Of Myths and Legends (Emerilia Book 9)

by Michael Chatfield

  “Okay, looking good. She’s well on her way to recovery. Get, a Mana potion for her— seems that she’s got deep Mana fatigue. It’s a good thing she didn’t wake up or the fatigue would have been too much for her body and it could have affected her Mana pool.”

  Someone pulled out a Mana potion from their bag of holding and poured it into the bathtub. It was absorbed into Induca.

  After a few moments, her eyes fluttered and she looked around. “What’s going on?” Induca pulled on the sheet over top of her.

  “You were badly wounded. You’re in Terra.” Anna pulled out a set of clothes from her bag.

  “You’re going to need some more healing, and Mana and Stamina potions. But you should make a full recovery. Don’t go out and fight for the next five hours. If you’ll excuse us, we have other patients that we need to see to.” The healer moved away.

  Doctors from Earth might be surprised by how fast Induca recovered. To be told that they didn’t want her fighting for a few hours after the injuries she had sustained? That was complete lunacy. They would have kept her in a hospital for months, and then have maybe a year or more recovery time.

  With magic and potions, people could be healed back to their peak in a matter of hours, however they would need to eat and sleep in order to fully recover their Mana and Stamina without the cooldown of the different healing spells that were placed upon them.

  The healers left. The last one pulled a curtain around the bathtub that Induca was in.

  Induca got out of the tub, there was a shower off to the side, which she moved toward. She was still covered in blood and bits from her injuries.

  “Where is Suzy?” Induca asked.

  “She’s being treated for a soul attack that the Grand Xelur Demon Lord used. She should recover in a bit. If not, she’ll respawn in a few hours or so,” Anna said.

  Induca’s face froze for a moment as she let out a shuddering sigh. “I keep forgetting that she’s a player. I know she’ll be fine—even if she dies, she’ll come back. But there’s a disconnect between that, which I know is right, and knowing that if we as people of Emerilia die, we’re just gone.” Induca shook her head and moved to the shower, turning it on.

  “I know.” Anna still felt slightly guilty about leaving Suzy to follow Induca. Suzy had Lu Lu watching over her, after all, and even if she did die, she could come back. If Induca hadn’t made it to the hospital in time, she would have died.

  Now, in just a few hours, she had been able to recover from her terrible injuries that would have killed anyone on Earth, or anyone who hadn’t been right next to a healer. It truly showed how useful and vital the hospital with its healer wards was to the people of the Terra Alliance.

  Anna opened up the Party Zero chat, finding the others talking about their options. “Hey everyone, just wanted to give an update. Suzy is still under a soul attack, and Induca has made a full recovery. She should be okay to go in a few hours,” Anna said.

  ***

  Deia looked over Party Zero. Dave and Malsour worked to repair Lox and Gurren, parts of their broken hands as well as melted chests reforming. Steve pulled out replacement parts from a ring of holding, exchanging them for his broken armor while his soul gem body affixed to the new armor plates and repaired itself. Around him, various soul gems were being drained to fill up his power reserves.

  Everyone else was downing potions to recover their spent Mana and Stamina faster.

  “Party Zero, are you ready?” Esa’s voice was tight; she saw the opportunity to turn this battle around and she was having to wait.

  Deia looked to the others.

  “A minute or two.” Dave kept his focus on Lox’s hands as he used his soul smithing art to finish off Lox’s hand and repair all of the Magical Circuits that had been destroyed. It was not a simple process, but under Dave’s guidance, it was hundreds of times faster than letting the armor repair itself.

  “We’ll stick to the air for this one, provide support. If we get in the midst of the Xelur, then we’re just going to make it harder for the dwarves, as well as their support,” Deia said, talking to Party Zero and Esa.

  “Understood. It would be nice to have you clear a path through the Xelur. Basically, we just need you to show that you’re fine and ready to kick more ass, put the fear of Emerilians into the little bastards and maybe make the Grand Demon Lords think twice about fighting us,” Esa said.

