The Hammer Mage of Spinworld (A LitRPG Portal Fantasy Deckbuilder)

The wound on his leg hurt, but it could have been worse. The lieutenant's sword had cut through his titanium plate and the steel mesh beneath it before piercing his leg. If it wasn't for his armor, he would have lost his right leg.

He limped back to the house and called out, "James, you alright in there?"

"I'm fine. Thank god you are too. It was killing me to stay in the house," James said and came out to him.

When he saw Max's injury, he helped him inside. They worked together to get his armor off, bandage it up, and then get armored up again. When the danger was past, Max asked the burning question.

"How come you didn't come help me?"

"I couldn't. It's the guildmaster's card. He had a Bell card called Phobia. He can give anyone a phobia for the day. He gave me a fear of fighting."

Max tsked. "Bell cards strike again. Assholes seem to be drawn to them like moths to the flame. I really want to give the builders a piece of my mind. The whole Bell suit needs to be redone."

"Yeah, he's an asshole. He stuck Lily in a closet and gave her a fear of leaving. The more specific the phobia, the stronger it is. She's probably been terrified for hours."

"That bastard. We need to go free her. We should swing by the city hall first though. Bisrat and Yang are probably waiting for me there. With the four of us, it'll be easier to break her out."

"I don't know how useful I will be since I can't fight." James said sadly.

"You'll be plenty useful in the information gathering phase. The rest of us will be happy to bash in some heads," Max said and pounded his fists together.

James helped Max to his feet and they headed out. A few people gave Max a strange look, but that was probably because of his limp and not because they were Silver Eagle members in disguise. Probably. He asked James to double check that no one recognised them.

A few suspicion filled minutes later, they stopped in an alley near the city center. There was a town square with a fountain and space for a market. The town hall was across the way, with Bisrat and Yang waiting in front of the steps. Max started moving towards them, but James held him back.

"There are at least two different squads of guildies watching the town hall. We can't go out there," James said.

Max tilted his head. "You can't go out there because they would recognise you. But they don't know me, right? The only one from the guild that knew me is Karl and he's back in New Pants."

"Noo... But you are fully armored and walking towards their target. They are going to know something is up," James replied.

"Then let's get a disguise. Come on. We gotta hurry. The square is clearing out and people are heading home," Max said and turned around.

They headed back a block to find a clothing store. Max looked for a cloak but that wasn't the style here. Winter clothes would be a good way to cover his armor, but Spinworld didn't have winter.

"They don't have anything that will work," James said. "We need to come up with a new plan. Maybe we can send someone over to the ladies with a message?"

"No, we need to get into town hall. We need to warn the governor about the assassination attempt."

"You're right. The town needs him. The world too. As far as I know he's the only source of news we have."

"Wait. The governor is Ernie Pyle? We gotta save him." Max tilted his head. "Wait. He always says he is broadcasting from an undisclosed location. He's been a governor this whole time?"

"Yeah. He uses illusions to pretend to be a woman so no one knows he's here."

"Then how do you know he's here?"

"His ex is working with the guild. She's a governor of a town on the other side of Spinworld and hates his guts. She's the Dana he mentions at the end of his broadcasts. Apparently he was dating a few different people at once and using illusions of himself at home to cover up. She found out. Messy break up."

"Damn. Ok, Ernie isn't a saint. Still need to save him." Max said.

James nodded and picked up an item of clothing that could work as a disguise.

"Ug. Fine. But you have to come too. We need someone with inside information about the guild," Max said.

James nodded and grabbed a few straw hats while he was at it. They paid for their purchase and headed out. Max took off his helmet and gauntlets and stored them in his belt and then donned the hat and the rest of the disguise.

Max had to push down his embarrassment as they walked up to city hall. Their disguise was working, the ladies didn't recognize them until they were close.

"What are you wearing?" Yang said, disbelief in her voice.

Max shook his head. "It's a disguise. The Silver Eagle guild is watching the building. We need to sneak in."

"It looks a lot like you two are wearing dresses and cute hats. Are you sure you don't want to tell me something? I am very open minded about gender," Yang said with a straight face.

