The Third Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  A fireball shot down from the sky, exploding among a group of advancing bandits. Others fell with crossbow bolts in their necks.

  Both Rugrat and Matt fired back. Matt looked to be terrified but he was fighting and summoning at the same time, continuing a chant as a circle appeared at his side. Bugs started to appear from the ground between the summoning circle. The cloud grew larger until they created a pitch-black cloud.

  Another explosion went off. Dirt and bits of plant rained down on Boros. He ducked and then looked at Erik, who had dodged the blast, coating the area where the spell had come from. A pill appeared in his hand as he put it in his mouth, holding it there as he reached the melee fighters.

  He fired a blast of Mana into them, throwing back the leaders as he jumped into the destruction he had created.

  His body seemed to grow larger; heat-like vapors appeared around him as he unleashed a punch on a fighter, crushing their breastplate and sending them flying. He dodged another attack; his foot smashed into them and sent them flying through the marsh, leaving a divot behind them.

  Each of his attacks made the Mana around him fluctuate.

  He lowered his stance. His fists glowed with accumulated Mana as he unleashed it, creating a Mana Detonation. It created a cone of destruction, causing several bandits to be thrown back with grievous wounds.

  He moved to the side, missing a spell that hit one of the bandits.

  Boros saw in the light of the spell the grin on Erik’s face as he fought. Demons—they’re demons.

  “Scarenn swarm!” Matt yelled out.

  “Bring them on me!” Erik yelled back. He was fighting his best but bandits were coming from everywhere.

  “Focus on the right side!” Boros said. The bandits were being held off on the left by Erik; he needed to stop the ones on the right that were coming through the burnt marshland that George had created when he took off.

  “Get your fucking asses moving!” Boros yelled, waking up the mercenaries and guards. They let out yells and started their counterattack. Melee types charged forward into battle; ranged used the cover that they could find and tried to pick off the incoming bandits.

  There must be three or four hundred of them. Who would be willing to provoke us or our backers? Then another chilling thought appeared in Boros’s mind. Unless there is no one to tell our backers who stole our goods. They haven’t asked for us to hand over our items—they just attacked straight away to take the element of surprise.

  Boros looked over to Lucy, who had pulled on a helmet but blood came down one side of her face. There was a look of mutual understanding between the two of them.

  “Kill them all.”

  “Yes, boss.” Boros tightened his grip on his axes. “You lot with me!” Boros picked out a group of mercenaries and guards, and charged to the left side.

  Lucy turned to the right to command that side as the melee fighters clashed with one another, the marshlands beneath their feet becoming churned up and dyed with blood.

  ***

  “Rugrat, where is the leader?” Erik asked Rugrat, who was circling the battlefield. He had to be careful about getting too close to the ranged. He’d already had some close calls with spells and arrows.

  Rugrat wanted to fire Explosive Shot after Explosive Shot into their ranks but the burst of pain that came with trying to cast the spell stopped him.

  Instead of being on the offensive, he was barely able to provide support, picking his targets with great care to have the greatest effect.

  Rugrat picked out a mage, preparing a large spell, and put a bolt through their neck. With his high Agility and Expert marksman skill, he rarely needed more than two bolts to kill his enemy.

  He saw an area forward and to the left of the caravan where a group of people were standing, watching over the battlefield.

  “I think I’ve found them. Watch my fireball!” Rugrat said as he communicated through the link that had formed between him and George.

  George let out a eager cry as he breathed in deeply, the Mana around him disturbed. A magical circle appeared in front of him, turning into a large fireball about a meter wide. It shot forward, creating a red streak in the sky. It split into smaller fireballs. They slammed into the ground around the group; a Mana barrier appeared, blocking the attack from harming those on the hill. And creating an ad-hoc tracer for Erik.

  A man yelled at the others as they pulled out their ranged weapons or started to cast their ranged attacks.

  George banked away, getting away from the command group’s return fire.

