The enemy were bunched up and running forward, perfect targets for machine guns.
Landrith didn’t duck anymore as spells crashed through a bunker barrier.
It was a signal to all the Black Phoenix mages as they attacked the bunker with spell after spell.
The bunker went up with a surge of mana, blowing apart.
The lights in Landrith’s bunker flickered.
“Mother fuckers!” Zhan spat.
Impacts struck the ground, cannon fire from the frigate.
Two barriers and bunkers nearby were torn apart.
Their own bunker shook.
“Barrier is out! Get out!” Cao yelled and pulled on a spell scroll that threw up a temporary barrier.
Landrith felt the first impact and the second as his squad ran to the door at the rear of the bunker. He was picked up and hurled across the room before light filled his vision.
“Shit,” Staff Sergeant Yi cursed and changed his point of aim.
Bai finished reloading his machine gun, looking down over the outer wall where the Tiger Regiment had reinforced.
Two bunkers went up, and a third lost its barrier. Several more mana cannon rounds pounded each of the bunker locations, destroying the third and turning the first and second into glowing craters.
Bai fired down over the bunkers.
“Platforms behind the wall!” someone yelled on the command channel. Bai looked up and over his shoulder.
“All frontline forces, this is Colonel Yui. Bunker forces pull back to the inner wall. Tiger Regiment CPD’s, contain the platforms landing in the outer city. Those on the outer wall, cover the bunker force’s retreat and prepare to retreat to the inner wall once they are clear!”
Bai looked over to see Colonel Yui on the wall. He grabbed a conjured spear of light and hurled it. The spear smashed into a Black Phoenix mana barrier and broke it. Machine gunners altered their aim and fired.
Light came from above Bai.
“Fuckers are targeting the mana barrier now,” Baines muttered.
“Keep the reservists together. Make sure you get a solid count on them. We need to fall back in order. This can fall into a rout too easily.” Bai scanned the wall, looking at the faces of the reservists still under his command.
One of them was fighting to get his machine gun running.
“Donner, run through your IA!”
Donner looked over, grimaced, and nodded, remembering his training.
Bai aimed, casting his explosive shot and fired down into the enemy. With all the buffs, each round was as powerful as a grenade from back on Earth.
“Tough fuckers!” Bai gritted his teeth.
The Black Phoenix members took multiple hits to kill.
“How? How!” a reservist yelled, turning into a scream. “Just die!” They went limp, sobbing as they dropped to the ground, holding their helmet in their hands.
“Pull your head out, Alvarez!”
“They don’t die even with all of our buffs!” Alvarez yelled back, covered in snot and tears.
Bai moved down and grabbed the man, picking him up into standing by his vest. “I don’t give a god damned fuck! You are a fucking Alvan soldier! You will do as you are fucking ordered, or you will be the reason we fucking die! If those Eighth Realm fucks want our city, they have a bill to pay!”
Bai turned him around and pushed him toward his gun. “Get on your gun and get shooting!” Bai hit him on the back of his helmet.
Bai walked back to his own gun.
Alvarez yelled and fired, venting his frustrations through his weapon.
Bai aimed and fired, the barrier lighting up his face as platforms rained down all around. The Black Phoenix’s fighters engaged Alva’s fighters.
“Aerial!” someone yelled as shadows passed.
Spells struck the back of the wall, running through the soldiers.
Bai un-mounted his machine gun, pointed it high, and braced as he cast airshot and fired ahead of the aerial mounts.
As a level fifty soldier, with Body Like Iron, a formed mana core, all fourteen open mana gates, buffed to twice his original strength and armed with a machine gun and the knowledge of a mage squad commander, Bai’s rounds tore into the mana barrier, opening it up as he led his blue airshot rounds. They ripped through the enemy, slaughtering the aerial mounts.
“Odd squads turn and face the inner city!” Colonel Yui ordered.
Bai lowered his machine gun and grabbed the ammunition box attached to his ammunition feeder.