"Knock it off, not funny," Max said. He pointed to the town hall. "Let's go in."

Bisrat was confused by the interaction, but spoke up when he started walking up the stairs. "We already tried contacting the governor. They said she's in an important meeting and won't take visitors."

"This is more important, she has to talk to us," Max said. He shook his head. "I mean he has to talk to us."

He pushed open the tall door and walked into the entrance hall. There were four sets of doors leading off from the hall. A woman sat at a desk near the front doors.

"I'm sorry, we aren't accepting visitors anymore. Please come again in the morning if you would like to make an appointment," she said.

Max shook his head. "We aren't here for an appointment. We are here to save the governor's life. Where is he?" He unbuttoned the dress and shucked it.

James had already done the same. He tossed his straw hat and said, "Ignore her. Let's go. We need to see if Ernie is in the building or not."

"Hey! You can't go in there. The city hall is closed!" the woman said. She ran to the doorway and held out her hands to block it.

James didn't react, and walked right through her instead. The illusion scattered and reformed. Max shook his head. He hadn't suspected a thing. He followed behind James.

The illusion woman yelled, "Guards! Guards!"

In the next room, a half dozen guards burst out from nearby doorways. They were wearing full plate armor and each held a large sword that they leveled at James. He ignored them and kept walking. They shouted and swung their swords at his neck. He walked right through them. James opened the door to the governor's office and looked around.

There was one person in the room, a woman sitting behind the large desk and holding a crossbow. This time James held up his hands.

"Don't shoot. We are here to warn the governor. Ernie needs to know about the Silver Eagle Guild after him."

"Stop right there. Tell your friends to back up out of the room too," she said.

Max and the women backed up. James followed them and left the room too.

"Hey, I didn't mean you too. Get back in here," she called out.

"No, no thanks," James stuttered out.

Apparently the threat of the crossbow was enough to trigger his fighting phobia.

Max slowly leaned into the doorway so she could see him. His armor should be enough to stop any crossbow bolt, but he didn't want to test it. He knew his own magic bolts could pierce his armor, she might have something similar.

He held up his hands and said, "We need to warn Ernie Pyle. The Silver Eagle Guildmaster has the Builder quest and is out to kill him. He's working with Dana to draw him out."

"I thought you said they were here after the governor, now you say you want to warn the annoying news guy?"

James said, "The guild knows they are the same person. They brought people like me, ones that can see through illusion, they have a trap set up."

She laughed. "They are wasting their time. Yeah, Ernie lends us his illusions sometimes, but he isn't here. He's not even on this layer. He's on the second layer. He's got a bunker there or something."

"No, he's..." James took a deep breath. "He's behind the false panel to your left. He's heard everything I've said. I have a Listen card and I can hear him panicking in there."

She swore and vaulted over the desk, charging at them. Max jerked back and reached for his belt. He was surprised when she slammed the door closed instead of attacking. He could hear glass shattering and then a scuffle.

A few moments later, James said, "He left. The bodyguard or whatever grabbed him and took him out the window. I can't believe he didn't want to stay and talk. I was going to tell him the guild's plans. They got another with the listen card and someone with smoke powers that can see people with their eyes closed. He's going to run right into their trap."

Bisrat stroked the green quills atop her head. "Well, I guess we warned him, right? He shoulda stayed and talked, but it seems like he is paranoid enough not to get caught in an obvious trap."

"I guess... I thought he was a tier three guy, someone who could hold his own. Not some coward. I hoped he could help us rescue Lily." James said. He looked lost.

Yang stepped forward. "Where is Lily? Forget governor, we'll rescue Lily now, ok?"

James shook himself to refocus. "She's in the motel with the guildmaster. He trapped her in the closet. They took over the wing of this shitty motel on the spinward side of the city. Called it their command center."

Max said, "Let's scout it out. The governor has apparently decided he doesn't want our help, so our only priority is getting Lily out safely."

They headed across town as the city started getting ready for bed. Aside from a few bars, everything shut down with nightfall. People shuttered shops, and locked up homes. Despite the city walls, monsters made the night dangerous. People without cards didn't risk staying out late.

