Lain

Sneaky beaky like~

Coating myself in shadows, I sprint forward towards the nearest building and jump into its second story through a busted open window. Peering around the streets beyond the giant ice wall, I signal for the others to make their way across when the coast is clear.

Down the street, I can spot a couple of patrols of Goblins walking around, but they are far enough away that they aren’t able to spot Nathaniel and the others as they move in a crouched run for the cover of the building, their weapons cradled in their arms as they move.

Watch them make it into the building, I look back towards the patrols. From the couple that I can see, it seems to be groups of anywhere from thirty to a hundred little Goblins being led by a single Hobgoblin.

I don’t feel a Field on any of these Hobgoblins, so they might be like Billybilly and can’t use magic… But that doesn’t explain where this other Field is coming from. It’s lightly covering this entire place and feels like ice on my skin. I don’t know if the one behind this Field and the wall can sense us, but as long as I keep mine covering us, we might be safe from detection. Just have to keep thinking sneaky beaky like. We’re shadows. Shadows are sneaky. You can’t sense us…

Giving one last look around the street, I turn my attention back to the giant wall of ice. The hole I burned through it is still slowly sealing up, and already I can no longer see the other side through it anymore. It might only take about another fifteen minutes or so, and then the wall will probably look like nothing had even happened.

I really need to learn how to do this with my constructs…

Once I have had my fill of watching the wall heal, I turn and move deeper into the building, finding a hole where I can drop down and rejoin the others.

With my Field working with my intent for stealth, everyone else has a bit of a black shroud of shadowy smoke floating around them, helping them meld in with the shadows a little. Though, admittedly, with all of them being giants, stealthy shadows can only go so far in helping them hide. Even being the shortest of the bunch, Sam is still an amazing seven and a half feet tall.

I definitely did not make my Fiends with the idea of stealth in mind. They even have a hard time muffling their footsteps; something I do subconsciously… As much as I love them, they really aren’t built for being stealthy. Eventually, I’ll have to make some actual Imps. Go all in on stealthiness rather than trying to make gods of war. At least then, I’ll have some Demons around that are the same size as me. Should be nice… I’ll do that for the next batch along with some more human sized Demons. Maybe I can try to make some that have an innate focus on magic, call them Jinn, I think… Hmm, thinking about types of Demons, there are Succubus and Incubus. I could have them grow wings perhaps? Flying Demons could be useful, the only problem is how- Ach! Down Devil! I need to focus! Now isn’t the time for brainstorming over this stuff. I can do that later. Focus.

Shaking my head to clear my mind, I finish clearing another street, moving across it with a single leap and probably looking like nothing but a passing shadow. Checking both ways, I pull on my connection to the other to signal them forward. They quickly make their way across the street, their armored boots thudding against the pavement, and cracking ice with every step.

I could probably muffle their footsteps by using my Field, but I have a feeling that increasing my Field’s power would just get me noticed. There is a difference between being a quiet shadow sneaking around that nobody notices, and practically shouting, ‘You don’t see me!’ after all. I need my Field to meld with the others and go unnoticed, like your own shadow right under your foot. No one pays attention to their own shadow unless it catches their attention. I need to be sneaky… Sneaky beaky~

“Come on, keep it moving, get inside.”

Speaking in a whisper, I rush them inside and close the door behind us. Never mind that the door is broken, and the wall is basically all opened up and blown out, leaving us in clear view. It’s just common courtesy to close the door behind you.

Heading in deeper, we leave through the back entrance and into an alley way with a rusted-out fence, a tree growing out of a wall at a weird angle, and a dumpster that has colorful ice frozen to its surface from where some kind of leaking nastiness had been. Under the layers of snow is burnt, melting, and now frozen cardboard and other trash that is slowly being returned to nature, looking around, there are even a few scattered skeletons, though they don’t look human.

Moving through the alley and cutting through the rusted fence, we make way for the next block.

We have to come to a stop before we hit the street, hugging the walls and hiding behind debris as a patrol goes walking past our position. The little Goblins are all dressed in rags and dirty coated furs like they all just crawled out of some hole in the ground.

Watching them, the little Goblins seem like a chaotic bunch, as they push and shove each other around, talking loudly in what sounds like a broken or stuttered version of the Hobgoblin’s language. The Hobgoblin of their group, a lanky fellow with yellow skin and green hair, turns around and yells at the Goblins angrily; probably telling them all to shut up or something. Which is honestly what I would have done, because they are being quite loud and annoying, like a bunch of kids throwing a fit in the back seat of your car.

The Goblins just laugh at him, and one even throws a snowball at him. That one gets rewarded with a hard thwack to the back of the head, causing it to face plant into the snow. Leaving the Goblin in the snow as the others laugh at it, the Hobgoblin just walks away while rubbing at his temples, probably trying to work out a splitting headache.

