Death, Loot & Vampires - Book 2: Chapter 31: The Colony

Chapter 31

The Colony

Mobile palaces were not designed for war or for traveling underground. They were designed for wealthy aristocrats and merchant’s princess to host dinner parties in the skies above their cities on clear windless days, surrounded by powerful archsorcerers who could keep them aloft and free from assassins and thieves. Using one to carry the survivors through the Abyss was an act of desperation.

If the mobile palace flew too high, the worker ants crawling along the ceiling would recognise that they could survive the fall and happily release their grip, plummeting directly onto the mobile palace’s barrier. One or two wouldn’t a problem, but worker ants were followers. They would drop one after the other until their combined weight broke the barrier or grounded the immense flying carpet. On the other hand, fly too low and you would soon discover worker ants could climb, as you watched them clamber over each other until they formed a living ant tower high enough to reach anything they wanted. These were just the threats the workers posed to the mobile palace. The fliers and hunters were much worse.

Between the time I scouted the first third floor nest and the time we arrived, the number of hunters guarding our particular tunnel entrance quadrupled, drawn by the acrid smell the hunters released upon their death. With more than fifty hunters crammed into the tunnel mouth, they had the ability to climb over each other and reach the ceiling, completely blocking the entrance if we didn’t kill or cripple them first.

That made removing the hunters from the tunnel entrance was our first obstacle for traveling through the colony to the tunnel on the other side.

Wind howled in my ears, tearing at my coat, as I stood on the back of a flying carpet, anchored to the fabric by powerful enchantments. My pilot, Marin, was exceptionally skilled at controlling and manoeuvring any of his large collection of flying carpets, but his skill truly came through when he piloted his personal racing carpet, the pride and joy if his collection.

With expert precision, he increased our alleviation, hurling us towards the nearest uninjured hunter ant at three hundred miles an hour. His trajectory put us just above the hunters fifty-foot-high shoulders as it bumped into its neighbours trying to crush Sir Trent and Gregory’s teams who were rushing around his ankles.

The hunter saw us coming with its massive eyes and instinctively threw back its head, swinging its mandibles to try to bash us from the sky. At the last moment, Marin dropped the carpet into a steep dive that took us directly beneath its throat, having successfully tricked it into lifting his head, exposing the gap between the plates of chitin that protected its throat, and allowing my spells to bypass its thick armour.

As the wind raged, I snapped my fingers, releasing the destruction spell I’d spent the last second weaving. A large section of the gargantuan ant’s throat was engulfed by dark destructive energy that consumed the light. The red flesh between the protective plates disintegrated, exploding in a cloud of dust and gas.

I immediately began weaving a second spell.

Marin pulled up hard as we finished passing under the hunter’s throat, performing an arial loop that took us around its face and above its head. As we flew upside down, I snapped my fingers again, damaging a large sections of armour on the back of its neck to keep its head raised.

I began weaving the spell again.

Marin finishing competing the loop de loop taking us back under its throat. The third snap of my fingers decapitated the hunter, costing me only three spells instead of the dozen that it would take to get through its tough exoskeleton.

Marin cackled like a madman as we shot out from under the falling head, swerving through the air to dodge fliers that tried to pluck us from their domain. I shot a stream of basic firebolts towards our next target and Marin cornered sharply, heading for the marked hunter.

Marin used the same tactic as he had with the last hunter, tricking it into raising its head, giving me another clear shot at its unprotected throat. Three spells later, its head fell to the ground, and we were after our new target.

We’d found something that worked.

Below us on the ground, Sir Trent and Gregory led their teams through the chaos, blurring around worker ants to hack at the hunter’s knees and ankles. The injuries crippled their mobility and preventing the from being able to climb over each other and block the tunnel. The goal wasn’t to kill them. The goal was to cripple them effectively enough to push past them and race through the nest.

Our attack on the hunters was already gathering attention from the colony and every ant in the vicinity was converging on our entrance.

