***
With the Erach being cleared out, Party Zero had been shifted to the castles surrounding a portal within the Densaou Ring of Fire, south of Egas Nation.
These were the same series of castles that Esa and her forces had been holding. Esa was alive once again, feeling her loss of stats as she had returned to command of the castles. At the beginning, the Xelur had only controlled two of the castles, with the Terra Alliance taking control of the six remaining castles.
Thinking that these Xelur were like the ones coming out of the portal on the Heval continent south of the city Aygasse turned out to be incorrect as these Xelur were fighting among themselves.
The Xelur fighting among themselves had slowed their own progression, allowing the Terra Alliance to take command of all eight castles while the various Xelur clans fought to control the portal.
In Ashal, the portal had been within one clan’s controlled area. As such, they were much more coordinated and they didn’t have any troubles advancing into Ashal. They had consolidated their strength and only when they were confident did they start sending out lightning-fast raids that would hit the other surrounding castles.
They had taken two more castles: one within the inner circle and one in the second ring. With this development, more people were moved to the castles in order to stop the Xelur.
This had turned from a defensive operation into a castle capture.
Now the final castle within the inner ring was fighting off the combined attacks of three other castles.
The Terra Alliance was firing on these Xelur-controlled castles with all that they had, but they were unable to grind the Xelur defenses down. Fighting at long range was not working so they were going to have to get in close.
The atmosphere within the command room was tense. The sounds of spells and artillery could be heard through the large walls as Esa stood at the front of the room.
“With this, we’ve got to play the objectives. We take out the Xelur—they can just hide in their castles and recover. We need to get into those castles before they improve upon their defenses or get more capture points and take them. Once we control the castles, we give the Xelur less options to work with,” she said. “Party Zero, I want you to spearhead this. This is going to be a player guild-only attack. We can’t drop Onos in areas that we don’t have a drop pad placed. We don’t care about killing off all the Xelur. As long as we can capture those castles then the mission will have been a success.”
“Dragon!” someone yelled as a shadow passed over the castle.
“They’re on our side!” Esa yelled over the command channel, not wanting to have an incident on her hands.
“So we’ve got dragons for support?” Lox asked.
“Well, they do call the Densaou Ring of Fire their home—it wasn’t hard to ask them to help clear out the Xelur.” Esa smiled. She was clearly tired but there was a tenacity and unwavering energy that came from being the leader of all that was going on.
“When do we leave?” Deia asked.
“We’re going to get the dwarven artillery, dragons, and DCA aerial forces to soften up the target some, get them scared. You will move under the cover of this bombardment to the eastern inner castle from the secondary eastern inner castle. The northern inner castle will provide close support. As you get to the eastern castle walls, the other outer castles will shift their fire to the other Xelur-controlled inner castles so that they don’t mess with you. At that time, it will be up to you and the other players to gain entry into the outer castle walls, then force your way into the central castle and the capture point,” Esa said.
“Sounds almost easy.” Gurren snorted.
“I’m glad you think so. The assault will begin in the morning, when most of the players are online.” Esa tapped the desk with her hand, announcing the end of the meeting.
Party Zero and the others left the room and headed out toward the walls once again. There was a long night ahead of them before they could put Esa’s plan into action.
“Let’s go take over a castle,” Lox said.
“Not even going to send us an invite?” a familiar voice said.
Deia looked down a hallway where a massive man with glowing eyes, a half-dwarf, and a human walked toward them.
“Well, they’ve got no chance now with all of us here.” Gurren laughed.
“How did the citadel go?” Anna asked as Deia and Dave greeted each other with a hug.
“It’s nearly ready—just needs more power. We should have three more ready soon,” Malsour said.
Dave and Deia kissed quickly, the two of them in their own world.
“Miss me?” Dave said with a cocky grin.
Deia hit his chest and rolled her eyes. “I missed Koi. You’re simply a side benefit.”
“Why, thank you.” Dave shook his head, his grip on Deia not lessening in the slightest. “Before you ask, Koi is fine. I left her with your mom and dad. Seems that she and Desmond are having a lot of fun within the mountain. Your mother also told me to tell you that Koi already has a high Affinity toward Fire and will be quite the little mage when she grows up.”
“Someone’s a proud dad,” Deia said. Dave’s face looked as though it would split apart with his wide smile and the glow in his eyes.
Dave picked Deia up and whirled her around. She let out a surprised and adorable shriek at his actions.
“Just a little!” Dave laughed.
“Big oaf.” Deia hit his shoulder but she, too, was smiling with him, happy and excited for their daughter.
The rest of Party Zero had been talking among themselves, getting up to date on what everyone was doing.
An alarm rang through the castle.
“Looks like the Xelur are leading an assault,” Jung Lee said, his senses better than Dave’s as he had come to understand and control his Free Affinity spirits.
“Check your gear and let’s go see if we can’t help out. The more we weaken the Xelur now, the less we have to fight tomorrow,” Deia said.
Dave released her.
She would cherish the moment that they had but they were still within a battlefield and they couldn’t let themselves be too distracted from what was going on around them.
