“Ah, good!” Nico drew his sword and stabbed it up through Tollin’s stomach.
“I was so excited I could barely hold myself back!” Nico laughed. His smile never shifted.
Tollin groped at the blade, at his stomach, and the spreading red through his shirt. His mouth opened and closed, unable to connect what he was seeing with what was happening.
“Not even worth any experience. Let’s see how good your healing is.” Nico lifted Tollin off the ground, making him scream in pain before he tossed him effortlessly to the side.
“You’re fucking dead!” a gate guard yelled, drawing her sword.
Nico parried her attack. His strength was so high she stumbled backward. With seemingly lazy ease, his sword sliced through the air, cutting her neck.
She went down, clawing at her neck.
The Institute warriors charged past Nico, their cloaks falling off to reveal their powerful armor and weapons.
Nico pulled off his cloak, letting it drop as he walked forward. One guard was left. The back of his leg sprayed red as he tipped forward. A spear rammed through his chest plate.
“Fucking dead weight! Get off of my spear!” Montes said, kicking the man from her spear and spitting on him.
“People from the Montes clan are always hotheads,” Nico said as he walked by.
Montes glared at him. “Just cause the Head is interested in you now, Tolentino, doesn’t mean he will be always.”
Nico scoffed at the building, heading through the gates. Fighting had broken out everywhere. Those in the guild hall were rushing outside at the noise. Nico pulled out a spell scroll and tore it apart.
Lines of black traced through the sky above the guild hall, creating a spell formation that crackled with blood-red lightning. Mana was drawn into the spell formation. The wind picked up, quickly creating a vortex centered on the formation above.
Nico tossed the burnt-out spell scroll to the side and walked toward the guild hall. His people were slowed by the press of guild members pushing out of the main door.
Others rushed out of side buildings, around the courtyard, and around the main hall.
Five Institute fighters led the slaughter at the door’s steps.
Another guild member dropped to the ground. A kick sent them to the side, their lifeblood pouring out.
Nico walked across the courtyard, passing bodies and tombstones. He reached the four stairs that flattened out to a wide veranda in front of the doorway.
The vortex picked at Nico’s clothes as he gathered mana, waking up his entire body. He tapped into his power, drawing the power of the earth through his body and then into his sword.
He stabbed forward. The green light was covered with wood, green runes glowing throughout. It passed through the fighters, cutting through a guild member, and shooting inward.
Nico circulated his power, ready to enter the fray when he frowned.
There was a roar from deep within the guild hall. A large man covered in armor held a shield with a fresh scar on its face.
“Looks like you’re not all useless. You’ll be a fine ingredient for my human core pill!” Nico charged into the guild hall.
He slashed out. Wooden blades appeared in the green light left behind by his attack. The blades cut out, critically wounding or killing several, and throwing the others back.
The armored man blocked the hit with his shield, only slightly slowing down. Stone jumped from the ground as the big man struck it with his small hammer.
The stone crumbled under the hits.
Nico’s sword flashed, taking out two of the five stones the man had not only compressed, but sharpened.
Nico didn’t spare a glance for the scream behind him, but he saw the victorious grin on the armored man’s face. Nico’s blade met his hammer. The man’s full strength wasn’t behind it as he slammed his shield forward, aiming for Nico’s feet.
He dodged, stepping backward. His sword flashed to meet stone spears coming from every direction. The man yelled and charged with the spears. Nico twisted, his sword flashing like a fencer’s, destroying the spears. He twisted out the way of the hammer. His kick met the man’s shield.
The shield rang out like a bell. The man’s feet left grooves in the ground for three meters.
He actually remained standing as he shook his shield with a grimace.
This could be interesting. Roots grew under Nico’s feet, drawing in mana as his eyes focused on his opponent.
Nico released his power, letting it flow through his limbs. The muscles in his legs compressed as he shot forward.
His steps left dents in the ground as the armored man smashed his hammer into the ground.
Nico jumped over the rippling floor. Formations appeared under his feet, balancing on air.
The ground erupted. Stone shot out at Nico from the torn ground below.
Nico pushed out his hand, a spell formation appearing on it as he forced himself out of the way of the first attacks.
He interposed his sword, fighting off the stone spears shooting at him, cutting through them as he dodged in the air.
The armored man swung his hammer and stone spikes congealed upon the head of the hammer, causing the very air to crack. Nico twisted, avoiding a spear from the ground, cutting down two more.
“Thorn Rain!”
Tens of thorns shot out from a spell formation on his hand, creating a tunnel through the spears and spikes.
The armored man threw up his shield. “Stone Armor!”
The shield frosted over with stone. The thorns struck the stone covering, shattering it, and driving the armored man backward.
“Forest’s blade!”
He cut out with his blade, killing two guild members, and cutting a path out of the floor. It hit a wall, tearing it apart.
“Fire Breath!” A wave of fire shot out from the shield as the temperature in the room soared. It burnt through the thorns, pushing them backward until they were only a quarter of the distance from Nico’s hand.
