Chapter 308. Runaway Staff.
The soldiers lined up on the far side of the trench and began to fire their strange rifles at the enemy as the last gnoll appeared. With the summoning portal closed, I had no more excuses as to why I was holding back. Before the compulsion kicked in, I climbed out of the trench, my remaining minions in the lead to provide a meat shield of some sort.
In front of us was the third trench line. The distance between this one and the second was shorter, maybe a couple hundred yards. Other summoned beings, and surprisingly, a couple of the prisoner unit soldiers were already making their way across the no man’s land between trenches. They had covered about half the distance to the third trench. Directly in front of me, the section of the trench had several mages with wands firing off magic missiles, and the occasional small fireball.
The incoming fire was depleted quite a bit, though the threat to me might have been even greater since there were fewer targets for them to focus on. To my left, the crazy human mage still held his staff aloft, and an imp continued to charge from the portal the staff created every five seconds. While those imps were rather weak, that staff didn’t seem to be running out of minions to summon.
“Digbaz, clear the trench in front of us with your Tornado spell,” I ordered. The only way I was going to make it to the third trench was if we cleared it out a bit first. As my kobold sorcerer minion started his spell, I ordered Blieek to cover him. The goblin dutifully obeyed, standing to block any incoming fire that targeted Blieek.
As for myself, the compulsion to attack was strong, but I held it at bay for a few seconds as I knelt and fired the odd rifle I had been issued. The rounds snapped out of the rifle with a pop and sizzle sound. They looked like magic missiles but weren’t automatically guided.
My training with the soldiers back home kicked in and I started to get a feel for the weapon. I think I might have downed one of the defenders in the enemy trench when Digbaz finally completed his spell. Just like with his duplicate, Digbaz was killed as the spell consumed his life force. A quick check showed that Blieek had also gone down at some point, and I was on my own.
The spell activated, and a roiling cloud appeared over the enemy trench. Like before, the distinctive funnel cloud reached down into the trench, starting a bit to my left. The force of the wind tore apart both defenses and defenders as it moved down the trench at the pace of a slow jog.
The incoming fire abated as the defenders in the third and final trench tried to escape my minions’ spell. Seeing the opportunity, the soldiers of the 42nd joined the assault. They were charging hard toward the objective and would soon overtake my rather sedate pace.
Having more life energy than the duplicate, Digbaz’s spell lasted a few seconds longer. When it finally fizzled out, around 120 yards of trench had been cleared, and my path forward was reasonably safe. I sprinted toward the trench, now that the section in front of me was cleared of defenders, it was less dangerous than standing out in the open.
The enemy’s numbers were depleted by now, and only a few replacements filtered in from further down the trench. By the time I hopped down into the cleared-out section, the soldiers of the 42nd were right on my heels. When they entered the trench, a couple of squads moved to the right, holding off the trickle of enemy reinforcements, while the majority continued through the trench and drove toward the temple which was now only a short distance away.
I joined them, the relative safety of the group giving me a chance to look around. The crazy human wizard and his staff were still to my left, but instead of the tiny imps, the portal his staff created now spewed out larger versions, about double in size of the earlier ones. These new imps were smarter as well, using what cover they could as they joined the attack on the temple.
With the upgraded imps came a slower spawning time. The wizard’s staff could only summon one every ten seconds or so. The elderly wizard was looking a bit rough, and I began to wonder if he was going to have a stroke or a heart attack before we reached the objective.
The ruined temple was surrounded by a stone wall that had tumbled down long ago. Several breaches had been cleared to allow passage through, and those breaches were being held by small groups of enemy soldiers. As they charged, my allies would occasionally stop to fire into the breach, and I followed their lead.
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More rifle fire reached out from the defenders and our soldiers took several casualties. The enemy were also taking losses, and the 42nd was relatively fresh and still had most of their strength. As I neared the closest breach, I readied my javelin, targeting the largest and most dangerous looking enemy soldier.
Crackling with electricity, the javelin flew true and slammed into the enemy soldier, piercing his chest and cooking his internal organs with the electrical surge the weapon released. The gap was almost clear, and with my sword and shield ready for the anticipated close-in work, I charged in behind a pair of soldiers. Before I could get into melee range, the final enemy defender was hit with a rifle shot.