Through the deafening roar of rushing wind and clattering mandibles, I heard coordinated chanting of Carolyn’s archsorcerers coming from the approaching mobile palace. They were working together to raise a barrier across the front of the transport to barrel through the fliers like an ice breaker in the north sea. They had no intention of slowing down and letting the fliers swarm them. The plan was to be in and out of the nest as fast as possible.

Marin’s laughter grew louder, filled with pure adrenaline-fueled excitement, as he began taking more risks and flying closer and closer to the hunters we killed. As we approached the twentieth hunter, he finally got us within arm’s reach. I drew Slaughter and slammed the blade through the gap in ant’s unprotected throat, pushing pure necrotic energy through the blade as I used my vampiric soul touch, testing if I could kill it faster.

The monster’s mana and life force rushed into me as the destructive energies ran through its muscles destroying large areas of flesh. We finished our loop de loop, but its head remained attached. It would die in a minute, but that was too long. I sheathed Slaughter and snapped my fingers releasing a destructions spell to finish it off. The mobile palace rounded the far corner as the head fell to the ground.

I swept my gaze across the tunnel entrance, taking in every detail, and then raised my left hand, releasing a stream of green firebolts to confirm it was safe to approach. The hunters weren’t all dead or crippled, but they would be by the time they reached us.

Marin never stopped his flight continuing to manoeuvre through the hunters at breakneck speeds, relying on me to focus on casting spells. Marin’s grin only receded when he spotted the mobile palace and the end of his freedom. The young man had volunteered to be my pilot against the wishes of his personal guards, partly because he hadn’t contributed as much as he would have like, but mostly because he knew he was the right man for the job.

A horn sounded as the mobile palace rushed in, signalling Sir Trent and Gregory to lead their teams into the nest. Marin heard the horn and turned his racing carpet to return to his mobile palace. His part in our attack over for now.

I leapt from the carpet toward a hunter’s corpse, throwing a destruction spell at the leg of an injured hunter that were trying to climb over the corpses and block the entrance from the approaching threat. Like lions the ants didn’t see thousands of people crammed onto a flying carpet, they saw one big predator moving towards their nest and prioritized it above everything else.

A now familiar rhythm for how they clacked their mandibles took over and I felt the change in the ants’ behaviour as all the fliers took to the air, filling the nest with the sounds of humming wings. Across the nest, every ant turned and charged toward us.

I threw several spells to make sure Marin made it to the palace intact, while I directed Carolyn’s guards and my death lords through the corridor of corpses we created to usher them safely into the nest. A second later, the mobile palace shot through the tunnel above my head, quickly followed by Gorgath who was running full speed and acting as the vanguard with the zombie hunters.

I leapt onto the kid’s furry shoulder, as he slammed his staff into the face of the first hunter that lifted its body on injured legs and tried to grab him with its mandibles. I threw a destruction spell into the mouth of the second hunter that tried to grab him, momentarily stunning it as he used a basic barrier spell to stop a third from getting hold of his arm. Gorgath’s fear filled my nostrils, exciting the monster in me and causing a feral grin to spread across my lips. In a handful of seconds, he was over the blockade and into the nest.

Millions of worker ants stood before use, clinging to every surface, while the fliers raced through the gaps. Hunters approached individually from every direction as Carolyn’s guards and my death lords battled their way through the workers to form a fighting wedge in front of the mobile palace while others protected the sides. Gorgath raced ahead to take the lead position, while the mobile palace maintained its slower pace for the zombie hunters to catch up.

As Gorgath passed the mobile palace, I leapt off his shoulder and onto the barrier, running along the top to a position near the back where Davina was hurling master tier death bolts. The zombie hunters were busy clambering over the dead and injured hunters blocking their way as I began throwing out destruction spells to prevent the injured hunters from stopping them getting through.

We needed every advantage to make this work. That meant I couldn’t let Davina run around playing healer or lose the zombie hunters at the entrance tunnel to the nest.

