Seventh Realm Part 1: A LitRPG Fantasy series (The Ten Realms Book 8)

by Michael Chatfield

  “Get on our mounts and pull the hell out, at which time you will activate one last spell scroll to flip them the bird. Regroup at rally point Alpha unless otherwise ordered,” Nasreen finished for him.

  Pan Kun nodded.

  “Putting our back to the enemy and retreating like this, I don’t like it. Too many things could get fucked up.”

  “Simple enough. When the attacks stop, we get up on what’s left of the walls and bleed them.” Nasreen shrugged.

  “One part I don’t like is you waiting to go last,” Lee said to Pan Kun.

  “I want to make sure all my people are out before I bring down hell on this place.”

  The lights on the mana barrier formation in the middle of the room started to change.

  “Let’s get our people into cover! Lee, you sure about keeping watch?”

  “Little bit of stone rain didn’t hurt us. I’ll have one of my people down there with you. Tenzin, she’s a beast tamer and has comms, so she can keep you updated.”

  “Good.” Pan Kun and Nasreen jogged for the exit.

  The barrier lit up with stones and mana cannons blasting through the early afternoon sun.

  The walls were thinned out, the reserves no longer holding behind them. Siege weapon crews continued to fire as their spotters called out corrections.

  Pan Kun waved a flag at Lukas, who was on the wall. He pulled out another flag and waved it. The soldiers on the wall formed and ran down the stairs. Pan Kun looked at the sides and rear of the city. Soldiers were still on those walls.

  If they advance the siege weapons, then we’ll have to pull them into the cellars and bunkers too.

  “Good luck, sir! See you in the Range,” Nasreen said as she ran off toward her bunker.

  “Stay safe!”

  Pan Kun saw the wall clear of soldiers. The barrier started to break; attacks crashed through the walls and the buildings beyond with titanic force.

  The siege weapon teams turned and ran to the underground areas. Pan Kun’s two guards grabbed him and pushed him toward their bunker. He hurried down a set of stairs into a large cellar. Boxes had been thrown up to stop people from just running right inside. Pan Kun slowed down and turned through the maze.

  It opened up again. The cellar had been heavily reinforced and connected to the cellars of nearby buildings, giving them multiple entrances and exits. Benches lined the room, as well as stools and other boxes. Soldiers kept to their squads, finding somewhere comfortable. Their team leads counted them all as they filed in and tried to relax.

  A woman walked over to Pan Kun. “Sir, I’m Tenzin.”

  “Good, you’re going to be my eyes and ears,” Pan Kun said. A waiting guard indicated a corner where some chairs had been scrounged. The other guards were standing around.

  “Let’s take a seat.”

  She nodded and followed.

  The sounds changed above.

  “Lieutenant Lee reports that the enemy are moving up their siege weapons, the cannons are—”

  Dust blew in through the switchback entrance closest to the wall.

  “Targeting the walls.”

  “Great.”

  They waited in the cellars. Pan Kun heard the mana cannon’s spells tearing chunks out of the defensive wall, obliterating the wooden cladding.

  “Siege weapons firing,” Tenzin said, her eyes covered in spells.

  The sound of stone on stone rang out.

  “They’re targeting the wall.”

  “Are they skipping them across the ground?”

  “Some of them, yes.”

  “Shit.” They’re going to ignite the damn fire pots. If it slows them down, it doesn’t matter.

  Pan Kun sat there, listening to the wall falling apart. There was a deep thud as something hit overhead, dislodging dust that fell on the soldiers in the cellar.

  “They took out some of the supports. The wall has collapsed in sections so they’re hitting the buildings,” Tenzin reported. “A group of pots sparked. There're fires on the ground, but the rubble is covering most of it.”

  More thumps came from overhead as stones hit the buildings above the cellars-turned-bunkers.

  “They’ve stopped using the cannons and are advancing the siege weapons again.”

