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

by Michael Chatfield

“Yes, Commander?” A voice rang through the command center.

  “Meeting room.” Glosil turned from the map table and headed to a private meeting room. A few people looked at one another with unspoken questions, but Glosil didn’t deem to answer any of them.

  He closed the door behind himself. “Is this room secure?”

  “Yes, Commander. Nothing will be heard outside. I still cannot cast another large spell. I could lose control and hit the wrong target.”

  “That’s not what I want to talk to you about. I wanted to ask…” Glosil gathered himself. “Could you recreate the spell the Emperor of Vuzgal used to create the undead?”

  “We can already create undead,” Egbert said.

  “We can create undead that follow orders. We don’t create undead that follow a will.”

  Egbert paused. “Do you know what you’re asking?”

  “I think I do.”

  “Creating undead is not hard. They’re just dungeon creatures that require materials. But true undead, those that will follow a person’s will, they will passively increase in power over time and carry out their caster’s will. They are powerful beasts, not automatons. They are guided with a will they will carry out their tasks forever unless the spell is broken, and their power lost.” Egbert’s voice rose in indignation.

  “Yes.”

  “Do you know what the cost is, Glosil? The caster’s life! Whoever gives the undead their will, their life will be consumed! This is why necromancers are liches, as they cannot die from these kinds of spells.”

  Glosil nodded. “I thought so.”

  “You thought so?” Egbert yelled.

  “Can you recreate the spell?”

  “Recreate it!”

  “Egbert,” Glosil’s voice hardened. “My duty is to Alva, to protect it until the end of my days. To train men and women to take up that mantle.”

  Egbert was silent.

  “So, I will ask you again, can you recreate the spell?”

  “Yes, sir, I can. But you would—”

  “Will you require much of the dungeon core to maintain it?” Glosil held Egbert with a stern gaze.

  “No, I can use the formations in place. I will leave part of the power stored and use it to increase the range. It will reach from Bala Dungeon to where the main road splits east and west.”

  “Good, and don’t worry about another big spell to hit the ship with. Work to cover our people’s retreat.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Glosil walked out of the meeting room, seeing Blaze. “How are things?”

  “I have most of my people away.” Blaze shook his head. “I never thought—”

  “How were we to know that a group of dungeon hunters would come for us? How are things up above?”

  “Domonos and Yui are on the walls with their strongest fighters. The enemy is massing for a charge. They’re strong; each of the enemy fighters can fight five of my people.”

  Blaze had a faraway look that seemed to relive something that would haunt him for decades to come.

  “Move out with your people. We need to evacuate as fast as possible.”

  “What about the lords?”

  “They encountered the enemy and took casualties but they’re returning to the compound.”

  “Are we really going to abandon Vuzgal?” Blaze demanded.

  “Can we fight them?” Glosil pointed upwards.

  “We—”

  “Will be slaughtered! Our forces are buffed to twice their regular power. Their bodies are falling apart against these forces, despite them being debuffed by our city formations. We can fight them at a distance with railguns, but up close… They have the fighting techniques, the gear, and the weapons.”

  Blaze bit his lip, the energy draining from him.

  “Blaze, Alva will need you in the coming days. We have gained great victories and struggled, yes. But our greatest struggle is coming. We will either collapse into nothing or grit our teeth and do things the Alvan way.”

  Glosil patted the older man—the man who had made him guard captain of Alva village all those years ago, who he had learned how to command from. “Go, we must save everyone that we can.”

  Blaze nodded and hugged Glosil, who returned the gesture.

  “See you on the other side,” Blaze said.

  “Yes, on the other side.” Glosil patted his back.

  Yui checked the castle compound defenses. The ring wall had been improved and upgraded since they took the city. He watched as the wall grew out of the ground. Dirt fell from its freshly raised sides in a clear, dark line.

  The wall stopped growing. Dirt was shaken free as sergeants and officers yelled to their men swarming up the exterior stairs.

