Sixth Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  ****

  Yuli was using a spell scroll instead of her own power. A fivefold magical circle appeared over the ground as the ground trembled, the stone pushed out ten stone golems that brandished weapons of polished stone.

  They let out roars, charging the orcs that were rushing to reinforce those in the tunnels.

  “Move!” Rugrat ordered.

  Lucinda ducked down in her trench, switching magazines. She jumped out of the trench and fired her rifle. The orcs were closing the distance quickly, she barely needed to aim.

  Erik and Storbon were beside her but they weren’t able to cut down all of the orcs.

  They stored their rifles and pulled out their melee weapons.

  Buffs fell on Lucinda, she could feel her strength and agility rising.

  Power ran through her veins as she let out a yell.

  Erik and Storbon joined her as they ran forward.

  Erik grabbed the wrist of an orc that was swinging a club at his head, Erik’s fist hit like a train, crushing the orcs stomach and ribs before he threw them to the side.

  Erik’s kicks and punches laid out the orcs, leaving them with broken bones and crushed organs.

  He was a human wrecking ball. Mana shifted around him, flowing through his body he jabbed out with a finger sending a chunk of metal through several orcs before he kicked out with his foot that seemed to stiffen while it was covered in flames.

  He broke an Orc with his leg, sending them into those on either side. With a wave of his hand, spikes rose to greet them.

  He was powerful, but he couldn't be everywhere and the orcs were coming in from across the lines.

  Lucinda used her shield, turning an orc’s ax. Her sword flashed, tearing through the orc. She pushed past them. She took an overhead chop on her shield, absorbing the impact with her legs as her sword never hesitated crossing right to left.

  The Orc collapsed as a tombstone appeared.

  Another orc died at her side, a hole in his head. Lucinda didn’t have time to thank whoever had shot him as she skirted a small hill of rubble, advancaing.

  An Orc jumped from the rubble, who had been climbing it from the other side. A blast of mana from behind cut through them. Two orcs rushed around the pile wielding a club and an axe. Lucinda got behind her shield as two orcs attacked her.

  Their attacks were timed differently. Lucinda reinforced her body with mana, slamming her shield against her first opponent’s club before she turned. She used the edge of her shield to strike the side of the axe aimed at her shoulder.

  The wood of the axe shattered as the two orcs were thrown wide by her counterattack. Lucinda blurred forward, using a movement technique. Her blade flashed, cutting through their necks.

  More orcs were gathering. She used her movement technique, creating a blurry trail. She came in under the lead orc’s guard, her blade cutting through an Orc’s knee.

  They dropped as Lucinda reversed the direction of her blade, separating their head from their body.

  She turned to the side, a spear glancing off of her shield as she rolled along it, catching the orc with a backward blow.

  A yell came from the side as she saw Erik barreling through the orcs.

  It was as if he had removed some kind of limit.

  His punches cracked bones and sent Orcs flying, even as he yelled her bones chilled seeing the look in his eyes.

  It was the same look he held when he was performing surgery, calm and collected.

  An attack to the head, his hand reached out grabbing the offending limb and turned at the same time, using the orc’s body and his own, turning him and tossing him back, clearing a path.

  Rounds weaved around Erik as he and Rugrat were on the same wavelength, their attacks synced together.

  Erik got in close, using his smaller body compared to the orcs, blocking their forearms so their weapons couldn't be used. A kick to the leg, bringing one down, his hand was covered in stone, darting forward and tearing out the neck of an orc, he turned his same hand blocking a weapon as he hit the orc in the chest so hard that they were lifted off of the ground with the sound of broken bones. He used a movement technique, shooting to the side he threw out his hand, his finger stabbing underneath an Orc that had attacked where he had been, stone and magma exploded in the orc’s chest.

  Erik waved his hand, exploding stone darts shot from his fingers, hitting several orcs and exploding, killing them as he was moving past them he tore a blade from one of the orcs, black and red lines traced the blade, poison and fire spells. He threw the blade striking a shaman, who looked blankly at the blade as he dropped..

