Novels2Search
A Foul Light Shines
90: Sword and Shield

90: Sword and Shield

The door yielded to Mavec in moments, and the team cautiously entered the large room. Tracks on the wall with domed turrets were the first thing that caught Mavec's eyes. There were more guns here than in the previous entry room. Worse, by the looks of it, some weren't guns at all. He couldn't tell for sure what they were yet, but they reminded him of the crystals used in the academy libraries in Sha-Laial. The ones that shone customizable light. He wasn't thrilled by the implication of what they might be able to do. The floor seemed to have standard solid metal panels and some grates. No water flowed under them as the previous chamber had. On the far side of the room was another door with a large and complicated locking mechanism at its core. Taking a look at it, it reminded him of an electrical diode. Whatever fucking puzzle this was, perhaps they could simply overpower it. Mavec was packing more electric spells than you could shake a stick at. "I think I can open it. Keep whatever defenses activate off me, and we'll get that door open." Mavec said confidently as he lined up his shot. Lightning danced through the room with a flick of his wrist and the snap of his fingers, striking the diode with unerring accuracy. Three segments on the door lit up, and the room whirled to life.

A half dozen constructs emptied from alcoves in the side of the room as two strange spheres on metal pikes rose from the floor. The turrets, both conventional and crystalline, flared to life. The constructs here were far higher quality than the ones in the first few chambers. Most of them were humanoid in shape, but they were augmented. They moved at a speed Mavec struggled to keep up with, locking onto the wizard. He'd barely had a chance to celebrate the success of charging the lock before a ray of silvery energy slammed into his chest, burning him. Before he could recover, the serrated bladed arms of one of the lesser spinnymen pierced his gut, drawing blood and pain as it threatened to disembowel him.

Illaria rushed in and slashed at the construct, momentarily drawing its attention. Her blade, as sharp and well-trained as it was, wasn't enough to bring the construct down. Illaria wasn't the only one to join the fight properly. Alvec, seeing Mavec's plan, ran forward himself. He also had a few electric spells in his toolkit, but most required him to be much closer. As he ran over the grates, flames jetted up towards him. He dove forward, rolling to snuff out the fire that clung to him before haphazardly pushing himself off the ground into a sprint again. He was thrilled to see that his hellish heritage had once more kept him safe. He'd barely resumed his run towards the door when a bolt of lightning arced at him from the strange pole and sphere that had arisen from the floor. He threw his shoulder back and spun, the electrical burst only clipping him. Once more, his hellish nature took the brunt of the blow. Alusai wasn't messing around. That much Alvec could tell.

Bait took aim at the ceiling, firing off his gun as quickly as he could. Striking one of the automated turrets until smoke poured out of the mechanism. He hollered and whooped in triumph. Naya and Illaria followed Alvec's lead, rushing across the room. They sliced and bit at the encroaching constructs. Much to their surprise, the constructs failed to engage with them. They continued their rush towards Mavec. The still-functioning turrets raced along the domed roof and lined up shots at Mavec.

"What the hell is going on here?" Naya asked as she raked her blades against the back of one of the constructs rushing past her.

"They be seeming to be drawn to Mavec. Sarbie, can we be getting some help over here?" Illaria asked. The girl still near the entrance to the room nodded heartily in agreement and began moving towards Mavec. Before she'd even cleared half the distance, the turrets let loose another barrage at Mavec. He crumpled to the ground, unconscious and bleeding out. Sarbie clenched her teeth and continued to run towards him.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Alvec couldn't help but agree with Naya. Something was off; the entire room had zeroed in on Mavec at an alarming speed. What had elevated Mavec as a threat in the eyes of the defenses? He reached the door at about the same time, and the realization of what Mavec had done gripped him. He'd cast an electric spell, which seemed to have directly charged the door's locking mechanism. "They target whoever uses electricity!" Alvec shouted. There was no telling if they would continue to focus on him where he had already fallen unconscious. It would be up to Alvec to take their attention instead. He charged his hand with electricity and slapped the door's diode. Another segment of the door locks lit up as the spell coursed through it. Alvec braced himself the best he could.

Thankfully, he and Mavec had moved in opposite directions. Most of the constructs would need to cross the room before they could land even a single hit against the shield wizard. The turrets that were still functioning, however, were an immediate problem. Bullets and rays of exotic energy slammed down at him. His array of spells ate the damage from several bullets and a few exotic rays of energy as the constructs switched their focus to Alvec.

Sarbie came to a rest and found herself healing Mavec again. He came to with a groan as his wounds stopped oozing blood. He quickly cast another spell, fading out of sight. It wasn't long before the constructs began to close in on Alvec. Naya, Illaria, and Echo did their best to slow them down, but the constructs paid them zero mind, focusing on Alvec even at their own expense.

Alvec quickly abandoned any grand thoughts of casting fancy spells to take down the enemies assaulting him. All he could do was defend himself. Every ounce of his attention was on dodging and blocking what he could only describe as an onslaught of attacks. His best efforts weren't enough. He was losing this fight slowly, bullets punching holes through his armor. he offered a silent prayer to Tohzen and to his own forethought. The special lining of his clothing was catching some of those bullets.

A warm, comforting light swept over him, as Sarbie's magic reached him, healing some small measure of his wounds. As he breathed a slight sigh of relief, the onslaught began again. He continued to try to minimize the harm he took, but it was clear he couldn't keep this up for much longer. Bait lined up clean shots and took them with wild abandon. Horny wizard need backup. Bait best backup. Illaria, Echo, and Naya swarmed around the cluster of spinnymen, all slashing at Alvec, and began their assault, slowly thinning their numbers with blade and fang.

"I can cast a lightning spell too!" Naya shouted above the din of metal, striking metal as her blades bit into one of the spinny men hammering on Alvec's buckler.

"Don't you dare!" Alvec shouted back. "Be my sword, and I'll be your shield!" He bellowed as he tried to keep his arms up. They were beginning to feel heavy, leaden, and dead. He knew, though, that if anyone else had to bear the brunt of this attack, they'd die. Hell, Mavec had probably only survived because he had been knocked unconscious so easily. Alvec of everyone here was best suited to mitigate the damage, if not dodge and deflect it with all of his arcane might. He just had to outlast them while the rest of the team did their best to take these spinnymen down. Another wave of attacks nearly hammered him to the ground. Only the brief moments of respite as Sarbie's magic again rolled over him gave him the strength to keep standing.

Illaria and Naya gave up on any fancy tricks, focusing on the spinny men instead. Between their combined assault, the ones swarming Alvec collapsed to their demise. Bait, too, had been successful in taking down all of his targets. Looking at Alvec, Naya couldn't help but be impressed that he had managed to stay standing. Blood soaked his clothing where the spinnymen's blades had sunk through. Several bloody puncture wounds and even some discolored burns stood out as well. The poor boy kept his guard up for several seconds, even after the fighting was done. The shock and adrenaline perhaps struggling to purge from his system. Sarbie gently grabbed him and guided him away from the rubble of the broken spinnymen. She pushed him to sit on the floor and knelt beside him as she worked her magic on him. Mavec reappeared, slapping the diode with electricity and charging another bar to completion.