James showed them the motel from a distance. It was a row of wooden cabins that were built up against the city wall. It was run down and falling apart. Several windows had been broken and boarded up instead of replaced. Some of the clay tiles were missing from the roofs.

It was clear to see which half had been taken over by the Silver Eagle Guild. There were a half dozen guards patrolling outside the southern half of the motel. Each had the characteristic metal breastplate with an eagle emblazoned on the front. Most of them had helmets and swords as well, but the sixth one held a broom and a dustpan.

"Mister Clean over there looks dangerous. Those are clearly dungeon artifacts, we need to take him out first," Max whispered.

"Perhaps. But the woman in the middle is the highest leveled of the six of them," Bisrat whispered.

"Wait, you can see people's levels?"

"Yes, it comes with having high Insight. It takes me a few moments of focus, but I can see people's level," she replied. "That woman in the middle with the straw hair is level twelve. The others are all six or below."

"Alright, we take her out first. The only question is how. It's gonna be hard to get close," Max said.

There was a wide gap between the closest buildings and the city walls. Without cover, it would be hard to approach. A ranged attack probably wouldn't be enough. Max had his crossbow and Bisrat her knives. But Yang didn't have a ranged option and James couldn't fight right now.

He motioned for them to move back a block so they could talk strategy.

"I can sneak up on them, probably kill the lady before they notice." Yang said.

Max shook his head, "No, these are guards on alert. They have to have a few people with Sight or Insight that will spot you. Besides, getting past these six is the easy part. If the people inside hear us fighting, they'll come out guns blazing."

"We can't risk them hurting Lily," James interjected.

"That too. We gotta sneak in," Max said. He glanced back towards the motel. "How thick do you think the city walls are? Is it possible to cut our way in from that side?"

Bisrat shook her head. "Your tools are impressive, but most city walls are impregnated with anti-magic materials like glass or plastic."

"Wait. Plastic is anti-magic?" Max asked incredulously.

"Yes, it disrupts spells." Bisrat replied. "Once anyway. It's often vaporized in the process."

"Damn. That would have been good to know before I threw stuff away weeks ago. Coulda made an anti-magic shield for everyone with the stuff I tossed."

"Sorry."

"Not your fault. I tossed it before we met."

Bisrat nodded. The four of them fell silent while they considered plans. Max thought through his arsenal. He had over a hundred pounds of tools, but they all used flashy magic. He could make something new, maybe with a metal he hadn't used yet.

He realized he could probably make thermite, but that would require filing down aluminum and iron, which would take way too long and not work as well as magic. Maybe there was something he could do with mercury. It melted at room temperature and if the spell stayed in the hammer afterwards, he could make some amazing traps. But no. Now wasn't the time for wild theory crafting.

Bisrat cleared her throat. "I think it might be time to finally tell you about my other Clover card."

When everyone was looking at her she took a deep breath and said, "I have a high leveled Decay card." Bisrat winced, as if expecting backlash.

"Yeah, so? I have one too," James said.

"What? Really?" she said, shocked.

"Yep, it's my heart card." James said.

Bisrat shook her head. "Don't tell anyone else about that. The Decay card is very valuable. People might kill you on the off chance it will drop when you die. That's why I kept it secret until now. Since I only have two cards, there is a fifty percent chance it would drop when I die."

"James rarely uses it because it's slow and not very powerful," Max said. "Does it get more powerful at higher levels? Is that why it's valuable?"

She shook her head. "No, it has to do with how Clover cards work. They are tiny spells that suck up mana and get more powerful with time. It's like a magical virus. Harmless at first, but with time it's overwhelming.

"My Decay card is all but useless against weak monsters, but invaluable against Titans. Plus, Clover spells are so small that they can escape notice. I could hit all six of those guards now and it would be enough to put them on the ground in eight minutes. It probably wouldn't kill them, but it would make it easy for Yang to come in and finish them off quietly."

"Whoa. That does sound powerful," James said. He stared at his hands as if discovering a superpower.

"It is. The Decay Card doesn't usually kill by itself, but it makes every foe weaker." Bisrat said. "Given enough time, anyway."

"I bet it would make killing governors easy too." James said.

