The Fourth Realm (The Ten Realms Book 4)

by Michael Chatfield

  The Blood Demon army started to react as the Alvan army depressed the triggers on their mounted dual repeaters.

  One could only see every fifth explosive arrow; even the Masters could only defend under the wealth of fire.

  “Hold your fire!” Erik barked. The commanders repeated the order.

  The mounted forces were like a titanic wave of beast, metal, and heavy ballista repeater bolts.

  The Masters of the Blood Demon army had not gotten to their position by sitting back. They looked to find cover from the charge or they rushed to meet it.

  They were hit in the flank, throwing their formations into disarray as people reloaded their weapons and others withdrew.

  Weapons clashed and people were nearly tossed from their panthers from the Masters’ power.

  A dozen magical circles appeared around one Master mage as he moved his hands around.

  A few rotated around him, meeting the incoming attacks; others shot out arrows of water that cut the Alvan army’s armor.

  He waved his hand. Ice appeared on the ground around him, causing the panthers passing him to skid away. He waved his hand; a staff appeared in his hand and he shot out an arrow, piercing the body of someone from Alva.

  He made to attack again when the Mana in the area diverged. His Strength decreased as his spells could no longer call upon the ambient Mana of the area.

  Erik had used the dungeon’s abilities to draw in power from the area. An axe hit the mage, sending them backward, unable to recover as panthers rushed over and mauled his body.

  The Masters’ attacks turned buildings into rubble. Erik didn’t know who was alive or dead as the Blood Demon army who were closest suffered the most, cut down from the wild attacks from the defending Masters.

  The enemy Masters started to gulp down healing potions and demanded heals from their support as the charging mounted forces raced on.

  As soon as they were clear Erik didn’t let the opportunity go.

  “Fire!” The Blood Demon Sect didn’t have time to pull themsleves together as spells, arrows, repeaters, rifles and grenades landed among them.

  Erik fired his M32 at them again. Pinned in by the buildings of Vuzgal, the Blood Demon Sect were desperately trying to advance.

  A mage lashed out; a black formation appeared and hit the watchtower but it only struck the barrier that surrounded the tower.

  A group of Crafter’s Association Masters appeared in the street and rushed into the battle.

  The difference between the two groups of masters was evident.

  The Crafter association guards tore through the Blood Demon Sect masters who were a half a second too slow or fought by themselves, too arrogant to ask for help or had been fighting by themselves for so long they forgot how to fight together.

  Watching the Masters fight was incredible. With just their hits colliding, they could force their opponents’ legs into the ground, causing the road’s bricks to break and a crater to form. Their weapons were imbued with Mana; even a stray cut left marks on stones five meters away. They were chaining together techniques and combos, using their powerful bodies, their levels and attributes along with their talent in magic to clash with one another.

  The Masters from the Crafter’s Association met them blow for blow. The Masters from the Blood Demon army were enraged. They were supposed to dominate the field of battle but for two weeks they had been attacked with no way to fight back.

  Now they were being trampled on, as if they were nothing but common soldiers. They forgot about asking for heals and charged forward, to cut down their enemy and calm the anger in their hearts.

  Erik cast Ranged Heal with the other healers, empowering the Crafter’s Association Masters. He looked at Storbon and Yao Meng.

  “Why do I think you have a very bad idea, sir?” Storbon asked.

  “Because I have a very bad idea!” Erik cackled as he aimed from the top of the battlements and unloaded his M32 into the Blood Demon army coming up the road. Storbon and Yao Meng fired with him, their rounds leaving destruction behind.

  Erik drew out his rifle, storing his grenade launcher. He aimed and fired, working the action as he saw his round pierce a Master’s eye and detonate, he switched aim and another lost a kneecap, a crafter’s Master cutting their neck.

  Another in the arm, in the head, or in their side.

  Storbon and Yao Meng pulled out their rifles as well. Their aim was scary accurate.

