CHAPTER 20 - BATTLE OF THE FURNACE PEAKS

Johnny and the girls made a mad dash for the main cavern, where Yin was reportedly fighting mantis like rift eaters.

Orion left with a handful of alliance members to take on the rift eater problem. He departed to the main portal to deal with the emerging rift eaters.

Qin's parents and some of their followers made their way to an old cavern that only a few knew about. It housed a starship they had come in from fleeing their dying world. The ship was thought to have been lost in an earlier encounter on the new planet the dragoniods were now inhabiting. The story was covered up on its disappearance to keep as a secret ace amongst there own people. Since, sometimes the different races of dragoniods fought against themselves.

Johnny's group arrived to see that half of the cavern had collapsed in on itself. There were many dragoniods buried under debris while others tried to free them. Others were busy launching out dragon summons to hit the starship. They were only causing nothing more than a nussene.

Johnny could see outside of the cavern. It was blocked by a forcefield that was keeping out rift eaters like mantis creatures.

Qin found Yin giving orders. She wasn’t sure what they could do to help. She ran over to her brother who was in all sorts of moods.

“Yin, what can we do to help?” She asked. At first he ignored her.

A few moments passed while a barrage of shots from the enemy starship could be felt hitting the mountain. The hit caused the barrier to dim for a brief second.

FInally, Yin spoke up. “We need to defeat those mantis creatures. Nothing we are using is doing anything to stop them. Plus we need to disarm that cannon on the starship. It has been trying to knock out the force field that protects this place.”

Johnny stood bye as he heard the conversation. He mentally thought of what Julia had told of radiant weapons and fire power he had available. A dark idea came across his mind as he spoke it over with Albert. Albert in response was worried about the outcome of what Johnny was thinking.

Johnny decided to tell Julia of the plan. She was just as worried with his plan as Albert was.

Meanwhile, the starship Qin's parents were one, flew out of a hidden entrance and flanked the Cerberus.

The others watched as they launched off a surpise attack. The enemy was hit with bursts of laser cannons. The attack on tte force field stopped as the Cerberus opened up fire on the new target. This was immediately noticeable to everyone fighting. They all let out a cheer of excitement.

Both ships were pounding each other with cannon fire. No one could get the upper hand. The Cerberus still fired at the force field as the fighting went on. The others used the distraction to their advantage.

Johnny worked furiously in the prototype to make the changes needed. He was able to use the excess reserves of Radiant light to make radiant nuclear warheads. He had just finished the final touches of tuning the prototype into a truck that could launch the missiles. When the primary barrier to cavern finally fell.

Johnny watched as the rift eaters begin to swarm the place. He panicked and accidentally turned the prototype into a monster truck instead of an armored nuclear transport. The bed of the truck had three warheads loaded onto it. With a bunch of passenger seats.

Well this sucks. Is all Johnny could think who looked over at Julia. He quickly told her about his mistake as he tried to fix the mess.

“I’m not even sure how you managed to screw that up.” Was all that Julia said to Johnny as they were now having to fight off mantis like rift eaters.

When the barrier fell Qin, Yin, Margaret, and some nearby dragonoids were doing their best to hold the hoard back. They needed to protect the secondary force field that was in the cavern.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Johnny had to ditch the work with changing the prototype. All they could do was keep the hoard occupied. Johnny had turned his radiant weapon he was able to summon from the core fragment in his head into a shotgun. He kept firing round after round into the endless sea of mantis rift eaters.

Julia was blasting every one of them with all sorts of spells. From ice to fireballs. After she spent all her mana she went to use her short swords to try and severe limbs.

Cleo and Lisa meanwhile where grinding the injured and dying mantis rift eaters to a pulp.

Everything changed when one of the mantis rift eater’s got near the prototype. It froze for a few seconds before letting out a loud screech. All at once the rift eaters stopped. They all then ran for the prototype. Johnny was able to kill the mantis not before it let out if wild cry.

Crap this isn’t good. Thought Johnny as they all the rift eaters ascended onto the prototype. He quickly had Albert start the truck as he got in. He wasted no time as he fired up the truck running over rift eaters as he made a beeline for the cavern exit.

The girls made a clear path for Johnny. For now he just needed to get out of the cavern. He jumped the truck as he made a landing on the outside flattening many rift eaters in the process. He looked back to see all the rift eaters were now chasing him. To add insult to injury the starship headed after Johnny too.

Julia and the others were dumbstruck to why the rift eaters began to chase Johnny. Everyone stood there with their mouths hanging open. Julia was the first to react as she ran with her elven body to help clear out the rift eaters. The other girls followed after.

Why are those damn things after me. Thought Johnny. His own thoughts were interrupted and answered by Albert.

I believe this is why they are after you… Albert had pulled out the void core that Julia given to the AI earlier.

Well that makes a ton of since now… Johnny sighed with frustration as he was now just driving full throttle down the mountain trying to get away from the rift eaters. He kept his speed up as he drove in between mountain peaks to avoid getting blasted by the starship.

Julia and her elites were able to catch up to Johnny thanks to the help of Qin and her summons. Johnny was worried at first when the group approached. Albert alerted him it was Julia and the others. He let out a sigh of relief and thankful it wasn’t a flying enemy.

As the group got closer, Julia, Cleo, and Lisa jumped off the summons as they landed in the bed of the monster truck. Margaret and Qin stayed above to cover as air support.

The three of them asked what they could do for Johhny while he drove. Johnny told then to take to any of the mounted machine guns and just fire away. Any other distractions that got the rift eaters off his tail were welcomed as well.

“What do we need to do with these devices?” Asked Julia as she tried to keep her footing as she had taken to a mounted machine gun firing at the rift eaters that got to close.

“I need to get a clear shot at the starship, but with all the hoards of rift eaters coming here i can’t stop.”

Qin was able to contact her parents via a summon. They were quick to turn the playing field for them as the starship turned around to help. It began to shell the surrounding hoards of rift eaters. Unfortunately it left them open to attack from the Cerberus. The enemy starship opened fire. It damaged some of the stabilizers as it began to lose altitude.

The distraction is all Johnny needed. He slowed the monster truck down to a stop. He then had Albert lineup and fire one of warhead. The next few seconds were utter pandemonium as the warhead slammed into the side of the enemy starship. Everyone was blinded by the radiant light as it detonated. The hoards were instantly vaporized as a dome of blinding white spread for miles.

Everyone sat in silence when the light finally faded. No one attempted to go after the ship. Even the starship that Orion was on. Everyone was sure damage like that no one could survive.

Johnny knew a hit like that the star ship wasn’t going to recover from. He watched as it disintegrated and broke apart. Occasionally, parts and places could be seen flying off in different directions. He watched it finally break into two as it crashed into the mountainside. Not before exploding into a massive fireball. He swore he saw part of the ship rocket away as it blew up though.

With the enemy star ship destroyed and the hoard gone from outside everyone made there way back to the cavern of the furnace peaks. There they were met by the white and black elders of the dragonoids.

“Thank you for getting rid of the rift eaters. You can consider us allies in your future fight against this one you call the loathing one.” The black elder said.

“Unfortunately, like I said before you group is banished from here. I am willing to let you take what you need and go.”

Several hours past as the alliance members who were present dismantled the portal setup. They were going to have to relocate and setup at a new location that Qin's parents only knew about.

Everyone grabbed what they needed and left. Johnny drove the prototype up onto the airship as he watch them ascend into the sky. The alliance was making there way to another location.