"If the card was higher level, yes. But since my Decay is only level 12, they could certainly beat it. If they have high Resistance, the spell will slide off. And high Flow gives them high enough mana manipulation to break the spell. It's really only useful for people my level or lower."

Max said, "Which works well for us today. Bisrat, you hit all six of them with Decay and Yang you sneak in. We'll watch from the nearest alleyway and charge in if one of them alerts. Bisrat, night is falling soon, try to time your attacks with that."

She nodded and they snuck closer to the motel again. Yang faded into the background and Bisrat climbed a nearby building. The cilia on her tail gave her plenty of grip to make the climb easy.

A huge shadow raced across the city a moment later. Max watched for the flicker of Bisrat's Clover magic, but he didn't see it. Hopefully that meant she had been stealthy, not that she had a problem and hadn't attacked. He wouldn't know either way for several more minutes.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Waiting was nerve wracking. He wanted nothing more than to rush forward and attack, but he had to wait for his teammates to work unseen. He had lost track of Yang right away, she had gotten better at hiding her mana.

Eight long minutes later, the woman stumbled. The others came up to her to check on her, but then they stumbled too. One of them fell to the ground and didn't get up. The woman seemed to know what was going on right away. She opened her mouth to scream.

Her cry of alarm was cut off by a dagger to the throat. Yang was in their midst. It was a little easier to see where she was because she was moving around so quickly. The guards attacked, but missed the blur in their midst. Max started running over, but all six were dead before he got there.

Max pushed away the notification. He didn't like that they were gaining experience from killing humans. He felt terrible about killing at all. But they were holding Lily hostage and he would choose her over them any day.

There were three cards hovering over the bodies of the downed guards. Apparently only half of them had any magic. Yang grabbed the cards and tucked them away.

Bisrat arrived a moment later and the three of them turned back to where James stood. He waved them forward. Apparently his phobia wouldn't let him get closer when he knew they were going to fight more. The guild's command center was a few feet away and further violence was all but guaranteed now.

Max reached into his belt to grab a tool. Instead he pulled out a tennis ball. He stared at it in confusion. His confusion turned to whispered profanities.

"What's going on?" Yang whispered.

"My belt's curse reset. Must have happened at nightfall. I have to use five random items before I can access all my weapons I have stored," Max whispered back. "Tennis balls are used for games. Here, catch."

He threw the ball and Yang caught it, still slightly confused. The ball dissolved into motes of mana shortly afterwards. Max hurriedly pulled out the next item. It was a kid's book, Goodnight Moon.

He hurriedly flipped through the pages. The dim light from the distant streetlamps made reading it difficult, but this was a book he had memorised as a kid. When the book dissolved into mana, he pulled out a tiny statuette.

It was a statue of a thin Budda, his arms outspread. Max turned and placed it atop one of the guard's bodies. It might help his spirit reach enlightenment. Or something. He didn't actually know much about buddhists. The action still counted for his belt's curse and the statue disappeared.

The next item was a bouquet of roses.

"Here, Bisrat, have some flowers." Max said.

He really hoped that the translation magic wouldn't pass on the normal meaning behind giving someone roses. She hesitantly accepted the flowers and they broke down into mana moments later.

His heart beat faster as he pulled out the last item. It was a carrot. He happily took a bite and waited for the carrot to dissolve. When it did, pulled out a pair of drills.

"I'm ready. Let's go," Max softly said.

A voice from inside the room to their right called out, "Sharon? You alright out there?"

The three of them rushed over to the shack in the middle where someone was yelling for their dead guard. Max guesured for the other two to let him lead.

He padded forward, trying to be quiet. When he was right in front of the doorway, he activated one of the drills. It was one of the Augmented drills. A three foot beam of yellow light speared out and hummed dangerously.

Max stabbed it into the door and swung it side to side. It cut through the door and the frame, but most importantly, the lock.

An instinct from playing Call of Duty made him pause for a moment off to the right of the doorway. The door exploded outward a moment later as a summoned quill cat leapt through the ruined doorway.

Max reached out and tapped the summoned monster with his budget lightsaber. The drill's magic fought against the summoner's magic, a screech sounding through his ears and soul. The summons popped.

