Arcane Apocalypse [LitRPG]

Mia looked around in a panic, seeing not a single one of her comrades in a coherent state of mind. The ones passed out on the ground or cradling their temples while screaming their lungs out weren't the problem, oh no, the most problematic ones were like Rex. The huge Lizardman seemed to be locked in a vicious fight with a foe only he could see, stomping and charging back and forth while swinging his clawed hands around wildly. His eyes slid over everyone, and Mia saw no recognition in them or even just a hint that he saw her when they slid over her.

He wasn't alone either, and some others were in the same state. Some crashed into the screaming people, others stepped on the passed out ones, crushing limbs and … other things. Things were not looking good.

The disgusting little monsters scrambling towards them, throwing themselves over their palisades one after the other, didn't help either. Mia bit her lip, hesitating. What was she to do? She had no magic to dispel the dreadful energy from others, and she would need someone to hold down the huge beastkin warriors to even attempt doing so if she did.

But maybe her mana could manage? It was a long shot, and it could be a waste of her precious time. The monsters were coming; she had half a minute at most until the first one was within biting distance of the first raid-member.

There is no shot in hell I can win this alone while protecting the others. Mia thought, then unceremoniously dropped to her knees next to Carmilla's writhing form. The vampire had her eyes scrunched shut, face twisted in a deep frown, and she seemed to be locked in some dreadful nightmare.

Mia wanted to initially channel her mana right into her head, but instead grabbed her hands after a brief moment of thought. So far, her arcane mana had done nothing to soft tissue besides utterly obliterating it. Mia hoped she could will it to attack only the alien energy, but if she failed, she'd much rather blast her girlfriends' hands into oblivion than parts of her head.

Please work. Mia thought, and knowing there was no room for any more hesitation, channelled some mana to her fingers. She brought her will down on the small stream of energy, focusing on the singular idea of banishing the dreadful energy, picturing what her mana had done instinctively when it was invading her own energy channels. It was in Arcane's very nature to contest alien influences; it was a territorial and potent element. Hopefully, it could do the same to someone else.

The mana hissed as it left her fingertips, arcing and crackling, and Mia clamped down on it with the entirety of her willpower. It would NOT hurt her girlfriend; it would only hurt the alien mana. She almost relaxed when the energy flowed into the vampire's hand without disintegrating it, without peeling away layer after layer of skin and flesh, but she knew to do so would risk just that happening.

Mia got the idea her mana really didn't like being inside someone else's energy channels, as it tried to turn back around, if not just explode with every inch it passed. Worse, an energy that felt nothing like the energy of dread moved to contest its advance, and Mia realised with a start it was Carmilla's lifeforce responding to another invader like an immune system would to a new virus coming to wreak havoc.

Then her mana touched that oily, dark force she had felt in herself, and she finally loosened her grip on it, allowing it to focus all its destructive nature on purging that abominable thing from her girlfriend's body.

Carmilla's lifeforce fought its advance, but it was distracted, weak, as its primary focus was halting the very same alien energy's advance that Mia's mana had come to destroy.

The progress felt like a crawl, and Mia had to throttle the constant worry that the little monsters would reach her any moment now and tear her throat out. She could only hope her recharged Wards would give her enough time to react and to pull her mana back out of her girlfriend without letting it explode inside her. However, it was still progress.

Her mana crawled forward, inch after inch and annihilated the dark energy as it came into contact with it, flowing through the twisting pathways and tunnels of Carmilla's energy channels. With every moment that went by, the vampire's lifeforce put up less and less of a resistance to Mia's mana and instead focused on the dark dread, whether it was instinctual or because Carmilla had somehow directed her own lifeforce consciously, it put a smile on Mia's face.

After what felt like ages, her mana found no more of the dark energy to purge and instead clashed into the vampire's lifeforce as the power they had been boxing in between themselves disappeared. Mia hurriedly pulled back her mana, clamping down on its eagerness to fight this new energy, like it had the one before.

It truly felt like hours had passed by the time she tugged the last ember of her mana from the vampire and wearily opened her eyes. A pair of crimson orbs stared up at her, affection shining in their depths, along with guilt and shame. Then they were gone, snapping Mia out of her daze.

Carmilla had snapped her head to the side, and the cackles of the monsters reached Mia's ears, making her freeze. Snapping her own gaze towards them as her girlfriend sprang up to her feet, Mia saw the disgusting creatures were … at best ten metres closer than they had been when she closed her eyes to focus on purging Carmilla's body of the magically induced dread.