Poor guy…

As the patrol walks away, the one in the snow gets back up with a ‘Pah!’ Spitting out a mouthful of dirty snow, it goes running to catch up with the others, calling out to them desperately as it waves its arms around.

“If they weren’t so ugly, that would have been cute.”

I hear Sam respond from behind me, “The little one are ugly as sin, yes, but at least the tall ones are nice looking… Give them a shower and I might be willing to give one a try~”

I just turn and look back at her, wordlessly asking my question with a look.

“Sorry, sorry, I’ll be alright.”

“Just focus on keeping yourself under control, ok?”

“Yeah, no humping the Goblins.” Jokes Nathaniel.

“Hey, don’t joke about it. She can’t control herself right now.”

Frank cuts in where he is leaning against the wall, “We should have sent her back before we got this far. We’re risking the mission.”

“I’m not sending her back, we need a demolitions expert. She can handle herself just fine.”

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“Mhm, I can. It’s just a bit distracting is all… I’ll manage.”

Frank doesn’t look especially pleased by this, but relents with a slow nod.

“Come on, we need to keep moving-“ I say, but am interrupted by some rattling coming from nearly. Looking off to the side, we all watch as the lid of a trash can gets pushed from the floor, a little sleepy head poking out of the ground and rubbing some of the sleep from their eyes. Crawling out of the hole, the little Goblin wanders over to one wall of the alley, leaning against it with one hand as he takes a piss against the wall mere feet away from us.

We all stand still and shocked as the little guy empties his bladder right in front of us. Looking over to Nathaniel, I wordlessly ask what to do, he just shrugs. Sam mimes doing a kicking motion, but I just shake my head; we’re not going to punt the little guy like a football. Xander points to his sword, but he is too far away to do it, and I just give him an ‘ehh?’ look.

Why would you use your sword, it’s just one Goblin? Are you that desperate to get to use a sword?

I could probably just kill it really quick without a sound, but I’m still debating over whether or not I should use magic or not. I still can’t guaranty that that won’t cause us to get detected by the owner of this icy Field, and before I can decide to just do it by hand and snap the little guy’s neck, Frank ends up being the one to move first.

Frank lets out a sigh and whispers, “I’ll take care of it.”

He walks up right behind the Goblin and raises his fist, but before he can strike, the Goblin leans back and lets out a long yawn with a sleepy tear in his eye. With a little shake and a wiggle, he tucks his little man away and turns to return back toward the hole in the ground.

Only, instead of finding an open alley, he instead walks face first into Franks armored leg. Stumbling back and tripping in the snow onto his ass, the little Goblin looks straight up at the massive Demon that is towering above him.

“A.” Is all he can say at the shock of what he had just ran into, staring up at Frank with open awe and fear.

Frank just takes a second to adjust to the change in situation, lowering his fist and instead raising his leg to stomp on the Goblin.

The little guy immediately panics and lets out a scream as it raises a hand up to slap its own forehead. I just barely catch this happening before Frank’s massive, reinforced boot slams down on him and crushes the Goblin’s upper torso and head into the concrete floor of the alley with a meaty crunch.

My Field ripples as I feal something like a wave move through it from where the Goblin used to be. Something in my instincts compels me to act, to try and stop this wave, but my Field is already nothing but a vague shadow of its normal self. Trying to halt the wave before it leaves my controlled area is like trying to catch a fly with chopsticks. I can’t stop everything around me without also increasing my Field’s presence and power.

In under the course of what is probably half a second, I move my Field to try and do something that I have never done before, and just barely manage to catch the tail end of the wave as the rest of it escapes me.

Freezing what parts of the mana that I could catch, I quickly try to examine it, but I can only discern two things from it. One, it most certainly came from the crushed Goblin. Similar mana is still radiating off of the crushed mess under Franks boot, which is moving very slowly right now.

And second; it feels, earthy… Like dirt in your eyes and a hole in the ground tripping your foot…

Looking up at Frank, he is still moving like he is in molasses, time moving at a crawl as my heartbeat quickens in my chest.

The wave got away from me. Why would a Goblin have mana? Why did it slap its head before it died?

My eyes flicker to the hole in the ground that the Goblin crawled out of, probably leading into the sewers somewhere.

Of course there would be Goblins in the sewers. How many of them are down there? Wait, earth mana?

Pushing downward into the ground with my Field – Something I normally don’t bother with doing. – My wispy and shadowy Field comes into contact with another, quickly getting ran over without notice like a shadow under foot.

Even with time moving at a snail’s pace, this other Field that tasted of earth and feels like dirt in your eyes and a hole under your foot, is moving fast. Heading straight up toward our position.

Shit, the Goblin, it sent an SOS!

