Beyond All Expectations (Emerilia Book 8)

by Michael Chatfield

  “Ready when you are,” Lox said. A shield appeared over his arm and a sword in his hand. He knelt in the underbrush of the forest, looking for anything that might threaten Induca. A number of way points marked other entrances that went deep into the nest in case they were swarmed and needed to change positions.

  The wind in the area seemed to pick up as faint magical formations appeared around Induca, gaining in strength as red streams seemed to be drawn in from the world and toward Induca’s hands.

  The creatures in the forest went quiet as a sense of dread filled them.

  A shimmering blue ball appeared in Induca’s hands. It looked almost like a gem, not a hint of heat escaping from it. The ball grew to be five foot in diameter before shrinking suddenly to a ball no bigger than a tennis ball.

  Lox’s eyes were focused on that gem-looking ball and broke out into a cold sweat as he felt his scalp tingle.

  With a casual toss, that blue ball disappeared into the three-foot-wide hole that led into the nest. The ball quickly disappeared as Induca sat down in a meditative position, her eyes closed.

  Lox kept watch for any threat in the area as Induca continued to sit there without any care. Looks like she’s been working on making a new spell, Lox thought with approval. Someone who didn’t spend much time around mages who dealt in Fire might have thought that Induca was just unleashing a complicated fireball spell. However, Lox had spent most of the last couple of years around Deia and Induca; he had come to understand Fire magic to a much greater degree than he had in the past.

  That spell that Induca had unleashed, it was something that he had never seen before and it was extremely powerful. Coming to his senses, he realized something. Why does it feel colder around here? Lox frowned to himself but continued to keep watch.

  “Knock knock.” Induca’s face looked a little pale but she wore a triumphant smile on her face.

  ***

  Queen Holum frowned. As she looked from her throne, she felt cold air seeping into her nest. She was in her human form with gem-like eyes and two antenna that stuck out of the top of her head. Her body moved oddly and with a grace that no normal human was capable of.

  She stretched out her senses. One of her skills was land control. By seeding her worms all over an area, she could take control of it. She could “sense” everything that happened within her worms’ range.

  Now she felt an incredibly cold force traveling through her tunnels and headed for her. She had battled mages and warriors in the hundreds when she had been at the height of her power, turning them all into her slaves. She was well versed in the ways of magic.

  “Attack!” She let out a screech.

  The calm nest turned into a hive of activity as beasts that had come under her command as well as people who had been brought into the fold started to move. The people were at the depths of the nest; they moved the worms and the vials from the nest to Ecora, spreading out her parasites.

  It would take time for them to arrive.

  However, she had brought hundreds of creatures under her command. The Ashal wilderness might be filled with great predators, but didn’t all animals need to drink? She’d easily taken command of powerful beasts that now moved toward that ice attack.

  More of her forces charged through the nest, headed to the surface and where the ice attack had come through.

  Her first creatures met the attack head on.

  “What? They were burned?” Holum was shocked. With her connection, she could clearly sense what was happening to those under her direct control.

  The ice attack seemed to pick up in speed, cooling more and more of the area around it as it shot forward. Its strength weakened somewhat as it seemed to burn holes through any that lay in its path.

  Holum ordered her creatures to make a wall to reduce the strength of the spell as she transformed into a ten-meter-long worm with purple gem-like eyes and twin antenna on the top of her head.

  In her natural form, just like with dragons, her power was greatly increased!

  She saw the blue gem-like ball as it continued to speed downward toward the heart of her nest. Her body shook in anger at the loss of her beasts. “I created an empire out of the slaves I controlled but now this mage wishes to finish me off with one attack!” Angered, Holum dove into a wall. Her land control allowed her to sense where Induca was.

  She would tear this attacker limb from limb!

  Walls of fire appeared at dozens of entrances to the nest, badly burning anything that tried to leave them. Holum changed her path to move around these firewalls, her eyes filled with cold anger.

