Chapter 154 - The Sky is Falling

“Are you sure about this?” asked Tucker, casting a furtive glance in Zeke’s direction. The big warrior held a stone in his hand, but even though Tucker had no talent for runecraft, even he could feel the power emanating from the grey rock. Further, he knew that Zeke had dozens more just like it in his storage space – a side project he’d steadily worked on and subsequently improved over the course of the past few months. None of them had an overage of extra time, and considering his study of runecraft, training with Talia, and his ongoing pursuit of experience, levels, and power, Zeke had less than any of them. How he still found the time to create exploding rocks, Tucker had no idea. But he had done it.

“Just do your part,” Zeke said. “My rocks will do theirs.”

It was further proof that Zeke was more than just a simple warrior. Not that anyone would ever think that, of course. Even if all he had going for him was his monstrous stats, which he’d put on display often enough that Tucker could infer just how high they were, Zeke would’ve been an aberration. An elite among elites, especially when he eventually reached level twenty-five. But what really set him apart was his knowledge runecraft, which was even rarer than his constitution.

Like most plans that Zeke came up with, the one they had agreed to use against the gathered miners and demons in the basin below was, in a word, simple. They had gone back and forth for almost an hour, debating the merits of different plans of attack. However, their options were extremely limited by the fact that they were deep in enemy territory, short on time, and woefully outnumbered. Those issues negated almost every other idea, and they’d, almost by default, settled on the one that had the least chance of abject failure.

But that didn’t mean it was a good plan, and Tucker was more than a little skeptical that it would work at all. In fact, he’d advocated retreat, so that they could head to the surface, regroup, and, most importantly, gather allies. None of the others had agreed with him, though, and he’d been forced to acquiesce to the group’s heroic tendencies. It wasn’t that Tucker didn’t want to help. He did. He just didn’t want to die – or worse, given the stories he’d heard about demons – in the process.

Tucker looked down at his glass-globed grenade. It was the same type he’d intended for the keep’s demolition. Originally, he’d come up with the concoction in hopes of selling it to sieging armies, and it was designed specifically to destroy structures via compounding waves of force and vibration. It would do little to harm anything organic, but inanimate objects would crumble before it. The only issue, and the one that had derailed the whole project, was that it was incredibly stable. Even if the globes broke, kickstarting the mixture inside required more force than Tucker – or really, anyone else – could muster in a simple throw. It wasn’t a matter of strength, but rather an issue with the globes, which would crack and crumble in the process of throwing it hard enough to start the explosion. To get around that, Tucker had paired the [Demolition Charges] with more volatile grenades that were unstable enough that only he could handle them safely.

“You sure you can’t throw that far?” Zeke asked, holding out his hand.

Tucker slapped the [Demolition Charge] onto Zeke’s palm. It had been coated in a sticky paste that, hopefully, would cling to the ceiling. Zeke’s hand was covered in a special glove which resisted the paste’s stickiness – a necessity for anyone who wanted to handle the stuff. The glove had been made for Tucker, so it was a little loose on Zeke’s hand.

“I’m positive,” the alchemist said, rolling his shoulder. “I’ve got a decent arm, but that ceiling is half a mile up, at least. I’ll be impressed if you can get it up there.”

Zeke shrugged, saying, “Used to play baseball back on Earth, so I should be okay.”

Tucker shook his head, saying, “I was always more of a football guy myself. My son actually played at Ole Miss, if you can believe it. I had the size, obviously, but I never had the right mentality. Or the athleticism, if I’m honest.”

Tucker remembered his old high school football coaches raking him over the coals in an attempt to bolster his aggressiveness, but back then, he’d been as mild-mannered of a guy as had ever existed. And that hadn’t changed over the course of his long life on Earth. However, after being forced into one fight after another after being reborn, he’d finally developed a sense of aggression. Even now, though, he’d much rather tinker with various potions in his lab than fight a horde of monsters. The only thing that made the fighting palatable was that at least he got to see some impressive explosions, which was always a worthy pursuit.