As the blue sparkles were still clearing, Max rushed into the room. It was a small room, dimly lit. A crappy mattress was shoved to the side and a small table sat in the middle. There were chairs knocked down and three older men faced the door. The one in the middle wore an ornate cuirass, but the two on the sides had taken theirs off.

Max took it all in and juked to the side, but not fast enough.

One of the men held a glass bottle pointed at the doorway. A wave of magic blasted out, hitting Max in his right shoulder. His titanium pauldron shattered and his woven steel undercoat exploded and unraveled. He dropped his active drill and the yellow piercing magic cut a hole into the floor. The drill dropped into the wooden floor and out of sight.

His dodge finally brought him out of the strange magic's effect. Max stumbled from the surprise and pain in his shoulder. It saved him from the next attack. The guy on the left sent a sonic bolt into the wall where his head had been moments ago. It blasted a hole in the wall with a spray of shrapnel.

With an effort of will, Max kept himself from freezing up and clapping his hands on his ears. He regained his balance and dashed to the side. The man with the bottle activated his magic again, but missed this time.

An instant later, his bottle shattered. Bisrat had joined the fight with her knives. The man yelled in pain and grabbed his shredded hand. That gave her a stationary target for her next knife to the temple.

Max was almost upon the trio when the one on the right fell to her knives. The man closest to him drew a sword and slashed at Max. He activated the drill in his left hand and met the strike with his yellow magic blade. It sliced off the end of the sword and gave Max the opening he needed to stab him through the heart.

The final man turned his hand towards Max to unleash another sonic bolt. Max whipped his right arm forward and sent a blue hand speeding through the air. His mage hand grabbed the man's arm and pushed it up. The sonic bolt went off, punching a hole in the ceiling.

A moment later, Yang appeared and slit his throat with a dagger. He clutched his throat with both hands and gurgled. Max stepped back as the man coughed and slowly bled out. He winced as he realised that people died much slower in real life than they did in movies.

By the time they were all dead, Max's drill had fizzled out. He dropped it back into his storage belt. Hopefully it would have time to recharge before they had to fight again.

Three cards hovered over the bodies and Bisrat quickly collected them.

As the adrenaline from the fight slowly wore off, Max felt a pain in his right shoulder. The exposed skin was red and raw. It hurt to move his right arm. He was tempted to pull out his healing potion, but it was the only one they had. He restrained himself. Potions were expensive, he wouldn't waste it on something that wasn't going to kill him.

Instead, he turned and looked around the room.

"Lily, you in there?" Max called out towards the only closet in the room.

"Max? Is that you?" a soft voice responded.

Max walked over to the closet door and said, "Yes it's me. We're here to rescue you."

"No, no, no. Don't come in. I can't, I can't..." Lily started before her words dissolved into sobbing.

"Don't worry. James told me about the phobia thing. I'm just going to open the door so we can talk face to face." Max said.

As he thought, the door was locked. He pulled out a circular saw. He used a rarely used feature of his saws, cutting wood. He used the spinning disc to cut through the doorlock and pulled the door open.

Lily was in the back of the small closet, pressed up against the far wall. Her long black hair was ratty and snarled. Tear streaks covered both cheeks.

"Oh, Lily, I'm so sorry they did this to you," Max said softly

Yang gently pushed him to the side and moved into the closet.

Lily held out her small arms and shouted, "No, no! Don't pull me out. Please, no. I can't leave."

Yang paused in the doorway and rocked back and forth. She seemed torn between rushing in to help her and staying back to not make things worse.

Eventually, Yang said, "What if you close your eyes and I hold you? Then you won't have to leave yourself."

Lily shuddered. "That won't work. I'll know."

Max looked down at the saw in his hands. "What if we made the closet bigger so you don't have to leave it?"

"What?"

"Will it trigger your phobia if I cut a hole in that wall there and you walk out of it?" Max said and pointed to the closet wall on the left.

Lily calmed down and thought about it for a bit. "I guess we could try. But you have to promise not to trick me."

"I promise," Max said.

