The Arcane Gatling Cannons unleashed hell on the back ranks of the Grimdar. They hadn’t seen it coming, hadn’t expected it. Were completely unprepared. I could see bright lights from around the other side, where Tracy and Nathan were doing the same. Next to me, Mason had his Cannon firing as fast as it could.

  Bright streaks of light, different colors shot out over the plains, crashing into the Grimdar, dropping them one after the other. The mass started to turn, which is when more attacks from above started, Sergeant Parker leading the soldiers down the slope. The Grimdar turned their attention in three directions.

  And then the fourth.

  The Phoenix’s Feather flew out from over the trees, cannons launching volleys into the middle of the massed Grimdar forces. I could see a lot of AOE Abilities going off in the Grimdar’s ranks. The invader’s guns started firing back but the ship was too fast, already flying over the enemy. It was also pretty low, making the Grimdar have to adjust. By the time they did, the ship was already past, banking around over the top of the Dungeon’s valley. The cannons still fired.

  The Grimdar had made a mistake in massing like they had, afraid we’d make a push through their lines if it was thin. Figuring a big mass of them at the base of the hill would stop us from leaving. And it would have if we had planned on charging right through them. The goal of Mason, Tracy, Nathan and me wasn’t to thin out the Grimdar enough for the soldiers to charge through. It was to pull some of the attention away, force the Grimdar to spread out more. Not all look in one direction. The airship’s bombardment wasn’t even meant to thin their numbers.

  Just another distraction.

  Make it easier for the soldiers to hit the ground and run along the side. Not straight out into the plains, but along the hills. Toward the other Grimdar positions that would now be rushing around to the front to reinforce their buddies.

  The Grimdar were all about quantity. Which did have a quality of its own. I had a feeling I’d be saying and thinking that a lot in the next few weeks of this war. And normally in this situation, the quantity would beat quality. Over time it definitely would. Even if a single Solace Soldier was worth five or more Grimdar.

  We didn’t need a lot of time. We just needed that mass at the bottom of the hill to be distracted for a very short amount of time.

  “Here they come,” Mason yelled out.

  “Keep firing,” I replied.

  Bright flashes came from the airship, the blasts lowering as the ship landed. It kept up the barrage, but only from one side. I could see the flashes over the heads of the Grimdar. Their cannons were now useless, not able to lob volleys toward the ship.

  I could see confusion in the ranks of the Grimdar. Some of them started to turn away from us, head back toward the center. Probably ordered to rush at Parker and the soldiers, prevent them from getting to the ship. But once we shot a dozen or so in their backs, they turned right back around to charge at us.

  They increased their pace. Someone pushing at them. Driving them on.

  We kept firing. I could feel the Cannons heating up and coming close to overload. They just had to last a little longer.

  There were so many bright flashes, all different colors and intensities, over the heads of the Grimdar. I couldn’t see or hear, but it looked like the fighting was hardcore. I just had to hope the soldiers made it to the ship before the Grimdar made it to us.

  Next to me Mason was having a harder time than I was. I knew with my Abilities, I could probably outpace the Grimdar. He wouldn’t. But he’d volunteered to do this. I was liking the guy more and more. He didn’t strike me as the kind of guy that would want to lead a Clan, which was disappointing as he was an excellent candidate. Maybe he could be me, a figurehead leader with a competent and trusted person doing the actual leading.

  That could work.

  It worked for Solace as a whole, why not the Gray Wolf Territories?

  Especially since they were soon to be bigger, once this little invasion was over.

  Conversation for another time. He didn’t look like he was able to have any conversations right now. I saw him pull another Arcanum potion out of his Inventory and down it, tossing the vial to the side. I wasn’t sure how many he’d already had to drink. I’d seen two now. I was close to needing one. He’d be on potion cool-down soon if he wasn’t already. That would be a big headache in the morning.

  But it would hopefully be worth it.

  Beyond the ranks of the Grimdar, I could see the airship lifting off. The Grimdar, realizing what was happening, left only a token force charging at us, the mass of their troops turning and focusing on the ship. They fired cannons, Abilities and anything else they had at the ship. Shields went up, Abilities fired back. The lights that were the ship rocked a bit. I could see the shape above the Grimdar forces. More and more as it rose.

  But it didn’t get that high, maybe only ten feet over the Grimdar’s heads. The Phoenix’s Feather took off, flying low across the plains. The Grimdar cannons had been adjusted to hit the ship when it was higher, they weren’t able to target it that low. And lobbing volleys at it didn’t help as it was moving quickly out of range.

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  It had to be a rough ride for those aboard. Airships weren’t made for high speeds at low altitudes. The thing had to be shaking and groaning. But as long as it held together. The ship really took off. Captain Nichols was pushing it. I could hear the engines screaming over all the noise of the fighting.

