Of Myths and Legends (Emerilia Book 9)

by Michael Chatfield

  The vortex of energy came out of the last of the spell formations looking like multiple arrows coming from the sky, each of them guided down toward the Xelur citadel. They hit the shield, being delayed for a few moments before driving through. They weren’t targeted at the shields but rather the soul arrays that amplified the soul energy beams.

  These streams of light were covered in runes if one was to look closely.

  They hit the arrays, causing them to overload with energy. Some exploded, others melted, but it took out the offensive capabilities of the Xelur in a single shot.

  Without the pressure of the soul array enhanced Xelur energy beams, the drop forces surged forwards. They were just fifty meters away from the Weapons of Power and Party Zero group.

  The captain looked to where the greatest Mana disturbance was happening. A man stood in the center of those turbulent Mana waves, the walls being torn apart by a series of roots that impaled Xelur in their way.

  The power was shocking, nearly rivaling the power that had just been used in that disabling attack.

  The man in the center of that spell formation raised his hand. The wall and gate in front of him exploded inward. Sections of the wall came apart and landed on the Xelur eager to get into battle.

  With the soul array just being broken, the Xelur were in a state of shock. They weren’t prepared when a wall exploded inward.

  The spell formation that centered around the man rose up into the sky. Multiple spell formations slammed together, creating an increasingly complex spell formation.

  The last of the subsidiary spell formations added itself to the overall spell formation, flashing with power once. Its structure glowed from the inside with greater and greater power until a shock wave of gray light propagated forward and sideways from the man. It tore Xelur apart in all three directions, slamming into the soul barrier of the wall, making it shake. Nearly three hundred Xelur not strong enough to resist were either killed or tossed aside with ease.

  “Target that gate! Break their soul barrier!” the group commander ordered.

  Citadel One, closest to the hole, positioned itself so the majority of its mages, spell formations and Dwarven Artillery could bear on the opening. All of them fired as fast as possible; tens of rounds a second smashed into that gate. The soul energy barrier shook with the powerful impacts that were hitting its weak points.

  With the sound of breaking glass, the soul energy barrier collapsed around that new breach where the gate had been.

  The players surged forward, unable to keep themselves in check once seeing the Xelur defenses were down. Grand soul gem rounds were changed in, calling down the wrath of the Affinities and summoning creatures from the depths of hell inside the Xelur citadel. Now that they had broken into it, they couldn’t allow the Xelur the time to recuperate and sort out their counterattack.

  The people of Emerilia, closed off behind the player groups, advanced at a slower pace. They had expected the players to run free so now they were ready to close up the holes in their lines and cut down all of the Xelur that they had left behind.

  The aerial forces came down like avenging gods. Without the soul arrays to combine and direct the power of the soul beam attacks, the Xelur were stuck with using their own power and understanding of the soul energy beams to attack the forces in the air.

  They weren’t as strong nor did they have the reach. Seizing the opportunity, the aerial forces pounced on the flying between artillery shells, they dropped their own spells and other ranged attacks, their efforts quickly destabilizing the Xelur for the ground forces to finsh off.

  The Xelur were in disarray. The Emerilian mounted forces and the soldier formations pressed ahead, an indomitable war machine bearing down on the Xelur.

  The lines reached up to where the Weapons of Power users as well as Party Zero were. The dwarven War Clans broke down into War Bands and charged toward the growing breach.

  Inside, soul energy beams flashed and spells tore through the sky as shades from the grand workings attacked Xelur without care of the harm to their bodies and artillery shells and spells left behind craters and destruction.

  The citadel’s outer wall had been broken down but still the inner wall and the castle with its protruding tower remained in the center of the citadel.

  The flying citadel’s fire switched from the outer defenses and the dead ground outside of the citadel to the inner defenses of the citadel.

  These rounds flew faster and their impacts illuminated the sky. They had been using regular rounds before; now they were pulling out their precious stocks of grand working shells, hoping to keep up the momentum and pressure the Xelur into making mistakes.

  “Hold off on our other trump cards. We need to keep those hidden for later battles with stronger opponents. The Xelur might not talk to any other groups now but the people of Emerilia do,” the leader of the Goblin Mountain group said, his voice stiff.

  He wanted to use the more powerful weapons but to do so would give their future opponents an advantage. He knew that holding onto different trump cards was one of the few ways that he could turn a battle later on. In his heart, he debated whether they would fight a battle worse than the one below him. As much as he hoped not, he wasn’t sure and he was under strict orders so he stayed his hand.

  Good luck. The Goblin Mountain group leader looked down at those drop forces, his heart tight as he looked over the various screens. Another group of Stone Raiders and people with Weapons of Power also reached an outer wall, putting in a breaching grand working.

  It grew rapidly, exploding inward, allowing the group to quickly surge forth.

  In a handful of minutes, three more breaches were opened up into the citadel.

  Chapter 20: Into the Xelur’s Den

  After the wave of power that Dave had shot out in every direction, he coughed roughly, the action shaking his body as his aura weakened considerably. The power dimmed around the Weapons of Power users and Party Zero.