He stepped up to the wall and knocked the closet rod out of the way. Cutting through the closet wall was like cutting paper. The saw zipped through the wall in seconds and Max punched out a large rectangle. He walked through the hole he just made.

"There. Now I am still in the closet." Max said with conviction. Hopefully that would be enough to get around the Phobia card.

Lily took a step towards the hole and hesitated. Then she screwed her eyes shut and took a step. She slowly opened her eyes when she was out, as if expecting the fear to strike at any time. When nothing happened, she sighed with relief.

"That worked. Thank you, thank you all," Lily said and wiped away tears.

Yang rushed up to her and gave her a hug. Max joined in and gently hugged them both. He motioned with his head to Bisrat and she joined in on the group hug.

After a bit, Max let go and said, "Come on. Let's get you to James. He led this rescue mission, but couldn't fight because of his own phobia. He's probably worried sick out there."

Lily perked up. "James is here?"

"Right outside in the alleyway to the right."

She rushed out of the motel shack. She ignored the bodies and rushed over to James. By the time the rest of them got there, they were hugging each other tight and crying into each other's shoulders.

"I can't believe I almost lost you," James whispered.

He pulled back and gave her a passionate kiss. She kissed him back and then burst into tears again.

Max must have seemed surprised because Yang leaned over and said, "I think that was their first kiss. The kids are taking things slow."

Max chuckled. He was happy for his friend, and ecstatic that they had been able to rescue them both alive and mostly uninjured.

Their reunion was interrupted by a man stepping out of the shadows of the alleyway and walking towards them. Max reached for his belt as Bisrat raised a throwing knife.

James put up a hand towards Bisrat. "Don't bother. He isn't really here. That's just Ernie's illusion."

"Whoops, didn't mean to startle you. I just wanted to say thanks for the warning." Ernie said with his hands up.

The group calmed down and Yang's shadow detached itself from the wall.

"You didn't seem to thankful earlier," Max said. "We warned you and you bolted. We were hoping you could help us rescue our friend." He gestured towards Lily.

"I know, and I'm sorry. I really am. We didn't know if you were lying. It could have been a trick to verify I was in the building and then gas the whole place. Which they did, by the way. They pumped poison gas into city hall a few minutes ago. You guys saved my life. Thank you."

"We risked our lives to warn you and all you do is say thanks?" Max said, lying slightly. He didn't risk his life for the governor or his town. He only came for James and Lily. Saving the town was a nice bonus.

"More than just thanks!" Ernie said. "You saved my life! It seems like the whole world is trying to kill me. You guys deserve a real reward. Not just money either, I've got good stuff in the vault I want to give you."

James perked up. "Really? You are going to give us loot for saving your life?"

Ernie's illusion laughed and said, "You could call it that, yes." Then he turned suddenly and stared at the alley wall. He held up a finger and said, "Hold on one second."

A moment later, the illusion faded out.

They stood there awkwardly in the empty alleyway for a moment.

"Should we go? I mean, he can find us wherever we go, right?" James asked.

"Is that how it works?" Lily asked. "Does his card let him see everywhere on Spinworld? Can he just creep on us whenever he wants?"

"No, that's not how it works," Ernie said, having just reappeared.

"Oh, sorry. I wasn't-" she started.

Ernie interrupted. "Nevermind that. After your warning, I laid a counter-trap to kill the guild after me. I had the whole town guard in on it. It should have been enough firepower. But they split up for some reason.

"Half of them are heading back to their home base, the motel you just murdered your way through. Thanks for that too, by the way. Makes my job easier. Anyway, you are going to want to run. You can't fight them alone. If you head spinward along the wall street, you'll run into my forces and we can try the ambush thing again."

As he talked, he created a hologram of the city. He pointed to where they stood marked by blue dots and where they should run to meet up with some green dots to the left. Red dots showed the remaining Silver Guild members heading their way on the street along wall street to their right.

"Shit. Go, go, go!" Max yelled and pushed his teammates forward. He had the most armor out of everyone here so he would be the rearguard.

They started running down the road, James and Lily leading the way, hand in hand. Max glanced back to see armed and armored people appear in the distance. The Silver Eagle Guild. It looked like there were fifteen of them. The road curved with the city walls, so he couldn't be sure of their numbers.

