The Fourth Realm (The Ten Realms Book 4)

by Michael Chatfield

  Erik used One Finger Beats Fist when a fist flew unimpeded at his opponents head, piercing through the creature’s skull and into its brain. A red mist appeared around Erik’s gloves as they drank greedily and a tombstone rose over the minotaur.

  “Defenses!” Erik called out. He pulled out his rifle, pulling the magazine to check his ammunition and slammed it back into place.

  George had destroyed his opponent and was covered in blood, not caring for his appearance. With both of his ears raised he looked down the corridor that the minotaurs had come from now that the minotaurs were dead.

  Special Team One covered Special Team Two, who pulled out large barriers from their storage rings and placed them on the ground and used fuse spells to create a barricade.

  A scratching noise came from the corridor opposite the one the minotaurs had come through.

  George took a deep breath and sent fireballs down the corridor, illuminating the rats as big as motorcycles and spiders as big as horses.

  “Fuck me,” Rugrat muttered as he pulled out a formation plate and tossed it down at the left entrance.

  Erik pulled out gas grenades and tossed them into the left corridor. They were packed with poison powder and an air-type formation to disperse the poison all over the place.

  “Formation plates!” Niemm called out. Special Team One pulled out their plates and put them on the ground.

  “Roska?!” Erik yelled.

  “All good to go here!” Roska yelped back.

  “All right, everyone behind the defenses!” Erik ordered.

  Everyone moved behind the simple but tough barricades, and looked through the slits at the approaching chittering horde.

  As the horde moved forward, heavy repeaters and rifles opened up on the corridor, landing Fire shots and Explosive Shots in the left passageway, turning it into a bloodbath. Everyone felt the flow of Ten Realms’ Experience flowing into their bodies.

  Four heavy repeaters continued covering the corridor. As one paused to reload, another would start firing, reducing the creatures’ numbers. The rats ran into the poison cloud and even the spiders that were resistant to poisons were affected as they rappeled down to the floor to get to the doorway. The forward formations came to life. Rugrat had placed down the lightning formation near the doorway, which zapped the rats and spiders, reducing them to nothing but smoking husks.

  After just a few minutes none were left alive.

  “Cease fire!” Rugrat called out.

  Erik and Rugrat looked at each other.

  “Advance or try to pull them to us?” Erik asked.

  “Bring them to us. We’ve got some summoning scrolls and Yawen learned some summoning from Matt,” Rugrat said.

  “Yawen!” Erik called out.

  A few minutes later, an ostrich-like creature shot off through the corridors. It went where the spiders and rats had come from. That corridor led to a dead end, with nothing else in it.

  The ostrich ran back and then went down the other corridor. It was linked to Yawen, so his map increased in detail, revealing the dungeon beyond.

  The summon reached a new room filled with creatures and ran back. These creatures were forest golems. They were large creatures made of trees and dirt.

  Erik felt them coming before he saw them. Their large bodies caused the entire dungeon floor to shake. The three golems had to run in a line as they barely fit through the corridors.

  Yawen dismissed his summon as it came into range.

  “Light them up!” Rugrat shouted and shot,hitting the first forest golem’s head. The dirt and tree parts were blasted apart but it quickly started to reform from its remaining mass. A golem was based around a monster core; one needed to disconnect the monster core or exhaust the Mana of the golem in order to stop it.

  The heavy repeaters and sharpshooters struck the creature following Rugrat’s shot. With that much firepower, it wasn’t long until they saw its monster core crack.

  The golem fell to the ground, collapsing in a wave of rotting tree parts and dirt as the next one stepped on its fallen sibling and continued charging forward. The special teams adjusted their aim and kept firing.

  The second fell and the third struck the lightning formation, dropping to the ground as it smoked.

  Rounds poured down on it until a tombstone appeared.

  “Cease fire!” Niemm called out.

  Everyone paused as they looked at the three dead juggernauts.

