The influx of military equipment let the coalition forces push fairly deep into the landing site. The Tellask didn’t have a good answer for the .50 caliber machine guns affixed to the humvees. The weapons easily overpowered the low-level man portable spellshields worn by the infantry and bear cavalry causing the both forces to retreat on all fronts.
At first, the coalition forces lost one or two humvees to charging war lizards, but quickly the vehicles began operating in pairs. Unless the Imperials surprised them, the vehicle’s mobility and weaponry were enough to kite the proto-dinosaurs for long enough to punch through their spellshields and tear through their tough scales. After the Tellask lost a couple of the lizards, they no longer risked them in direct confrontation with Earth’s forces.
Dan poured half of a water bottle given to him by a French soldier over his head before drinking the remainder. It was a far cry from a shower, but Jennifer and him were taking a break next to a squad of foreign soldiers and he would take what he could get. As far as he could tell, no one had spotted any elves other than the ones riding the wyverns. The lack of Tellask heavy hitters spoke to them preparing a counter attack which, given that the enemy void ship was visible from where he was taking a break, would probably be sooner rather than later.
A soldier tossed him a power bar, which he winced at before unwrapping. The trauma of his time trapped in the tree would take some time to work through.
“What’s with the sword and the knight armor?” Dan silently thanked the System as it translated the soldier’s French automatically for him.
“Guns are better against their infantry.” Dan shrugged, biting into the chocolate and dirt-flavored protein bar. “Against the elves themselves, they aren’t so great. They don’t sit still long enough for you to take down their shields.”
“Still seems like there’s a better way to settle the issue than a couple feet of steel,” the French soldier replied, eating his own power bar.
“The sword’s enchanted.” Dan patted the blade at his side. “If you can hit an elf with it, it’ll go through most of their shields pretty quickly. Plus, I have a couple spells of my own to make them stand still long enough to actually stick them with the sword. I can’t say I’m happy about having to get close enough to stab them, but it’s worked pretty well so far.”
“Wait,” the man squinted at Dan, “what do you mean enchanted? Spells? I know the aliens have force fields and gigantic fucking lizards, but command didn’t say anything about that.”
A spark of electricity arced between Dan’s fingers as he winked at the soldier. The man blinked a couple of times before a smile lit up his face. Quickly he whistled and waved a couple of the other soldiers over, Jennifer meandering over with them.
“You’re saying the aliens have honest to God magic?” The French soldier was still grinning like an idiot.
“That’s the only reason they can realistically fight us,” Dan frowned looking at the small crowd of soldiers. “Did you really think that we’ve been struggling this hard to clean them out of the jungle just because of their forcefields? All of the elves can move like a jaguar and cast some pretty nasty spells. They use humans as filler, but you’ll know when we get near something really important.”
“What did they tell you all about the death bloom?” Jennifer asked, some concern in her voice.
“Death bloom?” The first soldier asked. “Is that the ‘unspecified bioweapon’ that was mentioned in the briefing? I know that command made us pack some of the old NBC suits, but other than that they just told us to watch out for the signal.”
“Nuclear Biological and Chemical protective suits,” Jennifer responded to Dan’s unasked question. “That will probably be enough to stop it from catching hold, but as far as we can tell, they are using mold spores that turn people into full on zombies. I don’t know how much time you will have from the warning to infection though. I know it’s hot as hell out here, but it’s probably a good idea to wear them. Better safe and sweaty than sorry.”
“Why aren’t you wearing anything then?” The French soldier asked with a quick laugh, supplemented by the cheerful nods of his companions.
“We’re more or less supersoldiers,” Dan laughed. “They injected us with something that prevents the spores from taking hold and lets us fight toe to toe with the elves. It wasn’t a fun process, but it has its benefits.”
Before the soldier could reply, blood sprayed across the temporary camp. Dan’s eyes widened as he saw an elf, her toes skimming across the surface of the ground as she blurred forward, gravity mana wreathing her. Frantically, he activated the temporal dilation rune. Instantly, Dan felt a jolt as time slowed and his mana reserves began draining rapidly.
Dan activated his spellshield as the head of a French soldier soared past him in slow motion. The elf wielded a heavy short blade in each of her hands as she kicked off of the ground and skated forward, almost weightless, as she lunged for another soldier. He struggled to stand as the very air itself seemed to fight him. Changing tactics, the mana felt like molasses in his body as it slowly congealed in his hand and launched itself as a Lightning Stroke into her side.
Time returned to normal as electricity arced off of her spellshield. Dan cut the manaflow to the rune. It had served its purpose, giving him the handful of seconds he needed to get himself into position and distract the attacking elf. She flowed toward him, a feral grin on her face. She wove past the ordinary soldiers, her swords barely visible as she attacked him.
Dan flared mana to his strength and agility runes, switching them to their high-performance mode in order to keep up with the elf. Sparks flew as their swords clashed a dozen times in a matter of seconds. Both of them stepped back a pace and reassessed the other. Between his experience, the runes and the System, Dan knew that he was one of the best sword fighters on Earth. Still, this woman was his equal.