Time slowly comes back to normal speed, the ground under us only just starting to shake with a slight tremor.

“Jump!” I scream.

Throwing stealth aside and flaring out my Field into the ground, I try to freeze all the earth mana in the ground as this new Field comes barreling up and slams into mine like a fist into a punching bag. My Field just barely manages to keep its hold over the ground, and only then because mine is stronger, but the one below us is fueled by the environment, literally buried in its favored mana. Up here on the surface, I have the night fueling me, darkness filling every building and alley, but my control over the earth is almost nonexistent. I can only hold the ground together for a second before it becomes too much.

The others thankfully do as I say without question, their powerful legs destroying the floor beneath them as they launch themselves into the air alongside me. Growing out dozens of shadowed limbs and tentacles, I grab the nearest wall and snatch Xander and Nathaniel out of the air before gravity can take them. Frank and Sam hadn’t just simply jumped straight up, but had aimed for the walls of the buildings and slammed their fist through the brick and mortar to catch themselves.

Pulling my Field back from the losing battle in the ground, the earth beneath us quickly crumbles and collapses. The floor of the alley and most of the street outside getting swallowed up in a sink hole of turning stones and running sand.

The buildings we are latched onto are quick to start shifting and shaking, part of their supporting foundation probably just destroyed by whoever is moving the earth beneath us.

With my Field working at full power now and tightly wrapped around us in the air, I am able to easily swat aside the searching tendrils of the other, denying them any hold over our location and keeping them in the ground.

Giving up on contesting me up here, the other Field starts to spread out, making more of the earth shake and causing one of the buildings to start falling into the alley. Sam quickly leaps away from the building, latching onto the one behind me, next to Frank, as I reel Nathaniel and Xander up and behind me.

The others quickly smash their way into the buildings fourth floor, and I throw the others inside before I crawl into the building with my tentacles like an octopus into a hole.

Sprinting to the other side of the building and smashing our way through walls and furniture, we make it out the other side just as the two building collide, smashing into each other in a mess of rubble and flying bricks.

Jumping across the street, I lash out with a tentacle, destroying a wall and letting us land on the third floor of the next building.

The Field of our underground opponent is still following us, pushing up through the buildings to meet and track mine as the earth continues to shake behind us. The building we just vacated collapses into the streets as the giant sink hole chases us, leaving a gaping trench in its wake.

“We need to keep moving! Stay high up and don’t touch the ground, my protection doesn’t go that far!”

“How the hell do we deal with this!? Do we just keep running?” Xander yells out as he plows through what used to be someone’s office.

“Until I figure out how to fight an Earth Mage underground, yes! Keep running!”

We clear another building, and plow into the next, this one having nests of Goblins apparently resting inside around campfires and cuddling on beds of furs. Some scream as they get startled awake by Demons charging through their homes. Some scream as they get ran over and crushed. And some more even scream as they jump at us with makeshift weapons and murder in their eyes. There is just a lot of screaming in this building, and even more so as the whole thing starts to collapse behind us, and they get friendly-fired by their own Earth Mage.

Before we can make it to the next building, a new Field slams into mine from the side, followed shortly by an explosion of flames slapping into the building and blowing out any remaining windows.

“Fuck! Second Mage! Watch out for fire!”

Clearing the building and jumping across another street, I turn to look for where the Fire Mage is. I only have a couple seconds before we are hitting the next building, but it is enough for me to spot a Hobgoblin among a gather mass of Goblins. He is wielding a long metal pipe as a staff, a second fire ball growing atop his pipe and ready to fire.

An explosion rings out behind us as we move through the next building, an apartment complex full of spaces too small to call proper homes.

“I spotted the Fire Mage! Five o’clock, three buildings back.”

“Got it. What should we do? We can’t just keep running like this, can we?”

“I don’t know! Just keep moving for now!”

How do we deal with this. I can probably take out the Fire Mage quickly enough, but he is on the ground. The Earth Mage will swallow us up if we stop moving or if we hit the ground. Can they survive being underground? Can I?

… Maybe. Yes, I can.

If the Earth Mage is the problem, then I just have to deal with it!

Stopping in my steps, I yell out over the noise of collapsing buildings and explosions, “You guys handle the Fire Mage, I’ll take care of the Earth Mage! Go!”

“Right!”

“Yes ma’am!”

They turn right and head for the nearest wall, plowing through someone’s abandoned home, and throwing themselves across the street to go for their target like a pack of hunting hounds on a scent, their weapons at the ready. As the building is starting to collapse around me, I turn and head away from them, pushing my Field into the earth to keep the attention of the Earth mage squarely on me.

Diving through a window, I cover all my libs with shadow fire, slamming my Field into the earth and against my foe’s as the ground opens up below me like a gaping maw of sharpened stone and turning earth.