Chapter 4 Part 3 of 3 (Patreon)

“Dungeon underneath it,” George pointed. Rugrat enhanced his vision, little remained of the town, the ground had collapsed in several places, creating a ramp down into the dungeon below, Warships fired on the town and more sections of the dungeon were revealed.

“What the hell are those things,” Rugrat muttered. They all had the same pepto-pink skin and teeth filled mouths that seemed to dominate their bodies, some had horns, others were covered in bones, or had hands and tentacles.

“Stollor infestation, three Devourers detected. Prepare to advance with spell scrolls. Aerial forces open that entire dungeon complex up,” Key’Renna ordered.

The warships focused their fire on the town, it fell apart as the ground cracked and dropped, the destruction spread.

Rugrat spotted one of the devourers, a puddle of flesh, and teeth, which seemed to be created from several creatures but none of them its real form.

Mana cannons hit the creature, piercing it, but it recovered and started to change, the attacks becoming weaker and weaker against its new defense.

The Stollor Ravagers clambered out of the dungeon, eating fellow shattered or dead Stollor that no longer recovered.

I get why she said infestation.

“They must be using wood element, use metal to counteract,” Rugrat aimed and fired, his rounds sparking as they hit the creatures and exploded, smoked coming from their bodies.

The Devourers started leaving the ground, taking hit after hit from the warships, but now they were barely phased by the attacks.

Rugrat activated his sound transmission device.

“Kay’Renna, our ships have mana drills on them to refuel.”

“And?”

“They use every element and mana, you think they can recover from that?”

Minutes later corvettes came into a hover over the Devourers nearly a kilometer up.

Light twisted and shifted into a spiral of chaotic energy, barely contained and controlled by the mana that reinforced it.

Mana drills descended from each Corvette.

The Devourers screamed out as the drill cut through them and the ground beneath, their bodies popped, releasing a massive wave of Wood element, that turned weeds into wild grasses, trees pierced through the ground and reached for the heavens.

Chaotic shells and rounds struck the Stollor groups, overloading their ability to adapt.

“Advance!” Niemm yelled as calls and horns called them forwards.

They marched down the hills and into the flatlands, killing anything that wasn’t from the ten realms with prejudice.

Stollor got special attention, not being left to dissipate on their own, mages burned every last scrap.

Teams moved into the dungeon, clearing through as light warships and mounted parties spread out to track down and destroy any remaining Stollor.

Rugrat rolled his neck and found a rock to sit on, looking at the valley, a mix of destruction and crazed growth.

==========

Event Completed: Tear Clearing

==========

Requirements:

Searching and destroy Shattered Tears around the city. Kill Shattered Present.

==========

Rewards:

+23,654,702,293,847 Experience

250 Mission points

+2 star mission (4)

==========

Warships had spread out, their dungeon cores sucking up the rampant elements in the area.

“We get a bigger dungeon core and its harder for the Shattered to open their tears, win win,” Rugrat muttered.

“You don’t sound so excited,” Niemm said.

“Not really, there has to be what, a few hundred Devourers in the ninth realm to let this happen. The Imperium keeps making plans to take the ninth back, but until we do, the back door is open down here. If they can open one tear in the ninth, they can open three in the seventh.”

***

Rugrat saw Kay’Renna looking from the command center at the town that had been overrun by the Stollor.

“Well if it isn’t the bathtub knight,” She turned smiling.

“Thought that I might say goodbye, not sure when we might be able to see one another again.”

“Got to make every minute last,” She said, sadness slowing her words before she put on a smile. “I take that you and your Alvans are heading out?”

“More missions to search out tears across the seventh,” Rugrat nodded.

“I’ve been hearing.”

“About our missions?”

“Your ships are pretty recognizable, there is nothing like them in the ten realms. They look fun.” she grinned.

“Not so fun when you have to jump out of them at speed,” Rugrat laughed.

