enjoyebooks Chapter 7-6
Chapter 7-6
Fortunately, the overwhelming majority of flyers rely on a combination of magic and biology to stay aloft. This restricts them to staying relatively near the ground, as mana rises from the earth and disperses into the atmosphere. It also significantly curtails their ability to range far into lower-mana zones, as the most powerful examples tend to be the largest, heaviest, and most reliant on mana to stay aloft.
In combination, these two factors prevent our townships from being wiped out by flyers on a regular basis. Were they able to soar at unlimited altitudes, it would be virtually impossible to detect them before an attack. As it is, they are still the most likely type of monsters to surprise any defenses.
The same phenomena that aid our safety overall greatly increase the dangers of humans attempting flight for themselves, however. The relatively narrow band of the ‘flight zone’ makes it easy for airborne predators to spot and engage anyone attempting to replicate their mastery of the skies. In addition, many earth-bound species have a limited ability to attack at range and/or the willingness to track and follow flyers until they exhaust their mana and are forced to land.
- Bonnie, Level 41 Beastmaster, Bonnie’s Bestiary
I screamed in fear and anger as I raised my shotgun, hardly needing to aim at the massive head as I ripped through my magazine, knowing it was futile even as I pulled the trigger. Around me, Spells and arrows lanced out, splashing harmlessly off the enormous beast’s scales. My hand flickered, grabbing shells from my bandolier two at a time and ramming them home.
WEEEOOH-WEEEOOH-
The alarm blared for a moment, briefly drawing the attention of the titanic monster away from us.
“INTO THE HALL!” I screamed. “GET IN THE BATHROOMS AND SHOWERS!”
Those were the only rooms in the building with windows too small for any of the creatures outside to get in. We had to hope that the instructors could take down the giant terrordactyl before it returned its attention to us. We quickly cleared the now-exposed common room, the rest of my team taking up positions at the near end of the hallway.
Zaire filled the bottom half of the corridor with two back-to-back Earth Walls, and I took position behind it with Jayce at my side. Raylan hung back, his pistol in his hands, looking furious at his helplessness in this fight. Even Zaire couldn’t do much unless one of the monsters landed, since his best Spells were limited to striking things on the ground.
I dimly realized I should be shaking in fear, or something, but my hands were steady as I checked my gun, ensuring I had a full load. I infused Force, hoping it would be effective against any of the lightweight Tier 0 creatures that might come in through the gaping hole where the ceiling had been.
I’m not letting us lose anyone else the way we lost Alex!
Thinking of the fallen Archer reminded me of something. I concentrated, mentally reaching into my Inventory and finding the box of explosive slugs I’d received for reaching Level 6. I opened my empty pouch and dumped the shells into it, wishing briefly I’d tested at least one at the range so I would know exactly what they did.
Now that part of the building had been ripped away, the sounds coming from outside seemed amplified. Mostly we could hear the deafening shrieks of the terrordactyls, occasionally mixed with the crackle of lightning and other Spells going off. The ground shuddered, and then an explosion of sound hammered into me and I staggered.
The awful noise was so loud that I fell to my knees, screaming in pain, yet I couldn’t hear the slightest bit of my voice against the staggering volume of the hissing shriek. Impossibly, the noise increased in volume, and I felt blood running out of my ears as I blacked out.
I slipped back into consciousness as the ground shuddered beneath me. I winced at the horrible pain in my head, wondering briefly why I couldn’t hear anything. Then I realized my eardrums had burst. I looked around, seeing Zaire’s Earth Walls still standing in front of me, so it couldn’t have been very long. Next to me, Jayce was cradling their head in their mismatched hands, a pool of vomit on the floor in front of them.
Raylan and Zaire were still unconscious, as were several of the other students in the hallway behind us. I thought about using a healing potion to try and recover my hearing and kill the wretched ringing in my ears, but then I wouldn’t be able to use another one if I got a life-threatening injury later. I felt the ground shake again and tensed.
The enormous head of the terrordactyl crashed through the thick stone wall in front of me, a few scattered runes flickering weakly in a futile attempt to resist the unbelievable force. I watched in awe as the stone exploded away from the huge monster. Its head alone was as big as the entire quadrosaur that had nearly killed H’ruk and Tara. I couldn’t help but Identify it, though I knew nothing I learned could possibly make a difference.
Monster: Terrordactyl MatriarchLevel: ?
The giant head paused, an eye several times the size of my head swiveling in its socket. I threw myself to the ground behind Zaire’s wall, then cursed myself for a fool as I realized the creature would easily be able to see the people behind me in the hallway. At least Tactical Reposition triggered, sending a quick flash of mana through me. I felt the force of the creature’s breath whooshing over the wall, reeking of carrion, and I gagged. I forced myself to peer over the barrier, only to see the massive eye swivel and lock onto me.
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FUCK!
