by Matthew Peed
“Blood,” I heard echo in my mind.
“Who’s there?!” I demanded, jumping to my feet.
I looked around but didn’t see anyone. I channeled my mana into the area around the room, but still didn’t find anything. Curious, I sat back down.
“Why don’t you give me more blood?” the voice echoed again. This time I distinctly felt it come from my lance.
“Is that you?” I asked, holding it up to my eyes.
“You gave me so much before. In such a glorious way,” I heard.
“I’ve never used you in combat,” I replied, confused.
An image of the day I’d executed the prisoners flashed in my mind. Now that I thought about it, I had carried the sword since that day but never used it. That’s why I didn’t even think about it when it vanished during the incident. I tightened my grip on the weapon, unsure how I should feel, but images of necromancers killing my people made me realize that even an evil power could be put to good.
“Blood?” it asked with a hopeful tone.
“In the future. I’m sure there will plenty of blood for you to drink, but you have to listen to me,” I said.
It seemed to consider for a moment, then I got the distinct impression that it shrugged at me. It fell silent so I laid it back down. I just hoped this didn’t turn into a problem. History didn’t call them cursed blades for nothing.
~~~
“Massive wave of terra mana incoming!” I heard over the ship’s broadcasting system. It was the night before we reached Jade Wind. I had just been thinking the journey was too smooth and quickly rushed to the bridge after arming myself.
“What’s going on?” I demanded when I got there.
“A few of our Terra mages felt a surge of mana a few minutes ago. It won’t affect the ship, but it’s causing quite a bit of damage to the continent,” Captain Shido replied.
“Source?” I asked.
“The north. I have a feeling our all-powerful lord is behind it.” The captain grinned as if happy that Lord Regan was powerful enough to cause such a large effect. The memory of the weapon he showed me came to mind. Lord Regan was indeed the likely cause of anything that could cause such a reaction.
The image of Lord Regan’s weapons was in my head again. “Yeah, most definitely him,” I agreed.
“Check this out,” Captain Shido said, then pressed a few buttons on the console. An image of the ground under the airship appeared. We could barely make anything out since we were moving so fast, but the five-meter-tall wave that was moving faster than we were was easy enough to see.
“What’s going to happen when that hits the ocean?” I asked, worried.
“I’m afraid I don’t have the answer to that,” he replied as he shook his head.
“I guess we’ll find out in about ten minutes. We are keeping pace with it . . . barely.” I looked into the distance. The large sheet of blue that was the ocean could be seen quickly getting closer.
The tension grew as more people joined us on the bridge. Finally, the terra wave hit the beach, the sand looser than the dirt and stone, and exploded dozens of meters into the air. Soon it struck the water. As if the tide were receding, the water formed into a wave that nearly reached our height at a hundred and fifty meters.
“Is there anything in the path of that thing?” I asked.
“Only Jade Wind, but that sits nearly twice this height,” an officer said. “After that . . . the maelstrom I believe.”
“Alright. Once we get home, I’ll make sure a relief force is sent to assist Jade Port,” I said, considering the situation.
The airship suddenly shook as if struck by a heavy weight. We looked back outside to see a massive storm forming right before our eyes. Lightning started to crackle as the sea turned into a frenzy after the wave passed. I gulped, worried for the airship.
“Gain altitude!” Captain Shido shouted urgently.
The airship jerked as it started to rise. We stabilized, then passed the clouds. Peals of thunder surrounded us, and the airship lurched to the side suddenly.
“We just had something hit us! Hard!”
We rushed to the window and saw a phoenix that was holding on for its life. A scorch mark across its back showed that it had been struck by lightning. I thought quickly, then channeled mana into a sphere around the creature.
“Open the port-side bay! I’ll move it inside!” I ordered.
“It’s a monster!” Captain Shido argued.
“And?!” I demanded. While phoenixes were certainly monsters, they were tamable. Plus, there was no reason to throw away its life when it was quite obviously hurt bad. It might just be my selfish way to make up for killing so many of my own people a few weeks ago, I thought guiltily.
“As you wish.” Shido sighed, then pressed a button that opened the bay doors.
I used the sphere of air mana to move the injured beast into the bay. It didn’t have the strength to resist by this point. I rushed down to the bay, not really sure why I was worried about the creature.
When I arrived, the guards were keeping their distance from it, their weapons bared. It struggled weakly but the harsh winds outside and the injury made it unable to do much after draining its strength. I waved the others back and inched closer carefully. The five-meter-long bird, with a wingspan of thirty meters, was a tight fit in the bay.
It glared at me as I approached, but I kept my hands free from my weapons and palms up. Monsters may be feral, but they are by no means unintelligent. There were plenty of monster tamers in the world, though from the information I had, they were more common on the Fuizol continent. That place was nearly overrun with monsters, so they had to fight fire with fire.
I created a thin stream of mana over to the giant bird to help heal it. It panicked for a moment, but when its wound started to heal it calmed down. I was halfway done with healing it when I stopped. It wouldn’t be a good idea to heal a monster to full health in a situation like this. If it decided to ignite, half the airship would go up in flames.
“Get some meat and give it—” I started to say when the ship lurched again.
