Arcane Apocalypse [LitRPG]

Mia was getting antsy by the time they closed in on where her team had stopped last time. It took one and a half hours to cross the distance, slowed as they were by the size of the group and the slippery mud underfoot. They didn't stop this time, though Brent commanded everyone to proceed with care and as much stealth as they could manage.

It was probably far too late, in Mia's opinion, but maybe the wolf-like monsters had worse hearing than their non-magical cousins. Magic and mana worked in strange ways, true, but that was a stretch.

Sure enough, howls sounded far too close for comfort less than a minute later, and the forward scouts led by Kruger came running back not long after.

"A pack of them caught the scent of one of my scouts," Kruger said without preamble. "They'll be here any second now, I'm counting five to ten, maybe more will come once they hear the sound of fighting. The humanoid monsters will be far behind them, those are only just starting to crawl out of their underground burrows, so we'll only have to worry about the big mutts, same as before."

The two somewhat detached groups on the flanks were already on the way to closing the gap between them and the main group, and Brent nodded at them.

"Tighten the formations, don't let the mutts slip through our frontline," Brent shouted, and unsheathed his sword. Everyone took that as their cue to do the same, lowering themselves into ready stances as barks and howls echoed through the woods, growing closer. "Give the back-line some space, take two steps forward and let the mages have some breathing room."

Mark and Clive didn't need to be told that, having already been a comfortable three steps away from Mia, but the flanks loosened up a bit at the command. It could have been disastrous if just a single wolf pushed through, knocking aside a vanguard and getting into the midst of dozens of squishy mages packed too tightly to even attempt to dodge.

Despite the heavy noise and tense chatter around her, Mia could track the sound of padded footfalls and low growls. The monsters were growing closer; they split into four packs, and while two rushed in for a frontal assault, one broke off to flank each side, respectively. Seconds later, she caught sight of moving bushes between the trees, the first visible sign of monsters.

"They're here," she said aloud for the team's benefit, and saw them tense up. Magic surged in Mark and his earthen armour tightened around him, while Clive just lowered his stance and narrowed his eyes, his fist tightening as he held his massive shield before him.

"Let them come!" Rex bellowed, following it with a bloodthirsty cackle as he stepped forward eagerly at the head of his squad. "Let's hope they can get my blood pumping, this Raid's been mighty boring so far!"

Before anyone could offer a remark, the monsters were upon them, the first of the grey beasts rushing right at the massive Lizardman, much to his delight. Not bothering with any weapons, Rex merely activated his skills, his rough scales turning a steely grey just a moment before his fist crashed into the monster's snout from the side.

A warhammer crashed down on the disoriented monster's neck, wielded by a man looking like a humanoid rhino. The monster didn't even make a sound as the sickening crack of its spine shattering to bits signified the end of its life. Mia's skin crawled at the clarity with which she heard it, cursing her supernatural hearing.

She had little time to dwell on it, though, as the monster was far from alone. Each pack had four or five of the beasts, and two of those packs were coming right behind the unfortunate forerunner. Five were already visible, running between the trees in a zig-zag as they closed in on the vanguards.

Mia fired off an Arcane Blast, aiming at one of the closest wolves that slowed to eye the group, likely looking for a weakness to pounce on. Its caution rubbed Mia the wrong way, and so it earned her first spell. Unfortunately, far as it was and limited as she was by having to weave her spells between the battling vanguards beset by the monster's kin, she only hit the metallic trunk of a tree.

The monster's malicious gaze snapped to her instantly, then to the blackened spot on the tree and then back at her again. It growled and started circling, remaining behind trees and bushes for cover as it continued to look for openings.

Mia might have thought it to be unique in some way, but then the few wolves that were only arriving on the battlefield started mimicking it, just prowling in the undergrowth and readying for a pounce. Some took openings they saw, charging out of their hiding spots and throwing themselves jaws wide open at a vanguard focused on a battle of their own.

The first such opportunistic mutt earned a Blast to its face, but its lifeless — and mostly headless — corpse still crashed into the unfortunate vanguard who was far too busy wrestling with another wolf to notice. The monsters were heavy, probably because their hides were covered in metal, and they were the size of smaller horses, so when all that weight came crashing into an unsuspecting victim, there were bound to be problems.