She smiled mischievously, and Dan felt gravity double around him. Quickly, he activated Gravitational Easing, alleviating some but not all of the pressure. She lunged forward once again, and this time, he couldn’t quite keep up with her. The extra weight on his arms was just enough to throw him off, but his spellshield absorbed the solitary slash that made it through his guard.
The elf spun backward, glancing at her dry sword in frustration and surprise.
“A mage?” She smiled more fully, exposing her knife-like teeth. “This is certainly a fun surprise. There hasn’t been a challenge on this planet in ages. I was about to request a transfer to the Orakh front, but at least you’ve made these last couple pointless months worthwhile.”
Dan didn’t dare take his eyes off of the elf, but around him screams and gunfire erupted. Nearby, Jennifer’s mana flared along with an unfamiliar source. He couldn’t be sure exactly what was happening, but it was clear that he was on his own.
“I’m glad that I haven’t disappointed you.” Dan focused his mana as he spoke. “I don’t suppose you and your friends would mind leaving our planet? We certainly aren’t any friends of the Orakh.”
“Oh, you are positively adorable.” Her voice tinkled like bells as she laughed. “The Tellask Empire has existed for millennia before the Orakh came out of their swamps, and it will continue on long after they are ground into nothing before the full might of the Empire. They are the concern of the moment, but only the alarmists treat them as anything but a passing concern. This is a rich world, and House Amberell will be stronger with it in our fold.”
She charged as she finished speaking, once again her feet barely touching the ground as she lightened herself magically. Dan released the Fireball between the two of them, counting on his thermal rune to shield him from the worst of it. The blast took her by surprise, launching her into the air as her decreased weight worked against her. The fire and heat washed over him, stinging his eyes and singing his eyebrows.
Dan smiled grimly as he launched another Fireball beneath her, knocking her further into the sky. The elf frantically tried to alter gravity to bring herself back to the ground, but Dan was able to catch her one more time. Her spellshield fell just before his Lightning Stroke caught her in the chest.
The elf landed bonelessly, unable to focus enough through her spasming body to deaden her fall. Dan sprinted toward her, ignoring his surroundings. His blade flashed in a violet crescent, taking her head before she could recover.
Like that, it was over. Even though she was faster and more talented than him, once again a variety of affinities and thoughtful use of magic had been enough to carry him to victory. Mana swelled around him, but Dan pressed it aside. Jennifer was struggling with an axe-wielding male elf, and the French soldiers retreated while firing upon a pair of bear lancers. There simply wasn’t time for him to be distracted.
Without announcing himself, Dan slashed at the axe-wielding elf. Although he had been overpowering Jennifer, it was a near thing. He quickly turned the balance as the elf’s spellshield slowed his crackling purple blade just long enough for the elf to frantically bring his axe around to block it. That was all the opening Jennifer needed to land a flurry of blows on his back, bringing the spellshield down altogether.
The elf’s eyes widened as he tried to flee, only to catch a Lightning Stroke in the back. Jennifer finished him off and both of them turned to the bear cavalry. Already, one of the bears was on the ground bleeding from a multitude of bullet wounds while the other fled.
Dan exhaled and surveyed the scene. Despite the suddenness of the attack and the chaos in its immediate aftermath, only three of the French soldiers had died. The rest looked at Dan and Jennifer with borderline worship. The original soldier walked toward them, glancing back and forth between the two downed elves and the dead bear.
His voice was considerably less jovial. “So, I’m assuming that right there was why you use a sword rather than a rifle.”
“Would you have been able to hit either of them the way they were moving?” Dan shrugged. “At the same time, unless you’re using something a lot higher caliber than a .556 mm, it’s going to take quite a few shots to bring their spellshields down. Unless they’re charging you, which they are sometimes arrogant enough to do, you’re going to have a hard time with just a rifle.”
“Dibs,” Jennifer cut in as she picked up the two short blades used by the elf Dan had killed. “I’m pretty sure you can’t even use these things, and they’re designed to fit into the elven spell vambraces. It won’t take much for me to mount them on gauntlets or something.”
“All yours, but I still get first shower.” Dan rolled his eyes as she eagerly began pulling the gloves off of the dead elf.
“Not to interrupt you two,” the French soldier interjected worriedly, “but Pierre just got off the radio, and it sounds like the aliens are striking back all across the line. We’ve been ordered to hold our spot, but there’s a checkpoint about three streets over that’s being hit hard. They’re even talking about risking bringing some helicopters within the range of the enemy weapon emplacements around the spaceship to help out. They could probably use you over there.”
Dan looked to Jennifer as she fiddled with the blades. She made eye contact with him as she stood up and nodded.
“Remember to put on those suits,” Dan said over his shoulder to the French troops as Jennifer and him made their way into an alley between two Tellask buildings. “I firmly believe that the Tellask will use the death bloom if they think they’re going to lose. Tell everyone you can. That stuff isn’t exactly pretty.”
