The Fourth Realm (The Ten Realms Book 4)

by Michael Chatfield

  “This isn’t about how you win a fight—it’s about how you win a war. Take a disadvantage now, to win in the end.”

  “If I’ve learned anything about these two, it’s that they don’t do the expected.” Hiao Xen said.

  Hiao Xen left Olivia with those words and moved to check on the rest of the men and women up and down the line who were checking their weapons, reloading those that needed it and talking to one another. Laughing and joking, attempting to assimilate what they had seen with reality.

  It felt as if the fighting from just minutes or hours ago wasn’t real.

  Some let out yells as they saw particularly big hits landing on the Mana barrier of the enemy camp. Or looked up at the ones that were hitting the barrier of Vuzgal.

  Teams moved to the areas where the wall had been broken and were being repaired. Masters, who were revered in the other realms, were treated as construction workers as the wall was rebuilt and reinforced as if nothing had happened.

  They weren’t pleased with the basic work they needed to do, or the fact that they were all sharing Experience between the fighters, but they were under orders and oaths. And they had seen firsthand for the first time the calculated way that Erik and Rugrat, with their ‘company,’ worked.

  Chapter: Come

  The barriers for the camp and Vuzgal traded hits. The mages within Vuzgal used formations , buffing spells and potions to increase their attacking power. Masters, Elites, and soldier-level mages rotated in shifts. All of them worked together to attack different areas of the Blood Demon Sect’s barriers, costing the enemy power.

  Erik didn’t know just how many Mana stones they must have burned through by now. The power kept in store with the pillar was extensive, with the Blue Lotus and the Crafter’s Association both adding a sizable amount of Mana stones to the pillar.

  Erik didn’t know whether they knew about the dungeon core or not, so he had buried the dungeon core underneath the pillar. Even if they broke through the fake floor, there would be nothing but a large collection of Mana stones and cornerstones.

  Erik walked along the wall, checking in on those on guard. He even sat down and started to read a technical manual after he was done with his inspection. Gilly lay down and took a nap as Storbon and Yao Meng, who were with Erik, kept a lookout but were playing a card game.

  The members of the different groups inside the city all ate in cafeterias with one another. This was to encourage them to be closer and show a united front. The people of Alva’s army took the time to talk to those in the Blue Lotus and the Crafter’s Association. They might be military members, but most of them had learned at least one crafting skill, others more.

  When asked for more information about who they were, the people from the Alvan army would turn silent. They only talked about Dragon and Tiger Platoon, part of the company and then the special teams.

  Even though they were defending the same city, there seemed to be a cloud of mystery around them, obscuring who they were.

  These one hundred experts who seemed to relate more with regular soldiers than the masters or elites of the other fighting forces.

  The demi-humans from the dungeon studied the humans from Tareng. The demi-humans often were the objects of ridicule but they didn’t let it faze them. They were centuries old; hearing the pettiness of these other creatures, what did it matter to them? Only the Masters could touch them and there were few who would willingly do so.

  Beasts, once they reached a certain stage, were closer to elementals than humans in the amount of power they could draw on. AS they had consumed so many items from the Ten Realms, tempering their Mana channels and their bodies over their lifetimes.

  Some creatures had a higher affinity toward Mana or increasing their bodies Strength. This was why there was a difference in the final score of one’s Stamina, Agility, Strength and so on compared to their base stats and modifier stats.

  When a beast was able to take human shape, it showed that not only did they have a great amount of power, they could now cultivate their body and Mana consciously. Even so far as removing the impurities that had built in their body since they had been born, opening their Mana acupoints or gathering Mana drops. Their strength would be much greater than their human counterparts.

  “Boss, why do you think the other groups are nasty to Fred and his people?” Storbon asked.

  “Because they’re different.” Erik answered as he flipped the page of his book.

  Storbon frowned as Yao Meng put two copper pieces forward as a bet.

  “’Cause people are arrogant assholes,” Yao Meng added.

  Storbon let out a snort but didn’t argue.

  “Come far since we defended Alva,” Yao Meng said with a soft snort.

  Erik looked up from his book at the city walls, then at the magical attacks that rang out against the barrier and the attacks landing on the enemy.

  No longer was it a dirt and wood wall with a beast wave coming toward them.

  Storbon paused as well.

  “Yeah.” Erik took it all in again. It was not what he thought he would be doing when he woke up without three of his limbs.

  The universe was a strange place, now that he thought back on it—the anger and the rage that just built up in him, after Africa. That same rage that he had turned on himself. He had been blind to it; he didn’t know what would have happened if he had continued down that path.

  He could have chosen to focus on his sorrow, his pain turned anger, to let it drown him and pull him down. It was harder to fight for something than it was to lay down and die. He had fought for his country, fought for the people around him and the patients he had worked on.

  Fighting for himself—that was harder.

  Erik lowered his head, not wanting to fall down that road of thought as he forced himself to read more of the book.

  Storbon and Yao Meng continued their game of cards as they slowly recovered the relaxing air from before.

  Since the Blood Demon Sect had arrived outside of Vuzgal and declared war, the totem was locked down. Thankfully they had casts and materials that had been shipped up from Alva so that they could create their own ammunition dumps, creating their own ammunition.