“Princess! The storm is getting worse. At this rate it will reach the same level as the maelstrom!” Captain Shido reported through the ship’s tube system.
I ran over to the tube that would let me talk to him. “What do you recommend?!” I shouted. This was his area. Plus, I couldn’t think of anything that would actually help us in this situation.
“If we landed in the ocean, we could put more mana into the barrier systems. At this rate we’re going to get knocked out of the sky either way,” he reported.
“Do it,” I agreed.
The pressure changed as we started our descent. The phoenix exploded into motion as it flapped its wings as if trying to rise, it only lasted for a moment, and soon realized what was happening. The airship rocked as it set down in the ocean. We tilted until we were almost sideways before we righted. I could only assume we had crested a wave.
“Captain, will we be able to reach Jade Wind?” I sent. Landing in the ocean would help for now, but if the storm took another turn, we would only be waiting for our deaths. If we couldn’t make it to Jade Wind, we would need to turn back before we lost the ability to do so.
“It will take us a few extra hours, plus it depends on if this storm gets worse.”
“Keep me informed.”
“Yes, Princess.”
I walked back to the phoenix. It didn’t have the same amount of fear in its eyes as before, but it clearly wasn’t going to let me pet it anytime soon. It had dried enough for its feather to start to burn again. I wondered if it realized it was safe as long as it didn’t threaten us, as it kept the flames at a campfire level.
“I just want to help you,” I said calmly.
Its large eyes turned toward me and stared me down. The ship rocked as a wave crashed against us, and the phoenix dug its claws into the floor. Smoke rose from the grooves. I channeled some mana into a warm gust of air,
trying to calm it down.
“It’s alright, boy,” I said. The phoenix glared at me with a pulse of fire leaving its nostrils. “Girl?” I corrected. It nodded and laid its head back down. This wasn’t an ordinary phoenix if it could understand speech. I was also curious about why it wasn’t in a flock.
“Princess, we can take it from here. Please return to the bridge. I’m sure they need you more than we do. Don’t worry, we will make sure she is taken care of,” a guard said as she sheathed her blade.
“Thank you. I will open the bay when the storm lets up.” I nodded to her, then turned to leave.
The phoenix made a trilling sound as it saw me start to walk away. The beautiful sound made me think of wide-open skies and the tops of flaming mountains. I turned back around to smile.
“Don’t worry, girl. These ladies will take fine care of you, and when the storm lets up, I will finish healing you. I wouldn’t mind seeing you fly myself,” I said, sure she could understand me.
She eyed me for a solid minute before she laid her head back down. The men left, while the females all remained. I worried they might get attached, but it would be my own fault if they did. Feeling a little warmer in my heart than I had in a while, I made my way back to the bridge.
“Ah! Princess. I’m glad you’re back up here. We have a problem,” Captain Shido said as soon as I was through the bridge hatch.
“What is it this time?” I asked. I wasn’t sure we could handle too many more problems.
“The storm is showing no signs of weakening. If it continues to grow, I feel even Jade Wind won’t be able to survive it,” he explained as he pulled up some screens.
I sent a silent thank-you to Lord Regan for the improvements to the airship. The screen showed a display of various information about the storm. It even showed the mana readouts. I had to look twice to make sure I was actually seeing the numbers that I was.
“This cannot be correct,” I said, pointing to the chart. Jade Wind could handle quite a lot of stress, the maelstrom had buffeted the barrier protecting it more than once. That, however, was under the impression that everything was well in the city.
“I’m afraid it is. I had one of the mages go out on the deck to confirm it. At this rate . . . it will grow stronger than the maelstrom.” Captain Shido shook his head.
“Damn it. That will reduce us to an island in a sea we can’t pass.” I frowned, biting my thumb. Jade Wind was powerful, but it was a metal and wood island in the middle of the sky. Other than some private gardens by a few higher-ranking gnomes, there was nowhere that produced food in the city. This was the outcome of assuming we could always reach Jade Port for our supply needs.
“Correct. The magical engineers onboard are trying to find ways to counter it but . . .” Captain Shido bowed his head.
“What . . . what happens when it hits the maelstrom?” I asked, growing worried.
Shido stared at me blankly for a moment, then had the mages try to come up with an answer. Teacher Tsuzuki was front and center, working with all the knowledge he’d gotten from Lord Regan’s library. After a few minutes they had a few scenarios, but the most likely outcome was that the two storms would merge.
“We need to get to Jade Wind before that happens!” I said, worried about the people.
By the time we could get there, it would be far too late to evacuate them to the mainland. Even Jade Wind wouldn’t be able to withstand the storm for long. Our only hope would be for Lord Regan to try to contain it once I placed his core in the city. This was much more important than trying to find some conspiracy in the city.
“We have a break of luck there. The Home Stone still works, and we should reach it in about thirty minutes,” Captain Shido said, pointing to a stone that glowed in the console. It was part of the original ship and would always guide the ship back to Jade Wind. I just hoped we would be able to ascend through the storm to reach Jade Wind.
Chapter 16
Regan
“Breach in one minute!”
“All forces are ready, Monarch,” Queen reported.
