This was certainly to be added to my list of necessary spells!
One of the riders on the other mammoth turned out to be a very skilled earth magician. With a wave of his hand, he was able to move the ground on either side of our units. The rocks sped up with every moment, and left behind deep traces. Three minutes more, and two colossal earthen warriors appeared beside us and took their first heavy steps. Solid rock— at least, on the outside. With shields and hefty, spiked clubs. Black holes for eyes, looking out from under the helmets. Each of the soldiers reached to a height of at least seven meters. It was scary to even think about their approximate weight. They were traditional stone golems of the highest rank. And the mage, wrapped in a dark cherry colored robe and continuously recharging his mana, managed to maintain two of them at once.
All in all, the mage on the opposite mammoth served as a role model for me. Golems are resistant to damage, both physical and magical— and they are very strong, but somewhat slow. Nevertheless, we now have one more buffer between us and any potential enemy.
But this wasn’t all.
Sitting next to the mage, a player with a purple velvet suit with elegant gold embroidery spread out his arms, and a stack of colorful cards appeared between his palms.
A master of cards in the flesh. A level higher than two hundred. Pausing, the card aster nodded slightly in response to someone’s request, or perhaps an order— chose three cards— and sent them into flight. The playing cards scattered into dust. Two birds lunged into the air— a coal black bird the size of a minivan, and another feathered miracle blazing in fire. Phoenix. The bloody card master had managed to conjure a Phoenix!
Despite the fact that this bird was not to be found in any natural habitat! This isn’t just a mass-produced creature. The Phoenix appears randomly in some locations, stopping anywhere only briefly, and then it flies away into another unknown place. The birdy is very hard to kill, especially given its unique skill— “rebirth from the ashes.” Players dream of capturing such a pet, and others seek the extremely rare ingredients this bird can provide: the fiery heart, the feathers, eyes, and other expensive things. And this player was able to put it on a card! Well, or maybe he bought the card from his more successful colleagues…
The pterodactyls over our heads were joined by the two majestic birds.
The black one and the fiery one.
But the black one actually turned out to be not black, but a light blue, when you looked at the belly or the inside of its wings. I could see that the bird left a path of heavy snow and icy cold behind it.
Interesting inhabitant of the sky… despite being “familiar” with a great many monsters, I had never seen this one before. Surely the bird had something to do with freezing. Above us soared fire and ice, ready to defend us to their last. And that still wasn’t all. There was also a third card. But the monster “released” from it didn’t take off into the sky— it preferred the ground. That was understandable, given its appearance— a clot of fog which crept along the road, riddled with lightning flashes. Another completely unknown monster. He went forwards and took his position directly ahead of the group. Before our eyes, a huge amount of gold was generously being thrown away. So huge that even the lump sum of the gifts we received from the Krabbers couldn’t cover the costs.
Keeping my hands firmly on the crossbow, I wondered what exactly it was the Baroness was expecting to find here, in the obscurity of the Outland.
The Architects chose not to follow us— preferring to stay on the “mainland,” and finish up the clan affairs.
The amount of gold being spent could not be justified by the hope of finding more gold. I couldn’t believe that this was the only intention of the Baroness.
I hadn’t forgotten the game system warning about many new and unique monsters. And I was well aware of the combat power of the group, which was steadily increasing in strength. Wasn’t it enough, already? Yet, I continued to believe that you couldn’t be too careful. I would have continued thinking, but heard the warning shouts of the pterodactyls soaring ahead of us. Ahead, in the wall of thick high vegetation, something had clearly stirred. There was movement in many places. And our battalion was moving towards it in full swing. We were like a tank, ready to break through the enemy lines. The big question was what kind of enemies we were supposed to expect.
Given that the earth was literally shaking under us as we pressed on, the enemies, I understood, would be very worthy contenders…
Chapter Two
The first bells of alarm… An avalanche from all sides
“I can’t hear anything! I can’t hear anything!” Yelled Ultima fervently, pressing to his crossbow so close he seemed to merge with it. “Get!”
