(Morcster Chef Book 2) - Chapter 53 (Patreon)

The first location that Belmont had indicated was only a few minutes away from where they’d been standing. It was a small side street between two shops that ended in a dead end against the city walls. Arek stepped inside it, pulling one of the bombs free from his bag.

He carefully pulled the string back from the seal, then set the bomb against some rocks a few feet into the alley, the pointing the small dot upwards. He nestled the rocks around it to keep the weapon from rolling away, then set off at a brisk pace towards the nexti location, which was slightly more towards the center of the city.

Arek encountered few other people as he walked. An occasional guac glanced in his direction, but the council had done a fantastic job at evacuating civilians from the danger zone without putting them in harms way.

While he walked, he was accompanied by crashes and small explosions from the guards working to destroy the main pathways through the city.

It took a little longer for Arek to find the next location. His memory was decent, but the city wasn’t perfectly linear and there were still two other locations he had to remember. He eventually spotted the alley off a larger street connected to the town square. Arek quickly set up the bomb in a similar manner to the first time.

He set off once again, setting up both of the remaining bombs as quickly as he could. The more time that passed, the uneasier he felt. His skin prickled and his hair stood on end as an invisible electrified current started to charge the air.

Arek increased his pace as he headed back towards the station that Belmont had told him to protect. Before he could reach it, a loud explosion ripped through the air. Arek’s eyes widened, but no sounds of battle followed it.

“I wonder if that was the guards going with Belmont’s plan or them just destroying the larger pathways,” Arek wondered aloud to himself.

In the short time that he’d been gone, the guards had done good work. The roads had been scattered with giant pieces of debris and houses had been toppled to block off any large paths. Luckily, Arek was small enough to traverse them without much difficulty. It would be a different story for the wyrms. He reached his position and swallowed, shifting from foot to foot as he tried to get his blood flowing. With no enemies to fight, even his battle rage was helpless. He stood beside the unfurled length of string connected to the explosive, his knuckles white.

Arek sat his travel pack down against a building, then leaned back and stared up at the wall. There was nothing left to do but wait.

Time passed by slowly. Seconds turned to minutes, and minutes turned to an hour. Arek was starting to wish that the monsters would just get over it and attack already when the first muted thud rang out through the sky.

It was followed by a cacophony of roars. A Webern’s scaly form sailed through the sky overhead, propelling itself across the city with its large, bloodshot wings. At the same time, a thrum rippled through the air behind Arek at the center of the city.

A large blue dome melted into existence as a shield sprang up around the inner city where all the civilians were housed.

“Looks like it’s time,” Arek said, his hands unclenching as the edges of his vision flickered pink at the sight of an enemy.

Something slammed against the city walls. Then it slammed again. And again. A series of thuds like the worlds largest rainstorm thundered against the wall. Arek waited impatiently as the sounds of fighting started to grow closer to him.

The walls let out a pained groan. The strikes grew more frequent. Arek’s claws started to tingle as the magic felt his anxiety and rose up, begging him to use it.

A thunderous crash tore through the city. A cloud of dust and rubble rose into the air as a part of the wall gave way. Even from where Arek stood, he could hear the thunder of the horde as it rushed into the city. All that he could hope was that the part of the wall that had fallen was the one that Belmont had ordered to be destroyed.

Regardless of where the wall had fallen, Arek could hear the creatures growing closer by the second. He bared his teeth, drawing on the magic within his runes. They lit up, their glow filling the darkening alley as armor crept up Arek’s arm and his guandao formed in his hand.

“Come on then,” Arek growled. “Let’s get this started.”

The horde was eager to oblige them. Like a tide of scales and claws, nearly a dozen of the monsters thundered down the street. Corralled by the destruction that the guards had caused, their beady black eyes locked directly on Arek.

The orc stepped on the explosive and cracked his neck, raising his weapon and pointing it at them.

“Come!” he thundered.

They came. The sea of wyrms leapt into the alley, their teeth gnashing as they all tried to force themselves in at once. The buildings cracked under the weight of their sheer numbers. As enveloped as the battle rage that Arek was, even he felt a moment of fear at their seemingly unstoppable might.

Then the feelings faded, and all that remained was the desire to fight. One of the creatures wiggled forward, dashing past the rest of the pack, and the others charged in after it. Arek pressed his foot into the string and pulled backwards, ripping it free of the bomb and detonating it with a loud bang.

A small pillar of fire rose up as parts of the lead wyrm were thrown into the air from the force of the explosion.