AA232 - Beat this Barrier (Patreon)

They ended up hiding under a highway overpass. Kana was livid, but she had to admit that the endless harassment was slowing them down. They needed to use Shugen’s magic to evade the hunters, and even then, it wasn’t easy, as the invaders had multiple ways to track down resistance.

Smoke, at least the smoke Shugen could produce, helped against the goblins, who seemed to track by scent. Invisibility talismans helped against detection from the air, but Shugen made them go to ground once night fell.

“The lizards must be seeing heat, to track us through this rain,” he told them. “I can shield us against direct detection, but when the temperature drops, the warmth from our bodies will rise up and give us away.”

That didn’t sound quite right to James, but he wasn’t the sorcerer, as Shugen was quick to tell him when questioned. The other warriors just accepted it, and started making camp once they found a suitable spot. The packs they were carrying turned out to contain survival gear—compact two-man tents and sleeping bags. They couldn’t have a fire, but the rations included could be eaten cold.

None of which addressed James’s main concern.

“The date for the ritual is tomorrow,” he insisted. “If we camp overnight, we might arrive too late to stop it!”

“I hear you, kid,” Katarzyna stated. “But better late than never, you get me? If we get bogged down with monsters, we won’t stop anything.”

“I can scout ahead a bit further,” Harue volunteered. “See if I can find the actual site.”

“You don’t need to eat?” Arjun asked. “Or sleep?”

“Don’t worry about me,” Harue said with a grin. “I’ll get something on the way. And I’ll be back soon enough to get some rest.”

Arjun shrugged. “Can’t stop you,”

“Too true!” Harue winked and then disappeared.

The rest of them bedded down for the night. Suki shared a tent with Shion. The other pairs were Amilie and Katarzyna, James and Mitsue, and Arjun and Shugen. Kana declared that a tent was unnecessary and curled up to sleep in her natural form. Arjun stared at the sight, and then volunteered the guys to keep watch.

Shugen snorted at that. “As if I’ll be getting any sleep. If I’m to design concealment charms of the quality we’ll need, I’ll be up all night.”

“You can take first watch then,” Arjun said easily.

James thought he’d be too keyed up to sleep. Or that the ground would be too hard, or the tent too cold. But as soon as his head was resting on his pack, he was out like a light. The next thing he knew, Harue was shaking him.

“Wakey wakey, hands off snakey!” she whispered brightly. “Or on, I’m not going to judge.”

“Wha? What is it?”

The tent was lit by a small wisp of green fire, which suggested it was still dark outside.

“Scouting report, boss! I thought you’d want the deets before the sun rose.”

“I suppose,” James said groggily. “Why aren’t you doing this in front of everyone?”

“I guess I just wanted some alone time,” Harue said. She stuck out her tongue at Mitsue, who had rolled over and sat up.

“Did you think I would sleep through even a whisper?” Mitsue asked. “If you have information, share it.”

“Ritual starts at dawn,” Harue said, sending an electric shock through James’s thoughts.

“What! We’ve got to get there! How long does it take?”

“Not sure,” Harue said, frowning. “I’m not sure they know; it could be one of those ‘goes until it works’ deals. Could go for hours.”

“Still,” James said, starting to struggle out of his sleeping bag. “We should get there as soon as we can.”

“Mhm,” Harue agreed. “And as well, there’s the matter of the sacrifices.”

James froze. “What sacrifices?”

“Oh, you know,” Harue said idly. “It looks like they brought in about twenty or thirty, all chained up and in nice white robes. But I saw a bunch more who looked like locals who were just picked up, treated the same way. That’s why I don’t think they know how long it’s going to take.”

James started struggling again. “We’ve got to get out there before they start!” he exclaimed.

“Oh, but Shugen’s spells need the cover of daylight to work…” Harue said.

Mitsue extracted himself from his sleeping bag with smooth, efficient motions. Both of them were mostly dressed, of course, it wasn’t like they were going to bring pyjamas to the apocalypse.

“We can at least get ready to leave as soon as possible,” he said.

