by Zeppy Cheng
“We’ve got ten hours.” Kane turns to me. “Markus? Do you think you can pull that off again?”
I shake my head. The well of energy I thought was bottomless is not so deep as I imagined. I still have a lot of energy left by conventional measures but not enough to defeat another S-class monster. And off to the side, that smudge of blue is back, but when I glance that way, it vanishes.
Kane turns to the remaining Adventurers. “It wouldn’t be fair to risk these Adventurers’ lives if we simply don’t have enough firepower. We’re going to have to wait for reinforcements from other guilds, and that won’t happen for another few hours.” He turns to his guild, Dungeons Solutions UK. “All right! We’ve cleared the first floor, but we need to retreat for now. Glenia, Servan, you take the back point for our exit!”
“If Dungeon Solutions is pulling out,” says Carl Stevenson, the leader of the Blue Dryads, “we need to as well. I heard that the Green Blazes and the Rocking Shooters are coming to help us.”
“Okay,” I say. “I’ll cover the retreat for our guild.”
“Thanks,” says Carl.
I know that, somewhere in this dungeon, Alice is waiting. I don’t know what she’s doing but I do know that she’s in here. But for now I won’t be able to advance without risking the lives of dozens of Adventurers. Our total casualty list is thirty-five dead. Those injured are easily healed, but once an Adventurer dies, they’re dead for good.
Thirty-five casualties and we just cleared the first floor! This is some serious action.
I find that my entire body is covered in sweat. Not only was the jungle hot and humid, but I was nervous as well. Understandably so, where so many people died in less than an hour. And that blue smudge… it’s back, and this time it feels familiar.
Soon, every Adventurer is accounted for outside the portal. Everyone looks haggard. The portal has been measured at four floors, each one more difficult than the last. There’s no way we can clear this portal before it prolapses.
“I have an idea,” I say to Carl. “Can we encase this portal in some sort of box? We might be able to at least buy ourselves some time.”
Carl thinks for a moment. “If we can stall for two days, the British government may be able to get their hands on some Striker missiles.” He turns to the portal. “That’s it. We’re calling in the construction crew.”
I turn to the gathered Adventurers. At that moment, the Green Blazes guild comes around the corner. I know the Rocking Shooters are not far behind.
“How many conjurers do we have?” I ask, raising my voice so that everyone can hear.
The group quiets down. I must command some serious respect if I’m able to quiet a group of Adventurers who have just been through such trauma. I clear my throat.
“We’re going to encase the portal in a box to buy some time for the government to bring in their missiles,” I say.
Kane leans close to me and whispers in my ear. “Those missiles cost over a billion pounds each, and they’re made with super-rare materials. I doubt the government will be able to secure more than three.”
Well, this sucks. I also realize how lucky I was to see the use of a missile that expensive. Considering the damage the balrog could have done, it was a good exchange, but still. We might be screwed.
Derwyn approaches me with his spear behind his arm. “I’ll gather as many conjurers here as I can. I’ll also call for some non-Adventuring conjurers to help produce material.”
“I can get the government to help as well,” says Carl. “If they bring out the big equipment, we may be able to isolate the portal much sooner.”
“Let’s get to work,” I say. I know I should obey my artificial limits, but if things get down to the wire, I might break them. It remains to be seen if I will need to.
While we were in the portal, news crews arrived. They approach the Adventurers and stick microphones in their faces.
Derwyn shakes his head. “I don’t do well with press.”
“Neither do I.” I head away from the gaggle of reporters.
Tonan and Jozunen meet me just out of Derwyn’s hearing.
“Markus,” says Tonan, “if you wish, we can use our comrades to bring assistance.”
“Do it,” I say.
Tonan bows. “As you wish.”
A lot of things are moving at once. But the thing I’m most worried about is Alice. She is most definitely somewhere inside there.
