Dave pulled his weapons free, using the impaled Demon to launch himself into a Demon Champion. His right axe turned into a golden spear as he launched it at the Demon Champion. Spells from across the Dwarven lines hit the hiding champion.
It barely had time to look stunned as a spear erupted out of its side.
Dave and the rest of his party hadn’t stopped running.
Behind them lay the mangled dead and the Dwarven lines that were forming along the cliff face to flank the Demon Horde.
“Forward! Double time!” a Dwarf called out. The Dwarven line opened up their shields and raced forward to join Dave and the rest of the party.
“Arrowhead off the Stone Raiders!”
Dave’s spear turned to a sword and his axe to a shield as he blunted an attack with his shield, eviscerating the attacker with his sword.
A dozen Demons charged him. Golden spears of Light appeared around him. They shot forward faster than the eye could see, leaving holes in the Demons. They dropped bonelessly to the ground. A bow appeared in Dave’s hands as Steve, Gurren, and Lox charged forward.
They smashed into the rear of a bunch of Demons who were harassing the Dwarven shield wall. They cut through the unprepared and confused Demon Horde with ease. Dave conjured and released arrows at a terrifying rate.
Malsour stood to his side. His curses wiped out whole swathes of Demons, making stone manacles to grab the Demons, spikes to impale them, and dozens of spears.
The Dwarves reached the rear of the party. They’d finished off the stragglers and now pressed forward, rolling up the Demon Horde. The artillery stopped, but now three sides of the Demons were faced by the Stone Raiders and Dwarves.
Some, seeing their chance, made a run for it. The DCA, who had been keeping the Demon Horde’s fliers on the ground, now swooped in to kill off those runners.
Dave conjured a shield and sword, moving up with his party as they became the tip of an arrowhead-shaped group of Dwarven shield bearers.
The Demon’s ranks thinned through death or running away.
Dave held his blade as he found himself looking at Dwayne. “Not a bad day for a hunt.” Dave looked for more things to kill but found none.
“Not at all. I guess the walls are up?” Dwayne looked tired.
“All up and warded. Now we just have to finish off the Demon Horde.” Dave smiled.
Dwayne grinned.
“I have a large force of three hundred thousand moving for the southeast keep!” Koza said over the leadership chat. As Dave was the Master Smith who called the Warclans, they were technically under his command, giving him access to the chat.
“I have five thousand in the keep. They’re going to need backup,” Malkur said.
“All artillery not firing, shift to cover that keep. Kala, Efri—I want ten thousand from each of you to support the keep. Josh, I’m going to need your Stone Raiders. The remaining forces continue to hunt down the enemy through the cliffs. If we pull back your forces, then we’re going to have to just clear through the cliffs again if this force scatters,” Alkao said.
“Stone Raiders, disengage and start moving for the keep as fast as possible,” Josh said over the guild chat. A waypoint marked the keep.
Dwayne and Dave shared a look for a moment.
“Kill any of the Demon Horde that’s left and start moving for the keep!” Dwayne’s voice carried over the northern force’s chat.
Chapter 20: On The Eastern Front
Deia looked at the Demon Horde that was already starting to peek through the cliffs and trees that lay ahead of the contested keep.
They must’ve seen the DCA Demons carrying their fellows and Stone Raiders. A screech rose up into the air and the Demon Horde started to run for the southeastern keep’s walls. Thousands took to the skies, too many for the DCA to put down.
Artillery fired from all over Devil’s Crater, trying to suppress the Demon Horde. The DCA fired their arrows and destruction staffs, trying to kill the Demon Horde in the air.
The flying DCA did everything they could to increase their speed. The Stone Raiders began shooting arrows or casting spells.
Deia increased the Fire on her feet and hands, speeding toward the keep faster. Shooting in the air would only slow her down. Anna, Induca, and Suzy followed her, using their own magics to hold them aloft. Malsour raced along the ground with the rest of their party and nearly half of the Stone Raiders they had been fighting beside. They were already entering the keep’s inner doors.
