Chapter 87 Blood Angel

“Afraid? There are thousands of undead coming down here as we speak. We have to flee,” one of the others said.

“We didn’t come all this way to give up now,” another one said with a snappy tone.

Kate ground her teeth. They wouldn’t make it back up and out of the dungeon before any undead reached them. They could wait and hope that they could take out however many there were, coming down to kill them but whatever was at the source lay ahead. Whatever animated or commanded the undead. Whatever was responsible for killing Grey, Ethan, and Bert.

There was only one way forward.

She glanced over at Logan.

“I know,” he said in a tired voice, a slight white glow coming from the slit in his helmet as he turned around, greatsword on his shoulder.

“Warriors!” he shouted, interrupting the murmurs and conversations that had started among the others. “We have walked through hordes of these monsters. Everyone of you, has faced death! Whatever horrors await beyond those gates, we are not their prey. We are humans. And this world, is ours. Stand now, and fight. For those who are here. For those we have lost. These creatures are not welcome here.” He lowered his sword and turned towards the bridge. “Let us send them back to whatever hell they’ve come from.”

Kate could feel his magic flow through her, could feel the soreness in her body ease just a little as she rolled her shoulders, her breathing more steady. She breathed out, gripping the weapons in her hands. She was ready.

And so were the others.

Kate heard the Union fighters stepping closer. A shout came from someone else, followed by more, another set of spells washing over them, Kate feeling their power, leaving her steps a little lighter.

She focused her eyes on the stone doors and started towards the bridge, hearing Logan falling in next to her, the others following behind.

The cavern seemed clear, no other creatures ambushing them. She reached the other side, and stopped.

“Set up one of the machine guns facing the bridge, everyone with injuries that are not yet fully healed or with too much itching, everyone with little mana left, and everyone with too much damage to their gear, you stay here and defend the rest from the hordes that are coming down here,” Valery spoke. “The rest, we go in there. It’s time to finish this.”

“We’re taking point,” Logan said, glancing at Kate.

One of the others had rushed towards them, helping Kate put on another pack, her weapons strapped to it, nearly tearing the fabric but it would hold for a few minutes at least. The gunners set up and the rest moved into their teams.

Kate had her weapons ready, mace and axe on her pack, her loaded machine gun in her hands. She glanced at the various groups taking a last check of their gear. “Ready when you are.”

Lewis walked up and touched her shoulder, then turned to his team. “Union Saw, ready.”

“Union Shield, ready,” said Bastian.

“Union Hammer, we’re ready,” Fred added.

Four more teams confirmed before Valery stepped up.

“Union Spear, ready,” she said and gave Kate a nod.

Kate looked at the doors and kicked against the stone. Dust and bits of rubble fell from the top. She kicked again and the stone gave. With her gun raised, she put one hand on the left door and pushed it open the rest of the way, Logan doing the same to her right.

The red light was brighter in here, a broad cavern opening up before them, a dome like ceiling of jagged rock far above, veins of red snaking down on the walls all around, reaching into a near circular pool of blood at the center of the large cavern. Hovering several meters above the pool, Kate saw a single humanoid being, draped in a slow moving cloak of black fabric. Underneath, she saw a rust covered set of metal armor. Its head was covered in a slightly cracked helmet. Like horns, two tendrils of slightly wavering darkness reached up towards the ceiling, several meters long. A black chitin and snake-like tube connected from the blood pool up into the back of the two meter tall and floating creature.

Beyond and near the cavern wall, Kate could see something that looked like an altar. A broad stone slab that looked to be carved into the cavern itself, above it a statue made of stone, its form impossible to determine in the distance.

Kate glanced to the right and left. The air felt heavy down here, iron and death lingering. She walked in closer and towards the floating being, the rest of the Union following in quickly, spreading out in their groups as they started to encircle the creature.

What is that thing?

A ripple went through the pool then, a thin set of waves flowing outwards from below the floating creature.

It moved in the air, angling its head downwards to look at them, its bright blue eyes wide open as it stared right at Kate. It did not look at her like the other undead had. There was purpose there, intent.

It lowered its hands, another ripple flowing out, sections of the pool starting to seethe. Kate aimed her weapon as she saw two stag like heads starting to emerge. A red sphere started forming above the central creature’s head, growing before several threads of red pulsing light emerged and flowed around it, whipping out at Kate and several of the others.

Kate stepped aside and barely avoided the thin line of what she thought to be blood. She raised her gun, aimed, and pulled the trigger.

“Fire!” Valery shouted.

