Goldenclaws Lead Airship
Eighteen menacing black airships hovered in the sky, engines humming low, smoke billowing steadily from their chimneys. They waited in silence—like predators circling before the kill.
On the lead airship, the Goldenclaws commander stared down at Boulderhelm Base.
"Sir, we have finished forming up with the Serpent formations," the airship captain reported.
The commander nodded.
He looked back toward Boulderhelm. He allowed himself a thin, cold smile forming on his face.
"Too bad for you," he said softly, "I also have a few tricks up my sleeve."
The commander raised his hand.
"Relay my orders," he commanded. "Deploy the armors and spider-tanks. Hunt for Dwordoug on the base's lowest level."
He paused.
"And send ten airships to eliminate the remaining enemy surface resistance."
"Yes, sir!"
"And we will finish this job for good."
With the order given, several airships peeled away from the formation, gliding past the commander's vessel as they advanced toward Boulderhelm Base.
For the first time since the battle began, the cold and calculating commander could not suppress his smile.
And then—
WHOOSH—KABOOOM
The rightmost airship in the formation exploded.
A massive fireball erupted, tearing the vessel apart as flames and black smoke consumed its frame. Twisted metal screamed as the airship began falling toward the fjord.
"WHAT WAS THAT?! NEW ENEMIES?!" the commander shouted.
Officers scrambled, raising telescopes and scanning the skies in every direction.
"THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE SKY!" an officer shouted. "INCOMING! FROM THREE O'CLOCK!"
The commander snatched up his own telescope and turned.
He saw them.
Two spear-like objects streaked through the air, fire blazing from their backs, thick white smoke trails cutting across the sky.
They were moving fast—too fast.
Faster than anything he had ever seen.
WHOOSH—KABOOOM KABOOOM
The spears slammed into two more airships.
Both detonated instantly, blooming into enormous fireballs as their burning hulks began plunging downward, trailing smoke and debris.
---
Nearby Hill
Mara sat calmly beside a dwarven radio set. Around him, engineers and soldiers stared at the sky in stunned silence, murmuring in disbelief as enemy airships disintegrated one after another.
"Oh my goodness…" a dwarf soldier whispered.
"What… what kind of attack is that?" a dwarf engineer muttered.
Mara simply smiled as he watched the burning wrecks fall.
"Peregrine, the packages have arrived. Confirm?" a voice crackled over the radio.
Mara pressed the microphone switch.
"Confirm, Angler One," he replied smoothly. "Those are very beautiful packages you sent me."
"Heheh, glad you like them," the voice chuckled. "More packages are coming."
"Please," Mara said with a cold smile, "keep them coming."
He paused.
"And if it's not too much trouble… please don't end it too soon, Captain."
"HAHAHAHA!" the voice burst into laughter.
"I understand, Ambassador. I completely understand."
---
Goldenclaws Lead Airship
"I SEE THREE MORE INCOMING!" someone screamed over the comm.
"IT'S HEADING TOWARD US! IT'S HEADING TO—"
KABOOM KABOOM KABOOM
"SERPENT 4, 6, AND 10 ARE DOWN!" an officer shouted from the bridge.
The Goldenclaws commander could only stare in disbelief as airships ahead of him vanished one by one, each becoming a blazing fireball before crashing down.
"What… what is happening?" he whispered.
"I—I CAN'T SEE ANY ENEMIES!" an officer shouted through his telescope.
Another officer rushed toward the commander, trembling.
"S-Sir… there's nothing," he stammered. "Nothing in the sky… nothing on the surface… nothing within fifty kilometers of us."
The commander stood frozen.
There were no enemies—yet his fleet was being annihilated.
"TWO MORE SPEARS INCOMING!" an officer screamed.
KABOOM KABOOM
Two more airships exploded.
One detonated dangerously close. The bridge shook violently, windows shattered as shards of glass flew across the room. Officers ducked for cover.
Everyone except the commander.
"L-land the armors and s-spider tanks," the commander stuttered, forcing authority in his voice steady. "D-Dwordoug is on the lower level."
"COMMANDER!" the airship captain shouted back.
"THE CARRIERS ARE ALREADY DESTROYED! THERE ARE NO ARMORS AND SPIDERS LEFT!"
KABOOOM
Another airship vanished in a fireball directly ahead.
Murica wasn't rushing
Murica was taking its time.
Killing them deliberately—one by one—ensuring terror and despair consumed every survivor who had not yet been destroyed.
---
Below the Fjord
On the AA Cruiser, Cinderclaws, Cupid, and Vixen stared upward in disbelief as the sky burned.
Dancer, meanwhile, was literally dancing excitedly, laughing as enemy airships exploded.
"That's not cannon fire, is it?" Cupid muttered.
"No," Cinderclaws said quietly. "They fly straight. No arc."
He narrowed his eyes.
"…And they don't miss."
"This… is Murica?" Vixen whispered.
"Apparently," Cinderclaws said quietly.
---
Underground Hangar, Outer Dock
At the outer dock, Levi, Dwordoug, Hilda, and dozens of dwarven soldiers and engineers watched the devastation unfolding above them.
