Mark had extended the range of his construct to cover more of the area. Acting as an umbrella against the acid flying around outside. Anyone incapable of protecting themselves clamored under the shield. Otherwise, personal [Mana barriers] went up and an array of defensive skills helped to wether torrent of projectiles.
Mark's resources were holding out. With the staff acting as his conduit, improving the strength and cost of his magic, he was able to comfortably provide a safe zone. To conserve energy he’d switched to treating wounds with medical supplies and deferred the heavily injured to one of his healers. Tommis had been growing in leaps and bounds, and Eugene was not half bad either.
They had almost managed to push to the opening of the bridge. It had taken them almost two full hours to crawl their way here, and their tired fighters were proof of this.
Sam suddenly called down the network.
“Mark we need you up front, I’m sending Isabel and Sofia to cover for you”
Mark frowned, he had noticed they had slowed but there was clearly something wrong.
“Got it!”
Seconds later the twins arrived, floating on a disk of rock. Landing on top of the bus, they rotated in and spread a shield as he dropped his.
Wrapping a new construct around himself, Mark lifted into the air.
From there he could see their fighters up ahead had thinned.
The problem was that a blockage had appeared ahead of them.
One of the totems had not ‘hatched’ into a Titan, instead, it was made up of three Ordinators. Exactly like the one they had encountered while out in the city. It was also fixed to the ground and seemed to direct the Corrupted around it. However, that was not their only problem, nearby five problematic Titans had appeared. These ones were a combination of several Ghasts and a Titan. they had slightly less body mass, but the damned things were capable of flight, as the Ghast’s wings protruded from their backs. This made them both incredibly durable and horrifically fast.
Now either problem would normally be manageable on its own but in this case, when they came together, their danger was multiplied. The Ordinator cluster directed the surrounding creatures and the new Titans acted as its guardians. They had originally had a problem with the Ordinator cluster and had managed to get around it by using Cara’s spatial magic, however, the speed of these Titans made this strategy impossible. They had tried it and the damned things and flown in the path of the explosion, doing only minor damage to it.
So now they had to do it the hard way and separate them from the Ordinator.
Dropping next to Jonathan, Henry and Chole were also here.
The battle was even worse at this junction. All around them, their people fought just to give them the moment to regroup.
Sam spoke as soon as he got there.
“Get rid of them, I’ll take care of the Ordinator as soon as I see an opening.”
This was all she said before they had to move into action, time was like gold. Each second they wasted could be another life lost.
As Mark got closer he got a better look at the creatures, they were all misshapen and the wings sprouting from their backs were clearly straining under the weight they had to carry. Mark wouldn’t be surprised if they were only capable of short bursts of flight, but it didn't matter. They still used the wings to their advantage, to speed themselves up.
Henry's party disengaged from him and he looked towards the titan as if they were exp waiting to be collected.
Mark expanded his construct to cast [Bestowal] on Jonathan, Henry, and Daphne, increasing their speed. Burning all the Mana he’d just regenerated, and a good portion of his Prana. It was a large cost to hit all of them with the buff, but worth it if it got them moving sooner. His Prana was still relatively full even after using a large amount.
Then he dropped his arms down, allowing the cords of iron to uncoil from his arms.
He had stored the spears there because they were large and unwieldy when he was trying to work. So wrapping them from his wrists to his shoulders in a thick spring-like shape was convenient and kept them easily accessible.
All their preparation happened in a single breath.
The Titans charged as soon as they saw their group approaching.
Jonathan was the fastest, followed shortly by Daphne. The two of them engaged, dodging the titan's blows and returning some of their own.
Henry didn’t move as quickly, but when he got there his maul met with the Titans fist to a standstill.
Mark's newly shaped spears were already traveling toward the skull of one of the Titans. As expected the thing was fast, dodging one of the spears and taking the other harmlessly to its shoulder.
Mark had expected them to dodge so he pulled the one that had missed back. The thing almost seemed to have eyes in the back of its head—and judging by its twisted form, it might just—because it shifted out of the way once more.
This time Mark was ready, using [Telekinisis] he shoved the Titan, throwing it back into the path of his spear.
At the same time, Mark changed the spear into two crossing bands and when it made contact with the creature’s back, he had them constrict into hoops. As they did this the iron hoops contracted around the wings of the Titan, and while the Titan was probably strong enough to tear metal apart, its wings were not.
Losing its speed advantage Mark pulled the first spear from the Titans shoulder and whipped it above its head. Plunging it vertically into the top of the thing's skull.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Not even stopping long enough for the Titan's corpse to fall, Mark searched for his next opponent. Jonathan had already carved up his second one and Henry was just pulling his maul from the titan's pancaked head, managing to look grumpy that Jonathan had gotten two of them.
Daphne was still busy with hers but suddenly the sound of lightning going off right next to the Ordinator drew his attention.
Sam must have teleported in and sent a lightning bolt through the Ordinator cluster, killing it with a precise attack, by the time he looked back Daphne had taken hers down.
The relative ease with which they had dispatched the creatures was a combination of strength and teamwork, unfortunately, even that short pause had cost them.
Screams of pain and desperation went up all around them as the Corrupted reaped lives. All Mark could do was send his spear out once more, but even as he killed more Corrupted he knew it wasn’t only their direct strength that was the problem. They were being overwhelmed by pure numbers.
The death of the Ordinator cleared the path forward, and with one final push, they broke through the last obstacle.
Mark felt like his head had broken the surface of the water and he was gasping for breath
The bridge was their lifeline, but they didn’t even have time to celebrate.
