Deia pulled out her bow. Drawing the string back, she sighted Xelur and unleashed her arrows. Her accuracy was uncanny, as if she were some war goddess who had trained with the bow all of her life.
Xelur fell to her attacks while Induca and Malsour created lances from their respective Mana and started to add their own pressure to the Xelur forces. Steve now wore his own modified Devastator armor, increasing his defense and his abilities. He, unlike Lox and Gurren, instead of being sealed away, was actually connected to the armor.
He, Gurren, and Lox put their weapons away. The runes around their wrists lit up as they fired Mana spears into the oncoming attackers.
Streams flew from Jung Lee, each of them a condensed spell. Jekoni linked to these spirits and was able to draw on their power with the bond that he had with Jung Lee.
From Dave’s bag of holding, he threw out Mana grenades that Suzy’s Air creations gathered up and headed out toward the walls with. Moments later, the rumbling explosions of the grenades could be heard as the creations returned for more of the grenades.
Deia concentrated on the Xelur Demon Lords. She hit one in the arm, making their attack go wide as a POE who would have died continued with their own attack, driving their spear into the Demon Lord’s chest.
The Demon Lord let out a howl of rage. Its other hand was covered in a soul glow as it smashed into the POE, crushing their helmet and dropping them to the ground.
The Xelur Demon Lord looked directly at Deia. It leapt into the air and pulled out the arrows from its sword arm. Its wounds on its chest and arm healed at a visible speed.
Deia drew and released arrows faster than one could blink. The Xelur Demon, now with nowhere to go as it was in the sky trying to attack Deia, was able to defend against a number of the arrows but because it had not made it to a high enough rank, it didn’t have the power or the ability to walk through the air as other Xelur Demon Lords could.
Deia’s arrows tore through the Xelur where they hit. Even as the Demon Lord tried to heal itself, its body grew smaller. With the consumption of so much soul force, it was thrown backward with the impacts of the arrows.
Deia, seeing that it would escape her and fall back over the wall, clicked the runed wheel on her bow over. A magical formation appeared in front of her bow as she released the arrow; the magical formation empowered it. It shot through the air like a red streak.
The Xelur Demon wasn’t able to bring its sword up in time and looked at its chest in confusion. A wide hole, from where the arrow had hit, appeared in his chest as he dropped lifelessly over the wall.
Deia didn’t spend any more time on the Demon Lord as she looked back to where other Demon Lords were fighting along the wall. With her enhanced arrows, she was able to help those on the walls and quickly bring down these Demon Lords.
“The gates won’t be able to hold much longer!” a Dark mage yelled.
The gates had been sealed up with metal and stone to make it harder for the Xelur but the Xelur didn’t seem to care.
A massive, full-grown Grand Demon Lord at fifteen meters tall landed outside the wall. It had run and jumped from the castle that it had been in. When it landed, a massive crater was imprinted into the ground.
He pulled out his sword, piercing the wall in front of him. With an eager laugh, the Grand Demon Lord was covered in his soul aura. The aura passed down his hand and covered his blade, appearing like flames as the demon swung his sword once again.
It hit the wall, this time making it shake as the half-foot cut from before turned into a foot-and-a-half deep gouge. The reinforced and rune-covered stone showed signs of burning and melting around the edges of the cut.
“Concentrate on the Grand Demon Lord!” Deia called out to the rest of Party Zero.
Deia flicked the wheel on her bow. Angular sheets appeared around her as they did when she cast the plasma cannon spell. The sheets surrounded her bow as a series of magical formations appeared in front of it.
Deia drew an arrow of blue flame. It tore through the sky. But even as the air around it seemed distorted, there didn’t seem to be any heat leaking from the arrow made from condensed flame.
The Xelur Grand Demon used their massive sword, which was nearly as big as Steve’s axe, and hit the flame arrow. It diverted some of the strength of the flame arrow as it exploded on hitting its sword.