“But by then they’ll have already…” James glared at Harue. “Now I know why you came straight to me. You wanted to watch me agonise over deaths that I couldn’t prevent!”

Harue laughed. “Be reasonable, I needed something to put in my observation diary.”

“Could you go ahead and disrupt them? Or would that not be amusing enough for you?”

Harue’s ears drooped. “Sorry. The site is warded against the likes of me. I managed to get in close enough to listen to the guards, but I can’t get to the prisoners. Kana won’t be able to join in the fight, either. Not until you take down the wards.”

“I can travel quickly and might remain undetected,” Mitsue mused. He didn’t let his speculations stop him from rolling up his sleeping bag and stowing it away. “Would the wards stop me?”

“No, but they’d sure as hell detect you,” Harue said. “You could take the guards on the outer perimeter, I reckon, but they’ve got some of those grey guys wandering about. Plus the cultists. Who knows what sort of magic they’ve got.”

“Perhaps Shugen can come up with something,” Mitsue said doubtfully. He started helping James with his bag, showing him how to wrap it up tighter.

“Do we really need to bother with packing up camp?” James asked.

“We have time, sunrise is not for an hour yet,” Mitsue answered, “And one should never leave gear behind if you have the opportunity to take it. We don’t know what we’ll be doing after this.”

“And hey, it’s not like they’ll start sacrificing them right on the dot of dawn,” Harue said. “For any sort of sacrifice, you gotta do a whole lot of chanting before you spill any blood.”

“That’s a great comfort,” James said sourly. “Why don’t you wake the others and help get them ready to go?”

“Okey dokey!”

It was only when she turned to go that James noticed her tails were out. He wasn’t sure what rules governed her form changes, but he knew that Harue greatly preferred to keep her ears and tails hidden, only showing them when she got serious about something. It made him reconsider her carefree attitude.

Not that he came to any conclusions in the time it took to pack up their gear. It wasn’t long before they were sitting on their packs in a circle, waiting for the moment to leave.

“Tell us what we’re facing,” Arjun said. “How far, what route, what enemies.”

“I’ve got a path for you that should avoid trouble,” Harue replied. “It’s a little winding because of that. It would take you about an hour to walk it normally, but maybe it’s time to pick up the pace? You can all run for about twenty minutes, right?”

There were nods all around except for…

Suki held up her hand. “I don’t think I could manage it,” she said. “If I could, I’d be exhausted at the end.”

“I’ll carry her,” James volunteered. “She doesn’t weigh anything when I’m in the armour.”

“What about Shugen?” Harue asked.

Shugen scoffed. “Don’t make light of my strength, fox. My stamina is—”

“I can carry the runt,” Shion said flatly. “I don’t get tired.”

“Great!” Harue said, over Shugen’s splutters. “So the trouble will start when we hit the first ring.”

“The wards?” James asked. Harue nodded.

“They’ll keep Kana and me out until you break them. It’s a ring of twenty or thirty paper talismans. I recommend soaking them in blood to disable them—there’ll be plenty of suppliers around.”

Shugen snorted. “Or you could just tear them in half.”

He looked down at the stack of paper he was holding. “Paper talismans are fast and versatile, but they are also fragile.”

“Remind me why we brought you along, again?” Harue sniffed.

“For sorcerous advice!” he growled furiously. “You claim to have some knowledge. Did you identify the formations involved?”

“Eh, it’s more of a vibe thing with me,” Harue said. “Some of them did alarms, some of them warded off spirits. I didn’t see anything else in the outer ring.”

“So there is more than one ring,” Mitsue said.

Harue nodded. “At least two, but I couldn’t make out what they did. The sleeping tents are behind the second one, the actual site is behind the third.”

“I presume the plan is to just push past the first ring?” Shugen asked Arjun. The older man thought for a moment, then nodded.

“Doesn’t seem much point to stealth, once we get to that point,” he said. “We want a read on the inner circle before we go further, though.”