The next words out of the Major's mouth strove to drive them forward.
“Everyone remain strong! guide the civilians through. Soldiers we will hold the line until everyone is safe”
Now they had to turn and face the hordes and make sure everyone got through.
The civilians were near the back because it offered the highest degree of safety but now that they had arrived the whole formation was turned on its head. The back quickly became the most dangerous place to be.
Splitting off into two sides, the fighters tried to create an area for people to retreat to.
Mark joined the left side and a construct helped provide them with breathing room. Chloe, Henry, and Daphne arrived right next to him. A wave of fire rushed from Henry's hands, cooking a Titan in seconds.
Chloe broke from their defensive line and dove out amongst the horde.
Mark shouted for her to come back but she seemed to weave through them, dodging the swips coming her way by a fraction of an inch. Moving through enemy territory with purpose and without fear. She seemed to dive out of sight for a moment and reappear holding an ammunition belt, she had no doubt pulled from some unfortunate corpse. Only for her to rip a cord from it and toss it deep into enemy lines onto the nearest roof. The next sound he heard was a series of explosions as multiple grenades went off all at once. The shrapnel caused devastation through the ranks of Corrupted and cracks spread throughout the concrete. The explosions had somehow further damaged the building's structural integrity and the next thing he saw was the building collapsing like a landslide, burying several Titans in the process.
One action had led to all of that.
If Mark didn’t know her magic, he would have thought it was luck-based. She made her way back without so much as a scratch.
Mark shook himself from the stupor and continued to fight. He saw a familiar form next to him and realized the busses must have long since passed because Donny was right beside him. Helping them hold the line. More people joined the line as the whole convoy made it through. Boe roared somewhere in the distance.
With a cry of triumph, the Major called for their retreat. Civilians were already making their way down the bridge, now it was their turn.
Slowly people pulled back, more and more turning to retreat. They were falling back to safety but at the same time, the more people that left the defensive lines to funnel onto the bridge, the weaker and smaller the formation grew.
It continued to shrink until all but the strongest were holding the last piece of ground.
Mark's battle fever was broken by Sam’s voice.
“Jonathan! Mark! We need to go! Everyone is falling back”
Mark had just turned his iron spear into a thick sheet of metal and used it to block the incoming fist when he heard this.
Sharpening the edge he whipped the iron up. It already had the shape of a saw blade, so it went clean through the creature's head, cutting its face in half.
Turning they fell back and when Mark caught sight of the area and staggered.
There were Corrupted as far as the eye could see. Titans, Ghouls, Ordinators, and as the evening neared, even a few Ghasts.
They blanketed the area, taking up all available space, and charging towards the bridge.
It was time to retreat.
Mark joined the group in running as fast as he could. Flying right now was a waste of Mana, better to use it to kill one more.
The bridge was mostly made of steel and concrete and capable of handling the weight of thousands of cars a day, even after the meteor showers it stood as a testament to human engineering.
The horde followed them onto the bridge, climbing across every surface, even using the support cables to get just one step closer to their next meal.
Mark retreated with Daphne and Sam by his side, fighting a backward battle. Having a place to fall back to was their only advantage.
In their rush to escape one of the Knights by their side collapsed and no one noticed until it was too late. Exhaustion was evident on his face, even as he crawled away from the hungry creatures. A Titan was the first to get to the man, bringing its fist down toward his chest in an attempt to crush the man into a paste.
Mark only spotted it as the creature fist made contact with the man's sternum, crushing his insides.
But at that very instant, Mark felt the Aura around him resonate, exactly like Jonathans had during the fight with the Guardian.
Daphne’s Aura blanketed the area like the warm glow of a hearth.
As the Titan crushed the man, there was an explosion of force and Daphne staggered back as if she were the one to suffer the blow.
Mark saw the man on the ground crawl to his feet, a look of bewilderment on his face.
Making a scooping motion Mark used his construct to pull the man towards himself and away from the horde.
All around him, the same thing was happening.
Anyone within Daphne’s Aura that took a hit seemed almost immune to damage but as if to balance the scales, that exact trauma or force rebounded back on her. She was taking all the damage for anyone around herself.
Seeing this Mark sent Prana to recover her wounds, but they appeared almost as fast as Mark could get rid of them.
At the same time, Mark noticed something else in the creatures around them. With each failed attack on their people, the Corrupted that made the attack recoiled as if struck. Daphne was somehow returning some of the damage to the creatures around them. It was minor but it acted as a buffer, creating some breathing room.
When people realized they couldn’t get hurt they began to block the horde without fear, and slowly their retreat became more stable.
Mark watched her condition the entire time as she slowly took steps backward with gold glowing deeply in her eyes.
Mark could tell that just like Jonathan’s Aura, whatever she was doing was taking an enormous amount of resources.
Still, they continued to retreat, Mark used waves of constructs to push Corrupted back and knock a few off the sides.
Reaching the halfway point Daphne dropped her Aura, completely spent. Mark grabbed her under the shoulder and dragged her backward.
Jonathan and Chole danced throughout the horde, each a force to be reckoned with, but time and numbers were not on their side.
Reaching the last quarter of the bridge Mark could see the front of their formation was reaching the other side. Mark thought he could make out what looked like the flashing of red and blue on the other end.
Then he heard it.
The sound of small but powerful explosives going off. Looking back toward the way they’d come, Mark could see the distance they had traveld and they were almost there but he could also see a series of compact explosions going off on the underside of the bridge behind them, rapidly destroying the structure.