Jas erged into a vast chasm, perhaps fifty feet off the red rock floor, the cliff-like walls rising a mile before disappearing into tallic-blue mist. The scale was mind numbing once more; it seed the demons couldnt pass up an opportunity to go big.
The air was cold and acrid. Everywhere Jas looked he saw fallen boulders, so shattered in half, drifts of rust-red sand, and then the cliffs which undulated like curtains as they extended straight ahead and behind. The fog roiled overhead, completely obscuring the sky.
Olaf fired up his Circle of Protection and Righteous Obelisks appeared, revolving slowly in place and boosting his stats by a cumulative 175. His Empowering Light raised that another 50, the combination of which made Bless Green feel insignificant.
Oh damn, whispered Serenity, marveling. Lets never leave these obelisks ever again.
Yadriel laughed with sheer exhilaration. How much more godlike can we get, yo?
Jas forced down his own euphoria and drew his pistol. He activated Deadeye and sighted down the length of the chasm.
Far ahead, barely visible in the oily mist, rose a wall. Or a natural cliff? It was hard to say, though it crossed the chasm and blocked it completely. He thought he could see movent along its top, amidst ragged crenelations, but he wasnt sure.
Too bad, folks. We gotta move to the blockade.
You see it up ahead? Serenity raised an autocannon and frowned. There they are.
What they blockading? asked Denzel. Us?
Us, agreed Jason, tone firm. But not for long.
Might as well take it slow, said Jas. Well drop the obelisks but keep everything else up. Be ready for attacks from above. Jason, you cover our six. Lets move up till we have a better view of what were up against.
The Castrum Mortis had erged last from the Ruby Grove, and hearing Jass command began to move forward. It was weird, bizarre how the inhuman scale of their surroundings made the sixty-foot-tall war machine look small. But there was no denying its power as it strode ahead, its huge feet crushing rocks, its guns and turrets casually scanning back and forth as it progressed.
They floated forward within Olafs Circle.
Question, said Miriam, half raising her hand. Why are we relying on Olafs Circle? We can all cast it, cant we?
Shit, youre right. Jas snorted. Old habits. Lets see what happens if we all raise one.
A second later more white fire flickered into existence, distinct rings which began to revolve around them in different directions, each band of white fire leaving trails in its wake. When it had been just Olafs Circle, it had remained static, parallel to the ground, but now all seven revolved around them, passing over and under each other, so that Jas felt as if he traveled within a righteous orbital sphere.
Now thats what Im talking about, grinned Denzel. Nice one, Miriam.
Who only ducked her head and tucked her hair behind one ear.
Jas kept the pistol up and aid straight ahead. The huge wall hove into view. Its face was rough like a cliffs but without any markings, cracks, ledges, or other distinguishing features. Just two hundred or so feet of solid red rock. A huge gate was embedded in its base, large enough for the Castrum to pass through and blocked with twin doors of solid black iron.
Along the top were battlents of rough and ready spars of stone. Amongst them he saw Nem6s, crimson-skinned and behorned, their bodies bulging with muscle, their elongated skulls and burning eyes distinct.
Of course there were thousands of them.
Looks simple to , said Serenity, lowering her autocannon. We clean the top with Novas and then Jessicas Big Boy marches through the door. We fly over the top and see whats on the other side.
Cant be that simple, said Jason. Can it?
Jas bit his bottom lip and raised his pistol again. This is Level 8. It has to be tougher than the previous ones.
Perhaps Nem6s are tougher than anything else weve fought? asked Denzel. Maybe weve gotten so strong we just cant tell the difference.
Maybe, allowed Jas. Lets keep up the slow approach. If theyre going to surprise us with sothing, I want to see it coming.
They flew on at a steady pace, the Castrum marching beneath them. Each mber of Crimson Hydra burned bright with Angelus Armor, wore their Aureate Buckler before them, and blazed with Empowering Light.
Their approach wasnt subtle.
The Nem6s atop the huge wall began to prance and cavort. They held long spears which they thrust into the air, and now Jas saw a central platform high above the black iron doors which extended out from the walls edge. Nem6s were gathered upon it, out in the open, and black flas ringed its sides.
Whats that? asked Jas. That platform?
Serenity narrowed her eyes, sighting down the three-ter-long autocannon then frowned. Theres a big one in the middle. Only one wearing robes. Hes cutting Nem6 throats as fast as he can and throwing them over the side. Theyre falling all the way to the ground and bursting open on the rocks.