“Grand Demon Lords!” someone yelled out. Beams of light that looked like the light contained within a soul gem tore through the night sky and slammed against the Mana barrier of the castle.
The entire barrier shook with this impact.
“They must be some of the more powerful Xelur Demon Lords!” Induca yelled as Party Zero exited the castle. Looking up, they saw as another pillar of light formed from the souls of the Xelur Grand Demon Lord’s victims tore through the night sky, making Party Zero shield their eyes at the sudden brightness as the Mana barrier was once again shaken with the impact.
These twin beams didn’t fade but continued to burn away the castle’s barrier.
Smaller, less powerful beams started to add to the two initial attacks, filling the sky with light.
“Get to cover! The barrier can’t take much more of this!” a commander of the outer wall’s defenses called out.
“Artillery, get me those Grand Demon Lords! Just need to disrupt them!” Esa yelled out over the command chat.
“We’ve got incoming!” someone on the wall called out on the information chat.
Deia’s ears perked up as over the sounds of hundreds of people moving, a rumbling noise built within the air. There was no way to see outside of the castle as the Mana barriers and attacking soul-formed beams fought against the mana barriers. Even though they couldn’t see anything, the defenders could still hear what was happening on the other side of the wall.
“Xelur forces!” someone yelled out on the chat as the rumbling noise of thousands of people charging across the open ground around the castle was overtaken by the bloody war cries of the Xelur as they charged.
“It’s like a tide of darkness. I...I don’t know how many there are. There has to be thousands—maybe t
wenty or thirty thousand!” A scout at another castle sounded as if they were in a state of disbelief at what they were seeing approach the last remaining inner castle controlled by the Stone Raiders.
“They’re coming from the eastern and western castles!” the scout continued.
Without a clear line of sight, the defenders of the northern castle could only hold their positions, looking up at the Mana barrier that was being burned away and listen to the unseen enemy and the reports coming in from the other castles.
An angered roar filled the air as one of the two strongest beams was cut off.
A dragon’s roar came from the sky as golden light filled the sky. A spell formation appeared in front of the dragon. Their mouth opened as golden spears of light appeared from the center of the overlaid spell formations.
The golden light was overbearing as the spears shot through the air in a blur. It was only because of Deia’s high understanding of magic and stats that she was able to see the spear instead of thinking it just a beam of light with the number and speed the spells were cast and released.
A massive fifteen-meter tall Xelur Grand Demon Lord leapt from the castle where he had been, stepping upon the air as if it were a stair, and launched himself toward the dragon.
His progress was slowed by the dragon’s attacks hitting him, making him defend and be pushed back down toward Emerilia.
The Grand Demon Lord deflected the attacks, letting them pass by. Where they hit the ground, ten-meter-wide craters would appear. The wall of the castle would crack where it was strong, and explode outward where it was weak.
The attacking beams reduced in numbers as the Xelur had to now focus on defense. As the beams dimmed, the artillery on the northern castle and the ranged attackers were able to see some of the enemy approaching.
Spells and artillery were unleashed on the oncoming Xelur soldiers and their more powerful masters. Even through these attacks, the spears of light from the dragon continued to cut through the pitch-black night sky.
Xelur that were in the path of these light spears were nearly all wiped out.
Xelur Demon Lords of the lower ranks and even two Grand Demon Lords by the power stored within their bodies and overall height chased after the first Grand Demon Lord, who was just getting into range with the golden dragon in the sky, wielding a massive war hammer with savage blood-red runes on his weapon that would draw out one’s Willpower and pull on the soul energy of whatever creature it hit.
Soul-fueled beams shot out from those following the Grand Demon Lord, hitting a dazzling Mana barrier.
Just as the Grand Demon Lord was about to hit the Golden Dragon it seemed to teleport behind the Grand Demon Lord. Its speed, combined with the Light magic that it had a natural Affinity for since birth, worked to push its speed to an almost unrealistic rate.
The Grand Demon Lord’s attack failed as his swing cut through empty air.
The dragon unleashed golden flames from its mouth and the Grand Demon Lord was hurled across the sky. He stopped after being thrown nearly two hundred meters, golden flames across his body.
Soul energy grew around the Grand Demon Lord. His aura increased in power as he charged forward to meet the dragon again. The golden flames around his body died off as the soul energy defeated them.
“Looks like the Grand Demon Lord is burning his soul energy to enhance his attributes,” Deia said to the others as they stood in the open area between the wall and the castle, ready to react to any breaches or where the worst attacks came from.
The golden dragon and Grand Demon Lord clashed in the sky. Spell formations appeared on both sides as they came together in massive clashes, the impacts of which resounded through the sky.
The aides to the Grand Demon Lord, seeing the power displayed, paused in their advance. The the battle had reached a level at which they could no longer help their leader.
With roars of anger, the Demon Lords quickly moved to catch up with the assaulting Xelur army.
Four more dragons roared as they cleared the mountain range that made up the Densaou Ring of Fire. They were part of the force that would help the players retake the inner eastern castle.