“It’s likely that at least one of the circles is a physical barrier, requiring some sort of token to pass,” Shugen said. “It will be worthwhile searching the guards that you kill for such a thing.”

“Can’t you just…” Amilie made wavy motions with her hands. “Dispel it?”

“Yes, but that will take time. It will be quicker to destroy the talismans… if you can get to them. I wouldn’t expect traps until the innermost ring.”

They made further plans as the sky started to lighten. Eventually, the sky started to lighten. Shugen handed out his charms. James summoned his armour and picked up Suki. Shion picked up the protesting Shugen.

“Don’t do anything to cause those wings to deploy!” he warned. “They put out too much heat for me to conceal!”

“Yeah, yeah, runt. Just get us to the fight, okay?”

“Follow me, everybody!” Harue declared, and they were off.

Between training for the PMC and Mitsue’s cross-country jaunts up the mountains, James had gotten plenty of running practice. The enhanced speed and strength of his armour let him carry Suki and run over broken ground at a speed that would amaze a professional athlete. He didn’t have any trouble keeping up with the others.

Harue made it look annoyingly easy, though. She must have been flying, just making it look like she was skipping with long, low leaps that clearly defied gravity. They were out of the city now, passing through an area that was a mix of wilderness, orchards and houses. There wasn’t much cover, and James kept a wary eye on the flying creatures he could see high above.

But whatever Shugen’s charms did, they seemed to be working. Harue’s path avoided the ground troops, and it wasn’t long before she called for a halt before a low wall. She gestured for them to crouch down as they approached.

“There they are,” she said, pointing to what looked like a farm compound. There was a house, and some buildings that looked like barns. “The first ring is right on that fence line.”

They all stopped to look at the target. There were human guards patrolling, carrying some kind of submachine gun. They were dressed all in black, with some coloured bits that James assumed were rank insignia. There was a ring of tents on the ground inside the fence.

There was a column of darkness, fifty feet high and three hundred feet in diameter, at the back of the farm.

“The third ring?” Mitsue asked, pointing at the darkness.

“Yeah, the second is about ten metres behind where the tents stop.”

James would have to take her word for it. While he could see some bright red specks on the fence, he couldn’t see past the tents from this angle.

“So, do we just charge?” he asked.

“I’d rather not,” Arjun replied. “I’m not immune to bullets.”

“Oh, come on, Amilie scoffed. “It’s not like they’ll hit us.”

“I can go first,” James said. He put Suki down.

“I’m immune to bullets,” Shion said. “I can go with him. I’m tired of all this sneaking around.”

“Alright,” Arjun said. “We can back you up once—”

Shion took off running.

“Sorry, I’d better go with her,” James said, taking off after her.

“Don’t forget the talismans!” Kana called.

Shion could move much faster than she was currently. James took that to mean that she was waiting for him. It didn’t take long for the guards to notice him. There were no shouts or warnings. They just lifted their guns and started firing.

Maybe it’s because I’m dressed in glowing green armour and running straight at them, James thought. It hardly mattered. Bullets started to spang off his armour, not even slowing him down.

He wondered if he should be shouting a battle cry or something. That was what you did when you charged, right? But Shion, beside him, was completely silent as she ran directly at the nearest guards.

The cultists had already emptied their clips by the time Shion reached them. They were turning to run, but she didn’t care. She leapt forward, arms outstretched to the sides.

It wasn’t even an attack, not really. She just moved her arms through the space where they were, knocking them down with a crunching sound that bodies weren’t supposed to make.

James had a pair of his own to deal with. One of them threw his gun at James, no more effective than the bullets had been. They turned to run, but they were so very slow. James raised his sword and—

Am I going to do this? Kill an ordinary person? James’s thoughts raced. These were cultists, trying to summon a monster that would kill millions. They needed to die, didn’t they? But they were so helpless…

His wrist turned at the last moment, turning a decapitation into a hard blow to the head. The man slumped down as if his bones were made of water.

That might still be a fatal blow.

He continued the swing, bringing the sword down to hit the other cultist in the side. The man went down just as fast, blood spurting out of his mouth.

