Chapter 29: Chapter 28- Portal Raid

"Alright, we're here." Brig said, coming back to where Rayse and the rest of the squad was assembled. He was swift and quiet, moving like an afternoon breeze rustling through the forest. They had come upon their second portal of the day, and this time, and this one was guarded.

"They must have found out about our operation, 'cuz this one has guards. The clearing ahead is crawling with harbingers."

"Did you spot any emissaries?" Iona asked from beside him. She was wearing her war robes today, her visor brilliantly shimmering in the midday sun. For once, Rayse and his friends didn't look out of place with them, sporting their brand new gear. They looked every bit the elite squad that they were.

"Sorry, Iona. Couldn't risk it. Maybe I coulda managed it with wind walk, but there could be hounds around…"

"No worries, Brig. You did well. Aleph told us they need four emissaries to work the portal, so we'll strike with the assumption that there's that many."

She looked around, staring each one of them in the eye.

"Alright. Considering the area they've covered, we're dealing with at most a hundred harbingers in addition to the emissaries. Our plan is to strike hard and fast. We're disabling the portal, and getting out. Any questions?"

When none were forthcoming, they went into formation. Speed and power was a factor, so they went with Brig and Brandon at the front, backed by Iona, Eric and Lacey as their big hitters. The rest surrounded them from the sides, ready to deal with any opposition while they burned the portal anchor. Iona turned to Rayse, signaling the beginning of the battle.

"Haste!" He shouted, increasing everyone's speed. They charged through the front, plowing right through the hounds that sensed Rayse's magic. They slowed right as they reached the edge of the clearing, once again facing a sea of harbingers.

""Fissure!"" The twins casted from either side. creating a corridor of earth that cut through the masses, giving them a direct route to the center.

Brandon swept up the front, his leap spell able to keep up with Brig in bursts. They cleared the way, allowing Iona and her assault squad to move forward. Rayse kept haste going, covering the vanguard as they struck at the heart of the enemy. The harbingers began to converge now, clamoring to enter through the opening.

"Alright, men! Guard this passage with your lives! Stonehand!" Luke ordered, signaling the rear guard to prepare for battle. His hands were covered in tightly packed earth, looking every bit as menacing as the monsters they faced.

"Siege mode!" Rayse activated his shield, making it open up like last time, ready to protect Luna, who was maintaining her side of the earthen wall. He could hear the harbingers striking it from the sides, and hoped that it held up to the assault. 

Rayse intercepted a harbinger, stopping it cold with a quick thrust to its neck, before turning his entire body for a wide swing, attacking multiple aggressors. They fell at once, but more took their place. Rayse was dealing with them as quick as he could, when a group of them ran madly towards Luna instead, massive cleavers held high. Rayse was so tied up by the ones in front of him that he was forced to use even more spells.

"Shield crash!" His dragonscale shield rushed towards the attackers, sending them flying. The harbingers came away with numerous cuts as the scales tore through them, leaving them a bloody mess on the ground.

Rayse retreated a bit as the shield returned to his side, standing with Luna directly behind him.

"You alright, Luna?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Just making sure this wall doesn't fall on top of our friends. Keep them off my back, will ya? That last wave almost took my head off!"

"Sorry, sorry. Thrust!" He apologized while commanding his spear to skewer the scores of harbingers in front of him. The group fell, giving him a brief breather. A quick look to the side made his heart sink though, as he saw the harbingers at the wall had spotted them, and were converging on their position. Flashes of light came from beyond the corridor.

"Uh, oh. Luke, the guys at the wall are making their way here. Others are going up front, too."

Luke punched a harbinger, sending him flying to the rest of the demons. He turned to look over the wall to see what Rayse had, making him curse.

"Dammit! We'll be overrun at this rate. Fall back inside the fissure walls, we'll deal with them inside!"

The rear guard moved a couple meters in, allowing them to face only three of them at a time. It worked for a while, but every minute that passed was an inevitable march into death. There was still no word from the vanguard. What's taking them so long!? 

Rayse was starting to feel the strain on his mana heart. The raid has only gone on for about five minutes at this point, but he had been maintaining haste for everyone the entire time. He learned from his experiments with the manameter that he had about 2000 units of mana, but maintaining haste had burned through more than half of that. He was also worried for Luna and Polo, who had been maintaining fissure all this time. They had a lot more mana than him, but the spell they were using was also much more intensive. He grew impatient, feeling the situation slowly slip away.

"We're just waiting to die at this rate. Sonia, back me up, I've got a plan."

Sonia nodded, then charged at the group up front. Rayse followed right on her heels, with Luke staying behind in case any stragglers came at their spellcasters.

"Valiant blow!" She smashed the ground, emitting a shockwave that sent the harbingers flying. Rayse took the chance to slip through the gap it created, going back outside.

He saw what he expected: a mass of angry harbingers were headed his way. Rayse drove his shield to the ground and left it there, allowing him to concentrate. Each 'dragon scale' on his shield was a sharp piece of metal the size of his palm. Rayse sensed each of them that made up the shield, easily numbering in the dozens. He let his power flow through each, using the mana heart embedded within the shield to assist him. It was one of the spells in the note Aleph has left for him, made to mimic how he used the magnetite spears.

"Scale Burst!"

Metal flew in all directions, shredding the incoming mass of harbingers. Rayse doubled over panting, exhausted from the rush of power that flowed through him. A glance at the weapon's core told him that the mana it contained had waned significantly, not even close to enough for another attack of that magnitude. Thankfully, he had cleared most of their pursuers, which could help their retreat. 

"Assault mode."

