Magic Hunters: The Operatives

by Fresh Book Deals

  It cracked. “A little help, please?” a muffled voice said from within. She inched closer and readied to put her fiery hand upon it. “The other one, if you don’t mind,” he requested. She complied and the rock faded as soon as she touched it as if she somehow erased it. Quickly, she ran her hand along the rest of his body to help him to break free. He finally emerged, leaned down, and rested his arms on his legs. “Much obliged.”

  “What was that?” she asked.

  He ran a hand through his hair to loosen some of the dust and pebbles, removed his glasses, and dug inside his satchel to retrieve a cloth. “An elixir that allows me to take stone form, mostly used for defensive purposes, but I was hoping it would confuse the seeking magic of the curse.”

  “You didn’t have many options, huh?” Rika questioned. The alchemist simply shook his head as he checked his glasses. “Well, quick thinking and thanks for the lift.”

  “My pleasure.” He nodded as he replaced his glasses.

  “Ah, good, you are still alive,” Dimitri called as he jogged up the path.

  “As are you,” Faro responded. “Were you able to escape your curse?”

  “Indeed. Unfortunately, Quill had to intercept it, along with the shaman’s.” The shadowcaster sighed.

  “I see. I’m sorry about your familiars,” Rika told him.

  “They will be restored,” he stated. “Shadowcraft is quite different from traditional summoning. But they are unusable for now.” He looked at the battle zone where flashes of light, gunshots, boulders, and earthen spikes battered the demon. “I haven’t seen anything like that. The monster consuming Evony, I mean.”

  “Consuming a magical being like a quick snack is new to me as well.” Faro nodded and checked the contents of his bag. “I’m running low on my wares but we need to rejoin the fight.”

  “Yes, but I was hoping to run into you two in particular before I did,” Dimitri said and focused on them. “We need to come up with a plan while the others buy us time. I think our chances of simply brute-forcing this abomination into submission are quite low at this point.”

  “I do not disagree,” Faro confirmed.

  “Are you thinking of something?” Rika asked.

  “Unfortunately no.” He sighed. “It seemed we could attack the demon from the inside. but any damage we inflicted was simply repaired once he consumed Evony. If he can do that now, this will be a rather protracted battle—if we can even win that way.”

  “I’m not sure if we have that long,” she pointed out. “If that organization is keeping a watch or waiting for us to report, how much longer do we really have? They are going to want to Nova the place eventually to be safe.”

  “Right. I had almost had forgotten about that.” Dimitri huffed. “It seems time is of the essence.”

  “It’s a pity we can’t find the demon’s tether,” Faro said. “I thought I read that all demons need a tether to remain in our realm for long amounts of time.”

  “Wait, you’re right!” Rika shouted and caught him by the shoulders. “I can dispel it! We only have to find it.”

  “There is none! I just said!” he replied. “I was searching for it before it appeared, hoping to have it as a backup option, but I found nothing. I thought perhaps the obelisks would be the anchor, but they basically became nothing but fancy stones once it appeared.”

  “True, but it makes me think,” Dimitri said thoughtfully. “The way the demon consumed the portal on entry—that was rather different from any other transportation spell I’ve seen. And I’ve fought a handful of demons before. Perhaps it is keeping itself here by keeping the portal within itself?”

  “Is that possible?” Rika asked, turning to the shadowcrafter.

  The man allowed himself a quick chuckle. “We work in magic. I find most things are possible with determination.”

  “I have heard of theories that suggest such a thing, but if that is the case, the portal is then still technically open,”

  “Indeed. Which means, if we play our cards right—or yours, rather…” He turned to Rika with a grin.

  She smiled in response. “Then we can reverse it.”

  “Are the others back yet?” Nemo yelled and fired several shots from his pistol at the demon’s hand while it tried to create more cursed orbs. Chatan summoned a mass of roots to tie the demon and struggled to bring it low to the ground so Kendra could deal a blow to its head. It turned and roared at the cleric, shattered her barrier, and forced her back through the sheer force of the utterance.