Mia winced as the hairy man from Rex's squad suddenly had his legs kicked out from under him by the rolling corpse, giving the opening to his previous foe. The monster wasted no time and had its jaw clamped down on the man's hip before Mia could so much as blink.

The man just grunted and went back to pummeling the monster's head, raining fists and knuckles down on its skull and snout. It yelped, but didn't let go; instead, it tried to backpedal and drag the man back and away from the other fighters, where its kin could tear him to shreds without fear of a quick retribution.

Mia bit her lips. She had a Blast aimed at the monster, but the man was so entangled with it that she was just as likely to blow a limb off of him as hit the monster. Running after him would have been idiotic, as she was nearly useless in close combat, especially against something as big as the Iron Wolves.

Just as she was about to turn and look for someone to help, or drop her Blast spell circle for a spell with a bit more finesse and accuracy, Brent dashed forward, and his blade snapped at the monster. The thrust drove the blade into the monster's neck up to the hilt, and the swordsman wasted no time twisting it to widen the wound and then tearing the weapon out. A fountain of thick, oily blood followed, and while the monster persisted, growling and grinding its teeth deeper into the hairy beastkin's hip, its eyes lost their light a second later.

A pair of monsters tried to take advantage of the gap, and the two occupied vanguards, but they didn't have people in their jaws; Mia had to avoid hitting. The first ate a mouthful of Arcane Blast the moment it stuck its ugly mug out from behind a tree, the young halvyr having caught it preparing for a pounce. The other monster got closer, and was already mere metres away from Brent when a lance of crimson magic burrowed into its torso and pierced right through, coming out of its flank and splattering against a tree dozens of meters behind it.

Mia allowed herself a quick glance at her girlfriend, and she saw a light grimace twisting her pretty features. That Blood Lance ate a lot of lifeforce to compensate for the power it brought, and while using lifeforce in spells wasn't as agonising for Vampires as it was for anyone else, Mia doubted it felt pleasant to have such a huge chunk of it ripped away suddenly.

By the time she returned her gaze to the fight, the beastkin had torn open the dead monster's jaw and freed his bloodied hip. Brent stood above him, warding off a third monster that snuck close under the cover of the undergrowth and thought the swordsman an easy prey.

It was quickly disabused of that notion as Brent suddenly sped up and the tip of his blade snapped out like a striking serpent, lodging itself into the monster's cranium. It fell over, dead, like a puppet with its strings cut, almost ripping the sword out of Brent's arm as its tip was still stuck in its skull.

Mia shot off a handful of spells as covering fire, not disappointed by them striking only unoffending trunks, bushes and dirt as the monsters hiding behind them scurried to get out of the way. Brent almost tore the corpse's head right off its neck by the time he managed to dislodge his sword, but the monsters left him to it thanks to their rapidly thinning number and the covering spell-fire.

Lighting flashed in the distance, its blue and yellow light chasing away the thick shadows of the forest. Mia didn't have to guess who was responsible, as she could feel the mana surging in her mother a few steps behind her and flowing through a thin thread into the distance. Her eyes followed the thread, and she caught a glimpse of a tiny grey cloud soaring over the undergrowth, discharging thick bolts of forking lightning at just about everything in its surroundings.

Stolen story; please report.

It seems Mom is making good use of her new Bond. Mia mused, narrowing her eyes and then smiling as she saw the annoyingly cautious monsters still lurking in the shadows being chased out of their hiding spots.

With the beginning of a bloodthirsty smile tugging at her lips, Mia aimed and fired at the scurrying monsters. Lightning seemed to be something they instinctively knew to fear, as they should with their squishy insides being covered in conductive iron hides, so they failed to notice the angry bolts of pink energy whizzing through the air and crashing into them.

They were far, and still running wildly between the trees, so Mia couldn't quite manage to drop them with single spells like the mutts from before, but just half a minute later, all of them were limping, or outright missing legs as she'd blow chunks out of their flanks and sides. By her count, only five remained alive, and only two of those were mobile enough to turn tail and run when the vanguards finished their fights and stalked forward to finish the rest.