I wait around for half an hour while hundreds of personnel arrive at the portal in the park. There are non-Adventuring conjurers, law enforcement, and even a couple of tanks. Several shipping containers are trucked onto the grass. Workers begin to cut them up in preparation for covering the portal.
The sixth S-class portal ever opened is not going to play easy on us.
25 Deal
The wall that will surround the S-class portal in the park is nearing construction. It’s been five hours since we exited after taking over thirty casualties. Rows of body bags line the edge of the grass and are being handled by the local police force.
Firemen, the military, and SWAT teams are standing by to engage, if needed. There are hundreds of people milling around, preparing for the moment that will come in five hours, when the portal prolapses.
I wonder what Alice is doing inside there. My Anima vision picked up a faint residue left by her passing inside the dungeon’s first level — that blue smudge I could never quite pin down. It was almost too faint for me to notice, but thinking back on it now, I determine that it must have been her.
I sit on a bench next to Derwyn, Tonan, and Jozunen. We are simply waiting for what is to come. Not much needs to be said. As the two S-class Adventurers here, it is our job to be the spearhead when the portal releases its contents into the world.
Carl joins us. “The military has been able to acquire two Dungeon Striker missiles.” He hands a spotting device to me and another to Derwyn. “You two are most likely to survive in an all-out battle. Since portal beings don’t appear on electronic sensors, you’re going to have to guide these missiles. The device should give you the exact time the missile is bound to strike. Make sure to take down the biggest baddies you can.” He tries to smile but doesn’t quite succeed. “Make them count.”
I turn to Derwyn. His expression is serious. I know that many people are likely to die during this encounter. It is technically my fault, but I don’t need to think about what could have happened. Instead, I need to face forward and deal with the problems at hand.
The box around the portal is capped with a thick barrier of rolled steel. I hold the missile spotting device in my hand, remembering the feeling back before I defeated the balrog. This Dungeon Striker missile couldn’t take down a high A-class monster completely, even with a direct strike. How is it going to deal with an S-class?
Whatever the case, this is our best bet, besides building another Sou’frican wall. I don’t think the UK would appreciate a large swath of its land being controlled by portal monsters. Plus walls like that are expensive to build.
There is an arm button on the spotter. Presumably, once I press that button, the missile will be fired from whatever drone is carrying it up above the clouds.
The night summer heat, boosted by moonlight, reflects off the sheet steel of the containment box. Dozens of workers are welding pieces together, building layers above the already completed first box. The foundations for five layers of steel have been laid. Once the monsters break through the first container, they will face four more steel walls.
More tanks roll up next to the park. Attack helicopters rove around the suburban homes. Hundreds of soldiers arrive in armored personnel carriers, taking up firing positions and digging foxholes, lining them with sandbags. The atmosphere hangs on a wire.
The guilds Green Blazes and Rocking Shooters arrive, each guild fielding about sixty Adventurers. That brings our total to almost two hundred. A good portion of those are A-class.
We’re as ready as we’ll ever be.
I count down the minutes, then hours. My internal energy battery begins to fill up again. About an hour before the portal is due to open, I stand from the bench. Dawn has come, and the light of the new day shimmers. “I need to take care of something.” Somewhere during that long, silent night, I made a decision.
Derwyn nods, not asking questions. Tonan follows me as I walk behind a house and fence. I’ve never summoned all my devils at once. I have about one hundred and fifty left inside my personal pocket dimension. Tonan doesn’t speak, instead just watching me.
I summon my devils in groups of five, giving them instructions by group. It takes about half an hour before they are mostly summoned. I keep a group of ten in my pocket dimension to be my bodyguards, so that I can summon them when I need them, but the rest are out there in the world now. But they aren’t going to join the defense around the portal. That would raise too many questions. Instead, they are taking positions around the town and surrounding countryside. They will act as an unseen barrier to defend against the onslaught of monsters, and probably work behind the scenes to coordinate a better defense.
