Chapter 226 – Battle of Denyr: Machines And Flames

Lilyth - Team “Demon Furry” - Day 16 - 105 Days Remain

Sav was giving Ren and Phone advice on giving first aid to people injured by shrapnel, so I decided to leave her to it and went over to examine the corpses of our assailants. The [Drowning Tentacles] spell did a number of them.

Imagine sinking/being dragged into liquid darkness only for your body parts to fuck off to parts unknown. Must have been terrifying. I would say I feel bad for them, but I don't.

Not for the first time, I began to wonder how and when I became such a sociopath, but then again fuckers wanted to kill me, so they got what they had coming to them.

Still, against my better judgment, I went through their pockets, but other than some spare ammo and a few rations bars that I quickly hid in my satchel, luckily, I found jackshit. No personal effects, identifying markers or even blood chits.

Wouldn't those “lost pet” letters be base kit for mercenaries?

In general, there was something very wrong about those chucklefucks, as if some essential mortal quality was missing. How the fuck did they shrug off four tentacles bursting out of the ground?

To stop dwelling on it, I began to examine the rifles those guys had. They were long and heavy, with wooden stocks and forends. The metal receiver had some sort of long concave indentation at the top and a triangular indicator at the right side. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out where the bullets went in. There was also a rod-thingie beneath the barrel.

Maybe they are muzzle-loaded? No. That can't be. I saw the ammo. Those were normal cartridges.

‘What the fuck are those things?’ I muttered.

Sav, having finished giving instructions, limped over to me, so I handed the gun over to her. She opened the lever, which caused a hatch-like thingie to open on the top of the receiver and a loaded cartridge to pop out.

‘Breechloader,’ she explained. ‘Don’t think this is a brilliant piece of expert knowledge on my end, though. I simply saw them trying to reload these while you were probably distracted by those two bullets in your torso.’

About that…

I went over to the Lieutenant’s corpse and picked up her revolver. It fit neatly inside my hand. I found the cylinder-release latch and saw that the gun could fit six bullets.

‘Single-action, I think,’ Sav said.

I aimed the gun at Daizya’s corpse and tried pulling the trigger, but it wouldn't budge.

‘Single-action,’ Sav confirmed. ‘Also, I am not sure how big Ere is on her paramour using corpses for target practice. Not that I blame you, given the circumstances.’

Oops.

‘Not a fan,’ I heard her confirm. ‘But she just almost killed you, so I’m also gonna go with “heat of passion” and “happens.”’

Won't make a habit out of it.

‘Good girl. Now, try not to get yourself killed.’

Something that, judging by the increasing intensity of gunfire in the distance, would be difficult.

I looked at the revolver again and put it on the ground next to the corpse. I drank a few mana potions, so I wasn't terribly pressed for firepower, and there was no time for me to learn how to shoot it, anyway.

Sav nodded at me approvingly and then, with a conflicted expression on her face, pressed her hand on her damaged hip and fired off two Life spells in quick succession.

‘Let’s show those bastards what a pair of has-beens can do, eh, furball?’ she grinned.

‘Aye-aye, pinkhair!’ I replied.

Phosi - Team “United in Death” - Day 16 - 105 Days Remain

Since neither Anika nor I got tired all that much, not as the still-alive crowd did anyway, we were making good time. This allowed us to get a drop on a group of Jägers that were setting up an ambush. Or so we thought at first.

Upon seeing the soldiers, I immediately turned into liquid form and bounded towards my prey in a few great leaps.

Time to meet your doom, little snacks.

The Jägers accepted the inevitability of their demise with almost abject indifference, formed two ranks of five men each and started organising an alternating withdrawal.

That actually gave me a pause. This was not how food behaved. While a good chase always made the ensuing feast better, I wasn't an unsophisticated hunter like Her Furry Highness, and I didn't actually need to pursue my meals. Still, I was used to all my snacks having some sort of an emotional reaction to the grim spectre of imminent death upon encountering the ultimate apex predator. Terror was a great seasoning, too.

Another realisation hit me then: the Jägers were utterly silent. No orders. No battle screams. Nothing. Just the methodical retreat.

While the bullets didn't bother me in the slightest, the situation was unnerving enough that I did the unthinkable, I gave up the chase and began to retreat towards Anika. That saved my existence, as mere seconds later, a flurry of glowing orange crystals flew out of one of the windows and landed in a place I would have been exploding in a fiery conflagration. Moments later, the doors of the building burst open, and a pair of heavily armoured Jägers exited onto the street. The armour looked like full plate armour made out of really thick steel plates. The more worrying part was the hoses the men held that were connected to the doughnut-shaped backpacks the heavy Jägers wore.

Flamethrowers! I instantly recognised.