  “Shut your yap!” the necromancer bellowed and lobbed two orbs that erupted to become oozing green bats the flew into the being’s mouth. It choked for a moment and blue flames flared along its body to free it as it thrashed and revealed its teeth, some now corroded.

  “Enough of this!” it growled and spewed some of the acid as a small dark orb appeared between its horns. “I have somewhere I need to be. There is more destruction in my future than some sniveling hunters!”

  The orb grew quickly in size. Nemo and Kendra attacked with little effect and it retaliated with a shower of flames to force them back. The necromancer had to yank his jacket off quickly when fire began to consume it. Chatan started to summon the winds, hoping they would be strong enough to carry them away if need be, but as he gazed upon the growing sphere, it seemed the entirety of the field would be destroyed in this blast.

  Before he could even try to think of a solution, three flares of red light plummeted from above to strike the orb. It erupted and not only catapulted the three hunters away but flung the demon off its feet. Kendra saw her chance and forced herself to sprint toward it, swing her sword, and impale it through one of the creature’s eyes. The beast shrieked when she began to charge it with holy magic, but it pushed off the ground and dragged the sword out of its head as the magic discharged from the blade. The attack struck its chest and left a shining burn but didn’t cripple it or even make much difference.

  It held its eye with one hand and scowled at the three hunters. Furious, it pounded the other on the ground to create a wave of magic, but it was met by a surge of purple light and it simply disappeared. Rika, Faro, and Dimitri joined the trio and the shadowcrafter summoned his giant snake. It streaked at the demon, wound around its chest, and sank its fangs into its face.

  “Be sure it doesn’t eat you, Kala!” the man warned and helped Chatan to his feet. “Sorry for the wait, but we have a plan.”

  “Will it work?” Nemo asked after Rika helped him up.

  She shrugged. “If you ask the alchemist, it is all ‘theoretical,’ but I’ve had to do this kind of thing before. We should be good if you can buy me time.”

  “That’s damn valuable right now. This is a tenacious bastard,” he admitted and opened his shotgun. “But better to go with trying to send this demon back to its pit than spanking it all night. I’ll pour the rest of my bullets into it as long as you need.”

  “Appreciate it.” She nodded, ready to move away before she looked at him for a moment. “How many do you have left, by the way?”

  He looked at his caches and shrugged. “Just get moving and make it quick.”

  “Got it.” She hurried away and passed Kendra, who tried to circle the demon. “Hey, Kendra!” she shouted and caught her attention. “Keep doing what you’re doing. I’m gonna end this.”

  “Humph, obviously,” the cleric retorted, held the blade up, and attacked to join Faro who had been splashing an acidic elixir on the beast’s legs in an effort to hobble it.

  The winds began to howl and whirled around their adversary. Its flames flared but Kala simply constricted tightly and refused to let go. Kendra stopped when she realized what Chatan was attempting. She grasped her blade, stuck it inside the winds, and made sure it didn’t escape her grasp as they picked up. With the weapon securely placed, she poured her holy energy into the wind and let it swirl around the demon as Chatan formed a tornado to ensnare the enemy once more.

  Rika reached the original point
of the portal. She retrieved Faro’s crystal and held it close to the ground. If there was residual magic left, it would be mixed with the natural magic of the area and they wouldn’t be able to detect it unless they got close. After a long moment, the crystal assumed hues of purple, a lighter violet, and a darker orchid, which signaled the remnants of the portal. There was sufficient for her to work with. She put the crystal away, stood, and faced toward the demon, which was now caught in Chatan’s tornado. Kendra added her holy magic while both Faro and Nemo included their respective concoctions in a combined attempt to keep their adversary in place. This was her chance.

  She held her arms out and let her disenchantment magic consume her entire being. Whether the demon was still connected to the portal or the link was within the creature itself, if she could absorb the remains, she should be able to disenchant the magic within and send it back.

  First prize would be that it would rip the abomination apart instead, but she’ll settle for returning it to where it had come from.