I walk back around the hidden corner and return to the field. Less than half an hour remains before the portal prolapses. I sit down on the bench again next to Derwyn.
Derwyn cracks his knuckles. “I’ve killed a lot of monsters in my career, but I never thought I’d be fighting an S-class portal prolapsing in my own homeland.”
“You’re from Wales?”
“Obviously. My name’s Derwyn, after all.”
“You don’t have much of an accent,” I say.
“An American telling me that doesn’t flatter me.” But he smiles. He sighs, standing up. “I think we should do a bit of stretching before we put our lives on the line.”
I agree. I stand up with Derwyn and we do some pre-workout stretches. This is the first time I’ve done anything like this, but I need to do something to keep the dread from overwhelming me.
The soldiers surrounding the park look at me like I’m crazy. In my opinion, though, they’re the crazy ones for going up against A- and S-class monsters with modern weaponry. Magic blocks all forms of weaponry invented after the Middle Ages, excepting the Dungeon Striker missiles, and those probably utilize some loophole.
So the main line of defense against the monsters will be the Adventurers from the five guilds gathered here. There are also nearly two hundred Adventurers who aren’t with their guild at this moment and answered the call for help. Most of them were already in the surrounding area. I mean, if they’re here, they might as well fight.
At least two thousand personnel end up encircling the locked-down dungeon, standing in concentric circles. Fifty tanks and APCs have their main guns trained on the portal. Two dozen helicopters, both news and military, rotate around the park. Some attack aircraft are roving the skies, slipping in between clouds.
The portal prolapses. A huge ding morphs into pounding as the monsters inside fight the steel encasing them. One wall bulges outwards. The bulge gets bigger.
“Hold! Steady!” I hear the officers telling their men. Two attack helicopters fly in low, their chain guns spinning.
The bulge blows out and a gorilla of King Kong proportions flies out in a spray of steel. He crushes a Challenger tank with one foot, sending a dozen soldiers flying.
I shoot at the monster, knowing that it’s probably futile. This giant gorilla is probably a high A-class. Dozens of smaller monkeys, tigers, panthers, and anacondas spill out of the break and spread out.
The other side of the containment block blows out. A stone golem taller than a four-story building rises from the wreckage. Brass automatons march through the breach.
And then comes the S-class. A wooly mammoth the size of an aircraft carrier. It takes two whole minutes for its body to emerge from the portal, like a baby from a mother’s womb. Its trumpet is blisteringly loud.
The two A-class mini-bosses pave the way for the S-class floor boss. Tanks back up in top gear. A helicopter spins in, chain gun firing, and the gorilla sweeps it out of the sky with one hand. The monsters leave gigantic footprints in the park grass. The gorilla topples the playground with a few steps.
I don’t even know how we’re going to begin to face this mess. Heart pounding, I aim the missile spotter at the mammoth’s head, right in between its eyes. The missile strikes in less than thirty seconds. The whole park explodes in a blast of scorching fire. A minute later, the second missile strikes the stone golem.
And that’s that. Neither missile has resulted in a kill, and we’re losing dozens of people a minute. With all the power of modern magical technology, all we could manage was a scratch on a golem and a cracked tusk on a mammoth.
Carl races toward me, dodging a blast of acid. “The government is evacuating the surrounding fifty kilometers. They’re going to enact Plan Orange.”
Derwyn’s face goes pale. I don’t know what Plan Orange is, but I take it that it’s horrific. A helicopter goes down ten feet from us and explodes in a flash of metal and fire. A rotor blade flies past me. I duck, covering myself. “What the hell is Plan Orange?” I gasp.
Carl shakes his head. “The government is going to drop a nuke.”
My face goes as pale as Derwyn’s. “No. That can’t happen!”
“Even an S-class can’t survive a nuclear fireball.” Carl motions. “Come on. They’re getting the Adventurers out in the armored personnel carriers.”