The space beside the Xelur Demon Lord turned into a blue sun for a moment. The Grand Demon Lord’s aura flickered and fought the massive power that was contained within the arrow.
The Demon Lord stumbled sideways for a few meters. His sword melted and distorted, even with the protective and enhancing soul aura around it.
The Grand Demon Lord looked up as the rest of Party Zero unleashed their attacks.
From Jung Lee’s hand, a gray spear was released. The Grand Demon Lord was able to hit the gray spear but it was only slightly weaker than the blue arrow.
As it passed, a shock wave of air hit the Demon Lord. Although it didn’t explode like the arrow, the force of the wind was enough to shock and disturb the Demon Lord.
Induca unleashed a plasma cannon spell, which hit the off-balance Grand Demon Lord.
Its soul aura weakened, flickering for a moment before returning. The Xelur Demon Lord seemed to grow slightly shorter, pulling on its deep power reserves.
Anna’s attack didn’t leave the Grand Demon Lord much time to react as a tornado of wind was sent flying from her sword. This twisting and cutting attack hit the Grand Demon Lord’s shoulder, cutting deep into the creature’s arm and revealing muscle underneath.
The Grand Demon Lord regenerated its body nearly instantly as Gurren, Lox, and Steve’s attacks also peppered the Grand Demon Lord.
The area around the Grand Demon Lord seemed to fluctuate as Dave’s orbs appeared around him. A spell formation from these different orbs was created, pinning the Grand Demon Lord down as it was hit with another round of attacks. Its body went from fifteen meters tall to just ten meters.
The Xelur soldiers all noticed this as well. Their attacks became more wild as they hit the walls and tried to climb the walls to engage those on top. Those that were closest to the Grand Demon Lord were attacking the different orbs that were around them.
They were trying to break him out!
One of the orbs failed, and the Xelur focused on the others.
“I can’t hold him for much longer,” Dave said.
“I’m nearly done,” Malsour said as a spell formation appeared around him.
Deia looked at the spell formation, understanding it was one of Malsour’s stronger attacks.
Party Zero had been doing their best to suppress the Grand Demon Lord without going all out. The night was young and the battle had only just started. If they were to use up all of their power now, then there would be no time for them to regain their strength later.
There was no knowing what life-and-death situations they would find this night.
Even with Party Zero’s power, they weren’t able to kill the Xelur Demon Lord individually—unless they were willing to sacrifice deep reserves of power.
Another orb failed and then another. The Grand Demon Lord’s aura erupted, going from ten meters tall to eight in an instant. Burning all of that supporting soul power made him look like some kind of war god of destruction, with his Xelur minions aiding him in his escape.
With a shout, the Grand Demon Lord pulled out a new sword from the dead around him and cut at the wall with it, letting out a wild howl filled with rage.
A blade of soul energy refined into a single slash crashed against the wall, making it shake violently as a hole appeared within the outer walls.
“Kill them all and refine their souls!” The Grand Demon Lord’s voice carried through the air, reaching Party Zero as he started at them, his eyes filled with pure anger.
They had made him burn so much of his soul power that he had been building up for nearly a century.
“Got it!” Malsour said as Xel
ur started to swarm toward the breach within the wall. The Xelur now gained access to the corridors that ran through the outer walls where the archers, mages, and ranged attackers lay.
Esa could be heard calling for people to move to the breach and push back the Xelur. The defenders who were within the area stopped firing on the Xelur outside and started to fight for their own lives within those corridors.
The Xelur, now with less ranged attackers firing on them, were able to push forward with larger numbers, swarming the breached wall and making it over the top.
The Grand Demon Lord rushed forward, making it ten meters.
A realm of darkness descended over the Grand Demon Lord, blocking out all light. Shrieks of pain filled the air as Xelur around the Grand Demon Lord were affected by the attack.
Flashes of white soul energy rippled through that dark dome.
Party Zero added their own aid to the people on the top of the wall, unable to see into the corridors where Xelur and the people of the Terra Alliance were fighting a fierce battle to control the breach.