  Anna looked around, there were no enemies nearby thanks to Dave; Dave was kneeling on the ground, having to support himself with an arm and his body was shaking from the power that he'd unleashed.

  Even channeling that much power from his armor’s reserves, pulling it into and through his body was enough to make him regret it. However, he’d not only poured it through his body but also poured in his own Mana, making him closer to Mana fatigue but reducing the power that was forced through his body by the armor that he was using.

  The wall had exploded inward, throwing the Xelur into disarray and killing dozens that had been hiding behind the gates, standing on the walls or were behind them.

  The battlefields seemed as if a god had landed, blowing them all away with their descent. The battlefield froze for a moment before the firepower of the flying citadels increased once again, their attacks hitting the weakness that Dave had exposed. The soul energy shield broke; shining lights of grand working rounds passed through the area that the shield had been.

  Anna heard the cheers behind her and felt the ground shaking. The battered mounted forces yelled as they charged forth past the lines of dwarven War Clans that moved out of the way of their charge with fluid-like grace.

  They ran down any that were left alive. Aerial forces and dragons let out their own roars and cries as they raked the Xelur that were attempting to hold back the drop forces.

  The dwarven war drums beat faster and harder. The pace of the dwarven War Clans surged forward.

  Player groups rushed toward the breaches, unable to hold themselves back.

  The Xelur fired back with their soul beams but they were unable to kill the forces approaching wantonly as they could have with the soul arrays.

  “Once the mounted make it past us, we’ll lead the charge into the walls!” Deia yelled out to the group.

  Those with Weapons of Power recovered their condition, taking healing, Mana, and Stamina potions.

  “Dave, how are you?” Deia asked on the party chat, her voice f
illed with concern.

  “Just overusing Mana that’s not mine, as usual. Looking forward to a time when I can start using my real inventions,” Dave said in the party chat, coughing again and taking recovery potions. He drank them greedily, before getting to his feet.

  Anna looked at the armor that he wore. The sense of foreboding power that seemed to radiate from it was much more profound than her own sword that he had forged for her. She knew that unlike her sword, Dave’s armor and its gear held secrets that few others would be able to see through. This armor was not meant simply for this war—it was meant to end the wars of Emerilia and the wars of humanity and the Jukal. It was not a simple creation.

  Anna swigged back recovery potions that Jung Lee had created. Her body surged with power as the Grand Demon Lord that Jekoni had been using collapsed to the ground, Jekoni appearing where it had been standing.

  “That’s some real heebie-jeebie shit.” Steve shuddered as he looked at the Grand Demon Lord’s corpse.

  “I am the sword that Jung Lee uses. How easy would it be for me to gain access to the body of a person who has had their protective power stripped away by that sword?” Jekoni asked.

  “I’m guessing very,” Steve said.

  “He’s not the dumb piece of crystal that he always looks like.” Gurren laughed.

  “Dammit! They cut open my armor again!” Steve complained, putting a finger through the hole in his armor where a soul energy beam had vaporized the armor and part of his soul gem construct body underneath.

  “Not as creepy as a walking, talking piece of crystal that dresses up in pink outfits,” Jekoni said under his breath. But it nonetheless reached everyone’s ear.

  “Props,” Gurren said, his voice of deep respect as he held up his massive fist that was nearly as big as Jekoni’s spiritual body.

  Jekoni tapped the fist with his own, a big smile on his face.

  Anna smiled at the antics.

  The mounted forces raced past them and toward the open breaches. Malsour swooped overhead, casting a spell as he did, the stone rubble turned into ramps to allow the mounted easy access into the castle without having to slow their charge.

  “You lot ready down there?” Induca asked over the party chat.

  “’Bout as ready as we’re going to get,” Dave said, Mana once again circulating around him.

  “Ready yourselves!” Deia said as the tail end of the mounted forces could be seen.

  They started jogging at first, and then picked up their pace. As the last of the mounted had gone past them, they broke out into an all-out run. They were nearly as fast as the beasts that the mounted forces rode on.

  “Half to the right, half to the left!” Deia yelled over the explosions of grand working shells that were now making the soul barrier in the inner sections of the citadel shake and shudder under their massive power.

  Anna found herself with Lox, Jung Lee, Dave, and half of those who held Weapons of Power.

  They rushed forward. Dave pulled out his conjuration rods and created a bow. The mounted forces were cutting through the Xelur that had been between the outer walls and the inner walls that ringed the castle and the tower in its center.

  Dave’s arrows cut through the air, taking down the Xelur along the ramparts and hiding in the outer walls of the castle.

  “Clear out the walls!” Lox yelled, pointing at the walls before he leapt upward. With a single leap, he made it to the top of the wall.

  Others jumped upward, entering the broken sections of the walls and the corridors that ran through the outer walls of the Xelur citadel.

  The sounds of battle broke out as the roar of the dwarven War Clans arrived in Anna’s ears. The War Clans made their entrance into the breach, spreading outward rapidly, ready to take on the Xelur defenders.

  Anna moved forwards her party members at her side, as they cut down all of the Xelur that stood in their way. Their movements together made the most complex teamwork flow as their movements covered one another and served to push along the Xelur outer walls.

