Chapter 448: Nowhere to run

Carl was

definitely

too old for

this

shit. God damn demons popping out of the sky like rain clouds. God damn life being sucked out of the trees.

‘How’s the weather, Carl? Oh, not bad, Bob. Windy, a little cool, a slight chance of demonic invasion.’

At least this time he was going in with a team of heavy hitters. Becky charged right towards the dying trunks with that shield of hers held high, increasingly muscular frame moving faster than ever.

“I need my rope. Walking is shite.” Seamus complained behind her, puffing already as he scurried along and almost tripped on his robe.

“Stay out of the dying circle…thing,” Carl said. “And keep that aegis on me please, Becky.”

“I’ma step ahead of ya,” she said, stopping at the now obvious shift in vegetation color as they arrived at the portal. “So, uh, guess I just walk inside?”

For the moment all they saw were swirling shadows that

grew

a little before shrinking again. As Carl opened his mouth to suggest they wait and see, one shadow kind of jumped up off the ground. And grew legs.

Seamus was shooting fire before Carl thought to suggest it. Hissing bolts of flame loosed like anti-air rounds, hitting the forming demon with audible force and a spray of light as the thing howled and tried to run before toppling over. Seamus grinned.

“Welcome to earth, ya feck,” he said, then winced. “Er,

New

Earth. Er whatever the feck. Shite I’ve screwed it up now.”

Carl grinned, feeling quite a bit better on seeing the smoking ruin of a demon. “It was still cool. Maybe we just let Seamus barbecue until something tries to get out?”

Becky shrugged, then stepped into the circle. She formed her shield into a mace and slapped it against her other hand in an almost nonchalant gesture of easy violence. Despite being a cute young woman and sort of harmless in Carl’s eyes, he had to admit, she was starting to get kind of bad ass.

“Now don’t you use that damn rain of apocalypse whatever,” Carl said, pausing before he jabbed a finger at the crazy Irishman. “And no I don’t care that it’s almost the perfect size for the portal. This isn’t the arena, this shit is for real.”

Seamus rolled his eyes, waving Carl onward like that was obvious. It wasn’t all that comforting, and Carl regretted reminding himself this was very real mortal danger. He ran a hand over his scalp and took a breath.

At least he had Becky’s Aegis. It was pretty hard to feel much fear as long as the almost invulnerable bubble-hug was wrapped around him. But he still activated Reflection, feeling even safer as his body matched the world around him.

Even if that world was currently kind of ugly, and dying. And also demon infested.

* * *

Phuong swore as he noticed another ring of trees had started turning grey.

“Another.” He pointed. “There could be more portals opening and we just can’t see them yet.” He turned to the other players and settled on Tommaso—he was probably the fastest. “Go get Haley. And maybe the elves. Or Kiaan. I need someone,

anyone

who can see the portals besides Mason. Quickly. We need you back.”

The Italian nodded and took off, probably happy to run away from the spawning creatures. The man was a bit of a problem and Phuong didn’t trust him, sometimes still wondering where he’d been going all the time when they were all in the Neutral Zone. But now wasn’t the time.

He took a breath and drew his blade. Their lack of ‘portal sight’ was the perfect example of why they needed civilian scouts and maybe other things on the road. What else were they missing?

“Let’s go, Alex. I think we can manage alone. Garet—take the rest as soon as you see another portal.”

“On it, boss.”

Boss. Is that what Phuong was now? It was strange to work with foreign ‘soldiers’ with no training or discipline or hierarchy. Phuong had decided as the new Minister of War he would suggest Mason start a kind of boot camp for players. They had ability, even camaraderie, but they needed…

discipline

. Practiced methods.

But no time for that now, either. Phuong dropped down and opened the gate, racing out knowing Alex would be close behind. He knew it was a bit of a risk going with only two players, but with his increasingly powerful friend beside him, and his own growing skill, Phuong was becoming more confident.

He reached the portal edge and ran on without pause, Soul Blade held ready as he searched for something other than shadow. A guttural voice muttered something incomprehensible, and Phuong noticed his already purpleish sword had begun to glow.

He spun and weaved a Stun, and the symbol whipped across the portal, striking what looked like smoke in the shape of a man.

The creature roared in surprise, shadowy mouth open in an ‘o’, red eyes blinking as the creature’s body seemed to melt and droop. Phuong closed the distance in a few hurried steps, and sliced off what should have been its head with a Lethal Cut.

The thing’s body yielded like butter, the ‘smoke’ splattering with inky droplets all over the ground.