  “That we can do.” Malsour looked to the sky.

  The five dragons who had been engaged in fights with various Grand Demon Lords had won their fights; most of the Grand Demon Lords had made good on their escapes, fleeing back to the castles that the dragons couldn’t attack by themselves unless they were willing to take heavy injuries.

  Two of the dragons were badly wounded; the other three had wounds but they were still ready for a fight. They cartwheeled in the sky, dropping down toward the ground, their attacks and flames raining down upon those who were caught out in the open between castles.

  Otherwise they would combine their attacks to hit the Xelur castles that looked weaker, trying to open up their defenses so that the Terra Alliance could rain down attacks on the Xelur before they had a chance to recover their soul-powered shielding or barriers.

  “Ready as we’re going to get,” Dave said.

  Anna connected to the party chat. Everyone tensed up to listen.

  “Hey everyone, just wanted to give an update. Suzy is still under a soul attack, and Induca has made a full recovery. She should be okay to go in a few hours,” Anna said.

  Some of the hard edge that showed through everyone’s faces dimmed somewhat. Knowing that Induca was all right took a weight off their minds; no matter what, Suzy would be able to come back from the brink.

  “Thank you, Anna.” Deia’s voice was soft.

  “No problem. Now , go kick some Xelur ass!” Anna cut out of the party chat.

  “All right, I want it as such. Malsour, you’ll be center. Jung Lee, Steve, Lox, and Gurren to either side. Jekoni, on the right side with Dave, and I’ll be on the left side. Everyone good?” Deia asked.

  “Sounds like a plan to me,” Lox said as they moved into a line facing the walls that Malsour had made to contain the Grand Demon Lord and any of the forces that had been around to support him.

  “Time to push them back,” Malsour said. A pillar pushed him up into the sky as the others of Party Zero rose into the sky with him. They emerged out of the dust-covered coliseum they had made like Legendary warriors of the gods.

  As soon as they were able to see the Xelur, they started to attack. The dwarves were moving past the corridor and coliseum that Malsour had made, putting Party Zero right in the midst of the Xelur.

  “I’ll work the Mana barrier!” Dave called out as orbs appeared around them. Xelur ranged attacks hit the barrier that snapped into existence.

  The party spread out above the coliseum and unleashed their attacks. Malsour opened his mouth; a spell formation came into existence in front of his mouth. Spears made from smoking shadows appeared like a cloud. They shot out in a straight stream. As soon as one was sent flying, another would appear.

  The effect was like watching a machine gun cut down unarmored people. Malsour might feel reassured with hearing Induca was okay; however, the Xelur had put her in that healing ward and they had also hurt his nieces and nephews who had come to aid the people of Emerilia.

  There was no room for mercy in his eyes or in his attacks as they tore up the ground and washed away the Xelur that stood in the path of his attack.

  Gurren, Lox, and Steve unleashed their Mana bolts. Now fully charged, their bolts could take out most regular Xelur’s soul aura in a few hits before taking down the Xelur. For Demon Lords, they had to focus their attacks, leading to them calling out to one another when they found a heavy.

  Jekoni used his water magic to cut through Xelur, pulling more and more water out of the area; the water came together to form a massive water snake that seemed almost sentient i
n the way it attacked.

  Around Jung Lee, his six Affinity spirits stood in midair, unleashing their own attacks: Fiery phoenixes that screeched into the air before racing through the Xelur. An Earth-formed rhino. A shadowy reaper and a Light paladin. Water krakens and Air eagles. He himself unleashed blade attacks as if he were practicing his swordplay. With every cut or stab, he would imbue his sword with Mana, unleashing gray Mana attacks that cut through the Xelur.

  Deia was covered in flames as she loosed arrow after arrow into the Xelur ranks.

