The Innkeeper



Something unusual happened once the battalion left the fort. The frequency of attacks on the fort itself dropped, though they did not disappear completely. But that decrease in frequency did not actually make their lives easier as with the battalion gone, a bulk of their fighting force had disappeared.

The remaining soldiers felt somewhat resentful at the battalion for leaving them, but only a few were clearheaded enough to realize that the battalion was not really responsible for everyone's security to begin with. Moreover, going and interfering with the enemy's plan might just allow them to survive until someone finally noticed what was happening here. Although, the fact that it had been so long without any communication was enough to let them know something was terribly amiss. But with no other solution available to them, all they could do was hope.

Of course, the Midnight Battalion could do a lot more than just hope. Many things were outside of their control, but they could at least ensure that their enemies' plans failed. 1000 had reported to Luthor that the enemy wanted to pull the entire planet into the void using some kind of formation they were building.

Destroying that was integral to ensuring that they could even be rescued at all! Then, Luthor also had a mind to capture some prisoners for later interrogation. Finally, there was that ultimate charm of 'watching your enemy's plans fail to come to fruition and knowing it was all because of you' waiting for them. 

It had taken 1000 many hours to reach the cliff on his own, so one would assume that the battalion would take even longer since there were more people. However, over the course of their service, the battalion had experienced many harvests, and one of those was a passive augmentation technique.

The technique worked on the principle of resonance, and the more people using it, the greater the resonance would be. It was not useful in actual combat situations, as the circulation of spiritual energy within one's body required to use the technique was fairly complex and would clash with any other spiritual techniques.

However, in situations like this, when they were together during a long march, the technique was absolutely exceptional. It passively boosted the speed, strength and endurance of everyone using the technique, and the scale of the improvement depended on the number of people actually using it.

Such an augmentation, when accompanied by the already formidable support provided by their suits, made it so that the battalion maintained a high speed and were actually physically recovering during their march rather than getting exhausted.

This way, they could transition directly into a fight from a long march, making the technique suitable for surprise assaults.

This particular trait of the technique came in especially handy because numerous times on their march they were attacked by either roaming Void Dwellers, or new tears were opened around them.

Suffice to say that they quickly realized that they were somehow being monitored by someone or something so discreet they were unable to detect it. But knowing that information did not help, as none of them could figure out how it was being done.

But all the frequent fights did was slow them down. It neither harmed any of them, nor did it wear them down due to the amazing physical enhancements and recovery boost the technique offered.

Even so, it took them only eight hours to reach the cliff and, along with it, the massive army that was already waiting for them. It came as no surprise that their movements were no secret, and so the enemy had sufficient time to prepare.

At the base of the cliff, a small army of Void Dwellers was waiting for them, while the real threat stood at the top, waiting for them to get closer.

The battalion did not slow down at all. Instead, it only moved faster.

*****

In the dark room, where many figures were watching the battle play out, Rocketfellow was giving updates from time to time about many things that were happening off screen. For example, although they had no way to record what happened in the alliance headquarters, he did get an update on what happened there shortly after.

"It seems the Midnight Inn has sent reinforcements, and they were not secretive about it," he said with a broad smile. "Moreover, the reinforcements only number two, and are not so strong. They are most likely a diversion or a trap. It's also interesting to note that the reinforcements arrived from the headquarters, instead of teleporting from somewhere nearer to BGY-987. Would anyone care to venture what assumptions we can draw from this?"

The devil was treating this completely like an exercise, and genuinely seemed to be analyzing things for future attempts. Most found such a mindset reassuring, as no one wanted to offend a powerful enemy for no reason, and that is exactly what the Inn would become if their involvement was revealed.

Two of the participants, however, were extremely dissatisfied with this approach. One was the Gilati, who was desperate to get their hands on a hostage. They would not wait millions of years to force out Jill from the Inn. The other was the believer of Ra. Although he no longer voiced his opinion, he was filled with indignation and an intense desire for revenge.

But he had at least learned one thing from the devil, which was to follow a plan. Silently and secretly, the zealot had transmitted the information about this planet to the other surviving members of their religion. Soon, they would be relieved from the boredom of this tame play, and watch a real performance.

Yet the zealot missed the hidden grin Rocketfellow wore whenever he looked at him. Just as he expected, the scapegoat was acting predictably. One of the things that he really wanted to study… was how the Inn would react upon the death of a few of its members. This information was crucial for future plans. 

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