I might need to work on my non-lethal combat.

Glancing around, he saw that the others were charging in, and that Shion was ignoring the wards in favour of hunting down the rest of the guards. He quickly started searching the fallen guards.

Thankfully, they were both still alive, at least for now. They both had a metal insignia on their chest, like a medal, so he grabbed them. They also had necklaces with a carved wooden amulet on them, so he grabbed those too. Then he moved over to the fence.

As soon as he reached it, bells started to ring. It wasn’t much of a warning, since they’d already started shooting, but he tore the nearest talisman anyway. Nothing seemed to happen, so he moved to the next one, about twenty feet away.

That was enough time for the others to join him, at least the faster ones. Suki and Shugen were heading in at their own pace. James looked nervously back at them, but they didn’t seem in any danger. Kana and Harue were with them. Kana looked irritated and Harue was acting ostentatiously idle.

“Keep at that,” Arjun said as he ran past. “You might need to destroy a few before the ward collapses.”

James knew that, Shugen had told them that last night. He tore the paper in half—the volume of the bells decreased. Roars from further inside told James that the grey-skinned giants had joined in the fray.

He kept working.

It wasn’t until he had torn the third warding talisman that Harue appeared beside him.

“Good job, you can go inside now,” she said. She smiled, showing all her teeth, and disappeared again.

James had come quite a way around the perimiter, so he looked back to where he started. Suki was helping Shugen over the fence, so he headed back, looking to intercept them. They were halfway through the tent ring when he caught up.

“Hi James! Stage one complete?” Suki asked brightly.

“I guess so.” James handed the insignias and the amulets over to Shugen. “Are these what you were talking about?”

Shugen snatched the items out of his hand and started muttering to himself as he examined them.”

“All the tents are empty,” Suki said slowly. “Harue said they were keeping prisoners, but they’re all gone.”

James looked over at the dark column. He didn’t say the obvious reply.

Shugen made an irriated noise. “Linked to the wearer,” he declared, holding up the insignia. “I can do something with this, but  it is more sophisticated than I would expect from humans.”

“What about the amulet?” James asked.

“That…” Shugen looked at it, and concern flickered across his face. “Girl, go back to the bodies and find more of these. You… may not need one. The mechanical girl probably will not. The rest of you should be wearing one.”

He handed one back to James and put the other one on himself.

“What is it?” James asked warily.

“A shield…” Shugen replied. “Against… I’m not sure what.”

“I thought you were the greatest sorcerer in the world?”

“That doesn’t mean I can identify every object at a glance!” Shugen snapped. “Girl. Go.”

“I’ll go with you,” James said.

“No,” Shugen demanded. “There is fighting further in, and I need to study the second ring. You need to protect me.”

“I’ll be fine James, don’t worry.” Suki smiled at him. Her sword had somehow appeared in her hand.

“All right… but be careful,” James said

“I will.”

“Enough sentiment,” Shugen snarled. “We go.”

It was only a few steps before the second ring of talismans became visible. Ten feet before they reached it, Shugen stopped.

“Hold out your hand,” he told James.

Shrugging, James reached forward. Something stopped his hand. It wasn’t solid, more like invisible goo. Light started sparking out from his glove, flickering along a plane that blocked further progess forward.

“Interesting,” Shugen said. “Just with that, you might get through in, oh… an hour? Still, we can do better.”

He took one of the insignia and placed it on the flickering barrier. It stayed hanging in the air. Shugen began to chant, and to draw lines in the air around the insignia. They glowed with a yellow light. It didn’t look much like the formations that James had seen before, but Shugen seemed happy with it.

It took about two minutes of chanting. By that time, the fighting had died down and the team were gathering around James and Shugen. Suki returned with a handful of amulets. Everyone watched, as Shugen finished… whatever he was doing.

He stopped chanting, and the insignia began to glow. Brighter and brighter, until it was painful to look at. Then it fell to the ground, and James felt his hand come free.

The way was clear to the third ring.