Delvers LLC- Surviving Ludus

by Blaise Corvin (ed)

  Diore thought for a second and tucked her hair behind one ear. “They could attack at any time, but I’d guess we have fifteen minutes to half an hour,” she said. “The downside is that they’ll be using this time to get more demons together to attack us with.”

  “Where are they coming from?” whispered Gwen.

  “No idea. Time is wasting. Thank you for working so hard on this, Gwen,” said Diore. She nodded her head respectfully, and after a moment, the guard began climbing down the ladder again. It didn’t take long after that for her to begin shouting out commands.

  “Diore, are you sure I can’t try to hit them from here?” asked Pasha. She was hunched over her huge rifle, looking down the sight.

  “If you got lucky you might hit something, but it would probably just waste power and give away our surprise.”

  “Damn,” muttered Pasha.

  Nicole knew how she felt—the waiting was almost worse than she figured fighting would be. At least the others had some way to contribute, though, to be helpful. Nicole’s job for the upcoming battle was basically to support Pasha.

  She could only take solace in the fact that person or demon, the murderously nasty things out there had no friggin’ idea what they were getting into. The spunky woman tended to miss as often as she hit, but anything that had ever been on the other end of Pasha’s rifle hadn’t enjoyed it. Her low-power shot in town had taken out a wall and part of the road.

  Nicole hoped her friend aimed well when the time came. If so, regardless of where they came from or how tough and scary they normally were, a lot of true-demons were going to have a bad night.

  ***

  The attack came about twenty minutes later. One moment, the milling demons were just shadows out in the distant night, backlit by a couple burning farms. But then they all seemed to howl, growl, hiss, or trumpet at once before surging toward Action. The ground actually vibrated with the charge, something Nicole could feel through the house she crouched on.

  During the true-demon charge, the sky behind Action suddenly lit up crimson, actually increasing the light to see by, but casting a hellish glow over the entire scene. To one side, Diore yelled for their group to hold their fire, the time wasn’t right yet.

  Everything seemed to happen at once, and it felt like the armies of hell were all running directly at her. From on top of the roof, Nicole had a bird’s-eye view of the battlefield before the first shot was fired.

  In that moment, she realized that she was living her most terrifying moment on Ludus since she’d arrived. Her hands shook, one hand holding her spear, the other a magic stone to hand to Pasha for her first reload when she needed it.

  Her friend was definitely going to need reloads. Nicole couldn’t count how many demons were surging toward them out of the darkness.

  Suddenly, Diore laughed, sending a bright flare into the air that began to slowly fall, buoyed by a parachute. The demons felt like they were in spitting distance.

  “Hold!” yelled Diore, half at Pasha, and half at the street below where the terrified defenders peeked around walls. “The Great God Dolos be with us this night!”

  Nicole quickly glanced at her friends and looked away, back out at the tide of hideous creatures sprinting, crawling, and lumbering toward them. Her knees shook. Five years ago, before she’d come to Ludus, her greatest stress had revolved around her mom’s drama, her on again, off again relationship with a jerk, and maybe finding a parking space at the mall on the weekends.

  Now she was fighting demons.

  She couldn’t help it, her fear was so deep, and the sense of absurdity so strong, she began to laugh. The other three women on the roof with her flashed her looks of surprise before Bentru turned back to face the demons and laughed too, showing her teeth. Pasha and Diore joined in a second later, Diore laughing so hard she was almost crying.

  My best friends are all batshit crazy, thought Nicole. She laughed even harder. Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she began to feel light, like her cares were growing lighter. She wondered if she actually found the situation funny now, or if her mind had just broken. Ultimately, she decided it didn’t matter as long as she could do her job.

  Nicole’s hands still shook, but not as hard as they had before.

  Missing in Action, Chapter Five

  The horde of unnatural hellspawn rushed toward the Action defenders like a thundering wave of unrestrained hunger. Meager firelight from the town filtered through the buildings and over the pathetic wall, barely providing any illumination. Nicole could see strange, unwholesome-looking, and bizarre demons everywhere in the horde, all spikes and claws. Just like the invisible things her group had killed before, they all looked wrong, like they had no place in nature.