  Two bullets went around Erik, one under his arm and the other behind his back, hitting two orcs that were winding up to strike him.

  Rugrat’s rounds were unerring in finding their targets.

  Storbon appeared out of a crush of orcs, his body glowing with power as his eyes were lit up with blue light.

  His speed accelerated to a new level as he uses his air-based movement technique, his spear left after images, the air crashing around his blade as his attacks shifted the very air around him. As Erik darted forward and side to side, leaving destruction in his wake, he rarely needed a second attack to kill his enemies.

  Storbon’s spear stabbed and slashed with lethal efficency.

  Cold mana filled his eyes, seeing everything as he walked forward at a seemingly sedate pace. His spear flashed and howled as orcs died around him in droves.

  Lucinda used her shield and sword as if they were an extension of herself, blocking and attacking, forging a way forward.

  They were in the thick of the orcs now.

  A horn sounds from behind her, threads of power filled the air, reaching the orcs, some stopped while others slowed as they seemed to be fighting something internally.

  One by one the orcs stopped fighting and came to a standstill.

  “Kill those that aren’t controlled by me!” Rugrat yelled.

  The orcs let out a yell, turning away from the tunnel and rushing out.

  Lucinda had her weapons up and ready to fight, holding position with Erik and Storbon.

  The three of them sport new dents as they turned their armored faceless helmets to check on one another.

  She felt Erik scanning her with his domain before he focused forward.

  “I don’t know how long it will hold, the stronger orcs and the shamans will break the horn’s effects the soonest,” Rugrat said.

  “So we move forward,” Erik said.

  “So we move forward,” Rugrat agreed.

  Erik took the lead and they all moved forward to the entrance of the tunnel.

  The Stone Golems were tearing into the new reinforcements, but three of them had fallen already.

  The orcs that had been in the tunnel were fighting those that had been outside the horn’s area of effect, tearing down their allies.

  They made a quick fight of it and ran to attack the other orcs that had come to reinforce them.

  “I’m going to go around the group and use my horn, get them all under our control,” Rugrat said as he mounted up onto George.

  The others all mounted up as well.

  “Just like corralling cows,” Erik said. “Follow my lead!”

  He set off forward, Gilly quickly picking up speed. Erik reached down and grabbed two stone war hammers that were on the ground, holding one in each hand.

  He spun the hammers in his hands as they circled around the orcs, a few see them and charge out of the group. A Shaman was putting down their totem as Yuli shot out fireballs at him, the fireballs washed him away in a sea of fiery explosions.

  Tian Cui and Yao Meng shot at two other Shamans that were on the outsides as Gilly shoots out a water ball, that exploded on an orc killing it and the three orcs around him.

  Erik swings his hammers, striking the orcs as they shot past, Storbon’s spear jabs out and slices as Lucinda cuts down with her sword, the group smashed through the spread out orcs like a sledgehammer
.

  George launched a fire ball that exploded into a group of assembling orcs, leaving a smoldering crater behind.

  It was starting to get worse as more orcs were leaving the main fight to attack them.

  Rugrat blew on his horn, the Orcs seemed to fall into a daze, then paused and stopped attacking them.

  Then they rushed toward the orcs they had been fighting beside and started attacking them.

  They pushed on through the Orcs with Rugrat blowing on the horn.

  On his last blow, the horn turned to dust and started to fade away.

  The Orcs fighting lasted for a few seconds as they killed the few orcs that hadn’t been tamed by the horn.

  “Okay, this thing has a time-limit so we should make the most use of it,” Rugrat said. “We’ll have them as our vanguard to push toward that messed up dungeon core. Everyone good to go?”

  “Good to go!” Storbon said.

  “Tian Cui, Yao Meng, plug those other tunnels,” Rugrat turned to the orcs as the two pulled out grenade launchers and fired them into the different tunnels.

