Beyond All Expectations (Emerilia Book 8)

by Michael Chatfield

  “Ready guns!” The commander waited for a moment before he took a deep breath. “Fire at will!”

  Runes along the lengths of fifty-three guns glowed from their base to the tip of their barrel. As soon as they did, the guns recoiled as the grand working rounds contained within were spat out into the sky.

  The entire mountain shook with the shock waves of the passage of the grand working rounds. The mountain was covered in dust from rocks and loose material being thrown violently into the air.

  As the guns recoiled, the chambers were opened and new rounds were inserted before the guns ran out again. The process took less than two minutes before elevation changes were called out from observation rooms where dwarves with massive telescopes stood.

  The guns’ wheels were adjusted onto target before they once again glowed with runes and a new round was expelled out into the world.

  The grand working rounds tore through the sky, reaching different distances over the forest where the Elsoom spores seemed to originate from. Anything alive in the forest was dead or dying under the brown murky air that indicated where the spores were thickest. These grand workings exploded above the forest, turning the sky purple.

  The second volley of rounds went much higher than the first ones. As their grand workings activated, thick black clouds formed where they passed.

  These clouds hung above the purple haze that was slowly covering the murky brown forest. Lightning flashed between the converging clouds, sending the forest into shade as rain started to fall from the heavens.

  The murky brown spore cloud was pushed down as the purple suppressing potion descended under the heavy rainfall.

  The thick spore cloud quickly began to thin away under the rain and potion’s effects.

  “Check guns! Prepare Fire shells!” the artillery commander called out.

  ***

  “Seems like that potion of yours worked,” Lox said to Jung Lee, who had been added to Party Zero.

  “I hope that it will be enough for the coming fight,” Jung Lee said.

  “Even with the potion killing off the airborne spores, the creatures that have been deeply infected will be walking incubators for the spores. If they bite a person, they’ll be able to directly inject a powerful strain that will take only a few hours to turn a living creature,” Jekoni said.

  All attention was then focused on the different interfaces that were showing feeds from Aleph automaton scouts. They had been moving through the forest for a couple of hours now. With the spores gone, they were able to see much more clearly as they moved deeper into the forest.

  Creatures covered in growths leapt out from the shadows here and there, though the scouts were hidden well, with only a few being discovered accidentally.

  “That’s gross.” Steve looked at the diseased creatures.

  The scouts kept moving onward. The diseased creatures were spread out, but they seemed to be all facing away from one direction.

  Trees and undergrowth were in various states of decay, with brown and purple mushrooms growing on them. Under the suppression potion-infused rain, these mushrooms looked as if they were melting.

  The spore cloud that had been greatly dispersed was stronger the deeper the scouts went, with thin floating threads fighting against the suppressing potion. These threads became thicker and thicker until they created a wall-like fog that blocked out the light of day entirely.

  The scouts moved in, switching to their arcane sight.

  There was a ring of massive one-meter-wide and three-meter-tall mushrooms.

  Ten meters past them, there was another ring, these mushrooms double the size. In the center, a mushroom, five meters wide and twenty-five meters tall, dominated the nearby landscape.

  Spores drifted from the massive Elsoom central stalk, and the two surrounding rings pushed out more and more spores, creating a fog so thick that it looked like soup.

  Through the mountain range, guns could be heard moving as they locked onto their target. Moments later, the mountain rumbled as the massive artillery cannons fired.

  Spores that had been lazily floating around now surged upward, creating a solid murky brown dome.

  Aerial drones showed the dome that formed around the Elsoom spores. The leaking spores condensed rapidly into a solid dome-like structure.

  The grand working Fire spells slammed into the brown dome with flashes of rolling heat. Anything caught in the vicinity was incinerated until there were not even ashes left.

  The brown dome simply seemed to absorb the explosions, deforming slightly with the impacts before snapping back into position. The dome slowly shrunk under the continued barrage but even after five continuous volleys, it was only reduced by ten or so meters.

  “The defensive power of these Elsoom spores is incredible. They might not be sentient but they’ll do anything to survive,” Jekoni said.

  Those hearing nodded as their stomachs churned with nerves.

  “Hope you’re all fine with a bit of rain!” Josh said over the event group chat that had been pulled together.

  The massive gates leading to the outside world started to open, revealing the trading town the bordered Norkurn where people usually gathered to trade with the dwarves. Beyond that was a large, untouched forest.

  The Elsoom spores were located in this forest directly between the city Ossai and Norkurn Dwarven Mountain.

  It was clear that the grand workings were weakening the spore cloud but they weren’t having any clear sign of victory. It was time for the event group to get to work.

  Everyone downed yellow potions that would suppress the effects of the poison in their bodies as they started forward, picking up speed as they raced through the empty town beyond Norkurn’s gates.

  Infused rain poured down and lightning flashed overhead as they flew past the empty buildings. Everyone had been quickly evacuated and checked out till there was not a soul left in the town.

  Jung Lee followed with Party Zero as Fire mages created Fire-imbued Mana barriers. These would kill any spores they came into contact with. However, they only slightly warmed up the rain that fell on the event group.