“Joking aside I’ve heard good things about you Alvans and your Adventurer Guild, helping out all over the realm, accelerating people’s training. It’s created a push across the lower realms, even stopped the fighting in the seventh realm as people want to join guilds to fight in the seventh realm.”

“Its surprising, I didn’t think that there would be so many people willing to fight for the realms. You know how the groups all look after their own interests.”

“This is our home, all our homes. It was only when the humans that made it to the higher realms learned about the Shattered that the fighting between the Gnomes Elves and Humans stopped, a larger threat than our petty troubles can put things into focus.”

“Until it goes away.”

Kay’Renna snorted and shrugged.

“The Stollor, what were they?” Rugrat asked.

“One of the nastier things to have come from the Shattered realms. They cultivate by eating and they reproduce at a prodigious rate. They’ll eat anything living, beast, person, other Shattered. They only respect power that can destroy them, and there is not much that can. They are Wood element users, with enough mass they can consume parts of their body to regenerate and alter themselves.”

“Like if a human had three times their stamina?”

“Right, they have three times the mass. Adapt to attacks, so Devourer’s even a level one, is rated as strong as a level two.”

“We need to slim down theses gates, there are more everyday, you ask me a week ago and I’d say we were pushing them back.” Rugrat said.

“And today?”

“I’m starting to think that we’ve lost the initiative and we are on a slow decline through the realms. There are good people in the lower realms willing to defend their homes, but they just don’t have the power that the people in the higher realms have to dealwith these,” Rugrat gestured at the town. “Kinds of things.”

Kay’Renna looked out over the town, its destruction laid bare.

“I don’t know what will happen. I have heard chatter among the Imperium. The head keeps promising to take action, keeps making plans. At the same time he is leading the Imperium across the seventh realm, clearing cities and tears by the dozen. He has raised thousands of Imperium acolytes up.”

Her brow pinched together.

“But?”

“The Imperium gaining power doesn’t worry me, but, there have been more people joining the Imperium than ever before. They are accepting more people, increasing their levels but they are barely training them. That speaks to someone gaining power, not someone creating a fighting force.”

“Right now Alva is doing the same, we have too few people that can fight in the higher realms, we’re fighting, but we’re also using it to train.”

“You are training up your military, they are training up anyone that allies themselves with them and their ties to the sects and clans are getting closer. They have always been apart. I think that the new head likes the attention. Otherwise why would he ban people going to the ninth realm?”

“Lots of information and resources up there owned by the Imperium,” Rugrat said.

Kay’Renna snorted. “Well that is something else he gets wrong, and the people that were attacking you and Erik. Avegaaren is for the Realms, not just for the Imperium. With the ninth and the tenth open, Shattered are pouring into the ten realms unmolested, in the seventh realm the Devourers can cultivate with a small risk of having a mana deviation. Sixth realm and we’re going to start dealing with mana enhanced Devourers.”

They fell silent.

“I hope that they attack the ninth and soon. If they don’t we could lose it all.” Kay’Renna said in a small voice.

“You really think that?” Rugrat looked down at her, this powerful fierce woman who controlled fleets and armies with her every word.

“I do.”

“Well,” Rugrat sighed. “These Shattered pricks are really ruining date night.”

Kay’Renna laughed and thumped him on the shoulder.

Rugrat grinned and winked. “Frigging apocalypse.”

“This date better blow my mind.”

“You ever had deep fried chicken?”

“What’s that?”

“Have to wait and find out, stay safe,” Rugrat tossed her a needle, she caught it, looking at it.”

“What?”

“My buddy Erik cooked it up,” Rugrat walked away.

“How is this a master potion its as strong as a three star!”

“He’s a really big alchemy nerd?” Rugrat looked back and shrugged, she pressed her lips together, moving them against one another her eye twitching like she didn’t know whether to yell at him or thank him.

She wrestled with the corner of her lips turning upwards.

“Get out of here and go win this damn war, else I’m liable to do something physical to you before your damn date!” She growled, tried to be threatening but Rugrat couldn’t help but find it incredibly cute.