  Stone rained down outside the doorways, throwing up dust into the cellar’s defensive boxes, causing those closest to cough.

  What if these things aren’t as strong as we hoped? Just one hit at the wrong place and the whole thing could crash down on us. Pan Kun looked at people playing with threads of their clothes or fiddling with their weapons. They looked pale and clammy as they closed their eyes at every near miss.

  “Be good to get out of this outpost and into the forest. If they think that this is all they have to face before they reach King’s Hill, they are going to be in for a rude awakening,” Pan Kun said to Hajjar, the leader of his guards.

  “And I have no doubt that you will be dangerously close to where we set the traps.”

  Pan Kun just smiled.

  “That’s strange,” Tenzin said.

  “What is?”

  “The force that was right behind the siege units are running forward, but the siege units haven’t stopped yet.”

  That’s why they had to have the mounted guards.

  “On your feet! Prepare to fight!”

  Someone pulled out a metal drum and started hitting it. Other drums were being beaten around the outpost.

  Team leaders got everyone on their feet and ready, facing the passages to the surface that were clear. Some were closed off by buildings falling on them.

  “What about the second force?”

  “They are ready and moving forward as well, slowly. The siege weapons have stopped firing.”

  Pan Kun stood. The outpost was just that, an outpost. It didn’t have a cornerstone, so it wasn’t recognized as a village or town, meaning no alerts when under attack, and no debuffs against the enemy.

  “It hasn’t landed yet,” she warned.

  “Weapons at the ready!” an officer called out. The soldiers drew their swords and mages layered on buffs, the glow of mana sinking into their bodies.

  The thudding stopped.

  “Go!”

  The boxes were torn out of the way and soldiers rushed out. Pan Kun waited for two squads to pass, jumping into the line with his guards and Tenzin.

  Pan Kun’s feet faltered as he reached the top of the stairs. The towering wall was sprayed across the outpost. A rough higher mound showed the foundations. Some sections were still up or half-destroyed. Houses had been crushed by the siege weapons, the stones going right through the wooden houses and scattering the few made of stone.

  “Move into formation!” Pan Kun yelled, seeing the movement of others emerging from their cellars. “They’re coming!” His voice carried across the outpost with the medallion.

  Melee fighters rushed out to create shield walls between buildings and behind the broken wood of their siege weapons. Archers lined up behind them, aiming between the melee fighters as they hunkered down, shields ready and swords out. The mages were kept in groups at the back, away from the front line.

  “Front line, steady!” Lukas barked.

  “Archers, pick your targets! Get them coming over the rubble. Mages, be ready with fire spells!” Nasreen yelled.

  Fighters appeared over the wall; their yells died in their throats as arrows knocked them backward. More started to come over the wall, two or three, then dozens. They slipped on the broken stone, archers claiming their lives.

  Team leaders had back up melee fighters ready and fired their crossbows.

  “What does it look like?” Pan Kun asked.

  “They’re all spread out. They’re throwing down planks and crossing over, a big group now.”

  “Mages be ready!” Pan Kun yelled. “Tell Lieutenant Lee that, once the second group is in the middle of the flame pots, to hit all but the ones on our flanks.”

  “Yes, sir.”

>   The wave that had gathered behind the pits trying to cross them came over the wall, yelling as spells appeared above the shield line, cutting through their ranks with the combined arrows and bolts.

  Pan Kun grabbed his war hammer as they made it down from the rubble wall and ran at the shields, madness in their eyes.

  The melee fighters shoved their shields out, smashing into the chargers and throwing them back as they lashed out with swords shining in the afternoon sun as blood stained the ground and soldiers’ gear.

  “Hold the line! Do not advance!” Lukas yelled.

  They were no match for them one on one. It was a slaughter; the wave thinned out.

  Streaks of light appeared in the sky. Pan Kun looked over to see meteors raining down on the enemy. They disappeared beyond the wall and he felt the impacts through the ground; they got closer and closer until they were landing on the other side of the wall.