  “We predict that they can jump at least twenty meters with their estimated power. I’m more worried about breaching spell scrolls.” Lieutenant Colonel Carvallo rested one hand on the handgrip of her railgun.

  Formations in the wall glowed with power, spreading across and up the walls.

  “I agree, the fight for the walls is just the start.” Yui looked back at the castle. The ground cracked and fell away as bunkers grew from the ground.

  Mages hardened dirt between them into mortar positions for mortar squads to push into.

  “We just need to buy time. What’s the situation with the teleportation formations?”

  “The weaker or smaller versions have been knocked out. All teleportation formations outside of the compound have been destroyed. Commander Glosil believes that the ship has something that messes with the formations. It is slowing down the evacuation. The defenders around the valley have used their teleportation facilities to get out. The air force is only mini—”

  “Incoming above!”

  “Get to cover!” Yui barked.

  Machine gun positions in the castle and the tower opened up. Blue spell tracers exploded in the air as spells rained down from above. Yui and Carvallo ran for an entrance in the wall that soldiers were piling into.

  “Push through! Move to firing positions inside the wall!” Yui yelled as he used his sound transmission device.

  “Domonos! We’re under attack—” A spell hit the ground nearby, heat washing through an arrow slit in the wall followed by dirt.

  Shit.

  The mortar positions collapsed as the aerial forces targeted them and the castle.

  “On the northeast.”

  He grabbed Carvallo to yell in her ear, the wall shaking with impacts. “Get the bunkers to extend their barriers to cover our mortar positions!”

  “Sir!”

  They pushed up the stairs inside the wall, people racing to set up their firing positions.

  “We’re extending our barriers out from the bunkers to offer protection to our mortars or we’re going to lose our mortar cover here.”

  “Good idea.” Domonos was quiet for a few seconds. “I’ve passed orders to the same effect. The northwest is under attack as well. I have reports of the ground forces pushing up using the aerial forces to soften us.”

  Carvallo grabbed onto Yui and moved her lips to his ear as she made sure he didn’t run into anyone. “Command reports the frigate is accelerating.”

  “Domonos, frigate is moving. Looks like this is it.”

  “Yui, what’s the status of the special teams?”

  “The last I heard they were humping it through the under-city; they don’t have teleportation formations to hop forward on. Should be here soon. Our biggest problem is our teleportation bottleneck.”

  “Dragon Regiment will hold the left.”

  “And Tiger will hold the right.” Yui passed machine gunners setting up behind modified arrow slits.

  The channel was cut off as Yui pulled Carvallo close. “What about our charges?”

  “They’re set, sir.” Her voice was coldly professional.

  “Good.” Can’t tell the troops we’re standing on top of a massive bomb.

  Captain Stassov stood in the open space between the formations around th
e dungeon core and the glowing city of Vuzgal.

  These Vuzgalians are not how they appear on the outside. They damaged my frigate!

  “What of our progress into the dungeon under the city?”

  “Every access point has been destroyed, killing or wounding our people and blocking entry,” an aide of the ground forces said.

  “Keep trying. They will mess up eventually.” Stassov manipulated the mana around her with a thought. Marco landed on the ground to her side. He hissed but held it in, knowing his position in all of this. A sect rat, but this one shows some promise.

  Stassov smiled and turned to the pillar of formations around the dungeon core.

  The mana density within the ship was sucked away as she diverted the power to repairs on the teleportation formations.

  “Make sure all wounded are evacuated from the ground. Hold back two-thirds of our force in reserve. They’re cornered; we should be wary of what they may do.”

  She was starting to think of these Vuzgalians as a force on the same level as the clan. Amusing.

  Several men and women with tattoos and formations that passively increased the mana density around them appeared in the command center and dropped to their knees, waiting.

  “Report.”

  “Bela has been killed. Gregor and Ranko are healing rapidly. They engaged with the Lords of Vuzgal.”

