Sixth Realm Part 2: A litRPG Fantasy series (The Ten Realms Book 7)

by Michael Chatfield

  He and Yao Meng sprinted out of the dirt tunnels. They smelled the sewers before they saw them. Storbon didn’t have time to shiver in disgust as they left the dirt tunnels and exited a broken stone wall. They were inside the city’s sewers. They ran to meet up with the rest of the group. Everyone wore fully covering suits, so not even the smell could get into their noses.

  They ran through the tunnels. Tian Cui guided them as Lucinda’s beasts made sure there was no one else in their way. They ran under the city, passing through grates and metal bars with a few slashes of mana blades.

  Along the way, special team members tossed formation plates into the sewers or stuck them to walls and ceilings.

  Finally, they pushed through a large door, revealing a larger room ahead.

  “Jump!” Tian Cui yelled. She jumped into a large water pool that was thirty meters wide and with unknown depths.

  “Woohoo!” Rajkovic stored his rifle and jumped, Foster a half-step behind him. The traders and agents gritted their teeth and followed afterward.

  Storbon jumped into the water. His spear appeared in his hand as he hit the water and started to sink. His clothes fused together, keeping the water out and his air in.

  He used Dark Vision to see through the murky depths as his boots touched the bottom.

  Tian Cui pulled out a light and turned it on. “Follow my light.”

  Everyone marched across the bottom of the pool. Tian Cui slashed through a grate, and they dropped to their knees, crawling for several meters.

  The tunnel opened, and they could stand again. The special team members pulled out formation plates and put them down.

  “Ready to board!” Tian Cui said as she finished checking her formation plate. Each plate was big enough to fit five people.

  “Plate is good to go, boss,” Yuli said. There were only members of the special team on her formation plate.

  “Let’s go up then.” Storbon stepped onto the formation plate. He and the others took a knee and secured their harnesses. They put their melee weapons away and pulled out their rifles.

  Yuli activated the formation plate by turning a metal dial in the middle. The runes activated, and the plate started to rise slowly.

  They readied their mana and bodies to fight as they kept their barrels pointed low.

  Storbon used a Detect Life scroll.

  Green light only visible to him and the rest of the special team spread out, highlighting fish and other animals in the area. No large signatures or humans appeared in their vision.

  They broke the surface of the water with barely a splash, finding themselves in a large well with several grates that light shone through. They came out of the water, tilting their rifles to drain them before they scanned the area.

  The formation plate accelerated its ascent now that it didn’t have to deal with the water pressure.

  “Rise up,” Storbon called to the rest of the team.

  Yuli threw out grapples to the ceiling. She and Jurumba used them to pull the formation plate over and under one of the holes in the ceiling. The other platforms appeared from the depths of the water, one by one, as they ascended the tunnel. Yuli shot out mana blades, cutting the grate apart, and put the parts into her storage ring. The formation plate squeezed by the opening, and they were inside an icy cave.

  Jurumba threw out a grapple and pulled them to the side as the others scanned.

  “Dropping!” Yuli deactivated the formation plate.

  They braced and dropped to the ground. Hitting the quick release on their harnesses, Storbon, Foster, and Rajkovic moved off the formation plate, pushing out to establish an all-around defense.

  One by one, the rest of the formation plates appeared in the cave.

  “All here,” Yao Meng reported.

  “Okay, let’s find our rides.” Storbon opened a new channel. “Eagles, looking for pick up at the rally point.”

  “Understood. We are holding ready. Moving to the rally point. It appears to be clear.”

  “All right. Be there in a moment.” Storbon paused the channel. “Yuli, Tian Cui! Clear out the alarm formations. Our ride is nearly here.”

  Tian Cui and Yuli pulled out their own formations, using them to break the Willful Institute’s alarms and traps, leading the way out of the cave.

  As they got to the entrance, Storbon pulled out a formation that resembled an Earth clacker. He pulled the trigger three times. The ground rumbled, and water shot out of the holes.

  Lucinda pulled out a formation block and rotated it into place, activating it.

  Storbon got a message.

  “We see your beacon. Ready to land. Confirm LZ is clear?”

  “LZ is clear. You’re free to land,” Storbon replied.

  “Our ride is coming in. Stay alert.” Storbon looked over the icy world. The water droplets on their clothes started to form into ice.

  “All right, you fifteen—you follow Yao Meng.” Storbon slapped fifteen people on the shoulders, and Yao Meng came over to them, organizing them to board the craft.

  “You seventeen are with me.” Storbon pulled them out, creating a line.

  “When we board, continue all the way inside. Don’t sit down at the entrance! Just as we practiced! First person will take a seat to the right, the second a seat to the left, third to the right, and fourth left. I’ll number you out—odd numbers right, even numbers left!” Storbon got them organized as the rest of the special team covered him and Yao Meng as they organized them.

  Storbon heard a cry from above. Two kestrels flapped their wings, sending snow outward as they landed.

  The wooden backpack cabins rolled down their tail, creating a ramp. The twin gunners on either side covered the landing area as two sparrows flew around, scanning for threats.

  “Move it!” Storbon yelled, grabbing the first person in his line.

