“We are, One of the Seven!” Mara said, impatiently flicking her scourge. “Where are the enemies?”
Without a word, I pointed at the clan hall. The wharf with the skiff lay just past it.
Columns of demons stepped out of the fire behind their mistress: huge grey-skinned consorts, female demonic warriors wearing lacework armor, scantily clad succubi mages who immediately took to the air. The Pandas probably hadn’t expected an attack of an entire faction against their castle; in any case, they would have their hands full. As for how the Succubate would leave that place...well, it wasn’t my problem.
Fusing into a single stream of winged figures, the Succubate flew into the biggest hall of Atrocity. The demonic cackle, the fluttering of wings, the howling, the clatter of weapons, and the rumble of exploding spells immediately joined together in a cacophony of battle. I squeezed Weldy’s palm—she was hiding behind me—and counted to thirty. The shield had four more minutes to live. It was time.
We ran past the slaughter in the hall while the shrieking succubi scooped up and dropped the warriors of Pandorum, locked into a frenzied fight against the demons. We moved down the long arched corridor almost blocked with the corpse of a felled protodragon, demonic silhouettes hovering in the air, their wings brushing against the ceiling, then through the wharf along the mooring berth strewn with bodies while dragon riders and Succubate demons fought above the decks of astral ships. Nobody paid us any attention; Pandorum was otherwise occupied.
The empty skiff I had borrowed from the Watchers waited for us in a berth, held by two ropes. I scooped Weldy up and jumped on the deck. The Greater Shield of Shadows, which had only two minutes left to live, covered about a third of the vessel. I positioned myself next to the engine and the reactor and whispered through the Courier, “Log in, Keith.”
“Roger that!” Borland cheerfully exclaimed on the other end of the line.
A second later, he appeared next to me, and in a second after that, unpacked his pawns, Ellaria and Nosquire. The three of them instantly gazed at the hell around us, thundering and booming, blazing with the effects of spells and packed with embattled players and demons. A protodragon plastered with succubi crashed down right next to us on a neighboring ship, sweeping away the mast and the sails and breathing out currents of fire. The walls weren’t trembling anymore—they were decidedly shaking as if the entire stronghold was about to collapse.
“What’s going on here, dammit?” Keith yelled. “What the—”
“We need to leave now!” I shouted in response, cutting the ropes that held our vessel.
A cursory look was enough for Keith to realize the scale of the bedlam happening across Atrocity.
“Ellaria, sails, quickly!” he commanded, stepping to the steering wheel. “Nosk, start the engine!”
With a sharp twist of the wheel, he turned the skiff around. The engine roared, and the gaff-sail fluttered, soaring in the air. They were a real team, careful and precise to a fault. A strong gust of wind blew out of the engine muzzle where the air elemental was trapped. The skiff darted forward like a purebred horse. Numerous masts of Pandorum’s astral fleet flashed overboard on both sides, some of their ships leaving the wharf where the battle was still ranging, their sails up.
“Burn the red ellurite!” the Octopus yelled, drowning the howling wind. “Let’s milk this baby for all it’s worth!”
Like a bat out of hell, we flew out of the gaping dragon maw that served Pandorum as a gate. Astral Plane’s pink mist looked like heaven after the malevolent castle. The skiff continued gaining speed, headed toward the empty space. Still, nobody was going to let us leave without a fight.
Bang! A heavy blow spun our ship around, knocking everyone down except for Borland, who managed to grab onto his wheel.
“Harpoon!” he screamed, pointing at the stern. “We’re being hauled!”
A four-sided steel steer with razor-sharp curved blades sunk into our yacht, piercing the bulwark and smashing through the deck. It was attached to a metal chain sparkling with electricity. Trembling like a hobbled horse, the skiff spun around, and with each loop, the chain coiled around it more and more, stripping the ship of its mobility.
It originated from a watchtower to the right of Atrocity’s gate. As soon as I fixed my eyes on it, its arrow-slits opened fire, barraging us with steel and magic. The skiff was saved only by the Greater Shield of Shadows and the precise aim of Pandorum gunners, as they targeted the engine to down the ship once and for all. However, I was standing right next to them and the reactor, guarding the most vulnerable and valuable onboard systems. One-third of the shield’s health and ninety seconds of time remained. We won’t make it, will we?
A corvette surrounded by a pack of mounted fliers slowly sailed out of the dragon maw. Dozens of sails peeked out from behind it. Tiny silhouettes of “birdies” broke away from the enormous juggernauts hovering above the stronghold. Most of them dove right toward the castle, but some headed straight to us while we kept spinning, trapped.
“That’s it; we’re finished!” Keith concluded. “We need to get out, HotCat! Use Soul Stones, Teleportation Scrolls, whatever—while we can!”
“Nobody goes anywhere!” I was surprised by the metal in my voice. “The game’s only beginning!”
Aelmaris flashed with True Fire, aimed at the tower that had locked us in. I opened the sword’s interface, clicked twice to select the “Improve Current Skill” button, and pressed the “Fiery Lightning” icon.
The opportunity to choose a new affix or improve an old one had appeared after the battle with Ananizarte. I had considered it, evaluating the options, and decided to upgrade the Lightning. It was my only ranged weapon that could reliably destroy the enemy. Still, its damage had proven