"Two escaped," Kruger said dispassionately from the far back, and Mia grimaced. Maybe she could have killed them too, had her aim been just a bit better. She had gotten much better at hitting moving targets with having so much practice at it over the weeks, and especially with the spars she had gotten in every so often against Carmilla — trying to hit an opponent that kept bouncing around while you yourself were dodging and actively trying to evade attacks forced you to perfect your aim like nothing else — but it evidently wasn't enough. Her Spirit Sense, being so foggy with the miasma shrouding its clarity, was partly to blame, as she usually relied on the mystical sense to track opponents even when her sight or hearing couldn't manage the feat. In here, she only had her pair of eyes to rely on when even her hearing was compromised by the din of a battle.

"Let them," Brent grunted. "They know we're coming anyway, which might lead anyone pursuing into a trap. Get everyone who's injured to the Healer! Chop, chop. The mutts can be back in force any moment!"

The healer in question was the shy teen boy Mia had first seen with Rex, but was now in Konstantin's squad. They had others capable of healing in the Raid team, but none of the others had a dedicated Class focused on it, and none were as good. Camie could heal some, but it cost her lifeforce and was 'rough', according to the vampire.

The hairy beastkin who had his hip mangled was the first to receive aid as the most grievously wounded, even though his injuries had already stopped bleeding and were in the process of scabbing over. That had to be some inherent trait, because Mia was sure she would have bled to death in short order from wounds that deep and that large without her healing ring. Not to say, the monster would have likely snapped her in half if it got her torso between its powerful jaws, while the man shrugged it off with a grunt.

Classes are weird. Mia mused, wondering just what combination of Class and Bloodline would give someone those sorts of powers. With how he seemed like he bathed in a hair-growth potion every day, but had no outward sign of any animal characteristic, Mia wasn't even sure what type of beast bloodline he might have had. Maybe it's just a very weak one, so it can't manifest in any visible way besides the hair? Could be anything from a bear to a beaver or maybe even a wolverine … he does have the look for the latter.

The brute got patched up in short order, though he still had a noticeable limp as he left and kept his hand on his wounded hip. The healer was breathing hard, his mana fluctuating inside him in a wild dance before he got a handle on it. Patients came and went, some had similar bite-marks, others bloody tears where metallic claws tore into soft flesh, while others yet had stranger wounds. One of the rearguard, a lithe man from Henri's — the strange man dressed like a Buddhist monk — team, wielding a pair of scimitars, even managed to get his ankle broken with a faulty dodge.

Mia listened to the man retell the fight in great, yet dubious detail to the sweating healer who looked to be ready to fall over from a strong breeze. His once wildly dancing mana was now a fluttering spark, languidly rolling through his body as the boy grimaced from the strain.

"I think he's done," Mia whispered, prodding Brent with an elbow. "His mana is all but dried up. He'll hurt himself if you push him to continue."

Brent held up a hand to the woman he'd been speaking to, then turned to take in the remaining group of injured still awaiting treatment. "Seems like nothing worse than a bruise. Tell the boy he can take a rest and have Sebastian deal with the rest of them; his Aura ability should be able to patch up those minor injuries."

"Alright," Mia said, and Brent was back to talking to the woman before she even finished the word. Shrugging, she made her way over to the boy. "You can stop, take a rest."

"I … can keep-" he wheezed, swaying in place even as he sat on a larger rock. "I can keep going."

"You don't need to," Mia said gently, crouching down to look him in the eye through the tangled brown locks of hair falling over his face. "You healed everyone who really needed it, Sebastian will handle the rest of them. We don't want you too exhausted, or strained to heal after the next fight, because there will be a next fight, and soon. Rest, meditate if you can and replenish your mana, avoid drinking a potion to do it if you can manage. Those are the orders from the Raid-leader, not suggestions from me by the way." He slumped at that, hunching his shoulders and gave a tired nod. Mia smiled and turned to the waiting fighters. "You heard that too, leave the boy alone. The friendly neighbourhood Paladin will handle your bruises."

