“OK, the only thing I have found that seems to affect these things is soulfire. Who are you and how much soulfire can you two produce?”
The goblin chuckled, “My name is Gelvin Mahr and I can cast a spell that can cover a thirty-meter radius in soulfire but it is taxing. I can only cast it a few times a day before I am spent. It’s certainly not enough to stop this horde.”
The kobold gently put his scaled hand on her shoulder, “Do not fret, my old friend.” He fixed his gaze on Duke and seemed to come to a conclusion. “I am Thelanos, at least that is the name I have chosen to use for the past few centuries. It seems that this invasion is beyond the capabilities of this world to defend against.”
His words were punctuated by the sound of trees shattering and scream that was abruptly cut off. The three turned to see the forest nearly depleted and the Hounds swelling in numbers. Things were getting critical as the Hounds’ presence and attack was expanding in a rough circle that now covered a two-kilometer wide area. Containing them no longer seemed possible.
Thelanos continued, “It was fun while it lasted.”
Gelvin interrupted, “What are you talking about, Thelanos?”
“This.” The kobold leapt into the air, wings sprouting from his back, his neck elongating while his tail also grew. His entire body grew and transformed as he rose into the air. In seconds, the transformation was complete. No longer was he a humble kobold but instead a massive dragon gently flapping his wings in the air above them all. As he grew his scales had darkened to black with specks of a bright blue-white scattered in patterns that resembled constellations in the night sky.
“Long have I watched over this precious world, biding my time against an otherworldly invasion such as this, but my hiding is over. Heed me, people of Teldin! I can weaken this foe, but I am not able to stop them entirely. You must fight them here and now. Summon your warriors, gather your strength and drive them from your world!”
With that announcement, he unleashed a breath weapon of something that Duke did not recognize. He watched as the dark beam spread out over the mass of Hounds causing them to writhe and howl in pain. With the writhing, came a sense of solidity that Duke suddenly realized meant that they could no longer shift dimensions
Duke didn’t hesitate. He opened the largest Portal he could to the staging area and shouted into his Jewel of Whispers, “Aurelia, send the Legion now. Full send. We need to strike now!”
The roar as the entire Legion charged through the Portal behind a distinctive reptilian creature wearing a kilt and screaming for blood. Duke couldn’t help but smile at the sight despite the tension of the situation. Ophirian charged ahead of even Aurelia, easily outdistancing the Legion with his kilt flopping wildly around his legs.
Gelvin gawked at Ophirian as she asked Duke, “What is that?”
“That is a Great Serpent.”
“I can see that. But what the hells is it attached to?”
Duke kept his face completely deadpan, “That is Ophirian. He’s mine.”
“You can keep him. That thing is just wrong.”
“That’s what I told him, but kids never listen, do they?”
“Kids?”
There was no time to reply as Ophirian hit the writing Hounds with his VENOM SPITTING before peeling off to join Duke off to the side. The Legion continued their charge causing the ground to shake with their synchronized steps. Their ability to keep their strides synchronized at a full charge was a sight to behold as the ground began to undulate ahead of them.
The Hounds were swept upwards by the rising ground, still writhing in pain. A second before the Legion arrived, the ground dropped out from under them to be replaced by spears of the Legionnaires. Hounds were pierced and unceremoniously thrown backwards and overhead for deeper ranks of the Legion to fall upon. The charge continued deep into the mass of the Hounds.
Others started pouring through the portal to finally join the fight. As the armies of Teldin’s various nations poured through the Hounds started to recover. A great howling started up from the Hounds that reverberated at a low register. The harmonics shook the ground like an earthquake, causing countless troops to lose their footing. The more organized armies had some defense against such attacks, but most did not.
The howling caused the dimensional membrane holding the greater number of Hounds outside Teldin’s dimension to ripple and weaken, allowing more and more Hounds to break through. They tore through the membrane in a torrent, adding their own voices to the howling. Unable to do more than keep their feet and fight defensively, the charge collapsed into a static defensive mess with an additional bottleneck at the Portal.
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Duke took to the air still feeling the resonance of the howling reverberating through the atmosphere but having nowhere near as strong an effect as it did on the surface. He flew over the boiling membrane and poured SOULFIRE into it. The reaction was immediate. The howling coming from the Hounds bursting through the membrane ceased to harmonize, instead turning to howls of pain. He did not let up, burning through his Mana.
He ignored the notifications of kills and other effects while he continued to pour SOULFIRE at the emerging Hounds, OVERCHANNELING the Ability to cover the still expanding area. He poured over a million Mana a second into the Ability and was only able to barely hold the area.
He shouted above the chaotic battle below, “Can anyone seal this dimensional breach? I can hold them back for another fifteen minutes but after that, they are going to come pouring through in even greater numbers!” He received no response.