  She noticed several overall types of demons in the wave approaching them. The front of the horde was mostly smaller, man-sized demons with claws, horns, and sucker faces or unnaturally hinged jaws. Behind them were big, lumbering creatures, some on two legs, others on four. Behind all of them, or riding on the backs of the bigger ones, were smaller, reptilian-looking things with spikes all over. She thought she could see even bigger demons far to the rear, where the dim light didn’t quite reach.

  It felt like the demons were practically on top of them by the time Diore finally screamed, “Fire!”

  When Pasha unleashed her lightning cannon, it lit up the scene like a hellish mosh pit back on Earth. Pasha didn’t usually get to use her energy-sucking weapon much because of the cost to operate it, and because of its very nature. The lightning gun could be sort of aimed, but sometimes it seemed to have a mind of its own, arcing and hitting anything within about a forty-degree area in front of Pasha, jumping indiscriminately from flesh to flesh, or even off of inanimate objects.

  Of course, being set up on a roof, with nothing but a sea of attacking demons was almost ideal for the weapon’s maximum effectiveness, and Pasha whooped in joy as she delivered flashing death.

  Lightning arced out for a solid two seconds in a bar almost as thick as two fingers put together. Pasha didn’t even really have to aim; she just pointed her weapon in the general direction of the front rank of demons and swept the weapon from side to side like a water hose.

  As she changed the direction of her attack, the lightning jumped each half-degree, hitting new demons and buzzing through. The attack chained from demon-to-demon-to-demon like a buzzsaw of energy. Each fork of lightning actually split after it first struck, too, branching out at the speed of light like a murderous tree of white-hot fury. Some of the lightning dug furrows in the dirt, or even sent superheated rocks scattering about. With such a concentrated enemy, these misses still killed, and the damage was absolutely incredible.

  The first rank of smaller, faster demons superheated, some of them actually exploding. Larger demons had their arms, legs, or heads blown off, or a hole blown through their torsos.

  After its two-second discharge, the weapon went still, and the demons reeled, either slowing down or coming to a stop. Some still roared, so Nicole realized they might have been blinded. By long experience, she and the rest of the Dolos’ Chosen had kept one eye closed during Pasha’s attack. The scene was quiet for a moment, with no other sound than Pasha’s cackling, the sounds of confused or dying demons, and the Action citizens cheering.

  Nicole cursed under her breath, reloading the lightning gun. The rifle wasn’t really quite big enough to be considered a crew-served weapon, but it was faster for another person to reload it than for Pasha to do it herself. One of the magic stones was hot and burned her finger as she removed it. Nicole hissed in pain and made a note to pull on some gloves while Pasha fired again, but didn’t slow her movements. Right now, they needed Pasha and her ridiculous weapon to mow down as many demons as possible.

  Somewhere in Action, a child began to cry, and the demons surged forward again.

  “Reloaded, go!” screamed Nicole.

  Pasha nodded, grinned, flicked her rifle back on, and fired. For two more seconds, the ra
nks of demons were shredded by liquid brilliance. Arcing limbs of lightning carved ditches in the land outside of Action that were quickly filled with offal and steaming demon blood. The portion of the shoddy wall around the town in front of their position had long since been blown apart.

  This time, the scene was less quiet, but felt more surreal for Nicole. The amount of wealth being turned into destructive energy was incredible. Despite the horrific nature of the scene and her situation, Nicole still didn’t hesitate to reload her friend’s weapon with a couple more medium-sized magic stones.

  Suddenly, Diore’s air rifle coughed, and she chuckled. “I think I just killed a cultist mage, or at least someone that mattered on that side.” She patted Pasha on the shoulder. “I’m pretty sure you just killed an orb-Bonded, too. Your first blast hit someone in a robe who didn’t go down, but that second attack did the trick. They’re out there smoking with some dead demons now. Actually, you might be able to see yourself.”