  The crew chief was at the base of the ramp, ready for them.

  Storbon pushed them up the ramp and to the left or right slightly and used a Clean spell on them, removing the water and gunk from their suits. One gunner was there, making sure they got in the right seat and rough handling them into it if they fucked up.

  “Collapse in!” Storbon yelled through the channel to the rest of the team. They rushed toward the bird. Storbon checked the area before running up the ramp after the last team member.

  He took a seat midway up the bench, grabbing onto a handhold and storing his rifle in his storage ring.

  The crew chief tapped buttons on the branches—his weapon system—and the ramp closed and fused into a new position. He glanced over to the other bird and held out a thumb.

  Their kestrel shifted and unlimbered its wings; the cabin moved out and cinched tightly around her body.

  Storbon peered through the portholes as a spell flashed over the ground, removing all signs of them being there.

  The kestrels rose into the sky with the cover of the sparrows, heading away from their rendezvous location.

  The half-open rear showed the mountains and the forests before revealing the Willful Institute’s city.

  The mana barrier had failed, and a large section of the wall had collapsed. Smoke came from inside the city. Spells were being hurled back and forth, hitting the empty land around the city where varied groups were working together to attack the city. The long-range catapults and mana cannons were silent; mounted forces were fighting the defenders while foot soldiers clambered over the remains of the walls.

  Storbon used Eagle Sight, looking into the city with greater clarity. He could see where lines cut through the city. Some buildings were tilted into the broken sewers, and chaos reigned.

  The city became distant as they flew away, toward another city. There, they could store their aerial beasts and teleport back to Alva for their next mission.

  Nearly an hour earlier, Wang Xi had gritted his teeth in anger. After months of work, he and his fellow intelligence agents had pulled together several smaller sects that had grudges with the Willful Institu
te or those who were immoral and greedy.

  It seems we gave them too much damn room to breathe.

  The sects, not wanting to lose out to one another, moved into their positions for the attack.

  He pulled out his sound transmission device to talk to his contacts inside the city.

  “Go,” Storbon said.

  “They’re in position ahead of time. We need to move up the schedule,” Wang Xi said.

  There was a pause.

  “What are your positions?”

  Wang Xi checked his map. “Grid square one two eight, by four three seven.”

  “Okay, I’ll need another twenty minutes to make a clean exfil,” Storbon said.

  “They’re hyped up here. A lot of unstable factors in one. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to hold them back from taking action,” Wang Xi replied.

  “Do your best and be ready with those spells on my mark.”

  “Understood.”

  Wang Xi sent messages to other agents among the ranks of the various sects and empires. He squatted in the snow. A scarf covered everything below his nose as he surveyed the line, wearing the garb of an Apprentice fighter. No one cared about a simple Apprentice fighter.

  Under the scarf, his throat moved but no noise came out. All Alva sound transmission devices had built-in sound cancelation formations so others couldn’t hear them. The special teams took it to another level, talking through their throat microphones and sound transmission devices instead of talking openly, lest someone read their lips or overhear them.

  These same practices had been passed down and drilled into the intelligence department’s agents.

  Wang Xi kept listening to the sound transmissions from his subordinates.

  “I don’t know what happened, but we just got hit with a scan! The forces on the wall are reorganizing and sounding the alarm,” one of the agents called out, their voice strained as they used their throat mic.

  “Ready!” Wang Xi told his agents as he opened the channel back up to Storbon. He heard it click; the channel connected.

  “We’ve been spotted!”

  “Shit. All right. Send up your loudest and flashiest spell attack!”

  “Ready covering attack spell scrolls!” Wang Xi ordered his people. Our people are our priority. No matter what, they needed to get out of the city safely!

  The sects, seeing they had been discovered before the scheduled time of the attack, started to panic and fall into disarray.

  “Ready with spell scrolls!” the last person reported in just moments later.

  “Activate them!”

  Dozens of attack spell scrolls were activated. They hurled out different kinds of magics that slammed into the barriers that had appeared around the city. Ripples appeared on the surface.

  With the attacks, the sects started to pull themselves together and some moved forward.

  “Push the sects to attack now. Keep up the attack scrolls and be ready with the covering scrolls!” Wang Xi ordered, waiting for communication to be restored with the team inside the city.

  The seconds ticked by. His agents exerted their skills, pulling the sects together, convincing their leaders to approach the city with their weapons at the ready. Ranged cannons and trebuchet were pulled out from storage rings. Mana barriers appeared, and attack spell scrolls were deployed.

  Several groups worked by themselves. The tree line they had been hiding in became a hive of activity deep within the forest. Formation-covered rocks shot out, and pillars of light tore through trees to hit the city’s mana barrier.

  More people showed up on the defenses with every passing minute, reinforcing the besieged forces.

  Wang Xi had spent months working on these different forces. It had taken incredible patience, guile, and cunning to bring them all together. He had infiltrated half a dozen various sects across the Fourth Realm, created alliances and laid plans. Now it was coming to a head, and his patience was wearing thin as he waited, nearly rocking on his feet for something, anything from the team inside. All kinds of scenarios popped into his mind. He shook his head to clear them, listening to the reports coming in from the agents planted among the sects, unknowingly guiding them without them knowing any better.

