Racing into the room, Stan took a quick assessment of what was going on. Eight of them still remained fighting, though Ethel had two of those tangled in vines. The other six were all fighting Frank, two of them dressed in the battle mage outfits they had previously seen. Stan had his targets, and those two had to go down hard now.
He charged forward at the nearest and slashed through the air into what should have been its torso; instead, all he felt was air. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a shimmer in the air to his right as the alien he thought he was slashing appeared next to him, lightning arcing out of its hands. Stan dropped to the ground, trying to duck under the electricity while keeping Excalibur as a shield in front of his face. It worked as energy was drawn into Excalibur instead of the rest of his body.
Stan rolled onto his back and slashed out again towards his attacks legs. This time, he caught more than air as the blade bit deeply into one of its legs. The Gryalth howled in pain, and Stan saw the second mage turn in his direction. He would have preferred not to fight them both at the exact same time, but there was no helping that now. Not wasting the moment, he ripped the sword, sawing deeper into the mage’s leg.
He pulled the sword up in front of his face again, just in time to block the fire coming from the second mage. He kicked up as hard as he could, catching the second mage by surprise and knocking it off its feet. To his side, he heard the first mage begin chanting. He quickly hopped back onto his feet and yanked the second mage in front of him.
The first mage stopped chanting, avoiding the friendly fire Stan had hoped for. Not needing the Gryalth as a shield, he stabbed his sword through it, twisted it, and then ripped it free. One mage down, one to go, he thought as he leaped over the corpse he had just created, sword above his head, ready for a downward swing.
He caught the first mage by surprise, Excalibur cutting deep into its skull. Both mages down. This certainly proved their skills were improving. He turned back to help Frank only to see the remaining Gryalth dead around him and Ethel walking towards them.
“I can’t say I like the gore, but I also can’t argue with the result. I think Cal will impressed to hear how far we’ve come in fighting these things. Do you think we managed to kill them before they got a message off?” Ethel asked after she finished observing the carnage.
“I think so, though I’m not sure how much that matters anymore. They are waiting for us. The last three pools won’t be easy, and we can’t afford to rest up. So clean yourselves off as best you can while Excalibur does his thing, and let’s go,” Stan ordered the group.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
***
Two more pools were down, and Stan had ordered them to take a one-hour breather before the last one. So far Excalibur was on track to have the energy he believed he needed, so that was good. On the other hand, they were battered and bruised. Frank had taken a lot of hard hits in the last fight, while Ethel had expanded most of her mana, trying to untangle the mess they had ended up in. In the end, they had pulled through again, but it just added to how hard the upcoming fight was going to be. Stan believed in his little strike group, but he also believed in the reality of overdoing it. There was only so far you could push before breaking, and he really hoped this last fight wouldn’t be past that limit.
“Something is wrong. We need to be extremely careful and not rush into the next pool,” Excalibur had spoken up, breaking Stan from his ruminating thoughts on the upcoming fight.
“What do you mean? How do you know something is wrong?” The sword’s magical senses outdid all of theirs, except maybe Cal’s, so he didn’t doubt that he was telling the truth, but he needed more information.
“I’m not sure. It’s a very old feeling. It reminds me of what you humans had started calling demons, but that can’t be right. We’d have seen other signs by now. I think instead of rushing into the next fight, we need to try to scout it out and see what exactly is in the chamber,” Excalibur answered. The answer did nothing to calm Stan’s growing anxiety.
“Alright, well then, you and I are going to go ahead, Frank Ethel; Stay back here and try to get some more rest. I’ll yell if I need help. Otherwise, wait for us to return,” There were zero arguments to Stan’s orders. The idea of Ethel being too tired to complain worried him even more.
Painstakingly slowly, Stan crept through the passage, doing his best to keep his footfalls silent. Excalibur kept its voice confined to his head to avoid any extra sound as they walked. “There is a memory you have, from Mars, of things you called abyssal beasts. I suspect they may be what I know more as demons. I do not understand how they would suddenly gain a foothold in our reality at the pool, though. They were not here during the last scouting mission.”
“Who knows, none of us know much about them, alright, keep quiet. I don’t want any distractions as I peek my head inside,” Stan thought back as he poked his head around the bend, quickly grabbing a look at what was in the chamber.
From his quick glance, he spotted four Gryalth battle mages, all standing around a dark red portal, and two more Gryalth pulled eggs from inside the swirling vortex. “Uh, this looks like a problem we have to shut down,” Stan thought to the sword.
“Yes, and quickly. The longer that portal remains open, the chances of larger demons spewing forth, and we are not remotely capable of handling them,” it answered.