Shadow Sun Progression: Shadow Sun Book Four

by Dave Willmarth

  Prime spoke in raid chat. “There is a door at this level, and more stairs leading downward.”

  Logan replied, “We gotta go down, clear the stairwell first. We’ll hear the door open if something tries to come through here.” Allistor agreed.

  “Let’s make sure of that. Hold on.” He reached out until he could feel the door, moving his hand up and down until he located the handle. He quickly removed one of his crafted swords from his inventory, and used the lanyard to hook it onto the handle. As an afterthought, he removed one of his early attempts at a shield and simply leaned it against the door. If anything opened that door, the shield would fall, and the sword would bang against it, ensuring they would hear.

  “Alright, I set a sort of alarm on the door. If you hear metal crashing, speak up. Now let’s keep going.”

  Prime took hold of his outstretched hand, and the conga line of blind raiders continued down the next flight of stairs. As they were reaching the landing, Allistor heard a thud, and felt a vibration through Prime’s hand. “Contact, sire. Fomorian at the bottom of the stairs.”

  Allistor directed a Flame Shot directly ahead and downward, hoping to strike the creature. He was rewarded with a high-pitched wail. A moment later something impacted his barrier, but he couldn’t see whether it was a spell, or a physical attack.

  Behind him, Logan said “Prime, Allistor, move left.” The man waited two seconds, then opened up with his machine gun, firing short bursts downward. The first two bursts could be heard hitting the wall, the third caused a screech of pain, and words hissed in some unknown language. Logan managed two more bursts before something struck him, knocking him backward, groaning in pain.

  Allistor shouted “Heals on Logan!” as he fired another Flame Shot at the sound below. Followed by a Mind Spike, which didn’t take. Apparently one had to see the target for the spell to work. Another impact struck Prime’s shield, the vibration audible. Prime let go of Allistor’s hand and Allistor sensed forward movement. There was the sound of another impact, and a gurgling, then an experience notification passed across everyone’s interface. Immediately the darkness dissolved, revealing another fomorian at the bottom of the stairs. Or rather, its corpse laying at Prime’s feet, the droid’s staff driven directly through its face and out the back of its head.

  Fomorian Mage

  Level 50

  Health: 0/0

  “Well done, Prime!” Allistor thanked his general. A quick look back showed Logan was back on his feet and at full health, but his leather chest armor had a large hole burned into it. “You okay, Logan?”

  “That sucked. A couple inches to the left and I’d be dead. Dumb idea, having the two guys with shields step aside.” He looked down at his chest. “Let’s hope there aren’t a lot of those mages down here. Fighting in the dark is bad news.”

  “That thing was level 50.” Bjurstrom added. This might suck even if we’re fighting in the light.” He looked to Allistor, a question obvious in his expression.

  Sam patted Bjurstrom on the back. “If it were easy, it wouldn’t be any fun! I say we whup some fomorian ass!” The old Marine bent down to loot the corpse.

  Allistor spoke in raid chat. “The rest of you, come on down. We need to talk.” He waited for the raiders to bunch into the stairwell, filling up all the flights. Climbing to the middle landing, he spoke loud enough for all to hear. “We’re up against high level mobs we haven’t faced before, and that we don’t know much about. Logan nearly got one-shotted just now, and he’s a higher level than most of you, with a bigger health pool.”

  He paused, thinking as he spoke. “We can bail right now, leave this place and drop more bombs, hoping to take these things out. Or we can keep going. But only with volunteers. I’m not ordering anyone into what might be a meat grinder. So take a minute and think it over.

  While they murmured amongst themselves, he opened his interface’s raid tab and looked for something he’d used often in his VR games. They’d almost all had a voting system where party members could vote yes or no on occasions like this. It was faster than a voice vote in large parties.

  Not finding anything similar, he simply waited a minute or so, then called out. “Okay looks like we’ll have to do this by show of hands. And let me be clear, any who vote to turn back will not be looked down upon in any way.” He took a deep breath, clenching his fists to keep his hands from shaking. “All those in favor of continuing, show me your hands.”

