Escalation

by Matthew Peed

  I looked up as well. While most of those assembled were indeed us Lightning mages, a good amount of the storm was caused by the overflow of tainted mana. There was a reason that battlefields became almost more dangerous than the battle waged on them afterward. The corruption from the mana given off by mortals tended to taint the entire area.

  “I was working on my own spell when I felt the . . . current of the others, so I tweaked it a bit,” I said just as raindrops started to fall slowly. This kind of rain was the best, as it was very clear, or so I’d learned in the academy. It didn’t contain any of the normal dirt that most water had, which allowed it to conduct lightning mana the best. If you wanted a team that could cause widescale destruction, you had two choices: Fire and Earth mages, or Water and Lightning mages.

  I flexed my hand, nervous energy as well as pent-up lightning raring to go. I wanted this battle to be over. I could only hope that everyone survived the coming confrontation.

  ~~~

  Just before sunset, the first roars started to trickle in. As if riding the wind, they were barely audible at first but grew in strength. The ground soon started to tremble continuously. I looked to the west where the horde was gathering and noticed a cloud of dust rising in the distance. A flash of lightning and the peal of thunder marked the first flying monster as it was struck out of the sky. The lightning caused the creature to explode and the water turn to steam instantly.

  Soon, the lightning never seemed to cease as it continuously struck out at the incoming monsters. The only ones that were unaffected were the monsters with lightning mana, but those were rare in this section of the world. So far, I only counted two that managed to make it through the storm.

  Manas of various types flared to life inside the storm as the stronger or smarter monsters used their auras to protect themselves. I took my gun and changed it to the rifle form, then selected the biggest monster I could find to maximize the target I would have. I took a breath, then pulled the trigger when my body was as stable as it would be. The round flew through the sky and blew off one of the monster’s wings, and I think I may have hit another monster behind it.

  When the flying monsters were within a kilometer of the fort, the airships began to fire their weapons as well. Enchanted bolts flew from the merchant ships, while what looked like beams of mana fired from the gnome’s airship. I guess they were able to fix them with Regan’s advice, so that was good news. Monsters died by the dozens from the mana beams. I could only wonder how long they could keep the barrage up.

  The long-range mages also took up the attack from the ground as they sent fireballs, shards of ice, ink-black shadows, and many other forms of attacks into the dense pack of flying monsters. Ezal lifted Feuer next to me and threw him like a spear. Feuer flew deep into the dense horde of monsters, and I quickly lost sight of him. It wasn’t long until a massive explosion bloomed out in a perfect sphere several hundred meters large, blew across the field, and easily reached the ground, reducing hundreds of monsters to cinders.

  Ezal released her breath, and flames seemed to literally pour from the sides. Her hair also grew even more vibrant. A moment later Feuer came spinning back and landed in her grasp.

  “Think you got a few more of those in you?” I asked.

  “I can do it again in about ten or fifteen minutes, but not one after another. It puts too much stress on my body.”

  She rubbed her stomach and I nodded. While Regan assured her the mana wouldn’t adversely affect the child, it wasn’t a good idea to use several large spells one after another, pregnant or not.

  She pulled her arm back and threw some regular fireballs. Well . . . regular by her standards. They still exploded and took out several monsters with each one. I looked up into the clouds and saw that the charge was starting to drop from the continued strikes. I pulled the ammo clip from my gun, then aimed at the clouds. I let my mana build to the max that the gun could handle and fired. The lightning exited from my gun, arcing into the clouds, where it was absorbed.

  The intensity of the lightning suddenly jumped to another level and began striking several monsters at once. I looked over to my fellow Lightning mages on the nearby towers as they started channeling more mana into the storm. It was a group effort to keep it up for as long as possible.

  A tremendous shadow formed in the distance behind the horde. It only took a moment for it to reach the area of Light spells. A giant turtle with several sets of wings down its back flew as a king among the other monsters. It had a golden shell that seemed to repel anything that came near it. Green cracks lined the shell, which seemed to originate where the tail would be, or at least I assumed as much, as I couldn’t see behind it. It was huge.

  Golden whirlpools appeared in front of it that had to be several meters in diameter each. A jagged shape soon emerged, followed by the rest of what turned out to be a giant boulder. The amount of mana it would take to create something like that, without a source, would be equal to four or five mages. The boulders finished emerging from the whirlpools, then with a boom shot toward the fort.

  Two dozen Terra mages grouped together to “grab” the boulder, then shifted its trajectory to outside the fort. Another group, this one comprising Water mages, made a tube of water that forced one of the boulders to change course, then slammed it into the one next to it. The force behind the boulder was tremendous, however, as they explode when they collide, and the shards rained down into the fort, causing many injuries and even impaling one man through the head. I couldn’t tell from where I stood, but I assumed he was most likely dead. There was no way to tell if there were any more casualties in the middle of the battle.

  The giant turtle was already forming new whirlpools as it prepared to send another attack. I reacted quickly and aimed my rifle toward one of the whirlpools. I emptied the little charge I’d built back up, as well as tried to force as much mana from my pool as possible into the round. I took a breath as I centered myself and fired.

  The round seemed to be blessed by the fates and struck dead center of the whirlpool. Lightning flashed as arcs of energy cascaded through the whirlpool, emitting the sound of glass breaking, followed by the whirlpool exploding. The giant turtle roared in apparent pain, most likely from mana backlash.