  This was the event that they had all been waiting for. Fears, anxiety, excitement—all of these emotions and more flashed over these people’s faces as they ran toward an uncertain future.

  Dave, Anna, Induca, Suzy, and Malsour rode creations they had made from their Mana and the materials around them. Jekoni floated behind Jung Lee, who was running with Steve, Lox, and Gurren.

  All around them were warriors following hot on their heels, racing under the dark skies as rain continued to fall down. Thunder rolled through the clouds as they all watched their status effect timers slowly tick down, reminding them that they had thirty minutes before they needed to drink another potion. However, if they were to come into contact with the spores, the suppression effect’s duration would decrease faster and faster.

  As they entered the forest, the outer reaches appeared healthy but the deeper they got, the worse it looked.

  “Creatures!” Anna called out.

  As they passed from the healthy part of the forest to where the trees showed decay, creatures started to appear from the ground or anywhere they had found places to hide.

  Dave combined his twin rods together into a two-handed claymore. “Looks like I can work on my weapons master class!” Dave’s feet touched down as he continued forward alongside the others on the ground.

  They cut through the oncoming creatures. Their level was nothing compared to Party Zero, who were able to kill them in one or two hits.

  Some bloated-looking creatures exploded, only to have Induca focus her flames on the area so that none of the spores made it into the air.

  The party continued forward, their pace only barely slowing.

  They passed the decaying part of the forest and entered what looked to be desolate wasteland. Here the living creatures and plant life had been consumed by the spores. When the suppressing purple potion had coated
the area, the spores had been killed off, leaving behind this barren land.

  In the distance, Dave could see the brown mass that was slowly being burned away by the suppressing potion as well as hammered by constant Fire grand working shells from the dwarves.

  “Well, looks as good a place as any to counterattack!” Kim emerged from the forest, others around her. “Mages, prepare artillery spells to disrupt that spore shield! If we break it, then the dwarven artillery can take it down. All the experience, none of the dying!” Kim yelled over the group chat.

  Mages grouped together; spell formations appeared around them and locked together like gears in a grand machine. Power surged from the mages into the spell formation before various spells were unleashed on the spores.

  Pillars of Affinity-colored light appeared above the spore shield or from the spell formations.

  More and more mages grouped together, increasing the power of their spells.

  The dome recoiled with the hits. The spores that made it up seemed to move faster and faster in rage.

  “Melee, watch for creatures in the underbrush! Half to ranged!” Dwayne yelled.

  “Ranged attackers, ready yourselves!” Josh called out. Bows were pulled out and arrows notched while destruction staffs and bolt throwers were angled at the murky brown dome.

  Dave’s claymore changed to a bow. He pulled back on the string and a bright glowing gray arrow formed in his hands.

  Jung Lee looked over at the arrow in interest.

  “What, you didn’t think you were the only one with all the Affinities?” Dave grinned in the downpour.

  “Release!” Josh barked.

  Hundreds of arrows whistled through the air as destruction staffs let out continuous streams of Affinity Mana at the dome.

  In front of Induca’s hands, a plasma cannon formed from sheets of different-colored fire. As the plasma round was released, the rain was parted and the ground for ten meters on either side was baked dry while the ground under the round cracked under the heat.

  Malsour unleashed curses on the dome, greatly restraining the speed of the spores and making them more vulnerable to attacks.

  Anna’s blade hummed as the clouds moved with her direction; the rain lessened around the edges of the forest and focused on the dome while the air currents turned the raindrops into bullets.

  Suzy had her forces spread out, looking for spore-infected beasts. Lu Lu was on her shoulder, her little head looking around in curiosity.

  Steve, Gurren, and Lox fired their ranged attacks while keeping an eye out for anything that made it through the fighters.

  The spore dome seemed to grow a limb that smashed at the incoming arrows. Dave’s arrow, which had been hiding among them, cut through the spores and disappeared into the dome.

  The dome shuddered for a bit before retreating a meter.

  Dave was about to release an arrow when Jung Lee raised his right forefinger, his right hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

  Around his arm, waves of light, shadow, water, fire, and air all spun together faster and faster before conglomerating around his fist. It turned into a small silver-looking marble.

  The Affinity streams died off, flowing into the marble. As the last stream reached the marble, it shot off from his hand. It was silent and unremarkable but Dave sensed a powerful concentration of magic within the silver marble.

  It quickly disappeared.

  Dave barely saw it as it entered the dome. The five-hundred-meter-wide dome shuddered and compressed inward by fifteen meters, more than even the dwarves’ massive Mana artillery cannons had been able to accomplish.

  “Incoming!” Dwayne yelled.

  Weapon kits were changed out as melee types focused on the infected creatures that were now coming out of the corrupted and dying forest. These creatures only had faint traces of what they were before. Most of them were bloated, as if a balloon with too much air within them, ready to pop at any moment.

  With every breath, the creatures released clouds of spores into the air. Their open wounds had wisps of smoke where the suppressing potion-filled rain touched them. There was a wild light to their eyes as they rushed to meet those who attacked the grove of Elsoom spores.

