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Chapter 1307 - Anthony On Tour - Weight of the Mountain
🕑 Added 2024-02-15 03:04:02 +0000 UTC“I’m hesitant about this, Commander,” Morrelia said, standing to attention next to her grizzled leader.
Chryon rose one brow before she turned back to stare at the unthinkable pillar that was Greystone.
“This is not a Legion action, Tribune,” the commander replied, thumbing at her chin in thought. “We don’t even know what they plan to do. Other than a vaguely worded missive, the golgari have given us nothing.”
“We know they are going to do something. There are brathian both inside the mountain, and on the ships. This risks sparking a serious international conflict right when the dangers of the Dungeon are reaching unprecedented levels.”
The Commander nodded slowly as she continued to lean on the railing at the prow of the ship, gazing up at the mountain. Behind, the deck of the ship was filled with neat, ordered ranks of soldiers in full armour.
Several kilometres away, to their left, floated the brathian merchant fleet, at anchor, perhaps two to three hundred metres away from the base of the mountain itself.
“That is a risk that the Empire of Stone is taking on, not us,” Commander Chryon replied. When Morrelia began to object, she spoke over here without turning around. “What would you have me do about it, Tribune? The Noble Circle of Greystone is beholden to the Empire, not to the Legion. I have no power to command them to do anything. Or to cease any action that they may decide to undertake.”
Morrelia scowled, stubborn.
“We cannot pretend we don’t have influence,” she said evenly. “The Legionem Abbyssi has worked with the Empire of Stone for thousands of years, from our very founding. If you were to speak, they would consider your words.”
“You think so, do you?” Chryon chuckled, her leathery face crinkling with humour. “I am no Consul, no high authority of the Legion. I am merely a Commander. Regardless of what I had to say, they would not listen. Besides, are you really so confident that they are doing the wrong thing?”
What could Morrelia say to that? Only she was aware of her intensely divided loyalties regarding the Colony, at least as far as the Legion was concerned. It wasn’t wrong to remove threats that may destroy entire cities once the Ancients rose and pressed them into subservience. If Anthony was wrong, if he was able to be controlled by the Ancients, then how many would die by his mandibles before he was eventually destroyed?
But if he was right? He and the entire Colony would be an invaluable weapon against the monsters. How many would be saved if the ants fought by their side? Millions upon millions.
If only there was a way to know for sure…
“I believe this is a time in which we should strive for unity as much as possible,” she replied firmly. “Driving wedges between the brathian and golgari peoples will not serve us in the long run.”
The Commander’s eyes narrowed for a moment as she peered up at the mountain. She’d seen something, Morrelia was sure of it, but no matter how she stared, she couldn’t see any change at all.
“You underestimate the unifying power of sheer, unbridled terror. The Noble circle of Greystone is making a wager. If the Legion is correct, and another Rending is coming, then the brathian are not going to care about whatever and whoever they may lose as a result of this fleet. At the first hint of the Ancients rising up the Dungeon, every grudge will be thrown in the bin, no one will be able to survive otherwise.”
“And if we are wrong?” Morrelia asked softly.
“Then they will be forced to pay compensation until they bleed. Regardless, it is a price they appear willing to pay.”
So they were acting. But where? How?
Chryon turned her back on the mountain and looked down on the troops aboard her own ship, as well as those who stood to attention on the rest of the fleet. She cleared her throat.
“Prepare for action!” she roared, her voice ripping through the wind and deafening the sound of the waves lapping against the wooden hulls of the vessels. “Scorpion artillery is to be assembled and mounted on the port side! Mages are to form long range bombardment teams! Move!”
Morrelia felt her heart sink in her chest, but she let none of that emotion play on her face. She merely snapped out a salute and stood to attention.
“Your orders, Commander?” she asked.
Chyron eyed her for a moment before she replied.
“I want you to put together a possible boarding team. It’s unlikely to happen, but if there’s a window, I want you to lead an elite team to that monster's ship and put it down.”
Morrelia saluted again, then turned to perform her duty. A sound came a moment later than froze her in place.
CRACK!
It was deafening, and sharp. From high up the mountain it rang out, then expanded out over the water like a shockwave, billowing the sails and frothing up the waves.
What in the world?
CRACK!
She saw it this time, a puff of stone dust, barely visible at this distance, that ejected from the mountain in a long, vertical line. The fact it was visible at all… just how much rock had they broken in that moment?
CRACK!
Again, another booming sound, another line of stone carved away. With this detonation, Morelia began to see what was taking shape on the side of Greystone, and she could scarce believe her own eyes. They were carving away a chunk of their own mountain.
“You don’t have long, Tribune,” Chryon observed calmly, her eyes drilling into the stone high above.
CRACK!
CRACK!
CRACKCRACKCRACKCRACK!
The sharp detonation ceased then, replaced by a world shaking roar as a chunk of stone the size of a city and weighing millions of tons began to tear itself free from the mountain.
Directly above the brathian fleet.
Morrelia turned, and she ran.
Comments
Gopard
Thanks for the chapter!
ManguKing
Not wise. Specially considering how the colony could raise another Anthony within weeks. Unless this is a 2 front attack, this is just foolish
KopiCAT
Even if he reverses the gravity, the mountain will still have significant mass and momentum. Not exactly easy to stop. You still need some rather powerful thrusters to move really large objects in space despite zero gravity.