  “Hold!” Pan Kun barked as the shield lines started to bow in slightly.

  The meteors stopped as flames and screams were heard on the other side of the wall.

  “We caught three of the enemy units in the flames,” Tenzin said. “They’re looking to go around. There are two more large units behind them.”

  Advance onto the wall or hold?

  Pan Kun took it all in. They were about twenty meters from the base of what was the wall, among the houses, most places without clear sight. The wall was still their greatest defense, acting as an obstacle and bad footing. They needed space to react, but if they went on top of that, they were going to be the ones falling over and breaking ankles.

  “Withdraw thirty meters! All support personnel, retreat!” Pan Kun yelled.

  The team leads took over, pulling everything back in order.

  “Set fire to the siege weapons and push debris into the road!” Nasreen yelled.

  They threw fire pots among the siege weapons, which butted up against the houses. The enemy would have to come down the roads unless they wanted to jump through flames on the broken houses.

  “They’re coming through the flanks,” Tenzin said.

  “Watch the flanks!” Pan Kun yelled.

  “They have shields in the front.”

  The new enemy units appeared at the side of the breaches, shields pulled together to protect those underneath trying to set their footing.

  They’re not charging. Scared?

  Arrows and bolts struck high and low, aiming for openings.

  People dropped as arrows found openings. The shield wall collapsed on the left flank as mages cast spells into the openings created, killing dozens.

  Arrows came over the wall.

  “Shields!” Lukas yelled. The shields raised to cover. People cried out as they were hit.

  Archers fired back blindly over the rubble.

  More fighters crossed over the wall, building momentum.

  “Withdraw ten meters, wounded to the rear!” Pan Kun yelled.

  They picked up their wounded and ran out of the outpost to the waiting carts.

  “Team leads, take command!” Pan Kun yelled. It’s all up to you now.

  “Sir?” Hajjar said, indicating to the rear.

  Pan Kun looked at the archers appearing on the wall, trading fire with his own. His people’s spells cut through the enemy as arrows punched through armor.

  He turned and made for the rear.

  “Tell Lee to break the pots.”

  “Yes sir,” Tenzin said.

  Nasreen watched her people falling back slowly. A mage grabbed out with her hand and dragged a half-collapsed building down on the road.

  The siege weapons’ fire was spreading to the rest of the buildings.

  “They’re breaking down more of the wall!”

  A section of wall on the left flank crumbled and collapsed.

  Damn oversized pikes.

  Archers fired as the enemy fighters tried to clamber over obstacles.

  Nasreen smelled something in the air. The pots?

  She looked to the stands where the poison pots had rested. There were just ceramics and a dispersed cloud.

  Nasreen glanced at the wall above the gate into the range. Signal flags snapped in the wind against the smoke and destruction. “Keep pulling back. Archers, move to the alleys. Shield melee fighter group one, pull back to the range!”

  The archers and the melee fighters from group two moved into cover along the road. Fighters were moving in force. Arrows caught them as they focused on their footing, trying to cross the broken house.

  “Moving!” Archers and melee fighters up front crouched and ran back, taking up positions behind their fellow archers.

  Enemy fighters ran out from the alleyways past the downed house. They turned and charged, yelling and wielding their weapons. Nasreen raised her bow and fired, her arrow going through several before it stopped.

  “Hold your ground and shoot!” she yelled. Archers fired into them, thinning their ranks. An archer next to Nasreen went down with an arrow to the neck, clawing at the air and at his neck.

  “Medic!” she yelled, covering the retreating front line.

  A soldier grabbed the archer and ran to the rear.

  Mana blasts lit the street as the United Army pushed into the streets. BMRA Mages waved their hands, creating air blades that cut down the street at neck height. Bodies kept going as their heads or part of them remained still.

  “Pull back!” Nasreen yelled as the momentum returned in her people’s favor.

  They peeled back. One soldier struck in the back was grabbed by another and carried behind the archers and toward the gates.