  They supported as they could, but they weren’t as proficient as Erik with the rifles by a large margin.

  He racked the bolt back and ejected the magazine, which disappeared into his storage ring. He slapped a new magazine in and continued to fire. He wasn’t the marksman that Rugrat was, but with his fine control over his body and with his knowledge of firearms, he was the second deadliest person after Rugrat.

  Even if he didn’t cripple the Blood Demon Experts, he was able to wound them and help out the Crafter forces.

  The Elites were severely wounded or killed while the regular soldiers fell like puppets with their strings cut.

  The Masters were stronger than he thought. With his mana and body cultivation he could tell that they had tempered their bodies to a high degree. They had fought across the Fourth Realm, being born into a life of war or coming from other realms to fight. Until now they had never engaged one another in a direct flight so he had underestimated their combat strength.

  The Blood Demon army and the Vuzgal defenders traded spells and blows. Buildings and streets were torn apart. The people who were caught in the spells were in worse condition.

  Looks like I won’t be needing to use my pills, concoctions or armor.

  He dropped behind the defenses as he reloaded, some had got smart and hurled spells against the barrier that wasn’t looking too sturdy anymore.

  Erik checked the map, they were being pushed in all areas, but they were retreating.

  Erik pulled out three spell scrolls and started to activate them as he contacted Yui.

  “Yui! Use those spell scrolls, lay down attacks to cover our retreat, we’re getting bogged down here,” Erik yelled as he started to activate the spell scroll in his hands.

  “Understood!” Yui said.

  “Prepare to move!” Erik yelled. As he finished activating the spell formation.

  A spell formation was completed in the sky, ice whistled through the skies as the supporting mages behind the second defenses attacked.

  Hail shot through the ranks, killing and maiming those attackers who were lower than Elites.

  Shields appeared around the Crafters, two of the three spell scrolls active as Erik focused on the last scroll.

  The Elites had to huddle together. Many of them were terribly injured as a large spell circle appeared between the Crafter’s Association defenders, who were disengaging themselves from the Blood Demon Masters. Their shields saving them from the hail as they pulled back.

  The wind was shifted as the mana in the area was becoming thin with the multiple activations. A large head appeared, rising up out of the ground as if the magical circle conmnected to some hell. It looked like clay, with its savage eyes and mouth closed, as if a doll. The Blood Demon Sect soldiers sent attacks at the creature but they were stopped at the edge of the magical circle.

  It continued to rise, quickly now. Its body covered in black scars and opened yellow sores.

  It had two arms as large as a man was wide with rusted meat cleavers at the ends, with a tail of skulls hanging off the handle. Blood dripped from the meat cleavers.

  The cricle under its feet disappeared, bering drawn into the creature creating tattoos over its body. It opened its eyes. There was a maniacal look in its eyes, a mix between childlike joy and psychotic blood thirst.

  It took a step and moved forward. Sharp birds formed of white air appeared in the sky and dove toward the creature. It was hit, cutting into its body. But its magical resistance must have been high: it had deep wounds, but none of them were fatal. I
t only got angrier and yelled out.

  “I didn’t think the summoning scroll would be this powerful,” Erik muttered to himself.

  “Continue on to the next fallback line!” The leader of the group ordered.

  The Blood Demon army changed their focus to the approaching and big cleaver-wielding creature that ignored the Vuzgal defenders.

  Spells took off its flesh and arrows stuck in him, but his strength was enough to send Masters flying and to cut through mid-level Journeyman armor.

  Erik wished that he had been free to charge into the fight but he had more to worry about, Storbon and Yao Meng guided him as he was studying his dungeon map, nothing escaped his eyes.

  “Rugrat, sector nine is getting hammered, see if you can hit the Demons there, use a few spell scrolls,” Erik said.

  “Okay I see it,” Rugrat cut the channel and started to coordinate the quick reaction force to whittle down the Blood Demon Sect and give the forces retreating the time that they needed.