Below us voices rose as survivors and students began throwing their most powerful advanced spells through the palace barrier to kill the fliers. Throwing master tiers spells from within an advanced barrier, like the one we stood on, would have damaged it which was why we were out here, and the other sorcerers were safely within.

Flying carpets began to rise from the mobile palace landing pad, bearing archsorcerers who could cast expert and master tier spells, to form a close secondary defence line around the barrier. Everything was in motion as everyone did their part to see us safely through the chaos.

The top speed of the zombie hunters was sixty miles an hour, less than the mobile palace, but they would make up for it by being able to engage the hunters Davina and I couldn’t kill in time. The last one escaped the blockaded entrance.

“Second position,” I said.

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Davina and I turned and ran, stepping around lightning and fire bolts, to get to our position above the Undead Enhancement Club at the centre of the palace.

“Back-to-back,” I said as we came to a stop inside a storm of necromancy.

Davina shoved her back into mine, almost knocking me over with her strength. “Sorry.”

Everyone had leveled substantially, making them stronger and faster and out of touch with their new abilities, mistakes like Davina’s were all too common.

I moved my body with her shove as I began throwing destruction spells at the nearest hunters in quick succession, downing threats as quickly as I could. This was still the third floor of the Abyss, and despite the higher levels, we were transporting people who didn’t belong here. If anyone failed to do their part, this would end in disaster.

“You’re going to have to direct your death bolts to manoeuvre around the fliers,” I said. “Make sure you give yourself time to focus before releasing each spell. Once your target’s armour is sufficiently compromised yell switch and I’ll finish them off for you.”

Davina unleashed another master tier death bolt. “I’ve never chain cast master tier spells like this. What if I make a mistake?””

The nearest hunter on my side dropped dead and I moved onto the next. “Your constitution will save you from the backlash of any death magic spell. You have nothing to worry about.”

“I meant what if I end up a corpse again?”

“I’m tracking your transformation. I’ll stop you before you fall unconscious.”

Gorgath raised his staff as he spotted the zombie hunters moving into position around the mobile palace. “Forward Darksmith!” he roared, increasing his speed.

The guards and death lords at his feet were already hard at work, leading the convoy through the colony, cutting down the workers as fast as they could, crippling or killing to prevent them from forming a living bridge to reach the mobile palace that followed. So long as they could manage the threat on the ground, the one on the ceiling wouldn’t overwhelm us.

That just left the fliers and hunters to deal with.

Sir Trent and Gregory had already pushed their teams out to half a mile and were in the process of crippling the hunters that were trying to close the distance. There was no way we could pass through the chamber without engaging some of the hunters but saving us from having to deal with all hunters would mean they didn’t become a problem we couldn’t overcome.

The faculty members who could throw master tier spells, could only throw one or two before succumbing to mana exhaustion or tiring themselves to the point where they would make mistakes. The backlash from such a mistake would kill them and everyone else on their flying carpet.

You needed to be a very high level and have maxed a particular set of skills to be able to throw around master tier spells safely and only three out of everyone here fit that description. Davina wasn’t one of them, but her high attributes and unique constitution allowed her to fake it. Though, I wouldn’t be surprised if she did join their ranks after today. New levels meant new skills and if she got a chance to train them, she would become a lot more dangerous. Everyone who survived this would.

“Switch,” Davina shouted.

I glanced over and raised my left hand and tried twin casting the destruction spell against two targets. My hands exploded into dust, causing a violent flash of agony before they reformed fully healed a second later.

“Maybe don’t do that,” Davina suggests as she cast another death bolt.

“I won’t be. I lost time waiting for my hands to regenerate.”

By the time, the mobile palace crossed the first hundred yards, we were down to eighteen hunters in our immediate vicinity. My instincts told me that wasn’t a problem as many were injured. However, Davina I would need help from the zombies when we reached the centre of the chamber.

