["Nani?! Two chapters! Within the same month, within the same week!" Well, I did say I get the next chapter out quickly, and I wasn't lying. This one's a bit shorter, but it should hopefully be just as good. Hope you guys enjoy.]
Chapter 18 Crota's end. Part 2.
The light bridge took us straight to a well light portion of the ascendant plane. The way back was sealed off the moment we all stepped off the light bridge. Okay, no going back.
"Spread out a little but keep your guard up," I told my summons, I knew where we were, we were at the proverbial gates of Crota's palace. Normally enemies don't spawn until the event is started but given we just faced off against every major commander in Crota's army, and a few specialized units, I was being plenty cautious. Slowly, I went down the spiral staircase. My summons following close behind, Nokris gazing across to the other side, in the corner of my eye I saw his fingers clench into a fist. Once I got to the bottom, my summons spread out to the corners of our relatively small platform. Once everyone confirmed there was no hive in the immediate area, with the exception of Nokris, I took this small moment of peace to relax. I sat down on one of the coffins like structures near the plate that would build our way across.
"It's pretty well lit in here. Didn't expect that given how they're creatures of the dark." I murmured to myself. Bahamut agreed with my sentiment, given this fact I came to a realization. I won't be having as easy of a time with this segment of the raid as I did with the other one. 'I really relied on my darkness affinity to get us through the first part. That's not an option here, sadly, to much light and to little shadow to pull off what I did before. Not without some large amounts of mana, and I would need to constantly use mana pots or elixirs to recover said due to the amount of summons I have with me. Ugh.' I pinched the bridge of my nose, this will be a pain.
I considered deploying my AC now, it would certainly help. But, I decided against it for two reasons. The first and most obvious, there wouldn't be enough room for it on this platform. While it wasn't small by any means, it was a comfortable size for six guardians after all. But there's nine of us, and two of us are not exactly small. So adding a mech nearly two stories in height wouldn't exactly help our situation.
The other is a bit more resource heavy reason. If I deploy it now, I doubt I'll be able to resupply it. So deploying it now means using the best ammo and by that gesture the best guns, on all the weaker enemies instead of the big bad. And while I have faith I could avoid a good amount of the damage, it is still likely the AC would be damaged enough that when we got to Crota's throne, the hive prince would rip through my precious mech's armor like wet tissue paper. The mere of thought of that bastard hurting my mech that way, ahem, well. 'I don't like that image much and rather have the AC be in near perfect condition when fighting him.' I calmed myself down. Can't afford to go into my berserker rage yet. I jump off my seat and get everyone's attention.
"Okay guys, this next part is gonna get a bit tricky. Now if we want to kill Crota and not ourselves, your really gonna have to pay attention to what I say." I tell them, they nod and move a little closer.
"Okay, first to create the bridge again, like last time, we're gonna have to stand on this plate and stay there until the bridge is complete." I was about to continue but I saw Remains about to step on the plate, panicking more than a little I quickly grabbed the shoulder that wasn't rotting off. Nearly pushing him on due to how fast I ran over, but my wings dug into the ground behind me and stopped us falling on said plate.
"Hold your horses. Step on that plate now, and you kill us all." I tell him in a serious tone, Remnants nods and moves the heck away from the plate. Good.
"Now, we do have to stay on the plate but only after two of us stand either near two pillars or directly in the goo they drip." Eleanor gagged and I didn't blame her for doing so. I felt a little green at that prospect of stepping in that stuff as well.
"Once that is done then one on this plate and stay on it." I didn't have to stress this point as the defenders already volunteered, and the enemy has a better chance of moving a small mountain than those three.
"After two or three minutes a light bridge will spawn, but unlike the one, we came here on. This will kill anyone not holding a hive sword." They should know what one looks like at this point.
"But why can't we storm the bridge with all the hive swords you've collected?" Eleanor asked, and that is a very good question. One I had considered on the way here, but.
"I honestly can't say for certain but I think you had to use a specific sword dropped by special hive knights called Sword Bearers. While it's certainly possible we could just charge over holding normal hive swords, if we're wrong about that hypothesis we could all end up dead. I'd rather be as cautious as possible when it comes to that very strong possibility. Oh and also whoever has a sword has to take down a special hive knight called a gatekeeper, they're bright blue so they shouldn't be hard to notice." I tell her, she nods and goes over to one of the pillars. Looks like she's volunteering for that job.