  The purple light sank into the ground and she felt another wave of nausea, the marker of dark magic that required live sacrifice. She didn’t buckle and focused on breaking the magic down and absorbing it.

  The demon noticed immediately. It felt a disturbance as something shifted within its being. The awareness fueled its struggle and it managed to free one of its hands to grasp the body of the snake and set it alight. The familiar hissed and loosened its coils and jaws, enough for the demon to open its mouth and utter another wail that made the snake shrink so it could fling it aside. It looked in the direction of a new magic that built rapidly in strength, evidenced by a faint purple light through the roaring winds.

  With another roar of protest, it held a hand up in an attempt to divide the winds, only for it to be slashed by something sharp. It hissed and drew the wounded hand back. A shining wound dripped with green venom and red elixir and refused to heal. It snarled and coated its body in its crackling dark energy, letting it build before it dispersed it. The force of it destroyed the tornado and shocked the hunters around it. They sprawled awkwardly, all covered in the arcing energy that burned their flesh.

  The demon turned to Rika and glared at her with its remaining good eyes. She was so close, but when she saw the others caught in the magic, she let her magic flood forward to cover them and slow the burn. The demon knelt and created another orb in its horns. Hastily, she considered her options. She was almost there, but would she have enough magic left to reopen the portal if she disenchanted the attack? The purple light flowed around her and she stared at the demon as it uttered a slow cackle. It leaned forward to fire the orb from its horns on a direct trajectory toward her.

  In the same moment, she knew she was finished when she felt the energy of the portal within the demon. She pointed her arms forward and allowed the purple light to flow toward the orb before it twined around it in passing and continued toward their adversary.

  She closed her eyes and waited to see who would finish this first.

  Chapter Fourteen

  She awaited oblivion and realized she had heard many versions of what that would be. Personally, she hoped it was one of the more peaceful ones but she didn’t feel any pain. In fact, she remained fully in control of her magic. She opened her eyes and her gaze settled on several figures in front of her who wore Deja robes.

  The unexpected figures worked together to hold the orb back. A green glow surrounded them and their arms gleamed with a reflection of it. They were skeletal and the hoods of the robes had slid back to reveal skulls with gleaming eyes in a similar hue. She looked beyond the group and Nemo smiled at her with his hand on the ground and the same green glow in his eyes. She had the time she needed now.

  The purple light surrounded, then attached itself to the demon. It struggled, but it wasn’t really bound. The light surged inside it while Rika probed for the portal energy in a hurried search for every trace of it. The light traveled through its body. The enemy raised a hand and summoned its blue flames to cast them at her. As it began to throw its arms forward, Kendra vaulted upward and sliced into its wrist. It wasn’t enough to sever the hand, but the flames died and the beast wailed in pain.

  The cleric landed, spun, and directed a blast of holy magic at the demon’s left eyes. The pupils erupted and it smothered another wail. Kala returned and wound around its neck to bite into its jaw once again, joined this time by a shadowy spider that climbed up the massive chest. Its body split and hundreds of tiny spiders scattered along the creature’s body to sink their venom into it.

  Faro pushed up and noticed the orb still on a direct path toward Rika and the skeletons guarding her beginning to give way. He moved his hand to his belt and grimaced when he realized he had only two shooting star orbs remaining

  “Protect her!” he shouted to Chatan and held his arsenal, one in each hand, ready to do the same. The shaman nodded and placed a hand on the ground. Moments later, the earth rose around Rika and created a domed barrier. Faro pressed the switches on his orbs and lobbed them at the demon’s projectile, where they exploded into white flares that collided with the dark magic and caused it to explode. It destroyed the skeletons and cracked the barrier around the sphere, but while it began to give way, it wasn’t enough. He cringed in fear as the demon’s magic began to seep through, only for the earth to give way and be replaced by a barrier of light.