  “Orcs, head through those tunnels, kill any orcs in your way,” Rugrat ordered.

  The Orcs let out yells and charged forward.

  Lucinda reloaded her rifle and then grabbed her sword, following in the orcs wake.

  The Orcs rushed through the tunnels, sounds of fighting could be heard as they reached other groups along the way. The team rode over the bodies that were left behind. The tunnels weaved together as they fired into tunnels they didn’t go through, blocking them.

  “Looks like it’s opening up ahead!” Yuli said.

  The tunnel did open, the sounds of battle rang out as the shamans started to deploy their totems.

  They made it out of the tunnel to find a large camp ahead of them, it was nearly five times the size of the camp they had fought before.

  The tunnel was on a rise so they could see over the large walls.

  There were boxy buildings that had been hacked out of stone and pieced together, smoky fires were littered around the place with orc tents between the buildings and the wall that was made from stone blocks that seemed to have been smashed together.

  There were several large tunnels leading to the Orc stronghold. Lumbering great big beasts could be seen in cages near some of the large stone buildings.

  Forty controlled orcs roared and charged the stronghold. Outside twenty controlled shamans placed their totems, using them to fire green fire that arced down to fall on the tents inside the camp.

  The defenders didn’t have time to close their gates when the controlled orc warriors attacked anyone that wasn’t controlled by the special team.

  The defending orcs started to rally and counterattack. The controlled warriors didn’t care about their lives and the shamans fire was slowly covering the interior of the camp.

  The stone golems followed the controlled orcs, their stone swords cutting through the Orcs as chaos ensued.

  Orcs covered in pustules ran out from one of the stone buildings at the rear of the stronghold, they were covered in disease and corruption.

  “Shoot them!” Erik yelled.

  The group turned and fired on them with their weapons.

  Storbon and Erik missed and Lucinda’s rifle jammed. Yao Meng and Tian Cui fired their grenade launchers but they also missed, instead hitting a stone building and causing it to collapse on a group of orcs.

  Yuli raised her staff and three bolts of mana shot out, they hit the orcs, exploding.

  As the orcs were struck, their bodies expanded and exploded, covering the area in a green mist with red flickering light.

  Orcs that stepped into this area coughed and shuddered, they looked almost drunk as the corruption infected them.

  They ran towards the fight. As they were killed, they exploded, creating smaller areas of the infectious gas that spread to more orcs.

  “Rugrat, pull back the healthy orcs. Have some run into the poison. Let them gather it up and then run them with teams to the other orc groups. If the carrier dies before they reach the target, have another get infected and keep going, like plague relay,” Erik yelled.

  “Get them to spread the disease as fast as possible,” Rugrat said.

  “Yeah!”

  Rugrat organizes four groups of five and sends them off with new orders. They ran into the infectious clouds, covering themselves in disease and ran off down other tunnels.

  They were ordered not to fight anyone, but to spread the infection as far as possible. The more camps and orc villages they could reach the better.

  The corruption started in the middle of the stronghold so it was hitting them the worst.

  “Yuli, help it along with some wind to blow it deeper into the camp,” Erik said.

  There was a roar from the camp. Lucinda looked over to see that the cages holding the massive creatures had been opened.

  They were large beasts with oversized guts and chains hooked into their bodies. They stepped out of their cages, grabbing clubs that were the size of an orc.

  Shamans used the chains, sending magic through them, causing the massive beasts to cry out in pain as they moved according to the Shaman’s guidance.

  “That looks like an ogre to me if I’ve ever seen one,” Rugrat said as he fired his rifle. The round crosses over the shamans, the orcs that were flooding the stronghold and strikes the large shaman that is guiding the ogre. A necklace lights up to fend off the attack. More artifacts light up to stop the attack. Chains wrapped around the shaman in all kinds of colors, they were glowing with power, cutting through the different charms and artifacts, getting closer to their target.