  She quickly hid her surprise.

  “Increase the attacks on the dungeon. Hammer their mana barriers. We must take that dungeon core.”

  Rugrat turned and checked the rear. He was tail-end Charlie, making sure that no one ran up on them.

  The under-city was quiet now. Facilities had been abandoned. The food fields still grew, but there were no dungeon monsters or farmers to tend to them. All the entrances to the different buildings had been cut off.

  Buildings had been smashed open to make the removal of gear faster. All the training facilities were gone, as well as the answering statues. Nothing but a skeleton city.

  The shaking rumble of buildings collapsing followed muffled explosions.

  “What is that?” Racquel asked. Since she had appeared, she hadn’t left his side.

  “Glosil is blowing sections of the city where the enemy is trying to gain access to the under-city.”

  Rugrat turned around and ran up toward the rest of the group. George ran beside him.

  Erik was working on the wounded. Yawen assisted him. The stretcher-bearers ran as fast as possible. Gong Jin was up at the front, Niemm’s and Roska’s teams with the wounded, carrying, healing, and protecting.

  Rugrat was in the rear with the residents of Bala Dungeon and Storbon’s team. Yao Meng was commanding with Rajkovic, Lidenowski and Jurumba supporting. The rest of their team were either dead or on the stretchers.

  Everyone was switched on. Chatter had been cut out.

  Rugrat pulled his eyes from Erik.

  Fuck.

  He knew a part of what Erik was going through losing Gilly.

  Erik was visibly pulling himself together. They’d lost many good people today.

  Rugrat turned and checked the rear again.

  “Aerial fighters are flying through the castle compound barriers and attacking the defensive positions. We need to pass off the wounded to the medics and support the castle compound. We’ll be stationed in the castle.”

  “What are the Black Phoenix ground forces doing?” Niemm asked.

  “Playing it safe. They’re weakening our defenses and moving their ground forces into position,” Erik said.

  “Gonna be a tough fight,” Yao Meng said.

  “They thought they could roll over us when they got here. Once bitten, twice shy,” Rugrat said.

  They continued forward. The wounded groaned and hissed as they were jostled. The healers went between them, checking on the IVs that were carabinered to one of the stretcher-bearers.

  They passed the training centers and the gates, through the wall that marked the inner city. It opened for them as they ran through the under-wall that extended all the way up into the ceiling.

  Units were running full out. Carts had been used to carry wounded, medics working on people as sections of the ceiling collapsed. Mages blasted them away. Soldiers carried wounded on their shoulders, covered in dirt, grime and blood.

  Rugrat saw movement within the walls. The flood of defenders compressed down as they entered the gates.

  Medics took on the wounded to casualty points. Soldiers were organized into squads and put to task.

  As they arrived, a medic and an officer stepped forward.

  “They’re all stable. Got them morph’d up. Just need to get them into hospitals for their injuries. Feeding them stamina potions and letting their bodies do the work.” Erik briefed the medics on his batch of wounded as Rugrat and the rear security moved into the gates, watching for anything that might follow them.

  “Pull back!” Niemm ordered. The soldiers and his team peeled back into the gate that closed behind them, leaving the under city empty as mana powered down.

  People were formed up into squads, moving forward at a quick pace.

  Lieutenant Colonel Zukal ran out into the path through the squads. Rugrat waved him down as Niemm and Yao Meng grouped together. Erik was still briefing the medics as the stretchers came to a halt. New bearers took over.

  “How is it?” Rugrat asked

  Zukal tore his eyes away from the wounded. “We have four teleportation pads operating. Formation masters are working to bring two more back online. The frigate is getting closer. We’ve got three thousand defenders up there. Another two thousand down here to get out, not including all the ones that are coming through the under city.”

  “How many can the pads support?” Niemm asked.

  “Forty to fifty at a time.” Zukal grimaced.

  “Shit.” Rugrat shook his head. His eyes fell on a soldier in a troop formation moving toward the teleportation formations.

