B.F.HUUPS
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Chapter 38. Attack
🕑 Added 2024-05-02 19:34:03 +0000 UTCSpinning the cylinder of his revolver, Abe holstered the pistol and focused on the cloud of purple dots swooping across the horizon. They would soon pass through from the Vale and into the shardworld.
He glanced back over his shoulder, spotting Viara’s energy signal in the air above the hill.
On the other hand, the tower and the hill itself shone as an indistinguishable blur of energy; and had done so ever since the acolytes began their channeling ritual.
Targa had been positioned on the other side of the hill, and he was essentially expected to wait until the attacking horde engaged Xer’s perimeter of golems, and then move to support against the biggest concentrations of enemies.
The golems would hold off enemies for as long as possible, but they weren’t expected to be overly effective in battle and would be used like landmines, exploding once overwhelmed.
Cracking his neck, Abe turned back to the approaching horde. As long as they could hold them off long enough for tethering to be completed, whatever enemies remained were likely to leave.
Metal vibrated as he drew his sword, “Okay, you dead bastards. Let's see what you’ve got.”
A fiery red light burst across the sky, flying toward a large group of purple dots entering the forest to his right.
“That’s the sign,” he mouthed and charged toward the slowly falling flair.
Abe flew through past trees and bounded over obstacles effortlessly as he reached his designated spot.
Several golems stood at the ready, watching the edge of the shardworld. He stepped ahead of them. The plan was to take these out as fast as possible and hopefully move on to the next invasion before any golems had been destroyed.
The purple cloud of energy neared, and he narrowed his gaze as he tried to gain a visual.
Dimming his energy sight, the purple faded and he saw the ivory sea of attackers for what it was. A horde of skeletal fish and other aquatic, undead animals swimming through the Vale.
The moment they reached the forest, they fell to its fall, as if they had the power to swim through the cosmic ocean of the Vale, but not the shardworld itself.
Skeleton fish flopped helplessly across the forest floor, but Abe’s eyes widened as their bones began to twist and crack into limbs and they picked themselves up.
“And just when I thought this was going to be easy,” he grunted and waved his sword through the air in preparation.
An echoing horn boomed through the air, and he turned his gaze up as huge purple dots approached the Vale from above.
“The fuck is that?”
Bursting into the shardworld’s sky came a giant whale of bone and rotted flesh, with round, viking-like shields lining its back.
Abe’s brow rose as dozens of flying, zombified sharks flew into the shardworld, mounted by what looked like skeleton warriors, and a moment later, another whale entered.
“Okay, they’ve got a fucking airforce.”
A third whale entered, but he had to return his focus to the skeletal fish and crabs that were now charging toward him.
No one mentioned flying fucking whales, and they’re heading straight for the tower. I should probably try and deal with these guys quickly.
The clumsy attackers were still learning to wield their land-based limbs, and Abe danced through the throng of skeletal beasts smashing their bony bodies apart with powerful strikes, making shattered bone rain around him.
Within minutes, bones littered the forest floor, and he must have cut down at least a hundred of the beasts—forcing even Abe to take a short breather for his deathly energy to recover.
Swiftly crushing several fish, he turned his gaze to the sky. Energy beams flew forth from the flying whales, scattering across the hilltop.
“That doesn’t look good,” he turned to the golems. They had beaten down the occasional fish or crab that had made it past him, but they hadn’t done much for the most part.
What do I do? They told me to hold the line, but if those things blow the damn tower up, none of this is going to matter.
From the sky, fiery streaks of energy came flying back at the whales and sharks, and green streams twirled up from the tower. No doubt Viara and Xer was fighting back, but the numbers were against them, and within seconds he watched as several attacks landed across the whales with little effect.
The sharks that swam through the air faster, and with more agility shot beams of red energy from their mouths, and they seemed to be chasing something through the air.
That’s Viara, isn’t it?
“You’ve got this,” he said, turning to the golems.
Eyeing the tower, Abe charged back in an arc, cutting through a line of skeletal fish on his way. The fish might not have been much of a threat on their own, but that might change if their numbers build up enough. Not only that, but they posed a risk to the channeling acolytes who couldn’t defend themselves.
Charging back through the forest toward the hill, Abe spotted several golems dotted throughout. At least it seemed like Xer had made sure to space his living landmines out in case he needed to rely on them. And a moment later, an explosion rocked the forest from somewhere in the distance.
“Damn that’s cool,” he mouthed as purple dots were extinguished.
The aerial battle above intensified as he closed in on the hill, and as he got closer Abe noticed that the figures atop the sharks were fighting as well, firing crossbows and rifles from atop their undead steeds.
He spotted Viara’s energy signal. She was fighting back, but she had been reduced to primarily defensive actions with so many attackers chasing her.
Increasing his pace, Abe kicked off and bounced through the air as he cleared the last section of forest and began bounding up the hill.
As he reached the top, his brow perked, “Dwarves?”
The half-sized skeletons were engaged in a melee with several golems and a few zombies while Xer blasted them away from the rear. His green swirling energy lifted the dwarven skeletons into the air before blowing their ivory bodies apart.
