by Jakob Tanner
They turned to me. Their faces filled with anger and rage.
“Who the hell are you?”
I lifted my hands up. “I come in peace.”
One of the newly freed players held back their angry companion. “I bet he has something to do with our new found situation.”
“Yeah,” I said, looking around as bullets flew across the deck. All of us toppled over. The ship was swerving off course. Explosions of bullets and cannon fire echoed forth. The ship was now firing against the other dreadnoughts. Perfect. Let the chaos ensue.
Gryph swooped down towards the deck and the rest of the party hopped off.
“Jackson, Kari,” I said. “You guys stay here and help commandeer the ship with the newly freed Chosen. Serena, bro—come with me.
I jumped back onto Gryph and they did the same. We soared away from the chaotic ship deck, flying above the dreadnought they were firing at. I spammed status cure, casting it again and again. Gryph swooshed the spell down below to the deck.
The dreadnought didn’t know what hit them. Gryph flew down below and dropped us off onto the second deck.
The Arethkarian soldiers were better prepared than the first ship. They lifted their rifles and shot the brains out of the newly freed chosen.
“Better to have a pile of dead slaves than a mutiny,” spat a hulking Arethkarian soldier, who I presumed must’ve been the captain.
I freaking hated this guy.
“Looks like it’s the three of us on here then,” I said.
“Stick by me,” said Serena, lifting up her sword.
Serena ran into the middle of the deck and shouted, “Protect Thy Allies.”
The soldiers on board rushed towards her. I stretched out my arm and created a blazing flame wall to Serena’s left. The blade soldier then twirled her sword in a wicked spinning move, imbuing flames into her attack. The first wave of attackers fell back after the blade sliced through their armor and took out 10% of their HP, plus left lingering burning damage. Their exposed flesh rippled with red burns, smoke leaking out their armor.
With blood dripping onto the deck, both from the attacked soldiers and the fallen Chosen, Will clenched his fingers and created the bright red blood flames across the ship. The hurt soldiers stumbled back, taking even more damage.
I threw out my other arm and let half the deck in front of me turn into a hockey rink of ice. The soldiers slipped and fell.
A shrill ring burst into my ears. I blinked. I was on my knees. The dreadnought was off kilter, the deck on a slant. Soldiers were sliding down the ice and falling off the railings of the ship into the sky. Further out was a massive plume of smoke and orange fire. Holy crap. The freaking middle dreadnought had exploded. Jackson and Kari must have organized the ship’s takedown from their hijacked dreadnought.
The giant ship teetered and fell towards the battlefield.
“Clay!”
It was Serena. She was falling with the rest of the soldiers. I slid down the teetering deck towards her, but I was too late. Her body smacked into the railing and fell off.
She fell through the air. I hung onto the airship, imbuing mana into my feet and creating traction with the floor. There was no way for me to jump, increase my altitude and rescue her. I’d have to find her body amidst the pile of corpses and raise her later.
Or so I thought.
Gryph flew right beneath where Serena was falling breaking her fall and allowing her to hold onto him.
Well done, Gryph.
Yeah, you owe me.
Gryph flew back up towards the dreadnought and dropped Serena off. I created healing mist and sent off air blast to make a healing projectile.
The dreadnaught had stabilized from the explosion. My party were the only survivors beside the captain and a trio of soldiers.
The captain grinned. He grabbed one of his own soldiers and threw him off the deck. He pulled his rifle and shot the other two in the head. This guy was insane.
“What are you doing?” said Clay. “You’re killing your own men.”
“I rather they die at my hands than by you Chosen scum,” spat the captain. He ran down below deck.
“Keep an eye up here,” I said. “I’ll go after him.”
I ran after the deranged Arethkarian captain, below deck. Red lights filled the narrow hall beneath the top deck. Smoke blew out of broken chambers.
Dead bodies littered the ground. Most of them had slave necklaces wrapped around their throats. All killed right as the status cure debuff took effect. Anger filled my insides.
