“I guess we know what happened to the cultists now, huh?” Nemo stated calmly as he traded his pistol for his shotgun and he kicked off the arm attached to his leg. The ghouls crept around the group with their fangs bared and claws raking menacingly. Their robes dragged behind them, all in various states of disrepair.
“The question is if these are the ones who assisted with the summoning or those from the warlock’s ‘experiments’ Isadora told us about,” Faro added as he cradled a small orb.
“The real question is why are you’re worried about that right now and not throwing things,” Rika retorted sharply.
Faro nodded and stammered, “Right, right. You are fire magic, correct?” She simply stared at him while the flames coursed over her body. “Ah, yes, good. Please ignite this in a moment.” He tossed the orb and backed away as a powder burst from inside to coat three of the ghouls. Rika turned and fired a blast at their adversaries, which activated the powder. The three were annihilated in mere moments when the flames caused an explosion that consumed them.
“Wow, that was cool,” she said, impressed, and turned to him. “Got any more?”
The alchemist shook his head. “Sadly, no. I wasn’t sure what kind of mission this would be so I simply snatched one or two of as much as I could. It’s a grab bag kind of thing.”
“You also set the forest on fire,” Chatan noted. Rika looked hastily to where several of the trees were now alight in a blaze that climbed skyward.
“I can snuff it out!” she said and moved to do so but was stopped by a wave of the shaman’s hand.
“Not yet.” Two ghouls rushed toward him. Chatan’s eyes went white as he stretched upward and one of the flaming branches sprang to life. As the attackers pounced, the branch descended, drove itself through the two horrors, and pulled them away. “Set them alight!”
Rika expanded the flames and motioned her hand to cover the ghouls in fire while Chatan bound the branch around the already blazing tree. Rika watched them struggle as the blaze consumed them, then looked at the shaman. “You aren’t worried about the trees?”
“Nature will make more,” he assured them and folded his arms. “These abominations will end here.”
Kendra sliced through a ghoul. Another swiped her arm and its claws scratched through her jacket but bounced off the armor beneath. She placed her hand against its skull and fed it her holy magic. The creature’s eyes and mouth illuminated as the magic surged within before it crumbled in her grasp and turned to dust.
Dimitri looked at a few approaching ghouls, then at his cat-like familiar. “Evony, do as you please but don’t hurt our compatriots.” The panther studied the shadowcrafter, concern on her face. “I will be fine.” A ghoul dropped behind him and raised a claw. He rested his cane on his shoulder to point at it. “Kala!” A thick black rope erupted from the cane and wound around the would-be assailant. It grew bigger and more detailed before scales appeared on it and a massive snake began to constrict the creature and crush it. The man smiled as he turned to the cat. “Go on.”
Evony nodded and bared her fangs as she attacked. She sliced through the ribs of one ghoul and caught the shoulder of another in her jaws. The creature was forced to the forest floor and the cat dragged it to a tree and hurled it against it.
Nemo shoved the barrel of his gun into the chest of his chosen target, fired, and grinned when bones and fabric shrapneled. He was amused that he eliminated skeletons with bullets made of bone. The notion seemed fitting, but he dragged his mind away from it when something shifted under him. Could there be more underground ghouls? They wouldn’t catch him unawares this time, he decided. He took what appeared to be a crucifix from his belt, thrust it into the ground, and slid his hand to the top where a grenade pin was affixed. Without hesitation, he pulled the pin and spun away as the crucifix detonated to cover the area in green smoke. The plant life around the area turned black almost instantly.
Two ghouls emerged from the ground and their bones turned brittle as they struggled to stand. The green gas settled over them and transformed into a dark-brown liquid to coat their bones. One stretched skeletal hands toward Nemo, who smiled and delivered a vicious backhand. The skull was severed from its shoulders while the rest of the body simply fell apart. The ghoul behind it collapsed into the hole and turned to mush.
