Sixth Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  Water rushed over the decks, some people, whether from the nerves or the motion lifted their helmets in a panic, leaving their last meals on the deck. Thankfully the water washed it away and the wind cleared the smell.

  “Alpha is on the water,” Sun Li reported.

  Yui looked at the map, they were stretched out in a long line, following one after another, his map was updated with information from the sensing formations.

  The different gunnery commanders were seeing the same information displayed on the walls, having their people watch where magical concentration was being detected.

  “Use life detect formations,” Yui said.

  A ripple of power spread out from the ships that bobbed across the water. People tensed up as they saw just how many living animals were around them, seeing them through the walls and the water.

  “We’ve got company,” Gazi said.

  Yui looked over as he saw a group of animals charging for the ship, they were moving at great speeds.

  “You’re free to open fire,” Yui said.

  The ships opened fire on the approaching creatures. The side of the ship was lit up as mages used lightning attacks to stun and the gunners left streams of tracers cutting through the water. Formation sockets to improve bullet penetration in the water had been added every few rounds there was an explosive round that would penetrate a dozen or so meters and then explode.

  This killed off a number of the creatures but they just sped up and spread out.

  “We’ve got more of them showing up, watch your arcs,” Yui said, seeing the map displaying more groups of the fast-moving creatures.

  They couldn’t take many hits but there were a lot of them and they were fast. At least the gunners all had quick reaction speeds, many times the human norm and they were having to fight to keep up with them.

  Yui heard the weapons going off in his ship. He glanced to see everyone working together as he turned his attention back to the battle at hand. He needed to focus on the overall fight.

  “New creatures detected to our front,” Long Da said.

  “Understood, bring them under fire as they come into range,” Yui said.

  Long Da and the Captains commanded their ships while Yui and Selena were coordinating positions and watching it all.

  “Second beast type has a ranged attack, close-range water attack, looks nasty. They’re much slower than the first beasts and in lower numbers, about five to ten in a group while there are twenty to forty of the first beast,” Selena said.

  Yui felt an unnatural movement as the ship shuddered a bit.

  “We just got hit, minor, but there is something ranged out there, locating!” A lieutenant said.

  “I have it! Six hundred meters away, Four-o’clock position.” A gunner commander yelled.

  Yui looked out in the direction where the hit came from. He saw the beast, using a magnification spell he saw it.

  “How the hell did it hit us?” Yui muttered.

  It looked like a large sail with a pipe in the middle of it. There were holes across its body as it contracted.

  “Brace!” He yelled sensing the mana being drawn into the beast’s body.

  Its mouth broke through the waves, it’s white, almost translucent body contracted as it opened its mouth. It ejected a projectile of water that had been compressed and frozen into an ice shell.

  It struck the mana shields, causing them to bloom.

  The sea had come alive with beasts that were hunting them down.

  “We’re halfway to the mainland. We just need to keep fighting.” Yui said as more beasts were attracted and coming over from where they had been hiding.

  The machine guns were spitting out rounds and the grenade launcher teams were leaving water geysers across the water, traveling a few meters down and then exploding. The helmets were fighting to keep the noise down.

  “Fire teams Five to Seven and twelve to fourteen, take out those long-range beamers! One, Three, eight, and seventeen, target the lancers, the rest of you go for the crabs!” The lieutenant yelled out.

  Yui watched as a ‘crab’ jumped out of the water. They were a mix between octopus and crab. They were shaped like an octopus, but with the armor of a crab, the octopus-like mouth shot out water to propel them and the armored tentacles were covered in blue mana to increase their speed or change their direction.

  They had four claws that stuck out of their heads.

  The crab flipped in mid-air and landed its tentacles on the deck, stabbing them into the wood as they ran up the hull, wielding their claws.

  It was an ominous sound to be sure.

  A man wielding a sword attacked one of the beasts as it reached where a gunner was shooting from, in a few attacks he tore it apart and kick sent it back out of the opening.

  In another place a man used a large Warhammer, the crab turned into flying debris and covered the water.

  “Use blunt weapons against the crabs when they attack.”

  A lancer got in close and attacked, hitting the ship with a powerful shot of water, making the hull squeak and shake.

  “Toss out depth charges!” A lieutenant called.

  “Stagger the ships line!” Yui ordered.

  The ships created a Z in the water no longer following right behind one another, allowing the depth charges to go off without causing friendly fire.

  “Fuck!” Yui grabbed onto a railing as a beamer fired it hit the shields, the force causing the ship to shake.

  The sea was fighting them put they forged a path onward.

  “A new beast just appeared, it’s a Hydris,” Selena said in Yui’s ear.

  “Hydris?”

  “As big as two ships, all tentacles, and anger, slow-moving but powerful and moving to intercept,” Selena said.

  “Egbert!” Yui yelled.

  ***

  Egbert rolled with the waves and the ship, he was at the top of the very last ship, he had tied himself there so that he wouldn’t fall over.