With a loud whistling sound, the weapon fired an arrow with a green tip.
“Can you hear anything?” yelled Ul again.
“Shut up! Shut up!” I shouted back, feverishly reloading the weapon and releasing explosive arrows in the general direction.
The powerful blast hardly reached the target, but I had already taken the next round of ammo from Doc.
“We are enduring a powerful acoustic impart!” He shouted in my ear, his eyes wide on his distorted face. “And also visual!”
“Will you shut up too!” I yelled, frantically pulling back the bow.
There was no reason to be surprised at their reactions. Any emotion in such a situation is the norm, whether it is shock, a wild delight, or anything else associated with a high dose of adrenaline.
Ba-a-am! Baa-a-a-am!
“Eleven past! Poison! Now!”
“Right!” Yelled Ul and I in response, simultaneously pointing our crossbows slightly to the left.
“Slasher! Fire at twelve!”
“Got it!” Bellowed a voice across from us.
“Third! Change your direction! Healers! Be on guard!”
“Yessir!”
There was no time to look closely at what was happening. But a single glance in the general direction was enough of a spectacle for the eyes. We didn’t have to aim much, either— our troop was heading into a sea of enemies! No matter where one shot, there was no chance of missing!
The whole world had turned against us! The universe seemed to have suddenly conceived a hatred towards our group and tried to destroy us, sending all its forces into battle.
We were like harvesters in a field of wheat. Only it was clearly pumped with GMO’s— raging, biting and poisonous, the enemies were filled with a determination to destroy us.
The creates piled up all of a sudden— they swooped in at once, like the surf of a wave or a tsunami. Many small monsters whose levels were ridiculously low, and others over the hundredth. There were even some over the two hundredth level, rarely— but all this was at the edge of the jungle ahead. Overwhelmed by the wave of creatures, I could no longer distinguish between the different figures and shapes. Everything mixed into a solid wall of living, hostile flesh, trying to break through our ranks.
There were incredibly huge centipedes. Some creatures similar to grasshoppers, having gigantic, toothy jaws. Acid green slugs exhaling a poisonous mist. Whipping green vines, trying to grab the players and immobilize them. They were able to do this to one of the stone golems. After the vines were giant butterflies with deep red wings— with long tentacles instead of legs. Lightning danced under their wings, and a strange sparkling liquid poured from them, leaving scorch marks in the grass. There was also some very strange, bouncing spiked balls which flew over our heads and landed in the middle of the melee, wreaking havoc. There were giants like overgrown Tyrannosauruses overgrown with greenery, similar to dinosaurs in shape. Two powerful, thick legs supported the body— the long tail trailed on the ground. But there was no mouth. Not even a hint of it. However, there were roots sprouting from the body and trailing into the ground, like tree roots.
They attacked with their paws and bodies, playing the role of a massive, live battering ram. These creatures weren’t able to break through ou
r defenses only thanks to our coordinated action.
And these were only the monsters that I could identify, those whose attacks I could figure out. There were others. But, I could no longer discern them. I simply directed the crossbow any which way and sent one arrow after another flying into the melee.
There was adrenaline galore. There were excited shouts, cheering, muffled curses, yells of warning, and the furious roars of animals, as well as the shrieks of the birds overhead. Wild chaos reigned around us. Our senses were under constant assault.
“Down!” I shouted, pushing Ul by the shoulder and grabbing Doc’s arm, pulling down. Kaylen saw the spiked ball heading towards us with a bright red, flashing life indicator.
B-bam!
The flying orb only reached the head of the mammoth. The ghostly figure of a Krabber with gilded claws appeared ahead of him. A powerful hit, and the ball flew off to the side, breaking into pieces and disappearing only ten meters away.
“L-land dwelling s-swine!” Rasped the ghost of the Krabber, having completed his play of high-risk baseball. He said it quietly, and there was noise everywhere, but we heard him anyway… it was the voice of a ghost, after all.