The guildies were already running as they came into view. They must have been running away from the failed trap Ernie set up. Max smiled. That probably meant that they weren't looking for a fight. They should be able to get away clean.

Max was immediately proven wrong by a blue tentacle. It swiped from left to right, knocking all five of them off their feet. He tumbled to the ground, rolling as he fell. He felt his arm wrench, but then spring back into place. Max was immensely grateful for the innate toughness that came with level twelve and the flexibility that came with high Flow.

He jumped to his feet in time to see a second tentacle heading his way. Someone had summoned a kraken on the street behind them. It was fighting Lily and Bisrat with a pair of tentacles and holding Yang down with another. That left it three more tentacles to deal with Max and James.

James was still paralyzed with fear, so Max was the only one free to act.

Max reached into his belt and pulled out his crossbow. He had loaded it earlier, expecting to need it in a pinch. He fired from the hip, not needing to aim with the summoned monster so close. If he understood what Lily had said about Pawn cards, one hit should kill it. His bolts should have enough power, magical and piercing, to overwhelm the mana construct.

The drill-bolt slammed into the monster an instant later. Its yellow piercing magic delivered enough damage to instantly pop it, returning the summons into a cloud of blue mana.

Max turned to help Yang back up as he said, "Come on, we need to get out of range."

They turned to run again, but they were too slow.

An unseen force gripped them, slowing them down. A moment later they were lifted into the air. Max flailed his arms and legs, to no avail. It was like someone had turned off the gravity. Four of them hovered in the air, slowly spinning around. Bisrat was the only one still on the ground. She had used her thousands of cilia to grab hold of the pavers.

She reached for them, but they were already out of reach. The four humans were slowly drifting back, into the range of the Silver Eagle fighters. Max noticed that they were starting to drift anti-spinward as they flew.

Max latched onto that fact. This wasn't telekinesis magic. It had something to do with momentum, otherwise it wouldn't be affected by the world's spin. The guild member probably had a high level Levitate, removing their mass and inertia. That meant Max might be able to do something about it. He reached into his belt and pulled out an adventurer's staple. Rope. After Gus showed how useful it could be, he always kept some in his belt.

He threw one end of the rope towards James, the one farthest away from him. The action sent him slowly spinning through the air so he was looking at the street instead.

Max yelled, "Grab the rope!"

The other end of his rope had a grappling hook. It was an ugly thing, cobbled together from hammers and drills. Good enough for today's purpose. Max slowly continued spinning, staring at the night sky for a moment before the ground came into view again. When the angle was right, he tossed the grappling hook off to his right.

It soared through the air, trailing the length of rope. It thunked into the wood of a nearby building. It was precarious, but it held. The humans stopped drifting backwards, but hung there, exposed.

Bisrat tried to crawl over, but stopped herself. If she let go of too much of the ground so she could move, she started drifting up. Max grimaced and looked back. Everyone was holding on, and James had tied the end of the rope to his waist. Max started pulling on the rope to get them out of the middle of the street. If he could pull them inside a window, the guildies would lose their advantage.

The grappling hook shifted slightly, but held. If any of them had their real weight, it wouldn't have worked. But weightless as they were, the hook held fast. They slowly swung as Max pulled them along.

Distantly, someone shouted and attacks started heading their way. A dozen green light speared out. As the bolts drew closer, they spread out like a fan. Max flinched and threw his hand up in front of his face.

James shouted and held up his tiny buckler. The shield's magic activated a large blue dome that covered his body. The magic dome shattered a moment later, but it was enough to intercept most of the attack. No one else was hit.

The rope was the only casualty of the green beams, it was cut off directly in front of Max's hands. They were helplessly hovering in the air once more. James' buckler only worked once a day, so now they were sitting ducks.

A bright yellow light flashed from the treeline and a shot screamed past James' ear. A second flash and a magical projectile hit Max in the chest. His breastplate deformed and cracked from the impact, but the attack didn't get through. He groaned and held his chest. His ribs felt like they were cracked.

The attack imparted enough momentum that he was spinning through the air now. Sky, ground, sky, ground. They had to try something different or they would be sniped out of the air in seconds.

