Alin approached the enforcer she’d ordered to send the captain a message. While they conversed in their native tongue, I crouched and took stock of my gear. Nothing required immediate repairing, but I needed something to do with my shaking hands while I awaited the arrival of Captain Cross and the others. My fingers trembled as I removed the portable Dust-drill from my belt pouch, laid my longsword in my lap, and retraced the runes along the blade’s edge.
“The knights are on their way,” Alin said to me after she finished speaking with the enforcer.
“Our jump mages won’t be able to open portals, so they’ll have to trek through the city and ascend the power plant before getting here,” I said.
“Until they arrive, we must ensure the giant does not harm the alchemists,” the empath said.
It had taken me about fifteen minutes to reach the turret chamber from this location. The Ogre moved with a much larger gait, so it could probably get here in about ten.
Alin faced the squad of enforcers and addressed them in Ecomese while I resumed examining my gear. Everything was in order, and my prot-field was completely recharged. Elle and Casey were standing behind the alchemists, and I peered up at them. Neither woman met my gaze, and I guessed they must have avoided it because they knew I still wanted them to leave the Watchtower.
Once Alin finished speaking to the enforcers, they all looked at me. The lightly armored soldiers were clearly afraid, and I doubted any of them had ever faced real Grendels. Maybe they had battled them inside the VR world, but a computer game was a far cry from a real confrontation.
“I have placed them under your command,” Alin said to me, and my heart stopped. “If the Ogre breaches the door to the Watchtower, then my men will give their lives to kill it.”
I tried not to grimace as the warriors looked at me expectantly. I wasn’t sure why the empath had given me authority over them, but I soon found my answer when Alin sat behind a vacant console.
The empath pulled the helmet above her over her head, and then she went silent. I heard a noise behind me as the door to one of the cages swung open, and a warsuit stepped out from it. The giant mechanical combatant was painted red and had a plasma cannon jutted from one arm and a flamethrower from the other. It lurched across the room and came to a halt in front of the door leading to the fortress’ first ring.
If we lived through the day, I was going to ask the Ecomese woman some serious questions. Like who the hell she was and why she’d been assigned to the squires like some kind of servant.
For now, I turned to the enforcers under my command. I knew they could all feel my emotions, so I tried to squash my fear. I could barely keep my hands steady, so I was failing miserably. The soldiers seemed more terrified than I was, but it wasn’t exactly a mercy or encouraging.
The last time I’d fought an Ogre, it had been with four knights and three squires by my side. If we faced the monster now, I would be commanding these men to their deaths.
But what else could we do except fight?
I squared my shoulders as I stared at the ranks of the Ecomese warriors. An Ogre would pulverize them, but this was their Ark and their home, so they deserved to give their lives in defense of it. Who was I to take such an honor away from them?
Nothing mattered now except preparing these soldiers for battle. We probably had a few minutes before the Ogre led the horde of aliens to the door. I’d seen the strength of high-level Grendels, and a sealed door wouldn’t hold them back for long.
If they entered the power plant, they would kill everyone. And then the city would be vulnerable, along with the rest of the Ark.
The knights still weren’t here, and I couldn’t imagine the enemies waiting for them to arrive before attacking the Watchtower door.
Maybe stalling was an option?
Then an idea came to me. It was stupid and risky, but it was all I had.
“I’ve fought Ogres before,” I said to the enforcers. “They’re not particularly fast. I will enter the fortress and lead the Ogre away from the Watchtower. The distraction might only work for a little while, but it should give us enough time to stall until the Stalwart’s crew get here.” I spoke with far more confidence than I felt, and I prayed the enforcers were producing too much of their own fear to feel mine. The plan would allow these men to maintain their honor while also keeping them from harm’s way.
“Sir,” the lead enforcer said, “are you sure this is a reasonable plan?”
“I don’t have anything else,” I admitted. “I want you to open the door on my command. Can you do that?”