They were supposed to arrive during the night so that they could surprise the Xelur, but with the ongoing battle, they had increased their speed in order to help repel the oncoming assault.
Grand Demon Lords unleashed attacks at the dragons, some were as strong as the one that was fighting the golden dragon in the air. Most weren’t and were only distract the Dragons, many of them perishing in the act.
The dragons were proud and powerful creatures. These four combined their power into spell formations that appeared over the Xelur-controlled areas. When combining Mana and having multiple mages working to cast a single spell together, the spell didn’t simply become easier to cast. Their power increased dramatically.
From the sky, these massive spell formations were larger than the castles below.
“Players, prepare to sortie!” Esa’s voice rang through the command channels.
Players who had been on the walls moved off, forming into parties and groups.
Deia continued to watch the destruction being waged through the air.
The dragons’ spell formation unleashed a hellish rain that descended upon the Xelur-occupied castles as if meteors returning to the planet. Massive glowing barriers covered the castles. The Xelur burned their souls in order to gain cover from this oncoming barrage.
Those castles that weren’t under attack unleashed their own attacks at the four newly arrived dragons. Among these attacks, Demon Lords raced into the sky, treating the sky as if it were land as they went to meet these dragons.
The dragons wheeled apart, dodging the beams of light with aerobatics that made Deia watch in awe. Hits peppered their personal Mana barriers as spell formations unleashed spells at their attackers.
The Xelur burned soul energy, enhancing their natural abilities as they fought against spells as if they were spears and swords, not magical formed creations.
It was a terrifying sight as these forces clashed in the sky above the portal.
“They’re nearly at the walls!” Lox yelled over the sound of fighting. His sword and axe formed in his hands.
Deia looked to everyone. They were all looking to the sky in wonder of the fight there. But with Lox’s words, their looks of awe hardened as they checked weapons or started to circulate their Mana so as to instacast their attacks.
The Mana barrier of the northern castle was quickly failing as the roars of the oncoming Xelur were clearer than ever. The very ground shook with their progress.
“Ready yourselves!” a commander called out. His deep voice made those on the walls brace themselves. Hundreds of small white beams illuminated the Mana barrier. The charging forces now added in their own attacks; for them to display their full power, they needed to get rid of this Mana barrier.
The Xelur might be a techno race that fell backward but they were as smart as any of the people on Emerilia.
The Mana barrier shone with brilliant light, weathering the impacts for a time. Finally it was unable to take the attacks. Holes appeared within the barrier before suddenly the runes that were supporting the Mana barrier stopped lighting up with power and the Mana barrier collapsed!
“Use individual Mana barriers!” Esa called out.
In different areas, smaller barriers were activated to cover the people within their area of effect. They weren’t as good as the Mana barrier of the castle but they could blunt the worst attacks and give those underneath a better chance.
The main gate closest to the eastern side shook with an impact. More and more impacts sounded against the gate as the sound of metal hitting stone could be heard along the walls.
“They’re trying to break down the gate and climb the walls!” someone called out.
“Area attacks outside the gate and the walls. Archers, hit anything that moves out there,” Esa ordered.
With the Mana barr
ier down, they had lost their protection; however, they had regained their visibility. Mages and ranged attackers unleashed concentrated attacks that they had been holding back. Arrows left the castle in droves, whistling overhead to land among the Xelur and cutting them down as they continued to race toward the castle’s outer walls.
The Xelur didn’t let this pass as their Demon Lords started to reach the walls. With their soul-enhanced strength, they smashed into the walls, leaving large impacts as they continued to swing their weapons. Others got to the wall, leaping onto them, using their claws or weapons to climb the walls.
The castle’s outer walls were covered in a thick cover of Xelur fighters working their way up the wall. There were simply too many of them to be all killed by the spells and ranged attacks.
“We’ve got Xelur in the seventh and ninth area!” someone called out.
Deia looked to those areas, where Xelur were fighting with the Terra Alliance people. The Xelur created an opening on the wall; more and more of their people rushed to get into that gap and reinforce them. With each death, the Xelur would grow stronger, pulling the souls from their own fallen and the fallen from the Alliance. Much as Dave’s armor did.
The deaths of the Xelur reduced their numbers but their average power was actually increasing.
This made them a terrifying enemy as they wielded their blood rune weapons.
Lu Lu unleashed a lightning attack from Suzy’s shoulder, stunning the Xelur Demons that had made it over the wall in the seventh section of the wall. Most would have been killed by the attack but the Xelur were tough opponents and were merely stunned for a while.
Thankfully, this gave the people on the wall the opportunity to drive them back.
The first Xelur Demon made it to the wall. They roared in victory; from their body, it seemed that their soul aura erupted, killing off the POEs within the area. It twirled its spear and smashed through three others that had been nearby. His strength was so great as to throw them from the wall and into the Xelur waiting below.
All across the walls, there was fighting. There wasn’t a single place where people weren’t fighting for their lives.
Of Myths and Legends (Emerilia Book 9) Page 7