"Bisrat! Use everything, both cards!" Max yelled out.

She drifted into view a second later. She already had both hands full of knives. She hesitated for a moment and the knives glowed slightly with mana. She threw them an instant later.

The eight knives sped through the air. The Accelerate card worked on them to make them faster and faster as they flew. The fighters were far enough away that the knives were going supersonic by the time they hit.

All eight impacts were accompanied by a small explosion. Unfortunately, only two of them hit the fighters. At that distance, her aim wasn't good enough. The remaining six shattered across the nearby motel and the city wall behind it.

The two fighters that had been hit were knocked off their feet. They didn't get back up. The humans were still floating in the air after the attack.

Not for long.

After the Silver Eagle Guild saw how deadly Bisrat was, they dashed to the side of the street, huddling behind two huge guys with tower shields. As soon as the shields blocked their line of sight, Max and friends dropped to the ground.

They crumpled to the street in a heap, Max's armor clanging. They got up as quick as they could, but the guildies were faster.

Green bolts and yellow rays of magic speared through the air once more. Bisrat was hit in the gut and she bent over and grabbed her stomach. It was the only thing that saved her from a yellow beam to the head.

Max leapt to his feet and started running towards the doorway of the building he had grappled. If they could just get inside they would have the advantage again. Yang and Lily followed him, but James was still getting to his feet since he had gotten tangled in the rope. Max skidded to a stop and reached down.

He grabbed the rope and repeated the trick they had shown him. He targeted James and sent all of his Levitate power into him. It wasn't enough power to make him float, but it made it easier for Max. His panicked strength was enough to yank his friend towards him and out of the way of more magic beams.

James stumbled but kept his feet. The five of them raced towards the building and safety.

By now, they were just barely out of sight. The curved road meant that they guildies would have to step back into the middle of the road to get an angle on them now. Max reached for salvation as he heard something.

"Doors are scary!" a booming voice shouted from behind him.

Max yanked his hand back as if it had been burned. He cursed the guildmaster's card and pivoted. Alleyways were going to have to be good enough.

"Shadows are scary!" the voice boomed again.

Everyone was cursing now. They had to stick to places lit by streetlamps, so that meant major thoroughfares, not alleyways. The closest main road ahead was almost a block away.

As they ran, Max yelled back, "Why are you attacking us?"

"Don't you think we have our own eyes in the sky?" the guildmaster boomed back. "I saw how you murdered Donnie and Amara and everyone else. We are getting revenge if it's the last thing we do, James!"

Max shook his head and kept running. He dug into his belt and started pulling out weapons. They kept running, but it seemed like this was going to devolve into a fight anyway. He pulled out everything and passed it out.

Yang got a charged lightsaber, Lily got a disc shooter and Bisrat got his full supply of balanced throwing hammers. Max maneuvered himself to the back of the line, just in time to catch a green bolt to the shoulder. It was his right shoulder, the same one compromised by the earlier attack. The bolt went through his shoulder and splattered blood out the front.

His right arm fell limp, flapping around as he ran. He dropped the tungsten hammer he had been holding.

Max grunted and kept running. Tears welled up in his eyes. Ernie's ambush should be close. With his functional left hand, he spun the belt around to get at the storage pocket. He grabbed his last Augmented hammer and looked back to see how close they were.

Too close.

The tanks had gotten into a rhythm, running forward in lockstep with their shields raised. That allowed the whole group to get closer without fearing retaliation from Bisrat. Not that it really mattered, she was just trying to keep moving with her gut wound. She had dropped half the hammers Max had given her and was using her right hand to stem the bleeding.

Just when he was about to turn and fight, he saw Ernie. His illusion stood at the corner, just out of sight of the guild members. He desperately waved them forward, urging them to turn the corner.

Max and the others put on speed. They were feet away from the corner when the fighters behind them threw everything they had at them. A bladed yo-yo buzzed through the air. Yellow and green magic stabbed out. One of the tanks grew to ten feet tall, skin showing between plates of armor. Mist rose up from the ground and slowed them down. It was like running through syrup and breathing became hard.