Sixth Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  Erik smiled, being a leader of Alva it made him and Rugrat feel lonely, having people that could still treat them like normal people was refreshing.

  “Ah, that’s not bad. I had one guy on my medic’s course that had the nastiest breath, called him “Doctor Death”, because anyone that woke up around him would probably pass out from his breath.”

  Yuli laughed and winced in pain.

  “Not funny,” she said.

  “Erik, how are we looking?” Storbon asked.

  “Storbon, Yuli has some nasty burns on her side, walking wounded at this point. Tian Cui needs time to heal, nasty cuts on her body, she’ll take more time to recover and she’s going to be weak to start.”

  Tian Cui made some noise from her bandages.

  “Alright, keep me updated, I’m sending Rugrat your way to help.”

  Yuli and Tian Cui were head to head so Yuli hadn’t noticed her.

  “Hey sister,” Yuli said, looking at Tian Cui and not knowing where to touch.

  Erik tapped his chest, Yuli pressed on Tian Cui’s breastplate.

  “Got it,” Erik said.

  “Storbon out.”

  Tian Cui made a noise.

  “Yeah, it does suck,” Yuli coughed, the two of them had lived and worked together so much that they could figure out what the other meant.

  The two of them talked, one muffled and unable to form words, the other hissing as Erik put balms on her wounds and then bandaged her up.

  Rugrat appeared sometime later, he looked like hell. He put his rifle to the side, looking at Erik.

  “Tian Cui needs stamina and healing, start from the head down. I’ll work on Yuli’s leg.”

  The big man nodded in his faceless helmet and the two of them got to work, they didn’t talk. Yuli and Tian Cui talked to one another.

  Tian Cui’s words started to make more sense and be less muffled.

  In ten minutes, Rugrat removed the bandages around her face.

  “Well, you’ve got a new haircut,” Rugrat said, Tapping her breastplate. “You’re a righty shooter right?”

  “Yeah,” Tian Cui’s tongue fell over the words it was half-regenerated and it would take time to get used to.

  Rugrat repaired her hand first so she could use a firearm and then worked on her legs so she would be able to run.

  By the time Rugrat was finished on her legs, Erik was finished with Yuli.

  “You’ll need to get some new clothes but you’ll be fine, there is a privacy screen back there,” Erik pointed to a curtained off section.

  “Thanks,” Yuli said.

  Erik nodded and turned to help Rugrat with Tian Cui.

  Storbon came in sometime later, checking up on everyone and taking off his helmet to reveal a sweat-stained face.

  As Tian Cui was finished, she headed to the privacy screen to take off the bandages with Yuli’s help.

  Erik, and Rugrat took their helmets off as well.

  “Shit, that feels nice,” Rugrat said and scratched his head.

  “So, what is the plan?” Erik asked.

  “We take everything that we have, move back to the rear, we circle around and see if we can get entry to whatever is on the other side of the tunnel through discreet means. I’m worried that the enemy might be looking to flank us right now,” Storbon said.

  “The caves and tunnels here are a damn maze., If there is a way around them then we wouldn’t know about them until it was too late,” Rugrat said, looking at Erik.

  “Makes sense to me,” Erik said.

  “I have Lucinda sending out her scouts,” Storbon said. “We’ll head out in ten.”

  They broke apart, the newly-healed Yuli and Tian Cui wore new clothes and their armor showed signs of the battle, there was still blood in some places.

  Erik cleared up his aid station and headed out, he saw the battlefield, it was a mess. The tunnel had collapsed completely, there was barbed wire, orc remains, weapons and armor all over the place.

  Erik stood up and stretched, it had taken hours to loot all of the tombstones. He was hoping that some of it could be used in Alva or sold by the traders.

  He checked his notifications, the only good part about the whole fight.

  ==========

  You have come into contact with a dungeon core. With your title: Dungeon Master, new options are revealed.

  ==========

  Do you wish to:

  Take command of the Stronghold

  Destroy the Stronghold

  ==========

  Erik put his finger on Destroy Stronghold and a new screen appeared.