The tunnel we needed to reach was ten miles away on the far side of the nest, through a route that took us too close to the highly defended centre were the queen and feeder ants were located. Swinging wide would cause even more problems as it would allow the converging net of hunters to reach a point where they could overwhelm the convoy.

As Davina and I dealt with the hunters, fliers were crashing headfirst into the invisible secondary barrier in front of the mobile palace. The ants crumbled like beer cans, either being outright killed or dropping to the ground too stunned to function. Holding a moving barrier was a difficult and draining process and one of Carolyn’s archsorcerers flinched each time one of the fliers struck, which was several times a second.

Holding a secondary barrier was more effective than trying to kill the fliers though, so they kept it up despite the growing discomfort. All across the mobile palace survivors and students continued to cast their most powerful advanced spells, engaging the fliers coming from the sides. Together, they stopped the fliers from reaching the barrier, but it didn’t come without a cost as they kept succumbing to mana exhaustion.

As we passed that quarter of a mile mark, fliers began attacking from the rear.

“Switch,” Davina called.

I turned and finished off her hunter, before returning to the one on my side that refused to die quickly.

Unlike travelling through the Abyss, travelling through ant territory was predictable. Their standard methods of attack allowed for coordinated counter attacks rather than leaving whoever was closest to deal with a new and sudden threat. I’d overheard Sir Trent and Rupert talking about scouting the kingdom’s dungeons to see if the ants had reached the first floor of the Abyss. If they had, the kingdom could take the dungeon legions down for training. They wanted Arcadia to take advantage of the dungeon surge to rebuild their military to its former glory.

I was willing to help them with that.

The convoy was making steady progress as it reached the one-mile mark, which meant every few seconds a student or survivor passed out from mana exhaustion as the influx of fliers required them to chain cast spells as quickly as possible. Reaching a tenth of the way through the chamber without any unforeseen problems arising was a good sign.

Crippled hunters lay all across the chambers as Sir Trent and Gregory’s teams pushed ahead, clearing the way. A carpet of dead and crippled worker ants lay behind us as those at the front pushed forward, killing as fast as they could.

Mother suddenly leapt from the mobile palace, with a contingent of paladins and raced across the battlefield to a downed guard, surrounded by his companions. In a few short seconds, she pulled the Old Monster back into the fight. The convoy didn’t stop or slow for anything, so she had to work fast or not at all. Speed was one of our greatest advantage, and the only thing preventing the convoy from being overwhelmed.

One mile turned into two, two turned into three, three turned into four, and that was when the problems reached us.

“Davina, I need you to direct your zombie to grab that one over there.”

The hunter was moving in a group of three and I couldn’t kill them all in time.

“I’m on it,” Davina replied, before looking at her zombie and then pointing at the hunter I’d shown her. Davina had the skill to keep three of the hunter zombies under control, but not while she was throwing master tiers spells.

Davina’s lone zombie broke away from the convoy, putting on a burst of speed to charge ahead and intercept the hunter I didn’t have time to deal with. Outside the shelter of the convoy, it was quickly swarmed by worker ants, but managed to stay mobile until it locked its mandibles with its target, dragging them both to the ground.

Five minutes had been enough time for the hunters on the far side of the chamber to begin converging, working our way through them would be tricky.

Davina and I never stopped throwing out spells, timing everything perfectly, so that hunters got close, but not close enough to hit the mobile palace before we were past them. That didn’t stop people from giving into panic and more than one faculty member threw a master tier spell they didn’t have to at a hunter that was never going to threaten the mobile palace.

“Get ready,” I said. “We’re about to hit the worst part.”

Eighty hunters converged on the convoy, as I sent telepathic messages to Angelica and Fergus, giving their zombies targets to engage. All five zombies raced forward at once, as I gave other telepathic instructions to Caryolyn to relay to her archsorcerers and guards.

This was the sort of battle that you could build a reputation on and though she was just relaying my orders, to everyone who didn’t know that I was instructing her, it would look like she was taking command.