  From his vantage he could see all of the ships, the waters raged and the water poured down as the combined Water mana formed storm clouds above.

  Mana barriers flared with hits from the beamers and lancers. Mages poured out spells while gunners created whips of tracers and lines of explosions in the water.

  One could see the water rippling up as the groups of biters rushed forwards, another charge through the ship’s weapons fire.

  Grenades dropped among them, churning up the sea and making them fall into disarray.

  A beamer surfaced and Egbert saw a multi-layered spell formation snap into existence, as several lances of fire, enhanced by a supporting formation shot out from the side of the ship. The water vaporized underneath them as they struck the beamer, Only two struck, one meeting the water projectile and turning it into an exploding ball of boiling water while the second pierced through the beamer, killing and cooking them instantly as they exploded from the rapidly boiling liquids in their body.

  A wave of force rippled off of one ship, shaking it but throwing the biters that were on it off into the ocean as lightning dropped all around the ship, turning it into a land of sparks and electricity.

  Egbert felt a large fluctuation, his head turned to look toward the mainland. The lead ship carved around an iceberg and rocks, making it out to the other side as others followed behind, their propulsion formations, glowing silver, blue and white across their ships, they took their hits and pushed on.

  Egbert looked through the dim light and past the ships as he saw something moving unnaturally in the water, far ahead.

  It raised its bulk, appearing in its full form.

  “Oh that’s ugly,” Egbert looked at what seemed to be an oversized catfish, but instead of just a mustache, it had several tentacles around its face.

  And it was the size of a small island.

  It rose out of the water with its mouth first. Its sideways eyes surveyed the area, its tentacles slapping the water.

  Waves like arrows shot
out from where the tentacles hit the ground, spreading outward.

  The lead ship moved out of the way of a direct hit, the glancing hit, made the ship tilt wildly as it curved back around in the water bringing its one broadside to bear on the creature.

  “Egbert!” Yui’s voice entered Egbert’s mind.

  “What?”

  “Kill that damn Hydris!” Yui said.

  Egbert’s eyes changed color as he channelled mana from the Alva Dungeon.

  Floors above the mana flow into the mana storing formation ceased. It seemed to have evaporated, thin, threads curved back around and surged down through the floors.

  Mana gathered around Egbert as runes appeared across his body and skull. Mana revolved around him as he lifted his hand.

  Golden rotating spell formations appeared in front of his hand. A torrent of energy was released through him, shooting out of his hand and slamming into the first spell formation as more mana was gathered.

  The first blast shook the ship he was on and sent out a wave of force as the beasts attacking his ship, fled in fear.

  The second spell formation was completed as power was drawn in from the environment. Threads of blue adding to the golden pillar as it squeezed through, striking the third and passing between it and the fourth. An unknown and unseen change happened here as the beam that was a meter wide, shrank to the size of a beer can that fired out of the final magical circle.

  It left the ship almost peacefully, under it the water was carved apart, shaking the ships as the compressed spell passed the rear of the lead ship that was firing on the Hydris as it was about to strike out at them again.

  As soon as it saw the projectile leave Egbert’s pop spell formation it had been trying to escape, but it wasn’t fast enough.

  The beer can sized projectile bloomed into a flower pattern, with one projectile in the middle and eight dots of light surrounding it.

  A drill of water was created at the front of the spell, supported by its golden light. The drill struck and golden light exploded out of the Hydris.

  The light was so bright that few could see what was happening. Egbert watched as the half-formed spatial realm powered by a failed domain within the spell activated and then failed, containing the raging power of the spell and taking the destroyed Hydris to a newly created spatial realm that collapsed at almost the exact moment it existed.

  The light was shut off abruptly as the Hydris no longer existed.

  Egbert reached up as green and black power gathered around his hand. A spell formation spread out above him.

  A wall of sound descended around him, it seemed to be all the kings of the animal world calling out together.

  It was like a wave as the beasts around Egbert turned and fled from the ships.

  “Well, that was eventful. Can someone untie me from this mast now?”

  “Push for the central island as fast as possible,” Yui yelled.

  ***

  The convoy of ships kept moving at their fastest pace, not wanting to let the local residents to have any more time than necessary to attack them.

  “Group coming in again!” Someone called out as the third ship in the convoy was rushed by biters, but the weight of fire from it and the two ships ahead and behind stopped any attack from reaching the hull.

  Beamers attacked them from a distance and lancers tried to charge forward but it wasn’t the crush of attacks that it had been before.

  Yui watched over it all. The ships were doing their jobs their shields were holding but they had needed to repair different parts that were broken or leaking from some of the attacks that had struck their hull.

  A spell formation appeared around the ships, ice spread out across the water, freezing even the beasts attacking the ships.

  Ice spears dropped from above, stabbing into the captured beasts.

  The Water floor turned silent as the creatures rose to the surface, leaking blood through the water.