  ==========

  Destroy Stronghold: Volzig

  ==========

  You will receive:

  7289x Sandstone blocks

  1x Common Mortal-Grade Dungeon Core

  23x Thunder Mines

  14x Teleportation Crystals

  232x Thorium

  1x Shield Spell Formation

  534x Soul Manacles

  1x Mortal-Grade Mana Cornerstone

  ==========

  Do you wish to destroy this Dungeon?

  YES/NO

  ==========

  ==========

  45,948,136/56,900,000 EXP till you reach Level 58

  ==========

  Truly, a hellish battle had happened here.

  The group gathered together, heading out with the scouts out in front, the boars behind them and everyone else mounted up.

  They once again saw the destruction that the plague had brought upon the orcs, settlements were cleared out as they advanced, trying to circle around and into the Orc territory.

  As they advanced, Erik continued to clear out the settlements

  “Patrol coming,” Lucinda yelled.

  They hid the boars in a side tunnel, Gilly and Yuli created a hole in the side of the tunnel and they jumped in, storing their mounts.

  Yuli and Gilly sealed up the tunnel again, leaving a slit which they could shoot through and air came from. They created a tunnel behind the hole, a way to run away from the orcs if a fight did break out.

  “They’re here,” Lucinda said on the communications channel.

  Everyone grew silent as they heard the noise of feet.

  The ground was shaking. War Boars as big as a bear grunted and snorted, searching for food. On their backs sat proud orc commanders wearing their well-maintained weapons and armor, they had four ogres with them that were wearing haphazard armor and wielding large trees that had been wrapped in metal to create weapons. Shamans walked behind them controlling the massive beasts.

  There had to be around a hundred of the orcs in the patrol.

  They didn’t sense anything amiss and kept moving.

  The group pushed past them.

  “We should leave the boars behind, if they keep on following us then it is more likely that someone will figure out where we are,” Lucinda raised.

  “Send them off in different directions,” Storbon ordered.

  Without their boars they pressed forward, going in the direction the patrol had come from.

  Their tunnel came to a door made of wood and metal.

  “Damn, that is a strong door, would take some serious damn strength to get through,” Rugrat said, looking at it.

  “So what do we do?” Storbon said.

  “Oh, well the door is strong, but are the walls?” Rugrat smirked.

  With the power of magic they carved into the walls, they created a rat tunnel into to area past the doorway. Lucinda let her rat scouts out and they went through the hole creating a map.

  “Okay, it looks like there are just ten or so Orcs guarding the gate. There are a few eating food here, there are some more wandering around here. Most of them are watching a fight here.” Lucinda pointed to positions on the map.

  “We take out the people wandering, then the ones eating food and the people watching the fight, Yuli they’re yours,” Storbon said.

  Everyone got their tasks. Erik and Gilly worked toget
her, moving through the rock and into position.

  Yuli did the same with her group of Storbon and Yao Meng.

  “Three, two, one!”

  On Storbon’s command, Erik and Gilly opened the last few feet of stone.

  It was still dark past the open rock but their night vision spells helped them greatly turning the darkness to light.

  Erik and Tian Cui moved to the left with Gilly, Rugrat and Lucinda went to the right. George was in his holding crate on Rugrat’s hip, his body naturally gave off light and as dark as it was, just having him around would alert the orcs.

  All of them were using silencing socket formations on their weapons.

  Erik moved forwards, his body tense as his weapon followed where his eyes were looking. They flowed around the building that they had come out near.

  Erik saw his targets and slowed his movements.

  Tian Cui moved up beside him, pushing up against his elbow so even if they turned, they would run into one another, stopping the possibility of friendly fire.

  Erik scanned the area, looking at his targets, they were just fifteen meters away but they didn’t notice anything.

  An explosion went off in the distance, Storbon and his team making their entrance.

  Erik and Tian Cui fired, but they were a half-second too late. Gilly’s spears shot through the stools and ground, piercing the orcs pinning them in place as the rounds struck them.