The heavy sound of her machine gun reverberated through the cavern, followed by everyone else opening fire, the first dozens of bullets striking into the metal armor of the creature, ripping out pieces of steel as the bullets glanced off with bright flashes of fire, the vein like threads lashing out in chaotic patterns as it raised its right arm, the sphere of blood above its head flowing down and around its form. Kate heard the second machine gun opening fire, the golden glowing bullets cracking into what looked like red glass, digging deep before they slowed.

It raised its other hand within the floating sphere, another pulse flowing out as more Emissaries started to emerge from the pool, bullets and explosions cutting through them before they fully rose, their skulls cracked and destroyed, the undead falling back into the blood. Kate lowered her gun and aimed at a nearby emerging creature, firing until most of its head and torso was stripped away before she aimed back at the floating being. She stopped her fire and dodged another set of glowing red veins, one of them flashing past her right arm, biting deep into her scale armor with a sizzling sound before she ripped her arm free again.

The golden streaks of fifty caliber rounds from the other gunner now left large cracks in the red sphere, other spells ripping out more of the defensive spell. Kate rushed over to where the other gunner was and fired from a similar angle, the bullets cutting deeper into the floating spell. She could see the creature turn towards them, both hands raised as the glowing veins flowed closer around the sphere, as if knitting the spell back together against the assault.

Not fast enough, Kate thought, seeing the bullets tear deeper and deeper.

A loud shattering sound reverberated through the cavern as the sphere of blood exploded into falling chunks, the veins whipping around wildly as the floating creature reeled back, machine gun fire striking it directly once more, glancing off its armor with bright flashes as bits and pieces of rusted metal were stripped away. It tried to raise its arms towards them but the continued fire and exploding spells coming at it from the groups of combatants forced it to defend instead, hiding its head behind its arms as it was pushed back more and more, the chitin-like connection to the pool stretching further.

Kate and the Union kept up, walking closer as they fired and reloaded, knowing that the undead were on their way down here towards them.

The air in the cavern changed and Kate stopped firing.

The hair on her neck stood up as she scanned the surroundings. She heard the others stop firing too. She could hear a ringing noise in her left ear, heard some of the others scream out. She glanced over to the altar and saw something moving. Flowing. Something that her eyes could not comprehend. It hurt to look at, like a tear in light itself, the red glow fracturing, changing, something else joining in. Something else arriving.

She grit her teeth, a strange pressure smashing into her. She could feel her hands and feet going numb, a strange prickling sensation moving up her arms and legs. Her chest felt tight, her eyes darting from left to right. All she saw was darkness.

Everything within her screamed. She had to run but her body didn’t move. Had to breathe but there was no air to inhale. She had to hide, but she could feel it close in behind her.

Something was here.

Kate could see in the corner of her vision, an eye of nothingness itself. She could not make herself look towards it, could not move, nor breathe. The screams inside of her had fallen silent. Her pulse was slow, her eyes staring forward and into the dark. Whatever had come to find her, it was death.

The eye moved closer, around and in front of her and she could not look away. Death itself looked back at her. She could feel the pressure, in her mind, her chest, her stomach. As if it saw her mind and soul, her blood, her life. Kate screamed, or she thought that she did, the sound silent in the abyss before something in her mind snapped. Her blood pulsed, the silent scream infused with blood, a roar emerging from her tight neck and out into the void.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

She saw a ripple flowing through the darkness of this space.

Kate grit her teeth, tasting blood in her mouth as her skills activated, her perception narrowing, the terror forced back into a distant part of her mind. Her eyes snapped open, the sound of her roar rippling through the pool of blood and the cavern alike.

An Emissary stood before her, its clawed hands on her head and neck, trying to snap it but not quite managing. Kate raised her hands and grabbed the arms of the monster. She grit her teeth and pulled them aside, then kicked at its stomach to make some distance. Reaching behind herself, she grabbed her mace, bringing it down at the now charging monster, the metal biting deep into its skull, the force of her strike leaving the creature staggering to the side.

She saw the frozen and silent fighters of the Union, Emissaries grabbing onto them, slicing through their armor, cutting into chests and heads, breaking their necks before they moved on to the next. She saw the floating being at the center of the hall, its arms raised in a welcoming gesture. And above it, strands of faint blue light and dark bled into their world, as if a night sky had ripped into this cavern.

She left her foe and charged her axe with sound, roaring as she took two steps and threw her weapon, straight at the floating being at the center of the cavern.

The axe struck true, slicing past the metal armor and into its side, the space above it wavering, the darkness receding, faint blue light still mingling with the red veins all around. Screams and shouts resounded and gun-fire followed.