  A formation flashed as a part of the ceiling disappeared. A worm-like creature fell through the ceiling. The formation lashed out more, breaking the dirt ceiling and dropping the stunned worms.

  Erik fired his weapon as they fell. “Fire!” Erik yelled.

  The defensive formations lit up as twenty or so worms appeared from the roof, about half the size of a human adult and with powerful serrated teeth. They were nasty-looking creatures but their defenses were weak.

  The shooting died down as more tombstones appeared.

  There was a sound of rushing water. Erik turned his head to the right corridor. It sounded as if it were getting closer.

  “Yawen, send out your summon. What is that noise?” Erik asked.

  Yawen’s summon ran out but was cut down suddenly.

  Blue light appeared in the corridor followed by calming sounds. They sounded like the sounds of the sea. It was a pleasant sound that relieved everyone’s tension made them feel better. The soldiers felt that it would be a fine place to take a nap; it was rather warm, like a good summer day, perfect for sleeping outside.

  Suddenly, a powerful force swept through their minds, making their bodies tremble and tighten their relaxed grips on their weapons.

  “You think that you can win with illusion spells?” Rugrat let out a laugh. The area around him had fallen into his domain, reducing the effectiveness of the spell. He aimed and fired at the approaching blue lights.

  A horrible noise came from the hall as the new enemy revealed themselves. They looked like a form of water fae. They floated through the air with water waves appearing underneath them. Their eyes were like a fish’s and their teeth like sharks. They had humanoid appearances and fins across their bodies with white, grey and blue scales that shone in the minimal light. They raised their tridents with a war cry.

  Everyone opened fire without having to be told a single thing.

  The creatures wove their hands, walls of water appearing and neutralizing the Explosive Shots and Fire rounds.

  They sent out water spears that shot through the corridor, colliding with the defensive formations that visibly dimmed under the powerful impacts. The fae rushed to get closer. There had to be a half dozen of them in the hallway.

  “Change to lightning rounds!” Rugrat shouted as he popped out his magazine and pulled out another with a lightning bolt painted on its side.

  He fired a lightning enhanced round as the first fae ran into the lightning formation. The formation sent a jolt of lightning through its body. As the fae shook, screaming through its locked-up muscles, the lightning round hit its defenseless body. The blast of additional electricity caused it to fall from the sky. Steam rose from it as a tombstone appeared. The other face continued attacking, destroying the first formation in their way. Some of the other Alvan’s started firing their recently equipped lightning rounds. The main heavy repeaters were taking longer to switch.

  Mages fired spells and George let out a howl of fire breath. The fae covered themselves in defensive water spheres and shot out water spears in retaliation by waving their tridents that glowed blue with power.

  Storbon tossed grenades under the creatures and they detonated, creating a lightning storm around the creatures.

  The water fae fought through three formations before they were destroyed.

  Everyone looked around and reloaded as the corridor lit up with blue light once again.

  ***

  There were two more waves of creatures: another group of the water spirits and four minotaurs. By the end, the so
ldiers’ formations were all used up and it came to close-quarters combat, with Erik and George each holding back a minotaur. With Erik’s blood stacks on his gloves, he was able to fight one on one with the minotaur without needing his overclock ability on his breastplate.

  It was a slow battle. He released poison into the minotaur’s wounds and slowed it to the point that he could land the final blow.

  The Alvan dungeoneers regrouped, recharged their formations and repaired or replaced their barricades.

  Yawen’s summon was sent out once again to scout. It passed through a number of rooms before it finally reached the boss room.

  A large toad-like creature, looked around the room the scout was currently viewing. “Meat, not tasty,” the mouth said as it eyed the summoned creature.

  “So, a talking creature,” Rugrat said as they held a meeting to discuss the floor boss.

  “Let’s go and check it out. We’ll have booby traps if we need to retreat to slow it down. We can fight back here or go back to the surface if we can’t handle it,” Erik said.

