The whole place that was meant to be a safe haven turned into a death trap. Not having any other exits, it locked guests and crew inside only to meet a wave of angry demons. For the latter, the tightly packed shelter seemed to appear like a real banquet, where hellish creatures could toy with their prey as they wanted. The picture was indeed gruesome. Even horrible, sending the impulses of mixed emotions into Rob’s mind.
Broken bones protruded from dead bodies. Torn limbs, which were thrown away. Splashes of blood covered the previously white walls. The inner guts were taken from the stomach only to create a terrific mosaic. The faces that were bitten off by maws. There were more scenes like that. Each of them showed another awful death of an unarmed man or woman, who was locked with bloodthirsty creatures. Those demons didn’t even try to eat the bodies, clearly aiming only for the kill. And having no weapons to protect themselves, no one in the shelter even managed to put up any resistance.
“It is always like that whenever the demons can get to civilians. Pure massacre,” John’s voice was slightly trembling as the horrific scene managed to pierce his self-erected defense. Others were worse, while Billy didn’t even dare to enter the shelter, staying with unconscious Roger near the entrance in the corridor. Only Riley followed, doing only a few steps inside before turning into a motionless statue.
“They don’t need flesh as far as I can see,” noted Robert, checking the surroundings in case someone lucky made it through. Unfortunately, all he saw was death.
“No, they don’t. There is a theory that they feed on the life essence of living beings. It partly explains the effect of strengthening the portals… But it is just speculation. There is no way to communicate with creatures, whose single goal in existence is to kill you. Okay, Riley, we need your help. I can see the storage door is shut. There must be a medical station, extra weapons, and food. We need you to unlock it… Hey, are you alright?”
Not hearing any response, John turned around only to see the girl with closed eyes, who was trying to keep her calm. He immediately went to her, pointing Robert to go further. The latter didn’t waste any time and continued his search, not even trying to listen to the talk between the pair. The result was the same. He noticed a couple of guard’s corpses with batons, which appeared to be as useful as before, enough only to prolong their lives for several seconds. However, the door, which was mentioned by the former space ranger had quite a few marks, clearly showing at least a short attempt to break through inside.
Touching the deep cuts in the metal, Rob checked the control panel. Luckily, it wasn’t damaged, showing closed status. Looking around, Robert shoved away the thought about the similarity of the scene with one of his unsuccessful assaults that fell under artillery fire, burning and tearing apart bodies in the process.
The humans can be no less cruel or deadly for themselves than any hellish monsters.
By this point, John was already leading Riley to the door. The girl looked pale, despite trying to keep her usual serious expression. Attracting John’s attention, Rob pointed at the corridor, at himself, and at his eyes, silently showing that he would stand on guard there. The man nodded in appreciation before focusing on his possible girlfriend. Robert, on the other hand, walked out, not even bothering about pools of blood and his dirty feet. He heard the clicking sound, when Riley had connected her device to the intact control panel but didn’t turn around. Instead, of raising his voice, Rob asked Billy loudly.
“Hey, boy, how are you doing?”
“You are not much older than me… despite your size,” leaning from the corridor, Billy answered, “Not okay. This is just too horrible… And Roger… He is barely breathing. He took us from the orphanage, raised us, and taught us everything. We are not blood-related with Riley, but we always felt like a real family with Roger being our dad… I am just too worried about him, my sister, and us.”
Glancing to both sides of the corridor, Rob tried to think how to support the young man. He never was good with it, being trained from childhood to deal with his problems by himself. Not that there was actually someone who would help a kid to overcome his fears. Even the previous world left him speechless in most cases or with awkward common phrases, when another newly recruited soldier fell into panic or depression, after experiencing and seeing multiple deaths near him.
“I can’t promise that everything will be fine, but I am sure that me, John, and your sister will do everything in our strength to make everyone alive through this demonic ordeal. And if you can find the courage inside yourself to help us, Roger, and yourself, it will tremendously increase our chances. No matter the size of your possible help, even a tiny piece can be enough to push the scales of fate into our favor. So, just…”
The sharp pain interrupted Robert, sending him to his knees. The pull from Wepwakor, which was constantly somewhere in the background, had intensified to the point, where Rob felt how his soul was sucking out under this dimensional force. Instinctively resisting it, he tried to stay in the place, but it seemed the whole realm was against it. Robert’s body was simply dragged by an invisible force, firstly planting him into the wall and later throwing him across the corridor. Conjuring the steel pickaxes, he tried to stop himself only to how his metal just scratched the surface. The barely visible black particles of a familiar whirlwind were already forming around. Still, the usage of mana seemed to lessen the pull, as if the direct contact with Aether was the best way to fight with link to Wepwakor.
