Beyond All Expectations (Emerilia Book 8)

by Michael Chatfield

  The wave of destruction was terrifying. There was no powerful rumbling or a dust cloud, just simple destruction as everything within a two-hundred-meter area was heavily distorted.

  Artillery that had been falling now found Nalheim who weren’t covered by a barrier anymore. They cried out in pain as they were torn apart. The Nalheim were in a state of confusion. The overhead artillery barrages ended but hundreds had died in just a few seconds.

  The mounted forces hit the shocked Nalheim, riding through them. War lizards and beasts clawed at one another as their riders fought their own battles.

  Massive magical formations formed at locations around the Nalheim. Creation summoners working together formed multiple creations from the materials they had that charged forward into the Nalheim lines.

  The necromancers created rifts that appeared in midair, pulling out undead and other necromantic beasts from the undead realm.

  Necromancers and summoners were very similar: One made living creatures from the living elements around them while summoning beasts from a different realm. The other made creatures from the dead and pulled from the undead realm.

  The summoners usually soul bound themselves to the creatures that they summoned from other realms. The necromancers simply placed a command spell on them as their summoned creatures would decay after a few hours or days, depending on the strength of the beast and their own Mana supply.

  Other summoners and necromancers pulled or poured out different items from various storage devices. Their minions formed from these items and the ranks of the summoners and necromancers tripled in seconds.

  The marching mages chanted spells together and worked together in groups to create powerful spells that smashed into shields. Being so close, their spells didn’t have time to weaken and the Nalheim didn’t have much time to try to defeat them with their disrupting attacks.

  Archers moved and fired. They were in an extended line across the rear of the dwarves.

  Odd-numbered archers would fire as the even-numbered archers would draw an arrow back on their bow and release. By the time they had grabbed a new arrow, the other group had already fired, creating a continuous stream of arrows that descended upon the Nalheim.

  The mounted forces disengaged from their attack, retreating.

  The Nalheim picked some of them off with their ranged spear attacks; a few of the war lizards and their riders chased after, only to be cut down by the fleeing mounted.

  Their mages and riding archers were more than enough to deal with the small groups of war lizards.

  The majority of the Nalheim mounted on war lizards were already attacking the defenders of the second eastern castle.

  “Shields!” the dwarven commander barked. The dwarves didn’t even slow their pace as they took their shields off in one motion and presented them to their front. Their hands rested on the hilts of their swords, ready to draw at a moment’s notice.

  Mana barriers that surrounded the dwarves took multiple impacts from the Nalheim but it held.

  The Nalheim charged forward with a yell.

  “Shields up!”

  The first line braced their shield, raising it higher, while the second rank raised their shields above their heads and held them over the first rank’s heads, protecting them from any attacks that might come from above.

  Rank by rank, shields were raised and interconnected. The dwarves disappeared under a sea of black shields.

  “Half speed!” the commander barked out. The dwarves’ pace slowed down; the Nalheim were now only fifty meters away.

  The Nalheim war lizards that had arrived first slammed into the shield wall. Magical Circuits that were built within the dwarven shields lit up. These Magical Circuits were the same ones that Dave had worked with when he was training to be a dwarven master smith; these Magical Circuits were meant to boost the strength of the dwarven formation. Each additional shield reinforced the others, having a multiplying effect.

  When the war lizards hit, Dwayne could see the confused looks on the war lizards as their limbs broke upon impact. It was as if they had run full speed into a metal wall.

  The dwarves kept their pace moving forward.

  “Swords!” Hundreds of swords were freed along the front rank as they moved like silver lightning and pierced the war lizards.

  Some of the riders had been able to get free of the war lizards and jabbed at the dwarven shield wall, only to find it was covered with a Mana barrier. Others had actually landed on top of the shields of the later ranks.

  The shields moved to the side. Swords shone in the light as the Nalheim was cut apart before they hit the dirt. The shields covered back over as if they had never opened in the first place.

  The dwarves’ swords flashed out to meet their attackers. The dwarven war council had sent some of their best veteran warclans and it showed.

  They moved forward as if it were nothing more than a drill, relying on one another completely as the Nalheim encountered the impressive defense of the dwarves.

  The dismounted Nalheim used to be a coordinated group; now they charged forward with abandon. For days they had been bombed, fighting their way out of Goblin Mountain and then across the plains, only to have to fight their way through a castle that blew up as soon as they gained some safety.

  Now they were without their powerful Nerhoun and being attacked on both sides. Finally, they were able to engage the enemy in head-on fighting. The Nalheim were incredibly skilled with the spear and shield.

  However, under the pressure of those behind them, they weren’t able to use the reach of their spear as they were pinned against the wall of dwarven shields, only to be greeted by the dwarves’ flashing swords.

  The dwarves’ line didn’t buckle as they continued forward. Arrows and spells took out groups of Nalheim who tried to get organized, but even with their efforts, it was clear that the Nalheim were already rallying from their failed charge.

  They moved into units. One of the generals, without his gryphon, marched down the lines, yelling out orders as the Nalheim rushed to obey.