  “How are we looking?” Erik asked up.

  “Distributed the remaining ammunition, we can’t just fire the mortars anywhere, ammo is limited. For the repeaters we’re looking good. Same for rifles. Grenades are lower, but still we’ve built a stockpile over time. There are some of our people working on making mortar rounds. Have casts and materials for it all, just need to assemble.” Rugrat pulled out a chair and sat next to Erik, pulling out a waterskin and taking a big drink.

  Erik concured with Rugrat’s words.

  There wasn’t anything that he needed to say. The two of them sat there, Erik studying his hands as Rugrat looked around at the half built city. Soldiers moving in formations, others that were relaxing, taking some time before the fighting broke out.

  “So what do you think that they’re going to do now?” Rugrat asked.

  “I’m happy if they decide to keep on sieging. Honestly, that’s the best for us. We can’t use the totem to leave anymore. So whatever reinforcements we get, they’re going to have to come from one of the nearby cities and then rush over here. Might be even best if they get someone to order the Blood Demon Sect to stand down, but I don’t know if that will be possible anymore,” Erik said.

  “Hmm?”

  “They had the balls to attack the Blue Lotus and the Crafter’s Association—they’re going to want to destroy them all.” Erik sounded tired and resigned as he looked at Rugrat. “The strong make the rules and there aren’t any rules of war here. The Blue Lotus and the crafter’s association are some of the strongest. They can’t just let this go.”

  “Shit.” Rugrat spit over the battlements, the single word expressing his tired agreement in Erik’s words.

  It was quiet for a moment as Erik took a breath through his nose.

  “Th
ey have two choices really, break our defenses over time or try to do it quickly. If they take their time we can just wait here for the Blue Lotus and Crafter’s association armies to get here and we pincer the Blood Demon Sect against the walls,” Erik took some more time to collect his thoughts.

  “Otherwise they’ve got to go fast, which means that they need to enter the city. How they get into the city? Bring those mana cannons against the wall and pop it open, would take two or three hits and a big hole. Formations of some kind, spells. To do that, they need to get past the mana barrier.”

  Erik looked at the attacks that were landing on Vuzgal’s Mana barrier. The flashes of light ruined anyone’s night vision as they traded illumination rounds with the Blood Demon army.

  “We need to hold for at least two days,” Erik said.

  “If we’ve got them inside the walls…” Rugrat said.

  “It will be shitty, but their numbers won’t count as much in the tight corridors and you worked on the outer city yourself,” Erik said.

  Rugrat let out a snort before he gave a grave warning. “Give anyone enough time and they can adapt.”

  There was an explosion, but it wasn’t from the magical attacks.

  Erik and Rugrat stood and scanned the battlefield. There was a smoking crater nearby. It was hard to see as attacks lit up the wall.

  “Send out some of the aerial undead, have them scout the area around the walls,” Erik said.

  ***

  I should have left with Ian and his group. He didn’t know where the confidence he had held in the chaotic lands had gone. The thought that they would win over the Blue Lotus and the Crafter’s association. That had been dashed in the first few days of the road exploding underneath the army’s feet and that whistling thunder.

  He had drawn the short straw and been marched to the front of the army to be given an essential mission.

  A suicide mission. That they made me swear an oath to complete.

  Garek looked at Vuzgal. He was covered in mud while taking cover in one of the whistling craters.

  Attacks landed on the Mana barrier ahead of him, lighting up the wall.

  Garek rushed forward with the cover of the lit-up Mana barrier.

  It looked random but the mages were altering their aim, creating cover with their attacks and moving around to make it hard for people within a region to watch the battlefield.

  Garek flopped down as there was an explosion off to the side. His clenched heart was filled with adrenaline and his breathing became rough. His eyes went wide, looking at the wall. Searching for signs that they had heard the local explosion go off, killing one of the saboteurs.

  Some, with their addled heads from the pressure waves, ran forward; others turned and ran back. Some remained still like Garek.

  Archers and others moved on the walls and they started to shoot at the people running forward. There was little cover and once they were discovered, it was hard for them to hide.

  Garek knew that running back to the Blood Demon sect army without succeeding was a death sentence in itself.

  The entire army was on the brink of losing their sanity and rushing the walls or fleeing into the forest.

  Someone from the camp must have seen what was going on as they increased the strength of the ranged attacks on the city.

  Garek saw the barrier light up and he ran forward. Others were cut down; another was torn apart in an explosion to his right.

  Garek had no path but forward. As he dropped to the ground, the barrage stopped on the barrier. He didn’t care about the cut on his knee or the pain from the rock pressing against his armor. His mind was detached from his body as he bounded forward under the cover of the attacks.

  He reached the wall, touching the stone, and forced his breathing down. He could hear people above him.

  “Did you see any more of them?” a woman demanded.

  “There!”

  He heard arrows flying as they fired on a body, adding several new arrows to it.

  “Already dead. Stay alert!” the woman said.