Kate heard the floating creature screech with a high-pitched voice, ripping out the axe in its side. Kate already ran to help her nearest allies, calling for her weapons before she reached the first of the monsters, cutting her weapons into them one after the other as her allies returned to action, grabbing their weapons and resuming their assault, guns fired and spells shot out at the floating being and the Emissaries alike.

When she split the skull of another stag headed creature, Kate turned to see the floating being closer to the back of the cavern and the altar, wounds now showing on its body, much of its armor stripped away as more infused bullets ripped into it. The black connection to the pool was stretched now and the being pulled. It pulled until the snake-like chitin ripped out of its back with a wet sound.

The red veins lost their light in an instant, the cavern illuminated now by faint blue light from above, broad tears still present, in the fabric of reality, starlight shining down on the fighting humans and whatever creature lurked within this cavern.

The being staggered forward and ran with wide and zigzagging steps, reaching the altar a moment later, bullets tearing into its back. It reached for something. A handle in the stone.

Kate rushed towards it.

Stone cracked and broke as the being ripped out a large sword of pale blue steel, red flowing blood covering the blade a moment later. Kate threw her axe at it with one hand as she ran, the monster dodging to the side as it kept running, more bullets and spells striking its form before it staggered back.

The creature screeched in its high-pitched voice, and jumped.

Kate watched it fly high and ran after it, seeing the monster land next to two of her allies, its sword swung in a wide arc, blood trailing after it. The first of her allies blocked with their shield, their form sent flying backwards. The second one ducked and took a step back, the being bringing its other hand straight into her ally’s face, their head snapping back from the impact.

Spells followed the monster but it moved freely now, jumping back and running over the blood covered ground, running in an arc before it reached the next fighter.

Kate caught up then, using her charge to get between the mage and their enemy, her mace raised against the incoming horizontal slash. She could feel the impact rock through her arms, sliding over the stone floor for several meters as she watched the monster focus on her, sizzling blood striking her armor. It looked wild now, its black cloak torn to shreds, much of its armor broken and ripped away, revealing pale white skin and bleeding wounds.

Come now, she thought and grinned, feeling the weight of her mace, the blood pulsing in her veins.

This was the lord of the undead. The source of it all.

And she would kill it.

It closed the distance with two large steps and slashed down with its massive blood covered sword from above.

Kate roared and raised her mace to block and deflect, her knees buckling under the heavy strike. She held on and called for her axe, stepping back as the monster advanced, Kate blocking yet another overhead blow that nearly brought her to her knees, staggering back before her axe landed in her hand. Her allies had regrouped, bullets and spells hitting the monster’s head and side, half its helmet gone already. It took a step to the left, to avoid a flying shard of ice.

Kate stood up, and with the movement charged both her weapons with thrumming sound. She closed the distance and used Crushing Storm. She felt the power flow through her arms as she swung both of her two handed weapons straight at the monster before her. With a roar of sound and blood, the strikes crashed and pushed aside the raised sword of the monster, her axe cutting deep into its chest and her mace into its side, the strike leaving the creature stumbling for two steps.

It jumped back and glared at her, turning to focus on someone else again.

Her allies had reformed into groups again. Healers trying to save those who’d been targeted by the Emissaries, protected by others with shields and magic. The monster rushed to the first group with large and wild steps, then slashed its sword into them, two people with shields blocking the attack as full-auto fire and two spells lashed into the creature, making it back off and jump aside.

Kate ran after it. It is wounded. Weak. She heard her allies, heard their rage, their grief, their fury. Others were following, pursuing, not just her.

One of her allies caught up with a straight flash of speed, her spear thrust at the monster’s chest, its sword moved to block the strike before the spear shifted with shimmering light and pierced deep into the being’s arm instead.

The ally took two quick steps back, deflecting a horizontal strike with her round shield and jumping back. Another fighter reached the monster’s back as it moved to charge, slicing down into the tendons of its left leg with two flaming curved swords, cutting deep into the steel and flesh. One sword got stuck, leaving the man unbalanced.

The creature turned and slapped him aside, leaving him tumbling, his other sword clattering to the ground.

The monster raised its sword to strike at the man when Kate’s ally closed in from the left, a sacred infused shotgun blast flashing out into the being’s side. The creature staggered and hissed at him. Her ally shot again, the blast snapping back the monster’s head. Kate ran past the spear wielder as she charged.

She reached it then, her mace thrumming with sound. She saw the being turn and use a backhand strike to try and push her away. She caught its hand with hers, feeling her muscles tense while she swung her mace at its back with her other arm, blood and sound flooding into her enemy. She heard bones crack and splinter, looking into its bloodshot eyes.