  Many monsters are naturals at mana casting but don’t build in the mental guards to protect against a spell being forced to stop. Something this size had probably never lost. It was likely the offspring of a land dragon or something of similar strength.

  A flare of red light alerted me to Ezal as she did something. I looked and saw red gears around her limbs as she floated a few centimeters off the ground. Small jets of flame were keeping her in the air. The pressure from her mana was enough to make me feel smothered.

  “Ezal! What are you doing?!” I yelled at her.

  “Taking care of the big guy,” she answered calmly.

  “You can’t! What about your body?!”

  “If someone doesn’t handle that thing, it will bring the whole fort down.”

  With that, she jerked her body out of the opening, then shot toward the giant turtle like an arrow. She dodged and evaded all the regular monsters, her sight set on the boss. Feuer acted like a barrier, burning to ashes or impaling anything that came near her before it could touch her.

  She was about a hundred meters from the turtle when it seemed to notice her. Hundreds of much smaller whirlpools formed. It looked to me like a nearly solid wall of rocks shot toward her. There was a loud boom, and it appeared that Ezal became flames in their true form. I swore I could feel the heat from nearly a kilometer away.

  All the shards of rock were vaporized several meters from her. Even the shell of the turtle started to melt from the heat she was giving off. Ezal lifted her hand, and Feuer came to her. When they touched, the energy she was giving off reached another level. Then what looked like a sword that extended for a hundred meters appeared from Feuer. She swung the weapon, cleaving not only the turtle but half the flying monsters st
ill in the air in half. The burned corpses and ashes started to fall to the ground and mix with the rain.

  After the attack, Ezal had clearly used most if not all of her mana, as she returned to normal. She turned back toward the fort and flew as fast as she could, her flaming gears dimming quickly. I saw she wasn’t going to make it back to the fort at this rate. Even as I saw her losing consciousness, Feuer was pulling her along, trying to get her to safety.

  I turned to Wrakras. As I pulled him over the edge with me, I said, “I hope your undead body can handle this.”

  “Seriously!” was all I heard in reply as the wind from the fall drowned him out.

  Chapter 16

  Regan

  I looked around the battlefield. The airship had performed wonderfully, and I was pleased with the captain. There were still quite a few airborne monsters to deal with, and, while I could let the ship handle it, every attack dealt and received was draining the batteries a bit more.

  “Benjamin, I am most pleased with you and your crew’s performance, but it’s time to head back to the tower. I want to test the defenses there as well.”

  “Aye. For their maiden voyage, me crew did splendid. I await orders to go pirating.”

  “In good time,” I answered with a smile, then waited for the crew to return to the ship.

  I walked out onto the deck where I could choose my targets for maximum effect. I pulled a few gems from my inventory and enscripted them much like I had when the necromancers had attacked the town, only with much more refinement. I pulled my arm back as I aimed, then threw them in rapid succession while I spun to cover all the directions around us. The gems sailed through the air, easily reaching the spots I chose.

  For a moment nothing happened, then a sphere of darkness spread faster than the eye could follow. It quickly expanded until the spheres each contained nearly a kilometer of space. Any monsters the spheres missed soon started to fight against a suction that pulled them in.

  I looked around and the only monster remaining was the aerial leader. I willed the gems back to me and pocketed them. They were a little cracked from the spell but could be used one or two more times.

  Returning to the bridge, I sat down in the throne-like captain’s seat. I leaned back and cupped my chin as I said, “Let’s finish off the bat while we’re here. I would like my Raptors back.”

  “AYE!” Benjamin yelled with force.

  He seemed to be impressed with my display of power. Hell, I was impressed with it. The magic of this world continued to amaze me. It seemed like every day I came up with or found a new use for power.

  We quickly gained on the giant shadow bat. It had managed to take out two of the Raptors, but the others were holding on. Several dozen wounds that leaked shadow dotted its body. We brought the side of the ship to bear. The minute of rest the ship was able to take had returned the shields back to full strength.

  Benjamin grinned, then shouted, “FIRE!”

  Every turret on the left side opened fire on the beast. The more physical-based ones did little damage, but the energy-based ones practically ripped it to pieces. The giant bat did its best to both dodge and return the attack, but the combination of the Raptors’ and airship’s weapons hammering it gave it little room to struggle.

  In a last-ditch attempt, the shadow bat exploded out in a black and green miniature version. The crew compensated by running onto the deck and taking their laser rifles. It basically turned into a turkey shoot. A Raptor got swarmed and was torn to pieces before backup arrived. I spotted a larger one that I felt was the core of the spell.

  “Target that one!” I shouted, placing a marker on the bat with the ship’s targeting system. The battle was over when a laser tore through its head and the body started to plummet to the ground. It landed with a tremendous boom. The remaining Raptors quickly returned to the ship. Of the dozen I’d launched, only seven remained. Not too bad considering what they were dealing with.

  “Take us home,” I said, and Benjamin repeated the order.

  We were almost back to the tower, when I felt an intense energy. I wasn’t gaining anything from it, I was just . . . aware of it. I ran through my list and found my link to the bracelet on Ezal. I looked, then had to pause, thinking I’d pulled up the wrong channel for a moment. She reminded me of a goddess made of flames. I smiled. It looked like I couldn’t underestimate this mortal anymore.

  We reached the tower, then had to wait for the ground part of the horde to reach us. I wondered how well the communication was for the monster horde, and if they were aware we had already ripped the aerial contingent apart. I would just have to wait. And if they refused to come here, well, I had a nice new pirate crew that liked to get their hands dirty.