  The alchemist looked around quickly. Kendra stood with her blade in the ground, her eyes closed as she faced toward Rika. He smiled, took his tome out of his satchel, and looked at the remaining vials, elixirs, and orbs. There was no need to be frugal right now. He activated one of the more explosive spheres and hurled the satchel at the demon. It exploded in an array of colors and covered the enemy in various concoctions and elements. The alchemist sagged, having given all he could.

  Rika condensed all her magic into the center of the demon and let it flare to create an inferno akin to her fire—but to burn magic, not flesh. The demon began to twitch, then jerk abnormally. Its arms and chest shrank once more while it clawed at the snake and spiders but couldn’t get them off. Faro’s alchemic creations burned, chilled, paralyzed, and choked it. The holy wounds Kendra had inflicted during the entire fight had reopened and spread along its body.

  The being raised its arms to try to incinerate Rika once more but a loud bang curtailed his attempt and removed its hand. It looked at the stub and then at Nemo, who grinned madly with his shotgun raised. In a fit of rage, it finally managed to pry the snake off and uttered a shriek, but this had none of the mage-numbing effects of the others. It was simply a loud annoyance to the hunters present.

  It toppled and fell and the spiders scattered from its body before they reformed into the larger host and returned to Dimitri’s side with Kala. The hunters gaped as black ooze poured from the demon’s back and covered its chest before it slid over its legs and arms. It began to ripple and distort the massive body.

  “It’s getting sent back,” Faro stated and pushed to his feet once again. “Is it over?”

  As if he’d issued a challenge, the beast regained some of its vigor and turned to the hunters. It seemed to try to stall or reabsorb the portal and a little the darkness slid off its face. From behind, a massive wave of fire rolled into it and it collapsed and uttered a sickly growl.

  Rika walked up and scowled as it shrank even further. It extended a hand and clawed feebly at her before it diminished to half her size, then appeared to sink into the ground. The form disappeared and left nothing but a dark pool, which began to fold in on itself before it finally vanished.

  The team of hunters stood in silence. Nemo, Kendra, and Chatan were still ready to fight. Dimitri and Rika observed the place where the portal had been and looked for any abnormalities. Faro merely sat again and exhaled a long, relieved sigh. “Is it over, then?”

  All members of the group could hardly believe it. They had fought tooth and nail, but they would be lying if any of them had said it didn’t at
least cross their minds that the battle might have been unwinnable. Honestly, without the complications of bringing a demon over, it might have been. But they had won and nothing remained. The abomination had been summoned but it was now gone. Even the obelisks remained inert and Rika could feel no other magic except that which would occur naturally in the areas.

  Except for an odd tingling feeling, she realized after a moment, that seemed to come from behind her. She looked up to confirm that Chatan and Dimitri had caught it too and all three glanced at a red hole that appeared above the ground. It was another portal, but one for quick teleportation. Could it be Isadora? She had said she would come to congratulate them.

  “You damn fools!” a raspy, enraged voice cursed them from within. An image of an old man with tanned skin freckled by dark spots and long ragged hair that was both black and gray peered out at them, his red eyes fierce. “You have cost me everything.”

  “Who the hell is this?” Nemo asked and folded his arms.

  “My guess is the warlock the sorceress told us about,” Chatan replied and frowned at the newcomer. “The one who started this whole mess.”

  “No, no, this was my purpose!” the old man snapped in response as his hand thrust through the portal, followed quickly by his entire body. “You made the mess! You cost me everything.”

  “You already said that,” Rika retorted and allowed her flames to circle her body. “We were told you went into hiding. It’s rather stupid of you to come out now.”

  “You left me no choice. I have to eliminate you now. It is my only chance!” The man paused at the gateway and glowered at them. He was dressed in long crimson robes and held a staff adorned by a scarlet orb that he pointed at the group. “My elders will not allow me to live after this failure. Giving them your heads may buy me some leniency.”

  “This man has elders?” Dimitri questioned. “Having lived to be as old as he appears, he’s still low on the proverbial totem pole—no offense to you, shaman.” Chatan merely shrugged. He seemed more interested in checking the area to see how to best dispatch the warlock.