Chapter 81

Chapter 81

Sapporo was containing An Set, but he wasn’t gaining any ground either. It was a deadlock and everyone knew it. Something was going to give way one way or the other, though, they were both powerful but neither of them had truly unlimited strength. Marta watched them clash with awe in her eyes, regardless of the stalemate. The hero from the international team comprehended the nature of his ability so intimately that he embraced it, practically becoming the entity whose namesake his power drew from. It was unreal, it took her breath away, but it also made her think. Sonya had encouraged Kingshark to consider the nature of his power; she'd even suggested reading material for him.

“The physique of the Norse God Baldur. He could come back from any wound or injury and his body could withstand terrible punishment. His only weakness was mistletoe.” Sonya had said, it had been a cut and dry explanation of how the power worked. Marta could not be killed save for being poisoned by mistletoe. It was an odd, mundane weakness, but one she could live with.

But is that all there is? Who is Baldur? What else did he do? What did he represent? Marta wondered to herself as the ground shook again from another collision between Sapporo and An Set. Above, the terrible serpent coiled again and lashed out at it's invisible opponent. Was it actually fighting someone or was it a visual representation of An Set’s inner state? His actions? She had her theories but she couldn’t clearly wrap her mind around everything she was seeing and experiencing. She had seen some amazing and terrible things since the flash, so she was more used to it than others.

She could only imagine how the others felt.

A chime in her ear alerted her to an incoming communication. She raised her finger to it, her heart leaping into her throat. “Sonya? Are you okay?” She asked hurriedly, getting a glance from Black Lotus.

“It’s Amos, where’s Sonya? I can’t get in touch with her,” Amos said hurriedly. “What the hell is happening over there?”

“She’s in the dungeon, I threw her in to protect her from Duong, the guy’s gone berserk. We’re fighting-” She was cut off by Amos flying into a rant.

“She’s in the- shit! Fuck! Never mind, never mind! Just shut up and listen to me,” He said as fast as he could, “Whatever the hell you guys are doing there is an absolute fuckton of mana in the air right now. You know what that means, right? I’ve got hundreds of monster formation alerts all over the goddamn place on the radar and what’s left is heading straight for the dungeon!”

Marta’s skin went cold, she got to her feet, “Mana in the air?” She breathed, “From all these heroes fighting...”

“Yeah! Probably? Okay, definitely! Anyway you’re going to be up to your tits in monsters in a few seconds and that dungeon? Yeah well that six month timer I put on it just got a hell of a lot shorter. I hope she’s up to closing it because otherwise that place is gonna look a lot like Dharan.”Nêww chapters will be fully updated at novelhall.com

Marta’s spine jolted and she shot an uneasy glance at Black Lotus who to her relief didn’t seem to react. “Amos, I’ll let everyone know,” She said calmly, “I’m here with Black Lotus right now.”

“Are you kidding me? She’s a cultivator, warn me!” He griped, “She probably has super hearing or something,” He sighed, “Nah, I shut you up didn’t I? God damn it, just be careful! It’s about to get really bad in a minute!”

He cut the call and Marta turned to an expectant looking Black Lotus. “What happened?” She asked.

“We’re making mana in the air by having so much of us here, fighting,” Marta explained, “High concentrations of mana create monsters.”

Black Lotus tensed, her expression growing thoughtful before she glanced out at the battle between An Set and Sapporo, the two had parted for a moment and now were charging at one another again. The resulting clash kicked the wind up and sent dust into the air, “How long?” She asked quickly.

“A minute,” Marta said, “And we’ve got the dungeon to worry about too, it might go the way of Dharan if this keeps up.”

Black Lotus nodded sharply and tapped her own radio which crackled for a moment before she got through, “Euclidia alert everyone that we’ve got incoming, monsters are going to start forming soon and there will be a lot of them.”

Black Lotus frowned harder as she heard her response, “Thank you, Stay alive,” She turned to Marta, “I’m going to cover the heroes on the west side with Vytal. Can you help the East? Lifesaver is already on his way according to Euclidia.”

