CHAPTER 9

They stood in relatively calm their eyes focused outwards. They knew they were winning, but still prepared for an attack at any moment. There were murmured orders and suggestions that resulted in slight shifts as everyone reorganised in order to meet the next feint.

Howling erupted throughout the garage. There was something primal expressed by the different throats. A declaration of war and a last stand. The hair on the back of his neck rose in response.

“They’re coming.” Someone behind Daniel screeched her voice overcome by fear.

He agreed with her. There was no specific reason for that certainty, but it was there.

“Engage Defences.” Alex snapped.

Pre-emptive magic glowed along shields. Mages started to cast spells, preparing them to be unleashed a moment’s notice. An explosion of active skills was spent, which would be wasted mana if they were not used in the next five seconds. It was a lack of discipline that would normally be commented on, but no one said a thing.

They all knew the fight was coming. Those howls communicated the devil dog’s intentions perfectly.

There was silence.

Streaks of purple came at them. Daniel’s eyes spotted at least five, but his job was not that of a general. His task was to stun with lightning if he got the option or otherwise kill them.

Too fast! He realised in dismay. They went through his strike zone faster than he could react.

Even Priscilla was caught napping.

Time slowed for him as Priscilla kicked in her power. There was a sense of apology and a vague feeling that she had been napping. Daniel wasn’t about to mention that there had been less than thirty seconds since the last fight, but apparently that was enough, and Priscilla valued the opportunity to get some shuteye.

She seemed neither repentant nor concerned about the coming fight.

The tanks with their magic already enabled did better than he did. Professionally, they all moved and blocked all the attackers. Every single dog got knocked back, but the usual retreat after the fight didn’t occur. Instead, the dogs coordinated a counter-attack, pivoting to attack on a different angle almost like they had planned for the shields to block their first attack.

Daniel witnessed it happened. Panic swept through the defenders. Inadvertently, they had collectively relaxed because they had expected the creatures to withdraw and they weren’t ready when the attack continued. There was a moment of madness as the attack vectors of every single dog changed. Alex fell knocked over when one leapt from its blind spot. Another one lowered its head and charged through a gap between two tanks and then was into the less defensive fighters like a bowling ball.

Ingrid, Dave, were both sent flying as it crashed into their ankles. It was not so inconceivable even as tiny as they were they probably weighed over a hundred and fifty kilograms.

There were screams.

Finigan jumped to attack one of them. The club screamed at him and without looking he swung his weapon back behind him and activated his lightning skill.

It felt like he had a wall with his strike stopped instantly.

It, of course, didn’t matter. There was no way he could have the power needed to hurt a devil dog with that sort of strike.

Boom!

A rush of heat burnt the skin of his hand, and he spun to see what had happened. Tamara was down convulsing because of Daniel’s lightning with the devil dog he had struck similarly afflicted on her chest. Its muzzle inches from her throat. Blood Drinker was out of a position and the dog’s eyes stilled. They opened, those beady eyes fixated on Tamara’s neck.

Panic gripped him.

He had seen how easily one of these had mangled a foot.

Tamara’s throat…

Speed and Strength.

The dog moved; it wiggled its haunches to prepare itself to launch itself forward. He could imagine its instincts demanded that it go for the neck and once it had it like the monster with the foot, it would not release.

He was spinning, and he focused on his movements. Everything centred on funnelling power to his boot. He swung through the hip and legs, his quads straining. It was like kicking a footy but not needing to worry about the ball drop.

Its head moved, lunging forward.

He was wearing his steel capped work boots, and he targeted under the dog’s throat more to knock it off her than to kill.

He connected.

Hard.

It was a like thunderclap going off and even the heavy-duty shoes didn’t help him. He felt his feet bones crack as he struck the impossibly solid creature.

The collision sounded almost as loud as the lightning bolt and the dog, after a moment of not moving, got lifted and knocked away.

The club warned him again, and he listened and allowed him to fall forward into a roll right on top of the still stunned devil dog. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a flash of a purple go through the space where his head had been an instant before.