[Abyssal demon killed. Planar aura increased.]

[Hidden feature discovered: Open Soul. Nothing is more alluring—and terrifying—to the hollow beasts of the abyss, than the warrior who would face them so exposed. Greatly increased power effect, and increased planar attention, when facing certain planar creatures.]

[Title gained: Bold Soul. Use a soul-based weapon or power against planar entities capable of capturing it. +2 to primary statistic. Greatly increased planar aura.]

Phuong didn’t watch the text until he was sure the demon was dead. He frowned as he saw the words, pleased at the apparent boost, but also…

concerned

with the implications.

He hadn’t really considered his weapon or powers as far as their actual names. He assumed ‘soul blade’ was just…a fantasy-like description, not really different than Carl’s ‘Mirror Shard’ or anything else.

Apparently he was wrong.

What exactly ‘trapping a soul’ meant he had no idea. But it didn’t sound appealing. Could these demons give him something worse than death? It was hard to imagine. And Phuong’s religious beliefs told him such things were ridiculous. But this was the Great Game. And their new, synthetic god seemed capable of almost anything.

Two more shadows sprouted solid limbs, the gangly creatures stepping out and raising their heads in the air like dogs sniffing meat. They turned to Phuong with widening eyes, and he was pretty sure he knew what the meat they were smelling was.

“Come.” He raised his sword and scrolled through his powers, weaving a Way of the Sword: Blast. “Come take it. If you can.”

* * *

Tommaso got back to the wall with Haley, three pretty elf ladies, and Mason’s fancy scout man. He looked out to see the most powerful players all tangling with awful creatures, and thankfully doing pretty well. If he was lucky, he decided, he might not even have to fight at all.

“Ah, not so bad,” he said, grinning at Garet as he took his place beside him. “They’ll close those portals in no time, eh?”

“There’s six more,” said the dark-skinned scout on his other side, looking out over the edge. Tommaso felt his shoulders droop.

“Closest there, there, and there.” The man pointed and turned to look at Tommaso with an obvious ‘so you better get moving’. When that didn’t happen, he narrowed his dark eyes.

“Shall I shout for the Baron?”

Tommaso didn’t like the man’s look or tone. Not one bit. Who was he inferring was a coward, eh? Tommaso was a player. A soldier. And what was he? A civilian who enjoyed the protection of others.

“Shout all you like. That’s what you’re good for, ah? Let the soldiers go kill the demons. Ready, friend?” Tommaso smacked Garet’s broad shoulder and grinned. The American was sometimes very annoying, but also clever, and brave. He’d know what to do.

“Ready enough,” he said, looking a bit paler than usual. He gestured at John and Jason and waved a hand for the gate, and the men all dashed down the stairs. Tommaso followed and tried not to drag his feet.

“Not too fast, eh boys?” he said. “Maybe we only take a portal or two. We’re still low and getting stronger. No need to be heroes.”

“Shut up and run,” Garet called back, and Tommaso rolled his eyes.

He could have easily sped past all of them with his ever-increasing speed. His muscles weren’t stronger, exactly, though he supposed a little. He could just somehow move…

faster

than he ever had in his life. Like the world slowed down whenever he started to run.

But that wouldn’t save him from something even

faster

. Like a damn wizard’s spell or a monster like Mason or probably Jeong. And anything that

caught

him pretty much ruined his day. Tommaso preferred not to see if demons were faster than him or not.

“Take the south side, Jason,” said Garet, and Tommaso relaxed knowing his friend would have a plan. “I’ll take the north. John the east. Tommaso the west. Don’t let anything out your side. If you need help, shout.”

Tommaso felt his stomach try and float away. He had to guard a whole

side

? By

himself

?

“Ahh, I don’t know, my friend. I don’t kill so quick as you boys. Maybe I should…”

“Four of us. Four sides,” Garet said. “Unless you want to take your chances in the middle. But we have no supports and there’d be nowhere to run.”

Tommaso’s new friend turned and gave him one of his ‘you’re doing this’ kind of annoying looks, and Tommaso took a breath.

“OK,” he said. “No problem. No problem. I’ll call if I need you, don’t worry.”

He summoned a Fire Potion and tossed it back and forth. A bad habit, no doubt, but he’d yet to ever drop one. He’d always been quick and a pretty good juggler to make kids smile. And now the speed of his hands matched the new impressive speed of his feet.

“No problem,” he said again, as the others ran off to take their places. He stared at the dying trees and the swirling shadows and tried not to cringe. “No problem.”