Broker-Chapter 195

The billowing cloud had nearly reached the arch leading into the Kato ward. Crusader drew in a breath and lowered her sword to her side, grip tightening. Flames erupted in her palm and spread up her arm and down the length of her blade. An inferno of gold wreathing her. She tilted her head up as the aches eased, her jaw set tightly. Alphonse fluttered into the air and darted towards safety, his wings restored enough to move. To Crusader’s right, a nine-foot tall Harbinger took a fighting stance, her hammer at the ready. Her blonde hair was a tousled mess and her blue eyes were blazing bright with power and fury. To her left, BLF stretched his back and flexed his arms, his claw-guards gleaming in the sunlight beating down on them. His scales grew thicker as he stretched his jaw in preparation, his dagger-like fangs bared.

Static filled the air.

Spiked pillars of shimmering crystal appeared on the ground, spreading out like weeds in the area in front of them. Ice spread along the ground and illusory snow began to fall from the sky. Crusader popped her neck and frowned as a pang of residual pain burned in her core. She grit her teeth as the clouds parted.

CROOAAAHHKKKKK!

Eyes, wild and spread in mind-shattering mania bulged out of a vaguely human face, a mouth hanging open beneath them filled with curved and pointed teeth. Its nose was twisted and broken. It let out an inhuman howl from the very depths of its throat, a groan and croak in one. Massive taloned hands extended as its torso twisted and writhed atop what looked like a ten foot long centipede. A hundred long yellowed legs scrambling across the ground in a frantic dash to lash out at prey.

Crusader’s nostrils flared, determination and fury pushing back against the icy terror that tried to worm its way up her spine.

More came.

A writhing horde of nightmarish half humanoid half centipedes that shrieked and groaned, their insane eyes fixed on the trio standing in their way. Crusader didn’t hesitate. She charged, planting her first step and starting her push towards a new momentum for her ability. A shout rose up in her throat that turned into a roar of challenge. Harbinger moved in next and BLF leaped forward, his powerful arms stretching towards his nearest target. For a moment, the world felt still for Crusader as she crossed the distance. Then the two sides collided.

A brutal uppercut slashed up and along the torso of the monster that threw its body back in a horrible groan of pain. Its yellow legs snapping out to catch her. She brought her weapon back down and knocked back the strikes with a follow-up stroke. The creature whipped its torso back, trying to curl around her. She snapped her free hand out and brought a fist into its face, bone cracking beneath her armored knuckles. Another one of the horrors slid across the ground to her right before colliding face first into Harbinger’s hammer while BLF landed on another’s chest and jabbed his bladed fists down into its throat and chest over and over.

Faster! Crusader demanded of herself, grabbing the beast by the face and pulling with all her might to slam it down at the ground. It collided with pavement with a wet crunch, its disturbing lower half twitching spasmodically before going abruptly still. She stepped over it, teeth bared as another came charging at her. Its nightmare scream echoing in her ears. She pushed it off, flames coiling around her weapon and bursting out from her body in a wave. Flames caught on friends and foe alike as she dove into a clockwise spin, throwing her weight into a strike that bisected the monster’s head.

Another step. One of them got in close enough to bite her arm. She kicked it off, ignoring the pain that spread with the clearly acidic venom. Her flames would take care of it. She drove her weapon up and into its chest where its heart likely was, twisting and pulling out before pushing past. A bang rang out as one of the things was sent hurtling away by Harbinger’s swing, her comrade leaving a path of crushed bodies behind her in her fury. Crusader only gave her friends cursory looks white focusing on the fight to keep track of their locations amidst the mass of bodies. BLF was in the process of literally biting one of their heads off, his body growing slightly in bulk as he consumed. His powerful arms growing larger, his swings stretching longer.

One beast at a time, one swing at a time. Step. Step. Step. Step. Even as they frantically tried to get to her, they could only mindlessly slip and stumble on the ice and around the illusory pillars. Their momentum was broken by Snow’s control of the field. Crusader felt her internal energy cycling faster, there weren't any breaks in the combat here, no misdirections, no moments to lose what she’d built. Pure battle. Her eyes glowed as she pushed all of her will into her form. Another down. Another. She threw off another bite, pummeled another skull, cut another chest open.

