Although it had been a while since Nate had discovered the main Dalki base, he wasn't instructed to step on the planet on his own; instead, he was called to another planet to change the type of ship they would be using for this battle.
Instead of the small combat ship, they would use one of the medium-sized vessels deployed in this area from the main Cursed ship.
Currently, he was waiting patiently, having moved away from the main Dalki ship.
For one, he was worried that if he stayed around too long, the enemy might dispatch forces to attack him. A space fight wasn't exactly in his best interest, and the Dalki ships were just as good if not better than those that earth had, which was why Humans preferred combat on the planets rather than in space.
At the same time, a large uncrewed drone ship was monitoring the planet. It was also being used to get an energy reading from the planet. Because of this, it didn't matter if Nate let it out of his sight or not.
While waiting at the given coordinates, the new ship finally came into sight, and he couldn't help but stare at it with stars in his eyes.
"Whoa...that's what we will be using...it looks so cool." It was a medium-sized vessel for a crew of around twenty-five at most. However, it was nothing like he had seen in the military designs before.
The front nose of the ship was quite pointed, while the top had a large living area with two curved apertures that looked like wings. It looked like it had the momentum of a combat ship, yet clearly wasn't the size of one, and Nate was correct with his guess.
This ship was one that Logan had specially made. Whenever he would have free time, he was always trying to come up with new inventions, and he knew that a fast, agile ship that could carry the main bulk of the Cursed leaders would be needed one day, which was exactly what he had made.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Nate, thank you for waiting; please approach the ship now." A familiar voice said.
Following the instructions, Nate moved in no time.
Nate noticed that the inside was just as impressive as the outside upon boarding the ship. It reminded him of the feeling the first time he had entered the Big Bertha, which was now the Cursed ship created by the military.
Only, the design in this place suited more modern attics. It was streamlined smooth; hardly any edges or wires could be seen. It almost didn't feel like he was in a ship at all. Heading towards the ship's bridge, he soon ran into Logan and Layla.
He had been informed a bit about the plan and the good news, but not all the fine details that would be explained after everyone arrived.
"I'm glad to see the both of you are okay...we had a tough time on our end," Nate said, but as soon as he spoke these words, he could see that Layla wasn't exactly in the best of shapes.
Her arm had been reattached relatively easily, but she touched it as soon as Nate said that and had brought upon a wave of crashing memories.
"I'm sure we will all want to share our experiences, but let's wait until the rest of us arrive. We will discuss the plans once everyone comes and talk to each other about our battles."
Now, it was a waiting game for the group, but it didn't take long for the other groups to arrive since they had been on standby, waiting for the following instructions. The first to arrive was Peter, and along with him was the sixth vampire leader Jake Muscat. Other than him, Peter had his lesser Wights, though only bringing three with him in total this time: Legs, Headless Hilston and the Humanoid Dalki with the long claw-like hands.
Judging from the looks on everyone's faces, they were pretty surprised that Peter could use one of the Humanoid Dalki.
As Logan suggested, they kept the questions to themselves, for now, waiting for the others to arrive as well. The next group that was to reach was Linda and Fex, and lastly, the whole of the Blade family came. Vorden, Raten, Sil and Borden had all come together.
All of them were seated around a round table, where as usual, Logan would display a holographic screen talking about the plan before the group got into action.
"So the latest readings claim two things. First, the current force on the Main Dalki base planet is no more than the other forces we have fought against. Now, this doesn't mean it would a hundred per cent be the case; after all, there might be places that the device had missed, or perhaps the enemy has a way of creating more Dalki like the ones we have all faced - the new Gen Dalki.
"However, I would guess that it's unlikely. From my discussions with Sam...they probably didn't think we would get this far. But thanks to our power increase in addition to the vampires, most battles that we would have fought and lost had the opposite outcome. Also, using the demon tier device, we can confirm that the demon tier beast is still present as well.
"Our ship has a camouflage ability, making it nearly invisible and silent. It will take some time for us to land as the momentum is drastically decreased, but after that, the crystals will continue to power the ship's camouflage while we will head to the location of the demon tier beast's reading."
"This should be easy for us then," Peter said with his arms crossed. "We took out our enemy easily, and now it looks like the Cursed faction is back together again. Even if your little reader thing is half wrong, I think we can still deal with whatever is coming our way."
The others seemed to agree, at least the ones that had an easier time defeating the enemy.
"We haven't talked about it much, but on our planet, there was a five spike Humanoid Dalki," Layla mentioned. "I heard the rest of you went up against four spikes...there's a big difference in their power, and it might be the reason that Graham chose to freely leave this place instead of protecting the Demon tier beast."
"A five spike!?" Fex replied in shock. They had gotten the report of their success but not the details of what had happened. "We had a lot of trouble just against One Horn...I can't imagine."
"Well, this time, you have the Blades and us," Peter replied. "I know you guys struggled, and we struggled before too, but it won't be the same as before, and besides, Layla and the others somehow managed to defeat it, which means we can do the same. Right, Layla?"
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmWhen asking this question, Layla was a little silent. She didn't want to admit that their whole group actually had no chance against Helen Dalki, not yet anyway. She did imagine how the others would have faired, though.
"Well, just in case. I have some of the blood of One Horn with us, and it will give Jake and me a boost in strength before the fight." Fex explained. "The others, are they all returning to their bases and to the vampire shelter?"
"Yes," Logan replied. "Sam, the vampires, vampire leaders and the others that have helped so far will be returning to their Shelter. The news about Sunny, Nicu and the other leaders who have sacrificed themselves in this war isn't disclosed yet.
"As for Owen and Samantha, although they had victories, their forces won't be of any help anymore. They would just be dead weight or used as human meat shields if they joined the fight now. They are currently focused on recovering their strength and protecting their planets. To put it simply, they are out of this war, and they can no longer fight."
Listening to this, everyone knew that now, it was up to the vampire leaders and the Cursed faction to finish this war. One was going to defend against the final attack from the Dalki, while the other was going to give a final blow to the Dalki's on their main base.
Since the destination was set and it was time for them to head to the main Dalki base, everyone started to talk about the battles they had faced and shared their insights, thoughts and experiences. They discussed the sacrifice of the people they had lost so far, but there were two main things that others were paying attention to.
One of them was the fact that Erin had killed Nicu. Nate felt like everyone should know about this, especially the vampire settlement, and it was something he couldn't keep in anymore. The others, of course, believed what Nate was saying, and they now knew that if they were to come across her, they would be cautious.
On the other hand, Layla still hadn't talked about her own experience and instead let Logan tell the event's details. Too many unbelievable things seemed to be going on in the war, but at least they understood their position.
"So what about Quinn?" Vorden eventually asked. "I feel like...whether Graham fights us here or is at the vampire settlement, only he can go against him. What's he currently doing?"
[75 Percent of Nest crystal has been absorbed]
*****