  “Good for you two,” growled Nicole as she slammed home the last magic stone. After that was done, she shouted, “Reloaded, go!”

  She managed to glance up before Pasha fired, before closing one eye. Now she understood what Diore had meant. Some of the demon bodies had actually begun to catch on fire. As the remaining horde surged forward over the burning bodies of the fallen, it truly looked like hell had come to Action.

  This time as Pasha unleashed her deadly lightning, the people of Action had recovered enough to help. Arrows from hunting bows, slung stones, and even an occasional blast of magic shot out from the line of houses in line with the Chosen’s position.

  “They’re spreading out!” yelled Bentru.

  Nicole took a half-second to observe the field as she reloaded Pasha’s rifle, and saw that the earth mage was right; the demons were starting to peel off to either side. Now that there were even more fires flickering to life, she could also clearly see the robed figures that Diore had mentioned earlier. One of them raised a hand that began to glow, likely about to lob a magic attack at the town, but Diore’s air rifle bucked again and the figure went down.

  “Oh my God, oh my god, oh my God,” muttered Nicole in English.

  Diore barked out orders. “Pasha, keep targeting the largest groups! Nicole, keep reloading Pasha’s rifle until the stones run out! Bentru, you protect these two!”

  Nicole didn’t have time to even acknowledge her before Diore had jumped off the roof, lightly landing as she easily absorbed the fall. She was probably heading down to prep the other defenders for what was likely to come, and to help out. Of course this meant that she expected the three of them on the rooftop to survive, and Nicole appreciated the vote of confidence but wished the orb-Bonded had stuck around. Then some of the people in robes that were somehow working with the demons had joined the fight, and she couldn’t spare any more energy thinking about Diore.

  Bentru held up her big, heavy shield just in time to block something, either an arrow or air rifle pellet that had been aimed at Pasha. She rested the shield on the roof with most of it hanging over the edge.

  “Why are you putting your shield there like that?” asked Pasha.

  “In case they try to hit us through the roof. It looks like some have magic, too. But don’t worry about me, shorty, you should probably hurry up and get your shots off.”

  “I’m working on it!” snarled Pasha. “Yell at Nicole, not me.”

  Nicole ignored them, finished reloading the rifle, and yelled, “Reloaded, go!”

  Pasha almost immediately fired again, and despite being more spread out now, the shot still decimated dozens of demons. In the past, Pasha hadn’t been able to use the weapon much during adventures because of its stubborn habit of hitting inanimate objects instead of enemies, and how difficult it was to aim. The lightning gun would just as quickly kill an ally as an enemy. Most successful uses of the lightning gun during adventures had been during cave-like dungeon jobs, luring out enemies into a large room or tunnel, and blasting them.

  But in a situation like this with nothing to block her shots, with a large number of enemies, Pasha was really able to show the world what her weapon could do. As she began to robotically reload again, Nicole realized that this sort of scenario might have been what Pasha’s rifle had been designed to do. Their group had killed dozens of demons, maybe hundreds. At least half of the enemy force had been blown to bits or burnt to a crisp.

  Dust had begun rising in the fire-lit night. The earth had actually been damp before, but Pasha’s weapon had flash-fried the ground. Unfortunately, the new debris hanging in the air made it harder to see, obscuring the firelight and casting shadows everywhere.

  Attacks kept pinging off of Bentru’s shield and she grunted, “Hurry. This shield isn’t enchanted, just heavy bronze, so anything magical they throw at us is probably going to mean we’ll have a bad day, night, whatever.”

  “I know I know,” said Nicole. “Again, yell at Nicole or use that silly slingshot of yours. What do you want me to do at this exact moment, spit at them?”

  As Nicole worked, she felt her anxiety somehow grow even greater. They only really had time for a few more shots, and even that would be cutting it close. There would probably be a serious counterattack now—she had a decent feel for these sorts of things now after a few years as an adventurer.