“Thank you!” I shouted at the bald elf, still sitting at the head of the Kolyvan. He merely shrugged, focused on two more spirits who were trying to deal with a mutant butterfly nearby. Damned moths! Not like we have any bright lights here, or anything smothered in honey! The hell did they decide to show up for?!
“Kolyvan group! Three hours! Hit em where it hurts! Then disengage!”
“Got it!” I responded in chorus with Ul, turning the crossbow swiftly.
The Scarlet Baron. I saw his back in the pointer. The famed warrior jumped to the “red” levelled gnome and, throwing him aside, took his place, throwing a powerful blow on the monster he had been battling— something like a cockroach with a human face. Two beams focused on the nearly dead dwarf immediately— a white light and a golden one, pumping him with precious life points and mana. As soon as we released the arrows, the tactician was giving orders again:
“Kolyvan! Turn to eleven!”
There was no pause in the fighting. It was impressive that not a single notification of death had flashed before my eyes. Meaning, the Black Baroness not only managed to see the full picture of this mess, but also to assess the level of danger and send forward the correct warriors, directing the right hits at the right times. Honestly, I could not do it myself. But shooting… that we can manage!
Whoosh!
Two howling explosive arrows flew into a dinosaur almost simultaneously, hitting him directly in the chest. Fragments of vine and pieces of flowers soared into the air. The giant reeled heavily and began to totter to the side. Our tactician had already called the next target, so I couldn’t enjoy the sight of my dying enemy for long. One of the magicians put his hands up, and two flaming fireballs soared from his hands and exploded in the crowd of monsters. A rain of stone poured from the darkened sky, driving the enemies into the ground.
A small pond nearby reared up by itself and dropped several tons of water and dirt on our enemies. Two achilots gracefully jumped out of the creek and landed on the back of an “empty” rhinoceros. A water bubble immediately rose around them, and they continued on their way.
Having thrown another arrow and not yet received the next command to fire, I took the opportunity to look down. I didn’t see Kira’s figure at once, but thank all of the gaming gods, she was alive and well— the gallant paladin was working on some snakes and severing the wings of butterflies. Catching my glance, Trouble smiled happily, as if to let me know that everything was in order. Another war-monger, damn it… and over to the side, Cray was battling something that looked like a mosquito with a two-meter nose. The mosquito waved his paws and tried to fly away on broken wings. He almost succeeded— but then the earth opened, and an emerald and scarlet body flashed and disappeared, taking the mosquito with it.
The legendary worm in action… Scary! And where was my legend? Oh, there it was, behind Kira, helping her finish off her prey. And there was the brontosaur, covered in mud from head to toe; tossing his head and trampling something with wings into the mud.
I didn’t have time to keep dawdling. I heard the command, aimed the crossbow, and fired into the jungle.
“Meteor! Meteor! Meteor!”
Oh… and here comes the heavy artillery.
I managed to accept two more arrows from Doc and shoot them until the meteors finally matured and collapsed from heaven. And then fell somewhere far away, a hundred and fifty meters away or more. But the trembling ground showed the force of the impact. A wall of fire leapt forwards, and a cloud of dust soared into the air, looking like a giant mushroom cloud.
Just wonderful! Now we are moving, full steam ahead, towards a full blown nuclear explosion. And we were walking over crisp “remains”— the trophies knocked out of the waves of enemies literally carpeted the floor. And only some of this was picked up— on occasion, and only selectively. I think the sleepless well imagine what is and isn’t necessary for collections.
Oh! And where was Bom?! Our main collector…
Turning my head, I tried to pick out Bom from the crowd. And I didn’t see him— unless perhaps in the back rows, where I noticed him for a second. But then he disappeared behind the twitching carcass of a slug. Everyone was busy with slaughter.
The big question was how long we could endure such stress.