I went down the hatch and found the captain lying on the ground laughing manically. A timer was counting down. Thirty seconds.
The captain laid between the pipes and gears of the ship’s internal engine room. He held his rifle in his lap. He chuckled to himself. “You Chosen—so arrogant. Well, now you’re going to die and I don’t care if you come back and I’ll be dead. No one will be able to find you beneath all the rubble of our crash to bring you back faster and when you do come back, your army will be destroyed, all those you freed will be back in chains, including all those you love.” He laughed. “Maybe they’ll make a statue out of me. A legend of a soldier sacrificing for the cause.”
This guy was insane.
The captain’s cackles echoed in the hall as I ran back out to the top deck.
Gryph, pick us up now!
The gryphon swooped down to the top deck of the ship. Serena, Will and I hopped onto the giant legendary bird and soared away as the whole dreadnaught exploded behind us.
35
The battlefield was filled with soldiers fighting between the flaming metal carcasses of the fallen dreadnoughts.
We flew back to the one remaining airship in the vicinity. Jackson was barking orders to the newly freed Chosen, operating the ship. They were pointing the laser cannon at the Arethkarian army below.
A message appeared in my HUD.
Raylene: Nice work with the dreadnoughts. We need your help down below now.
I yelled to Jackson as Gryph landed onboard the deck.
“Any chance we can leave this dreadnought in the hands of our new recruits? They need our help down below.”
Jackson made a knowing glance to the three players who had almost attacked us when we had landed on board. Their anger was still present but it looked a lot more under control, ready to be harnessed against our enemies.
Jackson and Kari ran and jumped on Gryph and we were off again. We soared through the clouds down to the battlefield where full carnage was on display. Blood, guts, and magic on an epic scale.
The flaming wrecks of the dreadnoughts laid across the battlefield. New section of it exploding from heat and destruction, shrapnel, flying and impaling Arethkarian soldiers.
Raylene lifted her rifle and headshotted an enemy healer attempting to raise fallen soldiers.
She turned to me as the rest of the party jumped off Gryph and joined to help her.
“You know,” she said, reloading her rifle. “I think we might just win this thing.”
The battle raged on all around us. Bodies and severed limbs littered the battlefield. Shots and spells flew across the muddy blood soaked ground. Healers raised bodies only to be impaled again seconds later. Respawns and revival spells only made war more vicious and gruesome. An endless slaughterhouse as either side pushed to gain better ground on the other.
“If we conquer the hill over there,” said Raylene. “They’ll be forced to retreat and we’ll be in a good position to push them further back.”
“Let’s crush these guys!” I shouted.
Emerging above the crowds of soldiers were two warriors, riding on the backs of scraggly vultures.
“Ugh,” I said. “Dread Vulture Riders. I guess we know who we’re fighting Gryph.”
I don’t even like vulture meat, but I’ll eat it cause I don’t like the looks these ones are giving me.
Gryph and I flew above the fighting soldiers towards the incoming vulture warr
iors. The vultures were scraggly and had metal armor and magitech adornments which allowed the riders to control them. The riders held long spears above their heads. Their faces were concealed by dark obsidian helmets.
They flew towards us. I conjured my ice sword as we clashed into another. The vultures stuck their neck out and bit into Gryph’s flesh. The gryphon screamed out in pain. These vultures were tough. A spear came right near my face and I quickly blocked it with my ice sword. Another one came from my undefended side and the only way to escape was to burst into a crackle of electricity, blinking out from Gryph and into the open air. My feet squirmed as nothing held them up. I quickly created mana puddles. The vulture riders were coming at me again. Gryph had escaped their grasp.
Undo your mana puddle, fall below, trust me.
I stopped imbuing my feet with mana and fell below. My fall was broken by Gryph’s back.
What are we going to do, I said via psy-link. These guys are tough.