The ladies landed on the walls. Induca conjured a Fire tornado. The rapid heat threw the Demon Horde’s fliers in disarray and burned all that met the bottom of its cone.
Anna called upon the wind, enhancing Induca’s attack and giving buffs to all within range, increasing their speed and attack damage.
Suzy’s bag spilled out cores; they activated, pulling air around them before Suzy’s commands sent them charging toward the walls.
Deia used fireballs, sending them careening into any of the Demon Horde groups that got too close for her liking and creating a line of destruction across the ground.
Malsour’s metal plate rose like an elevator up the inside of the keep’s wall, with a growing set of pillars beneath it. The Stone Raiders off-loaded as it reached the top, flinging spells that they had been working on. Magic flared across the wall and into the Demon Horde.
It slowed the Horde, but it didn’t stop them. There was now nearly four hundred thousand Demons. As the Demon Horde had gained flight, it split the Stone Raider’s aim as they fought on two fronts. The DCA flying forces clashed with the Demons above, making the Stone Raiders deal with the ones on the ground for fear of accidentally roasting their allies.
There were just twenty-five thousand of the DCA in the keep, supported by another thousand Aleph automatons and their controllers, half a Dwarven artillery battery, and four hundred Stone Raiders.
Thankfully, they were being supported by other Dwarven artillery around the crater, but that was still under twenty-seven thousand against four hundred thousand. Magic might be a massive force multiplier, but the Demon Horde weren’t all charging in a straight line. Many used the cliffs for cover, climbing and flying up them to come down on the keep from above.
And now, a bunch of them had magic. It wasn’t enough to take out most Stone Raiders unless it was sustained or they were a champion, but it could kill the other defenders easily enough.
Malsour created a mile-wide trench that was twenty feet long and ten deep, filled with spikes. He hadn’t destroyed the top of the dirt, so the only way the Demon Horde knew it was there was by charging over it and dropping through the thin covering layer and into the sharpened spikes below.
“Seal the gate up! Aleph archers to the walls—space out behemoths with other support across the length of the wall. DCA, keep taking down the Demons in the air! Kim, I want someone to alter the cliffs around us so we can see the Demons climbing up them!” Josh’s voice cut through the general chat.
Josh’s words turned into action. Metal and dirt filled in where the gate into the keep was. The sides of the cliff turned into polished stone, dirt disappearing. Exposed Demons were rewarded with Earth or stone spikes pushing them off the cliffs. They looked like angry porcupines by the time the mages were done.
The Aleph moved into position.
Dave ran off, making boxes that acted as mini arrow factories, pushing out bolts for the Aleph automaton archers and the living forces to refill from.
Deia didn’t have much time to watch as she continued to cast fireball after fireball, which exploded when they came into contact with the Demon Horde.
Their most powerful weapons weren’t their offensive magic, but their ability to make a Mana barrier. They took two or three hits to take down, providing those behind them with the time to close a couple hundred meters.
The Demons might not be as high of a level as the Stone Raiders, but they were still faster than any natural Human. It didn’t take them long until th
ey reached the wall. The defenses were firming up, but the Demon Horde put their claws to work, stabbing them into the wall to begin climbing.
Deia called down a firestorm right at the base of the wall. Demons screamed as they burned. Deia tuned it out, working the Fire to project it down and away from the keep instead of undermine its walls’ strength.
Malsour downed Mana potions and pulled power from his amulet that powered the Abscondita armor, telling just how much it had taken for him to transport half the guild and then make the hidden trench.
In Human form, he’s only a tenth of his true power. Deia turned away, watching as Induca called down a firestorm on the Demons.
The wall seemed to shine with projections.
“Well, damn, Malsour, you know how to make someone have a bad day.” Lox pulled out a bolt thrower as his destruction staff ran out of power.