  “Got it.” Erik altered his direction toward the command group.

  Rugrat looked down as he saw Boros and a small group under his command smash into the bandit melee fighters’ lines as the scarenn swarm rushed toward Erik, who was trying to push through about twenty bandits.

  ***

  Erik knew that he was cut off from support. Matt and Rugrat were doing what they could. He knew that bandit groups were held together by their commanders; it was usually the possibility of fortune and fear of what would happen to them if they didn’t carry out their attack that motivated them during a fight.

  If they lost too many people or their commanders were wiped out, it could create a break in their command structure, making it harder for them to work together effectively.

  Erik took a hit to the back. His armor took the impact, leaving him bruised under his armor. Erik rolled away as another blade hit him in the side. As he dodged a jab aimed at his head, he used his One Finger Beats Fist technique, acting on impulse.

  His finger punched a hole in the bandit’s armor and through their side. They coughed out blood and dropped to the ground.

  Erik aimed a Mana Detonation behind him, clearing out the attackers there as he took a downward chop on his shoulder, leaving a deep gash in his armor and breaking his collarbone.

  Erik lashed out, creating room as the scarenn swarm buzzed around him, hiding him from everyone’s sight.

  Inside the swarm, Erik activated the hidden ability of his Poison Body. A gray mist appeared around him, coating the scarenn swarm, and he messaged Matt.

  “They’re poisoned. Now, use them before they die!” Erik burst out of the swarm. Using One Finger Beats Fist, he punctured a bandit’s armor, front to back. The pressure wave killed the man.

  Erik had relied on the modified Growling Tiger Elbow technique all this time. It improved the strength of his blows but it made them a stronger, blunt attack, which allowed him to beat his enemies into submission. When fighting massive creatures, it was more effective than the One Finger Beats Fist technique, which focused his power into one point, increasing his penetrating power.

  Erik didn’t know the inner workings of the beasts he fought, so he tried to do as much damage as possible, but humans—he’d killed and healed too many to count.

  His hands moved faster, not needing the wind-up time to move his Mana around as he tapped on a person’s neck, cutting through their right carotid, piercing through the common and shredding the internal and external branches of the artery.

  He dodged under a two-handed war hammer. His hand darted out and touched the man’s inner thigh. All of his movements turned into a piercing attack as he penetrated the man’s thigh and his femoral artery.

  He cried out as his blood came out in time with his heartbeat.

  Erik struck at nerve centers, arteries, eyes, ears, joints. It could transmit power through one’s bones but its strength came from piercing soft tissues.

  The swarm gave Erik cover. They only needed a few seconds to be covered in the poison that Erik was emitting. They shot out like a black wave, the bandits unable to stop them as they attacked the bandits and tried to enter the bandits’ mouths and noses. Their distraction allowed Erik to move through their ranks rapidly. After a few seconds, the swarm—which had spread over the bandits—started to fall to the ground, the poison killing them off. The bandits were larger and it took longer but they were already slowing, affected by
the poison. Erik paid them no attention, trying to rush forward to affect as many people as possible with poison. He only had a limited time before he ran out of poison.

  The scarenn swarm did their work, getting infected with the poison and carrying it with them, using their poisoned stingers to open wounds and into the bandits’ faces.

  ***

  “Focus on him. Lawrence, bring me his head.” Xiu Xuan ground his teeth. Already a third of his forces had been killed, most of them by just one man and a group of summoned bugs! The man was now charging through the marsh toward the ranged attackers as the melee types from the sides tried to pin him down.

  The forces on the right side of the caravan were advancing fine. If he could get rid of this one fighter, he could focus on the small group behind him and then take the caravan still.

  “Yes, boss.” Lawrence grabbed his twin scimitars and ran forward with a grim smile. The gloating smile from before was gone; it had disappeared after the firewolf and its rider attacked their group.

  We have truly kicked a hornet’s nest. Just who are these people? Why didn’t the spy say anything about them?