He used a battlement to rest his machine gun on.
“And that is why we are using machine guns and not just hurling out spells. Spells drain a lot of power and we can hit harder casting stronger spells on our weapons!” Bai yelled. “Now shoot me some of those crow bastards!”
“My people can’t hold on for much longer.” Kanoa pressed his lips together, looking at Glosil.
“We need the air cover. If we don’t, then their aerial forces will rake our towers and the walls. We are still evacuating the people from the bunkers. Egbert is using the dungeon core to fire the mana cannons. They took out our forward artillery cannons as fast as they could. Tiger Regiment is manning the outer wall. The frigate is firing on their position. I need cover or we’re going to lose people. Domonos is organizing our forces at the castle compound.”
“I thought we were holding at the inner wall?”
“We don’t have the people. We’ll be too spread out and we need to evacuate everyone.”
Kanoa looked at the map with heavy eyes. “Fuck. Yui is cut off on the surface. How is he going to get his people down into the Under City and back to the castle compound?”
“We...” Glosil’s eyes latched onto two symbols moving rapidly across the map. “Captain Roska, what the hell are you doing? You were supposed to get the lords out of here!”
“Glosil, this is Major West. We are rendering assistance and acting as a Quick Reaction Force. You promised me you could deal with us as soldiers, so deal with us like soldiers. Sir.”
Glosil gritted his teeth, his hands balling into fists. “Major West, I need a distraction, something to take the pressure off of Tiger Regiment on the wall. They’re getting hit from both sides and in the air. Our air force is getting hammered.”
“Yes, sir. We’ll cover their retreat.” Erik’s voice was level, holding a hint of warning as he closed the channel.
“Egbert! How is that spell coming?” Glosil yelled into the ceiling.
“I need another seven minutes.”
“Let me know the second you can cast it. Send orders to the towers. As soon as the Tiger Regiment is past them, they are to evacuate. Kanoa, once the towers are evacuated, leave the undead to fight and break off your people.”
“No more platforms or aerial beasts are leaving the ship,” an aide reported.
“How many do they have in the air and on the ground?” Glosil asked.
“There are about thirty thousand on the ground and twenty thousand in the air,” Egbert reported.
Glosil grunted. “We have an advantage with our weapons. Advise all leaders to not engage in close combat.”
Explosions rippled over the city as sparrows and kestrels did bombing runs on the Black Phoenix ground forces.
A sparrow was struck with multiple spells, spinning away into the ground.
Rugrat locked onto the group of Black Phoenix fliers and closed his fist. The air responded, turning into air blades that tore through the group. George released a breath of fire, crashing into another group’s barrier. Gong Jin and his team brought the barrier under fire, tearing it apart as they rode across the skies.
Gilly shot out a beam of water from her mouth while Erik waved his hand. A building collapsed like it was sand, the debris smashing into a group of Black Phoenix ground forces.
Roska’s team dropped bombs on the stalled group, tearing apart the surrounding buildings and the group. Storbon’s group raked a platform with spells. Its barrier failed, then its
formations as it tumbled, dropping its fighters nearly a hundred meters to the ground before the platform smashed into a Sky Reaching Restaurant.
They were wreathed in spells, stirring up the mana around them as they carved a path through the air.
“I see the platforms!” Rugrat grabbed his rifle and aimed.
The Black Phoenix ground forces were rushing through the streets on mounts, half heading to the inner wall, half to the outer wall the Tiger Regiment was pinned down on.
He fired. The rounds cut through his targets and struck the ground. Chains bloomed out from the ground, stabbing and grabbing at others passing by.
They blossomed in explosions, cutting through the nearby fighters.
Rugrat’s domain twitched as he looked up and fired into a reinforced group of aerial fighters.
Chains grabbed onto the mounts, causing them to plummet and spin away before exploding.