It staggered forward, twirled and swung its sword in a roundabout strike. Kate blocked it with her mace, feeling the sizzling blood flow past her side, her armor protecting her. She saw her allies move in, a golden sword cutting down into the monster’s leg, a spear punching through its neck, burning blades slicing its right arm, a hammer slamming down into its chest.

It whirled its blade around again, clipping someone’s chest before her ally met the strike and halted it, golden glowing sword trembling in the dim light of the stars.

Kate took a step forward and swung her mace, aiming at its injured left shin, cutting deep. She heard the cracking sound of bone. The elbow of the monster struck into her chest in the next moment, sending her tumbling back. Another strike snapped her head back, something hitting her stomach and sending her flying back, weapons clattering to the side.

She landed on her feet and reached out her hands when she saw the blurred image of a sword slashing her way. She ducked and heard it pass above. Her weapons flew close before another slash struck them out of the air, the monster rushing close and slashing its sword wide, too fast for her to duck.

The blade splintered away her scale armor, slicing into her chest as she was twirled to the side and backwards. Something struck her side, hard, and she was sent flying, hitting the ground once before she landed in the pool of blood.

She pushed herself up and coughed, calling for her mace as her vision blurred. Before her weapon came to her, she heard her ally shout a warning. Rolling aside, Kate heard a wet slash and felt the burning blood of the large sword right next to her. She looked up at the creature and caught her weapon, a golden glowing bullet striking its shoulder, leaving it open for a mere split second. Kate used Crushing Storm again, unable to get any real leverage while on the ground. Her arms surged with power, her mace crashing into the legs of the monster, snapping its left shin before it cut into its right.

Her ally with the spear reached them again with her charge, thrusting her weapon at the monster’s chest.

It screeched and stumbled back to dodge, nearly toppling over on its left foot.

Kate could no longer hold her weapon, trying to push herself up as she looked down at her blurred arms, halfway in the pool. She could feel her ragged breathing, her chest burning with pain, something wrong with her left side. She grit her teeth and undid the strap on her helmet, then lowered her head into the pool, and drank deep, gulping down all the blood that she could manage. Her ears above the pool, she heard her allies move closer in a loose formation, still firing at the monster. Quickly, she could feel the pain in her side and chest lessening, her breathing less ragged.

Kate staggered up, her vision more focused as she called for her axe and started running, first stumbling, then more and more steady.

Bullets struck the large being as it staggered back with its sword raised to block the flashing bits of steel, every step stumbling with its one leg broken and angled outwards. It glanced at the firing fighters standing protected by their groups before it jumped back and landed in a crouch. It hissed, its back bulging as the last bits of metal on its body bent and flung away.

Kate charged her axe with sound as she closed in, her breathing hard but steady, her eyes focused once again. She watched on as wings of flesh and bone sprouted from the monster’s back.

No, she thought and flung her charged axe straight into the left wing, the blade slicing through the appendage, right when the monster started to ascend. It fell and caught itself with one hand, its sword sliding over the ground as it tried to stand up but stumbled. Kate jumped, flying past her allies before she landed in a crouch, right next to the monster.

My turn, she thought, then brought her mace down with all the strength that she could muster, roaring with the strike that crashed against the raised blood covered sword, its blade pushed against the being’s chest. Again, she brought her weapon down, the creature letting go of its sword and catching the mace itself with its hands. Kate now pushed her boot against its chest, ripped out her mace from the bloodied hands, and slammed it down, the heavy collection of enchanted scrap metal crushing through the monster’s hands, biting deep into its face and skull.

Kate struck down again, until its hands flapped to the side, unmoving. Her mace was stuck deep, Kate nearly tearing off what remained of the monster’s head when she pulled it out.

Her allies had reached her then, standing close as several messages appeared in her mind.

The cavern was dark now, the strange pale blue starlight gone, flashlights flickering on as people called out towards them.

She breathed out and looked down at the corpse. It was dead.

It was done.

She raised her bloodied mace and roared. Her voice was hoarse, her chest and stomach burned.

Other shouts and cries resounded in the cavern, cones of headlamps illuminating the carnage.

Kate turned her head. Tremors. She felt tremors. In a way that she had felt before.

Monsters were coming.

And she could tell her allies were spent, their resolve faltering. They had won but it was not a perfect victory. She glanced to her ally and breathed out, starting towards the exit.

He did not speak, but followed, reloading the rifle in his hands.

Their prey was dead.

Now, it was time to clean up the rest.