Chapter 5-135 - Damn Bugs... (2/2)
Surprise round over, finisher time. Fred’s Wall of Fire faded as abruptly as it had erupted.
I blew the Pyroclasm off, choosing Cold this time.
Pyroclasm is an army-killing spell. It has fixed damage, a piddly 2d6 from the II Valence it is cast from, but an area of effect that grows with CL and Valence, giving it a potentially huge area of coverage. I wasn’t going to get everyone with a fireball at the center point, and didn’t want to really nuke my own people, although I was sure they could take it, so I opted for low damage, broad area... and Humanbane, which they weren’t going to like, because I wouldn’t suffer the feedback for using it, as I wasn’t human.
All these bastards hurriedly murmuring prayers and spells and clawing for healing potions or guns or whatnot, not so much. Three of them still moving shrieked and stopped that moving as Shards from my Crown slammed into them.
2d6+2d6+13 damage or so exploded out in a wave of heartchilling cold, swallowing everything in rime and ice... except the people I had deliberately excluded from the AoE. That included Sleipner, who had kicked out razor blades from his tires and was now in the process of riding down a guard in a bloody spray of meat and gore as the fellow screamed and died by outraged motorcycle.
Those people who were already wounded basically had their blood freeze solid and died almost instantly, greatly thinning their numbers.
The Mick flowed between three men, Smior trailing an arc of wet crimson as it went through them and their combat armor remorselessly.
Six men were left standing, gaping at us and the frozen corpses collapsing to the ground. Three had guns, and started shooting, the other three were praying madly, flinging out their hands, their voices ringing with condemnation and orders that rang in our skulls... to absolutely no effect.
Save or dies are something you fight with everything, and in this case, we Saved, so they died.
A bullet slammed into my shoulder, rammed into the False Life shield of temporary Soak that I’d Cast as I'd gotten out of Bone Marrow earlier, and I didn’t go down. Two bullets puffed into The Mick, putting holes in his suit, but there was no blood as he charged the man, a veritable wall of crimson following Smiore as it arced through the air like a bloody killing wind.
The final shots whined past Master Fred as he sort of bowed aside, deflected by his Storm Pact.
A Wall of demonflame howled past and over four of them, devouring them alive with 11d6+Con of fun stuff. The shadows of demons raged over them and devoured flesh and bone whole, leaving only seared, smoking earth behind six seconds later.
“Take her,” I said, without any mercy.
“No!” screamed the last survivor, breaking out of the coating of ice she’d been hiding in with a flash of Wrath, trying to get away.
Whoops, ran right into the Interdiction I flicked up to stop her.
There was a crack as a fist caught her on the side of the head like a steel beam, and she dropped on the spot. I didn’t bother to look at her as Shvaugn reached down to grab her, turning to regard the Swarm a half mile away, which had devoured that small town.
Just like I thought, it wasn’t going away...
Twelve seconds later, Shvaughn stepped up next to me. “They found out Sama Rantha was going to stop there, and laid a trap. They were waiting for her to arrive. There’s no Imprusar in the place, so no loss on their end.” She paused. “She doesn’t know why the Swarm isn’t going away, however.”
“Because Summoned creatures are trapped under the goddamn Shroud if they can get in through it!” I snapped in irritation. “Fucktards! Those goddamn bugs will eat anything that’s not Lawful on the entire planet once they realign their priorities!”
Even Shvaughn’s eyes widened. “Oh. She did not know that...” Freaking Apocalypse Swarms weren’t called that for giggles!
“We have to kill them all here before the Swarm splits up and starts spreading out to devour everything! Sleipner, pop the sidecar!” I strode towards it, and Sleipner whickered as the shell of the sidecar popped open. “Fred, stand it up. Shvaughn, you got any problems playing hero?”
“No. These assholes deserve everything that’s coming to them,” she said agreeably, stepping forwards and watching as I murmured the words to a Circle of Protection from Law spell, and cast it into the short Obelisk Master Fred had heaved upright. It lit up with an array of wild, jagged symbols, radiating a defensive field against things of Law.
“You know where the center point of the effect is?” I asked her.
“Yes,” she nodded, eying the Circle. “Will that hold off the Swarm?”
“Indefinitely if you pump it full of Chaotic energy, but it’s just there to get you to the center point. Then you need to radiate as much Chaotic power as you can, draw them in, and let them trash themselves on your flames of Wrath.
“I’ll help pump up Master Fred’s Wrath to double-team them.” I plucked off one of the Scarabs tied to my sash, and tossed it to him. He caught it and hooked it on a button of his jacket without comment. I hopped on a Disk, turning to the Mick. “Lord Mick, we’re both pretty useless, but I need to be closer to feed Master Fred. If you could start on the looting and making sure they are all dead? Save some heads. The Harsites will have questions.”
He just nodded, flicking Smior clean and waving us off. I shoved the other Disk in his direction, and he started waving his hand and collecting things, starting with firearms. Smior gleamed as he flicked it through a frozen neck, and despite it being frozen solid, sheared it through without stopping.
Shvaughn swung up behind Master Fred smoothly, and Sleipner took off the instant the two of them were settled. This time I was riding the Disk, and the unicorn didn’t go quite so fast...