The survivors needed someone to rally around and a pretty archsorcerer princess with a small army of Old Monsters was easier to rally around than a necrosaint or an ancient vampire. Someone needed to give them hope. We had to do this six more times, and our success here might give them enough of a morale boost to get us through without more succumbing to hopelessness and terror.

As the last of Angelica’s zombies engaged their targets, she leapt from the mobile palace in a blur, and raced ahead of the battle to cripple the approaching hunters. I sent her another telepathic message, directing her towards the hunters I needed to her to engage.

“Switch,” Davina shouted.

The next thirty seconds was chaos as Angelica ran wild and Darksmith’s most skilled faculty released dozens of master tiers spells. There were balls of fire as bright as the sun, bolts of lightning that shot through hunters, before arcing to every worker and flier within two hundred feet, blades of wind that swept the legs out from under hunters, and disks of water which rotated to quickly it cut them in two.

Only with all that violence and carnage did we get beyond the danger, pushing through the highest concentration of hunters toward our destination. I called Angelica back, leaving her to give assistance where she thought it was necessary. Beneath me, the necromancers keeping the fliers off me continued to throw spells, protected from mana exhaustion by their oath and need. Those who hadn’t taken the oath had passed out. Others had stepped forward to take their place as the number of fliers never decreased.

Four mile turned into five and then five into ten as we finished our journey through the nest. At the tunnel mouth, Sir Trent and Gregory’s people finished crippling the dozen hunter, leaving them incapable of blocking the way.

“Hold down the fort,” I said before I leapt to floor of the Abyss and entered the Deadlands.

The cacophony vanished as the world became shades of grey. I rushed to the tunnel mouth, and exited the Deadlands beside a hunter, hitting it with a destructions spell as I began slaughtering a path for everyone on the ground to safely escape through. I had to stop and throw out fingers of destruction to deal with the fliers that noticed me, slowing my progress, but this tunnel had received no reinforcements, meaning there was only a dozen hunters in place. Killing four was enough to clear the way.

Sir Trent and Gregory’s men used their brief moments of freedom to chase experience, attacking a crippled hunter with everything they had, and managing to kill it as the lower-level Old Monsters and death lords raced past and the mobile palace flew overhead. Gorgath passed through second to last, leaping onto the first corpse and using the others like stepping stones as he raced away from the nest.

Davina and Angelica joined me as the enraged ant colony bore down on the tunnel.

“Follow me,” I said.

I ran two hundred feet in and then stopped and turned to face the horde. Angelica and Davina stood beside me as the last of our people ran past.

I raised my hand weaving together a death void and snapped my fingers. A giant swirling sphere of darkness appeared near the tunnel ceiling.

Angelica noticed Davina’s state and wrinkled her nose. “You smell like a dried-up corpse.”

Davina made a face. “Ewww.”

“You also look like one. Are you okay?”

“I’ve been worse.”

“So that’s a no.”

“I don’t think anyone could be fine under these circumstances.”

“Speak for yourself, I feel amazing.”

Angelica slapped her breastplate for emphasis.

I wove two more death voids while they bantered, creating a triangle of death which would kill anything except the hunters if they approached.

“Davina, anchor these death voids for me. Angelica, cripple the hunter’s legs after they enter the tunnel. We need to stop them here or they’re going to chase us all the way to the next nest.”

Angelica blurred forward, while Davina pulled her ritual equipment from her storage pouches and began carving runes into the floor with her staff. Out of sight around the corner, the convoy had slowed to a stop. I could hear clerics and paladins racing around treating injuries, while officers checked equipment, and everyone caught their breath.

We’d survive passing through the first nest, proving we could do it. I didn’t know if we could do this six more times, not while losing more people to mana exhaustion, but I was making plans like we could. The only other option was to abandon everyone who couldn’t keep up and Kathrine would never forgive me if I did.