So, he pushed even more energy into a formless construct, the first time after his last jump in power squeezing everything he got into his ability. His mind noted with surprise the sheer size of the steel ball, which easily was compatible with his own body, before focusing on fighting off a summon from Wepwakor. This time this was deliberate action. Robert wasn’t sure he wanted to meet the fake God on its terms when such a pull felt like an emergency. And Rob didn’t want to be a lifebuoy for the creature who called him the Devourer of Souls. It would be even better if the connection couldn’t withstand the force, but that was out of his abilities. Therefore he endured and, fortunately, it didn’t take long before everything went back.
The short fight left him exhausted, making him spend several seconds simply standing motionless. Billy’s worried face with wide opened eyes almost led to laugh – so stupid and shocked it was. However, it was cut off by a red spot that appeared behind the young man. Lighting fast, it was already in jump on Riley’s brother, when the expression of the latter had changed into a look of horror. A first Rob thought Billy noticed the lunging demon, but the quick motion on the periphery of his sight told him that danger to Robert himself was the source of man’s worries.
Reacting on instinct, he conjured a huge steel block while turning around. That saved him from a swing of clawed arms, which cut through the steel. Its owner, the familiar Jaeger, followed with a chuckle before attacking again. Ducking under the swing, Rob created another construct, pushing away the demon. In the next moment, he shouted with all loudness available for him, warning others and most importantly - Billy.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“BEHIND! DEMONS!”
Glancing on the wounded of the hellish creature that stopped bleeding but didn’t have any signs of healing, he made a quick plan in his head. Robert wasn’t sure that he could trade blows with the demon or be fast enough to avoid all its hits. So he had to improvise, using his single advantage to the maximum. His steel.
Titling his head to the side to avoid a thrust from the demonic creature, Rob punched with his metal-covered fist into the enemy’s chest. The Jaeger ignored the hit, going for another swing, which Rob dodged by ducking under only to meet the demon’s knee. Conjuring the shield, he barely was fast enough to cover himself. Still, the impact was strong enough to throw him backward. However, the moment he managed to stabilize himself, Robert lunged forward with a spear. Aiming into the face, he pushed his weapon forward, simultaneously, increasing its length.
The Jaeger simply grabbed the metal shaft, pulling Rob to himself, while grinning with its hellish maw. Unfortunately for the demon, it was exactly what Robert wanted. Following his mental command, the endpoint of the spear had turned into an odd metal net, capturing the horns of the creature. The moment later several spikers protruded from the construct, aiming for the eyes. The demon reacted immediately, closing them while trying to cut off the spear shaft. However, Rob was ready for that, creating a net-like something only to keep the connections.
The spikers broke against the reddish skin that covered its pupils, still making the Jeager groan from the pain. Distracted and blinded for a short time, the creature completely missed the following actions. Already standing behind the back of the demon, he focused on his ability before once again pushing it to the maximum. The steel, acting like a liquid, had covered the horned head and torso of the hellish monster within a single second. Not stopping, it continued to pour further, making the formless ball instead of a precise statue.
Maybe the demon had screamed with boiling rage, but the metal had hidden it well. Keeping the touch with the steel, Robert made a few hits at the back of the enemy’s knee, dropping it on the floor. Pressing the creature with his own weight, he controlled any attempts of the demon to break free. However, despite the enormous strength, the monster needed some range of motion to extract it. The range was completely absent of the sheer amount of steel that covered its body. The same thing was with all cutting claws that simply couldn’t be used from their position.
I hope you can’t keep your breath for too long.
The short John’s mentioning of such need gave him such an idea, while his accident usage of his ability to the maximum had shown that Rob was able to conjure this improvised prison. Or, better to say, the suffocating chamber. The constant pushes from beneath confirmed Robert that the demon was still alive. Therefore, he just continued to use his ability, repairing any damage on a steel blub around the top half of the demon.
