10 Fighting::Chapter 10

Roxas snorted. "Elf, female nearby. Let's have some fun before we eat her" Other orcs grunted agreement or laughed as they followed Roxas into the woods.

***

Sirens blared, warning lights flashed. "Enemy detected closing fast. Fourteen no fifteen dreadmechs closing from all direction. It's more than I can handle." Anneliese screamed.

Ariana did some quick calculations, "We should be able to escape to the moon below. If we could get them to funnel from one direction..." Gwen looked around"Right. Do it" Ariana plotted the short course and shot the thruster to overdrive.

The BarkingSquirrel like a comet roared through the moon's atmosphere with fifteen dreadmechs lazily following.

***

"The BarkingSquirrel is breaking up. Mayday! Mayday! We are under attack at coordinates Xeros5Yados12Zenos1. We are jumping planetside. Mayday! Mayday!"

A chromatic barrage of energy needles launched from the dreadmechs slamming into the stern and starboard quarter of the BarkingSquirrel. Explosions caused it to turn further as it descended into the planet's atmosphere.

"Auto defense offline, switching to manual. Release sandcasters." Ariana calmly said. "Sandcasters released" Anneliese responded. Clouds of sand trailed behind the ship scattering and deflecting the remaining energy needles. Gwen checked the flight panel. "Shields at 4% Port quarter engine not operating. Starboard quarter engine destroyed. Suit up because we have to ditch the ship."

Gwen was angry. She had just gotten her pilot's license back only to have her ship destroyed. It reminded her of her failure commanding the fleet. Her previous character had received a court martial and executed for losing the fleet.

Again she started a new character. A level one pilot with all her attributes reset to single digits. She had decided to hedge her bets and create three backup characters as well. Her friends Ariana and Anneliese were playing two of those backups. Strangely all of the characters seemed related even though she chose a random generator.

"Found a spot, opening a transfer gate." Anneliese keyed in the coordinates and all three zapped from their seats to a forest of balsams. Rich green needles covering the resinous trees. A small steam meandering down the slope they were on. There were sounds a of a battle further on.

***

"Take them and run" Frost Tharcher said. He loaded his bow with six arrows fired at the sky and repeated twice. The first three orcs entered the glade only to die as arrows rained down. Seeing the vanguard die brutally Roxas slowly entered the glade while checking for the overhead archers hidden among the branches.

Frost Kong was amazed at the accuracy of his cousins archery skills. He began chanting the frost spell his family was known for. The area of effect spell caused a light frost to settle over the glade. Roxas watched his orcs die as frost crept over the summer greenery. Magic maybe an elven strike team he thought.

***

The heroes had been summoned from Earth. After five years of fighting monsters they had finally managed to kill the demon king. Bobby had the killing stroke be heading the demon king. Golden light shone from the sky and the booming voice of the heavenly administrator asked. "You have slain the demon king and can make any wish." Bobby didn't hesitate"I wish I was home again." And with that Bobby disappeared as a ball of light into the sky. The others waited to return home as well. "Hey we want to return home too." One of the female heroes said. "Sorry. Only the hero that actually kills the demon king can make the wish. Bobby said that 'he' would go home not everyone."

"Then how do the rest of us get home?" Someone asked.

"Kill another demon king and you can make another wish." Said the heavenly administrator. "Don't worry there is a demon king for each of you."