  “Fire mages, take out the creatures!” Kim yelled.

  Flames rushed out of mage formations. The air became hot and muggy as the rain evaporated along this line of fire that reached out to cleanse these creatures.

  Here and there, flames grew as a creature exploded and released spores into the air. Creatures made it through the wall of flames to be greeted by the melee fighters.

  “I’ll stay here and protect the party. Gurren, Steve—go and help the other members of the group,” Lox commanded. His body glowed red as he’d activated his Fire Affinity. Rain sizzled off his Devastator armor as the other two ran off. With their armored bodies, as much as creatures wanted to hack and bite them, they wouldn’t be able to get the armored giants.

  Lox kicked a massive snake that exploded like a bag of overripe garbage. His sword cut through a gorilla, cauterizing the wound before the creature fell.

  Jung Lee simply waved his hand as the creatures were turned to ashes and floated away.

  More and more creatures piled in, rushing the wall of fire around the group. They reached the fighters who were in a panicked melee and covered the mages and ranged attackers who were unleashing their attacks on the Elsoom spore grove and its brown dome.

  Dave disregarded the creatures. Although a single bite or scratch from them would turn a person into an Elsoom spore zombie, they needed to destroy the root cause, not just the offshoots.

  Dave drew and released an arrow, unleashing it into the brown dome, and as the first landed, he made another. The spores were trying to fight off the incoming attacks, forming limbs to bat away the projectiles to no avail.

  The dwarven artillery fell on the dome, destroying any limbs that their Fire rune-imbued shells touched.

  The Elsoom spores were a hellish existence if left unchecked but they weren’t sentient, only incredibly aggressive to the point of killing anything else that was around them.

  The fighting with the creatures became more savage as more and more made it through. People were pulled back and some mages had to lend support instead of firing spells at the spore dome.

  Finally, from the dome, a fleshy-looking surface appeared. The outer ring of Elsoom spores had been exposed!

  Seeing that their attacks were working, the ranged attackers and mages increased the rate at which they fired.

  The dome continued to move inward, the Elsoom mushrooms being exposed by inches.

  One of the Elsoom stalks erupted in flames as its hit points reached zero. The dome convulsed, revealing more of the Elsoom grove.

  The actual Elsoom fungi weren’t that strong, going down with just a few hits, and the dome shrank inward at an incredible speed. It wasn’t long before the inner ring of Elsoom stalks could be seen.

  “Focus on creatures!” Josh called out. The creatures were doing anything to attack the event group, and people were being pulled away as melee types stowed their ranged weapons and joined the fray.

  The creatures were met with a wall of fire, weapons, and spells.

  The spore dome was incredibly powerful to resist such firepower; when these same spells were unleashed on the advancing creatures, only craters were left in their wake, with no sign of the creatures that had been there just moments before.

  “Switch back to the dome!” Kim called after a few short minutes of pushing back the creatures.

  The melee types got into a rhythm of dealing with the infected beasts while Fire mages moved alongside, mobile flame throwers to purify the air and corpses of the dead.

  Slowly the second ring of Elsoom spores started to be worn away under the explosive thunderclaps of the dwarven artillery and spells.

  As the last of the inner Elsoom mushrooms fell, a cheer rose from the throats of the event group. People were downing Mana and Stamin
a potions before throwing themselves back into battle.

  The cheers died down as the dome contracted rapidly by itself. It swarmed over the massive Elsoom stalk that had rested in the middle of the grove. A magical formation started to form around it.

  Dave pulled his bow apart. The conjuration faded to dust as he slammed his fists together, holding the rods. Gray runes lit across his body and gray smoke streamed past him, rushing toward his fists as if rapids gathering toward a waterfall.

  A magical formation made of overlapping magical circles formed in front of his hands, varying sizes before forming a final circle the size of his fist. Mana surged through these rotating spell formations, and into the growing one around the central Elsoom spore.

  The spell formations around the spore paused before a faint cracking noise could be heard. The formations exploded and wild Mana surged outward, tearing up loose dirt and rocks as the wave front of an explosion charged toward the teams.

  “Mana shields!” Josh called out.

  Stone Raiders all turned their amulets or armbands that were emblazoned with the Stone Raiders’ emblem. Charged vault soul gems within their bags of holding fed power into these amulets, working together to create a massive Mana shield.

  The wave front slammed into the shield. Unlike a barrier, shields used more power and stopped anything coming through. The wind howled as infected creatures were slammed into the shield, turning into a bag of exploding spores.

  Shock registered on the faces of many. Dave’s face was solemn as he continued to channel a stream of gray smoke into the spell formations, which spat out a gleaming silver thread. Dave opened a hole through the shield, allowing the thread to shoot out as a gray ray of light, directly into the enormous mushroom.

  Jung Lee looked to Dave as the light stopped and the spell formations unraveled.

  Dave hooked his rods into his waistband as the blast wave of the Elsoom spores’ backfiring spell passed.

  The dead ground around the spores had been swept clean.

  The battlefield seemed unnaturally quiet after the passing of the wave front.