  Erik moved forward, Tian Cui followed him as they were passing a building. Erik was just expanding his domain as there was a yell from above. A group of orcs that had been on the roof of one of the buildings jumped off.

  Erik didn’t have time to yell out as he jumped to the side, a jumping orc hit him but he was able to roll away and get to his knees.

  Tian Cui wasn’t as lucky as an Orc jumped on top of her and hit her with his sword, her armor held as she was laid out on the ground.

  Gilly jumped backward from her attacker she sent out a blast of water, hitting the orc, cutting their arm and tossing them backward.

  Erik fired with his rifle at nearly point-blank into the orc’s chest that had jumped him. The orc took the hits and fell back as Gilly condensed water in the air into spears and shot them at the orc that had attacked her and the one that was readying an attack on Tian Cui.

  Gilly rushed the attack and the first orc was covered in just water as the one over Tian Cui was pushed slightly.

  Tian Cui rolled to the side with a grunt, she fired up at the orc, her rifle butt under her arm and in the ground as the rounds made a line up his chest to his head.

  The orc’s head snapped backwards as they stumbled and collapsed.

  The orc Erik was firing on, collapsed under the weight of fire as the one Gilly had covered in water ran at her with his ax raised high, they slipped on the water, becoming unstable.

  Erik shot them in the back, making them tumble as Gilly’s claws swiped the air where the orc had been.

  Tian Cui rolled in the dust and mud, her rifle level with the orc’s head as they hit the ground. She lost her point of aim and held her fire, the chance of hitting Gilly was too high.

  The orc threw itself forward and used their ax to hit Gilly in the foot.

  She let out a roar, the mana in the area was distorted as her body seemed to expand. Her head darted forward her jaws tore through the Orc’s neck, separating head from body before she crunched down again and tilted her head back, swallowing.

  Erik’s domain alerted him to more orcs rushing around the building.

  He had been counting the rounds he had shot and he knew that he was out.

  “Orcs coming behind you, Gilly!”

  He dropped his rifle, letting it hang from his sling. Tian Cui rose to her knee and aimed while Gilly turned to face the orcs.

  They came around the corner and into Gilly’s path.

  A spell formation appeared on the ground. Spears rose out of the ground as another formation appeared above the orcs. They slammed into the ground, the spears stabbing through their bodies.

  Gilly’s brown colorings glowed as the blue markings lit up. Gilly leaned forward, a beam of water shot out from in front of her mouth. It cut through buildings, people, anything that was in her way.

  Tian Cui snapped off rounds.

  Erik punched the air, firing out mana bullets that caused buildings to explode and killing orcs in one blast.

  “Other side!” Tian Cui yelled.

  Erik turned to see Tian Cui drop three orcs.

  An orc came around and threw their axe, the axe missed but made Erik flinch as it sailed past. It gave time for another orc to lash out with a sword.

  Erik was hit in the side. He took the hit, Planting his feet he channeled the power of Earth mana. increasing his defense and recovery, maintaining his stability as the fiery power of fire mana swelled in his veins exploding into motion.

  A poisonous cloud appeared around him, like snakes under his command, flames glowed through his mask and his muscles grew in size.

  His fist let out a howl, turning into two semi-illusionary fists. The orc dodged one, one missed but the main fist hit the orc.

  They grunted as Erik felt something snap, another Orc using a halberd swung it like a bat, hitting Erik in the leg.

  He cried out, his leg buckling as he felt his knee shift and the halberd’s wood snapped and the blade deformed.

  Gilly’s Earth-focusing spell activated around Erik and the Orcs.

  The orcs’ attacks were slowed as they fought against the focused Earth mana dragging them to the ground.

  Erik smirked under his helmet, leaning to one side as his powerful body was starting to recover his mangled leg.

  They had only reached Body like Stone, while his body was as strong as Sky Iron, he had bathed in Earth mana for so long that its power accelerated his healing.

