by Eric Vall
They looked like mutant dinosaurs with smoke billowing from their deep green scales, and their red eyes were twice as large as their gaping jaws. The sound they made was less like a roar than a gurgling squawk that pierced my ears at a painful octave, and it produced a spray of yellow puss that melted the slate while they charged into the hailstorm.
“Holy shit,” I muttered as the twenty scaly creatures picked up speed, and in seconds, they overtook every other creature coming my way.
Runed bullets struck their smoking scales without igniting them, and my adrenaline surged while the wall of reptiles grew in size as they came at me at fifty miles an hour.
Then my Boms ceased fire to reload again, and fifteen Halcyan rockets launched from all sides.
Chapter 19
The sudden blast of white light blinded me for a moment as the rockets detonated on impact, but below the droning frequency the Halcyan emitted, I could hear the pained screeches of the smoking reptilians. I blinked hard while an icy draft rushed over me, and when my Boms opened fire again, I squinted through the storm.
A white curtain of smoke was dissipating to reveal a stark blue glow, and while the reptiles had combusted entirely, the surrounding beasts were twisted into misshapen wads of flesh with Halcyan spikes jutting out from their remains. The droning frequency still resonated through my bones while I stared at the pitted, glowing ground, and the smoke spiraling from the corpses gradually settled into a black haze across the flood. Then I saw a stampede of possessed beasts charging at me again, and they were combusting one after another as my Boms took them down.
This pack was twice the size of the last one, and I didn’t recognize half the leathery creatures among them. Some had huge holes where their mouths should have been while five slithering tongues lashed out, and others tore boulders up under their talons with feet the size of my head. There were bears with black fur and pronged horns that foamed at the mouth while they rammed minions out of their path, and most of the creatures were already smattered with blood when they roared across the glowing landscape between us.
“That’s a lot of beasties to take down one guy,” I muttered, but I couldn’t help grinning as fifteen more rockets were launched from the sidelines.
Another blinding flash of light decimated the entire herd while the rain intensified, and the hulking bodies that didn’t combust were still writhing into twisted shapes as they solidified midair. Then they shattered into glowing blue shards when they hit the ground, but the frigid victory was short-lived as I felt the flooded stone under me begin to shudder.
This time, no beasties spilled into the foothills while my Boms held their fire, and the moment a flaming skull emerged beside the Master’s fortress, its jaws parted to let out an ear-splitting shriek.
My limbs went numb as the fire titan clawed his way out of the portal, and the god’s storm did nothing to douse the red flames billowing from his body. It was like Rekekis could keep his powers from affecting any of the Master’s minions, and smoke didn’t even plume from the titan’s ashen frame despite the torrent of rain.
I slipped over the slate as I ordered my thirty Boms to fall back, and I brought my fleet as far away from the titan as I could without putting the troops in the forest into danger. Once the titan was standing, it would only take him a massive step to get me in range of his jets of fire, but I had no idea if his flaming whip could reach me before then.
What mattered now was that all his attention stayed locked onto me, though, because the hundreds of soldiers hiding to the north and south of me would be burned up in seconds if he found them. I felt the sudden spark of my Defenders’ powers at the ready while the heat built, but I willed them to hold off any attack if they possibly could while I waited where I stood with my sentries.
The temperature became unbearably hot as the last of the titan’s body emerged, and my skin blistered while his red flames radiated enough heat to make the trees beside him smolder in the pounding rain. Then he straightened up to a towering height until his demonic skull sent a ghoulish glow through the clouds, and when he raised a fiery whip, the catapults finally launched.
There must have been twenty rockets loaded in each, and even though the Halcyan burst from the shells before they reached the flaming giant, most of the onslaught made it far enough to hit its mark. The shriek the titan immediately let out sent a jet of flames into the sky as I crumpled and clutched my ears, and every staggering step it took made the ground shake more violently beneath me. Still, I kept my eyes on the blinding white light consuming his ashen frame, and as he began to convulse, the red fire was doused the moment the freeze overtook him.