"Once we all get over there two hive ogres will spawn, kill those two and we're done with this part of the raid." they all nod and get ready to move on the signal. I didn't tell them that ease the raid the last three people last three could kill themselves to get over, but I'm not gonna let that part happen. I'm the Gamer, I'm sure I can hunker down on the opposite side for the plate so the other two could get over. I always hated that tactic, I always thought it was a cruel method of progression. It didn't really matter since it was a game and people were just abusing a mechanic, but my summons are real. They can feel pain, they can bleed, they have emotions. I'm not just gonna throw them to the wolves to save my own hide.
I took out my scythe and sharpened it as Remnants walked over to the next pillar. Sharpening my scythe didn't really help it, it seemed to always be perpetually sharp no matter what I put it through. 'Guess that's the difference between human weapons and supernaturals ones.' I thought amused, I still 'sharpen' it. I recently found that sharpening a weapon is an excellent way to relax, and I do need to relax a little. While the excitement I was feeling definitely outpaced the nerves, I am still a little nervous. I am, maybe an hour away, from facing a god in combat. Not a demi-god like Omnigul was, or a high ranking fallen angel like Kokabiel was, no. I'm going to face a deity, in his own home right at the feet of his throne. No matter how you slice it, is a terrifying prospect when thought on for more than a minute, and unlike most Gamer's I think upon my actions and what they could bring. I'm not so stupidly strong I can fight back a legion of vengeance filled gods, nor am I so stupid to believe I can face them as I am now. 'Which I will definitely bring upon myself once I kill Crota. Oryx was quick on the draw with the guardians that slew his son after all, why would I be any different?'
I shake my head lose of these concerning thoughts. I can't afford to not be focused on the raid. Not even my own worries should stop me. I can worry about the consequences once they happen. The whetstone I was using looks to be sufficiently used up, I drop it over the ledge.
"We ready?" I ask them, they nod and the defenders stand on the plate. The previously sealed doors in the walls opened and hive came out. The second they emerged they were swiftly dealt with. Our numbers were too high for them to flood us as they would normally do. With only three doors to come out of and six able-bodied warriors to cut them down, well, it's a good thing they disintegrate after they die, or else the doors would be blocked with their bodies.
It was a little boring, to be honest, but boring is safe. That slowly changed as the Swordbearer came out. It was quickly cut down like the rest and its sword floated over its corpse. I tossed the sword to Death Gun. He ran over the light bridge and slaughtered the Gatekeeper. We still maintained dominance on this end, Death gun meanwhile had to keep moving.
The next Swordbearer ran up to me and attempted to cut me down. I blocked the sword with the pole, the blade on the bottom. I push the hive knight back and let my weapon sweep his legs. I bring my scythe up on my shoulder and finish it. I grab the sword and tossed it to Delta. The big Daddy nodded and ran over as fast as he could. The Gatekeeper didn't stand a chance against Delta's strength. I quickly realized the more people went over the harder things will get.
"Form up near the pillars and plate! We can't let a single one slip through!" I ordered, I wasn't worried that Eleanor or Remnants couldn't handle the hive, I was more worried about them staying within the pillar's 'range' while they fight. My summons and I quickly got into formation, while this lets more hive actually get past the doors every time, but it made passing along the sword much easier. The next Sword Bearer Cerberus got to in a plume of fire. I put the sword in one of his mouths and sent him over, the Gatekeeper for that one was dealt with hilariously. Instead of killing it with the sword, Cerberus smacked the hive off the edge of the platform and I swear to God it made a Wilhelm scream as it fell.
Though I didn't have the chance to laugh as several acolytes fired upon me. On instinct, my sacred gear activated.
"{Assimilate!}" My partner shouts, enjoying the spotlight as their projectiles went inside the gear. I reeled my arm back and Retorted, shredding the acolytes. A sword bear once again attacked me, though I tripped the rushing son of a bitch. He fell right into the waiting arms of the defenders who used him as a sheath. I grab the sword and toss it Nokirs, who nearly drops it. He goes over the bridge, I didn't even need to see him finish off the Gatekeeper. They were doing well now with four of them, while we were the ones starting to struggle. Wraith and I were the only ones not on a plate or something, so we were left with the heavy lifting. Often times we were back to back fighting a bunch of thralls and acolytes, and even more often we sent them back to oblivion.
