Beams of light struck down from the sky into the steel and concrete bridge that connected the Goblin lands to Hokkaido. Dust and rubble erupted in plumes as metal began groaning and the foundations jittered beneath the transfer of energy. Debris rolled off the side and into the ocean below, the rumbling explosions punctuated by the splashing below.
"Jarvis, scan the entire bridge for structural weaknesses."
"Done Sir."
The display inside his mask lit up with multiple red 'X' marks that pulsed. Grinning Tony re-aimed his repulsors; after destroying the top layer of the road which had been sprinkled with mermen. The players below him were fighting for all they were worth, their low level gear taking a large amount of damage from the trident bearing creatures. That was the case until blasts of light melted into the stress-points of the bridge and began a systemic collapse of the entire suspension bridge.
Long steel cables dropped from above onto the pale-skinned monsters as their green counterparts shrieked in fear. Breaking bones, popping of flesh and organs ensued, the players aiding each other in backing away off of the bridge; an easy feat given the fact that they were close to the town's side of said bridge.
"Did you get that Jarvis?"
"I did sir, I am saving it onto the local network for later distribution."
His grin widened before he was blasted out of the sky by a sickly green blast that, from the reports on his visor, was acidic in nature. Slapping down into the ocean below his system reported minor damage to the Gold-Titanium exterior of his suit. Indignation grew within him as he sparked the thruster of the Iron Man suit and launched out of the sloshing water and up into the air above.
Another green beam of energy surged forth from the tree line but was dodged with minimal movement. Shaking away the water from the suit Tony looked around, Jarvis working double time in order to identify where the blow came from.
"In the tree line sir..." The display zoomed in to such a point that one could see the sickly yellow eyes of the staff-wielding goblin. Grimacing in disgust a single arm was raised and a blast of heat soon followed.
All that could be heard was the screech of the little nuisance as it was exploded into a puddle of warm green goo. Shaking his head he looked back on the bridge, watching as hundreds of mermen were attempting to cross the waterway to the town.
"How many do we have Jarvis?"
There was a momentary pause as the display flickered between the mermen.
"539 sir. Their weaponry is a combination of trident and knife. No ranged weapons are included in their arsenal."
Tony scoffed. "It's like shooting fish in a barrel!"
"I believe it is much easier sir."
Chuckling at the personality of his best friend he locked in over one hundred targets and then triggered the missile system on his shoulder. In seconds the mechanism was open and shortly after the self-propelled rockets launched with the scream of combustion. The air shimmered with heat in the wake of the munitions but was quickly overwhelmed in spectacle by the hundred or more explosions that plastered the remains of the monstrous little gremlins all throughout the water and the rubble.
The shockwave of the explosions served to destabilise the already collapsing bridge further, the metal pillars warping inwards and outwards with the heat before buckling. With a massive groan of metal and the sharp squeal of steel cording grinding against bitumen the bridge snapped and fell down directly into the ocean below. All that was left were the jutting jittering jagged remains of the supports.
"We have more incoming sir." New targets emerged on the upper left of his Hud, the local map created by the sensors in his suit filling with red dots that quickly surged from the opposing beach.
"How many missile salvos do we have left Jarvis?"
A singular second was all that it took for the value to emerge into his Hud.
"I just had to fight a war on the day i was planning on expanding the missile reserves... Whatever, two more barrages are more than enough."
His left shoulder opened now and fired a similar volley of missiles that soared over the ocean, casting their orange glow over the ocean's surface. The opposing beach was completely covered in shadow, swallowed by the darkness of night, before it was sparked into flame...
"Napalm sure is a bitch, isn't it?" He laughed as the green monsters collapsed onto the newly made glass beach, their skin slawing off of their bodies.
"There are still 398 Mermen attempting to cross the ocean currently sir?"
"Let the little guys deal with them, I need to kill the thousands that are coming after them."
His repulsor fired through a flung trident down into the merman that had thrown it, melting half of its upper torso and killing it instantly.
~~~
His sword pierced through the sopping wet blubber of the monstrosity before him, his cloak whipping around with the sweeping strike. He yanked the longsword's length out of that one only to raise it high, deflecting a blow from a three-pronged spear. His muscles flexed and his sword scraped down the bronze points, slashing down into the fingers and arms of the next monster.
Blood sloshed to the sand below him, green and viscous as if it were poisoned or decayed in some way. Aegon knew sorcery was at play here but that was inconsequential at this point in time, his blade dripping with that same blood as it decapitated the pale white-black figure in front of him.
"Aegon-san, we're repositioning to the north east more! There are greater numbers attempting to dodge our main force!" A small boy that looked no older than his 14th naming day was shouting to him, the boy's sword cutting one of these creature's bodies into small fleshy chunks of viscera.
"Go, I shall stay here with the other." It was all he could respond with as he was accosted by another foe that slipped and imbedded itself half way up his blade.
"Okay Aegon-san! Good luck!" The boy ran with his curved sword and disembowelled another two creatures before gathering his band and taking off towards the gathering enemy forces.
Aegon huffed in exertion, his abdominals burning as sweat pooled on his brow. Fighting was hard enough in a short period of time, let alone for fifteen minutes straight. His chainmail and thick furs were weighing him down and heating him to such an extent that one would think he was wearing plate mail instead... He blinked aside sweat and tears as he dodged a stabbing blow, using his gauntleted right hand to slap the merman away. As it staggered from the slap he pulled his longsword upwards and split the creature in twain with a large slash, the wretched organs spilling out over the deceased remains of its former companions.