  Xiu Xuan wanted to rip the lying throat of the spy out of his body to cause such losses. Even if he came back with a massive bounty, his standing with the other bandit groups would drop and some of his people might move to other groups, fearing for their lives.

  The man was finally stopped. As he got closer to the ranged, their accuracy increased. He was having a hell of a time trying to keep the fire off him, taking pressure off the small group of defenders behind him but making it hard for him to move forward, focused on only dodging as he used Mana bolts and bullets against ranged spells and arrows.

  A group of elites that had stayed with the ranged forces moved closer but waited for Lawrence and his personal guards. All of them had seen how quickly he had moved forward and had seen the signs of poisoning on their fellows who had blocked him.

  The firewolf and its rider charged forward.

  “Captains, focus on the flying beast. Reserve ranged attackers, attack it!” Xiu Xuan yelled out.

  The sky filled with attacks as the firewolf could only retreat out of their effective range.

  It unleashed fireballs, but they weakened greatly before they reached the ground.

  ***

  Erik could tell that his situation wasn’t good. He was being pinned down by the ranged attackers and the melee were grouping up to fight him all together.

  Boros and his group were still fighting the first group of melee fighters. If he acted wildly, then he was going to be injured; if he waited, he might die.

  “Rugrat, carpet bomb the motherfuckers! Give me a cover screen!” Erik yelled.

  “Got it!” Rugrat and George changed their flight path and rushed above the bandits that were grouped together, too high to be harmed.

  They dove—fast, dangerous, and unpredictable—as Rugrat threw out metal canisters.

  A ripple of explosions followed him, distracting the attackers.

  “Call Sally!” Erik yelled at Matt as he rushed forward, throwing a Mana Regeneration pill into his mouth and clamping down on it. His Mana pool started to regenerate rapidly.

  The new melee fighters ahead of him were really experts. Even with the chaos going on around them, they kept focus as they saw Erik approaching as they rushed to meet him.

  Erik dodged a spear aimed at his head, taking a hit to his side. His arm broke as he slammed his fist down, diverting a blade aimed for his side.

  He used Mana Detonation, but in an enclosed space it sent him and his attackers flying back.

  Those behind the first rank rushed forward over their fellows, giving Erik no time to breathe as they attacked him once again. A blade howled as it turned white, cutting through Erik’s arm protector and his skin, getting lodged in his bone.

  They dragged it out as a spear shot at Erik. It was like a snake, shaking in every direction and making it impossible to find its path.

  Erik protected his chest but at the last second, its path changed and raked the inside of his leg. Metal scratched metal.

  Erik leaped forward, trusting in his armor.

  The man had struck out. His spear was tangled in Erik’s legs, making it hard for him to retreat. He just seemed to remember he could actually let go of his spear when Erik landed on him.

  Erik grabbed the man’s neck, ripping out his throat, and jumped forward to try to dodge a war hammer. The hammer smashed him in the back, sending him forward and into the marshland, tangled up with the spear-wielding bandit who was grabbing at his neck.

  “Come on!”

  Erik pulled out what looked like a water balloon and slapped it against his leg, just as his Mana pool reached 193.

  He cast Hallowed Ground and pulled out a poison powder, tossing it into the air. He used a healing spell. The wound in his leg repaired quickly as he rolled to the side, away from a halberd and into the path of a sword with a vortex around it. The sword cut up the armor on his side as well as the skin and bone beneath, even with the near miss.

  A crossbow appeared in Erik’s hands, followed quickly by a bolt piercing through the man’s wide eyes, throwing him backward. Erik was already moving, using his feet to shoot backward away from another attack and then he slammed his fists against the ground to get into an awkward crouch. He was covered in marsh mud and water and having a hard time cleaning it out of his eyes as he rushed the experts who were in the Hallowed Ground range and taking their antidotes.

