[Melas] Chapter 111: The Stand (Patreon)

I stared around, alert, knowing that we were flanked from all sides. I held a barrier up— it was magic, for all to see in public— and yet, I did not care about that. I could deal with what that meant later. Right now, I just had to survive through this.

Didar was here. He had his men attack our warehouse. I had almost entirely forgotten about him. I had dismissed him as a threat.

He’s affiliated with the Puer Kingdom, I told myself. He’ll be busy with the Taw Kingdom itself. Unfortunately, it seemed like he was vindictive.

He came here with his men— not just his gang members— but people from the Puer Kingdom too. I spotted a few Humans lurking about. They hid themselves behind walls and fences, ducking down below rooftops, trying to keep away from view.

Not all of the warehouses here were actively used; in fact, some of them were abandoned. And our enemies were taking advantage of this. Or at least, that was what I hoped. If it were anything more sinister…

I shook my head, focusing on what I could right now. We had to ensure that our friends were fine. These guys were not attacking us. Not right off the bat. One of them tried, and they saw what happened to him.

“Find the others first,” I whispered over to Gennady. My barrier was still erected, protecting us. “We have to make sure they’re fine.”

“If these damned bastards destroy my property—” he cursed, clenching his fist.

We proceeded through the empty street, the magical dome over us moving as we did so that we crawled forward almost like a tortoise on land. I caught sight of our warehouse up ahead. Its doorway looked slightly damaged, which brought the tide of fear within me into a rise. I feared for the worst...

But I had to make sure. A few bolts of energy shot our way. The blasts rippled against the barrier, but did not break through. My magic now was far better compared to the past. A single barrage of fire would have torn down whatever I could put up, but now I could stand up against these attacks.

A flash caught my eye. A bright spear of light soared our way. My gaze snapped at it— I could sense the mana radiating from it. It was powerful. A spell? It definitely came from a Dwarf who was hiding from a window.

I grimaced. It would have torn a hole through my barrier. I could have reinforced the protections, but I knew then he would just send another one. That my magic would be overwhelmed. Dispel Magic could have worked. However, was I certain?

Raising a hand instead, I cast a second spell. Fracture Side. I did not need to block the attack. All I had to do was divert it just a little bit. And the spear, sizzling with energy, curved around the barrier. It sailed straight towards the warehouse. And a bulky figure burst out of the door.

I didn’t recognize the thing that charged out of Gennady’s warehouse. I mean, I did know what it was. It was quite obviously a Golem. Just not any kind I had seen before. It moved with a single wheel, rather than with legs like most of the other Golems I had seen so far.

“So, they activated my security measures, eh?” Gennady remarked from behind me.

“You have security measures?” I stared at him, surprised.

“Of course I do— what, do you think I’ll leave my damned warehouse unguarded?” He shook his head, pointing forward. “Come on, we can make a break for it inside!”

The Golem charged straight past us, drawing the fire in its direction. It held up a shield-like arm— mana crystals decorated the metallic surface, enhancing its protection, so that the mana bolts would not penetrate its defenses.

The spear from earlier impacted the Golem’s shield. Energy— like sparks— crackled out, breaking off to the side as the Golem deflected the attack. It raised a hand, the barrel of a rifle visible in its palms, and fired a cylindrical shell.

The shell launched out straight at the warehouse across the street. It crashed through a window and detonated. A green explosion tore a massive hole in the side of the third floor building. Wasn’t that dangerous?

“Isn’t that dangerous?” I turned to Gennady.

“All of this is dangerous, lassie!” he snapped. He hurried past me, leaving the confines of my barrier, and rushing into the warehouse. “What part about all of this don’t you get? Now hurry and get inside already!”

Sevin and I followed right after him. I let my barrier dissipate, holding up my dagger on guard. The three of us hid behind a wall, away from the battle ongoing outside between the Golem and our assailants. I heard another blast— the ground shook. And I corrected myself.

“That’s not what I’m saying. The storage buildings around here… they’re for grain, right?”

The Dwarf blinked. “Yeah. And wheat, and other crops. Why?” His eyes grew wide. “Oh—”

A loud explosion resounded behind us. It didn’t just shake the ground— it almost threw me off balance. Thankfully, Gennady caught me and stopped me from stumbling back out into the open.

“Fucking… I better not have to pay for that!” He pulled me in, going further into our warehouse. I glanced back once, seeing the opposing building collapse. It was not very structurally sound in the first place, but the battle and the explosions definitely didn’t help it stay standing.

The sounds of battle grew muffled the further into the warehouse we went; we passed through familiar corridors, most of it undisturbed, until arriving at the large hall near the front of the building.

I saw a few bloodied bodies lying on the ground. Much to my relief, they were all Dwarves I didn’t recognize, and they had knives jutting out of their chests.

“Elda!” Gennady called out, rushing to the woman’s side.

She was standing in the middle of the room. She turned out, blinking as he hugged. Scowling, she pushed him off. “Oi, get off me— where in Hell were you three?”

“We were in Melas’s bunker,” he explained. “We had no idea about this. What’s happened?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” she snorted. “These fuckers showed up and started blowing shit up. We’re lucky that this place is reinforced well.”