"It will wear off in time," Carmilla said gravely, her eyes tracking the incoming beasts. There were surprisingly few of them, maybe twenty so far and all of them of the unarmoured Wolfling variety. "But not soon enough to save them from these things. I'll-"

"Could you deal with Rex and his ilk?" Mia cut in.

Carmilla looked surprised for a moment, then glanced at the towering Lizardman as he stomped down on the knee of the elven archer from Sebastian's team. Mia winced in sympathy and averted her gaze as she saw a bone protruding from her leg while the woman's incoherent scream went up a pitch.

"Yes," Carmilla said simply, dashing at the scaled warrior with a swiftness that Mia could barely track. There was a loud noise like a thundercrack, and Mia spared a glance at Rex, finding the man crashing into the trunk of a giant tree with a boot-shaped indent marring the metallic scales of his stomach. He tried to get back up, but collapsed after a moment. "Worry about the monsters, I'll handle this."

Mia nodded at the vampire's words, hearing another similar crash and then a heavy thud as another rampaging warrior probably got knocked on their ass. That wasn't her problem, though, not anymore. She had to worry about them monsters.

Arcane Blast and Shield were active, and a moment later her trusty Familiar plopped down next to her in its larger lynx-like form, teeth bared and claws extended into wicked daggers on its paws.

"Don't let any of the monsters touch the downed people," Mia said, dashing forward herself to take position between her comrades and the monsters. She felt a pulse of affirmation from her Familiar, and then it raced past her, launching itself at the closest monster and tearing it to shreds in a blink.

Claws raked across its body, tearing through its thick hide and leaving deep gashes as the Familiar's momentum knocked the monster to the ground. The Wolfling couldn't even scream as the pink lynx's powerful jaws closed around its neck, tearing the head right off its shoulders in a cacophony of tearing flesh, cracking bone and screeching metal. Less than a heartbeat later, the Familiar was upon the next monster, its jaw shattering its skull between its fangs.

Mia forcefully stopped herself from gawking at the sheer savagery of her Familiar and focused on her own task. A score of monsters were rushing her, and they needed to die posthaste, all of them.

Blasts fired off one after the other, as fast as her energy channels could funnel mana into her hands without rupturing or getting too torn up, since she didn't forget the monster that had put her comrades into this position. That 'Wendigo' as Nikki had called it, was still out there, somewhere, and she might be forced to fend it off after this wave of monsters to keep her team, her friends, alive.

Her first target's torso burst apart with a thunderous explosion, limbs and head flying through the air as hungry tongues of pink energy arced after them to destroy them too. Mia dared not let her Shield spell go, though she was tempted to do so. If she did, she could cast her Arcane Blasts twice as fast since she could maintain channelling mana into both of her palms at once with Multitasking by now. However, she knew even that wouldn't be enough to kill every last monster before they reached her, and when they did, she would be needing that Shield.

Monster after monster met their end in an explosion of Arcane energy or under the savage onslaughts of her Familiar. Five, ten, then fifteen, but by that point, there were a dozen more of them further back, having crawled over the palisades to join their kin in the feast to come.

The distance between Mia and the leading monsters shortened with every one she killed, and before she knew it, one was pouncing on her, claws and teeth bared for her to see, spittle flying and a gleeful growl reverberating in the monster's throat.

Mia's off-hand snapped up, the Shield spell sprang to life and conjured up the condensed plate of Arcane energy above her outstretched hand. Knowing it would shatter if she let the monster crash into it with its full weight, Mia stepped to the side and instead deflected the monster to the side, sending it crashing to the ground where her next Blast obliterated its entire head, leaving its body twitching and convulsing for a second before it went still.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Mia was not paying attention, her focus on the next monster just a few steps behind its comrade. Her next Blast was not ready yet, so she bashed the monster in the head with her Shield, sending it staggering from the attack on its sensitive snout, then slammed her palm against its furry neck and let her mana go wild. Half the monster's neck disappeared in a tiny storm of arcane energy as its clawed hands went up to tear away the mana, which only ended up costing the monster its fingers, too. Beady eyes widened in panic that Mia cared nothing for, and finished it off with a Blast a moment later.

Her Familiar crashed into the next monster, not going for a swift kill this time and instead being satisfied with raking its claws over the Wolfling's face and leaping at the next monster, giving it a similar treatment. It took Mia a moment to realise the Familiar seemed to recognise that she had been close to getting overwhelmed, and it decided to relieve the pressure. That was smart of it, and she once again felt glad she had kept this smarter Elemental summoned for so long. It was more than worth the extra mana expenditure.