A smoky fireball flashed in the sky and crashed into an especially large butterfly. The insect, with a bunch of tentacles, was instantly wounded and crashed down into a heap. And the phoenix turned coolly to the side and, with a furious screech, set his sights on the next victim. The pterodactyls kept a similar pace, working together seamlessly.
“Kolyvan! Twelve o’clock exactly! Fire! Two shots!”
“Got it!”
“Slasher! At twelve! Fire! Two shots!”
“Copy!”
“Malice! Exactly twelve! Fire Inferno!”
Three groups to one spot?
Releasing the explosive arrows into the previous target, I grabbed the fiery arrows from Doc. And then I understood the case of our impromptu teamwork— in front of us was something smoldering, charred, and woven from the jungle vegetation— no less than the size of a five story building. And maybe larger… it was composed of century-old trees with thick trunks, pulled out of the ground by an unknown force. And now, becoming larger…
It was as if a whole square of jungle had suddenly decided to unite into one and to give us a warm welcome.
“Oo-oo-oo…” A groan came from the creature, a sound very similar to the first breath of a monster that had just been born before our eyes. And, hearing the sound of his first breath, I wasn’t at all eager to witness his first steps. Especially if they were aimed in our direction.
F-f-f-ah! F-f-fah! F-f-f-fah! F-f-fah!
Four fiery arrows soared to the woven mess of trees and vines, hitting in a dotted line. There were four fiery explosions, and the crackling of a starting fire and thick smoke.
Inserting the next round, I didn’t take my eyes off of the shaken monster. And was saddened to see the abundant flow of “blood”— sap flooded from the blackened places where the arrows hit and instantly put out the fire. Then, clumps of yellowed leaves fell away from the wounds.
Damn it! The giant got rid of the combustible materials too quickly for the spells to work!
The vines tightened sharply, continuing to form the bulk of the titan, holding several large trees together. If this were Goliath, I was certainly no David… where were we supposed to begin?!
F-f-f-fah! F-f-f-ah! F-f-fah!
I may have been terrified, but my hands kept working. Four more arrows hit the living hulk and formed a smoking crater. Instead of fire and smoke there arose only a strange pinkish liquid and a hiss. The wet wood seeped fire retardant, and didn’t want to burn.
“Kolyvan and Slasher— explosives!”
&
nbsp; “Got it!”
“Malice! Where’s the inferno?!”
“Give me a sec! One sec!” Came the strained voice. “There’s a zone of fire-retardant magic around this freak. Slows fire magic! I already sent out two spells! Have to wait for mana!”
“Malice! Cancel the inferno! Make a shaft of fire, no screw-ups this time! Drass! Activate scroll “KamCola” and “Oruba.” At the center! One point!”
“Got it!”
“Do not forget the rest of them! Is this your first times or something?!”
For the first time, flashes of irritation could be discerned in the voice of the Baroness. She was obviously a little disappointed with the work of the team— which, to me, seemed to be working perfectly. Turns out they could be doing better. How much better could you get?!”
“Come on!”
What does that mean?
I got the answer in a second when something made of stone, a spear about the size of the Eiffel Tower, flew over our heads. It was as though an invisible giant broke off of a part of the Everest and had been thrown at the monster in our tracks.
The creature, having already reached the height of a nine story building, shook precariously. The hefty shell had punctured a hole, or rather, something the size of a tunnel, in its chest. Sap poured out like a river and stringy vine bits hung loosely out of the hole.
The hair on the back of my head crackled, and a wave of heat flashed down my back. A yellowish light with maroon swirls flashed in the air. And the “Flamedrill” cleared the sky of nearly all flying monsters. The pterodactyls and birds moved to the side at the command of their leaders. But the Phoenix stood in the way of the fire and, enduring its full force, recovered its health. And then, coming aflame once again, the Phoenix circled down on a surviving butterfly.
The “Flamedrill” struck into the giant’s chest exactly through the existing void. The second spell was able to make a larger impact and I was left watching the horizontal flaming drill moving further and further into the burning giant’s body.
The Way of the Clan 6: World of Valdira Page 3