"I've been waiting for fifteen minutes!" A familiar voice grumbled, just loud enough to be heard by the rest of them, and Mia quickly found the source in Aiden. "I got a burn, it's got to be second degree at least. Can't you just feed him a potion and have him do it quickly? I heard Sebastian's healing leaves scars."

Mia suppressed the urge to roll her eyes at the man's whining or to growl at him, annoying as the man was, he was still the face of the unionists in the Raid-group. A part of her wondered whether he was baiting her into making some scathing remark so he could rally his faction around himself, show that the 'military faction' under Brent hated them, perhaps enough so that they'd use them as disposable troops.

Okay, I'm spiralling, let's stop that. Mia thought, furrowing her brows as she took in the obnoxious fire mage's countenance. He stood tall, arms crossed above his chest as he was staring down at her, waitingly, tapping his foot. He did not look like or give off the vibe of a manipulator. He's just an asshole, but I guess that could be a sign of a really good manipulative asshole … not that I could do anything about it even if it was true. I'm probably just overly paranoid.

"He's on the edge of getting mana exhaustion, Aiden." Mia tried to sound as disapproving as she politely could be, without it turning into making her sound just bitchy. "If a monster chows down on your hand in the upcoming fight, he wouldn't be able to do anything about it if we pushed him now. Get yourself healed by someone else if you want, or use one of your potions, wasting them to get rid of a scar is your choice in the end."

"Fine," Aiden spat, huffing indignantly as he turned to leave with some of his teammates following behind.

"That's an expert shit-stirrer if I've ever seen one," Mark said, and Mia jumped a little at the closeness of his voice. Turning, she saw him standing just a metre behind her while his fingers fiddled with the pommel of his mace. "Dumbass got his own hand burnt and wanted to make it someone else's problem, shame he didn't push or I could have smashed his nose in without being seen as an asshole."

"So you're my bodyguard now?" Mia raised an eyebrow, letting out a tense breath she didn't even notice she was holding. "Beating up my bullies like in middle school?"

Gabriel had always been more than ready to start throwing fists whenever someone made his sister cry, even back in kindergarten, and Mark shared his enthusiasm from the day the siblings started playing with him in middle school. That all stopped in highschool,l though, when Mia rather sternly told them that she wanted to handle her own problems going forward. She didn't want to be the protected little princess always saved by her little brother and his friend.

Mark shrugged, an uncomfortable look crossing his face. "I wouldn't mind. Plus, a fist in the face is less of an escalation than you starting to throw spells when you snap. Aiden's face looks pretty punchable, too, so there is that."

"Right," Mia huffed, turning to see most of the patients having wandered over to Sebastian, who now shone with a soft golden glow. Aiden was obviously missing from the group, and Mia quickly located him, trying to convince one of the mages to heal him. A Water mage, if memory served her correctly, one who she recalled seeing summon whips of water to entangle and strike at monsters from a large canteen hanging on her side. Apparently, she also had some minor healing magic, or at least Aiden seemed to think so. "Well, this is done. Think we should quickly cut some mana cores out of these mutts before Brent orders us forward again?"

"I don't think we'll have the time," Mark said, glancing at her and then at the carcass of a monster. "We've found cores in their brains or behind their hearts so far, we'd need a damned mining team to burrow into these huge lunks of flesh and metal deep enough to get them out. Don't think Brent will leave us enough time."

"Shame," Mia mused. "I bet those things are worth something. Nikki said the higher the level of the monster, the more valuable its core is to artificers and the like. With the amount of monsters we'd killed … we might not get paid well here, but I bet Zeigler could find a use for them. Last I heard, his researchers were working on mana-to-electricity transformers, with this many cores, they could probably run the generators for months, if not years."

"Might be worth throwing a few corpses through the portal when we have the time, then," Mark said. "Even if we don't have time, those on the other side can handle cutting these things apart."

"Think that's allowed?" Mia asked thoughtfully. "Would the Rift allow us to just … throw out the loot through the portal when it restricts us from freely coming and going?"

"Can't see why it wouldn't be." The dwarf shrugged, then turned to leave. "I'm gonna tell Brent. Worth a try, if nothing else. See you later!"