Then the fire titan went rigid just before he combusted, and the deafening explosion sent glowing shards of coal flying in every direction. Wherever they landed, trees and ridges were flattened from the blow, but every shard that headed toward the Master’s fortress was repelled by his enchantments.
I didn’t have time to steady the slamming of my heart before the Master unleashed another swarm of beasts into the field, and I ordered my Boms forward while I got back to my feet and followed after.
We only made it halfway to our posts before the ground shuddered again, though, and I cursed under my breath as seven bolts of lightning shattered the foothills to pieces just ahead of me. My Boms kept firing, though, as we fell back again to prepare for the next titan, and only the notion that we’d taken out over a thousand minions by now kept my nerves steady as the next flaming skull emerged.
Hail pounded against my armor along with another powerful gust of wind, but the Master couldn’t have much more waiting for us. We’d wiped out ten times as many minions only two weeks ago, but the rate he was sending his beasts out either meant he had plenty more to spare, or he’d underestimated how much firepower my sentries were packing. Either way, Saurbrin and drakes were arriving by the dozens only to be gunned down from the sidelines, and when the fire titan parted its jaw, his jets made it within ten yards of me before the Halcyan rockets overtook him.
The giant was staggering closer while more leathery minions continued appearing en masse, and when his ashen frame combusted, the blast sent half the Master’s creatures soaring into the trees with chunks of the titan’s remains.
I could see the flash of my troops’ bullets taking out the beasts as they crashed into the jungle and the base of the mountains, and I was waiting for my healing rune to restore my battered eardrums when I registered a muffled sound that hadn’t entered the battle yet.
Then I looked to my right, and Chonna’s breasts were sprinting out from the forest as the warlord held her spear up high. Her chiseled teeth flashed while her war cry grated through the storm, and even though I lunged to wave her cannibals back, the Children of Siraos didn’t spare me a glance while they forged straight into the fray. Their bellowing rose up nearly as loud as the thunder while they clutched bone-blades against the next batch of minions spewing forth from the fortress, and a furious stream of curses tumbled out from my mouth.
Because my Defenders came charging out right behind them along with ogres, elves, and dwarves, and I couldn’t do a damned thing about it now except frantically order my Boms to cease fire.
The dwarves sent a last Hail Mary of Halcyan rockets at the Master’s minions before the explosives became useless, and by the time the blinding light eased up, my women were sprinting past me with murderous grins on their drenched faces.
I stared through the rain while my army clashed with the hundreds of ravenous beasts swarming the glowing field, and when Haragh came to a panting stop beside me, he held up a huge green hand before I could share my opinions.
“Don’t say a fuckin’ word,” the half-ogre growled.
Then Haragh roared a battle cry of his own, and he barreled ahead with his triple-striker flail swinging.
So, I pulled my rifle around and bolted after my friend, and I sent orders to my Boms to man the perimeter and do what they could for us while another few hundred beasties ap
peared out of thin air.
I also sent a prayer to any of the gods who didn’t want to kill me, though, because if there were any more fire titans left in that fortress, Haragh’s busty mom had just ensured my most effective weapon couldn’t be used against them.
The retort of gunfire echoed from every direction as over a thousand of my soldiers converged in the Master’s grounds, and a surge of magic filled the air while my mages unleashed their powers against the storm. Fierce gusts of wind blew straight up into the sky as the flood was pulled back from the field, and when a massive wave built itself along the jungle’s edge, I did a double take at the troop of forty elves poised to dive from the crest.
Rings of fire were igniting all over the place as packs of ogres mauled whole drakes with their teeth and clubs, and when the elves came flying overhead, they latched onto the backs of smoking reptilians to drive their swords through their skulls.