It took all his focus, barely allowing looking around. Still, Rob got an image of Billy, lying in a pool of blood, while Riley was trying to cover his wound. The teary face of the girl was barely holding from crying aloud. Especially, taking into account the unconscious Roger’s body, who hadn’t shown any signs of waking up. John was controlling the corridor with two whips, covered in purple blood. Several Imp’s corpses were already near him, looking as if they had gone through the shredding machine.
“How is Billy?” shouted Robert, only to get an angry yell from the girl.
“How is Billy? You fucking bastard had to watch over him. He is dying…,” she was interrupted by John, but Rob didn’t hear what he was saying. The convulsions underneath held him on a single spot, not giving to check for himself. So, he had only to watch how John picked the motionless body of the young man before heading inside the devastated shelter. Riley followed next, only pausing for a second to look at Roger, before disappearing from the view.
Oh, the man is dead. Damn. Hope Billy can make it. Fucking Wepwakor with its summoning pull!
The next five minutes went in a heavy silence. The Jager was still moving from time to time, but both force and rate dropped significantly. It was not enough for Robert to risk, so he just waited for others to return. Fortunately, there were no new demons. The boredom made Rob focus on steel. Under his mental command, the conjured matter started to push inside forcefully, trying to enter the mouth, the nose, and any other holes, that the demon had on his head.
“What are you doing?” The sudden appearance of John not far than a few meters from Robert pulled the latter from his trance. The man was holding an odd weapon in the form of a circle, while another, more common rifle, was hanging behind his back.
“Trying to choke the Jaeger,” shrugged Rob.
“Well, crap. Never heard of such a tactic… And how the hell do you have more nanobots than the volume of your own body? It is impossible! And even from the look – it doesn’t seem to be nanomachines. Are you really a space ranger?”
“I never said I was,” smiled Robert, seeing the change in the man’s expression, “but does it change anything? The demons want to kill me. I don’t want that to happen. The same goes for you. We are one side… How is Billy?”
“He will live,” after a long look, John sighed and answered, “The Imp bit his neck, tearing a piece, but with the active medical station he will be fine… We found a survivor inside. The woman, who is a navigator on the ship… She barracked inside when the captain opened the shelter’s doors and blocked the lockage. It appears he is one of the cultists. He was the one who helped the courier to get inside the ship, avoiding scanners. He was the reason, why most protective screens are left open, giving the ability for demons to walk freely. The woman barely saved herself, but right now is on the verge of a breakdown. She basically left everyone outside, too scared to open the door. Truthfully, it saved her, despite ruining her mind.”
“Okay. So what do you plan to do? I don’t think that the captain would have forgotten about the escape pods. I doubt we can use them now,” asked Robert again, before adding, “and I am not sure I would need one – I don’t have much time left.”
“What do you mean? Oh, forget it… It is even better. I need your help to close the portal. According to the navigator’s words, the ship is heading to the port on an autopilot. We need to stop the threat before the catastrophe increases in size. I am not sure I can handle it alone in my current condition with a limited power core.”
“And you are willing to trust a random strange guy, whose name you don’t even know? Not your girlfriend?”
“I locked them. Shattered the control panel and blocked the door from outside, so she couldn’t follow me… And yes, it’s better to risk a life of strange than the life of a person, who I like. Moreover, you are strong,” John was dead serious, not even willing to joke around.
“Okay. I will help,” nodded Robert before short consideration. He still had his safe vest in the form of a pulling link to get out from this realm in case things went bad. Moreover, if he wished to aim for power, he had to take risks. Not speaking about the possibility of preventing more people from dying. Therefore, pushing once again with his steel, he dispersed it before conjuring a giant maul. The following hit had splashed Jaeger’s brain around the floor, finally killing the enemy for sure. This kind of control shot could never be let down.
No bullshit about the reappearance of the enemy who seemed to die… Hmm, interesting what the portal looks like. Don’t want to waste a chance to see it. Crap, I am slowly turning into an adrenaline-addict maniac.
“Let’s hurry up. I am really on the verge of disappearing from this world,” stretching him, Robert turned to John, who was looking at him like a madman, “What? You don’t believe me? I am archangel Robertino, sent from the Heavens themselves to purge the hellish creatures. No? Why are looking at me like that? You have fucking demons in this world. Where do they come from? From a different plane. Why it can’t be Heaven then? What? Nothing to say on that? So, my mortal friend, show me the way!”