Two of the defenders stepped out of the plate to help, I wanted to argue with them but as long as someone was on the plate we could work with this. The bridge formed once more and yet another sword bearer would come down upon the line, with several thrall close behind. Wraith used Supernova and diced them all up. With a nod from me, he picked up the sword between his teeth and dashed across the bridge.
Now the hive attacks felt like typhoons upon a dwindling rock. Once Wraith went across I went behind cover, creating as much cover as I could for the three summons trapped in their spot. The thrall would run around but they weren't the ones to worry. Dozens of Acolytes with boomers came out and started firing. Boom, Boom, Boom. Each shell threatened to make me lose my footing and fall over, and they were coming down by the dozens. I threw over Chaos bolts like grenades to slow down the bombardment, but for every five or so I killed, fifteen more would take their place. We were slowly being overrun. I gulp a down an elixir as soon as a Swordbearer comes out. A bad idea pops into my mind but I go with it. So taking a deep breath I jump over my cover and used nearly two-thirds of my mana to make all of their shadows into strings that, with some help, to yank them over the side and into the abyss behind us. The Swordbearer drops his sword and I give it to one of the defenders. He was about to give it to me but with a look, I ordered him to go across.
"You sure you don't want to cross?" Eleanor asked me, to that I laugh and down another elixir.
"And let you three have all the fun? Not likely. A true leader stands on the front lines with their men." I tell her, though technically this was the back, it still works damnit! Especially with the dozens of thrall climbing over each other to get to the four of us. I quickly pull out a tower shield, the only one in my inventory that I got from that undead. I pull out Excalibur nightmare and shift into True nightmare. My scythe won't be too useful in this flood of hive. I slammed the shield into the ground, dozens of claws and bodies pounded against the metal and scratched upon it. I growl and stab in front of me, not really looking but due to the sheer amount of them, I was able to score deadly strikes.
The remnants were struggling with this part, his usual floaty fighting style not used to fighting so many while in the same spot. I collect my chaotic magic into the palm of my hand and shape it into what I remember a grenade looks like. Just without its pin.
"Chaos grenade!" I shout, chucking the bastard over my shoulder into a particularly nasty swarm that would've shredded the skeletal Remains. It explodes into a wonderful boom that wiped that swarm out but made all of them focus their attention on me. As the waves were about crash on me, I moved cover around to, well, cover my sides so I wasn't taken from behind. My feet indented the ground as all of them crashed down on me, the arm holding the shield broke upon them yet still I hold them back. The pain was still an indicator that I am still in the fight, and it is vividly painful. Using True nightmare as a catalyst to focus my fire affinity, since I couldn't do it myself.
A great red seal appeared underneath the swarm, I snapped my fingers and a pillar of jet black flames erupt from the ground. They didn't have the chance to scream as the crashing waves suddenly became drops of water. A sword clattered on the ground and I gave it to the second Defender, he nearly refused it like the last one but another look sent him across the bridge. Then there were four. Yet another elixir gone and my arm is back to normal. I don't stand up from behind my cover, but I do move it so that the cover was more evenly spread to Eleanor and Remains. They looked at me worried but I shrug it off.
"As I said, I'm not leaving." I reaffirmed my previous statement. I'm not leaving yet, not until it was absolutely necessary. Standing up now I put away Excalibur and bring out my scythe again. Knights came roaring out, thralls and another sword bearer on their asses. I spun my weapon around till it created small gusts of wind, I leap into the thick of the action. Bone-chilling shrieks of surprise came from the thralls, not used to being jumped on. My scythe ignited into black flames as I cut through thrall after thrall. Knights swung their massive swords, their shadows blocked their blades as they were impaled.