  Sam’s hand was the first to go up, followed almost immediately by everyone else’s, except Meg’s. Looking up at her husband, she shrugged, then raised her hand. “At least it ain’t bugs.”

  Allistor found himself wishing they’d voted to turn around. His gut was telling him that more than a few of them would die down in this hole if they continued on. But he’d given them the choice, and they’d opted to keep going. Trying to calm his roiling stomach, he nodded. “Then we go. Let’s take this slow and careful. Nobody take any stupid risks. Retreat is okay. We live to come back later, when we’re stronger.”

  They had another difficult choice to make. There was a door leading out of the stairwell where he was standing, and a second door down at the bottom. The enemy could come from either direction, or from the door they’d entered a level above, through the tunnel they’d just cleared. He wasn’t going to put this one to a vote.

  “Bjurstrom, I need one group of twenty back upstairs watching that tunnel. Another group at the bottom guarding the door there. Find a way to block it, jam it closed, whatever. The rest can come with me through this door, and we’ll clear this level before heading down.”

  The airman nodded and began calling out instructions. Twenty raiders started climbing back up, while another twenty formed up at the lower level and began discussing how best to keep the door from opening.

  Allistor and Logan moved the remainder of the group up and down slightly, so that nobody stood directly in front of the door, then Allistor recast his Barrier, and Logan pulled the door open.

  Four light globes immediately flew threw the door over Allistor’s head, moving down the corridor in front of him. He led with a Flame Shot straight down the center before he could even see what he faced. The fireball flew unimpeded down the hallway to splash against the end wall. The light from the globes revealed a concrete corridor with more pipes and conduits running along the upper corners on each side. There were half a dozen doors on the left, and four on the right, before the hallway ended in a T intersection about a hundred feet ahead.

  There was no sign of any monsters.

  “Alright, by the numbers, let’s clear these rooms.” Bjurstrom spoke through the raid chat. Give me three tanks facing down the hall, just past the first two doors. One on each door, heals and dps behind. You know the drill.”

  The raiders quickly formed up, the three tanks facing down the hall in case enemies emerged from other doors while they cleared the first two. A tank stood in front of each door, and when another raider yanked it open, they went through with shields up. Healers and dps were poised to do their thing should the tank be attacked.

  They weren’t.

  The first two rooms were clear, so they systematically moved down the hall, clearing each door as they got to it. As soon as the tanks established there were no targets, the breaching groups would move on, and the trailing raiders would search each room for usable items.

  It took a little less than ten minutes to clear the corridor and side rooms, and Allistor advanced to the intersection. Poking his head out around the corner, he saw two short hallways, each with a single door at the end.

  “Alright, we split into two groups. Logan, you take half our people and go right. I’ll take the door on the left.” Allistor moved around the corner and closer to his chosen door as he spoke. It was a metal door with a small and narrow vertical window in it. The glass was clear enough to see through, but there was nothing but darkness on the other side. Allistor couldn’t tell without opening the door whether it was simply
lack of light, or another magical darkness.

  He waited while the group divided, and then watched as Logan’s team breached their door. Michael, shield raised, dashed into the darkness beyond even as a light globe followed. There was a brief pause, then the tank screamed.

  Allistor’s heartrate doubled, and he was about to push through his group to run and help, when Logan began to groan and shake his head. Then laughter echoed out of the room, and Michael emerged. “It’s just a maintenance closet. Nothing in there. You should see your faces!” the man grinned, until he saw the look on Allistor’s face at the other end of the hall.

  “Uh, sorry boss.” He looked sheepish, lowering his eyes. Nancy stepped up next to him and slapped the back of his head.

  As Allistor turned back toward his door, which Sam was ready to pull open for him, Meg called out, “Hit him again, for me.” Nancy did.