He looked up, catching another two dwarves gliding down from the whales circling above, axes in hands.
Shaking his head in disbelief, Abe charged in, cutting down two of the closet dwarves as he caught them off-guard.
Beside him, a dwarf turned its glowing, beady eyes on Abe and banged its axe against its round shield.
“Alright, bone brain,” Abe growled as he engaged the skeleton.
A back and forth began as Abe’s blows ricocheted off of its shield, but its attacks were far too slow to catch him, and soon Abe found an opening and cut it down.
The skeletons were either F-rank or very weak E, but once again, he found himself having difficulty against enemies with good defenses—a reminder that he would need to learn how to use his sword properly.
He eyed the crowd battling toward the acolytes and charged in, his heavy sword crushing through the unguarded backs of the dwarves with relative ease.
As he fought through the crowd, their ranks became increasingly aware of him, and skeletons were turning their shields toward Abe, slowing his rampage.
Banging his sword against a shield, Abe bounced back and knocked away a would-be attacker with his free hand. A dwarf charged as he was forced on his back foot, but its swing left it open and Abe was too fast, flying through its guard and cutting it down.
He glanced up quickly, spotting Viara dodging through the dark sky as dozens of beams of energy trailed after her.
We need to get this sorted.
He pushed forward, disregarding the slow strikes coming back at him. Slamming into a shield, Abe sent a skeleton flying backward. It landed at the feet of a golem and was crushed a moment later as its rocky hand slammed down.
A few axes slashed shallow wounds across his body as he continued—but Abe didn’t care, either cutting his enemies down if he had an opening or just bodying them out of the way.
Soon, he was close enough to the front that green sparks of power burst off a skeleton beside him as Xer’s attacks crashed through the enemy ranks.
“I’ve got this; worry about helping Viara,” Abe shouted.
“What are you doing here?” Xer hissed as he fired another beam of energy at a dwarf.
“Don’t worry about that!”
“Fine,” Xer shook his head and turned his gaze toward the sky. He held up his dark orb and sent several streaks of energy twirling into the air.
The dwarves at the front were thinning now, and at many points there was only a single dwarf between Abe and the remaining golems and zombies, forcing them to decide who to defend against.
Roaring, Abe’s strikes became a blurred flurry as he swung at anything. It didn’t matter if his strikes were blocked or even on target because the furious attack caused mayhem within the skeleton line.
Even the mindless zombies were getting kills now as their enemies were overwhelmed by the relentless attacks coming from all angles.
The battle was far from over, though, as more dwarves flew down toward them. Many of the dwarves had taken to forming groups and shield walls further back from the front line, taking out any scattered zombies or golems.
A group of about a dozen dwarves cut into one of the golems that had been separated, and a moment later it exploded, bursting a hole through their dwarven shield wall and sending the half-sized skeletons flying through the air.
Abe let out a chuckle at the sight of the scattered skeletons as he cut down another dwarf and found himself at the front of the line—besides golems and zombies.
He glanced up again as a shark was slowed by one of Viara’s fiery blasts. A moment later, several follow-up attacks from Xer landed across it, blowing a hole through its chest and sending it crashing down.
A dwarf charged him, but Abe took hold of its shield and muscled it to the ground, stabbing through its skull as he forced it to his feet.
The problem was the whales, which continued their assault relatively unbothered by whatever attacks landed across their huge bodies.
We need to figure out how to deal with those big fucking things, he followed the huge beams shooting through the air in pursuit of Viara. Occasionally, they seemed to partially hit some barrier around her, but for the most part, she dodged them all. The problem was, they were big, a lot bigger than anything coming back at them.
He turned his gaze to the acolytes. Slagot channeled his own barrier around the zombies as they channeled their deathly energy into the tethering rod. Even if Slagot’s attention entirely focused on defending them, he doubted the barrier would last long if the whales decided to focus on destroying the acolytes for energy.
Blasting away the head of another dwarf, Abe took at step back. Several explosions burst across the forest in the distance.
“Damn it, this isn’t looking good,” he gritted his teeth.
“What happened to the plan,” Xer sneered as he stepped closer to Abe whilst continuing to fire into the air.
“How many of those beams do you think Slagot’s shield can handle?”
Xer’s beady eyes darted between the shield at their rear and the giant whales chasing Viara.
“Fine, but my golems won’t last long out there without backup,” Xer growled through gritted teeth.
“Forget the golems. If we don’t figure out how to deal with those things soon, we won’t have a mission to complete.” Abe said.
“And I don’t suppose you have a plan on how to achieve that?”
A red beam of energy from one of the whales slammed directly into Viara’s barrier, sending her flying backward. She lost half her altitude but managed to regain her composure, and flew back up to the whales.
The almost invisible barrier surrounding her flickered and flashed an array of colors.
And it looks like things just got worse.
“Oh, she’s in trouble,” Xer said with an indifferent gaze as he fired into the air.
“Can you at least pretend to care? If she dies, we’re going to fail this.”