  Armor.

  “Hey, troop, I need six sets of armor, two female!” Rugrat yelled.

  “What for?” Roska asked as she jogged up.

  “They’re fucking powerful.” Rugrat used a thumb to point at Fred and his people. “How strong do you think they’ll be with conqueror armor?”

  A few soldiers stripped out of their armor, pulling out their carriers and adjusting their formation sockets. “Your teams all have commander version, right?” Rugrat asked.

  “Most of the pieces,” Yao Meng said.

  “Go scrounge gear and ammo if you need it. Make sure you get plenty of grenades.”

  They fell quiet, looking at him. You think they’ll get that close? Rugrat could read the question in their eyes. “Get to it.”

  They moved into the ranks and exchanged gear with others.

  Rugrat got a set of armor and took it to Fred, who was next to Erik.

  “Put this on.”

  “I have armor.” Fred touched his robes.

  “Does it double your overall strength?” Rugrat pushed the boots, vest, and helmet into his arms and turned to Erik. “You good?”

  “Not in the fucking slightest, but I can fight,” Erik said.

  Rugrat tapped his shoulder, pressing his lips together as his guts twisted. “Yeah, that you can definitely do. No stupid shit though.”

  “You know me.”

  “Yeah, let’s do this, brother. How’re you for ammo?”

  “Good, going to need some more grenades though.” Erik turned to people filing into the formations.

  “Who has grenades?”

  “New pants, shirt and gloves too,” Rugrat mentioned.

  Erik looked at his gear. His limbs had regrown, but not his clothing. All the blood had been removed with his clean spells.

  “I was feeling lopsided.” Erik pulled off his slung rifle and held it out.

  “Got it.” Rugrat held the rifle as Erik pulled out an old armored plate. It came apart in several sections once free of his carrier.

  “Sh
it,” They shared a look, wondering just how the hell did he’d survived that. Erik shrugged and pulled out fresh plates, replacing them. He grabbed a new set of pants, shirt, and boots to replace what he’d lost.

  “All right this is the situation…” Rugrat quickly filled Erik in as he got dressed and armored up, trying to forget the plate and their mortality.

  Fred and his people geared up, putting on the new armor, boots, and helmets as well.

  Everyone checked their gear again as Rugrat passed the rifle back to Erik. He took out a needle and stabbed it into Erik’s arm.

  “What’s that? Eurgh!” Erik breathed in as he blinked.

  “You still look like shit, but that should keep you going.”

  “Fuck.” Erik rolled his shoulders as the potent stamina potion flooded his system. “A bit of warning next time?”

  “Takes all the fun out of it.”

  Erik barked a laugh. “Thank you, Brother.”

  “Anytime, stupid.”

  “Tell Davin I need another fly by!” Yui barked before a shadow passed over his position. Soldiers fired up at the aerial beasts through the gun slits in the wall.

  Behind the wall, several bunkers were smoking craters. The mortar squads gritted their teeth and fired as fast as they could load their mortars, dialed into the enemy advances.

  “Here they come!” Carvallo was down the wall, spread out so that command could be passed faster.

  Yui pushed to the other side of the wall.

  The prominent clan houses that had stood on the other side of the large road that ringed the outer walls had been turned into rubble, clearing two hundred meters of open ground.

  Mortars exploded at the edge of the rubble, shattering buildings as fighters moved between them to the edge of the open ground.

  The Phoenix Clan raised walls for cover. Machine guns fired into them, pockmarking their surfaces and breaking them down. Gunners fired around the edges of the walls, their explosive shots going off to either side.

  The Clan continued to create cover to cross the open ground as fighters flowed forward. Like a river crashing against the rocks, they pushed forward to the different walls.

  Spell impacts rang out in the castle compound.

  “Fucking aerial,” Yui muttered and switched to his leadership channel. “Hit those fucking walls with grenades. Keep firing at the edges with explosive shot!”