  Dave focused on the Mana barrier, taking on multiple hits from the now panicked Xelur from below. He stood in midair, his eyes closed. The runic lines over his body glowed with power. Finally, he opened his eyes. Three-meter-wide magical formations appeared in the sky. Metallic beams slowly emerged from these magical formations, growing from one meter wide to three. Suddenly they dropped from the spell formations and slammed into the ground. Runic lines across these beams lit up as energy started to flow from them.

  Under his hood, Dave’s face was pale, but Deia could see the satisfied grin on his face as she looked at those beams. All of the dying Xelur and ambient soul energy that was drifting through the battlefield was pulled toward these beams as if they were a black hole. All of that soul energy that would have gone to the Xelur was now being captured by these beams.

  They made a wide formation around that castle, overlapping one another so that there was not one place where their touch wasn’t felt.

  The Xelur’s spells were affected as the power that they poured into enhancing their abilities or their ranged beam- like attacks was pulled in by these pillars.

  Even the attacks that would come in from the other castles were being pulled into these pillars.

  With every second, their runes started to glow brighter.

  Now, every bit of energy that the Xelur might be able to capture and use was being drained away, making it so that they could only use what was within their bodies, and with only slight chances that they would gain power from the fallen.

  ***

  Esa grabbed onto the side of the balcony as Dave’s pillars dropped from the sky. Esa looked in shock at these pillars as they slammed into the ground. Energy rushed into them; even ranged attacks were affected under these pillars’ influence.

  Malsour rose into the air with powerful beats of his wings. The others rose up behind him before they spread out, all of them unleashing attacks upon the Xelur below.

  The Xelur were thrown further off-balance by the attacks from the dwarven cannons and other players that were also claiming a huge number of their people.

  As the attacks landed, the ground that had been filled with Xelur was being cleared of people.

  The Xelur already had low morale after seeing their Grand Demon Lords fall to Party Zero. Now the dwarves were advancing into their lines as Party Zero hit them from the air. A Mana barrier appeared around them, stopping any attacks from hitting them.

  “All ranged attacks, focus on the courtyard!” Esa yelled out, seeing an opportunity.

  Artillery cannons, spells, and anything that could reach the Xelur was redirected. Grand workings exploded into firestorms and massive domes of darkness, with oily black tentacles that pulled Xelur into its depths.

  That eastern corner of their castle had turned into a hellish and chaotic scene of combat in nearly every direction.

  The Xelur held for a moment and then, all at once, like the tide going out, the Xelur ran back toward the breaches.

  The dwarves continued to press forward, not letting anyone past them as they slaughtered all that lay in their path.

  The Xelur were broken. However, they could regroup, find their courage again and continue to fight. Here they could inflict the most injuries.

  Players, sensing the Xelur’s weakness, moved out from where they had been playing it safe and unleashed their most powerful attacks to try to get the most experience possible.

  The Xelur retreat was illuminated with vicious and powerful attacks that wiped out dozens in one go. Hundreds died as one as they passed through the walls, running for the east and west castles.

  “Call the DCA and dragons to rake the Xelur as they retreat!” Esa yelled to her aides.

  The dragons in the sky who had been supporting in the distance now turned, forming up on the eldest to create an arrow-like formation as they turned toward the northern castle.

  Underneath the tower in the castle, the ono switched from Terra to Devil’s Crater. Wounded continued to be funneled through to the medical areas that Devil’s Crater had adopted after seeing the Terra Hospital and working with Jules.

  On the other side, Efri and his forces rushed forward.

  “Move it!” Efri ran through the ono and out into the inner castle. As soon as he was in the castle, he spread out his wings, taking to the sky in a few flaps. His speed increased, as he rushed through the corridors, out of the castle and into the open area between the castle and the outer walls. He tilted toward the heavens, seeing the sun coming over the horizon as he gained altitude. Behind him, DCA aerial forces followed in a stream.

  They grouped together into their wings as Efri looked over the battlefield, comparing it to the real-time updates that he had been watching through his Mirror of Communication.

  “Wing commanders, take over. Hunt the Xelur bastards down!” Efri’s voice had no room for mercy in it.