"Well, let's dance sword shitter! I got shit to do, and your standing in my fucking way." it stumbled backward, trying to escape its imminent demise. It threw its blade at me and ran away, or attempted to. I killed it with its own blade the second it turned it's back from me. I had a side objective to complete, and none of these rats will live to see tomorrow. I walk over to my last guardian of the damned on this side and shove the bloody blade in his hands, he didn't question me like the last two. He ran over to the other side, I sit down on the plate. Absolutely exhausted, just a little more and we're done with this part. Eleanor didn't say anything during this little reprieve, I appreciate it.
Instead of a giant swarm as I expected, a single sword-bearer was pushed out. I raised an eyebrow at this. It looked at the three of us, just waiting for it. It gulped and then charged fruitlessly at Eleanor. She dodged the slow slash, kicked the sword out of her enemy's hand and stabbed her needle straight through its eyes. We all look at the sword laying on the ground, it was closer to her but she used her levitation to force it into my hands. I wanted to argue against the decision but I could blue Knight door opening over here. If someone doesn't kill it we're all screwed. I growl but go over the bridge at the speed of sound, by the time the Gatekeeper stepped out of the door, the sword was through its neck. I ripped it out as violently as I could, then impaled the sword in its disintegrating body. I ran over to the plate on the opposite side. I watched as the swarms came out in full force against my two remaining allies. Those bastards waited for me to leave, lest I turn their forces into dust.
Dozen of thrall rush both of them at once, Eleanor's body armor kept her from being ripped to pieces as Remnants climbed on top of the pillar and started down. They were killing them but they alone weren't enough. 'Why don't they use my skills? If they do they can sweep them all aside.' I worry, creating gusts of wind to smack aside as many thralls as I could from my end, but the gap between us was large and I just discovered my magic had a range of effectiveness. I never noticed before now since I was always so close to my enemy, but with me nearly a good couple hundred feet away from them my magic could barely help. I am pissed, the bridge wasn't building fast enough, they're gonna be overrun. Damnit!
"Death gun, give me your sniper." The killer gave a weird look but complied and handed over his sniper. It's fucking light, light enough for me to stand up with it and use it well. Instead of using normal rounds I create my own out of my strongest elements. Chaos, dark, and fire roar in each .50mm round. I load seven into the clip and took aim. I was never good at shooters, but the one gun I was good at. Was snipers.
The sniper boomed liked thunder, the first bullet misses the entire damn hoard. I growl animalistically and pull back the hammer and load another round. I fire again, missing yet again. I grow more frustrated but I force myself to calm down. I take a deep breath and take a good look down the sights. 'Aim for the center, these bullets will make an impact. Adjust for wind, adjust for height, the weight of the bullets, and distance. Adjustments finished, fire now.' I mentally walk myself through the process and fire. The third bullet flew and struck the head of a single thrall near the leftmost center. The unstable elements in the bullets exploded creating a chain of death that wiped out the entire left side. Remnants waves at me, I turn my attention to Eleanor and the hoard she was trying to hold back with a fistful of plasmids. I aim down, run the math and fire again. This time hitting a back leg of a thrall in the back, the bullet did its magic and more thralls were taken out. Eleanor threw the rest over the ledge; she gave me a cheeky thumbs up as well, what made it cheeky was that her helmet was emoting a smile. I'm not sure how but it did get a chuckle out of me. More hive flooded out of the wide-open doors, I reloaded the clip and took aim again. With every thunderous crack of the rifle, the gun started to degrade further and further. I definitely noticed it but I didn't really care, my summons lives mean more than a gun.
Another clip used up and another horde wasted. This went on for close to what felt like an hour. The gun degrading more and more with every elemental bullet I fire. The bridge has long since been formed, but no sword bearers came out. Not a single one. So we, mostly Eleanor and Remnants, had to hold against waves of the lesser hive. I go to reload the rifle but it's snatched from my hands by Death Gun. He looked pissed.
"Are you trying to break it?!" I shrug at the question, with all the money I'm gonna make after this raid I could probably make a gunsmith room or something. He seemed to contemplate bashing my head in with the rifle butt but chose not to. I turned back to the more important matter that is my summons and their condition. Eleanor and Remnants were fighting their own sword bearers, they would be winning if it wasn't for the volley after volley of acolyte boomers. I started biting my nails, it's not like I can do much else without a gun of some sorts. I could just de-summon them and bring them over here, but that could kill us all for trying to cheat their ironclad rules.