"Fuck...!" He yelled out in frustration as another three rushed at him.
Gritting his teeth he ran towards them, discarding his fur cloak upon the sand. A longsword in his right arm and a punch dagger in his left he pivoted out of one strike before deflecting the second. Sand shot upwards as his feet dig deeper into the wet surface. In less than a second he punched the small blade of his dagger into an artery of one.
Using that dead creature as cover he took a quick breath before shoving the corpse forwards in distraction, his longsword carving through the air and finding purchase in the larynx of a second merman. The final merman dropped its spear in fear but was quickly put to an end by an errant arrow, the feathered end barely visible in the right eye socket.
Aegon dropped to a single knee whilst surveying the beach, watching as ten players were holding back hundreds of monstrosities. Sorcery was crackling through the air like alchemical fire whilst other soldiers snapped the metal weapons of their foes and impaled them upon weapons within seconds of meeting with them in combat. It seemed he was the only one obviously struggling.
"Aegon-san, are you okay?" A woman in a white dress of a style he had never seen stepped before him, red highlights in the dress bringing out the youth that the garment usually hid.
"I-I am fine... I just need a minute to breathe." A smile curled on her lips before a white light broke from her fingers and he was filled with an energy that he had never felt before. It felt as if he could fight this same battle dozens of times and still continue on.
He rose to his feet once more, sand softly flopping to the beach as waves washed up against his leather boots.
"Thank you." She nodded and then quickly rushed off to one of the players, the man's leg having been hacked off with a blunted short sword.
It was at this moment that the opposing shoreline was set aflame, the light casting long shadows into the night. Glass reflections refracted the glimmering orange glows to such an extent that the very beach he stood upon was cast in that same hue.
Dulled noises that were akin to black powder detonations he had read upon from the age of Valeria scourged across the water and slammed into his ears, sending his heart into a rhythmic thudding that was worrying and simultaneously exhilarating.
"I am glad I joined this conflict..." A smile scratched itself into his face before another wave of merman began stumbling out of the water, half of them already injured and bleeding into the water below.
Hefting his longsword he charged forwards and screamed out in primal ecstasy.
~~~
At the same time...
In my last life I had imagined entire scenarios in my head when it came to violence and how to dispense it...
A mental scenario where a robber comes to the front door and I need to defend myself, grabbing a knife and running through the logical steps of the following conflict. Another where I was in a bank whilst it was being robbed at gun point, the steps that I could take to end the threat.
All of those paled in comparison to the very real experience of warfare itself.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOM*
A summoner's fireball incinerated every single goblin within a thirty foot sphere as arrows poured from the sky as if they were raindrops. Thousands of players below charged through the valley and out onto an open plain, the echoing war drums of the goblins resounding under the pallid red light of the blood moon.
In this moment I decided to contribute by protecting the magical support of the army from the aerial forces of the goblins. Makeshift helicopters soared overhead in wild patterns, fire bombs dropping down onto the players in clustered detonations. As several passed over head I raised the ground upwards below myself and created spikes of stone. The goblin piolets were grasping their bombs with glee, their wide maniacal grins stretching across their venomous green skin.
In but a moment I pulled on all of the electrons within the stone spikes and launched them upwards into the scrapped together contraptions, the spikes whistling through the air before perforating the leather and metal constructs, rearranging them into amalgamated scrap metal and splattered blood piles that dropped from the air into the cliff faces behind the magical corps.
"Enjoy hell, I guess." I huffed and pulled the pillar below me down until I was level with the magical players.
"Thanks Drecarios-san! We'll keep pelting them hard if you can just keep those bastards off us." I gave a thumbs up and shot off another spike towards an injured goblin that had somehow managed to reach the backlines.
Another fireball sprouted from a sorcerer's hands and engulfed a giant down below. I blinked and looked upwards, shooting another hundred or so stone spears into the sky that took down 90% of the helicopters that were present. I ignored it as soon as it occurred however and readjusted my vision to watch several shadows sneaking up the cliff face just below my current position.
"Pathetic. Come up with a better strategy you shitty gremlins." I yanked on the cliff face below and changed all of the surface material into magma, the screeches of the goblins cascading off of the valley walls whilst their skin peeled off and joined the slurry of liquid stone.
My head pounded for a second before I shrugged it off and re-focussed on the battle below. There were no threats currently coming for my position so I decided to start pelting the battlefield with supersonic shards of stone and iron; saving the iron shots for the larger beasts and creatures.
Sound blasted around me as the air swooned and then exploded out from the newly created pikes. Hundreds of goblins collapsed into bloody piles, injured, maimed or dead. Some giants and Dire Wolves were debilitated enough that the melee soldiers below could end them without much fuss.
I checked the cliff and sky once more before sending another volley on the opposite side, watching as a hobgoblin was smacked into the hardened sandstone below, its form crumpling into fetal position as the players stepped over it and subsequently squished it to death.
War was crazy. Luckily my ability made me hard to combat...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have a Patreon where you can get exclusive Discord roles, vote on Fan fiction decisions, and even suggest Extra Chapters for me to write. Join here: patreon.com/user?u=111976696.
If you'd like to further support my work, here's my PayPal: paypal.me/RBSMFF.
Feel free to join my Discord community here: https://discord.gg/wVZXpPpUQn.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------