred spears, five hundred longswords, three hundred short blades, one hundred three crossbows, two tons of grain, five thousand gold coins, and three enchanted crystal orbs.”

“Good. Execute the captives. Take all corpses, grain, weapons, and treasure. Erase all traces of our presence. I want these treacherous bastards to know the power of the Rapid Response Force.”

………

“Father, why are you here in person? Has something happened?”

“Indeed. I heard some chromatic dragons have grown restless again—I came to investigate. After too long in the lab, it’s time to step out. How are our recent victories?”

“The jackal-men have captured five earth giant war-fortresses. The fishman raiding squads have taken three kuo-toa cities. I believe it’s time to begin clearing the drow and duergar cities.”

“You’ve done well. What’s the reaction from the subterranean factions?”

“A few duergar cities sent envoys to inquire. I told them you were conducting experiments to capture kuo-toa—they haven’t found any yet, and any evidence of our destruction of earth giants is merely suspicion.”

“The jackal-men’s performance pleases me greatly. This is exactly how the Rapid Response Force should operate. Take me to see the kuo-toa city—I’ve always been curious what their buildings look like.”

Sakavi, in his dragon-man form, followed the fishman commander into the heavily guarded city. Though Sakavi often tormented kuo-toa, using them in various necromantic experiments, he had never truly studied their architecture.

From outside, the city did not appear built—it seemed to have grown. At its center was a massive, slowly pulsing hot spring vent, spewing black, sulfurous fluid. Structures were constructed from colossal, twisted coral, giant skeletons of sea monsters, and luminous deep-sea lava veins.

These materials were bound together by a viscous, still-wriggling asphalt-like substance, making the entire city resemble a vast, living, diseased organism—not a constructed edifice.

Inside, the city held no straight lines or symmetrical structures. All houses and watchtowers twisted into irregular spirals, blisters, or tentacle-like forms, swaying gently with faint currents. Streets were natural fissures winding between coral and rock—not planned pathways.

Light came not from torches, but from bioluminescent moss clinging to walls, captive glowing bacteria trapped in transparent jellyfish or crystal veins, and fluorescent thermal flows spewing from the hot spring, laden with minerals. The entire city was bathed in an eerie glow of emerald, cyan, and crimson—shadows twisting and flickering in the water like an eternal nightmare.

The shattered corpses of kuo-toa and their tamed, grotesque aquatic beasts—giant mantis shrimp and mutated octopus remains—did not lie on the ground but floated in the water or lodged in coral branches, swaying gently like some horrific decoration. Many spiral coral towers had been violently shattered, revealing their hive-like interiors, fractured edges glowing with unstable residual energy.

Fully armed fishman troops patrolled the city. They rudely toppled the kuo-toa’s bizarre idols, inlaid with pearls and deep-sea gems, replacing them with black stone stelae carved with the Black Dragon emblem. These obsidian obelisks not only symbolized dominion—they continuously emitted a suppressive dragon aura, instilling primal fear in the remaining kuo-toa captives.

The Hot Spring Temple was the city’s heart—once where kuo-toa priests performed bloody sacrifices and communed with their dark god. Now, the altar’s bones had been cleared away; in their place, the fishman overseer was counting loot: mountains of pearls, magical coral, and rare metal ores mined from the deep hot spring.

“We can’t use these resources. Clean them out and destroy everything. Next phase targets the duergar. The drow have many agents in the Shadow Intelligence Bureau—we can’t eradicate them entirely. Let them convert their followers instead.”

“But Father, the drow worship Luo Si. She won’t allow you to touch her followers. Many in the Shadow Intelligence Bureau secretly liaise with them—this is an unstable factor. We should eliminate them outright.”

“Leave faith matters to your Aunt Klasuna. She’s the Red Prelate of the War Church. If Luo Si has complaints, let her take them to the War Church.”

“That’s a clever solution. Honestly, I’m surprised Aunt Klasuna actually gained the War Church’s approval—and even secured numerous magical tomes from the Saint Lucad Cathedral.”

“I’m surprised too. Her portal to the Abyss is far more stable than mine. I should’ve had her become a priest instead.”