“I could see that,” Zeke said. He turned to see the others, who had been positioned between a pair of monolithic stalagmites that jutted toward the ceiling. Talia, as always, was as still as a statue; it was a strange dichotomy, seeing her at rest and in combat. While fighting, she moved so quickly that she was a veritable blur, but when she wasn’t, it was easy for people to forget that she was even there. Of course, for Tucker, that wasn’t the case. He always knew where she was. Regrets were often like that. Back during his enslavement to Micayne, he hadn’t had much of a choice, but if he was honest with himself, he’d never really looked for one. That knowledge was the greatest source of shame in a life that was pockmarked with selfishness, ruthlessness, and death.

The others looked primed for battle, with Carlos clinging to the shadows and Abby with her bow out. The dire bear, Pudge, loomed over her shoulder like a protector; Tucker wouldn’t be surprised if that was the task he’d been given, considering Zeke’s relationship with the woman.

“Everyone ready?” asked Zeke. They all either nodded or confirmed their preparations, and Zeke turned to the basin. Or rather, the ceiling above the basin. In the distance, it was just possible to make out the huge, sharp stalactites hanging from the cavern’s roof. To Tucker, Zeke said, “Just keep handing them to me, and I’ll spread them out. If it goes right…well, it should bring the whole ceiling down.”

Tucker nodded, and without further conversation, Zeke cocked his arm back and threw the paste-covered glass globe. Tucker held his breath as the [Demolition Charge] shot through the air with the velocity of a bullet and disappeared among the stalactites. Zeke held out his hand, and Tucker fed him another. After that, Zeke repeated the process fifteen times, scattering the grenades across the entire ceiling. Because of the combination of Zeke’s strong arm and the sticky paste, they all stuck fast, and, thankfully, none of them exploded prematurely.

“Can you remember where they all hit?” asked Tucker.

Zeke answered, “Close enough. I can feel the runes on the globes.”

Tucker raised an eyebrow, but he didn’t say anything. However, that didn’t mean he wasn’t incredibly surprised. Being able to feel the ritual was one thing. It was huge, and with the power already coursing through it, even Tucker could feel a magical vibration in the air. It was faint and easily missed, but as close as they were, it was unmistakable for anyone who knew what they were looking for. But the runes covering the globes were simple and almost inert. That Zeke could feel them, even at such a distance, was enough to raise Tucker’s estimation of the man’s power yet another notch.

“It’s always runic rocks with him,” Abby said, suddenly standing behind Tucker. “I don’t think he has any other moves.”

“I hit things with my club,” Zeke said. “And I jump at stuff. Remember?”

She smiled. “I thought we’d broken you of the jumping habit, but then you did it again against that weird dinosaur-bird thing,” Abby said.

Zeke glanced back at her, returning the smile with a grin of his own. “Oh, I see where you’re going wrong,” he said. “See, with the amalgam, I jumped out. I didn’t jump at it. Two very different moves. Same as here. I’m throwing my rocks, sure, but I’m combining it with Tucker’s bombs.”

“[Demolition Charges],” Tucker muttered.

“Yeah, sure – whatever,” Zeke said. “My point is that they’re all different moves, just like Abby has a bunch of different ways to shoot things. It’s all about the subtleties.”

“Subtle?” Abby asked. “There’s nothing subtle about you.”

“Different shades of unsubtlety,” Zeke said. “Which is kind of subtle.”

“You just said subtle a lot,” Carlos interjected from a nearby shadow. “Like, only a few times, but that’s a lot, right? I feel like it’s a lot.”

“No respect,” Zeke mumbled.

“I respect you,” was Talia’s lone contribution to the conversation, and it was delivered in a monotonous voice that sounded like a pair of rocks scraping together.

“Probably best if we get this thing going,” Tucker said. “That paste isn’t going to hold for forever. And the longer we stand here like this, the more likely it is that some demons or miners are going to stumble onto us.”

“Fine,” Zeke responded before taking a deep breath, then throwing his first runic rock. Even as it sailed through the air, he threw another. Then another. His arm moved almost too quickly to track, and after only a second or two, there were half a dozen rocks flying toward the ceiling. Zeke was in the process of throwing another when the first one hit its mark and exploded. An instant later, another, deeper eruption rattled Tucker’s organs as the first [Demolition Charge] went off. It set off a chain reaction along the ceiling, and before Tucker could take a breath, great slabs of jagged obsidian were falling from the sky. However, Zeke wasn’t finished, because he continued throwing rocks until the entire ceiling above the basin had begun to fall.