  The blue gem-like ball had reduced from the size of a tennis ball to that of a golf ball. If Holum were to see it with her own eyes, she would have realized the incredible power held within it.

  It finally reached the center of the nest. It looked beautiful as it rested in front of the throne. All around it, creatures were charging to weaken the spell and reduce the damage that it would bring down on the nest.

  The blue gem didn’t seem to care as it reduced to the size of a marble. In an instant, it exploded outward in a ripple of pure Fire Mana.

  The surrounding area was turned to magma as the spell went off in a massive explosion. Tunnels collapsed and creatures were incinerated. In the face of the blue gem’s blast wave, the nest was torn apart as if it were made of nothing but paper.

  Holum’s eyes went wide as she increased her speed. That incredibly cold attack was actually Fire based! To come to this level of mastery—they will be a powerful slave!

  Holum, confident in her own abilities, didn’t even think of fleeing. She had been a queen of an empire. She had nothing to fear; even after being banished, she had come back. Nothing had stopped her in the past and nothing would stop her in the future.

  Behind her, the tunnel that she had created was being ripped apart by the explosion. Blue flames chased her. These flames burnt everything in their path, turning the dirt to glass that would explode under the massive heat.

  The inside of the nest was carnage as Holum raced out of the ground, appearing just fifteen meters from Induca. Her eyes locked onto the human sitting down on the ground. Holum raced forward, a look of excitement on her face.

  “Little human, it seems that you have used up all of your Mana. Why don’t you just submit to my command?” Holum gave a cold smile as her body rushed forward.

  Holum sensed danger. Relying on her instincts, she moved her body slightly as a massive armored man wielding a sword and shield appeared from behind the mage. His sword cut through the air that Holum had just occupied.

  Seems that she didn’t come alone. Holum spat at the warrior. A purple substance hit the man’s shield, hardening in seconds.

  The man threw his shield away that seemed to disappear, even as he closed with Holum.

  She didn’t notice the shield seemed to disintegrate as it left his hand. “It has been some time since someone dared to challenge me!” Holum yelled out. Her tail whipped out toward the warrior.

  A shield appeared on his arm, blocking her attack even as he was sent flying five meters. He dug his sword in the ground, flipped his body around, his feet digging into the ground. Green light swarmed up lines across his legs while white light illuminated his arms and weapons. He jumped forward without pause. The ground underneath his feet turned into a crater as he let out a yell.

  She spat hardening goop at the warrior. His shield was covered with those geometric lines, lit with red power. The shield burned through the goop before it could harden.

  What is this? Holum should be able to easily bring this man under control but he was resisting her to the point that she would have to wear him down before she could implant him with a worm. Still, there’s that mage. If I can bring her under my control, then she should be able to help me defeat this creature and I have more of my slaves coming from the nest.

  Induca’s firewall spells couldn’t last forever and although her attack had been powerful, with the chaotic nature o
f the nest, the full power of her attack had been redirected and dissipated in a number of places.

  From holes that lined the belly of Holum, worms buried themselves in the ground, traveling at high speed underground toward the mage. Her power was not in fighting people head on, but her ability to bring them under her command.

  She pulled back slightly so that the warrior’s sword didn’t connect with her as her tail once again shot forward and smashed into the warrior and sent him into the air. What can you do when you have nothing to slow you—WHAT!?

  White light lines covered the man’s armor as he paused in midair. His weapons disappeared as lines raced from his shoulders to his wrists and over his hand, creating a circle in the palm of his hands. From the circles on his hands, Mana bolts raced forward.

  What is this? He’s able to create Mana bolts, but he’s not a mage!

  Holum was hit with multiple Mana bolts. Her body shook with the impacts but none of them made it through. A Mana barrier appeared around her, stopping the Mana bolts. Her eyes glowed with cold fury. “You dare?” she yelled out.

  “Yup,” the warrior said flippantly.