Rika yelped at a sharp pain in her side and spun to face a half-destroyed ghoul that had been able to make a small cut to her ribs while she was distracted. “Someone needs to finish their work!” she yelled, picked the creature up, and flung it into a tree, where she blasted it with a rather large fireball.
“It might have been my cat!” Dimitri called. “She gets excited, I’m afraid. My apologies!”
Chatan kept some of the monsters at bay by swirling heavy winds around him. “Rika!” he called and the fire-user immediately grasped what he was thinking. She delivered a stream of fire that caught in the shaman’s wind, where it turned into a hurricane of flames and swallowed the ghouls in the inferno.
Faro had been separated from the group and he noticed a line of attackers approaching his position. This worked for him as the distance meant he had no need to worry about catching the others in the assault. He retrieved the lightning in a bottle, pointed it at the shamblers, and twisted the top. The lightning surged free and bounced from one enemy to the other and reversed the action for a second strike on each. The creatures shuddered and shook as they rattled harder and faster before they exploded. The lightning disappeared with them. He shielded himself as pieces of bone fell onto him and made a mental note to check that recipe since it was only supposed to stun them.
Rumblings from the earth caught their attention but this time, it wasn’t the ghouls. Rika and Chatan gaped as a massive, bloated monstrosity advanced. It felled trees and uttered disgusting moans as it approached. Two massive arms were replicated by two more on its back, these with blades instead of hands. The entire group fell back until they stood together. The few remaining ghouls leapt onto the goliath, sank their claws and teeth into it, and acted like armor.
Kendra swung her blade. The abomination held a hand up to stop it and Rika noticed an etching in the palm. She tried to call out a warning. The cleric seemed to realize the danger at the last minute and dropped back, but her arms were coated by a dark material that resembled ice. Whatever it was, it trapped her with her hands clasped around the hilt of the blade as she uttered a hiss of pain.
The monster opened the other palm to reveal another etching. Chatan began to summon the wind once more to potentially divert whatever might come, but a large black snake coiled around the arm and yanked it up while black flames seared the sky. Evony leapt onto the back of the monster and sank her fangs deeply into its neck area. The creature struggled and finally used one of its bladed hands to skewer the cat and it vanished in a puff of shadowy smoke.
Rika ran to Kendra and used her flames to burn through the black ice. Dimitri did his best to keep the behemoth’s fire-runed hand closed. When it tried to disable him with the ice, Chatan bound it closed with several branches. Nemo lobbed a bomb that erupted to cover the beast in a blood-like liquid that began to melt its skin, only for more to simply take its place. Faro followed with several explosives that released a variety of liquids that seemed to burn, freeze, boil, summon fungi, or turn parts to stone. Nothing seemed to hinder it for long, unfortunately.
When Rika had almost finished burning through Kendra’s ice, she glanced at their enemy and noticed a small blood spot on the back of the monster’s neck. Immediately, she identified this as another etching but one of control, which told her it was being puppeted.
“Are you all right?” Rika asked as the last of the ice melted.
Kendra’s arms lit up as she took in a deep breath. “I’ll be fine.”
“Can you still fight?”
The cleric straightened and spun her blade. “Of course.”
Rika replaced the flames on her left arm with the purple essence of her disench
antment magic. “Defend me. I’ll get behind it and finish this thing, hopefully.”
“Hopefully?” the woman asked warily.
She shrugged. “Probably. Does that sound better?” Chatan cried out when he was knocked into a tree. The monster broke from its wooden bindings and battered him with the branches.
“Let’s go!” Kendra shouted and led the charge as the two made their way behind the thrashing monster. It pointed its now free hand at them, but it was knocked aside by a shot from Nemo and covered in a tar-like liquid by Faro.
The bladed arms on its back attempted to pierce both women. The cleric formed a shield of light on her free arm and deflected the attacks while Rika caught hold of one of the arms. She let it lift her higher before she released it and fell onto the shoulders. One of the ghouls attached to the monster looked at her as she climbed and attempted to stop her before she simply responded with her still flaming hand.