  “Kill me that general,” Dwayne said to the leader of a group of rogues under his command.

  “It will be done,” the rogue said.

  All of the rogues were players. They had immensely powerful attacks but they only were good for a few blows in fights against a single powerful target that were distracted. When fighting a massive force, they were better at killing off leadership in the chaos of battle. In this case, taking out the general and hopefully messing up the enemy’s coordination.

  The chances of them landing a massive hit on the general, killing him and then getting away, were slim to none. They had impressive movement techniques, so Dwayne had some hope.

  The summoners’ and necromancers’ creatures were all creating havoc along the sides of the enemy. They extended out from either flank of the dwarven formation, making it so that the Nalheim couldn’t get around and hit them from the sides.

  Mounted groups had broken down into their separate groups. Some were riding together to have greater impact as they rushed through the necros’ and summoners’ creatures, hammering the Nalheim before wheeling away. Their tactics were nearly identical to the ones used by the war lizards.

  Above, the sky screams were in combat with the aerial forces. Occasionally they would dip down, attacking forces on the ground.

  Support and healing spells covered Dwayne’s forces, keeping them in the best condition possible.

  Defensive spells flared up to cancel out the Nalheim attacks from the sky and the ground while offensive spells impacted against Mana barriers or landed upon the forces below.

  “The Nalheim aerial forces are targeting the necromancers and summoners on the right flank!” an Aleph controller watching the battle and constantly updating the various commanders yelled out.

  “Move to defend them, Kim!” Dwayne yelled. Losing a group of the summoners and necromancers would open up the flank that their creatures were protecting the dw
arves and Dwayne’s force from.

  Panic rose into his chest as he saw the large force of sky screams led by a single gryphon-riding general ride at the right flank.

  They unleashed their stunning attacks and their weapons unleashed disrupting attacks. Their summoned creatures and creations rose from around the right flank to greet the aerial forces. Only a few of the different minions were capable of flight; they were out of their element as their masters spent most of the time on the ground. In front of the Nalheim, they were just paper targets to be torn apart.

  Kim’s mages and the ranged fighters attacked the group with all they had but it wasn’t enough to stop them.

  A massive shadow fell over the ground as Dwayne looked up toward a whistling sound.

  With an audible flap, Malsour’s wings snapped outward, bringing him out of a dive, facing right at the Nalheim sky screams and gryphons that were attacking the right flank. A spell formation snapped up in front of Malsour’s mouth as a ray of darkness cut through the Nalheim.

  In the blink of an eye, half of them were removed, a massive hole in their formation. Instantly they split apart and raced away.

  Malsour passed through the formation, wheeling around to hunt down one of the two halves of the attacking group.

  “Where the hell did he come from?” Dwayne’s heart thumped in his chest from Malsour’s casual display of power. Matching up the Malsour from Party Zero and the massive ancient black dragon who was capable of wiping out tens of Nalheim fliers in a second was a hard task.

  “He was being attacked by the fliers when he was on the northern side of the castle. He flew away to get rid of them and must have been flying above us, looking to see if anyone needed support.” Kim sounded shaken up.

  Malsour unleashed blasts of Dark Affinity fireballs. Wherever these flames hit the fliers, they burned, never being put out as the fliers and riders yelled out in agony.

  Dwayne watched blurs race through the formation. Using the distraction of Malsour and the aerial battle, the rogues and high-damage fighters appeared around the dismounted general.

  In a flash, blades came out and blood flew into the air.

  The Nalheim around the general roared in rage, attacking the assassins who were now using every movement technique they knew to escape the Nalheim’s ranks.

  About a third of them made it back, better than what Dwayne had expected.

  The Nalheim lost some of its form as they wildly attacked the dwarves once again, paying heavily for the attack.

  With a powerful flap of her wings, Induca, too, flew into the skies. The Nalheim force in the skies hadn’t been that large to begin with compared to their army; their numbers had been greatly reduced over the fighting and they were fighting tired while the Terra Alliance had fresh forces in the sky.

  Induca went south and circled around. DCA aerial forces that had been moving up to the battle moved into formation to the side of Induca’s wings. She slowed down to meet their speed as they came up and across the ground occupied by the Nalheim.

  A powerful blue flame flashed through a number of spell formations before it hit the ground. It hit like an explosion, spreading outward, leaving a deep groove in the ground and turning the dirt and grass to glass.

  Mana barriers turned angry colors. Here and there, they failed as behind Induca a magical formation followed. From this magical formation, hundreds of fireballs were dropped. They slammed into the ground and created two-meter-deep craters.

  The DCA aerial forces unleashed their bombs from their breastplates and fired down with their bracelets, unleashing Mana-filled destruction behind.

  Their bombs were more powerful than the ones that Induca was carpeting the ground with. The DCA aimed them to strike the weaker of the Mana barriers to open them up for the bombers after them to hammer those who had been hiding inside into oblivion.

  Special attention was paid to the trebuchets. The siege towers had already been used and destroyed and were left alone. However, the trebuchets continued to open holes in the defenders’ ranks and break down the inner castle’s defenses.