  Garek waited for some close hits on the barrier. He was underneath it now. The barrier covered the walls, but it was shaped like a dome, barely missing the top of the battlements and leaving a narrow trail underneath protected by the barrier inside it.

  He took out a sheaf of papers and placed one by his feet, covered it in mud and then moved down the wall, making sure that he wasn’t heard or discovered.

  He added another one of the papers to the walls.

  He did so another thirty times before he looked out at the open ground between him and the camp.

  Just thinking about that run, he shivered. Salvation or death: both lay ahead of him. But there was something about running away from the enemy—the fact that if they did attack, you wouldn’t see that it was coming.

  He waited for cover of the attacks and ran forward as fast as possible and then dropped into a crater. So far so good. He got up and ran again as blasts hit the walls.

  He heard a shout and instead of dropping down, he kept on running, pumping his legs as he took off.

  Pain spread through his body. He made to scream out but found there was no air in his lungs. He dropped back down in the mud; he gulped, trying to claw his way forward when the poison in the arrow gave him a final release. A new tombstone appeared on the battlefield.

  ***

  “Do we know what they were doing?” Erik asked Niemm, who came up to Erik as he scanned beyond the wall.

  “We’re not sure, but they made it to the wall and then—”

  “The army is forming up!” Yao Meng interrupted as more called in and silent reports came from the undead aerial forces.

  “Looks like they have something planned. You were saying, Niemm?” Erik asked.

  “They seem to have been charging the walls individually. We don’t know if there are any hiding underneath the lip down. I have people checking through the drop slits to see if they can find anyone,” Niemm said. The drop slits allowed them to drop rocks and wood on those trying to get up. Or pour tar and fire arrows at them and the defenders could use it to look at the bottom of the walls.

  “Stand—”

  Explosions went off along the wall as the presents that the saboteurs who had made it went off. Sections of the walls exploded, falling apart into rubble with people on them.

  “—To! Stand to!” Erik yelled out. His voice became louder as rocks fell down and dust was thrown everywhere.

  “Niemm, organize the injured and try to reinforce our defenses. Rugrat, prepare the aerial forces. Storbon, Yao Meng—you’re with me. Storbon, send a message to Hiao Xen; tell him that the saboteurs used something to blow up the wall and the army is coming.” Erik pulled out a scope and looked across the wall at the approaching army.

  The wind whipped around as the attacks on Vuzgal’s barrier more than quadrupled.

  “Rugrat, let me know if there is anyone left in their camp.”

  “On it!” Rugrat jumped off the wall, using his ability with Mana to glide down, mimicking how Fred and his people were able to walk in the sky.

  Niemm ran off, calling on medics and working his way toward the blast sites to clear the wounded and repair the walls as fast as possible.

  Cafeterias were emptied; bunks were left in disarray as people threw on their clothes and armor, rushing through the streets toward the wall.

  Erik watched the oncoming army. They were moving quickly, much quicker than they had been the morning before.

  “Mortars, this is Command,” Erik said.

  “Command, this is Mortars. Go ahead,” Glosil said back.

  “Full coverage illumination rounds. Ready with the first series of poison,” Erik said.

  “Full coverage illumination. Ready series one poison. Understood.”

  “Follow with remaining poison rounds and remaining poisons on my command. You copy?” Erik said.

  “Follow with remaining poison rounds and remaining poisons on your comman
d, good. Copy.”

  “Command out.”

  Erik watched as seconds later illumination rounds lit up the area around the city, turning it into day.

  Mages moved to their formations or got into their groups. The rate of fire continued to climb as they fired back at the Blood Demon army.

  The Blood Demon army’s barrier lit up with impacts as the renewed fire came down, one after another.

  “Command, this is Aerial One. Message, over,” Rugrat said.

  “Aerial One, this is Command. Go ahead,” Erik said.

  “Command, the camp still seems to have a sizable force within it, but it’s odd,” Rugrat said.

  Erik lowered his scope. “Aerial One, use a Detect Life spell or scroll.”

  There was a few seconds of silence.

  “Used a Detect Life. There’s an illusion on the camp and the army. They’re all moving forward,” Rugrat said.

  Erik turned to Yao Meng. “Get the mages to use a remove illusion spell on the Blood Demon army. If nothing changes, then keep using spell scrolls until we can see what they’re really doing.”

  Yao Meng nodded and started to talk into his sound transmission device.

  “Aerial One, watch the skies. Split into shifts. Take out their aerial forces if you can. Otherwise, target their barriers from a distance,” Erik said.

  “Command, understood.”

  “Command out.” Erik cut the channel and sent orders to the undead and then opened a channel to Glosil.

  “Mortars, this is Command. As soon as the enemy gets into range, I want you to lay down a poison carpet for them. If they want to advance, they have to go through our poison,” Erik said.

  “Command, this is Mortars. Understood.”

  “Command out.”

  Erik scanned the enemy as wounded were treated at the wall and then hauled to the prepared casualty collection points, where they would be assessed and treated by alchemists and healers.

  Bodies were pulled from the rubble and moved to the side. Mages started to fuse the walls back together, section by section. The openings were massive, ranging from ten to thirty feet wide, and there were dozens of them across the walls.