  Her body shot forward like an arrow from a bow. Rage filled her as she hit the man. She moved too fast for him to react.

  “Dammit.” The man sounded more annoyed than scared as he shot toward the ground, smashing into it and creating a crater where he landed. He flew away from where he had impacted as Holum’s tail drilled into the ground where he had been moments before.

  Once again they faced each other, one in the air blasting out Mana bolts that flared across her barrier and the other resting on the ground.

  “Come into my service and I won’t kill you,” Holum yelled.

  “Serve you? Do I look like an idiot?” the man yelled back, not letting up on his attacks.

  Holum’s face turned savage as she looked at the mage. They were just a few meters apart. The human was too deep in Mana fatigue to do anything. Worms jumped up from the ground in a blur, all headed toward the mage.

  “Really?” a powerful voice called out, sounding almost bored as the air distorted around the mage. All of the worms were incinerated before they could make it close to the mage, who floated upward, stretching out her legs so that she stood.

  To be able to have such Mana reserves to carry out these attacks and have more left over… Holum immediately jumped back twenty meters. “Who are you people?” Holum looked to the two people. The armored one was still sending out Mana bolts, but they didn’t have the power to do more than distort her Mana shields. Her personal attacks might not be strong, but Holum had confidence in her defenses.

  “Lox and Induca of Party Zero,” Induca said, with an extravagant bow and a cocky smile.

  “Why did you attack me?” Holum asked.

  “We’re just the distraction.” The warrior chuckled.

  “Distraction?” Holum asked, a look of confusion on her face until she felt a scorching heat from underneath her body.

  A woman wreathed in flames, looking like a goddess born of fire, tore through the ground right underneath Holum, cutting through her side.

  Another warrior in identical armor to the first let go of the fire goddess’s foot. A sword seven meters tall formed in his hands as white lines covered his armor.

  Holum barely had time to move, howling in pain from the first attack landing when the second attack from within her Mana barrier cut through the side of her belly. The blade pierced through her sides, unleashing multiple Air blades within Holum. She cried out in pain. Her Health points dropped off with the critical hit that Gurren had landed.

  Lox had rushed forward as soon as Deia had erupted from the ground. A massive war hammer appeared in his hands; his body was covered in white lines while his arms were lit with a light green.

  He swung his hammer in a savage arch, unleashing all of his strength—the two titans in the Devastator armor against the massive Queen Holum.

  His blow connected with a crunch as his war hammer crushed Holum’s head.

  Holum’s vision went blank, not understanding what had happened or how she, a person who had been at the peak of power on Emerilia for nearly a decade, could be defeated by these three people.

  ***

  Deia saw as Lox landed the final hit, ending Queen Holum.

  The massive worm queen dropped to the ground, her Health at zero as a tombstone appeared over her body.

  Both Lox and Gurren’s armor was covered in the green blood of the worm queen.

  “Well, that’s one hell of a way to do pest control,” Gurren said.

  Induca let out a pained sigh as Deia cast Touch of the Land.

  “Well, it seems that it worked. All of the creatures and people under her control have collapsed,” Deia said. A screen appeared in her vision.

  Quest: A Worm’s Power (Of Myths and Legends sub-quest)

  You have killed the Worm Queen Holum

  Rewards: 20,000 Gold

  120,000 Experience

  Quest Completed: Sightings and Disappearances

  You have found out the reason that people and creatures have been disappearing; they were controlled by worms. You have killed off the threat that was Queen Holum. Report your findings to the Mayor.

  Objectives:

  Go to the Mayor’s office to collect your rewards

  Rewards: 15,000 Gold

  Experience

  Strabon Kingdom’s Favor

  “Let’s get the people who were controlled out of there and then head back to Ecora,” Deia said.

  “Could you have maybe toned down the destruction?” Gurren said as they looked at the smoking crater that had been the nest. With Induca’s attack, the nest had been destroyed from the inside and caved in. Now smoke was still rising from various openings as heat seemed to radiate out from the melted and broken mass of nest.