Erik drew out a grenade launcher. His eyes shone, black, red, and green flecks under his striking blue eyes. Veins of black and red ran down his hand and into the weapon before he fired. The grenade had new veins running through it. Erik sent a command through his linking mana. The grenade exploded above the ground forces, cutting them down in droves.
They flew over the battlefield.
The enemy forces charged into machine gun fire from the outer wall, taking hits on the mana barriers that were covering their rear. The main barrier arching high over them was showing spotting as attack after attack hammered it. Ground forces on both sides were pushing the outer wall, a strip of stone between a sea of black fighters and red tracers.
Close protection details were behind the outer wall in positions they’d pulled together, shooting down the streets.
“Break!” Erik yelled.
Rugrat and teams One and Three went right as Erik and teams Two and Four went left, washing over the outer wall.
Rugrat dropped bombs from his storage ring, enhancing them as George roared; a spell formation released. Flaming feathers raked the buildings and ground.
The two teams released bombs as their mounts attacked the ground.
The first bombs hit, leveling buildings and throwing dust in every direction, clearing out dead ground beyond the wall.
Rugrat led them into the sky and banked. He fired on the aerial forces before they had time to react.
“Gong Jin, cover the skies. Niemm, cover the ground!” Rugrat said.
Gong Jin’s team blasted spells into the heavens.
“These bastards are tough, shit!” Gong Jin missed one and kept hurling out fireballs. Angry red veins traced through his body the color of lava, burning from the inside out.
They were all pushing their limits, no longer hiding their strength.
“Here we go again!”
They went back over the buildings. Attacks came up from the ground, striking their mana barrier as they laid down a carpet of bombs, cutting back into the city.
“Yui is evacuating his people to the inner wall,” Erik said through the sound transmission device. “Once they’re out of the fight, we’re moving to the towers.”
Rugrats’ group went over an open area. Spells shot out, striking the barrier and breaking it. They were nearly out of range at the same time it collapsed.
“Status!” Rugrat yelled.
“Just a graze,” Niemm grunted.
“I’ll be fine; just need a heal or two.” Han Wu coughed.
Rugrat saw the man applying first aid as Setsuko activated a new stack barrier formation, the barrier enveloping them.
“Fuck, don’t get comfortable! We’re going back around.” The words were as much for the others as it was for himself.
61
Lords and Hunters
Gregor, Ranko and Bela studied the city below upon their mounts. Their guards flanked them, staying back a respectful distance.
“The Sha are working with them?” Bela sneered.
“The Sha are using them for something. They have similar weapons, and where would they get that dungeon core from otherwise?” Gregor said.
“They are stronger than I thought. Their tactics are different. They do not try to engage us in close combat and use weapons similar to the Sha.” Ranko considered the fighting as if it were happening on another planet.
“It seems that they are connected. Your people are getting torn apart.” Gregor pointed out Bela’s forces.
Bela shot him a glare before directing it below, shifting with her mount’s wings.
“The mana here is—” Ranko grimaced as he rubbed his fingers together. “—useless. We trained to fight in the seventh realm, not some fourth realm backwater. Our mana reserves can’t regenerate fast enough down here without density enhancing formations.” His eyes dropped to the formation on Gregor’s hip.
Gregor grimaced, adjusting it. “The formations, how much will it affect us?”
Ranko took a moment to consider the city below. “Thirty to forty percent decreased power for the lowest level fighters. For us, fifty to sixty percent.”
“Why will it affect us more?” Bela asked.
“Mana density,” Gregor supplied, not looking away. He tensed his hand, feeling the power of his body cultivation.
“Should you not be recovering their dungeon core?” Bela pulled him out of his thoughts with her impetuous question.
“Patience, Bela. Cousin Gregor has his own task and we have ours.”
“Commanders.” One of Gregor’s people pointed downward.
A group surged over the city. Most rode on panthers that ran across the sky. A man sat atop a dragon breathing water and leaving a wake of stone spears jutting out from the ground and buildings below. Another rode a winged wolf breathing flame.