Nico turned his head. The ground smoked and cracked under the armored man’s feet. Steam rose from his body. Veins cracked the skin, filled with what appeared to be magma.
A Fireball spell hit the armored man. The very air burnt around him. Nico felt something deep in his stomach, something he had forgotten for the last thirty years.
That acid bit in the bottom of his stomach, burning through his being.
Fear.
The armored man’s body drew in the fireball spell. It spiraled and turned around him, drawn into his body.
Body Like Iron? How did a guild member from the Fourth Realm reach this level?
The man opened his eyes. It took a massive amount to control such a transformation and release of power.
An Institute member appeared out of the shadows with his blades.
Fire appeared around the armored man. Using the explosive force, he turned into the oncoming blades. Fire explosions crackled like fireworks around the man’s arm, going from stationary to swinging.
Fire pooled around the hammer, doubling its size.
Time returned. The institute member was struck in the chest, sending him into the air before he landed. A ripple of fire arrived. The armored man’s shield shot out, smashing into the man.
Nico canceled his thorn spell. Unleashing his mana cultivation, the runes on his armor glowed green as he ran forward, his blade directed at the armored man’s back.
Nico saw movement. He slowed and turned to miss the attack. The wind rushed past him as a woman with a crazed look in her eyes passed him, the wind of her passing hurting his eyes.
Body Like Stone? Like you’ll get away.
One of Nico’s medallions flared to life, creating a personal mana barrier.
He was pushed back by a Tracking Force spell.
Nico waved his sword, cutting through the dissipating mana. He raised his hand. The wood under the caster started to change.
Nico’s eyes widened as the armored man stepped out from
the dissipating mana, his shield braced with both arms.
“Power of Earth!”
Nico braced. His personal barrier medallion activated again. A second defense medallion activated.
A wave of force blasted out from Nico.
The armored man was thrown backward. He rode the force, stabbing his raised leg into the ground, halting his progress.
“My Adventurer’s Guild isn’t some easy target! Unlike your Institute’s cities!” the man yelled.
The guild members yelled in agreement as they clashed with Nico’s people.
An Institute fighter hacked at a guild member. They grabbed onto the sword arm and dragged the fighter to the ground. Two more guild members grabbed their shield arm. A fourth stabbed with her spear, crashing into their barrier.
The fighter struggled as the guild members held them firm. The spear made it through the barrier and armor. The Institute member looked at their wound in shock.
The spear wielder tore her weapon out, covering her armor in blood. Buffs rained down on her as she and her group moved to assist others.
Nico felt the air in the room change as cultivations were ignited; Body like Stone, half step Body Like Iron, powerful mana cultivations reaching the Vapor stage, a few ready to form their cores.
Buffing spells landed on the guild members, mages in the rear watching over them, guiding them.
Nico yelled and rushed the armored man. They clashed, sword meeting shield. Nico called up roots to tangle the man’s feet. The man stomped the ground, sending waves of stone under Nico’s feet.
Nico altered his positioning as he hacked at the man. With the man’s higher cultivation and buffs, Nico was only slightly stronger. Damn this ground! The man was casting nearly instantly and without chanting.
The stone softened and then hardened, trying to capture Nico’s feet.
The armored man swung his hammer. A stone spike whistled past Nico’s ear. He sent a cross slash at the shield, leaving a new scar.
“Thorn Rain!” Nico cast behind the armored man as the ground dropped. Nico stepped off the ground, backing up as the thorn rain hit the man in the side. He threw up a stone wall, but his right side showed dents and thorns lodged in the armor.
Nico backed off as the mana above came together. The spell formation in the sky had finally activated.
The Institute members backed up to the hall entrance.
A bloody scent filled the air. A sphere of darkness covered in red lighting formed in the middle of the formation, growing to the size of a basketball. The colors changed, turning murky and then brighter, revealing a humanoid creature. He opened his eyes, revealing red-rimmed green eyes.
It let out a scream that shook the guild hall. Parts of the ceiling collapsed. Walls, half-broken from the fighting, shuddered and gave way.
The armored man roared, using stone spikes and projecting stone shields to divert the falling debris.
The guild members grouped together, attacking the falling ceiling. The beast on the other side of the sphere reached out with its claw. The elements of wind and fire were torn away from the casters and from the world, gathering before the tear hanging in mid-air.
The beast swiped out with a claw of flame and wind tore through the hall.
The hall collapsed under the attack. Four lines continued through the guild hall, the hand evaporating. The guild hall and surrounding buildings turned to rubble.
The tear collapsed, and the beast disappeared from view.
Survivors pushed up from under rock and wood debris, some covering one another with their bodies.
The armored man’s shield had been torn apart. His helmet had come apart and there were rents in his armor.
The spell formation dissipated.
“Kill!” The Institute fighters charged across the rubble with Nico.
“Healers!” the armored man yelled. He had a nasty cut on his right brow, blood running into his eyes.
Mages forced out healing spells.
The Institute members killed those on the ground and charged into the depths of the Guild’s shambling fighters.
Nico sent out slashes. The armored man defended, but he was slower and breathing heavily.