Marta tensed and squared her shoulders, “I’m on it,” She said as Black Lotus grabbed her comrade and darted away. She turned towards the east side of the disaster zone before glancing back at the fighting, at the pockets of multi-colored clouds that were starting to lazily form here and there. It was like watching the initial spark of an apocalypse. Powerful light-touched fighting one another creating an atmosphere that could trigger the end of the world. Amos had mentioned once that if a big enough dungeon exploded, the released mana could trigger another in a chain reaction.

Marta’s heart nearly stopped.

“Oh don’t be like that, love!” Bluestar laughed, “You know he only has eyes for Miss Chernovna!”

“Oh right!” Bandit barked, pivoting and firing off a powerful arrow that pierced three gnolls in a row, “How could I forget he’s utterly hopeless!”

“I’m calling human resources after this!” Firestorm complained.

“We don’t have one yet!” Bluestar said, “Remind me to set one up when we get back!”

“Flag!” Firestorm and Bandit shouted at the same time.

“Nerds!” Bluestar shot back, “Okay it’s ready! Get over here! Euclidia can dump the others inside once it’s formed.”

Bandit brought his hand up to his ear and started backing up towards Bluestar, “Send ‘em our way, miss Euclidia!”

Firestorm threw a fireball in the direction of an approaching cluster of gnolls and it exploded, sending them flying into the air. He started moving backwards, firing shot after shot. Behind him he heard the sound of a stone archway forming and voices coming out of it. Heroes pouring through to escape the chaos and restore some sense of order under the protection of Bluestar’s dome. Bandit fired an arrow over Firestorms shoulder, “Pull back, red! Handmaiden is on her way!”

Relief washed through Firestorm as he started stepping back as well. He was already getting winded, between running around saving civilians at the outset, pummeling An Set with attacks, and now this, he was surprised any of the Heroes were standing. Another shuddering boom from the duel between Sapporo and An Set rang out. The ground shook and a portion of a building toppled over as the transparent blue of the barrier began to form in front of him. He could see past it now and saw an approaching trail of devastation in the form of Handmaiden.

The only problem was what was between her and them. A sea of gnolls had gathered in the open space and had only missed Firestorm and the retreating heroes because of the visual barrier. Now hundreds of eyes turned in his direction. More than a heroic-tier barrier could possibly handle.

He whipped his head back at Bluestar and met her eyes. Near her, Lifesaver was on his knees restoring a wounded man’s arm, the poor guy screaming as flesh knitted itself back together. More injured heroes were coming through Euclidia’s archway. He looked up at Bandit and his comrade nodded to him, his lips formed in a thin line. Before Bluestar could say anything he darted from his position and landed next to Firestorm, rolling his shoulders and adjusting his grip on his bow.

“You owe me,” Bandit said.

“You aren’t going to say anything?” Firestorm asked, stepping through the forming barrier.

“Didn’t we just do a thing about flags?” Bandit grunted.

“Right, right,” Firestorm nodded and slung his mace onto his shoulder, flames coating it and sinking into the head. It began to glow orange, then red, then white. He started to rise off the ground as Bandit stalked forward, drawing his bowstring as the arrow forming on it grew bigger and bigger. “How long till she gets here?” He asked.

“Two minutes, at that rate?” Bandit griped, “Fucking hell she’s strong.”

“Rain of Chaos?” Firestorm asked.

Bandit chuckled and pulled his hood back, scratching at his mess of black hair, “Keep saying stuff like that to me and Bluestar’s gonna be the jealous one.”

The ground shook again and the first cluster of gnolls at the back of the army flew into the air as Handmaiden came in contact with them. Meanwhile, the majority threw their heads back in a battle cry and charged at the two men. Firestorm let out a roar of his own and raised his mace over his head as heat surged through his body, flames spread from the weapon and leaped into the air before raining down in a self-contained cataclysm. A moment later, black arrows joined the firestorm, cutting through the flames and igniting into an explosive combination. Flaming black arrows exploding on contact and sending dark needles everywhere, spreading flames and poison through the ranks of their enemies.

Behind them, the barrier finished taking shape. Dozens of injured and dying heroes inside.