“Just think of what you would do if you were in their shoes. Now, they won’t be able to make it up here without flying or breaking the wall down.” Malsour drew from his amulet to restore his Mana.
Deia looked to Lox.
“He put razor blades across the wall. They touch this wall and they’re going to get really cut up.”
“Damn.” Deia winced, thinking of how much that would suck.
More artillery started passing overhead as more of the Dwarven artillery corps got their guns within range and set up.
Deia looked to the air; it was a wild melee of Demons in green and red. The DCA Demons were a terror in the sky, but the Demon Horde had numbers and champions on their side.
Deia didn’t dare to fire upward, knowing that she’d kill one of the DCA soldiers more likely than not. She saw a new group rush across the skies from Devil’s Crater. She looked to see Vrexu’s forces. We might kill all of those on the ground, but the aerial battle is up to the DCA and that will be the one that decides who holds the ground.
“Josh, we need to get everyone who can fly and fight in the air up there.” Deia saw a Demon Champion tear out of the sky and slam into an Aleph archer, tossing them off the defenses, and tear a Beast Kin’s throat out before they could react. They beat their wings, powering away from the carnage they’d wrought.
“Got it. I want everyone in their formations. Any who can fight and fly, report to Deia,” Josh said.
Parties broke apart as they rushed to meet with their guild leaders. Dwayne, Kim, and Josh were ready and waiting. Lucy and Jules were splitting the support personnel.
Deia waited for the fliers to gather with her.
The girls and Malsour stayed; there were only twenty or so others who were confident about flying and fighting.
“Okay, we’re going to get up there and support the DCA as well as we can. Work in pairs and look out for one another. Things are going to get hectic; you think that you can’t handle it, then get back down here. It’s going to be messy as hell; nausea and motion sickness could get you killed. We need everyone we can fighting, not getting them killed because they didn’t know their own limitations.” Deia stared at them all, as if testing their mettle with her glare, hoping that her message got across.
No one backed down. Instead, her words seemed to make them stand straighter, taking up her challenge.
“Okay, let’s do this,” Deia said. People split up, getting into pairs.
Malsour took to the skies, metal across his lower body.
Deia looked to see that he didn’t have a partner.
“Don’t worry, he’ll be fine. The air is like our second home, after all.” Fire ignited under Induca’s hands and feet. “Shall we?”
Suzy and Anna took to the skies. Anna seemed to run across the sky as Suzy was followed by a swarm of her creations; two of them covered her body, making her able to fly easily.
Fire appeared around Deia. Her eyes glowed red as she started to slowly rise into the air.
The flames weren’t just consoling; they were familiar and she drew new strength from them. Ever since she had found out who her real mother was, she had come to not just use the flames she created, but to study them, better understanding her heritage. Her mother was the embodiment of the very element she used.
Every time she used it, it was as if her mother watched over her.
She looked to Induca. “Let’s go burn some things.” She increased her magic output, using her armor’s power reserves. She had a massive Mana pool, but going through it would make her tired. She didn’t want to be disoriented when she was flying.
Induca let out a wild cry, excited to be in the air once again.
Deia’s face had a harder expression as a plasma pistol appeared in each hand. She fired and the plasma rounds cracked through the air. The plasma slammed into a Demon Champion, tearing them apart.
Deia dialed down the power. The twin fiery pistols tracked her next target as she unconsciously used her Fire to alter her path, tracking her targets.
Using Fire was second nature to her. She flew through the sky, firing plasma and pressurized fireballs to keep the Demon Horde’s fighters at range. Induca rode with her, blades of flame or a Fire tornado surrounding her as she barrelled through their enemies.
Malsour floated in mid-air. The Demon Horde’s fighters charged him, only to be met by pebbles he created and sent flying through his assailants at speeds that cracked the sound barrier and one-shotted Demons.
Suzy’s creations worked together; one created different air pressures that made their target unstable while a second came in with Air blades to tear them apart.
Anna was elegant as ever as she walked, danced, and flew through the sky. An aura of Air surrounded her.