  They were the control and command, and none of the sects realized it.

  Units’ orders were changed as they left the commander’s mouth, shifting units to support one another without them knowing. They weren’t a unified army, but with discreet changes, they were no longer a rabble of various sects fighting for their own actions.

  Once they were inside the walls, there would be a wave of deaths, and they could start to pull out their people before they entered the city, removing any traces.

  The fighting heated up. The sects had their mounted forces preparing on the wings and the foot soldiers were moving forward, using protective measures to close with the wall. If they could take out the mana barrier, the mounted forces could rush into the heart of the city.

  “Black Snake, this is Special Team Four. Ready your covering scrolls!” The voice was crackled and distorted, but Wang Xi was able to make it out.

  “Understood!” He switched to his people’s channel. “Ready on cover scrolls! Prepare to launch on my command!”

  “We’re ready on our end,” Yao Meng said.

  “Understood. Activating the spell scrolls now.” Wang Xi pulled out his own covering spell and sent messages to his people as he activated it. A blue-and-white spell formation covered the frontage of the city. Dozens of others appeared, and smoke spread out from the spell formations, covering the city and obscuring the wall. Rotating drills that seemed to be formed from water appeared in the sky and then launched through the air, disappearing into the smoke.

  “Spell formations are active!” Wang Xi yelled to the special team.

  Nothing was visible in the sea of fog that covered the walls.

  He heard a rumbling sound, followed by crashing. The city’s mana barrier flickered and then died as its formation cracked.

  Wang Xi activated another spell formation. The smoke started to dissipate, revealing a very different view from before. Mana cannons and trebuchets fired into the city. There was no mana barrier to protect the buildings below; the wall had collapsed into piles of rubble. The defenders were either wounded or killed in the collapse.

  “Sound the advance!”

  The mounted forces heard drums and trumpets and watched the different flares and spells going off. They lurched forward like hungry wolves seeing a wounded beast. Hundreds and then thousands of riders crossed the snowy plains, rushing toward the opening in the walls.

  The various sects ordered their foot soldiers forward. Ranged attacks slowed to a halt as they didn’t want to hit their own people.

  The Willful Institute guards were in disarray. Their wall had collapsed and their mana barrier weakened as sections of the city collapsed.

  The attackers’ mounted forces stabbed fiercely, carving a path through the Willful Institute’s forces. Lines of beasts pivoted under command, breaking up the field of battle into a slaughter.

  Wang Xi watched as different agents “died” on the battlefield. Corpse collectors dragged them back and out of the way, clearing the path for others. Then the corpse collector numbers would grow as the agent changed clothes and headed out, gathering more of their comrades.

  Explosions went off within the city; buildings collapsed, adding to the chaos.

  Willful Institute students marched out in groups from their headquarters to create stability. Their guards and the first wave of reinforcements engaged in a gory and bloody street-by-street battle inside the city.

  The fighting grew in intensity as elites, Experts, and leaders on both sides were drawn into the battle. It was turning into a true war! Smoke came from dozens of fires, small and big. Different fights involved dozens of people. In other locations, one or two leaders tore up the inside of the city.

  It is easier to destroy than construct. Wang Xi had a c
old sneer on his face, watching the sects tearing off chunks of the Willful Institute. Various sects or people with grudges used the chaos. The war was a backdrop to some unfortunate losses.

  Wang Xi and his agents watched it unfold until word came to withdraw. There was not one Alvan inside the city anymore, though plenty of secrets were covered over and hidden in the midst of battle.

  The eyes and ears of the intelligence department captured it all.

  Elise sipped from her cup, staring at the trader sitting across from her. She could practically see the conversions and calculations inside the trader’s head.

  He smiled and picked up his cup to take a drink. “Very well. Your offer is more than generous. The Ronhua traders will be happy to work with you!”

  “I look forward to our partnership. I can expect delivery at the end of the week?”

  “Yes, I will have the wood delivered to you promptly.” He smiled.

  They made small talk before Elise left the teahouse.

  With the Ronhua traders no longer supplying wood to the Willful Institute cities in the Third Realm, there would be a decreased production of bows, staffs, and, most importantly, arrows. Swords, once made, required maintenance unless they were broken, at which point, they could be reforged into new weapons. Arrows, once they were used, were hard to recover. Without a steady supply of wood, the sects in the Third Realm that were the main crafting headquarters and supply centers of the Fourth Realm Willful Institute wouldn’t be able to keep up with an increased demand. Thanks to Elan’s people, the people in the higher realms would think those below were holding back materials. The ones in the lower realms would think those from the higher realms were being unfair and trying to get more out of them when they didn’t have much left.

  “Let’s head to Doran. We have a deal to make,” Elise said to her security detail. She got into the carriage and pulled out her sound transmission device.

  “Hello, Trader’s Guild, Third Realm,” a voice said on the other end of the line.

  “It is Elise. I want a sell order, a weekly supply of one thousand red-veined trees. See if there are some crafters who are willing to create arrows. We can sell them to those fighting against the Willful Institute at a discounted price. Make sure they have the supplies they require.”