The enforcer searched my eyes, and I could tell he was also examining my emotions. Despite my doubts about the plan, the man nodded before approaching the door’s control box.
I glanced at Elle and Casey, and they shot me smiles that suggested they were ready for the battle. Neither woman seemed to realize the severity of the situation, but I didn’t plan on taking them too far into the first ring. I’d find some way of keeping them away from the Ogre. My speed sequence would leave the pair far behind, and I could lure the giant monster away from this chamber without the enchantress and the point clerk coming into contact with it.
“Alright. Get ready. Open the door on my signal,” I commanded the enforcer standing in front of the control panel.
Before I could make a move, the walls rattled, and the lights above flickered before going out. The emergency lighting came on a second later, and a screeching sound filled my ears. I stared at the door in horror as the metal edges peeled back, curling inward like a conch shell. The organic layer on top of the metal cracked like ancient skin as an Ogre peered into the room with its massive head. A single eye looked with glee at the terrified people inside.
“What do we do?” Casey asked me, her voice trembling. All her confidence had fled with the arrival of this enemy.
“Get back!” I screamed.
The enchantress and the point clerk obeyed as the warsuit Alin was controlling trudged forward and faced the Ogre. The mech's right hand jerked up before letting loose with the plasma cannon. The muzzle flared as the projectile tore free from the weapon and slammed into the Grendel. With a deafening roar, the monster launched toward the warsuit. The machine wasn’t ready for the sudden attack, and the giant's powerful muscles brought the warsuit to the ground.
“Wait!” I screamed as the enforcers rushed forward to defend the fallen warsuit.
The men paid no heed to my cry as they surrounded the monster. I only carried my longsword, and I couldn’t use its Forcewave rune while the Ecomese soldiers were in the way.
The ends of the enforcers’ staves boomed with concussive force as they harried the monster. With our enemy's attention elsewhere, Alin’s warsuit struggled to its feet and took cover behind a console. Whatever automated repair functions the machine possessed kicked into gear, and I returned my focus to the Ogre. No longer surprised by the sudden fury of the enforcers, the giant ignored the blows and bashed the men aside with its huge club. They were flung through the air and skittered along the ground like pebbles across a lake.
I sent a forcewave at the monster, and it glanced against its scaled abdomen like a soft breeze. I hadn’t tilted my wrist enough, so too little power had infused the attack. The giant lurched toward the alchemists, and I flung a more powerful forcewave into the creature. The ball of energy struck the Ogre in the right shoulder, and the monster shifted its club into its left hand, so I assumed the attack had injured its right arm.
Prot-field: 22% flashed across my visor. Before I could charge my foe, Alin’s warsuit came alongside me, and it let its plasma cannon rain balls of molten heat. The fiery sludge enveloped the Grendel’s club, but the weapon seemed invulnerable to the plasma. The club's surface ignited, and then the Ogre came at me with a flaming hunk of iron. I dashed aside as the weapon crashed down, and then I activated my speed sequence with a flurry of key presses on my prot-belt.
Power surged through my limbs, and my pulse soared upward.
I sprinted around the Ogre, drawing its attention away from the alchemists so they could continue to control the warsuits fighting elsewhere in the fortress. I kept the Grendel facing the destroyed doorway, and I leaped aside as it tried to clobber me with its blazing weapon.
The enforcers who hadn’t been killed got to their feet, and they jabbed the monster’s back with energy blasts from their weapons. The thing spun around while it used a downward strike of its club to pulverize an enforcer. The Ogre pulled its weapon from the mashed corpse as I swung my longsword in an overhead cut. The blade’s keen edge slashed the giant’s right thigh but didn't penetrate its armored skin. The monster howled and spun its massive form to face me.
“Get behind me!” I screamed to the enforcers. “Keep it away from the alchemists!”
As I danced between the Ogre’s heavy-handed blows, I searched the chamber for Elle and Casey. I found them both attending to the injured enforcers, and I thanked the gods they had sense enough to stay out of the giant's warpath.