Deia’s eyes were drawn to Anna. I agree with Dave. It still seems that she is keeping her skills hidden. However, with the Jukal and the Pantheon able to watch our every move, it makes sense to have some hidden tricks.
Just then, a pillar of golden lights seemed to descend from the heavens above. It swept across the Demon Horde formation. Rapid-fire blessings covered the ground.
Deia turned, averting her eyes from the holy light as they found Dave. He looked over the destruction in front of him. A Beast Kin with a glowing armband shook as they guided a massive beam of light across the valley.
Another group with glowing amulets lay blessings down. Here and there, those using the armbands collapsed from Mana fatigue, going well beyond what their body could handle and passing out.
To many, it would look as if they were powerful mages draining themselves in one go—they were, but Deia knew Dave’s magic and she could see the power levels of the Abscondita armor and the fully powered vault-classed soul gems that the Stone Raiders carried. Dave was augmenting the different mages’ spells and increasing their power with his conjured items.
His eyes blazed with power inside his hood. Her eyes, empowered by arcane sight, saw the changing formations of the spells, enabling him to alter them in real time to get the most out of them.
That was Dave’s strength: augmenting others or himself to incredible heights.
Deia didn’t have any more time to look at what was going on with the wall. With the new spells, it looked as if more of the Demons had learned to fly. They rushed away from the main road leading toward the keep and around the cliffs.
“Keep them contained and make sure they don’t pass!” Vrexu yelled.
Silver and black flying disks seemed to appear, right as they slammed into the encircling flying Demon Horde.
“I can hold them back for a bit and maybe kill some of them, but it won’t last for long,” Koza yelled.
“I need cover and somewhere to hide,” Induca said on the party chat.
“I can do that.” Malsour rushed off and away from the battle; Induca followed him.
Deia knew that they would be doing what they thought best. She didn’t have any time to argue with them. She moved and fired as fast as possible. Her rounds weren’t as powerful as her arrows. However, her plasma and fireball shots exploded, tearing the Demon Horde’s fighters apart.
***
Dave watched over the battle as if he saw it through another’s eyes. To him, he could see the spells being thrown by the allied mages and the Demons in the sky.
His Touch of the Land extended all around him to provide a complete picture of the battle.
He altered a spell here, turning it against its creator or making it stronger. He conjured repeaters along the wall. The Aleph fighters jumped into them, filling the air with bolts.
To Dave, the battle was no longer a chaos of melee and fighting. His Inference skill and perception allowed him to predict the actions of the Demon Horde and most of his allies. He was now an ethereal spirit. A touch here, a change there, barely a nudge of magic and the battle started firming up.
Some Demons hurled rocks down on him from above. His Mana barrier glowed blue. Dave didn’t even seem to notice or care as he continued to reinforce the allies.
His eyes turned to the skies. It was messier but his higher Intelligence allowed him to remember the lore and books he had read on the Demons and angels’ battles.
Well, this is going to be a pain in the ass, but we’re weak in the sky. The Demon Horde are getting through all over the place and killing our people. First, we need to have a base that is safe from them. If we have wounded, then they can just target the healers so we can’t get anyone back in the fight.
Dave kneeled and his hand touched the stone. Mana rushed through his hand as he had to use his own Mana to create the complicated magical coding.
A blue barrier appeared over the keep, stopping stones and the Demon Horde’s spells cold as they hit the shield.
Archers no longer needed to duck because the Demons could no longer reach them.
“Focus on the forces in the sky if you can!” Kim yelled out.
Dave conjured what looked like a locker. Coding covered its sides as Dave staggered to his feet slightly. He started recovering his Mana that he wasn’t used to expending yet.
The closet opened to reveal a repeater. Dave grabbed it and put it down among some Beast Kin.
“Shoot them with this!” Dave said. “I need ten people to run more of these things across the wall!” Dave said.
Emerilia Series Box Set 2 Page 50