Mia was able to handle the next five monsters that came at her without much trouble, probably because they were all either limping, nearly blind from the rakes across their ugly mugs, or both. Still, even with her Familiar's help, they were a lot, and eventually she made a mistake.

A clawed hand with fingers primed to pierce deep into her body came at her from a blind spot while she was busy sending a monster ahead of her crashing back with a blast of kinetic energy injector right into its chest. Her double Wards held against the claw, and she was able to swing her hand about, wreathed in furious arcane energy, and claw half the monster's head off, but it was the start of a very bad trend. Monsters came at her, more than one at a time, and while her Wards were holding for now, nullifying the stray attacks they got in, she could feel their power dwindle with every attack she failed to dodge or deflect with a Shield.

I should have spent more time on finishing Mage Armour instead of stupidly spending my time on trying to get all of Spectral Blade's runes to Rank 1, Mia thought regretfully, feeling another damned attack slip through her flimsy guard. Jumping back to get her knee away from the offending claw that tried to tear the lower parts of her leg off, Mia sent a Blast into the monster's torso from close up. From this close, even she felt the shockwave of the explosion wash over her Wards, further straining them while it sent the nearest monsters stumbling. Four more attacks at most, then I'm fucked! Shit!

Heroic as her current actions might seem, Mia was not willing to really risk her life and make a glorious final stand here, which would inevitably end with her getting ripped apart, limb from limb, and eaten alive.

Oh no, the moment her Wards fell, she was bolting into the forest and continuing the fight by kiting whichever of the monsters still preferred taking a bite out of her instead of going for the free meal she was currently keeping them from.

Multitasking helped her keep track of all the monsters that were dying but not quite dead yet, even as she tried to dodge, parry and weave out of the way of claws and snapping jaws. Every so often, one of the monsters would explode in a shower of iron spikes, and Mia had managed to keep monsters between herself and their exploding kin for the most part, turning their vicious last attack into an opportunity for herself.

Alas, with her attention so divided and anxiety spiking with every attack she just barely avoided, and even more so with every strike that further weakened her Wards, Mia finally made a mistake. She felt the monster's magic charging up behind a Wolfling coming at her from the right with its teeth bared, and she thought that, like before, the monster's body between herself and the shower of spikes would shield her.

She was wrong, as a spike sailing just under the armpit of the Wolfling proved as it slammed into her shoulder. Her Ward barely slowed it, fracturing and shattering in an instant with a flash of pain shooting through her from the backlash. Then came the pain of a spike as thick as her fingers piercing halfway through her shoulder, the force of the impact spinning her about and sending her tumbling to the ground.

Even through the pain and the shock, her watery eyes snapped back on her horde of foes. She saw a malicious glee glowing in their evil little eyes as they all seemed to coil up as one to pounce on her, claws bared and maws dripping spittle and drool wide open. That moment stretched almost infinitely as she stared into the face of death, unable to move, unable to think, just watching as what seemed like certain death prepared to take her into its violent, painful embrace.

Her familiar was next to her in an instant, an explosion of Arcane energy washing out of its body and driving back the monsters that sought to finally rip apart their tenacious prey. She felt worry, fear, and terror radiate through her Bond from the Familiar as it hissed and swelled with power, Arcane power crackling around it like high-voltage electricity.

The monsters hesitated for but a moment, but that was just long enough to seal their fate in stone as a crimson comet smashed into. Crimson talons flashed out, bisecting monsters, and then savage kicks sent the bits flying. A growl of seething fury sounded out, louder than the tearing flesh and cracking bones or even the bestial screams of rage and pain. Mia knew that growl, knew that it meant she was safe, and she almost allowed herself to relax.

Groaning in pain, Mia cradled her injured shoulder ever so gently, not daring to so much as breathe at the iron spike poking out of it lest the pain knock her out cold. She felt her ring trying to heal it, but with the object still lodged inside her, it couldn't do anything for her. If she wanted the wound gone, she would have to take it out.

Her eyes, teary from the pain, hardened. Carmilla was fighting the monsters to protect her, but … Mia wasn't sure the silly girl wasn't in some berserk state where she forgot to think about self-preservation. A single dumb monster getting lucky and nicking her heart was all that it would take for the vampire's savage onslaught to come to a sudden, and permanent end.

Mia shifted her body to get a grip on the spike and hissed as agony rippled through her body, pulsing from her shoulder and making her body quiver. Her nerves were alight, burned and aching from pain, but … but she could deal with it. She could handle it. Carmilla needed her, her mother — still screaming behind her, curled up into a fetal ball — needed her, and so did the rest of her friends. She had to tough it out.