  Mages threw spells into the cover that the enemy fighters and archers were trying to use.

  Nasreen ran back with the next group, reading the flags. “Second group melee fighters! Head off! Keep peeling back!”

  Now there were only the archers and the mages. They kept moving back, giving ground and taking casualties. But they made the enemy pay dearly for it.

  They were just twenty meters from the end of the road when the buildings caught fire. The wind shifted, bringing smoke over the group, making Nasreen’s eyes water.

  She grabbed another arrow. The first punched through a wooden wall and hit the archer on the other side, then shot at a group of fighters running forward, killing two.

  “Covering!” the second archer line yelled.

  “Moving!” She turned and ran with the archers, straining against the smoke to look at the flags. “Pull back once more and then get the hell out of here. Mages, move to the gates!”

  Mages gritted their teeth and rushed to the rear; now it was only the archers.

  Nasreen got to cover and pulled out a spell scroll.

  “Covering!”

  She and the archers with her yelled out, their voices hoarse from smoke and running.

  “Moving!” The archers that had covered them turned and ran to the rear.

  “Keep going all the way out!” Nasreen yelled.

  Come on! Run faster!

  They cleared the front of Nasreen’s line. Archers fired on the fighters that were getting bold, seeing their enemy run.

  Enemy archers and mages fired at them; a wall exploded, throwing back the archer using it for cover.

  “Cover me!” Another archer ran as the rest fired arrows down the streets.

  Nasreen ripped her spell scroll.

  Mana surged above as spell formations opened in the sky.

  “Get under cover!” Nasreen yelled.

  Meteors rained from above. The first struck ahead of the lead fighters running down the road and detonated. The blast collapsed houses, sent shrapnel through the rear guard.

  The noise was deafening.

  “Move it!” Nasreen’s amulet glowed, her enhanced voice nearly drowned out by Armageddon raging down the street.

  The group turned and ran. Nasreen made sure that her wounded archer and the one that had grabbed him were past her, giving a five-count before following.

  She
grabbed her bow in her left hand, looking at the meteor rain before turning and running.

  They broke out of the buildings and into the large clear area around the rear gate. Their beasts had been prepared and laid out in groups. Team leaders got people organized and onto their mounts, then rushed out of the gate as fast as possible.

  Pan Kun sat atop his mount with his guards, waiting for them.

  The man working the flags ran down the stairs and jumped from the wall to his mount.

  Nasreen leaped up, landing on her mount with ease. She grabbed her reins with her right hand, her bow in her left hand still. “Get going!” she yelled at the archery team.

  “You heard her!” The team leader led the group forward, bringing empty mounts with them for people that had been wounded or were being carried out.

  Nasreen saw people running, some carrying wounded, down and out of the outpost as a large explosion caught her eye. There were tongues of fire on the northern side of the outpost.

  Her mount moved nervously under her as she surveyed the burning destruction that was the outpost over to the south where spells struck buried flame pots, making a second fire barrier.

  “Nasreen!” Pan Kun called out, bringing her back.

  She turned and rode over to him. “How is it going?”

  “All melee are out. Just waiting on your archers now,” Pan Kun yelled over the heat and flames. “Just one more team from the south needs to come in.”

  She looked over, seeing the teams race out of the outpost and through the gate, making sure to not bunch up. We trained them well.

  Just four groups of mounts remained. Spells lanced through a section of the outpost.

  Spell scroll.

  Two teams with wounded got to their mounts. The wounded were tossed on their own and lashed down quickly, the reins taken as their team members got on their own mounts before the groups rode out.

  A third group ran out just as the last of the groups left.

  “Where is the last group?” Pan Kun asked.

  “They have to climb over buildings. Their road was blocked,” Tenzin said.

  Nasreen grabbed an arrow from her quiver, using her legs to move her mount.

  Pan Kun’s guards moved into a skirmish line, eyeing the entrances into the square.