  Clearing his throat to make sure his group was focused on him, Allistor nodded to Sam, who silently counted down from three, then pulled open the door. Light globes shot through, and disappeared the moment they crossed the threshold. A second later Allistor and three others cast Flame Shot, sending four balls of fire through the darkness ahead. Right behind those, Prime stepped through the door, all three of his eyes glowing, shield and staff raised.

  “This is a large room, with three primitive generators, each about the size of a bus.” the android reported. I see three fomorian guards, one mage. One guard and the mage have been struck by your spells. Recommend sending more, immediately. I am clear of the door.”

  Not waiting for orders, forty or so raiders cast fireballs through the doorway, high and low, from angles slightly to the left and right, which effectively filled a wide cone within the room with fire. There were wails of pain, and a second later a dark flash erupted into the light of the corridor. It sped from the doorway into the crowd, striking one of the tanks and knocking him back into the people behind him. The spell had flown over top of his shield, striking him in the face and removing most of it. He was dead before his corpse impacted the dps raiders behind him.

  “Incoming!” Prime shouted as he launched his staff toward the mage, and another bolt burst from the darkness. This time the tanks were better prepared, and shields were raised higher. The tank whose shield took the impact was knocked back, but the spell was deflected upward into the ceiling. The folks behind him quickly helped him back to his feet to retake his place in the line.

  Another volley of fireballs blasted through the doors and into the darkness. A moment later the dark spell dissipated and Allistor could see Prime fighting the three fomorian guards. The mage lay on the ground, one of Prime’s feet on its head, which was badly deformed.

  Even as Allistor charged through the door, one of the fomorians brought a club around and slammed it into the general’s back, causing him to stagger.

  Allistor cast Mind Spike on that guard, causing it to drop its weapon and wail, holding its head with both hands.

  Behind Allistor, the full remaining group was charging through the doorway, casting Erupt, Mind Spike, and Flame Shot in columns that dropped from the ceiling onto the enemies. Allistor focused on the nearest, which was equipped with a shield and hand-axe. The ranged dps from scores of raiders was already taking its toll, despite many of the attacks being absorbed by its shield.

  Fomorian Guard

  Level 52

  Health: 37,100/67,000

  A quick look told him that the other two guards stood between his target and Prime, so Allistor tested out one of his new spells. He cast Shatter on the guard’s shield. For about half a second, nothing happened. Allistor was starting to wonder if the spell failed when the metal shield exploded. There was no fire, or smoke, and not really much of a sound. One second there was an intact shield, and the next there were thousands of metal shards accompanied by a sort of metallic ting. The guard holding the shield was simply shredded, what little was left of his arms falling to the floor as the shrapnel passed through and around him and into his companions. Both of them took some damage, and were bleeding from dozens of wounds.

  “Holy crap.” Sam whispered from somewhere behind Allistor.

  The barrage of magic had paused for a moment as everyone reacted to Allistor’s spell. But the raiders quickly resumed their attacks on the other two. Prime backed away, pulling his staff from the mage’s chest as he got clear of the kill zone. Allistor noticed he was limping as he moved.

  Fomorian Guard

  Level 55

  Health 31,450/75,000

  One of the remaining guards turned and screamed at the raiders, the sound rippling toward them and stunning about half of the group. Others dropped weapons and shields to cover their ears. Taking advantage of the moment, both guards hurled short spears at the raiders. Their extremely long arms worked as well as any atlatl, a last second flick of their wrists giving the projectiles tremendous added momentum. The first whistled past Allistor, striking Sam in the shoulder and blasting all the way through to puncture the gut of one of the healers behind Sam. The second spear actually struck Allistor’s magic barrier, shattering the spell, but got deflected enough that it bypassed Allistor and took one of the tanks in the knee. The spear disregarded the man’s armor as if it wasn’t there, penetrated through the leg, all but severing it at the knee.