  ~~~

  We only needed to wait an hour or so before the horde started to appear, the swifter monsters racing ahead of their slower counterparts. I leaned forward in my seat as turrets all around the forest surface emerged with sprays of dirt and soil. After a moment of tension, where it felt like the forest held its breath, they opened fire. Beams of energy streaked into the forest, resulting in trees and monsters being set ablaze equally.

  Catlike monsters that moved at ridiculous speeds managed to dodge the first volley. They still weren’t fast enough to dodge the second, and they were torn apart by the follow-up rounds. Other monsters, such as an air-mana wolf, were also in the first wave and barely made it past a hundred meters into my aura. The main body of the horde soon caught up—and that was when things got really interesting.

  A heavily armored armadillo monster repelled the beam. It appeared to have a shell made of metal of some type. A few hundred of the turtles led the horde deeper into my aura by acting as shields, allowing a few to reach some of the turrets. At least they almost did until the ground gave out under them. They fell several dozens of meters, and if that wasn’t enough, I had placed grinders down there. I had thought about using spikes, but sometimes they missed the vital stuff and then the monster would be stuck down there suffering. I would have to call a cleaning crew. It was all kinds of annoying, so the grinders got the job done.

  The horde reminded me of those wave games, where each wave got harder as it came on. After the heavily armed armadillo, dozens of different types of monsters made it through the laser fire. They at least learned from the armadillos, as the ones with terra mana created covers over the pitfalls. Others jumped over them or were aware enough to avoid them by taking untrapped land in between them.

  Some of the monsters used the trees that had survived the first barrage to jump through the trapped area as some more cat monsters managed to reach a few of the laser turrets and destroy them. The monster horde basically “cleared” the first section of about a hundred meters of my aura, after it cost them nearly five or six hundred in body count. The next section on my mental map of the traps lit up as they reached it. Every little bit was more data that I could use to increase my effectiveness later.

  I tapped my staff on the ground, activating the next layer. Several angled trap doors opened a few dozen meters in front of the forerunners. A loud whirring sound could be heard as a giant ball comprised of hundreds of blades and sharp edges flew from the launcher. The first monster among them that was hit turned into a shredded puddle of blood and flesh. They only became more dangerous as their momentum was allowed to build.

  One monster managed to avoid the spinning ball of death, but two plates opened along the side, and a whip-like metal cable flew toward the monster. It was impaled through the chest, then literally dragged under the death ball. The pile of bodies really started to grow with this trap. I created them using several alloys, but the main thing was the mithril tips at the end of each blade. I wasn’t completely sure, but if I were to quantify it with the kingdom’s currency, it would have been worth nearly five hundred thousand gold, give or take, according to the market that day.

  The first death ball was defeated when a lizard monster of some kind blasted an arc of lightning into it. It
would have been fine, except the shot was a lucky one and struck the mana core inside, causing the magic script to overcharge. The death ball didn’t go down easy, though, and it exploded and sent shards flying into nearby monsters.

  I’d almost started to wonder why the monsters just kept pushing with no apparent leadership when they came to a stop in front of the second section. I tried to keep to the theme of being a dungeon, so the death balls sat at the section boundary as the two halves of their structure jerked back and forth.

  I figured they were about to use the long-range-type monsters to try to destroy the death balls, so I pulled them back into their launchers. I would let them make the next move. It was only a good experiment if multiple conditions were tested. I leaned forward in anticipation.

  The monsters made their move, and one that seemed to be made from lava moved to the front of the line. Tube-like protrusions on its back aimed toward the second section, then released flaming chucks of rock and magma. They collided with the trap doors and started to bury them. I had to give the monsters or whoever was behind them credit as they managed to mark nearly all the trap doors.

  After a few shots, the damage was starting to add up. If I didn’t act soon, they would be sealed by the attacks. That wouldn’t do.

  To get them moving again, I needed to give them a little push. I mentally sent a command down to the Raptors, then they started to prepare themselves for a quick run. Concentrating on the hard points of the Raptor that usually housed missiles, I changed them out for some decent-size bombs. They finished setting up quickly, then launched from the airship.

  With streaks of white smoke, they were off. They dodged and maneuvered, their speed offering them all the protection they would need from the horde. The only time one of them was hit was from a lucky shot as the projectile exploded in midair. Even then, it only managed to leave a cut on the surface.