She was focused, almost mindlessly so. She wasn’t sure if it was her fury over their clear loss to Rivet or everything else, but she felt her instincts scream up to meet the challenge. Her mouth opened and she released a sonorous cry of an enormous bird of prey, gold flames streaking out in a stream and pouring into the wound she’d made. The incinerated monster collapsed as another rushed forward to take its place. She saw more coming in from behind, and endless wave. Her lips parted in a roar as terror and concern were thrown aside for one thing and one thing alone.

“FIRST MARCH OF THE CRUSADER!” she bellowed, her next step causing the ground to shake slightly. Rivet had stopped her last time, but these things weren’t smart enough to know. She grabbed her weapon with both hands and swung, an arc of golden flame leaping from her sword as a swing that would have normally wounded or killed with the right positioning cut one of the creatures in half. The flames spread from the point of impact, shrieks of pain and fury rising up in her ears. She took another step and bisected another from waist to crown, stepping through the body and swinging again. Again. Faster! Again. FASTER!

She heard static. Someone’s voice. KEEP GOING! She fumed, putting it aside.

She was about to cleave through another when something wrapped around her leg. She jerked to a stop and looked down. One of the ones she’d thought she’d cut down had grabbed her. It yanked hard and she was pulled bodily into the air. Upside down. Her fury cleared for a moment and her eyes took in the mass of writhing bodies trying to surround her and her friends. There were already so many. Her heart leaped into her throat as she whipped her head towards the face of the creature holding her aloft. She snarled at it and moved to swing only for one of its yellowed legs to snap out to block it.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Damn it!”

A crash sounded nearby and she met Harbinger’s gaze, her friend was too far away to assist. Static filled the air and the creature let out a shriek of pain, clutching at its head and throwing it about in a wild panic. It let go of Crusader who fell to the ground in a heap. She tried to stand but a wave of exhaustion washed over her, a dull ache, worse than any she’d felt before. How long did I keep First March going? She wondered breathlessly as she tried to rise. The monster above her tossed its head about, whatever Snow was doing to it was more than a little painful. Her muscles gave out, Shit!

The monster lowered its arms, maddened eyes bloodshot as it looked down at her with unmasked hatred.

THOP!

The sound startled Crusader. She blinked as a black something appeared on the side of the creature’s head. Its eyes went vapid and it swayed before falling to its side.

This content is taken from fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm.

THOP! THOP! THOP!

Three more of the things dropped as they charged towards the exhausted hero. Her eyes went wide as she recognized them, up close, there was no mistaking those black shafts and fletchings. That was when a snickering laugh rang out and she drew up enough strength to shout into her comm, “Snow! We need shade! Make it dark!”

The obscuring snowfall ceased to be with a rush of static, the pillars evaporating as well. Light began to dim as it was bent away from where they were, the world becoming twilight. An instant later a shape out of dreams and nightmares rose amidst the largest cluster of the creatures. It had a round head that was matte black, a big smile on its face with two white dots for eyes. It had a hammer in its hands, cartoonishly large even by its titanic standards. It snickered and laughed, sweeping its weapon through the gathered horde and crushing bodies like bugs against a windshield.

A shape landed next to her and she was pulled to her feet. She turned, wide eyed, and met the gray eyes of Bandit. His messy black hair even messier with sweat. His dark eyes were more hollow, his expression grim. “Can you keep going?” He asked quickly.

“Just need to recover a moment,” she panted, “Thanks for the save.”

“Don’t get swept up in it,” he said sharply, “Manage your power use. Overdo it and you’re as good as dead.”

She nodded, cowed slightly and let out a shaky breath. “Right.”

He patted her shoulder and cracked a grin, “Looks like your team comp could use a ranged striker,” he said after giving her a moment to mull over her mistake. “Team up?”

She knelt down and picked up her sword, “Absolutely,” she said and reached up to tap her comm again, “Snow?” She called, glancing at her friends. They were holding out much better than she had in her fury. BLF was consuming as much as he could to keep his energy levels up and Harbinger was focused on avoiding blows rather than tanking them.