Everywhere I turned, our troops were butchering the Master’s minions with maces, glaives, guns, and swords, and my mages were flying, diving, and sprinting around their opponents to avoid getting scalded with puss. The dwarves took to bludgeoning beasts’ legs until they crashed to the glowing ground, and then the fallen creatures were promptly slaughtered either by Halcyan blades or the cannibals’ bone-daggers.
The gurgling screeches and shrieks were drowned out by Rekekis’ constant rumble of thunder, and the rain and hail continued to pelt us all with a vengeance while the mages warred against the winds. Half the deluge of water was being forced to flow into the jungle, but the other half was boiled and thrown over incoming minions whenever a circuit was formed. Then the wailing beasts washed into the fray, and my troops shredded their flesh and slit their throats open before they carried on to the next batch.
I raised my eyebrows when I saw Deya flail a prong-horned bear who charged straight at me, and the beautiful elf teamed up with Aurora to bludgeon him into a pulp while she cursed him for daring to look at me. The two elven women had flails in each hand as they lunged at the next three beasts, and in seconds, their bloody striker heads were pummeling the creature’s innards while Aurora made sure to let the blood splatter as much as possible.
I couldn’t see my other women in the mayhem around me, but the lightning hadn’t let up, and as it struck the stonework every few seconds, bodies of minions and soldiers went flying along with boulders. So, I let the chanting of my rune take over my mind while I fired on all targets, and I softened the landing of as many soldiers as I could while the Terra Mages reformed the flying boulders and hurled stone spikes into reptilian skulls.
Then I sent a surge of my powers toward the Master’s fortress to check Stan’s progress, but when my magic was repelled, I turned my attention to the venomous Saurbrin instead, and I began shooting them down along with the knights of Cedis. One touch from the bluish beasts would send my troops into toxic shock, and from what I could tell, most of Cayla’s army had their 1911s trained on them as well.
It wasn’t long before we had every Saurbrin in the field either ignited by flames or being consumed in webs of lightning, and even the new ones pouring out were gunned down before they reached our troops.
Then the sphynxes and griffins started arriving again, though, and they brought at least a hundred red bats with them. They were the same furry species I’d seen tearing whole walls down in Falmount, and their wings spanned four feet across while their fangs jutted six inches out of their mouths.
The dense flock descended on the foothills with their jaws snapping wildly, and as they dove at our troops, I swiftly ordered my Boms to pick them off. Shortly after, charred corpses began dropping into the field in rapid succession, and our soldiers lunged to avoid getting crushed under sphynxes while their weapons continued striking out at every minion they passed.
My Boms wiped out the whole flock in a matter of minutes, but this did make it more difficult to navigate the chaos taking place in the foothills, and I was so focused on reloading as fast as I could without getting flattened that I didn’t know how long the ground had been shuddering for.
By the time I realized, half a fire titan had already emerged, and the screams of our soldiers rose up while the flaming giant sent a jet of flames across the foothills.
“Fall back!” I bellowed. “Get to the forest!”
The rest of our generals barked their orders as the troops did their best to fight through the minions to make it to cover, but a jet of red flames jetted at us while the mages doubled their efforts to outdo Rekekis’ storm.
The temperature was plummeting despite the heat radiating from the titan, but our soldiers were too enmeshed to escape the field now, and as another herd of beasts was unleashed, I knew the Master had us trapped here with the titan almost fully emerged.
It would take the titan under a minute to wipe my whole army out unless we found a way to take him down fast, and the mages’ efforts to overpower the god’s storm cost them too much energy to be able to freeze the titan out.
Even with twenty-foot waves crashing toward the titan, its ashen frame only billowed black smoke while the red flames continued to seep out, but then I saw a group of twenty Aer Mages dodging bats not ten yards away. They had their palms raised while ogres snatched their attackers mid-dive as well as they could, and I could tell the mages were struggling to win out over the heat as their arms began to shake.