  Erik grabbed a fistful of the mud and tossed it into the first man’s face; he dodged to the side as Erik moved past him. An arrow came from the ranged attackers who had recovered. Erik jumped and turned. His finger darted out, piercing the man’s spine. He dropped down, lifeless, as Erik’s Mana pool recovered rapidly.

  “Behind you, commander, coming in!” Rugrat yelled out.

  Erik jumped to the side as a spear shot through where he was standing and pierced an attacker.

  Erik pulled out a grenade as he turned, pulling the cord, and tossed it into the midst of the bandit captain and his personal guards.

  It went off, killing and maiming as Erik threw out powder vials that cracked on their armor. They had already taken antidotes, making the poison ineffective. Thanks to the Ass Kicker armor set, his physical attacks were incredibly hard to stop and his Stamina use was reduced slightly. Combined with the Mana amplification, it had given him a clear edge over the bandits, who were using gear that they had pulled together off their victims.

  Even his Hallowed Ground was stronger through the boosts.

  Erik increased the area of effect as the boss of the new bandit group charged forward. His movement speed was greater than Erik’s.

  This Mana movement, he must be using some kind of technique to increase his speed! Erik couldn’t fight back, only defend. The man was a lower level than Erik, but his techniques, cunning, and use of a weapon made him a difficult opponent.

  Still, to attack Erik, he had to go to Erik, who had stepped inside his Hallowed Ground.

  The man showed a grim look as he carried on. Flames appeared on his feet. “Help me!” he yelled out to his guards.

  They moved forward to circle Erik as the other elite fighters were clearing out the poisons in their bodies and recovering.

  I need to get out of here or else they’ll be the ones to wear me down!

  Erik was rewarded with a cut across his stomach, his armor being pierced through. A cutting force sliced through his skin and opened his internal organs. The healing potion in his system worked on healing him, as did the Hallowed Ground, making his wounds disappear in moments.

  A spear came at him from behind as well as a sword, the two working in concert.

  Erik rushed forward as the commander turned. His two blades became blurs as they crashed into his armor.

  The Journeyman armor took the impact, bruising Erik. The force traveled through his body, but he barely felt it, only being pushed back half a step, h
is own terrifying physical abilities showing.

  Erik let out a yell as he used his Growling Tiger attack, hitting the commander’s armor, only to have others pounce on him. Erik took a hit to the shoulder and to his side; he unleashed a kick to his side, breaking a man’s leg, then piercing another’s eye through their helmet with One Finger Beats Fist.

  A blade sliced his arm, breaking his armor and cutting him as he fired a Mana blast into them. The two of them flew in the opposite direction as he checked his Mana, increasing the effect of the Hallowed Ground. He dodged a hammer blow and then was hit with a fireball, burning inside of his armor. He used healing spells to recover and fight against the pain.

  The bandits looked at Erik as if looking at a demon. His Strength and Agility had allowed him to take two hits head on and not fall back. His armor showed a scratch. He had cuts on his exposed skin but although it would take dozens of hits to do grievous damage, he only needed three hits to cut down one of the bandits.

  It was as if they were hitting a steel wall, unable to use their complete strength.

  ***

  Matt could see Erik putting his life on the line as he fired on the elites around him, but his ability with the crossbow was leagues away from Erik and Rugrat’s.

  Rugrat was working to try to ease the pressure on Boros and his people so they could assist and help on the right side, where there was a full pitched battle going on.

  “Come on, Sally.” Matt looked over to where the bandits’ commanders were standing up on a hill with their guards.

  They needed to break the stand-off.

  Erik got hit in the head, being tossed to the side as the attackers jumped on him, only to get two fistfuls of Mana Detonation as Erik was self-healing. He didn’t have time to get more materials out of his storage ring. As he was being beaten back, he tried to bring them through the Hallowed Ground as much as possible, healing himself and hurting them. It had worked but it was only a limited area and they were pulling people in and out to recover.