  He and the DCA aerial forces had been all over Emerilia, supporting different castles’ groups around the portals. Many were thankfully under the control of the Terra Alliance but a number of them were being contested. But none of them had had the degree of fighting that these castles had gone through.

  He banked to the side, watching as four dragons whistled out of the sky, unleashing flames of different colors from their mouths, illuminating their polished scales as the ground and Xelur below were annihilated. Their wings snapped outward, catching the wind as they rushed over the Xelur. Four lines of destruction cut through the fleeing Xelur.

  Efri’s eyes thinned as he looked at these Xelur Demons. It was after these creatures that his race had been created. The Dark Lord and his minion Boran-al were not able to make the demons of Devil’s Crater able to use soul energy to enhance their abilities but instead increased their physical abilities and made it so that they would grow stronger and faster than other races, at the cost of having a low ability with magic.

  The Xelur lived to tear power from one another and their victims.

  Esa watched that line of DCA aerial forces that took to the sky, spreading out like vengeful spirits. They rushed over the Xelur that were retreating or still within the outer walls killing them all with brutal efficiency then soaring away to look for the next prey.

  From their chests, Mana bombs dropped. Their impacts made the ground rumble as Xelur were destroyed by the bombing runs. The DCA held out their hands; shooting out Mana bolts raking the panicked Xelur, who were now in full retreat, trying to get away from the northern castle that had turned into a death trap.

  With the change of events, the defenders surged, retaking the walls and sections that the Xelur had held.

  The Xelur that were still waiting to get into the castle were now running back toward their castles while the breaches were now the exits for the Xelur streaming away from the northern castle. However these breaches were getting smaller and smaller as the conquest points were poured in to repair them.

  The western wall, which had only been breached in a few places, didn’t know what was happening at the eastern side. One moment, they were still trying to gain access to the castle and had a few places where they had gained a foothold on the top of the walls; the next, the dragons banked low around the walls, unleashing a combined breath that was four times their original power and size of their individual attacks.

  They tore through the Xelur as if they were nothing, inflicting thousands of casualties in one pass.

  The Xelur, stunned by this sudden attack, were thrown
into disarray turning from an army into an uncoordinated mob.

  Then the DCA wings appeared, their bombs and Mana bolts raking those below.

  The Xelur attacked with their ranged soul-powered beams. But their ranged attacks were totally ineffective because of the Soul Draining beams that Dave had created.

  The DCA’s Mana barriers took hits but with their speed and evasive actions, it was hard to get a solid hit on them long enough to take down their Mana barrier.

  Mana bombs made the ground rumble as every hit killed tens of Xelur.

  The eastern wall advanced faster and faster. The dwarves advanced at walking pace now, pushing over the cratered and broken ground and stepping over the fallen Xelur.

  Players and POEs of all kinds hovered in the air, attacking with all their might, or along the walls above the breaches, raining down attacks on the Xelur.

  The western group of Xelur broke and ran for their castle.

  Esa watched the last of the eastern Xelur leave her castle. “Repair the walls and hit those bastards in the back. Get the outer castles to assist where they can,” Esa said, not looking backward as her aide carried out her orders.

  She wiped her forehead with a dirty hand, not caring as she looked over the ruins that was her northern castle. “Prepare the assault. We’re going ahead with it as soon as everyone is ready.” Esa turned and walked into the command room.

  “Esa, we just won—shouldn’t we take a rest?” a player asked.

  “The Xelur are in a panic. They have their people coming back scared and uncoordinated. If we hit them now, while they’re off-balance, our actions will have the greatest effect,” Esa said.

  “But some of us need to deal with real-world things,” the player complained.

  If it had been before Dave had told her and the rest of the Stone Raider leadership about the truth of Emerilia, Esa might have entertained the idea of waiting to let the players do their stuff on Earth to go ahead with their full strength.

  Now—well, now she knew that real lives were on the line. She wasn’t willing to wait for anyone.