“Stay dead!” she ordered as she concentrated a burst of flame to destroy the top half of its skull and continued to climb. One of the bladed arms attacked, even though it meant stabbing the body. Kendra tossed her shield and shoved the blow aside while Rika pressed her hand on the mark and flooded it with her magic.
The massive creature faltered. It ceased its thrashing except a few weak shuffles to try to knock her off before its legs gave out and it collapsed. She vaulted clear seconds before impact and grimaced at the crunching sounds when the ghouls attached to the front of the behemoth were crushed.
The group gathered around, still wary of the horror. “Is it down for good?” Nemo asked, his shotgun still aimed at it.
Kendra walked up to the head, held her sword high, and swung it through the neck. “It is now.”
“I shut down the connection between it and the master,” Rika explained. “I don’t think that warlock is here, but he hasn’t left town.”
“Heh. If we play our cards right, we might get overtime.” Nemo chuckled.
“It’s something to consider later,” Chatan replied and focused once again on their original path. “We still have another monster to fell.”
Chapter Ten
Rika, Faro, and Kendra took the time to wipe off the accrued slime and bile from the fight. Dimitri—who looked surprisingly impeccable despite being in that fight himself—chatted to Chatan and Nemo about what they should do next.
“Should we be worried about another ambush?” Faro asked and checked his glasses before he looked at the two women.
“We’ll be on guard,” Kendra replied, took a cloth square from her jacket pocket, and slid it along her blade. “Even more so, at least.”
“I don’t think we’ll have to worry about any more ghouls.” Rika removed her jacket and shook it briskly. “The Deja wasn’t a huge gang, to begin with. My guess is that these were only the last remaining poor bastards the warlock had with him.”
“Which would mean we’re safe from now on?” the alchemist asked as he replaced his glasses.
“You mean besides the demon?” she countered, which made him pause and cough sheepishly into his hand.
“I’m sure there are other tricks and terrible beings awaiting us,” Dimitri added as the other three came to join them. “But I feel confident that we can deal with those as we have with these. We shouldn’t lose sight of our objective.”
“Agreed.” Kendra nodded and slid her sword into its scabbard. She looked at Chatan. “Have there been any changes since we arrived?”
“That was what we were discussing,” the shaman stated and held a hand over his face. “Immediately before the attack, I felt the magic…steady. It has plateaued from what I can tell.”
Faro stroked his chin as he considered this. “Could it mean the transfer process has begun?”
“It could have.” Nemo held his bone necklace up. “But I’m not picking up any bad vibes. Well, any more than normal since we walked into this rustic nightmare. If the demon was on its way, they’d be rattling something fierce by now.”
“So something has halted it?” Rika inquired.
Chatan removed the hand and released a short sigh. “To the best of my knowledge, it is either condensing its energy for the final part of the ritual or there may be another step that has to take place.”
“In the latter case, it gives us an opportunity to end this without having to confront the demon itself,” Dimitri suggested.
Faro clapped his hands. “That sounds quite good to me!”
“Also hopeful,” Kendra muttered and Rika nodded in agreement.
“We still need to get there to see,” Nemo reminded them, flipped his shotgun, and holstered it on his back. “I’m partial to not taking on a demon and still getting paid as if I did, but we should still be ready to fight if it comes to that.”
“Agreed. But for now, we should focus on getting out of this forest and to the field.” Chatan held a hand up. A small orb of wind collected within before it dispersed and created a trail. “If you are all recovered, we should continue.”
The group nodded to one another. The shaman took point once more and led them on a path through the forest, all of them sure to remain alert to their surroundings and to destroy or obscure any runes along the way.
A hoot from above sounded like the cry of an owl. It caught Rika off-guard as it was the first sign of life beyond the unnatural she had heard since they stepped into the woods. She looked up and frowned when it seemed the tops of the trees bent inward toward one another. The sensation was disconcerting and she scanned the sky but saw no signs of any owl or birds in general. Irritably, she recalled that Isadora had said the forest would play tricks on them. That itself wasn’t an issue, but she hadn’t thought they would be so banal. She took a couple of steps forward and glanced around to make sure she hadn’t fallen too far behind, then froze as all she saw was leaves floating along the path. None of her team was in front of her.