A beam of light hit the walls, leaving a half-foot-deep groove as it swept across the wall, catching casting balconies and arrow slits.
The balcony shields were powerful but the Xelur had been hitting them this entire time, trying to get the mages who were using these platforms to rain powerful spells down on them. These balconies’ Mana barriers weren’t as strong as the castle’s original Mana barrier and quickly fell under this powerful beam’s attack.
Some unlucky mages and archers were hit by this soul-powered attack, letting out screams of pain. Some died immediately, while the wounded were left in a terrible state.
Others tried to pull them away, adding to the groups of wounded that were being funneled through the ono within the castle, back to Terra.
More forces that had been held in reserve were pushed through the ono and to the walls around the castle to try to keep up with the casualties.
“Grand Demon Lord!” someone called out. A marker appeared in front of everyone. A second Demon Lord had made it onto the battlefield.
They had been the one to cast the focused attack. They launched themselves from where they’d been reaching the base of the outer wall.
Party Zero couldn’t see down to the base of the castle and were unable to attack the newly arrived Grand Demon Lord.
“Another one!” someone else called out. A new marker appeared as a Grand Demon Lord that was almost parallel with the ground charged forward. Within his hands, he carried a massive war hammer.
Attacks rained down around the Grand Demon Lord but he was able to dodge as he moved closer, his aura erupted, defending him from these attacks and his speed increased even higher.
“He’s going for the gate,” Dave said.
“If he comes through, we have to put him down,” Deia said.
If the Grand Demon Lord made it inside, then he would slaughter nearly all of the POE within.
The majority of players who were within the castle were actually logged off, dealing with real-world life stuff or getting sleep so that they were ready for the battle tomorrow morning. Some were coming online in a hurry after learning about the battle that was happening now but it was only a thousand or so of them.
The POEs within the castle were mostly mages, dwarven artillery, and people who were good at ranged attacks.
The reinforcements they were getting were good and they were also more melee-based. But they didn’t know this castle or what threats they were facing that well. They were just reacting, which, although it helped, didn’t make them as effective as they could be.
The Xelur were driven; they had the numbers and the powerful forces to put to use. They were able to fight weaker dragons in the air and could group together to try to take down the more powerful creatures.
“Looks like we’ll get to go all out pretty soon,” Anna said.
“Remember, always make sure we’re close together. If we get separated, we can’t help one another,” Deia reminded them. She had changed back to regular arrows, killing Xelur that had unknowingly entered her range as they stepped upon the outer walls.
“Dammit!” Malsour’s realm of darkness was banished as the Xelur Grand Demon Lord standing within an aura a meter wide seemed to be burning off his skin. The Xelur bodies around him shook as their soul energy was all pulled into the Grand Demon Lord, growing from his reduced five-meter-tall stature back to ten meters.
It activated one of its Legendary abilities and hurled its sword. A massive magical formation appeared around the now mangled sword from blocking Party Zero’s attacks.
The sword smashed into the outer wall, cutting inside it and passing through the inner corridor to the wall on the other side. It smashed into the ground between the outer wall and the castle in the middle of a group of players.
Dave’s hands moved as he worked to break apart the spell formation but being a Legendary ability, it was a complicated and powerful spell.
“Get away from that sword!” Dave yelled out.
The players started to move, not all that fast, thinking that Dave was overreacting.
A massive area around the sword seemed to come alive with runes made from blood. Anyone who was within this one hundred-meter-wide circle let out cries of agony as the circle pulled at the nanites within their bodies that supported their consciousness and their bodies.
Those with a higher Willpower were able to resist, becoming slower in many cases as they had to force their way out of the area of effect spell, pulling others with them where they could.
All of this power shot through the wall where the sword had been launched, tearing through it and opening up another breach as it rushed into the Grand Demon Lord’s body.
Bloody runes were illuminated across his body as he drank in that overwhelming power.