“Redirect the circuit!” I hollered out as I bolted over to the group, and I emptied the last of my magazine into an oncoming drake as three ogres shredded a sphynx between them. “Forget the temperature and send a current straight at the titan, but don’t let any blow back come our way after the blast!”
“What blast?” a mage shrieked.
“Do it!” I ordered. “I need every Aer Mage out here channeling their powers in one direction or we’ll all go down with the titan! Redirect the circuit!”
The Aer Mages nodded as I summoned my metal magic, and while the flaming giant rose to his full height, he let out a grating shriek that made the other minions twice as riled. The smoking reptilians reared up as they squawked a fresh sheen of puss into the air, and elves were thrown from bucking drakes while the dwarves narrowly escaped being trampled.
The winds were shifting fast, though, and as a gust strong enough to knock half our troops to the ground blasted over the foothills, the fire titan raised its whip.
Then I connected with the rockets in the forest, and I sent sixty of them flying directly at the giant’s skull.
The soldiers who saw my maneuver practically clawed their way over minions to get as far away as they could, but when the rockets detonated, the force of the blast sent the closest troops flying anyway.
My heart clenched as I saw stray Halcyan soaring through the sky, and when the titan combusted, the Aer Mages barely managed to push back against the debris. Then I saw a massive whirlwind funnel straight at the crumbling titan, and Shoshanne’s cyclone sent every shard spiraling away from the battlefield before our troops could be struck.
I was numb with relief while my soldiers scrambled to get back on their feet and continue the fight, but as I saw the debris being repelled from the Master’s fortress, my nerves shot back up as I summoned my Terra powers again.
Not one portion of the Master’s headquarters was accessible no matter where I scanned, and while possessed elves and mages began pouring out from the portals, I realized we’d only made a dent in his army. Hundreds of armored elves with revolvers were pelting toward us at top speed, and as the Master’s mages tore trenches open under our feet, my Defenders swiftly retaliated.
Still, these minions were more skilled in combat than any ravenous creatures were. They didn’t just claw their way into our troops, they were alert and twice as fast as my allies, and they dodged the incoming attacks while they struck out at every soldier they could. They couldn’t have been branded long, because none of them looked deteriorated at all, and ogres had their arms sliced open before they could swing their clubs. Th
eir furious roars rent the air while more fresh minions arrived within a minute, and even our own elves slipped through the flood while they grappled to keep up with the strikes of their opponents. My Defenders lashed their flaming whips across the field to cut down the advancing minions by the dozens, but beasts were still arriving, too, and when I saw my soldiers pinned between jagged teeth and a swarm of hollow-eyed stares, I knew this fight wasn’t nearly over.
And I had no way of knowing if Stan was still going strong or not.
I didn’t have more than a second to consider what this could mean for us, though, because someone suddenly got hold of my lungs, and as pain shot through my chest, I dropped into the flood at my feet.
Then I groped at the charred bodies under me to drag my head out of the bloody water, but it wouldn’t have mattered even if I could keep from drowning in the sludge, because I couldn’t draw a breath either way. It was like a vacuum latched onto my lungs, and it wouldn’t stop compressing them until the pain overran my ability to move at all.
I was twitching and locked in the mage’s hold while my vision became mottled with black, and the pain in my chest wrenched through my whole body just before I heard the most infuriated death screech of my life.
It reached octaves that could’ve made a dog’s brain bleed as it drowned out every other sound, and even though I was almost blind and on the verge of death, I knew exactly who it was.
“You bitch!” Shoshanne shrieked, and my lungs were abruptly released.
Chapter 20
I shredded my throat to shit, drawing one gasping breath after another, and my limbs were like lead, while my rune warred to save me. Every time my lungs filled, the pain increased, but I kept forcing air into them as I crawled over corpses and got trampled by taloned beasts. Then I was caught under the arms and hauled up to my feet, and my elven lovers managed to keep me from dropping again even though my legs were limp beneath me.