“You good now?” Snow asked through the comm, her voice terse.

“Yeah,” she said, “Sorry.”

“Just glad you’re okay. That Bandit?”

“Yeah, add him to the whitelist for your illusions, we’re teaming up,” She said quickly, I’m gonna catch my breath while Inky keeps them busy,” she said and glanced towards the massive cartoon character who was swinging it’s hammer around with merry abandon, occasionally snatching one unlucky monster up and biting it in half before tossing its remains over its shoulder. Inky liquid spread out on the ground around it, occasionally dragging monsters inside that vanished without returning.

“On it, be safe,” Snow said and cut the connection. Crusader caught her breath and let out a heavy sigh, setting her shoulders again and looking towards the seemingly endless horde. It was like every single monster in the dungeon had been released at once which, she realized, was exactly what they were dealing with.

“You’re illusionist is good, Snow, right?” Bandit said as he glanced her way. She nodded and he gave her an assessing look. “I saw a good deal before I got close enough,” he said, “Looks like that move of yours depends on taking steps. Something you get swept up in?.”

She nodded.

“Why not take reverse steps and keep your momentum?” He asked quickly, turning to snap an arrow at an incoming creature. It dropped as the arrow punctured a hole in its head. She blinked at him and he gave her a hard look, “You aren’t a forward striker. That power of yours heals and supports your allies. You’re a rock in a river. Don’t move around so much. Now get your head in the game!”

With that he started taking darting steps backwards to get some distance, he turned sharply and threw one hand out, a ribbon of black metal snapping out from his wrist that latched onto a distant roof. He launched towards his destination as she turned to look back at the horde and took a deep breath. “Couldn’t hurt to try,” she said and reached up to tap her comm, “New formation. Get close to me and stay in range of my aura,” she said and raised her sword in front of her as more of them began to slip past Inky who was getting overwhelmed. He melted into a puddle and darted away, taking a few of them with him.

She filled her lungs and let out a shout of challenge, “COME AT ME!” she roared, gold flames washing out around her in a circular wave and setting the ground ablaze. A corpse of a monster flew past her face as Harbinger charged into the pool flames, chest heaving as her wound covered body began to slowly heal. BLF arrived next, his face soaked in blood and his weary eyes filling with vigor when he reached her. She smiled at the two of them before looking back at the monsters with a savage grin.

“Don’t stop until it's done, heroes.”

–

The last of the human slash centipede centaur things dropped beneath Crusader’s blade and she fell to a knee, the blazing pool around her stuttering and nearly going out. A big hand caught her arm and pulled her to her feet. She smiled up at Harbinger before looking out over the field of carnage. Hundreds of bodies lay strewn about, twisted and broken beneath the combined wrath of the heroes. Many peppered with Bandit’s black arrows. BLF stepped over a pair of bodies and stopped next to her and raised an arm with a weary grin. She clapped her forearm against his. “Good work guys.”

“Not bad at all,” Bandit said from behind them, walking forward with Snow in tow. He tilted his head, “Still some refining to do but this was a far better test than a dungeon run.”

Crusader barked out a tired laugh, “I don’t think the test is over.”

His expression turned hard, “That’s right, I’m afraid. Catch your breath while you can. Today you guys are going to prove without a doubt the kind of heroes you are.”

–

Handmaiden stood atop the crumbled building, looking down from her vantage towards the crater that had formed from the initial blast. Her lips thinned into a line as she watched more of the nightmarish insect-things pour out of the broken portal that had been hidden underground. She shifted her gaze from the portal to the thing coiled around it. A massive centipede, easily wider than two school busses side by side. Two hundred, maybe three hundred feet long and its carapace decorated with corpses half submerged into the armored chitin leaving heads and limbs poking out at disturbing angles.

She frowned as her gaze settled on the face of the creature. It wasn’t a ‘centaur’ like the others. Instead, where an insects head should be within a sheath of chitinous armor, a large human head was visible. Massive. With its mouth opened in agony and despair.

She knew that face.

Her heart sank as mister Takehara’s lifeless, agonized gaze turned to look in her direction.