The demons didn’t have time to panic, and the miners weren’t mentally equipped to care before tons of obsidian fell onto their heads. However, just when Tucker thought that they might be able to avoid a fight entirely, a giant, black shape erupted from the center island. Like black fire in the shape of a bird, it flew to meet the obsidian, and once it made contact, a purple tinged bubble of pure energy enveloped the center island as well as the lake of lava. Even the first few yards surrounding the magmatic lake was shielded by the mysterious energy. Whether it was by design or coincidence, the majority of the more powerful demons had positioned themselves closest to the lava lake, so they were included in the bubble.

A cascade of obsidian fell upon the bubble, but it did little good. Instead of burying the island and the ritual in volcanic rock, the obsidian stalactites slid along the surface of the bubble and fell outside of its seemingly indestructible boundaries. Most of the miners perished in seconds, and many of the less powerful demons died alongside them. But the ritual and hundreds of the stronger enemies remained unmolested.

When the dust cleared, the bubble burst into black fire and returned to the small figure in the center of the island. The demons roared, and Tucker heard Carlos say, “Shit. I didn’t think he was still here.”

“Who?” asked Zeke.

“Julian Asino,” Carlos said. “He’s the guy I told you about before. The one who came to me while I was being held captive. But I’ve never seen him do anything like that before. He’s an offensive caster. He shouldn’t have that kind of skill.”

“Well, he does,” said Tucker, already summoning a grenade in either hand. Through some unknown means, the demons had pinpointed their location, and with a collective roar, they’d begun their charge.

“Everyone get ready,” Zeke said, readying his shield. Even as he did, he tossed a red-and-white rock, to which the young warrior had affixed a pair of raptor feathers, using Tucker’s adhesive paste. The rock and the gems bore very simplistic runes.

The rock fell among the charging demons, and for a moment, nothing happened. Then, there was a slight distortion in the air – no, in the ambient mana – followed by a sharp intake, almost like a magical black hole. The demons closest to where the rock landed stumbled, but quickly regained their balance. However, a split second later, an enormous explosion of pure mana scythed through the demon horde. Dozens of the creatures – some even as powerful as the first demon lieutenant they’d encountered – were knocked unconscious, and a few were killed outright. The shockwave swept up the hill upon which the group had positioned themselves, and Tucker was nearly overwhelmed by his mana going briefly out of control. He quickly reestablished himself, but he was still a little shaken by the power of the blast.

“Tell me you have more of those,” he said, his voice coming coarse and scratchy.

“Sorry, no,” Zeke said. “Just the one. It wasn’t as big as I thought it would be. Still, I wish I’d have had time to make some more, but those runes are…difficult to work with.”

Apparently, those simple-seeming runes had been far more complicated than Tucker knew, but he didn’t have time to ponder it, because the first of the demons were set to arrive in only a few short seconds.

Tucker tossed his first grenade, which exploded into a series of entangling vines, then threw another that erupted into a series of earthen spikes that impaled the leading demons. It wasn’t enough to kill any of them, but the momentum of the horde was so great that they soon fell under the hooves and clawed feet of their brethren. Judging by the energy that came shortly after, a few of them died.

While he tossed one grenade after another, the rest of the group wasn’t idle. Zeke threw his more mundane runic rocks, which did little besides make the demons miss a step. Abby shot her arrows, and lightning descended upon the mass of red-skinned creatures. And Talia slipped off to the side, hoping to act as a flanker.

The standout, however, was Carlos, who, for the first time since joining the group, went all out. In the center of the horde, dozens of giant spikes of pure darkness exploded from the shadows. Each one was at least a couple of feet in diameter and tapered into a lethal point. They impaled the unlucky demons in the middle of the pack, but that was the least of their worries. Tucker felt a massive amount of mana gush out of the young man, draining into the spikes before they grew even larger. Then, when it felt like they could hold nothing more, they exploded into a multitude of shadow blades that swept through the demon horde like a scythe through wheat.

Almost a hundred of the monsters fell, then and there, never to rise again, but, impressive effort though it was, it was only a drop in the bucket. There were so many more, and most of them were the most powerful among the horde.

The demons that hadn’t succumbed to the first wave attacks finally reached the point where Zeke and Pudge had positioned themselves in front of the rest of the group, and the battle was joined in earnest.