Nico laughed. “You ignited your cultivation, pushing past your body’s limits, but now your strength is failing and you’re weakening!”
The battles were once again changing as the guild members were weakening, without the endurance to keep going.
“Sir, we have guards approaching from every direction!” One of the Institute members Nico had left outside said through his sound transmission device.
The man smirked despite his injuries. “My job was to just defend.” He laughed as Nico glanced toward the beasts flying toward their location.
We should’ve had fifteen minutes before they responded. It has only been a few minutes!
Spells appeared on the ground, more appearing by the second.
Tentacles reached out from the spells and attacked the Institute members while the Guild members’ injuries healed before their eyes.
Nico attacked the armored man wildly. He broke what remained of the man’s shield, pushing him back.
“Earth blade!” Nico’s sword released another blade that cut under the armored man’s guard, slicing across his lower ribs. It dented the armor, cracking ribs, but didn’t penetrate.
“Earth’s blessing!”
Nico’s speed increased. He dodged the man’s stone spikes, launched from his hammer.
“I’ll have your head!” Nico cut down the next two spikes. He slid to the side, raising dust and kicking out.
The armored man bent with the kick, grunting as more bones were broken with his dented armor, but he wasn’t shifted.
“Earth’s entrapment!” Vines rose from the ground to wrap around the man’s legs.
“Fire body!” The man opened his arms wide, bringing them together as the surrounding area heated up, his dulled magma veins pulsing with power. “Lance!”
Nico only raised his sword barely, unable to get it between him and the man in time.
The spell hit Nico hard in the chest. Protective medallions activated and cracked as he skittered across the ground before stumbling back up. He coughed with the force that had transmitted into his body by the attack. If it hadn’t been for his protective medallions, he would be dead.
Nico got to his feet.
The man collapsed to his knees, his arms shaking to stay up. He was covered in wounds. Blood covered his eye, stained the provocative smile on his face, dripping onto his dented and broken armor.
Nico moved forward.
“Lord Tolentino, we need to go!” an Institute member from his clan said. “The guards are nearly here!”
Guild members lay dying across the ground, a few Institute fighters seeded among them.
Still, they were fighting in the rubble of their guild hall. They were broken and battered, but they worked in groups against single Institute fighters.
Nico felt danger, ducking out of trained response.
An arrow nailed the man before him to the ground.
Mana was gathering from the surroundings in dangerous quantities.
“Run!” an Institute member yelled. The group fled through the guild’s gates.
Nico heard a laugh that came from the depths of hell.
The armored man coughed up blood, his eyes locked onto Nico. “I was just the delaying tactic. You don’t realize just who you’ve pissed off.”
Nico dodged a spell that shot out of the sky and hit the ground. He could see them now, the aerial undead with soldiers riding on their backs. “Go!”
He turned and started running, pulling out his mount and jumping on its back. The members that had been waiting jumped onto their mounts and rushed after him.
They left the guildhall. The other guilds guarded their entrances, watching them.
Nico led them toward the gates, using illusion spells to hide their appearance.
The party ar
rived in different groups. People were checked entering the city, but only cursorily as they left.
Nico let out a breath as they left the city’s short walls behind, pushing the traders entering and leaving the city off the road.
How do they expect their city to remain standing with such a small wall and these odd boxy buildings?
Nico was jittery from the adrenaline. His eyes darted around as they moved past the boxy buildings. “How many are left?”
“We lost eighteen,” one of his supporters, a bearded man, said.
That was acceptable. “And our people?”
“Only three were from our clan.”
“Good, we’ll do our duty and get out of here.”
“Those aerial beasts were much faster and stronger.” Nico heard the fear in the coward’s voice. He felt it deep in his own chest, too strong to make a remark.
Nico started to calm down. His breathing becoming even. They would escape the city and go to the nearest totem to leave. No one in this city would be stupid enough to stop someone from the Willful Institute.
“Found you.” The land resounded with the two words. Nico felt his beast shaking. He nudged it to pick up speed, but it hunched its shoulders, taking the spurs that dug into its flesh.
All of the tamed beasts stopped and lowered themselves to the ground.
Nico turned slowly toward the voice.
Traders groaned and complained, fleeing.
Standing on an approaching bird was a demon with blue eyes. Nico’s blood chilled as he recognized the callous, professional killer behind those eyes. Worse. He saw the anger.
“Thorn Rain Reckoning!” Nico raised his hand. Thorns the size of arrows cut through the sky at the man.
Traders and travelers rushed away from the road.
“Burn.”
Water blades condensed from the air shredded the surrounding arrows. The blue-eyed demon stepped off his mount. Dropping toward the ground.
Nico’s attacks were devoured as he targeted the falling man, who hit the ground like a cannonball, sending up dust, crushing the ground beneath him, and leaving a crater.
Demon! He’s as strong as those old demons in the Institute! He only bent his legs slightly!
Nico and the others jumped off their now useless mounts, sending out waves of attacks at the man.
Seventh Realm Part 1: A LitRPG Fantasy series (The Ten Realms Book 8) Page 16
