Stormforge (Rise To Omniscience Book 5)

by Aaron Oster

  She forced herself to calm down and ignore the corpses. She had a job to do, and that was to ensure they could lock Octagon away for good. This meant that instead of concentrating on the horrors of the dead people lying just a few feet away, she should focus on the runes carved into the icy slab. And that was exactly what she did.

  Crouching at the base, Sarah began to follow the lettering upward, taking notes in her head about the state of their deterioration. So far, she couldn’t see anything wrong, but she was sure she’d be finding something soon enough. The crashes, booms, and screams that floated to her through the mist were extremely unnerving, and since she couldn’t see what was going on, her mind tried to conjure up images of tortured supers and mages, all falling to the Pinnacle King one by one.

  “Focus!” she hissed, forcing herself back to the task at hand.

  She was distracted for a moment as two shadows loomed in the mist. For a moment, she feared that the Pinnacle King had discovered what she’d been doing and had sent monsters after her, but a moment later, two of the healers came jogging up to her.

  “They’re gone,” Sarah said with a shake of her head, gesturing to the bisected corpses.

  Neither of the mages said a thing, their grim expressions more telling than anything else. One of them moved forward to remove their heads, something which Sarah didn’t think was needed, while the other turned back to reinforce the others.

  “Tell Morgan I’m working as fast as I can,” Sarah said as the other mage turned to head back.

  She’d placed both of the dead mages’ heads next to their bodies and closed their eyes. It was about as respectful as one can be, and though she knew it was necessary, the act still sickened her.

  “Please work faster,” the mage simply said, then dashed back to battle, disappearing into the mist.

  Sarah felt a small tinge of annoyance at that and went back to following the line of the intricate script. Whoever had done this was a master craftsman and seeing as how she was pretty sure it had been Samuel, it made sense. A god would be good at creating things.

  After taking a quick loop around the slab, Sarah finally thought she could begin to understand how they functioned. There were eight layers of scripts, each more intricate and finely carved as they worked inward. The point of there being eight was that should one fail, the others could compensate, while the other seven worked to repair it. It was actually designed that even if seven failed, the eighth would be able to compensate while rebuilding the others.

  The problem was clear to see once she knew what to look for. All of the activation scripts, the small circles carved into the lines, were cracked down the middle. Thankfully, none of the scripts were damaged, which meant that she could save herself some time. However, all of the power had leaked out through those cracks, which meant that Morgan would need to manually recharge every single layer if they wanted the Pinnacle King bound. The likelihood that he would damage a layer, or even seven, as he was being ensnared was extremely high, so having all eight fully charged would be of the utmost importance.

  The cracked circles first needed to be repaired, and time was of the essence, so Sarah began with the outermost circle, crouching down over the cracked surface and placing her palm down flat. It was made of ice, so she should be able to…The ice responded to her touch, filling in the crack and sealing it closed. Within just a few seconds, the circle was whole again.

  With a small sense of satisfaction at her work, Sarah moved on to the next one, repeating the process. The sounds of battle were growing louder and more violent. Constant explosions shook the room, and particles of ice showered down from above, shaken loose by the violence of the ongoing fight.

  Almost there, Sarah thought, forcing herself to remain calm as she worked on the final circle.

  The ice on this one moved more slowly, seeming to resist her pull. Sarah could feel the strain growing by the second, forcing her to throw more power into her skill to keep the ice flowing. It felt like trying to force something into a tight frame. She knew that it could fit, but the closer she came to fitting it in place, the more it resisted. Beads of sweat broke out across her brow despite the freezing temperatures, but ever so slowly, the ice crept into place.

  Finally, with one massive heave of effort, she felt the click. There was a brilliant flash of violet as soon as she did, one that ran across the script, tracing it and briefly lighting it up before fading back to black. Sarah slumped, feeling a huge sense of accomplishment and relief. Now all she had to do was tell Morgan and…

  A massive, splintering crack sounded from above, followed by an explosion of force so great that it threw Sarah against the far wall. Her shield was up, but the force of the blast was so powerful that it sent a fine web of cracks cascading across its surface. She gasped as the air was knocked from her lungs, the mist swept away in an instant by the backdraft of the explosion.

  The force only continued to magnify, growing ever stronger and heavier. The ice at her back began to give way, buckling under the pressure as a gale force screamed around her. It was all she could do to keep her shield intact, constantly funneling more mana to fill the cracks in her armor and stop her from expiring.

  She could feel bile coming up into her throat as she saw the corpses of the two mages squashed flat to the wall, their innards splattered over a wide area and painting it in a gruesome tapestry. However, as quickly as the force came, it vanished, leaving Sarah to drop back to the ground, panting for breath.

  She didn’t need to look all that hard to see what had happened, as the open sky above made it all too obvious. The Pinnacle King lay on the ground, buried almost up to his neck in ice, a small line of red trickling from the corner of his left eye. The small group of supers and mages stood back, all behind a massive wall of green energy that had protected them from the blast. The only question was who had caused an explosion powerful enough to literally blow the roof off this cave? It wasn’t just a simple ceiling, but hundreds of tons of ice.