Their strategy is to overwhelm us with the advantage they have over us, but we can make it our strength.
I know what you’re thinking. Let’s do this.
We flew back into the air and met the vulture riders head on. It was almost an identical strategy to seconds ago except as soon as we collided, I electric blinked right as the spearman were attacking me and so they stabbed each other. I reappeared above them and came swinging down with my ice sword, crushing their heads. Gryph clawed the vultures. We were all one massive coil of feathers, weapons, spells, and chaos. I threw out my arms and cast solar bomb.
Gryph, get out of here.
The vultures were chomping into Gryph’s flesh viciously.
The massive blast went off, finishing the vulture riders.
+480 EXP!
+480 EXP!
Bits of flesh and armor scattered across the sky, falling towards the battlefield below.
Gryph swooped by me, standing in the air on my mana puddle, and I hopped onto him. He squirmed when I clutched onto his feathers. I softened my grip. My hands were covered in blood. Gryph was bleeding. I cast healing mist and hugged Gryph. His health bar went up but he was still weakened and out of it. We twirled down towards the battlefield.
Gryph, are you okay?
I’m sorry, Clay. Those vultures took more out of me than I was expecting.
We landed with a thump into the ground. A group of Arethkarian soldiers charged us, until Will pushed them back with a tidal wave of blood magic. A battlefield dripping with blood was the optimal place for a warlock.
A nearby spellcaster whipped a ghoulish green ball of light at the fallen corpses, seeping into their cold lifeless skin. The dead soldiers were reanimated, their eyes glowing a bright neon green. The warzone was also a great place for necromancers too.
Kari flew out a massive AoE cure spell, crumbling the undead back to the ground.
My head swerved back and forth. It was hard to keep up with the sheer carnage of the battle. I turned back to Gryph, who was lying in pain on the ground.
I’ll be ready to go in one second, Clay. Let me rest my eyes.
I shook my head. Gryph was out. He needed rest. I stretched out my arms and unsummoned the bird. He’d fought well, we’d need to survive the rest of this battle without him.
With Gryph gone, I assessed the battlefield. We were halfway up the hill.
More soldiers came at us. I whipped out a flame wall to protect myself. Rangers behind me took advantage, shooting their arrow blasts through my wall of flames, increasing their damage against the horde of Arethkarian soldiers. Emerging out of the throng of soldiers were a unique four who stood out from the rest.
One had a massive head with tentacles for a mouth. Another was full of dragon scales on their skin with a massive tail stretching out from behind them, poking out of their armor. Another one had all metal automail limbs, but they weren’t powered by the normal manatech but through shadow magic. The last one had green skin and a flesh eating plant for an arm.
“A lady with a flesh-eating plant arm?” said Serena, incredulous. “Arethkarian magitech really does know no bounds.”
The man with metal arms crouched and held his right arm. The palm of his metal hands swirled open revealing a large blaster gun. The energy charged from within.
“Heck no,” shouted Raylene, summoning a massive turtle to the battlefield. “Everyone get behind. Time for Iron Shell!”
The turtle hid itself within its shell and it glowed until it had a metal sheen surface.
The automaton man’s cannon blast clinked into the turtle’s armor.
“You have a tank spirit too, dontcha?” said Raylene, reloading her rifle. “Get it out here. It will help us move forward. We can push this mutant quartet back.”
“Good thinking,” I said, and threw both my arms out and summoned Swampy, the swamp crab.
Oh hello, Clay. Long time no see, said Swampy via psy-link.
Hey Swampy. Sorry to summon you to such grim surroundings. We need your help though. Can you climb up this hill with us behind you?
Got it.
The massive swamp crab waddled up the hill. Bullets clinked off of its armored shell. Raylene’s turtle followed right beside Swampy.
We moved up the hill when a soldier shouted incoming. It was the woman with the flesh-eating plant arm. The arm hissed and writhed in the air like it had a mind of its own separate to the body it was connected to. The hiss turned into a shriek with massive globules of spit flying out towards us along with a more pervasive mist.