He fell onto the dog that he had kicked. The club did something and the electricity still crackling through it failed to affect him and then he was over the top of it and crashing into some ranged fighters.

Move, Priscilla ordered.

Daniel ignored his broken foot, the searing pain in his hand, and pushed himself to his feet.

Everything was crazy. It was mayhem.

His foot screamed in agony.

In front of him, Tamara was down, Alex prone and not moving. Only half of the humans were still on their feet and a lot of those knocked over were still, or at least not trying to stand. It was not all one way traffic. Most of the devil dogs had been taken down as well. He could see five of them down, a sixth being held back by shaking by spears. A seventh savaging a female swordsman.

In front of him the one he had shocked, kicked and then futility body slammed pushed itself to its feet. It staggered unsteadily, which gave Daniel enough time.

Blood Drinker slammed into its open mouth to the satisfying feel of teeth crumbling. It bit down instinctively on the weapon for a moment Daniel panicked but pure unadulterated pleasure and joy emanated from club and the vines always on it whipped off the bits the dog was not biting and wrapped themselves around the dog’s snout.

Muzzled.

The club was not done yet.

It wanted electricity and lots of it.

Daniel obliged he still had almost forty percent of his mana. Magic flowed down into the dog and there were sparks from the closed mouth and smoke bubbled out of its corners. The dog shook its head, and he was lifted off the ground as he kept hold of his weapon unwilling to lose it once more.

Then the eyes of the dog gripping his club burst before smoke poured out of the now empty sockets.

It died.

He sagged as it stopped rag dolling him. His arms felt like they had almost been pulled out of their arm sockets. There was so much ridiculous strength in the little things.

Once more, he checked for targets. Six dead dogs and the seventh were being attacked by about six fighters simultaneously.

“Healers.” Daniel ordered. “Start working.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

He tugged on Blood Drinker and the vines untied and the weapon came free. Daniel’s eyes searched around for future threats and seeing none he winced at the damage.

Over ten people were down, but while he could help put pressure on some of the open wounds, his efforts were better placed preparing to meet any future strikes.

“Tanks that aren’t injured hold the line.” He ordered. “Everyone else first aid.” Daniel’s eyes swept the room once more. His eyes focused on the shadows and beneath cars. The only threat was the devil dogs. There would be no other monsters in this garage because the dogs would have killed them.

There was a thump behind him. Toby was almost meditative state against the door, holding back the flies that were still trying to get in. No more monsters in here, but plenty outside.

Daniel once more focused outwards. He did not expect an attack because that last one had been intended to finish them and just a couple of extra dogs probably would have changed the result of the fight, so he doubted they had held any of their members in reserve. But he still watched and guarded.

Once more, he shook his head.

The sheer power of the creatures was extraordinary. That impossible strength they had displayed. Most people had seen a dog grab a soft toy and rag doll them, that instinct to shake their head to kill whatever they were holding. The devil dogs had accomplished that with a full-grown human resisting. Superhuman, Daniel corrected his musing. He was way beyond humans.

It made no sense.

It was impossible according to his life experience, but they had done it, anyway. They had possessed his strength on steroids. He looked over at the body of an archer. No one was trying to do first aid. The poor man’s hip had been caught in a dog’s jaw and then that shaking had battered him to bits. The head.

Daniel tore his eyes away. He had seen a lot of horrific things in the last few days, but that might have been the most gruesome.

Deliberately, he studied the wider garage.

There was a flash of movement.

He tensed.

Then a growl.

Discretely, he gathered the energy for a lightning bolt. Low power or not, it could still buy time, maybe even shock one for half a second. The surrounding fighters didn’t need a lot of time after all to take down one of these.

There were more growls from directly in front of him and then a single devil dog emerged walking forward a full metre clear of the cars. It was closer to them than any of the others had got prior to starting the attack.

A long cut was down its side. Then there were more snarls and to his right. Two moved. One was missing its leg a victim of a previous engagement, and the other one had burnt marks on it along with other fresh cuts.