  ***

  Josh stood on the walls of the first eastern castle. The waves of destruction between the defenders and Dwayne’s force that was falling directly on the Nalheim shook the very air with their impacts, even from where he stood.

  “Dwayne, offer them the chance to surrender,” Josh said.

  “Understood,” Dwayne said.

  Josh knew that he wouldn’t have offered this choice before. These Nalheim were from another planet and they were as much victims of Jukal as the humans. If they were willing to admit defeat, he would treat them as prisoners; if not, then he would destroy them. The event had only begun; he didn’t want to leave people around who could hurt him and his alliance.

  “To the Nalheim, if you surrender, you will be able to keep your lives as well as be treated with dignity! If you do not, then we will be forced to kill you off!” Dwayne yelled out.

  Another voice started talking in the odd voices of the Nalheim, translating for them.

  “Who is that?” Josh asked.

  “Steve. Seems that he knows how to talk Nalheim,” Deia said.

  “Steve’s alive?” Josh asked.

  “It’s…complicated,” Deia said.

  “Tell me later.” Josh gave Cassie a look.

  The both of them had perplexed but happy voices. They had become friends with Steve and were used to his quirky and rather odd sense of humor. Having him back was enough to make them smile in the face of all this destruction.

  The Nalheim, seeing that the Terra Alliance had paused their attacks, regrouped their aerial forces above their ground forces.

  One of the three remaining generals spoke out in the Nalheim’s tongue.

  Steve responded in the same language.

  The three generals talked to one another.

  Once again they talked to Steve. For a few minutes, this went on before one of the generals atop their golden gryphon moved forward to the second eastern castle.

  A group stepped out of the first castle.

  A giant man completely made from a black material wearing only shoes and pants of a darker shade than his body stepped forward. His eyes glittered and shone, drawing one’s attention.

  This man and Deia stepped forward.

  “That must be Steve. Looks a little different,” Josh said.

  “Less like a gorilla of metal and more like a human giant made from ebony metal,” Cassie agreed.

  The general, Deia, and Steve talked for a few minutes.

  “Josh, it seems that the Nalheim here rely on arid planets with lots of sunlight and heat in order to have their children. However, their home planet is getting colder and starting to go through an ice age. They came here to claim territory and find a place in which to live,” Deia said.

  Malsour came from the skies, his wings flapping, blowing wind past the general and at the Nalheim behind him.

  The Nalheim all had their spears pointed at Malsour as he looked to the general. He talked to Steve, who talked to the Nalheim general.

  The Nalheim said something back; both of its heads moved backward, its necks uncovered. A single slash now would be enough to open its necks and kill it.

  “This race is honor and power based—to the strongest go the spoils. We have proved that we are the stronger. It seems that they are just looking for a place for them to have their children. Already they have massive battles with one another in order to try to gain areas that are warmer. Their population is only a few million,” Deia said.

  Malsour asked another question. The general seemed disbelieving that he had kept his life as he looked to the three in front of him. Deia snorted before relaying what was being said.

  “The Nalheim’s planet is about ten degrees centigrade around the equator, with everything else above and below being large ice fields. There are many beasts across it,” Deia said. “They are willing to bow their head in servitude to the dragons that they res
pect as long as they are given some place to live.”

  Malsour said something else.

  The general yelled to the forces behind him. The Nalheim took but a moment before shields and spears were dropped to the ground.

  “They have officially surrendered but the terms for their surrender, they wish to discuss,” Deia said.

  Josh became aware of a dozen presences in the sky. He looked up, seeing multiple mage’s guild overseers in the sky.

  A man descended toward Josh with a faint smile on his face.

  “Overseer Rendar, I didn’t think that I would be seeing you again so soon,” Josh said.

  “We were originally sent in order to assist as best as we could. However, as the Nalheim, a sentient race, have surrendered, we believe that we can be of a greater assistance now than when the battle was ongoing,” Rendar said.

  Josh nodded. The overseers were a group that made sure that battles were done in accordance to the rules that the mage’s guild and college passed down. They were acting as the scouts for the Terra Alliance; however, they also acted as a neutral party with conflicts between two groups to see whether a compromise could be found.

  “Overseer Rendar, I think that Deia and Steve could use your help to learn more about the Nalheim and see if we can find a way to end this peacefully. I have a spawn point of blood reevers that are supposed to be arriving in less than thirty-six hours,” Josh said.

  “Of course. I will lend my talents if at all possible.” Rendar smiled and headed off toward where the negotiations were taking place.

  BAE Chapter 20: A Change of Fates

  The Nalheim sat in their ranks while Malsour, Steve, and Deia talked to the Nalheim general. Rendar was there, off to the side, acting as a neutral party and making sure that both sides followed the letter of the law that was held within the mage’s guild’s edicts on war.

  Dwayne’s forces were formed up, resting and waiting. Esa’s forces within the castle were quickly and quietly charging the soul gem construct through the castle while they were also marshaling their forces.

  Healers were moving through the people in the castles as well as casting area of effect healing spells on the Nalheim.