The howling of the Hounds stopped as the pitched battle increased in fervor and intensity. Despite being temporarily cut off from their dimension-shifting Abilities, the Hounds fought with both their physical and their magical Abilities. Blue flames erupted from their maws, melting armor and weapons alike. Mages countered with cold and ice to varying degrees of effectiveness.
A group of Hounds at the front line combined their attacks into a terrifyingly hot flame. The Legion’s front line buckled as a dozen Legionnaires were simply erased by white flames so hot, they broke molecular bonds. Even hundreds of meters away, Duke could feel the heat of the flames despite his distance from the effect. Duke could do nothing, his attention and Mana focused on keeping the vastly larger horde of Hounds from breaking through.
Others jumped in to help to varying degrees of effect. When Ophirian launched himself into the fight in his full form, he crushed dozens of Hounds instantly but was quickly overwhelmed by dozens more attacking and had to TELEPORT back to get healing. Others jumped in as the Portal became more active now that the ground had stabilized yet again.
The Ansky Empire’s forces marched onto the battlefield through the Portal signing in cadence. They were clad in what appeared to be pinstriped cloth armor but the magic that radiated off them was palpable, triggering Duke’s SENSE MAGIC Ability without him even thinking to engage it. From head to toe, they radiated powerful magic. Their weapons, all bludgeoning-types radiated waves of force that harmonized with their chanting and stepping. He had thought that his Legions were impressive as they marched, seeing this army humbled him. Despite this, he smiled as they quickly marched around the beleaguered left flank of the Legions and joined the fight.
Duke continued to pour on his SOULFIRE as his Mana ran down. He had been holding the breach for nearly fifteen minutes now and was coming to the end of his Mana. It was as he strained to keep up the intensity when the Hounds’ dimensional link re-established. Duke could do nothing about it other than keep up what he was doing.
“Damn it all to hell! They are shifting again, and I can’t hold the breach for much longer.”
“I can at least help with the first part of that.” Thelanos added another blast of his breath weapon over Duke’s shoulder, washing it over the Hounds. It didn’t catch the Hounds on the edge as he did not want to catch the friendly troops in the blast. The dimensional link was severed again, leaving the Hounds vulnerable.
In the seconds the Hounds had been able to shift dimensionally, they inflicted heavy damage on the arrayed forces, diving through the front lines as if they weren’t even there to get at the protected mages. They tore into the mages, drawing their Mana and lifeforce out of their bodies before anyone could react.
Thelanos shouted, “I can’t get them when they are so close to allies without wiping out our allies in the process.”
As Duke watched, Gelvin Mahr launched an arc of SOULFIRE at the Hounds that had escaped Thelanos’ breath weapon. The Hounds burned to ash under the intensity but the damage was done – most of the mages were either crippled or dead. The situation was getting worse by the minute.
Duke’s communications crystal rang with a single word, “Incoming!” Before he could look around, mechs started to land around the troops and add their firepower to the mix. The Iron Reaver also poured its fire into the Hounds. This, combined with more forces coming through the Portal to join the fight kept the pressure up on the Hounds, finally seeming to reduce their number since Duke had effectively cut off their reinforcements.
But Duke’s Mana was running out quickly and when it ran out, more Hounds would come pouring through the dimensional breach. He scrambled for something, anything he could do without his SOULFIRE constantly plugging the hole. Finally, an idea came to him, but he knew that it was fraught with risks. Still, he had to try before his Mana completely ran out.
“I’m going to try something. It might not work, but I can’t maintain this for much longer!”
Amara Laya floated closer, shouting above the roar of battle, “If you have something else to try, try it. I will cover the breach with Soul-searing Sands. I do not know if it will stop the Hounds but it will at least slow them down for the few minutes I can maintain it.”
Duke checked his Mana, seeing that it was down below a million, “Do it! I have to cut this off.”
She responded immediately, overlapping his SOULFIRE with her own spell. The swirling blue sands hurt Duke’s eyes to look at, but they seemed to be doing the trick. They did not injure the Hounds like Duke’s Ability had but instead repelled them from the opening. Duke decided that was good enough. He cut his SOULFIRE and began to regen his Mana.
After one minute, Amara Laya began to show signs of strain as she taxed her Mana. She drank a blue potion that Duke assumed was a Mana replenishing one and gave him a nod. He responded back with a nod and got to work.
Duke poured Mana into a new Dungeon Core, pushing his Ability to create a very specific dungeon. He twisted his Ability to its limits, creating the environment perfect for what he was hoping to make. He left the dungeon empty of creatures, however, only giving it the potential of forming them, focusing on the environment fully. He poured enough Mana in to push the core up to sixth level and broke his concentration.
When he looked up, he barely recognized the situation. Amara had collapsed and was being carried in one of Thelanos’ claws. The Hounds were pouring through the breach, and the ranks had broken down into small groups fighting for their lives – he had taken too long.