The group raked those below, the Clan’s forces unable to hold them as they rushed toward the outer wall.
Gregor pulled his spear from his storage ring and looked at the guards behind him.
“Cousins Ranko and Bela, if you excuse me, I think that the hunt has begun.”
“You think you can take them on your own?” Bela smirked.
Gregor shifted the spear in his grip, using his sensing spells on the two groups. He couldn’t get a clear understanding of their cultivation. With their debuffs, they could be people from the sixth realm. As long as they are unaffected or even buffed, then it would make sense.
“You think they are wearing masking formations?” Gregor asked.
“We do,” Ranko said.
Gregor rolled his spear in his fingers. He sniffed at the thin mana in the air, grimacing. These people were showing ability. If they were not dealt with, they would cut down too many of their people and weaken morale. He needed Ranko and Bela’s forces to help capture the dungeon core. Gregor clenched his jaw, tightening his grip on his spear with a smile. “Splitting the spoils three ways is a fine idea! What is family for if we do not all benefit? Killing off their elites should make it easier!”
“You would fit in well with a sect for your fake smiles alone, Cousin.” Bela clicked her tongue and her mount dove forward. Her guards dropped away, following her, their green robes flapping from under their armor.
“Let the hunt begin!” Gregor roared. Lines of power traced their mana and element-gathering tattoos, bringing the surrounding mana and elements into sharp focus.
Gregor and Ranko dove. Their guards followed.
“Iron Rain!” The spell formation appeared in front of Bela as she channeled mana into it. Iron bolts howled through the air toward the group below.
Gregor felt like a balloon being squeezed as he entered the mana gathering formation’s range.
The group cried out and split into two; one group around the fire wolf, the other around the Dragon. Their mana barriers flared with the iron rain before tearing through the street and buildings in a plume of dust.
Rubble from the collapsing buildings formed together into tens of spears and was hurled skyward.
“Meteor rain.” Flares of fire appeared, gro
wing and shooting down to crash into the stone spears.
“Iron Wall!” Bela called her defense in a panic. Her guards hurled out their own mana barriers to protect her like layered bubbles.
The air exploded around her, causing the barriers to shudder.
Gregor laughed. He and his group slashed out with their spears, greeting dozens of spells to meet them head-on.
Ranko’s tattoos glowed as he drew in the surrounding mana. He closed his eyes, condensing mana into a shimmering sphere around himself. When he opened his eyes, light spilled out.
Gone was the tired elder. Now, a lord of mana sat atop his mount.
“Mana spears.” A surge of power exited his body. Spears of mana pushed out from the sphere and dropped toward the ground like shimmering glass tears.
The spears dodged around Bela, picking up speed as they raced toward the groups below.
Several spears were destroyed in the skyward attacks. Ranko shifted his hands. The spears shattered into several copies.
Several somethings struck Ranko’s sphere, causing it to indent and push him to the side.
Two of Bela’s guards’ mana barriers shattered, torn apart in a stream of light.
Gregor’s eyes traced where the broken line of light came from. The second group.
“Water Spears!” He thrust forward with his sphere, rotating spell formations condensed and ejected water spears, catching the midday sun as they cried across the sky.
“You deal with the Dragon team. I’ll deal with the fire wolf group!” Gregor didn’t give them time to argue as he dove away.
Streams of light impacted his personal mana barrier as he weaved. His dungeon hunter squad moved erratically in the sky, their weapons freed as they hurled attacks at the group below, changing their own movements and exchanging attacks.
“Barriers!” Erik yelled. The teams came to a halt as he drew his hands together, tearing the stone, steel, and dirt from the surrounding buildings into a shell over the street.
The sky darkened as the shell started to form.
The mana spears exploded against the shell, shattering it as it fought to repair, build, and cover the group underneath.
Seventh Realm Part 1: A LitRPG Fantasy series (The Ten Realms Book 8) Page 70