  The chains are weakening with the power that the attack was taking out of them. Rugrat’s face was screwed up in concentration, channeling power into the chains.

  The shaman was fighting back.

  “I’ll crack his barrier, hit him with what you’ve got,” Rugrat said.

  The chains erupted into a storm of mana blades and exploded, the shaman is flattened to the ground, covered in wounds.

  It raised its head just as the rest of the team fires, grenades and rounds bloom around the powerful shaman, killing him.

  The ogre’s arms had chains wrapped around them, each link as big as a child.

  With a roar the ogre waved its hands, smashing the chains against the walls of the stronghold, breaking them and killing orcs indiscriminately.

  It lets out a roar and clubs the ground at its feet, making orcs around it lose their footing before it swings out with its hammers.

  The other ogre turned towards it.

  Rugrat fired at the second shaman, but it seemed to be ready as other shamans threw up wards that defended the shaman from attacks.

  A spear of stone shot out of the ground and stabbed into the Orc shaman controlling the ogre.

  They released their chains in pain. The ogre turned back and hit the shaman, turning them into paste.

  Orcs were coming through the tunnels. Most of them were affected by the plague, having passing the plagues groups that were busy spreading their infections.

  Yuli’s winds picked up the plague and spread it over the camp, covering it with a thin green haze.

  “Heed my commands! Shamans buff all of the remaining orcs with the highest speed. Work in groups of five to spread the plague to as many orcs as possible. Do not fight unless you have to. Spread the plague as far as possible!” Rugrat ordered.

  The shamans worked feverishly buffing the thirty or so remaining orcs. Twenty had already run off infecting people. Another twenty had died in the fighting.

  The orcs ran into the infectious clouds and then ran off, the plague carrying orc running ahead of its fellows. They run through the tunnels as fast as they could.

  “Shamans charge into the fight and attack anyone that attacks you,” Rugrat’s last orders sent the shamans down and into the fight.

  Gilly and Erik erected a simple defensive position of spiked ground and trenches.r />
  Everyone got into cover.

  Yuli was using simple wind spells, carrying the plague across the camp, concentrating it on the ogres that were running wild, destroying anything that they could find.

  “Stay down and stay quiet, looks like they aren’t paying attention to us,” Rugrat said. “Tian Cui, do you have any stealth spells?”

  “Yeah, one second.”

  Tian Cui cast spells over the group, their vision seemed to become darker and Lucinda felt fewer eyes looking at her.

  The special team controlled shamans harassed the remaining orcs stuck in the stronghold. They were growing weaker as the plagues spread and two controlled ogres attacked them.

  The new orcs coming in didn’t know what was going on; some infected and others not.

  “Looks like they’re confused with what the hell is going on.” Storbon said.

  “Yuli, target the other shamans with your infection. Let’s destroy their command and control,” Erik said.

  “I think our shamans will fall soon,” Lucinda said.

  The Shamans excelled when they had orcs to command. Without them, they were powerful, but only able to take on a few orcs at the time. But numbers and strength won out in the end.

  The fighting between the groups died down as the plague winds had claimed more than a hundred lives, growing more powerful as more orcs died, releasing the infection that had built up in their bodies.

  “Damn Yuli,” Yao Meng said, the winds were covering the shamans, their barriers weren’t stopping the infection, they only stopped incoming attacks.

  The infection was passed to them, covering them completely as they forgot about buffing orcs and tried to save themselves.

  “Orcs don’t even realize that their buffs are running out,” Tian Cui said.

  Lucinda nodded grimly. The ogres were covered in wounds but they were working together, in a limited fashion, their clubs smashing orcs apart, even with their strong bodies.

  The orcs tried to grab their chains but were struck by them instead.

  The team waited there, watching the fight that was happening below.

  “Damn those things are tough,” Lucinda said.

  The Ogres were now showing signs of infection as well.