My eyes caught flashes of orange light, and I turned to see Alin’s warsuit pepper the Ogre with plasma. The giant held its forearms up to protect its hideous face and charged the machine with a growl that shook the walls. The warsuit pointed its flamethrower toward the Grendel, but it was too late. The Ogre crashed into the machine with a resounding boom and took it to the ground.
I knew Alin would die if the machine sustained enough damage, so I couldn’t allow our powerful enemy to get the upper hand.
“All at once!” I yelled at the enforcers.
They fell behind me as I hacked the Grendel with my sword. Green blood splashed over my visor and armor, and the concussive blasts from the enforcers’ staves pounded into the Ogre’s soft underbelly. The creature released the warsuit from its grip and attempted to snatch me, but I leaped back to avoid its arm. The enforcers weren’t quick enough, and the monster used its other arm to swat them with its club. The men crashed into the side wall, and not one of them moved afterward.
The warsuit seemed to have lost power, and I didn’t want to think about what that might mean for Alin. The Ogre set its eyes on me, and its wide mouth split into a giant smile, and teeth poked out from its lips like a crocodile’s grin. The wounds we’d given it dribbled blood, but the Ogre ignored them. The evil glare in its eyes spoke of its intense hatred and thirst to kill humans. I met it with an equally ferocious glare, but I doubted the giant shared my terror.
My prot-field was regenerated slightly, so I activated my Shadow Self rune. Two doppelgangers appeared on the right side of the Ogre and captured its attention. I launched a forcewave toward the creature, but I hadn’t counted how much the previous rune effect had cost to cast. The weak prot-field dissipated on the monster’s scaled flesh, and my doppelgangers vanished.
The Ogre charged at me while I bolted to meet it. I recalled the last time we’d killed a creature like this and calculated the exact distance I would need to drive my longsword into the nape of its neck. As the giant closed in, I jumped to my left and planted my right foot on an empty computer console. When my left boot came down, I leaped again, spun through the air, and slashed the Ogre’s neck. Blood spurted from the laceration, and the creature roared in agony.
I saw a pinkish object shoot through the air before burying itself in the monster’s back. It screamed a second time as the jeweled hilt glowed. Pink lines expanded from the fresh wound and crawled along the Ogre’s skin like fissures in the earth.
“Got it!” I heard Elle cry out.
Our giant opponent attempted to lift itself upright, but whatever rune effect Elle’s dagger possessed had weakened it.
I cut a horizontal line through the air and prayed my blade would pierce the creature’s armored hide. My longsword did cut, stopping midway through the giant’s neck before embedding itself into bone. The shock wave rippling up my arm startled me, but the rune on my palm prevented my sword from being ripped from my hand.
My eyes widened as the Ogre reached for me.
I tried to yank my blade free of the monster’s neck, but its right fist slammed into my stomach with the impact of a heavy tank. The breastplate dispersed most of the force, but the air was still torn from my lungs. My hands still gripped the longsword’s blade, and I ducked as the second fist flew toward me. With what remained of my strength, I tore the blade free, stumbled backward, and then raised my arms to attack again.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Alin’s warsuit struggle to stand. The mech couldn’t get completely upright, but it aimed its flamethrower toward the Ogre. Fire jetted out from the weapon, and the giant was engulfed in flame. The sickly smell of burned flesh filled my nostrils for a second until my filtering systems went online.
After the flames died down, all that remained of the Grendel Ogre was a charred corpse.
I scanned the area and found only a dozen or so enforcers still alive. The giant had earned more than thirty kills, and my stomach dropped at the surrounding carnage.
I found the enforcer who’d opened the door and helped him to his feet. A nasty gash ran from his forehead down to his left cheek, and blood poured down his face.
“Is there a way to seal this door again?” I asked him.
“Yes,” he said. “The organic outer layer should repair itself. We only need a minute.”
But we didn’t have a minute.