  They were all tired but they had come so far. As long as they took their time and were careful, they could possibly deal with the floor boss.

  So they headed through the dungeon, preparing formations and mines, marking them with small flags. They put down defenses and obstacles that would be easy for them to pass but would stall anything following them.

  The preparations took them a few hours before Erik, Rugrat and George stood in front of the boss room. Being the strongest, they could gauge how strong the boss was and call in reinforcements or retreat as necessary. If they needed to run, having more people with them could lead to chaos.

  Erik moved up to the door that the summon had previously broken through.

  Rugrat squeezed his arm when he was ready.

  Erik moved in through the doorway and saw the toad sitting in a muddy pool of water, the room was shaped like a hexagon, with them coming through two intersecting lines, an altar and a door behind the toad creature.

  “Mmmm, tasty metal! Ugh, not tasty meat underneath!” The toad harrumphed as his eyes opened and it licked its lips, studying Erik and Rugrat.

  “Can you understand me?!” Erik yelled.

  “Yes! Oh, other people to talk to! But they have metal. Do I talk or do I eat?” The toad muttered as its head tilted back and forth.

  “Rugrat, ingot,” Erik said.

  Rugrat shot him a look but didn’t say anything, taking out an iron ingot and tossing it towards the toad.

  The beast jumped on the ingot, putting it into its mouth to chew on it.

  “Good adventurers, treat Old Xern to nice meal. Ah, it has been so long since I’ve had metal! Blood still has the foul taste of meat on it!” Old Xern crooned in delight.

  “I’m Erik. This is Rugrat and that’s George. We don’t want to fight if we don’t have to,” Erik said.

  “Don’t want to fight—are they trying to get past? Well, if they have more tasty metal, would it be easier to get than have to touch nasty meat?” The creature mumbled to itself.

  “Two tasty metals each!” it declared proudly.

  Erik looked to Rugrat. He sighed and pulled out five more iron ingots. It was only the most basic iron, so it barely cost Rugrat anything.

  The toad called Old Xern hurriedly took the metal and scurried back to a corner, as if they might try to take back his ‘snacks’.

  “Take the dirty armor as well. It looks tasty but only hurts Old Xern,” Old Xern complained.

  He looked to the door that wasn’t opening.

  “Open door! They pass floor dungeon!” He commanded. The door started to open, slowly, as if complaining.“Other Xern will be beyond. They not nice like Old Xern. They tricky tricksters who don’t mind meat in their metal. Beasts! Monsters! Uncultured!”

  “Could you tell us more about the next floor?” Erik asked and shot a look to Rugrat, who pulled out an iron ingot, reluctantly.

  “Yes, yes! Old Xern can for three clean precious snacks!”

  Rugrat coughed up the iron ingots. Old Xern stored them away with a pleased expression.

  “Much tastier than armor with all the weird things in them and without crunch. Old Xern did well in trade. Should accept more snacks for allowing people through!”

  “The next floor?” Erik asked, motioning a hand towards the open door.

  “Ah, it is a floor of Xern like me. All of them are not as strong as me but they sneaky tricksters. They have mind of the young. They burrow through ground, distract with one and attack with many.” Old Xern nodded his head repeatedly.

  Erik and Rugrat became wary of their surroundings. George was alert sniffing the air before he settled down again and continued staring at Old Xern.

  “That floor is smaller than this one and doesn’t have metal. This one has more metal and the other creatures bring me my tribute. There is a pretty miss down there but she is lonely and one of the higher creatures. She thinks but can’t talk like Old Xern—terrible, terrible. She also metal eater. We talk but she like talking to lower creatures.” Old Xern looked a bit sad before he rebounded.

  “If you can pass the young Xern, then you can reach Metal Devourer Miss! She doesn’t like meat but also not like visitors. I will give you introduction!”

  The Xern slammed his foot against the floor, sending water everywhere as he smacked out a few times. There was nothing for some time as Old Xern chewed on his new metal.