At the same time, the Xelur Grand Demon Lord that had been rushing over to the eastern gate finally reached his destination. Soul energy covered his body and his massive war hammer. Its war hammer seemed unstoppable as it slammed into the gate. Waves of power tore apart the wooden gate and the intervening barrier that had been formed in the tunnel behind the gate.
Rocks and debris flew out of the gate’s tunnel, killing and injuring those on the other side. The Dark mages who had been working to reinforce the gate were the worst affected.
There was no time to look to the wounded as the Xelur took this opportunity to rush through the rubble- and dust-filled tunnel, around the war hammer-wielding Grand Demon Lord and into the castle.
“Dave, Jung Lee, and Anna—on me. We’ll deal with that Grand Demon Lord absorbing the soul energy. The rest of you—get to that gate, stop the Xelur and kill that Grand Demon Lord,” Deia yelled.
“Let’s go!” Lox led his group toward the breached gate where the Xelur were pouring out.
In Dave’s hands, a sword and shield formed, he stood there looking to Deia, Jung lee and Anna who were also waiting for Deia’s directions.
“Jung Lee, Anna—up front. Dave—mid-range support. I’ll be long-range support and overwatch,” Deia said. The others nodded.
“Let’s go.” Flames sprang into life around Deia as she flew into the sky. A gray light covered Jung Lee as he followed. Anna swept up into the air while Dave floated with them with apparently no support.
Chapter 6: To Glory or Defeat
Lox twirled the sword that had formed in his fingers, getting a feel for its balance and keeping his hand limber.
“Hah! Seems like someone’s excited!” Gurren said as they rushed toward the tunnel. Steve was at the front, followed by Gurren and Lox on either side of him and back a bit. Behind them was Anna; Suzy, Induca, Malsour, and Lu Lu followed as well, using their various methods to fly through the air.
“Been some time since we got into a fight like this,” Lox said, a smile on his face. He had been a warrior since a young age, taking his training and his position serious as he looked to improve his skills constantly. He had fo
llowed the dwarven War Clans and then struck out to join the Stone Raiders, finally attaining his position within Party Zero. He hadn’t felt deserving of the position at first, thinking of himself as too weak compared to the others.
He wasn’t able to throw back powerful creatures with a wave of his hands; he fought with his fists, sword, feet, and shield. His actions were more savage than the mages’ and seemed to be born through desperation instead of thought-out and choreographed movements.
While fighting was a mad melee, Lox had learned to fight and to fight well. His power had increased in leaps and bounds so that he would no longer think of himself as a hindrance to Party Zero. It had driven him to become the warrior he was now. He didn’t wish to fight, but he would do it—for himself, for those beside him and for his beliefs.
“Malsour, as soon as we get there, make up a defensive wall. We’ve got a lot of ranged people—let’s see if we can’t get them some cover so that they can put their skills to use! Anna, you’ve got the best eyesight out of all of us. Call out when you see anything happening. Induca, Suzy—support us as best as possible and let us know when you’re going for a large attack. Induca, I want a wall of fire down the center of that tunnel and a plasma cannon round down there to give us some space! Steve, don’t Steve up too much!”
“How is that a saying?” Steve asked.
“’Cause you do dumb shit, you crystal blockhead,” Gurren said.
“Hey, it’s fun for the entire family!”
“I rest my case,” Gurren said.
“Ready yourselves!” Lox said as they reached the first of the Xelur soldiers.
From behind, a blade of Air curved over the three at the front. Anna’s Air blade cut through a number of the weaker Xelur, opening up the Xelur’s haphazard formation as they swarmed out.
Lox lowered his shield and slammed into a large Xelur, tossing them backward with his enhanced strength. His sword shot out, opening a nearby Xelur’s neck before it sliced down, taking out a knee as a war hammer clanged on his shield. His sword came up and through the stunned-looking Xelur, whose war hammer was raised into the air after rebounding off Lox’s shield.
Of Myths and Legends (Emerilia Book 9) Page 8