The tower was visible from a great distance. Not just because of how tall the structure was but because it pulsed with energy, emitting waves of angry red miasma into the surrounding area.

“Do you see that?” I asked, pointing the red mist out to Esha.

She held her hand over her eyes to focus and asked, “See what? The tower?”

Kalli nervously confirmed through mate chat. I see it, Mel. Be careful. I have a bad feeling.

I don’t plan on taking any risks. Besides, I have an army at my side. They clearly do not.

Even as I spoke to Kalli, I didn’t have confidence in my words. She could feel it too. I turned to Esha and asked, “Do you have any suggestions on how to attack if it’s well-defended?”

The troll, who stood at the head of the mixed army with me, replied, “The troll way is the straightforward way. We leave trickery and subterfuge to the smaller races. We fight with strength.”

I turned to Stefanie, who had joined me when I left Kalliville. “Do you have any ideas? I’m kind of new to this whole thing.”

“New to what?” She snickered at me. “Starting a war? You know that’s what you’re doing, right?”

I sighed. What had I been hoping for? A helpful answer from the bard? I opened my mouth to reply but she held up a hand, adding, “You’re not wrong, you know. We have to end this plague. I’ve seen it. While you’re out playing the hero, I’ve seen the toll the plague has taken on these people. So, like I said, taking out this tower will likely start a war but it’s still the right thing to do.”

“Uh, thanks,” I mumbled, stunned by her kind words. “I just want to do this without anyone dying.”

Her perfect pitch lent itself to her laughter, which made me realize that I had never heard it before. For once, she flashed a smile that didn’t leave her face and said, “These people believe in you. You are fighting to give them a place to thrive. Be confident and let’s take out this tower.”

Feeling a surge of adrenaline at Stefanie’s speech, I shouted so everyone could hear me. “You heard the princess. Let’s end this plague!”

Stefanie glared at me. “Really, Melvin? Princess?”

I could feel Kalli roll her eyes at me from hundreds of miles away. And you were on a roll before that. Geez.

Materializing my greatsword and hoisting it over my head, I took a few steps in front of the army, targeting the tower up in the distance.

YOU CANNOT REACH THAT. GET CLOSER.

I was able to pull up the menu for the tower anyhow. The question was, how much closer did I need to be before I could just delete it?

Item:

Tower of the Miasma Bomb (TOMB)

Components

Trace Miasma, Oak, Brick, Mana

Item Rank:

C

Item Level:

1

Item Owner:

Dabia

Turning to Esha, I informed the troll. “I have to get closer to do anything to it.

With a slight nod, Esha hefted her spear and took two steps forward. She glanced back over her shoulder and raised a warcry. “Trolls, Ogres, and Goblins. Creatures of the underworld. Cower no more in the pits of darkness. With this first skirmish, we not only liberate the dark lands but send a declaration to our human overlords. We shall be trampled no more. Onward, for the glory of Emperor Melvin the first. May his reign encompass all of Gaia!”

The thunderous roar of applause drowned out the pulsing of the tower and filled me with an energy that dispelled my nerves. When Esha moved forward, the rumble of a thousand footsteps fell behind her.

She motioned for me to fall back and shouted, “Honor guard. Protect your emperor.”

I pulled Stefanie close and tried to hold my breath as eight particularly odorous trolls moved to surround me. She crinkled her nose and gagged, speaking in group chat so she wouldn’t insult our escort. Ew, disgusting Melvin.

What is? Joe asked, only hearing the conversation.

Kalli giggled and answered for us. It’s nothing, Joe. Stef just isn’t used to the smell.

Joe laughed. Melvin is a smelly one, isn’t he? Speaking of which, I can’t wait till we find a safe place so I can take a bath.

Stefanie also joined the laughter, the second time I had heard it. That’s right, Melvin stinks!

I sighed and whined to Kalli.

Great! Now you’re both teaming up on me.

The sound of warning bells followed by a screeching whistle filled the air and a swarm of guards emerged from the wall surrounding the tower.

YOU CANNOT REACH THAT. GET CLOSER.

I continued to try to target things as we grew closer to the tower. The enemy formed ranks in front of the tower, banging sword against shield in an intimidating rhythm.

Next to me, Stefanie shuddered and reached into her bag, taking out the mic that served as her wand. Fumbling with it for a second, the music for ‘Let’s Get it Started’ began to play.

She gave me a pleading look as she sang the classic intro to the song. Since I had nothing else to do while we marched, I added my voice to the song, realizing that Stefanie added mana to the song that was rallying the troops around us as well as intimidating the guards up ahead who were already looking nervous.

The distance closed faster than I would have liked.

DELETE Y/N?

I clicked YES and held my breath, praying that the accursed tower would just disappear. My wish was not granted. While the walls of the tower did dissipate at my command, the dark device within remained pulsing red mist into the air.