  A roar came through the open doorway that shook the room.

  Old Xern put down his metal. “Moody miss!” He smacked his foot against the ground. Roars of the hidden boss of the fourth floor and Old Xern went back and forth.

  “She not had metal in long time. Young Xern stole from her. She grumpy I have some. Make sure to give her a snack or else she might not mind the taste of meat.” Old Xern went back to chewing metal.

  “We might have to kill other Xern,” Erik warned.

  “Things die and they are bad young ones,” Old Xern said.

  “We will come back tomorrow with more metal snacks and to meet with Metal Devourer Miss.” .

  “Good, good!” Old Xern said, his mouth filled with metal burrs as he crunched on another metal ingot.

  Erik and Rugrat backed up and were about to leave Old Xern.

  “Take armor too!” the Xern shouted.

  Erik and Rugrat shared a look. Erik went to the altar and grabbed the breastplate and then headed back. They left the room Old Xern was in, as he was humming happily to himself. They collected their people and previously placed traps, heading back to the second floor exit and leaving the dungeon.

  “The beasts of the third floor should be strong enough to increase our level with. Once everyone is level forty-six, then we can head to the fourth floor.” Erik said to Rugrat.

  They fell silent as they walked back toward Vuzgal with the rest of the special teams, looking around them and scanning the valley for danger.

  “Tonight is the remembrance ceremony,” Erik said.

  “Yeah,” Rugrat said in a flat voice, holding the weight of a lifetime as a marine.

  Neither of them said anything, organizing their emotions and bracing for what lay in front of them.

  ***

  They learned of Setsuko’s recovery on their return and went to go and see her. Erik and Rugrat went to the command center where Glosil was working on schedules and maps.

  “Eyo,” Erik said.

  “Cap,” Glosil nodded as he put another marker on the large wall map that showed Vuzgal.

  “Looking good,” Erik said walking up to the map.

  “There anyone over at the crafting workshops?” Rugrat asked.

  “Yeah,” Glosil grabbed a clipboard that was hanging from string. “Staff Sergeant Han is over there.”

  “I’m going to head over. Gonna work on those mortars and grenade launcher designs,” Rugrat said.

  “Have fun,” Erik said as Rugrat walked out of the room.

  “How
are things?” Erik asked as he put his helmet on the table and sat down, pushing his thumbs under his vest, pushing it out.

  “We cleared this section here, got undead breaking houses and fixing up the castle walls. I was wondering if you could use the dungeon core to open up holes underneath the castle for waste water. The sewage system here is messed up, we could dig holes but if we get a decent water system going that would help. Especially if we want to stay here,” Glosil looked at Erik.

  “Yeah we can do that. We’ll need to make pipes, see if you can get some of the crafters to help the undead make pipes that won’t break. Make them big so they can take a lot of volume. See if we got anyone who does blueprint work. The crafting facilities are busted up but they still work, we can upgrade them later. We should focus on leveling up, gathering all the loot and finishing the totem.”

  Glosil looked at the map with his eyes moving back and forth. “I think it’ll take us another week, maybe nine days, to get all of the easy loot. Then picking locks, breaking traps and such, not sure how long that will take but all of the nobles, big trading houses and crafters have some kind of locked or trapped storage.”

  “We’ve got plenty to keep us busy. Once we’ve secured the dungeon then I’m hoping to increase the range of the scouted area to the west. We know that there are the Chaotic Lands out there, we don’t need any uninvited guests,” Erik got up with a sigh and grabbed his helmet, feeling all the aches of his body. He used a healing spell on himself, making it a bit easier to bear but most of it was just pure fatigue.

  “I’m going to get some sleep, send a runner if you need me,” Erik said.

  “Will do,” Glosil said.

  Erik headed out of the command center and to his room, dumping his armor and boots.

  He looked over his notifications as he lay down to get some shut-eye.

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  You have reached Level 51

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  When you sleep next, you will be able to increase your attributes by: 5 points.

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