  Can’t think about that now, Sarah chided herself with a small shake.

  She had to get Morgan over here to charge the script. The longer she waited, the more lives would be lost. So, despite the now treacherous footing, Sarah forced herself back up and made a mad dash to the fading green wall. Their chances of victory had just gone up, though by how much, Sarah could not be sure.

  49

  “Stay on him, group two!” Morgan yelled, slashing out at Octagon’s leg with his summoned lance.

  “Pathetic!” Octagon roared, dropping his arm to block the attack, ice flowing over the appendage in an instant and stopping the attack from doing any damage at all.

  Morgan gritted his teeth as the lance merely skittered off the ice, leaving him open to a counterattack. He’d thrown a lot of force into the blow, so it had forced him to overextend. Thankfully, Octagon was forced to then turn and deal with Solveig’s group, blocking attacks from two supers and a mage.

  One in his group tried to capitalize on the opportunity, sending a spear of liquid stone at the beast’s back. His tail flashed up, catching the attack and slicing through it. Instead of sticking, the freezing cold air radiating from the beast’s body cooled the molten stone and hardened it before it could so much as make him feel a little warm.

  “Damn it all!” Morgan yelled, sending a flurry of punches at the beast and unleashing his Compressive Blast in a series of narrow, powerful punches.

  At the same time, Solveig thrust her hammer forward, sending out a condensed beam of white light right at the Pinnacle King’s eyes in a bid to blind him. Two balls of riling fire, one blue and one green, came blasting from the ranged group, trying to take advantage of the momentary blindness. However, it seemed Octagon could not be taken off-guard.

  He whirled back, tail flashing out in a blur and intercepting every single one of Morgan’s attacks. His right arm came up to shield his eye, and a wall of ice formed midair, blocking the two fireballs from even touching him. One of the mages in Solveig�
�s group tried a counter a split second after, hoping to catch him when he lowered his guard, but the Pinnacle King was wise to this tactic as well.

  The wall of ice simply shifted, catching the stream of acid and halting it in its tracks. Morgan could clearly see why they weren’t making any headway now, and that was because the beast was using his reiki at an astonishing rate. Still, Morgan knew that it was a finite resource, and he would run out of it eventually. Once the Pinnacle King’s reiki was gone, they’d be able to land a few hits. Unfortunately, he couldn’t say so out loud, for fear that Octagon would move to thwart them.

  One of the healers came running back, and a simple shake of her head was enough to tell him that their group of twenty-one was down to eighteen.

  Still not too bad, Morgan thought as he unleashed another barrage of punches, making sure to keep his distance.

  A blast of freezing air erupted from Octagon’s arms, causing a downdraft and dispersing his attack. That wasn’t all it did, as one of the supers who’d been moving to attack had been caught and his body was now frozen stiff.

  “Shit! Healer, get on that! Group four, give us some damn cover!”

  “This is pointless!” Octagon roared and swiped his fist through the air in a blur at the frozen super.

  Solveig’s hammer came up in a short swing, knocking the Pinnacle King’s blow off course. However, the woman screamed in pain as frost crept up the haft, burning at her fingers and forcing her to release the weapon. Before Octagon could take advantage of her fall, Morgan dashed in and attacked with his newest skill.

  The violet gauntlets around his fists flashed out, now charged with electricity, and Morgan pelted the Pinnacle King with a barrage of punches. Octagon was forced to raise his arms as the flashing violet light pounded down on him like blows from a hammer on an anvil. Morgan could feel his reiki dropping at a rapid pace as he continued the attack, the single pair of gauntlets appearing to be several dozen as they drove him back.

  Every couple of seconds, Morgan would discharge the lightning built up, sending a blast of red and blue arcing out in waves. He knew he wouldn’t be able to keep this up for long, but it gave everyone the precious few seconds needed to recoup and regroup.

  “Back off!” Chesterson yelled, and Morgan did so without complaint, hurling himself to one side.

  A massive green wall sprang into place between him and Octagon, and a split-second later, Morgan understood why. Galig was crouched on the ground, his face tight with concentration. Chesterson hurled something small, glowing an ominous red light, at the Pinnacle King. Octagon, who was unprepared for the sudden halt in Morgan’s attack, was momentarily open.

  The explosion that rocked the cavern was massive, and had the constructed wall not been in place, Morgan had a feeling that their entire group may have been killed. As it was, the weakening of the internal structure of the cavern, as well as Chesterson’s ability, mixed to cause one of the most destructive attacks Morgan had ever seen.

  The massive blast came when the small glowing object hit the ground at Octagon’s feet. As soon as it hit, it expanded in a bright white light. It was then followed by a booming sound that was near-deafening. Then came the shaking, cracking, and grinding as massive chunks of ice were either blasted away or fell inward.

  “Holy shit!” Solveig yelled as Morgan landed beside her. She was being tended to by one of the healers as they removed the freezing damage from her hands. “Now that is some serious firepower!”

  Morgan couldn’t agree more, but even as the explosion dwindled out, he knew that it hadn’t been enough to end the Pinnacle King. All something like that would do was make him angry. However, it would buy them some more time, which was exactly what they needed. As the light faded, Morgan stared in awe as light came streaming in from above.