Once through the gap, I could see that part of the temple had been cleared of rubble, and a stone stairway led below. We charged down the steps, and I ended up face to face with another enemy soldier. From the clean, and more decorated uniform he wore, I took my opponent for an officer. He seemed shocked at our appearance and fumbled for the wand at his belt as I ran him through with my blade.
Another enemy officer tried to stab me with a dagger, but I blocked his hasty attack with my shield. The soldiers of the 42nd flooded into the chamber, along with one of the big imps summoned by the human wizard. Trying for a second stab, the enemy officer lunged forward with his dagger, but my Riposte ability triggered and before his blow could land, mine struck.
Unarmored, the enemy was cut down by the heavy slash my Riposte ability dished out. The chamber had gone quiet then, as the other allied soldiers checked the room for further passages. This chamber proved to be the only one, and an officer entered to begin shouting orders.
“Sarnaf, get your unit out there to guard the wall breaches. Find out where the enemy is and if they’re about to counterattack us,” the officer ordered. The man, Sarnaf, nodded his understanding and headed back outside, already shouting to get his troops organized.
“Sir, I’ve got a pair of our fastest runners heading back to our lines. They’ll give word that we’ve captured the temple and that the follow-on forces can start moving this way,” another soldier, probably one of their sergeants, advised.
“Good, pass the word for the rest of the unit to hold here, find a good defensive position and dig in. We’ve taken this spot, and now we’ve got to keep it until reinforcements arrive,” the officer ordered. All but two of the men with the officer remained behind in the chamber, and it looked like me and the old summoner were the only other summoned beings to have survived the attack.
“Cease your summoning, or better yet, head outside and use those things to reinforce the defenses. We don’t need more creatures down here where they can’t do us any good,” the officer said to the now haggard looking wizard. Instead of obeying, the wizard stood there shaking, sweating, and chanting in some strange language that the system wasn’t translating for some reason.
“What is wrong with you? Obey my commands,” the officer said in annoyance.
“I can’t stop him!” the old wizard shouted, causing the officer to order the pair of soldiers to drag the old man out. As they moved forward, the large imp still in the chamber turned to attack. I was too shocked to move to react, as this was a minion conjured by the summoned being. We weren’t supposed to be able to disobey our summoner, and the compulsion should have prevented this from happening.
Shouting for reinforcements, the officer aimed his rifle and fired into the imp, who shrieked in pain, but still managed to cut down one of the soldier’s dragging the old wizard. The imp had grown long, black claws that slashed through the other soldier dragging the old man. The officer fired a second time, hitting the imp in the head and ending the threat.
Though quieter than a real gun, the magic rifles caused enough noise that several soldiers ran down the steps to see what was happening. The officer tried to shoot the wizard, but even as the round hit, the staff he held exploded, the force of the explosion hurling me back into the nearby stone wall.
I was dazed, and tried to stumble to my feet, counting on my troll’s belt to regenerate my health and keep me going. I looked around the room to see if there were any other survivors. Where the wizard had been stood a seven-foot-tall imp, this one wreathed in dark flames and exuding an aura of terror and malice.
“Foolish human, did you think yourself the master of that which you held,” the monstrous imp said to the fragmented remains of the wizard. “You were just a tool for me to arrive here. Now that I have this temple under my control, this world, and the souls it contains are mine to harvest,” the creature boasted.
Before I, and the soldier’s pouring down the stairs could act, the giant imp waved his hand. A blast of the dark flames engulfed us. I felt an intense pain that seemed to reach into my very being before I was pulled into the void and a system prompt appeared.
You have been slain by the Soulfire ability of a Pit Lord. This summoning is complete.
Your performance rating is calculated as Excellent.
Your rewards will reflect the summoning at Tier 2, Rank 6, and your performance rating of Excellent.
You have earned 35 experience points.
You have earned 51 summoning points.
Congratulations, you have reached Tier 2, Rank 7.
You have gained 1 point in Mind. One of your class abilities, Template Hunter has evolved and upgraded.
You will now be returned to your personal space.