Then all three howled.

The fighters who had been applying first aid were getting to their feet. Injured ones were crawling toward the deeper safety of the group.

They were distracted. Daniel linked his lightning to the two clumped together. “Lightning.” He proclaimed quietly. Humans covered their eyes but the devil dog’s ignored his words.

Boom!

Daniel engaged speed and leapt forward. He was not the only warrior seeking to take advantage of the disorientation caused by his strike. He saw the entire defensive line swarm along with him.

He outdistancing them targeting the devil dog with a wound in its side, the only one not targeted by his lightning. The light and sound must have stunned it, because it stopped howling and blinked furiously.

He brought the club around and down. The beast moved a fraction before the club hit it, but by then it was too late. His blow landed flush on its skull and the club distorted like it was biting the animal.

The monster stumbled sideways and was pointing straight toward the nearest tank.

It lowered its head, that was now missing an ear, and charged.

The tank’s tank shield was protecting his chest while the dog was going for the legs. There was also a massive discrepancy in how the two were moving. The human looked like he was an ultra-slowmo video while it was running at normal speeds.

There was no chance of the shield being dropped low enough to block…

The shield flashed red and then suddenly not only was the tank not moving slowly it was as if he was on fast forward. He knelt down, positioned the shield perfectly in the beast’s way and braced it with his whole body all while the dog was pretty frozen mid-leap.

There was a crash, and the dog bounced backwards.

Daniel pounced upon it before it could recover. Blood Drinker screamed at him in excitement. A plan that it wanted him to follow appeared in his mind and Daniel laughed. It was already what he was planning, the ghostly directions of the club matching perfectly with the movements he was acting out.

Strength engaged when the club was inches from that large wound, and Blood Drinker distorted. The club slammed home. Already cracked ribs from the prior injury shattered and the club plunged right into the centre of the dog. Then he felt the growth magic unleash. The club did its blending. It was slower the normal probably because of the density of the muscle it was destroying, but it blended.

Blood poured out around the club shaft.

It was almost anti-climatic.

The club pulsed and shifted in its hand, and a wave of blood washed out of the wound.

Dead.

Panic flared in the club.

It urged him to leap backward and drop the club.

Priscilla added her thoughts.

Finigan agreed and was as desperate as the other two

He had never wanted to abandon Blood Drinker, but the instructions were clear. He threw himself backwards.

Another devil dog smaller than most of the others was lunging for his retreating form. But it was airborne, and it was going to miss him.

Mostly.

Its hindquarters clipped his knee. He fell heavy and then behind him there was the sound of an impossibly heavy beast crashing into a shield. The tank must have moved to protect him. Daniel turned to see. Control failed him mid twist. He lost his enhanced speed and the need to breathe, to suck in oxygen, was overpowering to the point it felt like his chest was going to burst.

He rolled sufficiently to look. A smaller dog being held off by the tank with red already running down a leg. It unlike the larger ones, appeared to be outclassed even in a one vs one contest.

He collapsed. Tamara stood over him with Mystic Explosion ready to act, but she did nothing.

Then, after a moment of tension, she lowered the weapon and rushed over to a woman on the ground. Her fingers immediately seeking to put pressure on the open wounds.

Chest absolutely heaving, he slumped onto his back and looked up at the poorly painted roof. He struggled to breathe, and he knew sweat was running down his face. Too many efforts, one after the other left him thoroughly exhausted and useless for the rest of the battle. Then again, he had killed two personally and had partial kills on a large chunk of the others taken down. There were a series of thuds against the door to the stairwell. The flies were not giving up. There was no sound of splintering, so he relaxed and shut his eyes and focused on recovery.

The brief spike of panic had receded and there was the noise of organised movement. Alex was barking orders after probably being healed of whatever injury had knocked him unconscious. There were the sounds of people moving and repositioning.

A cloth wiped his brow gently and when he opened his eyes, Tamara was crouched next to him, a handkerchief in her hand. She smiled. “I assume this is your normal napping during a fight.”