KopiCAT
But the boarding party probably won't be killing Brathians. Or at least they will try not to. And if the stoners succeed, there will be few survivors. Who can say if the Legion got involved?
alt31415
I mean, I really don't think they know about Anthony's gravity manipulation. Like, the Folk who dueled Anthony SAW it happen to them and still didn't understand what was going on.
alt31415
Broadcast... how?
Runaway_Cactuar
Yup, the "assassination plot" was just about as stupid as I'd imagined it'd be...
Nathan Quitugua
And he now has access to the actual gravity magic patterns... as opposed to tier 6 when he was still just brute forcing it with regular magic pattern
Callum Macmillan
Perfect, let Dark Anthony rise and be unleashed upon the Golgari. This will be a perfect way to show what happens when people cross the Colony
TheLostGolem
Hey guys.... why is the rock we just dropped on them just floating there... and why is it now coming right back towards us... and why is a black hole following it?
Nathan Quitugua
Which is perfect because we all know the power between tiers gets doubled and I think Anthony had full mutations and an expanded core so its probably more like x3 from the previous tier
Nathan Quitugua
But it lacks the same oomph as literally floating a city size hunk of rock with ease. Gotta crush that spirit... otherwise they may just think they need a bigger rock
Dan K
Using gravity to drop a big rock, on a monster whose best ability is gravity manipulation…. Clearly these guys don’t just have rock for skin but replaced their brains with it too.
Slime
Personally I’m hoping for a gravity well deflection, and then a counter with an empowered gravity bomb to make an opening and confusion for everyone inside to get out safely
Roombot
Evacuate the expedition first. Then avalanche.
Tsunami
But everyone is inside. No?
Tsunami
Guess the Golgari didn't get the memo. Been there, done that. Failed. Now, it seems the Golgari & Legion will testify and bear witness to a true Rising Power of the Dungeon. It's been quite some time since they've felt fear. Hasn't it? Everything is about to change.
Pacnether
It’s golgari dropping the rocks. Not legion. Besides legion likely doesn’t know the extent of Antony’s powers
Khajar
I'm guessing it's not common knowledge in the civilised world, what Anthony did to the termite nest, or how, more recently, he absolutely destroyed three tier 8 demon-heralds at the same time... I thought at least the Legion would have Intel on those things... At the very minimum, they should have plenty of information about the gravity- bomb, if anything... My point being, simply dropping a city-size rock on Anthony, looks kinda pathetic in comparison. He can deal with this simple attack in multiple ways, without even breaking a sweat... I expected something more insidious from the nobles, like a kidnapping or whatnot...
Roombot
You know, the commander made a lot of noise about "it's thr Golgari taking a risk by attacking the Brathian, not us" .... .... And then she ordered a boarding party. The fuck??
Pacnether
Easier to float the boats up and away, let the splashing subside, and float back. Ships are lighter stopping than a city worth of falling rocks
Roombot
Losing all of their credibility with an economic superpower. Not a great look.
Roombot
TBH this is best case scenario. 100% Anthony can Uno Reverse this bullshit via gravity field
Roombot
I'd LOVE to see him flex like that. He hasn't flexed on any enemies in a good long while. Time to remind some folks why the Colony is off limits.
Roombot
Yeah, the Legion don't need any additional reasons to kill him. They're already trying. No point worrying about not giving more incentive.
Ben Waschuk
Triple chap? Things are getting spicy :D
Roombot
So the Golgari are trying to drop part of the mountain on them.. I would ABSOLUTELY LOVE to see Anthony retaliate by dropping the *whole* mountain on them.
MrMac
Yeah a black hole will compress this mountain to near singularity
Ether's Blessed One
Riders of Anthome, Prepare for War!!!!
ott043
But they already are trying to kill him. And the legion did see his gravity bomb back at teir 5 when the golgari and legion invaded.
kalada William-jumbo
If Anthony showed the legion the gravity bomb I’m sure the legion will try to kill him.
Rahsheem Reid
I was stupidly wrong about my worst case scenario.
Grey Knight Lord
And let’s not forget he was TIER 6. This is Tier 7 Mythic Anthony, this will be a shock
Buck
I think Anthony can deal with it like he did when the termites pulled something similar. Can’t wait to read how this plays out!
BelligerentGnu
The hilarious thing is that Anthony has *already* caught half a mountain mid-fall - back during the final termite battle. The Golgari are about to learn the meaning of fuck around and find out.
Scion
Legion is about to trespass on our merchants and do an illegal raid I wonder what the political fallout of that's going to be
ott043
I wonder if a gravity bomb would effectively deal with this. Carve a hole through the rock the size of his ship or more.
Koala Man
Damn , ,, the old , let’s drop a mountain on him , manoeuvre
Veracis
Considering this stunt I’d very much like to see Anthony shrinking their entire mountain into a pebble, preferably while broadcasted to the rest of their cities
Extrobuartem Buttpanzy
Man… the Golgari are screwed
ZaneofBane
Return to sender?
Nasrak Ragnarok
Are Anthony’s gravity wells powerful enough to return to sender? If they’re not, I think the black hole is making an appearance.
Grey Knight Lord
This will not go well for the Golgari or the Legion. Their 1 Legion is not going to be enough to bring down Anthony. Edit: The Karmodo did this to a tier 6 Anthony and he caught it. Tier 7 Anthony is a different beast.
