Kalamus Empire, Benido City in the southeastern region of the Horaka Defense Line.
Standing atop a towering structure temporarily erected in the city center, the Morningstar Mage "Whisper of Destruction" watched the streets through a window, silently contemplating something.
That was right. After the previous meeting ended, Karan had assigned the three major fortress cities of the Horaka Defense Line to three Morningstar Professionals from the Guardian Alliance, each tasked with defending one. In order to save as many innocent civilians as possible, refugees from the fallen borderlands of the Kalamus Empire were also given priority placement in these three largest cities, which possessed the greatest food reserves and the most convenient transportation networks, where they would be "temporarily" settled. Benido City was naturally the city Punk was nominally supposed to "defend" and "manage."
Of course, anything nominal was merely nominal. As its "garrison commander," Punk did not actually need to concern himself with the city's day-to-day operations, and even the lives of those homeless refugees had nothing to do with him. Professional imperial administrators would worry themselves sick over matters such as resource allocation and guarding against raids by small groups of low-level demons. The only thing the caster needed to do here was eliminate invading Abyssal Demons of the Legendary tier. Such a vaguely defined "defense" assignment was also, in Punk's eyes, the best opportunity to slack off and drag the Mage Guild into a difficult position.
However, after "Whisper of Destruction," who had been ambushed by Walkerway, and "Radiant Purity," who feared being ambushed herself, ruthlessly cleared away more than ninety percent of the Morningstar-tier Abyssal Rifts, the demons still attacking the Horaka Defense Line amounted to only a few minor lords. Moreover, with the powerful Demon Lords who had first descended upon Faerûn mostly dead or