“Well, that was a giant waste of time and mana!” Baba Smert’ hissed as two more command bunkers were plowed under by redirected meteors. One of the D’Orcs had even managed to knock an ice dragon and lich commander out of the sky with a meteor. Shortly after that, the avatars had taken to the sky with glowing Rods of Energy to begin knocking meteors out of the sky as well.
Ramses shook his head. “I have to say it again. Just as when he battled Talarius, that demon has some odd ideas of combat. Very good ideas, but most unusual.”
“Yes, and now he’s teaching his tricks to the D’Orcs and the avatars of the Five Siblings. I think we need to upgrade his threat potential,” Exador said.
“Threat potential? Of course he’s a threat! He’s the grandson of Zeus! Children of Olympus should always be considered extremely dangerous!” Praelgeis hissed angrily at the archdemons as if they were ignorant children.
“Grandson of Zeus?” Ramses shook his head in surprise. “I thought he was a demon, not a god. And certainly not an Olympian!”
Exador suddenly felt a tad nauseous.
“He is not an Olympian. He refused to join the pantheon,” Baba Smert’ hissed. “He refuses to join any pantheon; he is an Atheist!”
“That seems a bit odd, for a god not to believe in other gods,” Ramses observed.
Baba Smert’s embers darkened for a moment, as if she was closing her eyes in frustration while speaking to a moron. “Not an atheist, but an Atheist, with a capital A,” she hissed.
“An Atheist is someone who does not believe that the gods have divine right to rule over the mortal realms,” Praelgeis explained. “Some even seek to overthrow the gods. The El’adasir believe Orcus is one of these, but the Lords of Chaos are not so convinced.”
“The Lords of Chaos?” Exador asked. “You mean those gods who have refused to sign the Concord of Conciliation?”
“That is not their defining characteristic. Their refusal to sign is a matter of their nature. The Concord of Conciliation is a tool of the Lords of Law; it maintains order within the multiverse. It is therefore contrary to the rather self-explanatory goals of the Lords of Chaos,” Daerth Tromlane explained, once more as if instructing children.
Exador really did not like these foul beings. Unfortunately, overturning the status quo of the Abyss required strange bedfellows. It was most inconvenient.
“Anyway, time for Plan C — or is it Plan D?” Ramses asked, inciting burning red glares and hisses from the three Storm Lords.
Praelgeis shook his head and turned to his general-adjutant. “Have them start assembling the Tomb Gate. We need to establish a gateway to Necropolis.”
Baba Smert’ hissed angrily, “Is that safe? Things here are bad. If they capture it, they can use it to bypass our defenses and strike at the heart of the Necrology!”
“Do we have a choice?” Praelgeis hissed back. “If we are to salvage this, we need to break out the Doom Busters. The only way to get them here before we are all ashes is to use the Tomb Gate.”
Baba Smert’ shook her head, but said nothing.
Praelgeis nodded towards his general-adjutant to proceed.
“Which ones will you use?” Daerth Tromlane asked.
Praelgeis shrugged. “I am open to suggestions. I am not sure we have the mana resources to use more than a few. We were simply not prepared for this situation.”
Chapter 147
“That is a seriously big gateway,” Ramses said, shaking his head in awe.
“I will admit that it is impressive wizardry,” Exador said in agreement. “A portal that large which can span the distance to Necropolis? And it’s portable!”
It had taken nearly two hours for Praelgeis’s minions to assemble and test the Tomb Gate, but they now had it open. It was a massive portal, approximately one hundred feet wide and perhaps seventy feet tall. It was also rather unusual-looking. It contained a number of runes that Exador was not familiar with, some of them slightly disturbing.