  The entire mass of ice had been blown cleanly away, opening it to the sky above. He was frankly shocked that they weren’t underwater all the way down here, but perhaps the glacier had just confused their senses. The sky was visible through some twenty feet of ice, stormy and gray. Still, removing twenty feet of solid ice with a single explosion was impressive, to say the least.

  As the wall of energy began to fade and the mage who’d conjured it dropped to their knees, Morgan finally got a good look at the Pinnacle King. He’d been standing at the very center of the blast and had been buried up to his neck in chunks of ice. He did not look happy, and a small line of blood trickled down from his eye. However, Morgan could sense the power in his core and could see that aside from that small line of blood, the beast was completely unharmed.

  “Looks like we managed to make the bastard bleed!” Solveig yelled, pumping her fist in the air.

  “Maybe we can beat him!” said another super excitedly.

  Morgan wasn’t going to burst their bubble. It wasn’t impressive that they’d managed to land what amounted to a single scratch on the monster. What was impressive was the fact that they’d dropped a mountain on his head, and he’d survived with almost no injury. The attack did seem to have an effect on the Pinnacle King, though. One that was not going to bode well for them.

  “Impudent worms!” Octagon roared, his entire body quivering with rage. “Do you dare damage my majestic glacier?!”

  The room began to tremble and shake, the loose chunks of ice around him quivering under the force of his anger.

  “Get back into position, now!” Morgan snapped as Octagon’s body began to glow a bright violet.

  Shit was about to get real, very real. Morgan had a feeling that up until now, Octagon had only been toying with them, but now he was going to unleash the true might of his full power.

  ***

  “Rahhhh!” Arnold screamed as he was once again tossed from the wall and sent hurling out into open space.

  He hit the ground, leaving a furrow in its wake, but thankfully avoided hitting any of his troops this time. For the last half hour, he’d been throwing himself at the wall in a rage, all while flaming boulders rained down around him, depleting his troops and costing him nearly fifty-thousand so far.

  The losses were starting to mount, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t seem to be able to get to the top. None of his commanders could. This time, though, Arnold was finally fed up.

  Who cared if a few hundred-thousand monsters were killed while taking the wall? They were just mindless beasts anyway. The master could always make more. And so, he gave the order.

  “Charge! Take those damn walls, now!”

  The forces around him surged, moving forward in a wave and carrying him along with them. It was clear that he wouldn’t be able to get over the walls on his own; none of his commanders could. But with so many monsters coming over at once, Katherine would be much harder pressed to keep them all away, and it would only be a matter of time before they broke through.

  ***

  “Looks like they’ve finally wised-up,” Le’vine said, noting the swarm of monsters approaching the walls.

  “Looks like it,” Katherine said grimly, knowing that the real fighting was going to begin as soon as they made it up. “Fire those catapults, double time, and get those barrels of pitch ready to toss down the walls!”

  This was their last defensive measure. As the monsters swarmed up the walls, they would drop barrels of pitch down and light them on fire. Sure, the walls were partly made of ice, but they were so thick that a little fire would hardly do more than take an inch or two off. As the soldiers moved to obey, Katherine noticed a messenger, a boy no older than fourteen, come running up.

  “Report from the eastern wall, Your Majesties!” the boy said, breathing hard. “They’ve mounted the walls and are fighting hand to hand. King Herald is engaged with two of their commanders and says they’re just a few minutes away from entering the city.”

  “Good work, messenger,” Katherine said. “You are dismissed. Go seek shelter in the castle.”

  The boy saluted, looking extremely tired but also a bit proud at having delivered hi
s message.

  “They’ve broken through faster than anticipated,” Katherine said, biting her lip.

  She’d known that the eastern front would be more difficult to defend due to the space allowed by the open land beyond. The eastern wall was also longer, taking up nearly three times the area of the western one and giving more space for them to break through. She motioned to one of her own messengers, an older girl who would be able to defend herself should she be forced to confront a monster.

  “Go order half the troops down below across the city. They’ll be needed there more than here for the time being.”

  “Yes ma’am,” the girl said with a salute, then went running off to deliver the orders.

  “Are you sure that’s a wise course of action, Your Highness?” Fuza asked, watching as the first monsters began swarming up the wall.

  “I really hope so, Fuza,” Katherine replied grimly.

  There were no more safe risks to be taken. This was a battlefield, and if they wanted to come out as the victors, then hard choices would need to be made. All she could do was hope that they could succeed in holding them long enough for Morgan to stop the Pinnacle King.

  50

  Sarah made it to Morgan’s group just as Octagon freed himself from the constraining ice, his body burning with purple light. Though she herself could not feel his power as Morgan did, the sheer pressure of his presence was overwhelming. It was powerful, to the point where she found it difficult to force one foot in front of the other.

  “Morgan!” Sarah called, grabbing his attention before he went running off into battle again.

  Morgan turned, saw her, then motioned to one of the mages as he noticed the mist surrounding the slab was completely gone. One of them hurled a fireball, sending up a gout of steam in Octagon’s face once more. The roar of rage told everyone how he felt about that, but it had served its purpose.