  After Nicole finished loading Pasha up again, she yelled, “Reloaded, go!” Pasha fired, taking out the last large group of true-demons racing directly for them. Now the majority of the enemy force had been destroyed. Nicole had been about to breathe a sigh of relief, but suddenly, the sky to the rear began to glow red like it was blushing.

  “What the hell is that?” asked Pasha, looking behind them.

  Huge, angry clouds had begun to gather behind Action with little flickers of red electricity between them. As Nicole watched, one of them shot an angry spike of red electricity toward the earth.

  “I don’t know and it doesn’t matter right now!” yelled Bentru. “But whatever it is, it’s probably what these rotting demons are bent on reaching, like we were all just in the way. If they go around us, there is that big hill to one side, and the dense forest on the other.”

  A few more projectiles dinged off Bentru’s shield, and a magic attack went arcing overhead where it exploded somewhere behind them. Most of the demons had been killed, but the fight was far from over, and the most dangerous enemies might have been waiting to act.

  The Action defenders returned fire the best they could, but most of the archers were obviously out of practice, and judging by the weakened magical attacks, the town’s mages were running out of power. As Nicole reloaded the lightning gun, her movements slower now despite her frantic efforts, Pasha screamed, “They’re getting closer. I don’t think we have much time!”

  “Reloaded, go!” Nicole looked up as she shouted and gasped. There were demons actually about to climb the first row of houses, including the one they were on.

  “Eat shit, rotters!” shrieked Pasha and triggered a half-blast. The attack was still devastating and destroyed at least a dozen demons that had been about to leap on their house, but the attack used up one of the few remaining magic stones, half of what was loaded. “They’re too close now!” yelled Pasha, eyes wide.

  “Fine! We gotta go anyway!” hollered Bentru. Constant pings and thuds echoed off her shield, and her arms shook. A few projectiles actually buzzed through the roof in places that the big woman’s shield was not covering. “I can’t keep this up much longer and we are out of time!”

  “Shit! Go go go!” Pasha grabbed Nicole and pulled her to the edge of the roof. Bentru followed a second later.

  “What the fuck!” Nicole barely had time to grab her spear, and looked in horror at the handful of magic stones they’d just left at the top of the roof. “The bag, we have to get the—” She was cut off as Pasha ruthlessly pushed her forward. Nicole barely had time to hang from the edge of the roof for a second, falling on her butt. “Ah!” she cried out, �
��I think I broke my tailbone!”

  “Quit bitching and move your ass!” snarled Bentru. Now that she had her feet on the ground again, the big earth mage looked physically more powerful. She bodily grabbed Nicole and dragged her backwards as fast as she could run.

  A few seconds later, Nicole was glad she had.

  The entire roof where they’d just been was hit by two or three magic attacks at once. Half of the building disintegrated in a fiery explosion, and the other half was engulfed in strange green fire. A moment later, demons finally penetrated the first row of houses and the defenders began to scream.

  Pasha growled and slung her half-charged lightning rifle before drawing her swords. Her offhand sword was blessed steel and hooked. The other sword was enchanted and curved. She’d had the hooked sword when Nicole had met her, but she’d picked up the enchanted sword a few years ago—it had cost her a fortune.

  Bentru unlimbered her enchanted hammer and hefted her shield. She said, “I used up a lot of magic just keeping the shield up on the roof, I was too far away from the ground. I should be good now, but most everything I have power-wise is going to be tied up on strengthening myself now.”

  “So we’re on our own, magic-wise?” asked Nicole.

  “Yup.

  Nicole kept her spear in one hand, an air pistol in the other. She glanced back at the destroyed building she’d been standing on a moment ago and realized how lucky the three of them were to not be injured. The building’s roof had been so full of spiky quills and everything else the demons had shot at them that all the projectiles had been flung around into the surrounding buildings during the explosion. A few distant demons had even been hit.

  “What now?” asked Pasha. She raised her lip in a snarl as they heard another Action citizen scream in the distance.

  Bentru frowned as she thought. “Forming a line isn’t going to work. There are no choke points and there are a lot more Action people than us. We should rove around, help where we’re needed, and kill any demons we come across.”