  An Orc used a blade, aiming to stab it into Erik’s stomach.

  Erik grabbed their hand and slammed his face into theirs with a yell.

  They stumbled back with a broken nose and tusk.

  Erik’s leg had recovered enough as he slammed it on the ground and released his controls. Mana fluctuated wildly around him as he became drunk on the power in his veins.

  He gripped his hands, crushing the orc’s wrists.

  Using Earth mana, he toughened up his shoulder and braced himself. Hisis clothes were torn apart by a blade that hacked at his arm.

  The blade cut Erik’s skin but bent, it was maintained but the orcs were not master smiths and the weapons they had were used and abused, none of them had the original durability they once enjoyed.

  Erik kicked the orc with the broken wrists, sending him into the orc that had thrown his axe at Erik.

  His gloves were starting to glow with a red light, consuming the blood from his enemies.

  Erik turned his attention to the sword-wielding orc. A burst of fire mana accelerated him as he charged forward, sweeping his leg. The orc collapsed as Erik fired out a mana bullet hitting the remaining orc that was trying to close with him. It didn’t hit the orc but it slowed them down. as Erik, using his domain didn’t waver as he brought up his leg and stomped it down on the sword-using Orc’s neck, driving them into the stone ground, the impact enough to make a dent.

  The orc grasped at their neck as Tian Cui fired on the two orcs that were getting back up.

  The axe user stood up into her line of fire, having time to aim and distance, her rounds struck the orc in the head. they dropped bonelessly to the ground as a stone spear passed Erik’s ear, so close he felt the wind and the chill running down his spine. It struck the wall of the building, causing it to collapse and send out dust as Erik rushed to meet the halberd-wielding Orc.

  The orc hit Erik in the chest with a fist.

  Erik grunted from the hit, taking a half step backward. The orc swung again, Erik braced and drove his head forward, the orc yelled out as Erik’s helmet crashed into his hand.

  Erik punched the orc, lifting him off of
the ground and sending him backwards.

  A tombstone appeared above him. An orc hacked at Erik with an axe.

  Erik grabbed the axe, and punched the orc in the face.

  He dropped to the ground, dead as the axe bloomed with flames in Erik’s hands.

  He threw it, burying it in an orc’s chest, he ran forward, removing the limits he had placed on his body.

  He leaped forward shoudler checking an orc into its fellows.

  Erik’s foot kicked out, smashing one orc through a wall. A machetes attacked his head.

  Erik grabbed the blade from the air and punched the orc’s chest. He caved it in as he cast un hallowed ground, Orcs charged him from a few feet away, but he paid them no attention as he fired two mana blasts at orcs advancing down an alleyway.

  The alleyway exploded, dust shot out, covering Erik.

  The orcs that had been charging him were collapsing, they looked like dried out husks. Erik reached out his hand, the ground rose up to his hand. He grasped it, a hammer appeared in his hand. He swung it, killing the orc husks around him.

  Gilly was launching spears of Earth and water, orcs were struggling under her spell foprmations that dramatically increased the earth mana.

  Tian Cui reloaded, she was firing on automatic. Her bursts cut down Orcs that were trying to charge through the rubble around her.

  Erik turned and looked down the road through the broken buildings.

  Orcs yelled and charged.

  Erik let out a roar of his own as the world fluctuated around him.

  He raised his hands, struggling as if he was lifting the world. Spears rose from the ground, pointed at the orcs.

  Power was coursing through Erik’s body even as he was yelling his eyes were shining, the corners of his mouth pulled back in a crazed smile.

  Red and black lines traced and cracked through the stone spears as red and green lights appeared in Erik’s eyes and traced through his mana channels.

  He turned his hands and pushed them forwards.

  The spears shot forward with the sound of rushing wind.

  The spears exploded on impact, releasing powerful poison.

  It was like a rocket barrage, only destruction remained in front of Erik.

  He walked forward across the rubble and the bodies, he reached out his hand, a wall collapsed stone twisted into a hammer.