He retrieved all the metal pieces, reassembling the dragonscale shield to its original state before rejoining his friends inside the corridor. He was welcomed by an ecstatic Sonia, mussing his hair like a proud mother, and a slack jawed Luke, who took a moment before talking.

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"What the hell was that!?"

"Umm, my shield? Master made it."

"...Can you get me one of those?" 

Boom!

Their celebration was cut short when a huge explosion shook the ground beneath them. Iona did say they'd know when the portal was destroyed, but that's overdoing it. The opposition must have been worse than they thought.

"That's our cue. Men, prepare for extraction."

Rayse was worried for his friends and was itching to go, but his part of the plan was pretty much done. Luna and Polo finally stood, which puzzled Rayse even further, but when he saw Luke's earthen hands clutch them, he understood.

"Earth Slam!"

The corridor moved forward, clearing away enemies on either side of the walls like a tsunami, before crashing back down after a certain distance. It kicked up a massive dust cloud that obscured their vision, unable to ascertain if the rest of their squad was safe. Luke made sure that the middle of the path was untouched, but the destruction he caused left little to be said.

Eventually, the dust cleared up to reveal a wounded Brig, who had gone on ahead for some reason. He had an unconscious Eric over his shoulder, who was bleeding profusely from little wounds across his body. He set him down gently, allowing Rayse to go over and administer first aid. He made Brig drink from a separate flask as he caught his breath.

"They were ready for us. As soon as they saw us, the bastards activated the portal, letting in a whole other group of baddies. Took a while to beat them back as they practically fell on top of each other to protect the portal from our spells."

"What about the others?" Luke asked, still scanning over the horizon in hopes he could find them.

"They were right behind me. Had me go on ahead cuz of Eric's condition, but they should come out of that dust cloud soon."

The dust cloud partly cleared at that moment, showing the escaping squad as they fired spells back at an as yet unseen enemy. Billows of black flame answered, rushing headlong against the party. Iona shot them down with her own fireballs, but couldn't handle the wind blades that followed behind. She crossed her arms, allowing the armor to take most of the damage, but she was still swept off of her feet, her exposed skins getting numerous little cuts. Lacey caught her, but she had a limp of her own. They inched towards the party while Brandon took the rear, sticking his blade on the ground.

"Shit! They're in trouble. Let's go!" Sonia said, running before Luke could give the order.

They were only several meters ahead, but it felt insurmountable. Rayse tore after them, once again activating haste for everyone. More spells came out from the smoke, its force almost clearing out the obstruction. Rayse saw a massive crowd of enemies as the dust settled, moving like one massive entity. 

Brandon had summoned a translucent blade from the ground, shielding them from the cacophony of spells that was sure to come, but the enemies were too fierce. A massive shadow came upon him, breaking it in an instant. It was a group of three flying emissaries, similar to the ones they had faced at Hios, dive bombing their makeshift shelter. The spell shattered, reducing the broken mana blade back into nothingness, as the flying demons circled back around, right at the retreating women.

"Earth Splitter!" Rayse heard Brandon say, summoning the massive blade once again, only this one wasn't so massive. He's exhausted, Rayse realized. They must have thrown everything they had at the portal just to destroy it. He watched in horror as the flyers easily evaded the attack before dive bombing the more defenseless ones. Sonia needed a few more seconds to reach them, seconds that they didn't have.

It was too late; Rayse can't get there in time, let alone his shield. He threw it anyway, wordlessly commanding it to open up before them. His desperation at its peak, he casted a spell he knew he would regret.

"Berserk!"

Purple lightning screamed out of his body, arcing across the air before hitting Brandon in the chest. The effect was immediate; Brandon redirected his missed attack, bisecting the flyers before they hit their mark. Rayse recalled his spell and kept running, praying that his friend could handle the backlash. Pieces of the emissaries smashed into the ground, their momentum carrying them into Rayse's path.

 They didn't know what hit them. Rayse could see their shocked faces as he hopped over them on his way to his friends. Sonia had already reached them, picking up both Iona and Lacey and was already sprinting back, one on each shoulder. 

An earth pillar erupted from the ground, shielding Brandon from wayward spells as he recovered, giving Rayse a chance to reach him in time.

He was by his side moments afterward, as Brandon was doubled over on the ground, dry heaving in exhaustion. Rayse took a knee beside his friend, checking for any other injury.

"Hey, Bran. You okay?"

" *Gulp*… Yeah. Nice move giving me Berserk there, man. Got 'em before they could finish us off… hey, could you get me outta here? My legs won't listen to me for some reason."

So Rayse scooped him up like he saw Sonia do to the girls, and ran for his life. He saw flashes of dark light from the edges of his vision, among other things that made the hairs on his neck stand on end, but pillars of earth blocked whatever it was that was about to hit him. He ran past Luna, shouting a quick 'thank you' as they rejoined the rest of the party. Polo and Luke had stayed behind, arms stuck to the ground as they mumbled wordlessly. As soon as Luna crossed some invisible threshold, the pair casted the spell they've been preparing.

"Earth Scar!"

The familiar spell compounded on itself, creating a wide canyon in front of Polo and Luke. It easily tripled the width of the earth corridor from before. Rayse saw many of the harbingers fall to their deaths, but smaller shapes in the distance stood firm. The emissaries' stares were dripping with venom even from this far away, but they dared not cross the ravine. With their fliers defeated, they dared not expose themselves to attacks while at the mercy of gravity.

"That'll hold them." Iona said at that moment. She stood gingerly, using Brig's shoulder for support.

"Good work, men. Let's go home."

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