The Atlantian System: Creation

For one heartbeat, Leta had enough time to realize that Goblins had the mental capacity of a running zombie; all they wanted was to consume by any means necessary, even if it meant clogging the one door leading to their prey.

The green-skinned creatures were stampeding and tripping over each other as they scrambled towards her, hurting each other in the process as claws and fangs got in the way. Behind them, two Loupgarou were trying to squeeze through the mindless horde, their howls of frustration mixing with the clicking chatter of the Goblins.

“Freeze!” She shouted, her voice echoing over the city as the horde in front of her wobbled on their feet but quickly righted themselves as they continued their pursuit.

“Dammnit.” She spat. There were too many to make the skill effective.

“Afra!” Leta called, pulling static from the air to her before letting loose in a stream of negatively charged electricity. The bolt branched off, striking at least a half dozen goblins who screamed before falling to the ground, their mottled skin seared to a crisp. Some had been standing too close to those who had taken a direct hit and seized up, their bodies writhing in pain as electricity reverberated through them.

The strike wasn’t enough to do severe damage. It seemed that for each Goblin that went down, another managed to squeeze through and take its place.

Another one of Leta’s bolts cracked with white-hot fury at the oncoming stampede, filling the air with the smell of ozone and burned flesh as more monsters were cut down and replaced.

“I’m here!” She heard the Hearth Maiden call behind her but didn’t risk taking her eyes off the chest-high monsters rushing towards them.

“Smoke ‘em!”

Leta cut off her lightning just as Afra let loose a funnel of white-blue flame that spread over the roof like a blazing fan.

The oncoming Goblins squealed in surprise before they were engulfed in fire, those who managed to avoid the flame quickly retreating to behind the stairwell box.

“How long can you keep this up?” Leta breathed heavily as her brain tried to think of a way to get the light on.

“Not very long,” Afra grunted, her body locked as if she were physically directing the force of a jet engine. “In the open with all this fresh air to keep the fire fed, I can go about a minute or two before I need to catch my breath. Plus, the longer I burn, the more I heat the tar and metal on the roof.”

As they watched, the metal door to the stairwell began to glow red hot and bend under the intense heat being blasted. Shielded by the stairwell, the goblins that had taken cover shrieked and howled as the heat mounted.

A moment later, Afra gasped as her hands fell to the side in exhaustion, the fire going out as quickly as it had come. The Goblins wasted no time seizing the opportunity to run from their shelter and charge, the two Loupgarou’s bursting from the partially melted door with a roar.

“Shit!” Leta threw out another web of lighting that nailed one of the Loupgarou and several oncoming Goblins. The second Loupgarou avoided being hit and pressed forward, muscled legs pumping as it charged.

Just as Leta pulled her hand back to let loose another bolt, a figure ran past her so fast it blew her hair into her eyes.

When she could see again, Koa had run into the fray, sliding to stab into the monster’s belly as it leaped toward her.

Rolling to the side of the crashing corpse, his sword lashed out to cut a goblin in half.

“Afra! Take left. I’ve got center. Leta! Take right and get to that lamp!”

“Got it!” Afra shouted back, tendrils of fire that looked like coiling snakes wrapping around her arms and scorching the sleeves of her scrubs.

Hands closed into fists, she aimed as if she were manning a warship as the burning snacks glowed brightly. Suddenly, a burst of fire shot from one fist and then the other quickly, the baseball-sized fireballs moving faster than a Formula 1 car and slamming into the charging horde.

The Goblins never stood a chance, the flame’s heat searing their skin to the bone as the force of the hit sent them sailing backward to knock into other attackers.

Afra continued her attack without end, her fireballs like miniature cannons as wave after wave of Blessed were mowed down.

Koa moved like a man possessed, ducking and twisting with a lethal grace as his sword cut through muscle and bone like a hot knife through butter.

Another Loupgarou had managed to squeeze through the door, its gaze landing on the Warrior and bounding forward, muscled arms propelling it forward with a mindless intent.

Koa ducked as it tried to tackle him and pulled his sword up, the blade landing where its neck met its body and exited behind its shoulder blades as two parts of its body separated and rolled to the ground in a spray of hot blood.

Leta shot off another bolt of lightning that echoed across the city, her electricity punching through bodies like a pin through wet paper.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Afra’s fireballs and got an idea.

Focusing, she reached out her mind as ghostly hands swept up sand, ash, and dust from the floor, pulling it to her as she held it in the air.

With a scream, Leta closed one lightning-covered fist and punched.

Her electricity collided with the sand and dust, particles fusing under the super heated power and shooting out in a spray of glassy fulgurite the size of pencils.

Goblins jolted mid-step as their bodies turned to pincushions, the icicle-shaped shards doing as much damage as a machine gun.

[The Host has learned the skill Storm Glass. War Craft skill software options identified. Refine the Storm Glass skill to unlock branches of the War Craft skill.]

“Holy shit, I didn’t think it’d be that effective.” She grinned manically until the she spotted a shadow move in front of a cloud to her right, here one minute and gone the next.

It could have been nothing, but the last few days had taught her otherwise.

“Oh, shit. Gargoyle, 2 o’clock!”

“I see it!” Koa responded, twisting as he cleaved a Goblin in two.

“It’ll need to bank up to attack,” Afra added, “The updraft from the buildings means it can’t make an effective run. It needs to dive down then use the air current to propel it onto the roof if it wants to attack.”

Leta drew up another ball of sand and punched as the Loupgarou circled to the side to charge at her, this time focusing on her strike. Instead of her goal being a burst of force to do a lot of damage over a wider area, she narrowed her energy into a single direction.

Constricting the energy was like putting pressure on a cork gun.

Eventually it goes off.

And when it does…

Like a cannonball, a giant shard of fulgurite the length of her arm and as thick as a tree branch cut the air with an odd humming noise that rattled teeth.

The Loupgarou’s eyes went wide, a moment of clarity to realize that it was about to be quickly deleted from existence before it was turned into…a mess.

The strike landed just below its left eye, cutting straight through the monster’s spine and exiting somewhere near its tail. The energy of the missile literally blew the monster in half as body parts flew in all directions and coating Leta in a spray of blood and bits.

“Oh my god! It’s in my teeth!” Leta gagged as she realized what had happened, trying to whip her mouth but realizing her hands were just as covered as she was.

“Later! The Gargoyle’s making an approach.” Koa growled.

Leta blinked away the grim coating her and focused on the shadow moving like a falcon across the sky, circling wide to come at them from the side of the building. Out of direct moonlight, she lost it for a moment before she saw a dark mass against the flickering lights of the city and moving fast. It was maybe half a kilometer when she finally recognized the outline of bat-like wings and eagle-like talons for feet.

It dipped low to catch the updraft from the building, losing sight of them for a moment which was exactly what Leta needed.

“Look out!” Leta shouted.

Afra lowered her hands and fell forward, Koa rolling to the side as the Gargoyle pulled up over the lip of the roof, its massive talons open wide to grab her.

It had expected its prey to be distracted and easy to pick off. It hadn’t been ready for Leta’s lightning to hit it square in the chest, the creature bellowing in pain as its muscles twitched uselessly.

It hit the roof hard, bouncing unceremoniously across the asphalt before rolling off the other side of the room and dropping to the ground below with a quickly fading scream.