"Is that…" Hilda said slowly, worry creeping into her voice.
"…the country we're fighting now?"
"Unfortunately," Dwordoug replied, "yes."
"What? Oh my. Now, now, please don't phrase it like that," Levi said cheerfully, trying to lighten the mood.
"Murica is not your enemy. We are very serious about wanting to become Dwargonia's friend."
He spread his arms confidently, smiling.
"What you're seeing right now is simply—"
SPLAAASH—KABOOOM
A burning airship slammed into the water behind him, exploding dramatically as Levi speaking his sentence.
"—Murica protecting their friends." Levi didn't flinch
---
Goldenclaws Lead Airship
The bridge had completely descended into chaos.
Crew members screamed. Some ran without direction, colliding with one another, not even knowing where to flee.
"WE ONLY HAVE FOUR AIRSHIPS LEFT!" an officer screamed.
KABOOOM
Another airship detonated outside the window.
"F-FUCK! THREE LEFT!" the same officer screamed again, his voice now noticeably cracking.
Meanwhile, the Goldenclaws commander stood frozen, staring at the empty tactical table before him.
"This… this is impossible," he muttered.
"I planned everything… every variable… me…"
KABOOOM
"TWO LEFT!" the officer shrieked.
"COMMANDER! WE NEED ORDERS!" the airship captain shouted desperately.
"Me…" the commander whispered, barely hearing him.
"I am a Goldenclaws… a direct bloodline…"
His eyes trembled.
"The rightful ruler of all dwarfs…"
KABOOOOM
Another airship vanished in a blinding explosion.
Now there were no other airships left.
Only theirs.
Some crew members slowly crawled beneath their consoles, others hugged instruments, shaking, covering their heads, waiting for the inevitable.
Then silence.
Silence followed for the next couple of seconds.
Nothing happened
No explosions.
No flying spear
No incoming attack.
They were still alive.
"Are they," the airship captain whispered, "sparing us?"
One by one, slowly, cautiously, the crew began to stand.
Confused, terrified, hopeful. They looked around the bridge in wonder.
The commander straightened.
Hope—thin and desperate—crept back into his eyes.
"Heh… heheh…" he chuckled weakly. "…yes. Of couse"
He smiled.
"That's right… I am fated to rule Dwargonia."
"There is no way my life ends here…"
"EVERYONE! ATTENTION!" the commander shouted, forcing authority back into his voice.
The crew stiffened and turned toward him.
"We're returning to the plantation!" he commanded.
"We still have airships and troops there! After regrouping, we will—"
He stopped.
Something outside the window caught his eye.
A shining object.
The same burning spear that had annihilated his fleet—now flying straight toward him.
The commander's expression twisted into pure horror.
"NO—!" he squealed.
KABOOOOM
With one last, perfectly timed joke, Murica ended the conversation.
---
Nearby Hill
Mara watched calmly as the last airship bloomed into a massive fireball.
"And that's the last package," the voice from the radio said.
Mara blinked, suddenly remembering something.
"Ah… about that, Captain," he said, rummaging through his pocket.
"Would it be possible to send… one more package for me?"
He unfolded a Dwargonian map and laid it on the table. A nearby soldier leaned in to help point at the location.
"Oh?" the voice replied. "What is that, Ambassador?"
"I happen to know their forward operating base," Mara said thoughtfully, "but I think it's about… two thousand kilometers from here."
He sighed politely.
"A bit too far for you, I suppose?"
"Why not at all? HAHAHAHA!" the captain replied.
"Ehm, excuse me sir, we need authorization to use that," another voice cut in over the radio.
"Just tell me the place, Ambassador," the captain said cheerfully.
"EHM, Sir?!" the other voice protested.
"Very well," Mara said calmly.
"The Dwargonian use a different coordinate system, but I can describe it."
He glanced at the map.
"It's a plantation, approximately 2.046 kilometers northeast from here…"
Mara continued describing the Goldenclaws base location calmly over the radio.
---
2.046 Kilometers from Boulderhelm Base
The plantation stretched vast and empty, far from any settlement.
But there were no workers in the fields.
Only armed dwarven guards patrolled the area.
Beneath the plantation lay a massive underground hangar, where multiple Kirof-model airships were being loaded with bombs by busy crews.
"Sir, we still can't reach any Crone or Serpent units," an officer reported.
The base commander paced restlessly.
"It's been almost an hour," he muttered.
"Very well. We follow the protocol, begin preparations."
"If there's still no news in another hour, we leave and return to Meridinia."
"Yes, sir!"
The officer left.
The base commander sat back in his chair and exhaled.
"Sigh… I hope I'm just being paranoid," he said to himself.
"If something happened, I really don't want to be the one who report it to the k—"
KABOOOOOOOOOM
In an instant, everything vanished.
No Dwarves realized their life's just ended.
There was no warning.
No siren.
No time.
The entire plantation was swallowed by a colossal explosion.
From above, a colossal cloud of smoke erupted as the ground collapsed inward for hundreds of meters, erasing the entire plantation from the map of Talvaris.
It was Murica's first-ever Trident II SLBM strike against a real target.
Murica had been very polite.
Until it wasn't.
---
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