  Vuzgal defenders continued to fall back as the Masters gave them the space that they needed.

  ***

  Domonos rode on his mount, his hands on his heavy repeaters, mounted on top of his panther’s shoulder blades.

  Rugrat led the charge with George. Using his knowledge of the local terrain labeled as a dungeon, he could pinpoint where the enemy was and line them up in different streets so they would hit them from the side and quickly escape.

  Through the side roads, Domonos could see the rest of the mounted quick reaction force. There were Masters moving to bolster the strength of those on the ground and then the mounted forces smashing into the groups fighting to weaken the Blood Demon army.

  They turned a corner, seeing a group of Blood Demon soldiers at the intersection.

  George shot out a pillar of fire from his mouth as Domonos pressed the trigger on his dual repeaters.

  Bolts passed through the flames, hitting the soldiers, piercing some of their armor, breaking bones and splitting flesh. Poison covering the arrows seeped into the wounds as explosive arrows blew their group apart.

  They passed over the soldiers, none of them left alive. They stopped shooting and Domonos checked the ammunition he had remaining as they turned through the streets.

  Their real target appeared and they increased their speed.

  “Charge!” Rugrat yelled as he cast repeated spells on the bolts in his repeating ballista. His arrows punched through even Elites’ armor and tossed Masters back like dolls.

  With their sudden arrival, the Blood Demons weren’t able to get organized by the time the mounted Alvan army met them.

  Domonos pulled the pin holding the repeater to his mount and stored the repeater. He drew out his spear in flowing motions. They had practiced repeatedly so that there was no break in his movements. His panther leapt, grabbed an Elite’s neck in their mouth, broke it, then tossed them to the side.

  Domonos deflected an attack aimed at him and sliced at their face, then stabbed another attacker on the opposite side. He was hit in the leg but his armor protected him as one of the Alvan soldiers behind him cut down the man who had sliced at his leg.

  They plowed through, just actions and reactions. Domonos’s spear glowed with a gray light; his spear blurred, moving in his hands as if it were nothing but a broom handle but hit like a hammer, displaying its full weight and strength.

  It was an Expert-level spear; that, as well as buffing concoctions and spells, allowed him to compete with Masters.

  He looked around, checking on his comrades. They were three-quarters through the enemy’s lines. His people were holding up well, but they had various wounds covering them as they fought.

  He saw an arrow fly, hitting one in the eye, causing them to slump on their mount.

  “Younger!” Domonos yelled out but the man was stuck in his saddle, dead.

  Domonos looked at where the archer was, spells already raining down around them.

  They crossed the last enemy, rushing away from the active battlefield. Those in the rear threw out smoke grenades behind them, covering their path of retreat and blocking the enemy from seeing their backs.

  The Alvan army were like reapers as they rode. Appearing like ghosts, slamming into the enemy and then pushing onward, leaving a harvest of death in their wake.

  But they weren’t truly ghosts. They reached a safe area, slowing their pace, and moved to take care of the wounded. Some could treat themselves; others were missing limbs or were affected by a curse or poison that wouldn’t be easily dealt with.

  People from Younger’s section confirmed his death. Sergeant Edwards collected his storage rings on a length of string and put his body into a different storage ring, storing his mount in his own creature storage device.

  He wasn’t the first loss. But they all gritted their teeth, pushed the tears down as their grief turned into anger. Their best way to deal with being attacked, with losing one of their own, was to go out there and to claim the lives of the bastards attacking them.

  “We’re being ordered back to the second line,” Rugrat said.

  “Yes, sir.” Domonos pulled himself back together, just blocking off his emotions. He didn’t have the time to deal with them. He had people relying on him; he could deal with his grief later.

  Rugrat held his eyes and clapped him on the shoulder.

  There was no need for words. They knew that the other understood what they were going through but they were in leadership positions. They couldn’t crumble; they couldn’t show weakness, especially at a time like this.

  “Once the wounded are stabilized, we’ll move out,” Rugrat said.