They slowed further.
What? Jason raised his M4. Shit, youre right.
Jas focused. He made out the large guy in black robes. He had a jagged knife which he slashed across the throat of each Nem6 that stepped up before him. They were willing sacrificial victims. He was killing a couple every second, forehand slash then backhand. Assistants grabbed the corpses as they fell and tossed them over the side.
What the actual fuck? asked Denzel, lowering his gun. He on our side?
Yo, you kidding ? asked Yadriel. Course hes not on our side.
Then?
Nobody spoke. The mist barely hid the huge wall now, and Jas could make out the pile of corpses before the doors.
Maybe theyre trying to gross us out, said Yadriel reluctantly. Like, thinking well get cooties at the sight of the dead and run away.
Now it was Denzels turn to stare at him.
The guy looks frantic, said Jason. Hes not wasting any ti.
Whatever hes doing we should stop him. Serenity raised her autocannons. Lets try the range on these babies.
Serenity opened fire.
Both autocannons blazed to life, their rounds flying forth, covering the half mile between them with ease. Serenitys whole body shuddered continuously as she frowned and sought to improve her aim. The rounds flared as they flew through the air like tracer rounds. They hit the lip of the wall, causing huge chunks to blow out. Serenity tightened her aim and raked the rounds over the platform.
Every Nem6 but the priest exploded into huge chunks of flesh. The priest, however, wrapped a bubble of black fla around himself and ran for the battlents.
Bastard, hissed Serenity, tracking him. The 30 mm rounds drumd into the flaming sphere and then tore into the first ragged rlon of red rock, causing it to explode.
TARGET DESIGNATED, bood the Castrum, and opened fire with his Vault Cannons. The four mounted turrets unleashed fire on the distant wall, honing in on Serenitys target, and the huge lance that he wielded in his right arm humd to life for the first ti.
The length of the stock rippled with gold power, and then there was a monuntal hiss and a beam of Aeviternum laser flashed forth.
It carved a line twenty yards wide along the top of the wall, slicing through the battlents and demons who stood behind them.
In that flash, several hundred Nem6s died, and watching through his Deadeye pistol sight, Jas saw the Nem6 priests defensive sphere rupture as the huge demon was cut in two.
TARGET ELIMINATED, bood the Castrum.
Fuck yeah! said Denzel, pumping his fist in the air. Now do that to the rest of them.
ACKNOWLEDGED, the Castrum bellowed, and once more its lance blazed to life.
For real? asked Denzel, clearly taken aback.
The lance hissed viciously again and once more a laser of golden light flashed forth. This ti the Castrum swept his arm from left to right. The laser cut through the crenellations across most of the wall and killed the demons behind it.
A second later so of the rocky tops of the rlons slid off to collapse to the ground hundreds of feet below. Most, however, just settled atop their severed bases.
Damn, said Denzel.
Hold up, said Serenity, still watching through her Deadeye. Now the fuckers are cutting their own throats and throwing themselves over.
Guess they figured out who they dealing with, grinned Yadriel. Words getting around.
Jas frowned. He watched through Deadeyes magnification as scores of remaining Nem6s stepped up to the edge of the wall, slashed their talons through their necks, then leaped, bleeding out, to fall into oblivion.
What the fuck? he whispered. We need to get there. Whatever theyre doing we need to stop -
A huge flare of Infernum roiled the air hidden above the tallic-blue mist. It felt like a massive hand pushing down against his Spiritual Exaltation, and the Wing itself bobbed down under the pressure.
What was that? cried Miriam.
Maintain Circles! Olaf jockeyed his Wing forward. Do not drop them!
Jas glared at the fog. It writhed like a storm watched in fast forward. The Nem6s kept killing themselves, a waterfall of bodies falling over the walls edge.
Sinister Blockade, Jas whispered. Serenity, Castrum, kill the demons before they can off themselves!
CONFIRD, bood the ch and this ti its four Empyreal Cannons and laser lance opened fire all at once. Serenity leaned back, raised her autocannons, and opened fire.
The rest of us, close in! Jas urged the Wing forward. Jelly, tether Serenitys Wing to mine !
Done!
They flew forward, high over the boulders and sandy floor, trying to close the half-mile so they could bring their own Benedictions and Miracles to bear.
The Castrum marched forward, firing continuously, and Serenitys huge guns roared without surcease.
Yet still Nem6s hurled themselves to their deaths.