I lifted my hand and cast air blast. The wind swept the spit and poisoned air away, but it was too late. The venomous vapor was impossible to fully escape. Its effects were rapid and fast. Soldiers around us went green in the face and puked up blood and then their own insides.
Nausea overwhelmed my senses. A status debuff came up in my status bar.
Advanced Bio (Debuff): Looks like someone’s gone messing around with your insides. -30 HP per minute (duration: until you’re dead fool)
Oh man. Advanced Bio wasn’t in the list of curable spells from status cure. Acids bubbled in my stomach and my body swayed. Flesh and guts rose up through my throat and out my mouth and onto the mud soaked ground. I was about to fall, unconscious from the sheer dreadfulness of what was happening to me, when a bright blue and white glow wisped around my entire person. My internal organs worked properly again. I no longer felt like throwing up.
Kari gave me a thumbs up as she threw out the same spell to the others.
“Holy crap,” I said. “That was horrible. Let’s please take out this plant woman first.”
“On it boss,” shouted Raylene, firing her rifle and knocking the plant woman over. A stun symbol flickered beneath the plant woman’s status bars.
I threw out my arm and blasted lightning cage. The purple sparkling lightning cascaded across the battle and wrapped itself around the plant woman. Shots from all over trickled the paralyzed woman’s HP down very quickly until she fell over dead.
But death was a confusing state in this vicious battle. It was all around us, haunting and so close. If enough people targeted you specifically, you were dead. Except there were tons of healers. The plant-woman was back in action seconds after dying.
I knew how to remove her strategic importance though.
I lifted my arm and pressed my Prophetic Seal and triggered the code: //run: restore_corrupted_file. A blast of black magic shot out of my palm like a cannon right into the plant woman. The blast hit her like an electric shock. When the spell was done, she was nothing more than a soldier missing an arm.
“What have you done to me?” she screamed.
Another barrage of bullets silenced her. The Arethkarian healers didn’t bother to bring her back either. She was useless to them now.
Swampy and the turtle kept trudging up further with us behind. There were still three more of the mutant squad, holding us back. We were gaining ground and they weren’t retaliating. My Prophetic Seal had made them more c
autious on the battlefield.
“Behind!” a soldier shouted.
The dragon scaled warrior breathed out a long radius blast of fire from her mouth.
I didn’t waste any time like I had with the plant woman. I lifted my arm and blasted //run: restore_corrupted_file. The man fell to the ground, the dragon scale disappearing from his skin. He was nothing but a shell. A volunteer for a failed experiment.
Two more mutant corrupted fragment warriors stood in our way. Robot-dude and Tentacle-mouth.
They charged us and I lifted up my arm and blasted //run: restore_corrupted_file. The blast obliterated the two of them to mere useless warriors. Swampy impaled the former robot dude with his pincer. The giant turtle crushed Tentacle-mouth’s into a squashed corpse.
“Looks like we’ve captured the ridge,” shouted Raylene. She moved forward to take in the battlefield. “Oh.”
Her words sounded defeated.
I moved around Swampy and took in the hill we’d conquered. Below the other side was more Arethkarian soldiers. A lot more. Rows and rows of them. Even further were the distant silhouettes of dreadnoughts hovering in the air, coming closer.
My heart sank. We were expending all our effort in this fight and we were going up against a mere drop in the bucket of their military power.
“There’s no way we can win this,” said Raylene. “We have to fall back.”
36
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I have the Prophetic Seal. We’re the best summoners on the continent. We have a dedicated crew behind us. We can win this.”
Raylene shook her head. “Look at that.”
Will placed a hand on my shoulder. “She’s right,” he said. “You can’t win every battle, Clay. You’re going to lose some. The key is knowing when you’ve lost and then protecting everything you can still save.”