Before I could hurl myself to the ground again, there was a flicker of motion and then a shape appeared out of the night, soaring through the air and crashing down onto the monstrosity’s head. My eyes widened in shock as Trite plunged its heads down, biting and tearing with each of its three mouths in succession. I stumbled back at the force of the terrordactyl’s scream, feeling the sound in my chest even though my ears still weren’t working.
I roared back and unloaded my gun uselessly into the side of the monster’s neck as it whipped away from me with unbelievable speed, trying to fling the voracious spiderwolf off its head. My hand flew to my pouch, grabbing a handful of the explosive shells and loading them as fast as I could. I caught a glimpse of a leg that looked more like the watchtower than something living. Then a human figure hurtled through the air and hammered into the far side of the matriarch’s head.
The blow flung Trite off, the creature flying through the air, and the titanic monster’s head was smashed back towards me, hitting the ground and hurling rock and dirt into the air. I ducked behind Zaire’s wall, avoiding the debris, feeling the earth shake below me. When it stilled, I popped back up with my gun leveled. The terrordactyl’s head was barely fifteen yards away, stopped up against the rubble where the front door of the dorm had been just minutes before.
For a moment everything was still, and I felt a stirring of hope that the creature was dead. Then I saw its massive eye flick back open, its enormous pupil contracting as it blinked.
Dead gods, what the fuck does it take to kill this Wasted thing?
I placed the red dot of my sight directly over the monster’s deep black pupil and pulled the trigger. The recoil kicked against my shoulder as I racked the action. I saw a flash of light within the eye and a pathetically small gush of fluids sprayed out. I fired again, only for my shot to impact on the creature’s eyelid as it blinked again. The explosion flared out, a ball of fire a couple of feet in diameter, but the eyelid seemed undamaged.
Trite appeared out of nowhere, flinging itself against the terrordactyl. My teammates joined in the fight, Earth Spikes shattering against its scales while Jayce sent Sonic Bolts crashing into it. I saw sparks fly and glanced back to see Raylan unloading his pistol with a snarl on his face. The ground jumped below me as the creature hurled itself to its feet. A massive blast of wind hurled debris through the air and knocked me backwards, my shot sailing futilely over the creature’s head as I staggered into Raylan.
I saw several streaks of light shoot out of the night and spear into the creature, followed by a massive lightning bolt silently thundering down from the sky above. Then it was gone, the earth shaking in its wake.
Arlo chimed in.
I imagined the Pistoleer shuddering. Without the ability to hear, I couldn’t tell what was going on outside. From the limited area I could see, there still seemed to be some fighting going on, but nothing right by us.
I carefully unloaded the remaining three explosive shells from my shotgun and reloaded with buckshot. I glanced around, looking for the black casings of the explosive shells. I found them with Raylan’s help, but they were cracked through, and I could only restore one of them in my bandolier for a staggering twenty mana. The others were damaged beyond repair, making them almost a one-shot item.
As my eyes roamed around the devastated remains of the front of the dorm, it finally occurred to me that my room was… gone. Totally destroyed. I wondered if somehow my chest with my clothes and pack in it might have survived, but I doubted it.
It doesn’t matter, Az. Things don’t matter. Only people matter, and as far as you know all your friends are still alive. Shit, I hope Wolf and JJ are OK too. And Thompson, since that Wasted spiderwolf of hers might have saved our lives.
A shape flashed by, something much larger than the monsters that had broken into our windows yet vastly smaller than the matriarch. Before I could line up a shot, it disappeared into a tangle of limbs, its wings flailing helpless as Trite savaged it. The spiderwolf tore the terrordactyl’s head clean off and casually tossed it aside.
Then it was gone, skittering across the ground blindingly fast and vanishing out of sight. I realized with a shudder just how much the creature was holding back when I trained Tactical Reposition.
We had to kill several more Tier 0 monsters, but they went down easily under our combined fire. Anything that landed in the ruined building was fair game for Zaire’s Earth Spikes. He was able to cast them from all kinds of unusual angles thanks to the blocks of shattered stone lying everywhere. Raylan had reloaded his magazines and holstered his pistol, standing ready to tackle anything that managed to get close.
Between my shotgun and the two Mages’ Spells, nothing did. Well, except for one of the larger monsters, whose Level I couldn’t see when I Identified it. That creature had been leaping over the bodies of its smaller cousins when a streak of metal flashed through the air and decapitated it in a single clean stroke. I caught a glimpse of what I was pretty sure was a blood-covered JJ, and then he was gone.
I almost collapsed from the relief a few minutes later when I felt a solid rush of Essence wash through me. Cheers echoed over the Comms from the orcs and I guessed they’d reached Level 5. When PAST started to speak to me, I shushed him, my eyes still scanning for any threats. Zaire’s Earth Walls collapsed a few moments later, and he didn’t replace them, hoping the attack was over.