“We killed–” He sucked in some air. “–them.”

She nodded.

“How… many?”

Tamara frowned. “Two more in that last engagement.”

Daniel shut his eyes. “Too many.”

“Pretty good result, given that there was a pack of devil dogs down here.”

“But dead.”

“I know.” She lowered her forehead to touch his. “I know.” She sat up and brushed off her tears and then used the cloth to wipe away his own.

“Know…” He paused to recover his breath. “About, queen?” He gasped.

“Almost certainly newborn,” Alex answered him. “We need to kill it. Once its mature, it would be a threat to us even on the upper floors of the hotel.”

“How?”

Alex laughed bitterly. “How it’s a threat? Because it’ll be that powerful. How are we going to kill it?” He hesitated. “That’s a good question. We’re going to have to work it out. But if we have to sacrifice all of our lives to do it, that’s what we’re going to do. It’s not hopeless. A newborn queen should only be able to control flies within about five metres of it.”

“No. Upstairs.” Daniel tried to summarise his feeling as concisely as he could. The range had been longer than that.

“I know what you’re saying, but you’re wrong.” Alex told him. “The Queen can give its drones simple instructions they will act out beyond the queen’s control area. That’s what it was doing when it collapsed onto the floor. Probably left an instruction like knock out the floor come back. It is why they had those spiral patterns and the hubs. The flies would go back into its domain to get new instructions. That’s why there was a pause each time before they knocked out the floor. If it controlled the flies at a distance, it would have killed us when we lost formation, but the drones didn’t know, so they continued with their initial instructions and blew up the concrete.”

Daniel thought about that. “We need to get the queen away from its minions?”

“That’ll work, but killing it is just as effective.”

Daniel chuckled and sat up now that he had recovered enough. “I’m assuming with the devil dogs this place is clear. We can get out.” He pointed towards where light was coming in across the other side of the garage. Presumably that was where the ramp to the street was.

“Need to kill the queen.” Alex repeated.

“Am I missing something?” Daniel asked.

“Yes.” Alex answered. “I had a long chat with Richard about these and believe me, if there’s a queen we want it dead.”

“How strong is it?”

“Its personal strength is low. Maybe the same as an elite ferals. It’s the minions that surround it that matter.”

There was a hint of interest from Priscilla.

What? He thought to her.

New pet?

She didn’t mean a pet for Daniel she meant for herself.

Daniel stopped in surprise. A silver fly?

Yes. Powerful.

But? An insect?

Priscilla didn’t seem to care about that. She saw this as an opportunity to grow their power. A defender for all of them and better still, the queen could sacrifice all the flies to protect them.

I’m not sure it will work like that.

Worth try.

“Would separating it from the other succeed?”

“No kill it.” Alex said.

Daniel’s mind was on what Priscilla had suggested. There was no way he could form a bond with the queen if it was in its hive but if it was separated from them. Then maybe that would be enough. If it was desperate, they could come to an accord and with Alex so terrified of the queen then it had to be powerful and if he bonded it now when it was young and it grew and became more powerful.

Was it better than a battle mount? No, now that he had thought of it he wanted to ride something deadly into battle, but he would give that up to receive raw power. “Can it fly?”

“Not for the first week or two. But I’m not sure how that’s relevant.”

“It might not be.” Daniel muttered

“But,” Tamara prompted, reading him better than Alex had.

“Not sure. Yet I’m gathering data. How does it control its minions?”

“Does it matter?”

“Very much so. If it’s by pheromones, then I encase in a cocoon and can kill it at my leisure.”

“That’s a pleasant thought, but I’m almost certain it’s telepathy or magic.” Alex said flatly.

There were another series of thumps against the door.

Alex looked that way. “Toby can hold that door or day, but if the queen is smart enough to attack.” Daniel pointed straight up at the concrete roof above them. “It’ll get through pretty quickly.”

“If you have an idea to kill it, then let’s hear it.”

Daniel nodded. “I guess that’s fair.” He got up and put his hand on the wooden door.