A deafening chorus of clicks entered the chamber. Numerous Grunts crawled through the doorway and split into two scaled swarms. They forked across the walls and up the ceiling. Their tiny legs found purchase wherever there was an empty surface, and soon the entire control room was flooded with glistening green scales and gnashing needle-teeth.
We had already fought an Ogre. Now, we were thirty men down and facing a veritable army of Grunts. I could take on a few of them at a time while in a narrow corridor, but this was an open area. And there were at least a hundred of the creatures.
To put it plainly, we were fucked.
Chapter 11
The Grunts did nothing except stare at us with their beady eyes and ooze saliva from their mouths.
“Why aren’t they attacking?” Elle asked from the side of her mouth.
The dog-lizards seemed to be all looking at me, and for some strange reason I got the feeling they were somehow waiting for me to say something.
“Attack!” I screamed as I launched a forcewave at the monsters on the ceiling above me. My energy blast hit a trio of them like a whip, and their crushed corpses dropped from above me like dead flies.
Casey launched a concussive blast from her staff to hit a wave of enemies, and lizard limbs exploded in a cloud of green blood, and we all surrounded the alchemists to protect them from the charging Grunts.
I sent forcewave after forcewave at the lizards until my prot-field was completely depleted. The remaining enforcers added their firepower to the fray, and for a few minutes, it looked like we were forcing the Grendels back. Then a horde of forty Warriors pushed through the door, and I groaned.
I ducked behind a terminal for cover, but a plasma ball tagged my left shoulder. My armor doused the flames with a squelching agent, but my visor registered a critical hit. I sucked in air as I heard the terrified screams of the enforcers. My prot-field was slowly replenishing, but without my old cuirass that increased its regeneration, it was far too slow.
I glanced up and saw a Grunt peering over the console at me. Its tear-dropped skull opened wide, and hot saliva seeped from its mouth to fall on the sensor keys. I drove my longsword upward and skewered the lizard-dog beneath its jaw. Then I tore my blade away and tumbled out from behind the terminal as a squad of Grunts rolled over the console right behind me.
A quick survey of the Watchtower was all it took to realize we were completely overwhelmed. I couldn't see any of the enforcers attacking with their energy staves, and a scan of the area told me they were all dead. Casey and Elle had their backs to each other while they tried to protect the alchemists from the relentless enemy forces
, and I knew they only had a few moments before they were overwhelmed.
This was it. Our last stand. I didn’t think it would end this way, but I knew for damn sure that none of these Grendel were going to kill my two friends while I was still alive. I spotted a line through the crowd of fighting lizards that would take me to the women and plowed through it.
Green blood sprayed through the air with each of my sword's swings, but there were too many enemies, and I felt arms wrap around my legs.
And teeth close around the armor of my shoulder.
Suddenly, a flash of metal skewered the Grendel Warrior who had bitten me. It was a long spear, and the lizard-man choked out a death scream as it fell away from me.
When I turned, I expected to see Moses Monroe in his power armor. Instead, it was the Dax Star Spear, Sir Nugan Uram. He was arrayed in the matte black power armor from earlier, but now it shone with an arcane brilliance. Waves of bluish green light rippled from the totems on his equipment. Even unarmed, he carved a path through the Grendels. His massive fists were like sledgehammers pulverizing the lizards. A Grunt made the mistake of leaping at him, and he caught the beast in his hands and tore it apart like a hunk of meat.
I heard a battle cry and turned to see Dax initiates charge into the Watchtower from the rear door. They hacked the Grendels with their glowing swords, and the creatures climbed over each other to flee the carnage.
“You’re probably wondering how I got in here, eh?” Sir Uram said to me as he retrieved his spear and then eviscerated a Grendel Warrior.
“End of an alley. An entrance under construction,” I said after slamming the bottom of my boot into the chest of a Grunt. I searched the chaos for my two friends, and I found them encircled by a squad of Warriors. They were struggling to keep them at bay, and I knew they wouldn’t last much longer.
Space Knight Book 2 Page 16