Gennady glanced over to the left— a stairway lay fallen, now a pile of rubble. “It was reinforced. I had spent a lot on making it defensible. Gah.”

“I mean, hey, thanks to that we’re alive.” She grinned.

Sevin stepped forward. “I apologize, Master Gennady, if I am cutting into your flirting—”

“What?” both Gennady and Elda sputtered. The young man continued.

“But I think we have bigger issues right now.”

We glanced out through a hole in the wall— a crack that showed what was beyond. And I saw the Golem getting blasted by a volley of Fireballs. It was ripped apart, the flames engulfing and destroying it. I clicked my tongue as Gennady cursed.

“Those damned… that Golem needed a Superior mana crystal!”

“Save your whining,” I interrupted him. Spell circles formed in the air around me, letting out a thin trail of mist as icy spear-tips poked their heads out of the magical glyphs. “We’ve got a lot more problems to deal with.”

The Frost Javelins launched out. I controlled them as they danced through the air— it was like using Mage Hand. The basic Telekinetic spell I first learned. Even if I couldn’t see exactly where they were at, I could feel where they were going. I almost intrinsically knew what was around it. The make-up of the mana on the walls let me send it through the hallway we came from, before bursting out of the front door.

I could see and feel the mana bolts coming for the Frost Javelins. They were trying to shoot down my spell. I weaved them around the flurry of projectiles. It was like I was a seamstress, delicately guiding the needle through the threads, careful not to bore too large a hole in the cloth.

The first of the Frost Javelins ran through a running Dwarf. His blood-curdling scream could be heard even from here. The second caught a Human man, and another a Dwarf woman. I could feel them hit their targets— most of them struck through. A few missed. One was even dispelled by the Dwarf spellcaster from earlier.

However, as the last of my Frost Javelin found a large group gathered behind a warehouse just neighboring ours, a… Dwarf? Someone pulled out an object and fired at the Frost Javelin. Before I could even react, the Frost Javelin was smashed into smithereens. I blink as I lost control of the spell.

Was that... a bullet? A real bullet? I narrowed my eyes. “I think I found Didar.”

“What makes you say that?” Gennady asked as I began conjuring more Frost Javelins. It was not easy— these spells were one of the better magicks I knew. That meant that casting them was not only difficult, but doing so in bulk?

That took a lot from me.

“I don’t know. There was a large group of them over there—” I pointed somewhere to the left. It was the plot of land next to us. I was pretty sure the building had previously been abandoned, but it seemed Didar pulled some strings to empty it out. “And they had guns.”

“Everyone here has guns.” Elda rolled her eyes.

“Like real guns.” I wasn’t sure how to explain myself. So, I just shrugged. “The ones which they had last time around.”

“Ah.” Gennady’s eyes lit up in recognition. “One of Bertrand’s damn tools, huh? Well, I’ll show ‘em just how inferior his weapons are to mine.” He started down a small hallway. One which led to the basement. “Hold them off for a bit, will ya? I’ve gotta grab a few things.”

I crossed my arms. “Wait. What about the others? Where are Jack and Lisa?”

“I’m right here,” a deep voice came from the top of the broken stairway. Gennady stopped, looking up to see Jack. The man leapt down, landing lightly next to the Dwarf.

“There he is— can I go now?”

“Go and get your things, Dwarf.” Jack started past Gennady, drawing his dual short swords.

“Aight, thanks!” Gennady scurried off.

“Where’s Lisa?” I gave Jack a questioning look.

“She’s safe. With the others.”

“I told Mason and Avery to bunker up further within the warehouse,” Elda piped in. “With, what, half of our boys with Ginah? And most of the others out in the city, there’s not much they can do here but protect Lisa.”

I hesitated. “Can we deal with Didar by ourselves?”

“I mean, I had a few Golems helping me earlier.” She glanced over at a pile of broken bits and mana crystals. “They’re all destroyed now.”

“Gennady will complain about that later,” I muttered under my breath. I looked over at the young man standing next to me. Sevin was nervous— he held a rifle with a shaky grip. I address him, “Do you want to go help Mason and the others?”

“I—” He bit his lower lip. He anxiously glanced between Elda, Jack, and I. Shaking his head, he took a deep breath. “No. I’ll help you out here.”

“Alright.” I finished conjuring the Frost Javelins right as I heard shouts break out from the front. There were sounds— shuffling— coming from the side too. “They’re coming in. Ready yourselves. We want to keep them back until Gennady comes back—”

There was a bang. Jack grabbed me, pushing me back as he slashed his blade out. The metal bullet was sliced in half, tumbling through the air until it struck the back wall. I saw the Human Human who fired the shot trying to pull back. He had taken aim from in between the cracks on the walls.

But before he could escape, Jack flung his sword. It flew straight through the air in a blur, faster than a crossbow bolt even. It jammed itself through the man’s chest, and he fell.

“No,” Jack said, holding up his one remaining blade. I stared at him, getting back up from the floor. He wore a determined look on his face. “Didar came here to finish me off. We’re not just going to fight to survive— he’ll keep coming back over and over again.”

“Then what do you suggest we do?” I eyed Jack warily.

“We end this, today. Either I kill that bastard, or—” He turned back to face me and spoke sharply. “Or I die to him. There’s no other option.”