There was another pulse of Infernum from the clouds, oppressive and vast.
Shit, yelled Yadriel. What is that, man?
Jas realized he was snarling up at the clouds. He could sense sothing up there. Sothing the Nem6s were invoking, feeding with their deaths.
The Wing accelerated even faster. If he could just get close enough to drop ten Heavenly Assaults across the ruined battlents -
A reverberating roar thundered from the heavens and the blue fog parted as a serpentine coil as massive as a six-lane highway slid into view. It rushed by, its crimson and black patterning blurring, endless.
Crimson Hydra lost focus, everybody staring up, gaping.
Jas tore his gaze from the coil and fought for a little more speed, to close the gap. The wall was rushing up toward him, its top peppered with Smite-enhanced bullets and laser bursts. Nem6s were boiling up from countless stairwells that led down into the wall proper, dying by the hundreds but plenty still managed to run the dozen steps to the walls edge and hurl themselves over it.
There.
Jas drank deep of his divine pool and dropped a dozen Heavenly Assaults across the top of the wall.
The huge bolts of lightning flared down from the foggy sky to slam into the crimson battlents, each bursting out wide enough to cover a city block. The entire length of the wall blazed silver and gold, and every Nem6 ashed imdiately.
Gasping, Jas looked up.
The clouds were still roiling and seething.
The snake hadnt disappeared.
Instead it roared once more, the sound akin to the very earth tearing itself open, and then its head punched down into view and ca rushing like a runaway train toward their Wing.
Its head alone was huge. Bigger than a two-story ho, it looked nothing so much as a Chinese dragon, with countless thick whiskers curling away from its maw, its eyes blazing a virulent yellow, a crimson crest extending back over its skull and up along its spine.
The Castrum reacted smoothly and hit it with its Empyreal Cannons even as a slash of golden Aeviternum laser raked across its neck. The laser, however, only cut a yard or so deep through the huge crimson scales, that segnt of its body imdiately bursting to life with ebon aura.
Serenity wheeled about, raised her autocannons and opened up. The huge rounds tore a trail across the dragons cheek, blowing out scales, bone, flesh.
Olaf and Yadriel both scread the sa word of power, that dissonant command that made Jass entire being shudder.
Two Words of Slaughter.
Aeviternum Hurricane! yelled Jason.
Jas, his divine pool depleted below half, unleashed another six Heavenly Assaults, the first aid at the dragons head, the rest rushing down the length of its vast body which continued to erge from the clouds.
The combined effect was cataclysmic.
The Aeviternum Hurricane leaped into existence, rising like a twister from Jas as he sped into a dive, seeking to duck under the dragons head as it opened its mouth to spew forth an ocean of black fla.
The Words of Slaughter echoed like great booms, overlapping and hitting the dragon as one. The monsters eyes dimd even as the Aeviternum hurricane flensed the scales and flesh from its skull, just as Jass Heavenly Assault crashed down like a hamr on its brow.
Jas let out a yell of surprise as he pulled his Wing out wide, the dragons head jerking down and almost taking him out. The black flas washed over the Castrum Mortis and hit their overlapping Circles of Protection, all six of whose burning bands lit up as they strove to keep the Infernum-infused attack at bay.
A mont later the dragon plowed into the bottom of the ravine, dislodging boulders and a wave of crimson sand as it collapsed to the floor. Its head was little more than a burnished skull, the eyes and scales and whiskers burned away, and its serpentine body dropped from the heavens like a puppet whose strings were cut all at once.
The impact was prodigious.
The chasm shook as massive sprays of dust and sand were thrown up, and rocks dislodged from the cliff faces to tumble down as the roar echoed up and down the length of the ravine.
Four of the Circles of Protection had snapped under the fiery assault, but two yet held, revolving around each other as everybody gaped at the fallen foe. Coils as wide as interstates fell in great curls to the ground, the sound trendous, the length of the monster staggering.
Jason pulled out of his dive with a whoop, his Wing gleaming gold and silver as he entered a drifting glide, his face lit up with joy.
It is like we killed Jormungandr, said Olaf. The World Snake. Incredible.
Jas let go of the breath hed been holding. He was having trouble taking in the sheer size of the dragon-snake. It filled the bottom of the chasm beneath them like a discarded garden hose tossed into a wheelbarrow, endlessly overlapping itself.
But dead.
Layer 8, The Sinister Blockade, Defeated
Layer 9, The Hopeless Tower, Unlocked
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