Then another absolutely horrifying thought hit me.

They knew about me. They knew I was coming through here. THEY KNOW.

Caeileera - Team “Red and Blue” - Day 16 - 105 Days Remain

‘On our way!’ I responded to Anika’s panicked call for help.

Aki and I were the closest to them. “Covert Angels” also promised to help, but it would take them a while to arrive. “Sisters in White” were busy treating people Persephone accidentally hurt, and “Demon Furry” were too far and too slow to be of any use.

Shit. This is bad.

Aterian Jägers were quickly proving themselves to be the greatest threat we faced so far, with the obvious exception of the two gods we faced in battle. Hell, “United in Death” running into a group that awfully seemed specifically designed to counter Phosi was either a sign of really bad luck or a really well-planned operation, and given how Persephone had a run-in with a Light mage that could fucking fly… The only conclusion I could come to was that we were in very deep shit.

The question was… who else were they countering? Lilyth, Savri, Ren and Anika didn’t get anyone, at least not that we knew of, and I doubted there would be anyone for either Deirdee or Kart. So that left Aki and me.

I use Sanguine Arcana, and the pipsqueak uses Fire. How would you counter either of us?

The answer came in the form of thundering footsteps heading in our direction.

Well… I wasn't just a Blood mage, and the grimoire I got reflected that.

[Stone Barrier]

With a sound of rumbling, a wall of rock, gravel and paving stone emerged from the road and formed a neat piece of cover for Aki and me.

I then took my carbine off my shoulder and readied it.

‘I really need a gun,’ Aki grumbled as she crouched behind the barrier.

‘We’ll get you one, sweetie.’

Aki smiled and took out an orange bottle from her satchel.

Oh dear.

I knew what that one was. It was called Ifreet’s Blood, and I felt bad for any of the Jägers caught in the blast, as it covered the area in very hot, burning liquid. Aki actually went through some of Lilyth's contacts in the Realm of Fire for tutelage on making it because, as she put it, “she was fond of having skin.”

As I understood, she only had two of those and no way of making more without some very rare ingredients, but if there was a time that called for using one, it was now.

We didn't have to wait long for our foes to show themselves, as soon two hulking, easily five metres-tall mechanical figures, wielding tower shields as large as them if not bigger and very long lances, followed by the mercenaries in dark olive uniforms, emerged from behind the street corner.

Ah. That's how you counter us.

‘Cover me,’ Aki mouthed to me.

I nodded, activated [Dead Eye], leaned out from behind the barrier and fired a series of single shots towards the Jägers I could see from behind the constructs. Fountains of blood blossomed from the chests of two of them, felling them instantly.

At the same time, my blue-haired light bug threw the bottle of Ifreet’s Blood. Luck was on her side, as it perfectly flew through the narrow gap between the shields and, judging by the screams of pain, landed very close to the Jägers. What followed froze the blood in my veins.

There was a series of four shots, and the screams stopped.

Did they seriously just kill their wounded friends?

The constructs, as if nothing was amiss, formed a shield wall, and the remaining mercs huddled behind them, only occasionally leaning out to take potshots at us.

Before we could think of another plan, the machines pointed the lances at us and began to advance.

Aki shrugged and cast [Abyssal Pillar], causing two pillars of dark red fire to burst out of the ground beneath the constructs and melt them into slag. She followed it with [Abyssal Bombardment], and moments later, we were off to help “United in Death.”

Hopefully not a final one.

Aki - Team “Red and Blue” - Day 16 - 105 Days Remain

Phosi and Anika were doing shockingly well. Well, the Ghûl was anyway. The Sconryoll was nowhere to be seen, probably hiding from the heavily armoured soldier with… some device that shot out flames. I could see a corpse of another one just like that down the street, along with the bodies of seven Jägers. What was weird was that there were still nine of them alive. Didn't they operate in squads of ten?

Still, she is an amazing shot with that rifle. Then again, she did serve with Sav, so I shouldn't be surprised. I guess we officially have a sniper now. Now let’s make sure she survives. First, the flame-throwing-thingie guy.

I had a wicked thought and shot a [Lesser Abyssal Bolt] at the round backpack he had. As I suspected, it contained whatever fueled the weapon, and the heat from the spell caused it to explode, blowing the man to bits.

I wonder whether they make umbrellas strong enough to protect from blood and gore.

Deciding it was a business opportunity to explore later, I turned my attention to the remaining Jägers, who, completely undeterred by the flamespitter guy being turned into a freak weather phenomenon, simply changed their tactics and continued to advance in two orderly ranks.

Alas, they should have listened to the weather forecast, as Caei took control of the fresh blood, formed it into spikes and fired them at mercenaries.

Yes. Those umbrellas are definitely a growth market.