Grabbing the spike, Mia gritted her teeth and tried to make sure her tongue wasn't in the way so she wouldn't bite it. She took in a few quick breaths, spiking herself up as her misty eyes tried to track the storm of crimson destruction wreaking havoc upon the monsters.

With a scream, she hardened her will and yanked the spike out in a single motion, thinking it would be better to do it all at once like ripping off a band-aid. Her world went white with pain, her vision darkening to a dim dot. She knew only pain and agony for what felt like eternity, but slowly, far too slowly for her liking, the darkness retreated from her vision, and the dreadful agony that held her mind in a vice grip turned into just … mind-numbing agony.

Blinking away tears, Mia tried to refocus. Battle, there was a battle she needed to help in. Her shoulder ached and itched like an entire colony of ants had built a nest inside it, but she needed to help. She needed to cast spells and kill monsters, or the monsters would eat her and her friends.

Propping herself up on her knees, her vision went white again as torturous pain pulsed out from her shoulder, making her nerves burn with molten fire. She almost collapsed, but managed to keep her shaking left arm under herself.

Then it all went away in a flash. Icy cold numbness spread through her body and banished the pain. Mia shivered, teeth clattering as she snapped her misty gaze over her shoulder. She found a delicate hand gently holding her biceps, nails painted a light blue, and following it, she found Nikki looking down at her gently.

"Sorry I took so long to wake up," the alien woman said apologetically, her gaze snapping over to the battle where the growling Carmilla bisected another monster with the sheer force of a spinning kick delivered at its waist. "I numbed your pain receptors for a bit. It should last until your ring patches it up enough for you to function, but I'd recommend drinking a potion to speed it up. We might need you in the fight."

Mia stared dumbly, then nodded after a moment. Right. That sounded reasonable, even if she didn't feel particularly happy about wasting a health potion on an injury that was neither lethal nor debilitating enough to keep her from fighting. All it would need to heal was time, which was the one thing they might not have.

Her working hand wandered over to her potion belt and hesitated over the health potions, but after a second, her fingers snatched up the homemade potion brewed by one of Graz's new alchemists. She didn't hesitate in flicking off the topper with her thumb and then pouring the foul-tasting, oily green liquid down her throat.

The homemade potions were slower and would strain her body more, but System potions were literal lifesavers. It would have been too much of a waste with the limited supply they had.

"I'm g-good," Mia said, her throat dryer than the dessert and scratchy like she had swallowed a whole cactus. She must have been screaming her lungs out. She coughed to clear her throat, then stumbled to her feet. Only Nikki's firm grasp on her shoulder kept her standing as her knees wobbled and her vision swam. "I'll be good in a moment."

"Take a few moments to recover," Nikki said gently, but with a hint of something harder underneath as she gazed at the oncoming monsters. More and more of them were flowing over the palisades like a wave of metallic murder and malice. "I'll help her keep them back for a bit. The others should wake … in a minute or two. Thankfully, she took care of the berserk idiots."

Mia's eyes widened, and she turned towards where Rex and the other fighters, driven into a mad rage, were, and found not a single one of them still standing. Every last one was laid out, knocked out cold or groaning in pain, or collapsed in a bloody heap. Carmilla had not been gentle, but she had been fast, and none of them seemed to be in danger of dying.

That did not go for those unfortunate souls who had been stomped underfoot by one of them before Camie got to them. At just a brief glance, Mia's eyes caught three people who were … worryingly still.

Monsters. Deal with the monsters and then deal with the injured. Mia thought, turning back towards the monsters. Nikki had left her side, her chilly touch lingering on her shoulder and numbing her pain.

The woman stood before the tide of monsters, spell circles flashing above her pals as she flung off spikes of ice at any monster trying to circle around the storm of crimson death that was Carmilla's fury.

Even with the two of them working together, the number of monsters swarming towards them just kept on increasing. Swallowing the lump in her throat, Mia roused her mana and sent it through her channels. There was some strain; she had been abusing her channels quite a bit after all, but it was manageable, and she could keep going for a while more. Her Core was also still two-thirds full, even though that expenditure was mostly being the result of her throwing around blasts of uncontrolled Arcane and kinetic energy to give herself some breathing room.

With a trembling sigh, she stumbled forward and cracked her neck. Two minutes. With Carmilla taking the attention off of her, and Nikki now awake to help out, she could do two more minutes. The hard part would be making sure her silly girlfriend didn't kill herself.