  Her eyes flashed with a cold glow as she called upon wind and threw one attacker to the side. Her sword unleashed an Air blade in one direction as she reversed its momentum and cut through a Xelur’s sword and their chest with one powerful blow that sent them flying backward.

  She turned her foot and snapped upward, catching the Xelur that she had tossed to the side in the face and sending them over the wall. They yelled out but their voice came to a brutal halt as they smashed into the ground tens of meters below.

  Anna never paused. None of the Xelur in her and Jung Lee’s path were their match.

  Dave walked behind them, shooting those needles from his bracers; the needles blew thru the Xelur soul barriers and hit the Xelur with amazing energy. Once the needles were inside them, they ignited, converting the soul energy into mana.

  Anna was shocked as rampant soul energy ignited. The Xelur turned into a bomb as they destroyed a section of the wall, stunning those that had been nearby to witness the attack but had survived the blast.

  Dave was a Dwarven Master Smith, and he had worked for months to create soul gems and other soul capturing spells, to him the Xelur were nothing but amateurs using soul energy.

  Dave’s attacks killed off Xelur and helped break up the mass of Xelur into smaller groups, making it so that Jung Lee and Anna weren’t fighting a wall of Xelur but rather smaller and easier groups to handle. Inside the walls between the inner and outer castle, the dwarven War Clans had already established a shield wall and were advancing even under the attacks from the Xelur on both the inner and outer walls.

  Their summoned beasts were a surprise as they hid within the dwarven War Clans’ Mana barrier and unleashed their attacks. In the fight up to here, they had increased in power. They had been mere distractions before but with the shared experience, they were quickly gaining in levels and power, making their attacks enough to rival the weakest of the Xelur’s soul energy beams. The dwarven War Clans moved forward under the cover of their summoned beasts.

  The mounted forces weren’t simply charging through the area between the walls.

  Anna watched as one with a spear struck out at the inner wall; behind them, another person tossed in a grand working into the crater left by that spear-wielding mounted fighter.

  The grand working spread in a familiar spider web. Along the outer and the inner walls, multiple glowing spider webs were created.

  Anna felt as more breaches were opened up along the outer walls, the other drop forces surging inward and strengthening the forces inside.

  ***

  Anna wasn’t the only one watching as the drop forces surged into the Xelur citadel.

  A truly massive Grand Demon Lord, sitting on a massive metal throne inlaid with soul arrays, smashed his fist against the armrest.

  Even with those strengthening arrays, the armrest broke under the force.

  He was Clan Leader Che of the Grand Xelur Clan Ish’tal. His clan was ranked among the top five of the Xelur world. His people were some of the strongest in known existence. When the portal that his people had been guarding from the other Xelur opened, they had surged forth to claim their position within the soul energy-rich planet Emerilia. They had come to meet with the forces of Emerilia and subdue or eliminate them.

  Che remained on Xelur to make sure that no one would think anything was amiss as they worked to establish a foothold in this world. Already another portal that was well known about had been opened and three of the five major clans were warring over it. Their gains within Emerilia had been pitiful as they fought not only one another but the people of Emerilia.

  Che had held disdain for them in his heart. He knew that his own clan controlled many more castles on the other side of the portal and they were working on taking more. With their cooperation and under the banner of the Ish’tal clan, they had worked tirelessly to carve out a portion of Emerilia to control. When they had not gained the northern castle but instead lost a handful
of Grand Demon Lords that were the backbone of the Ish’tal clan, Che had been furious and ordered the clan to gain strength and prepare themselves for a great offensive.

  They had sent more and more of the clan over to Emerilia to fill their ranks and to gain power to increase the chances of the clan’s victory.

  Then flying citadels had appeared in the sky, able to take the full forces of his three remaining citadels’ soul array beams and had weapons capable of greatly weakening his citadel’s soul energy shields.

  He had sent over the best of the clan’s soul arrays and had personally come with the strongest of the elders at his side. They had split up to the different citadels in order to take command of the situation, to push back these Emerilians and take their position within this soul energy-rich land.

  He had thought that they would defeat them on the plains around the citadels but instead, the western citadel that he occupied had been breached along its outer walls. More breaches appeared every minute.

  Now he watched as the inner wall exploded inward, killing dozens that had been on the wall and raining down debris and rubble on the forces inside. A few had been killed but these were the elites and strongest of the clan. Most of them were able to destroy the shrapnel that rained down on them with their own abilities.

  “Useless trash!” Che yelled as he watched from his seat upon the highest tower in the citadel. The soul energy beam arrays had been discarded and only the soul energy barrier was still working, one of the main cruxes of the soul energy barrier that controlled the barriers around the citadel.

  With each explosion, the secondary energy shield anchors were destroyed and their shield weakened, as the flying citadels continued to pound on them.

  Che’s eyes were red with anger as he stared at the outer wall defenses that were being cut down by the Terra Alliance’s drop forces.

  In his mind, there was no excuse for not destroying these weak creatures. His own body released a powerful aura of soul energy that was incomparable to the Grand Demon Lords that had been sent out onto the plains to break these forces but instead had been cut down by those wielding impressive weapons.