Lt. General Chuan had seen all sorts of hypothetical situations including massive emergencies that threaten the entire Empire, but never in all his textbooks and case studies had he ever seen something as severe as the scenario Bol’khan brought him to. After all, every case study usually had a solution and a theoretical way to win, or at least gain the upper hand. But looking at the map now, Chuan saw no hope of anything even resembling victory. The best he could hope for was to save what they could and abandon all else. “Everyone, the Lt. General is in charge now. Just... just listen to him.” Bol’khan made his escape and disappeared from the scene. Chuan didn’t say anything for a moment, but then he said, “What is our current political situation like? Do we have any allies? Anyone we can call for help?” “Not really. We’ve already attacked and conquered most of our neighbors. Most of the Midlands is hostile to us. The Sea People are cordial, but they

As the main forces completed hasty preparations and the troops were boarding, Remian contacted Zor’khan-dras one last time. [You know, you really should make a move. Your people half-expect the Great Dragons to swoop down from the skies to save them.] [That’s not going to happen. If we go back now, we waste all our efforts adapting to starlight. Neither I nor any of my brothers would give up all the effort we’ve put in all this time just to save a bunch of humans. They were nice to play with while we were there, but it’s over now, we’re going home, and the ones I want to bring home are almost all in the Wildlands with you. As for the rest, they’re all doomed when the Mitigok arrive anyway. My son might complain, but there are other worlds, other toys he can play with in the future.] Just like that, the Great Dragon that the citizens of the Empire worshipped as a god casually abandoned his playthings to destruction. [But if we don’t defeat the Infestat

A few hours passed during which Tim’s job got harder and harder. Holding a few hundred meters of line against pursuing zombies was easy. Holding a few kilometers was not. As for holding a few hundred kilometers...? Even Tim was having trouble coping as the day went by. He’d already received early reinforcements from Fal’Herim and deployed them on the ground, sending back shipload after shipload of his new servants and workers. His forces on the battle front already numbered in the thousands. But even so they were having a hard time keeping up as the front kept expanding along with the numbers of zombies randomly headed their way or in pursuit of fleeing refugees. They retreated every so often, trying to keep their combat arena within manageable bounds, but the zombies were just too many, and covered far too much territory, and the spread was just too quick. This was the situation that Remian found Tim in by the time the main forces arrived at the scene. By that time,

“Four positions, four airships... we can position ourselves like in the Wildlands. Alani to the North, Darian to the East, Mindy to the South. George stays with central command.” George raised a hand. “I object.” “What? Why?” Alani asked. “I’ll take the south.” George said. “What?! Why?” Mindy asked. “Because I can do most good there.” “What? Why?!” Darian asked. “It’s because we’re the Order of Steel.” George said softly. “In terms of fast advance and large scale logistics, do you think any of the other Orders can compare?” “What are you even talking about?” Mindy asked. “I’m talking about being able to set up big orderly camps very, very fast.” George explained. “That’s easy enough. Just put up whatever as fast as you can.” Mindy mentioned. Darian chuckled. “Mindy, you’re making his point for him. Okay, George, I’ll openly agree that Adventurer camps aren’t as neat or orderly as those from the

The skies rained fire on either side of the exodus streaming into the temporary shelter city. George and Darian had their airships stationed to the left and right dropping Tau cluster bombs to cover the evacuees’ route to the city. These explosives tore apart every zombie or blood hound in their vicinity and carpeted the entire horizon in fire, incinerating all the bits and pieces left by the Undead. Within the city, two hundred members of the Order of Steel were scrambling around setting up emergency shelters and repairing whatever structures seemed most easily made habitable. Six thousand volunteers ran around with them helping them wherever they could or otherwise getting in the way in the attempt. They might not have the strength to fight Undead, but they were willing to pitch in for safer jobs like construction and repair. Already a million evacuees had made it into the city limits safely behind military lines, and almost fifteen million more were on the way. No