“Hey, Rika, be sure to keep us informed about any of the big bad runes, yeah?” Nemo called. “You are the cabalist of the group, after all.” When he received no reply, he shrugged and looked over his shoulder. “Hey, it might have been a bad joke but you don’t have to…” His words faltered and he stuck an arm out to stop Chatan. “We’re alone.”
The shaman stopped and turned slowly to confirm that no one in the group was there. He and Nemo truly were alone.
“How the hell did we get separated?” the necromancer asked.
“We may not have,” Chatan stated cryptically and studied the forest as wind spread around his form. “We could be only feet from one another.” He let a small gust of wind sail around each of them to see if they passed through anything or anyone. It connected with the trees, but if there were any human bodies around them, nothing was apparent.
“Illusion?” Nemo questioned and received a nod in response. He drew his pistol before he checked his necklace. No vibrations or even a twitch met his touch. “I still have no bad vibes.”
“Your bones detect ill intent. This might not be a trap meant to harm or kill and perhaps only to disorient,” his companion pointed out.
The other man scoffed. “Wasting my time is what I’d call ‘ill intent.’” He huffed and folded his arms. “Is there a way to break through this so we can get going again?” Silence was the only response. “What? Is it that bad?” He glanced up and scowled when he realized his friend was gone. His head lowered and he shook it unhappily. “Son of a bitch.”
“Well, this is unfortunate,” Faro muttered as he scanned the area for his team. He paused and tapped the side of his head in thought. “Illusion or mirage seems most likely. I doubt everyone was teleported without me noticing. Cloaking and silencing everybody else would also be possible although taxing on whoever was casting the spells.”
His thought process was interrupted by a bright light several yards away. He spun, removed two flasks from his satchel and readied them, but relaxed as the light faded and Kendra appeared. “Well, that is one.” He sighed and straightened, alt
hough a thought occurred to him. “Assuming you are you, of course. My guess is that this is an illusion so you could be another part of that.”
The cleric frowned. She strode toward him and while he still held his flasks firmly, he waited for her—or potentially, its—next move. Thankfully, this was apparently nothing more than raising her fist to rap it across his head.
“Gah!” He yelped and rubbed his forehead. “Well, you have physical form, at least.”
“I’m real, alchemist,” she stated and sighed. “As are you, it seems. This is an illusion and I had hoped to dispel it. It seems I was only able to break through mine.”
Faro’s hands lowered slowly and gaze darted around as a hypothesis began to form. “And potentially get caught in mine,” he said, his voice low.
Kendra regarded him curiously. “Hmm? What do you mean?”
Faro scrabbled for his tome and flipped through its pages. “I don’t think we were caught in a single large illusion but several smaller ones. If we had been trapped in one, your plan might have worked but instead, you only found me. We could all be caught in separate illusions but there is a limit to what it can do. Otherwise, you would have been sent to another personal trap.”
“I see.” She looked at her sword. “So should I keep trying to break through until we are all together again?”
Faro finally seemed to find the page he was looking for and read it quickly before he frowned and turned more pages. “We’ll consider it, but it is likely that even if that worked, we would simply be trapped again farther into the forest. I believe this is meant to force us into wasting our energy and magic.”
“So a tactic to delay us.” Kendra huffed. “It’s almost petty. What makes you so sure?”
“I’m not really, but we aren’t being attacked and the illusion isn’t horrific by any means, so it probably isn’t meant to—” A low growl issued from the forest. He looked up as the cleric drew her blade. A dark creature stalked out of the shadow of the woods on all fours. As she tensed, he walked forward. Instinctively, she tried to stop him but before she could, he yelled, “Dimitri?”
Magic Hunters: The Operatives Page 5