  The ship flew across the plains, heading for the trees, where it sharply rose up. There was a loud cracking as the timbers of the ship struck a couple tree tops, breaking them. Limbs falling to the ground. And then the ship was higher, not yet slowing down, but it was too far away for the Grimdar to do anything about.

  But we were still there, so all that anger and aggression turned toward us.

  I heard a couple beeps, followed by a buzzing, from my codex. The signal that Nathan and Tracy were clear.

  “Time to go,” I said.

  “About time,” Mason grumbled.

  We both poured a lot of Arcanum into the cannons, unleashing a major barrage.

  All the cannons disappeared, back in our inventories, and we took off running across the plains. We headed away from the forest, straight across the tundra. There was a roar as the Grimdar chased us. Flashes of light lit up the sky, reflections from behind as the Grimdar fired their Abilities. All of them missed us.

  We were small targets, running as fast as we could, which was pretty fast. Neither of us kept a straight line either, zigging and zagging. I also pushed out with my kinetic field, shielding Mason as much as I could. It would drain my Arcanum pretty quick, but that wouldn’t matter if I lost Mason. I had plans for the guy and needed to keep him around.

  I didn’t look back to see how many Grimdar were chasing us. Hopefully not that many.

  “Another couple hundred feet and turn,” I yelled.

  Mason didn’t respond. I could tell he was starting to lose energy. The guy had been pushing it for a while now. He wasn’t Level 100 yet. He had a couple Level Up Crystals on him, but couldn’t use them now. That would have to wait. It would help regen his Arcanum and general stamina.

  “Now.”

  We turned to the right, heading at an angle toward the forest. I slowed down a bit to let Mason get ahead of me. This was the dangerous part. If the Grimdar were smart, they’d stop chasing us directly and change their angle to cut us off at the forest. That was our only means of escape.

  There were only three directions we could go.

  Back toward the valley, which would just get us surrounded by the Grimdar with no way of escape or rescue. We could keep heading straight on the plains, but would eventually get run down or tagged by an Ability. There was no cover, no place to stop. We would just have to keep running.

  Or the forest, where two people could easily avoid the Grimdar army.

  They knew we weren’t a kamikaze mission, or whatever the Grimdar equivalent was, as we’d retreated instead of gunning down as many as we could. So that left the forest.

  They ended up smarter than I had hoped. The force chasing us split in two. Most stayed directly behind, but a smaller and sadly faster group cut the angle, hoping to block us at the forest. Trap us between the two forces and end us. Not like they’d get a lot of experience from us. Not with the numbers they had.

  Maybe when they killed us, a bunch more would die fighting over the loot.

  Not that I intended for us to be killed.

  We could see the small group getting farther ahead. They had the shorter distance to travel. I pulled on the kinetic energy I’d been storing, putting on a burst of speed, leaving Mason behind. I adjusted my angle, heading straight for the tip of the Grimdars. As I ran, I pulled an Arcanum Potion out of my inventory.

  It was shaped like an old test tube, filled with blue liquid. The thing reminded me of the old test tube shots used to do back in the clubs before the System hit. The potion tasted just like those shots did too. Rough, burning and with a kick.

  I felt the potion spreading through my body, nerves tingling, as it refilled my Arcanum Core. Only part way. My Core was huge and we didn’t have potions that could fill it all the way. I was at the threshold of potion cool-down. I wasn’t going to have that bad a headache, not like the one Mason would endure, but it was going to be pounding. The difference between a throbbing headache and a migraine. Both still sucked, one just sucked worse.

  With my Core mostly full, I launched a couple of Sonic Blasts at the Grimdar.

  Waves of sound slammed into them, knocking some of their feet, cutting deep into the sides of others. A few managed to get barriers up, a couple not even affected. That was the problem when fighting an army of Awakened. We all had so many different Abilities. Even the soldiers which had some of the same Essences, still had different Abilities. It made commanding the troops harder, as plans had to adjust and compensate for all the various Abilities. It made planning on how to defend a nightmare. No idea if an Ability used against the enemy would take out all of them, half, quarter or even none.

  Enough of the Grimdar fell that it slowed their charged, making the rest change their direction and head straight for me. I hoped I’d killed some of them, but most likely not.

  I shot another wave of sound, aiming it a little higher. It slammed into the Grimdar’s heads. There were multiple cracking sounds as necks broke from heads snapping back. Bodies fell, Essence Crystals glowing over the corpses. I held back a laugh, not a fun one but a sad one, as Grimdar stopped to loot their comrade’s bodies of the Crystals. Maybe it was to prevent me from getting them, but I had a feeling it was just greed.

  There was no more time for thought as the Grimdar and I met each other.