'Can I fly over?' I ask myself, it would drain my mana quickly but it's not impossible. Just that the risk of falling into that void is rather high if I let myself lose all of it. I could but who would stand on this platform? One of my other summons maybe, but they're busy fighting all the other hive.
A cry of pain ripped me from my thoughts. Remnants had a hive sword through the leg and the boomers were starting to aim down. He just smirked at the hive knight and I realized he let himself to get hurt, the Swordbearer tried to move in for the kill but his sword was stuck within the dry bone of the Remnants body. I don't know how that's possible, but at the moment I don't care as the Remnants stabbed his holy rapier through the Sword bearer's eye. Stunned by its companion's death it couldn't defend against Eleanor grabbing it by the waist and using the hive as a shield against a sudden retaliatory blast from the acolytes. Her left arm was blown clean off but she manages to grab the sword with her right arm. Remnants had the sword in his hands. They start to run across the bridge, at the same time they do that I summon two skeletons and chuck them over the bridge and right into the pools Eleanor and Remnants were just in.
"You two had me going there for a second," I say as I pull the duo over to this side of the ascendant plane. Eleanor gives me a weak chuckle as Remnants rips the sword out of his body. Two more Gatekeepers appear and I keep them pinned down so my two injured summons could have an easy kill. Safe to say, the Gatekeepers were ash in the wind. Two ogres suddenly, and forthcomingly, break through the left and right walls. They were ascendant ogres, but that didn't matter since no lesser hive came out. Wraith, Nokris, Death Gun and the three defenders of the damned, leaped at the left one. The right one was handled by Delta and Cerberus. Remnants and Eleanor were taking a moment to heal up, or in Eleanor's case experience the magic that is rapid arm growth.
Now, I used Thorn bind hostage to keep the beast in a single spot. Nokris tackled the bastard, ripping all of my bindings and causing magical explosions all over its body. Death gun used Thorn to shoot its tiny little arms and it's massive legs, to poison it. Nokris got off before it blew up his head with lasers. Though before it could get up Wraith and I proceeded to hack off pieces of its fleshy head until there was a hole where there was flesh.
Cerberus meanwhile used one of its paws to pin the Ogre to the wall. Cerberus burned the creature whenever it looked to attack, then Delta got off Cerberus's back and landed on its head. He fired up his drill and then used it, and I thought what Wraith and I did was brutal. What Delta and Cerberus were doing was slow and painful.
Meanwhile, Eleanor and Remnants were playing go fish, which wasn't really Eleanor's game at the moment since she had to use one arm. Her hand was constantly tilted down just enough fo Remnants to know exactly what cards she had.
The doors flew open the moment the ogres were finally dealt with and by that time Eleanor had most of her arm back. Not her hand mind you, just most of her arm. So needless to say she was in the middle with her father. Though before we walked in Death gun pulled me aside.
"You do know we're functionally immortal since you can summon us again. So why didn't you let them get overrun on their side and then summon them back over here? Why go the extra mile to creatures who can't stay dead?" he asked me. He was right, I could've done that. Might've been better and we might have been done with this section of the raid earlier. I know I thought about how bringing them over here could cause us all to instantly die due to me breaking their rules or something, but that's not the real issue. If that was the case, we would've been long dead with me asking Nokris to chuck that exploding lantern down below.
"...I couldn't watch them die. I'm not the cruel tactician who uses people like tools, and just using you guys, my summons, as expendable troops that can come back even if disintegrated...is being that horrible person. If I can't stop it, then there's no use crying about it. However, if I can do something about it. Then you can bet I would do so in a heartbeat." I say with complete conviction in my voice. Was it a little cliche? Yes, yes it felt like it. But from what I've read and experienced, there's a reason why the stuff I said could be as seen as cliche. It happens often, in both real life and in fiction. Where people choose to be decent human beings instead of smart tactical choices. Or say something ridiculous to convince people there's hope, or to defy someone who's about to kill you and you just can't let it happen.
"Really? Well then, I guess I chose quite the man to serve under. Let's hurry up before more of those bone freaks try anything." Death gun says as he walks back towards the group. {I think he complimented you, partner.} Bahamut tells me mentally. I smile and go take my place. I think he was right.