This is my fault. It’s all my fault that Wales is going to get nuked. And what is going to happen to Alice? She’s inside that portal! Will she be turned into fiery dust?
I follow Derwyn to the APC. Just as I climb into the back hatch, I think I see Alice, sitting on a stone wall, swinging her legs.
It’s probably just my imagination.
The hatch closes, and we drive away from the portal at full speed.
“They’re probably going to have to build a wall,” says Derwyn. “Those monsters may be kept a bay for a while by a nuclear explosion, but they will keep emerging afterwards. They tried nukes in Hawaii, but the portals survived.”
I had heard of that. The American government nuked Hawaii three times, and the portal recovered the monster population in less than a week. The nukes are only a patch. The monsters will return. Only Japan and Mongolia have ever defeated S-class portals, and no one knows how they did it. Perhaps they used the same method that Brine Ward used.
Brine Ward! They must have a solution to this! That blackened bone, it might have something to do with defeating the portal!
Jozunen is in the APC with me. “Get someone important on the line,” I say to him. “I have a possible solution.”
Jozunen nods and hands me the same kind of magical earpiece that Sebastian used.
Me: Jirgrar! Put me in contact with Carl, the leader of the Blue Dryads!
Jirgrar: As you wish.
Two minutes later, a soldier hands me a satellite phone. “Someone important wants to talk to you.”
I take the phone. “Carl!”
“Markus, are you okay?” he says.
“Yes! I’m safe. I have a way to beat the portal. At least, I think so.”
Carl doesn’t speak for a moment. “What is it?”
“Do you know about Brine Ward?”
“I think so. The mafia family that wanted to open the portal. Why?”
“They had a solution!” I say. “They were going to open the portal and subdue the beings somehow!”
“I don’t think the government is going to be happy about cooperating with mafia, but I’ll see what I can do.” Carl hangs up.
Five minutes later the same soldier hands me the phone again. “Markus Red,” says a deep male voice. “I hear you have a solution to the portal problem.”
“Um, yes,” I say. “Who is this?”
“Prime Minister George Makers.”
Oh. Wow, okay. Calm down. Calm down. “Do you know about Brine Ward?”
“I was briefed, yes,” he
says. “What about it?”
“They had some sort of magical implement that they were going to use to subdue the portal.”
There is a long pause. “Thank you. Your contribution will not be forgotten.” He hangs up.
Our APC speeds down the right side of a highway, the left side clogged with cars. Behind us it is as if a volcano exploded. Fire burns everywhere. The mammoth’s trumpeting call reverberates through the APC’s walls.
“They’re closing in!” yells the driver.
“I’ll open the firing ports,” says a soldier, gripping his weapon as he shimmies past me.
I look at Jozunen. He frowns, and then gives me a nod.
I climb up into the machine-gun port and push aside the useless chain gun. With my bow I aim towards the swarm of super-fast raptors that are rushing ahead of the rest of the monsters. They are running faster than I think possible for a being made of flesh and blood.
I collect all my Anima energy at the tip of my arrow again. Since my battery has refilled, I estimate I have maybe two of these shots.
Derwyn puts his hand on my shoulder, climbing up next to me. He shakes his head and points to the line of cars on the other side of the highway. There are still people there. My super arrow would do a lot of collateral damage.
Not that anyone still in those cars when the monsters hit has any chance anyways. I offer a silent prayer for them and lower my bow.
Derwyn looks at me, his eyes filled with sorrow. I know exactly how he feels. We watch as the raptors close in on us, with the might of an S-class portal rampaging behind them. Every minute, another vehicle containing fleeing Adventurers is swallowed by the horde. They are getting closer. Closer. We are running out of highway.
My phone beeps.
Jirgrar: The government is making moves to negotiate with Brine Ward.
Me: That’s fast! It hasn’t even been ten minutes!
Jirgrar: You underestimate the power of an entire government.
Me: So do you think they’ll be able to use that bone?