Item:

Stationary Transmission Device (STD)

Components

Mana, Dark Magic, Cursed Miasma, Pulse Matrix

Item Rank:

S

Item Level:

1

Item Owner:

Dabia

ERROR: THIS STRUCTURE CANNOT BE EDITED.

So much for that idea…

Stefanie giggled. I had sung my comment in group chat. It was partially because I was still singing with her but I also liked the way it sounded.

Joe asked. What idea? What happened?

I can’t delete the device. We’re going to have to destroy it.

Joe chuckled. Of course it’s not that easy. Do you have a plan?

While I did have a plan, I didn’t particularly like it.

Sort of. We’re going to march up and smash it.

Good luck. Joe replied before leaving us to concentrate.

Kalli’s concern weighed in my ear through mate chat. Be careful Mel. I’m worried.

I swallowed, gripping the hilt of my mana blade as I marched with the army, surrounded by my honor guard of trolls. The tower guards stood their ground, waiting for us to cross the gap between us.

Right when I was singing the chorus, a loud hissing sound filled the air like hundreds of angry snakes. I stopped singing when I ran face-first into the lead troll’s partially clothed butt.

She staggered back and collapsed onto me, pinning me to the ground. Having the wind knocked out of me momentarily stunned me. I tried to push the troll off of me but she wasn’t budging so I was forced to wiggle and shimmy my way out.

When I managed to free my upper body, I realized what had happened. The troll that fell on me was dead, an arrow jutting out of her chest. Esha was busy screaming at her troops trying to shift the marching formation. “Archers on the wall. We need shields to the front, now!”

While I couldn’t do anything about the STD, the walls were another matter.

DELETE

DELETE

DELETE

DELETE

The four sections of the wall that were within range vanished, causing the archers to plummet twenty feet to the ground. With the immediate threat dealt with, I looked around frantically for any sign of Stefanie. She was still singing though she had changed the song to ‘Titanium’.

The surviving trolls of our honor guard redoubled their efforts to surround us. One of them dragged the dead troll off of me and pulled me to my feet. “Are you wounded, Emperor Melvin?”

I patted myself down, checking for damage that I already knew wasn’t there. “I’m fine. Is anyone else hurt?”

The troll shrugged, going returning to the front of the formation to take the place of her fallen sister. Giving Stephanie a meaningful look, I took off in search of the injured that the other soldiers seemed content to step over and continue marching past.

Remind me to make sure we have healers the next time we attack something.

Kalli’s constant worry wasn’t helping. I could tell through the connection that the Mecharriage had come under some kind of attack of their own. Joe manned a mounted cannon that he was using to shoot down a rather large bird, while Kiki, Run, and Alariel engaged in combat with something that looked like a bear outside of the Mecharriage.

While the others fought, Kalli stayed behind. She was too engrossed in my battle to be useful. I could hear her giving Joe a play-by-play report. She whimpered a little in my mind. That was too close, Melvin. That troll died.

Finding an ogre with an arrow to the knee, I knelt over him and pushed my mana into the wound.I couldn’t do much for the injury while the arrow was still embedded in the ogre, so I coated the arrowhead with mana covering the jagged edges.

From there, I made the mana corrosive and allowed it to eat the metal until nothing but a wooden shaft was left in the wound. After that, it was a simple matter of using my mana to push the shaft out.

All that was left was the wound and that was easy enough to heal. In a guttural voice, the ogre said, “Thank you, my lord.”

I rushed off, not waiting to see what the ogre did as I looked for more survivors to help. The rest of the army marched past, causing me to fall behind while I struggled to make sure as few died as possible.

Fortunately, the majority of the fallen weren’t wounded too bad. I did some minor patchwork on most of the fallen. There were some dead but we had been relatively lucky.

It wasn’t until I got to the last victim that I found a critically wounded goblin. She had an arrow embedded in her chest in a similar spot to the troll that had died instantly and nearly crushed me. Only, the goblin was gasping for breath as the wound bled profusely.

I repeated my trick to get the arrow out before tending to the wound. The goblin was weak from blood loss but managed to smile and squeeze my hand while I worked to save her.

She was so weak that I decided to awaken the poor goblin. Her core, a small lump of something that looked like clay, exploded into a ball of expanding fire when my mana touched it. At first, I worried that I had killed the poor goblin but I quickly noticed that her core was just explosive.

The goblin looked significantly better by the time I pulled out. She offered me a toothy grin and said, “Boombrix thanks you. This one owes you a life’s debt. She swears it on the name of the great god of exploding ducks.”

I smiled and, unsure of how to best reply, patted the goblin awkwardly on the head before racing back toward the front line. The sound of two armies clashing filled the air as I attempted to squeeze through the ranks of the army.

The effects of Stefanie’s singing could be both felt and heard as her song bolstered the morale and energy of everyone in the army. I could only guess the effect her song had on those Stefanie deemed an enemy.

I was almost back to the front when Stefanie made my blood run cold. Hey guys, it’s Raverly. He’s back.