  ***

  Erik used healing spells on himself to speed up the recovery time from the Stone Skin and Defender’s Might when Glosil found him.

  “How are we looking?” Erik had put Glosil with Hiao Xen. Now he took command; Hiao Xen remained back, ready to take over if Erik and Rugrat died.

  They were kept in separate spots so if a rogue magical attack hit them, the defenders wouldn’t lose all of their command staff in one hit.

  “Nearly forty thousand. Those Masters and Elites came in much faster than we were thinking they would be able to,” Glosil said, trying to soften the blow.

  “Looks like the general on the other side didn’t want to follow the regular rule book either,” Erik said.

  He got a message through his sound transmission device, letting him know that all of the forces in the outer city were pulled back or in one of the secret tunnels, on their way back.

  “The Mana barrier is adjusting,” Erik said to Yao Meng; he sent the message as Erik used his interface.

  The barrier collapsed and then reappeared, reducing in size and covering only the inner city while the mana formations in the outer city continued to work, reducing the ambient mana in the outer city.

  Each of the pillars had been filled with traps, making it hard to gain access and destroy the mana gathering formations.

  “Now their Mana barriers will only have a limited effect in the broken-up city. When they come for the walls, we can use the repeaters and our ranged attackers and they won’t be just shooting into Mana barriers. This is where we will end the Blood Demon army.”

  “What about any trump cards that they’re holding onto?” Glosil asked, as he kept his voice quiet.

  “We’ll just have to hope that our trump cards are stronger. How are the civilians?”

  “They’ve retreated into the valley, a number of them volunteered to fight and assist they’re with the Tareng forces but there are some that are assisting our medics, the mages and the mortars, I checked to make sure that they all took oaths before they began.”

  “Good, maximize our effectiveness,” Erik said he rekaxed a bit and rubbed his face, taking a seat.

  “What are our casualties looking like?”

  “Three for Alva, two to six hundred for Tareng force, not sure who will make it or not. They paid for it, estimate seven to ten thousand
died in the attack,” Glosil said.

  “Who?” Erik asked.

  “Vang, Chang Ju and Su Dara.”

  “Shit,” Erik said, moving his feet on the gravel as it seemed to turn colder. Erik cleared his throat, he couldn’t focus on them right now.

  “How many rounds do we have for the mortars?”

  “Enough to fire at rapiud rate for thirty minutes, can stretch them for continuous fire with them all going, an hour and a half, maybe two?”

  “What do you think about our next moves?” Erik asked.

  “They still outnumber us but the margin is slight, with their thirty thousand to our nine or so thousand. We still hold the defenses and our defenses are tighter with support from ranged elements, medics and such,” Glosil paused. “I’m interested in how many of them will remain after tonight.”

  Erik looked at Glosil to explain further.

  “So they are under oath, yes, but there are ways to get around that oath. The Blood Demon Sect, especially in the last week has been reducing in size with desertions. Their morale is at an all time low. Why not, instead of attacking them head on, we talk to them.”

  “I think we’re past that point,” Erik said.

  “I don’t mean face to face I mean that we get people with volume increasing enchantments on the wall, vowing that the Blue Lotus and the Crafter’s association will hunt them down, that there is no escape anymore. I’m willing to bet that a lot of people will try to run and escape,” Glosil said with a serious expression.

  “Smart, they’re tired hungry and demoralized. Okay, talk to the Tareng people and see if they’re up for it. At the same time, Storbon.

  I want you to send out the assassination squads and the special teams out once the Blood Demon army has regrouped themselves. I want to know what is happening over there. They’re not to kill anyone unless they have to. Now, we just have to hold this wall. If we retreat, then the people in the inner city won’t be able to survive,” Erik said.

  “Should we take the undead as support?” Storbon said.

  With their dungeon control ability, they were the second best controllers over the undead forces of Vuzgal. With them commanding the undead then they could maximize their combat strength.