  Allistor tried to ignore the screams around him as he shook off the effects of the fomorian’s sonic attack. He left the wounded in the hands of the healers, focused on bringing down the enemy. Each of them had equipped another spear, and were preparing to throw. Allistor cast Mind Spike on the nearest, then cast Barrier just half a foot in front of the second. The first guard screamed again, causing several of the raiders to drop to their knees. The second cocked its arm back for a throw, but when he began to push the spear forward, it struck Allistor’s barrier and lost nearly all momentum.

  Wasting no time, Allistor cast Shatter again, this time on the spear the second guard still held. When the metal weapon shattered, its right arm and a large portion of its right side disappeared in a bloody mist. Allistor could see its exposed ribs and the punctured organs behind them. The guard fell, not quite dead, but definitely out of the fight.

  The remaining guard recovered from Mind Spike, and opened its mouth to send out another sonic blast. Allistor cast another of his new spells, Silence. The guard took a deep breath, then visibly pushed with its gut, but no sound emerged. Its confusion only lasted a few seconds before it bent to retrieve the spear it had dropped.

  Allistor quickly cast Levitate, raising the guard several feet off the floor in its bent position. It tried to turn itself mid-air to reach the spear, but fell short. Allistor used his last new acquisition from Daigath, activating his Quicken ability and charging forward. As he moved, he waved one hand leftward, causing the guard to slam against one of the giant metal generators. A second later his improved speed brought him within a step of the monster.

  Allistor drew his sword, not slowing at all as he passed the now upside-down guard, severing its head from its body. Just to be sure, he stopped and stabbed the mage and the other two guards through the head.

  Level up! You are now Level 51 ! You have received two Attribute Points.

  After looting the bodies by kicking each of them, Allistor moved back to his people, Prime limping along next to him. Without slowing, Allistor said “Prime, take whatever time you need to effect repairs.” The android saluted and sat right where he was, lifting the pack off his back.

  Sam was back on his feet, but looked pale. The healer who’d taken the spear to the gut after it passed through Sam wasn’t so lucky. She lay dead on the floor, her skin also quite pale. The tank with the destroyed leg was being hooked up to one of the regeneration machines. Amanda had decided that healing wouldn’t be able to repair the mostly severed knee joint, so she’d had someone finish the job with an axe. Even with multiple heals and the regeneration machine working on him, the tank looked pale as well.

  “The spears we
re tipped with some kind of poison. We got to him, and to Sam in time, but Lucy took the spear very near her heart. She was gone before we even knew there was a poison.” Nancy reported to Allistor.

  Allistor recognized Lucy as one of Remy’s people. He knew she had a little girl, slightly older than Chloe, that was right now on one of the ships above. He wasn’t sure of the identity of the tank that had been killed, as there wasn’t a face to recognize.

  Bjurstrom walked over to stand next to Allistor, both men watching the regeneration process. It was both disgusting and fascinating at the same time. Bjurstrom cleared his throat. “We’ve killed five of those things now, and it cost us two of ours. Nearly cost us two more. That’s not a good ratio.”

  Allistor nodded. “We don’t know enough about these fomorians. They keep surprising us. And their levels keep getting higher. There’s a whole other floor below us to clear.”

  Sam, still breathing unsteadily, added “And fightin in the dark sucks. They can see us, but we can’t see them.”

  Allistor had a solution for that. “I can get Prime to bring more droids down. They can see through the darkness to some extent, and can be our front line. But yeah… I came here expecting to fight goblins. Not these things.”

  “I say we get the hell out of here, drop some more bombs, come back when this whole place is just a glassy crater.”

  Walking over to where Prime was still replacing a bent component of his right leg, Allistor asked, “any reports from your scouts outside?”

  “A small party of goblins attempted to escape. My troops killed two, captured eight. They have been handed over to the orcanin.”

  “Okay, have your troops wait ten minutes, then move back. We’re getting out of here, and dropping some more bombs. I don’t want your battle droids so close that they take damage, but have them keep a sharp eye out for any more escape attempts.”