  ***

  “Get ready for landing!” Yui looked ahead, past the ships and to the small dormant volcano that reached up into the sky. A black cloud rained down on the mountain, filling the crater, passing through the mountain and running down its sides. Ice-covered the ground where the mountain reached the water, creating an island around it.

  He looked to the sides. He was unable to see the sides of the floor easily, but there were dark shapes out there where other rocks and icebergs poked out of the water.

  They reached the island and got off of their ships.

  “Okay, we’ll head to the top, Delta Company take the lead,” Yui said, rotating out the companies so they were fresh. They had each trained for different parts, defending, navigating the water, and ascending the mountain.

  They headed up in sections just in case something happened they were close enough to support but far enough away that they wouldn’t be taken out together.

  They crossed the icy plains, passing the streams and rivers that ran over the ice and crashed into the sea below.

  A path was picked out on the mountain. There were dozens of twisting paths up the mountain, making it look like a drill up close.

  Captain Gazi and his company started off first, marking out the path.

  Their mages worked to alter the mountain so it was easier for those behind to ascend.

  They got into a rhythm and slowly made their way up the mountain.

  “Water!” Someone yelled ahead as Yui looked around in confusion.

  “Hold onto the lines, pin into the rock!” Someone else yelled. Yui did so and then he saw it. Water poured down the path that they were on, slamming into people and sloshing down the side of the mountain. Paths had been cut into the mountain by the water and then the water had frozen along the side of the mountain, creating perfect paths up, and also paths for descending water to rage through.

  Yui and the others braced themselves, sticking their securing lines into the wall, some people fell and others were washed down.

  “Grab that man!” A sergeant ordered.

  “Secure your lines! Secure your lines!” Yui barked. The water hit Yui, freezing him down to the bone in moments as it soaked through all of his clothing in moments. People let out shrieks and yells, or grunts, their body shocked by the sudden cold.

  The rush of water passed, turning to an icy cold trickle that reached the troops mid-calf.

  “Get on your feet! Push on! Move it!” Yui’s voice cut through the command channels and over the mountain. People pulled one another to their feet and they pushed on.

  “Knock holes in the sidewall to take out some of the water,” Gazi said.

  Holes started to appear in the sidewall, reducing the water that people lower down had to deal with.

  They forged on they were hit by the wall of water three more times. Thankfully only six people were injured enough to have the medics look after them.

  “Shit,” Du Su said.

  “What is it?” Yui asked.

  “One of my people, fell down, piece of stone or ice went through the back of their head, gone,” Du Su’s words made Yui freeze.

  “Store them and push on, we need to get to the top,” Yui said, pushing it away. He had to get to the top first. Complete the mission, there was nothing that he could do for them now.

  They pushed on. As soon as Gazi’s Delta Company reached the top, they put down measures, altering the surrounding area so that water wouldn’t overflow and fall down the pathway to hit others.

  Yui reached the top and looked around. The mountain top was cut out like a bowl. Water rained down into it, creating a freezing cold pool of water that shone with brilliant blue light.

  A wave of potent Water mana covered the entire top of the mountain. Yui stuffed a pill into his mouth to counteract the Water mana so it wouldn’t harm his body.

  People staggered under the power of the mana, medics were there, waiting for them and feeding them pills.

  In the center of the brilliant blue water, the central formation rested. />
  It had taken them several hours to reach this point, the mountain climb had left them all exhausted.

  Yui walked over to Gazi.

  “You haven’t started creating a path?”

  “We started, but that rain that falls down, it drilled through the boards we were putting down and the wood started to be dissolved by the water. Watch,” Gazi took out a stone staff and pushed it into the rain boundary, pieces were cut off as he submerged it into the pool of water and then pulled it back.

  Yui looked at the stone staff, the sharp cuts from the falling water had been smoothed over and the stone staff looked as if it had been worn away in centuries of wear and tear from the water.

  “Looks like we’ll have to wait for Egbert,” Yui said. “In the meantime, get people warmed up and fed.”

  Gazi nodded and started passing the orders through his communication device while Yui looked at the pool in front of him.

  ***

  Egbert woke up in a bag. He looked around and found he was unable to move his head.

  “What is going on?” He asked as he looked up at Yui.

  “You might need to reassemble yourself,” Yui smiled.

  Egbert’s bones glowed as they started to come back together and his magician's robe covered him.

  “Well, looks like I’m a bit out of practice on the old seventh level spells.” Egbert stretched, pushing a few bones out of place that fell to the ground and lit up with runes and floated back to his body.

  “We need your help,” Yui turned and Egbert looked at the main formation for the water floor.

  “That is some highly concentrated Water mana indeed, wouldn’t try going in that unless you’re a water elemental or pure water. Yeesh, be a tonic for them and cause anything else to explode, or dissolve. Water is weird.” Egbert looked up at the rain.

  “It looks like regular rain, other than the ominous clouds but goes through stone and wood pretty easily,” Yui said.

  “Lovely, you take me to the best vacation spots,” Egbert tapped his chin, looking over it all.