  “Whoops?” Induca shrugged, a smile on her face.

  “So, anyone up for another quest after this?” Lox asked.

  “Someone’s eager to start clearing the board,” Deia joked.

  “Well, there’s plenty to do and as much as I do love a big-scale battle, sometimes going on a quest and going around Emerilia is more fun,” Lox said.

  “Well, I don’t have anything else that I need to do,” Induca said.

  “Me either, other than try to figure out a way into this nest,” Gurren said.

  “Dave should be able to handle Koi for a couple more days and he can drop her off with my parents,” Deia thought aloud.

  “Come on—it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Induca said.

  “Fine, all right—I’m in,” Deia said.

  BAE Chapter 24: Odd Request

  Sato looked to Dave and then back to the information that he had given him.

  “You want me to have our AI look over these images and see if they can pinpoint down to a small area through spectral analysis where there is a large concentration of hydrogen?” Sato repeated back Dave’s request.

  “Essentially, yes.” Dave nodded.

  “Might I ask why?” Sato shifted in his seat.

  “Well, we need hydrogen and we’ve essentially got one shot. If we can find hydrogen in the location that you provide, then we’ll be good. If we don’t, within three months we’re going to be barely keeping all of our projects running.” Dave smiled.

  “Well, you’re good at hiding your nerves,” Sato said, sensing Dave’s nervousness even though he showed no outward sign of it. “Okay, this is one of the more odd requests that you’ve given me but I’ll see if Edwards or someone can look into this and make it their highest priority.”

  Although Sato couldn’t give any direct help, this supporting was one way that he could assist. Dave and the people of Emerilia had given them so much and helped his system and his people to grow in power. He wanted to help out more, but the issue was they just simply couldn’t go and directly help them without knowing that their plan would work out.

  He had been watching the feeds t
hat came from Emerilia; he’d watched the fighting happening on the Ashal continent between the Terra Alliance and the Nalheim. He’d never seen that kind of fighting except on recordings of ancient battles. He knew that the people he had been watching were in a true life-or-death battle for the most part. Only a few of the people who had been in that battle were players who could come back from the dead.

  The universe has changed more in the last couple of years since I’ve come to know Dave than in the centuries since humanity lost the Sol system.

  “Thank you, Sato. If we can get past this hurdle then we can truly start to prepare for the fight with the Jukal and work in regaining the humans of Emerilia’s freedom back,” Dave said. A pop up appeared in his vision.

  “If you’ll excuse me. Seems that Uncle Malsour has realized that his niece filled up her diaper.” Dave sighed.

  “Niece?” Sato asked.

  “My daughter Koi,” Dave said with a proud smile.

  “You have a daughter now?”

  “Ahh, yes, well, we really just talk about projects, the two of us.” Dave laughed. “Yeah, I’ve got a daughter. She’s just a few months old. Her name’s Koi.”

  “Koi— that’s a good name.” Sato couldn’t resist smiling at seeing the joy on Dave’s face.

  “I thought so, too.” Dave laughed. “All right, well, I’ll see you later. Thanks for looking into this for me.”

  “Least we can do to help.”

  “Oh, and we figured out those heavy duty inertia compensators as well!” With that, Dave disconnected from the Mirror of Communication conference room.

  “Good,” Sato said. “Based on those plans, if they can get those ships operational, they’re going to be a right pain in the ass for the Jukal to deal with.”

  Sato disconnected from the Mirror of Communication, taking the file that Dave had given him and sending it to Edwards.

  ***

  “Here you go.” Jung Lee smiled and handed over a half-dozen different types of potions.

  The vendor laughed out loud as he happily took the potions. “Mister Jung, I didn’t think that it would only take you a day to make these potions. You truly are a potion master! As agreed, please select any ingredients you desire worth up to three thousand gold,” the vendor said.