Queen had made herself into a sort of designated assistant. I didn’t mind, as she was able to do four or five things at a time thanks to her extra limbs. Alara had a rather large chunk of ground in between this floor and the next. It took almost an hour for the drills to breach it. My forces were having to deal with a Behemoth every ten minutes or so. Though, they had started to treat it more as target practice.
“Thank you, Queen. I think after this we might need to get you off that floor and somewhere more useful.” I grinned.
“Your praises make me blush,” Queen said with a small bow.
With a boom the drills broke through the ceiling of the next floor. Another combined floor met my eyes as the drills fell to the bottom. The mechanics made sure to up the output of the thrusters so they didn’t crash down again. The cavern was about the same size as the last one at two or three kilometers.
The drills landed much gentler this time, and my forces surrounded them quickly after they landed. This was a boss room that took up six floors’ worth of space. I wasn’t about to let my guard down. The scans of the floor quickly came in. Reports listed no movement to be seen and only a few living entities. The mana level was off the chart, making me wonder if this was some sort of floor-sized boss-level trap.
“Hold positions. Something is bound to happen,” I ordered, standing up from my throne. “Fire a flare to get us some more light.”
One of the artillery units loaded a fluorescent round and fired it across the floor. A ruined village came into view but that was it. There weren’t any monsters, undead or otherwise. Even the rest of the floor was a bare expanse of rock and stone. It was as if someone had taken a village and teleported it into the middle of this cave.
“Orders, sir?” asked one of the bridge automata after nearly ten minutes had passed with nothing happening.
“Begin drilling. Send scouts to check the area,” I said, deciding to make the first move. I didn’t like to sit and wait. Whatever was going to happen would happen once we made enough racket.
Sparks flew as the drills restarted operation. I nodded, not surprised it took them much longer to start making headway. This was a boss floor, after all. It would be strange if we could just cut through without any issue. I exhaled when it took the drills almost ten minutes to cut through half a meter. If it hadn’t been for the fact that they were accelerating the farther in they got, I would have had to think up a new plan of attack.
“Nothing to report, sir. The village is . . . empty,” a scout reported an hour later.
“Keep your eyes open. It’s possible they withdrew all their forces to a lower floor to prepare a bigger resistance,” I ordered.
“Understood,” the scout bowed, then the monitor that was showing him blinked off.
“What does everyone think?” I asked the assembled group of automata.
All the captains from the airships, Anubis and Vetur, Queen, and myself stood around a table that displayed the entirety of the floor. I wanted as many suggestions as possible. Anubis and Vetur were here as projections. I didn’t want to risk taking them off the front lines. It would be my luck that Alara found a way to block teleporting that far inside.
“I agree with Monarch. It’s likely they withdrew in the face of our overwhelming power,” Queen said with a smirk.
“Fled with their tails between their legs.” Benjamin laughed.
“Sir, I believe this to be some sort of trap,” Jarvis said.
“I agree, but we need to find the trigger before we can deal with said trap,” I said, nodding to Jarvis’s input. I firmly believed it was a trap as well. The real question then was what kind of trap it was.
“Let’s just blast the entire floor with mortar shells!” Spare grinned, playing with his beard.
“Hmm. That might not be a ba . . .” I started to say when I noticed two of the dots on the screen disappear. They represented the scouts out on the floor. T
hey were tied directly to their mana cores so that if they vanished like that, their cores were completely destroyed. Just then a thought sparked in my head.
“Switch to the anti-specter shields!” I shouted to the control automaton.
It quickly pressed a few buttons, and a blazing white wall formed around the command units. It slowly expanded until the entire front line was enclosed inside. A moment later a soul-wrenching screech filled the cavern. The female specter from the other day was back in its full glory. Her form had changed to that of a queen, with a regal dress and a crown.
I chuckled when I saw her. “Looks like we’re before royalty.”
“She isn’t worthy to stand before you, Monarch.” Queen frowned, looking the specter queen over like she was a child.
“Be that as it may, we need to deal with her. Jarvis, how are the anti-specter weapons? Did you find a way to counter them without relying on brute force?” I asked, looking at my trusty researcher. I’d left him in charge of studying the data we’d gleaned from the last encounter with these annoying creatures. I was starting to miss the days where I could sit in my dungeon and just play around with the magic of this world.
“On that front we have made many experimental weapons, but we have had no test subjects. If I may join the front line, I would be happy to conduct said tests,” Jarvis said with a bow.
I nodded to him. “Go ahead. The barrier is holding for now, but this is a dungeon army we’re dealing with. They can come up with a solution if we give them time. Don’t give it to them.”
“As you command,” Jarvis said as a magic circuit formed around him. He soon vanished, and I sensed him appear in his labs on his ship. Short-range teleportation still worked on the surface.
“Anubis, you and your forces are to stand by while Jarvis conducts his tests. I know you’re able to deal with this problem, but I don’t want to expend you completely,” I said, looking at his hologram. I was getting worried about the amount of unholy mana he was having to channel through him.
“Yes, Father. The unholy mana on this floor is tremendous. If we continue going deeper than normal, automata will require more mana to stop the corrosion,” Anubis said, looking into the distance at something.