Tartarus Beckons by Edmund Batara (reading an ebook .TXT) 📕

minions. The frightening sound of the assault and its nearness was testing his nerves.

“Habrok! Go to the mountains at the rear and find us a good defensive position. Take Kadir with you. There might be wild jotnar attracted by the noise.”

The ranger immediately ran to the rear, followed by Kadir. The leading creatures crashed into Tyler’s barrier, resulting in a chaotic jumble as those in the back of the attacking horde piled into them. He could hear the crack of numerous bones and the diverse cries, growls, and hisses of pain and anger from the confused giant bestial heap. It was a welcome sound to the defenders, but Tyler knew that the other side of the coin was that the disaster was bound to make the survivors more furious.

He thought fleetingly of Birki and the rest of his wards, but turned his mind from the idea of involving them. Given the surroundings, the spirits of the wand would be in enormous danger if a powerful magical being was hidden among their enemies. If that happened, there would be more than one, of that he was sure. Tyler didn’t want to see even one of them hurt. He could be protective as a hen of her chicks, but he didn’t care. The mage himself was facing an uncertain battlefield situation. Apparently, Birki agreed. His staff didn’t give off that warmth which meant the guardian wanted to talk to him.

“Impressive,” he heard Sford murmur. The mage was obviously referring to the success of Tyler’s spells on ground where Ymir’s power was supposed to reign paramount. The cloud was already discharging its lethal bolts, incinerating or blowing out multiple targets. From what the young mage could observe, it was a gory, bloody, and devastating mess.

“Milord, would you mind if I course a spell through your cloud? An experiment which, if effective, would deal more damage,” asked Sford, a strange excited light dancing in his eyes.

“I didn’t know one could do that,” Tyler said immediately, and then regretted it.

Dammit again. Another show of ignorance.

“Oh, it is possible. If it would please the First Mage, kindly allow my spell to join yours. There will be resistance from your cloud, and I would hate to be the subject of my own incantation’s feedback,” explained the mage quickly.

Wait a minute. Experiment? I don’t do well with… Tyler started to think.

But it was a train of thought quickly derailed as the mage felt a strong surge of magical power directed at the cloud, and struck an invisible wall in the matrix of the lightning spell. Tyler immediately willed the original magical incantation to allow the new infusion, but he took the opportunity to infuse the hovering masses of thick haze with additional Elder energy. If Sford was going to deal more damage, he thought of giving the man’s spell more time to play with their attackers.

Suddenly, the lightning attacks took on a new and terrifying aspect. The deadly coruscations visibly became larger, and now jumped from one attacker to another, sometimes fusing two bodies together, leaving charred remains behind. It was a version of Tyler’s chain lightning spell, but dealt from above and in a more powerful and extended form. For a long while, the field before them dazzled with the massive flashes to the extent it hurt one’s eyes to gaze on what was happening. The smell of burnt meat reached them, and the cries of death and fury were relegated to the background by thunder and sizzling sounds as the area in front of the company was turned into a huge cooking pit.

“But this breaking of Ymir’s hold, even in this localized area, is bound to attract attention. I merely thought of making the most of it. But we have to prepare for the arrival of a powerful lord from Ymir’s retinue. I doubt if Ymir himself would put up an appearance,” Sford told Tyler.

Nothing comes free in this world, doesn’t it, thought Tyler with disgust.

The entire party, the dokkalfr included, looked on with awe, with the dokkalfr mages stealing glances at Tyler, fear in their eyes. Suddenly amid the smoke and slaughter, several gigantic flaming figures emerged, some armored and with helms, and as one smashed their weapons against Tyler’s barrier, already weakened by the impact of numerous bodies which had crashed against it. The shield broke to pieces and disappeared. A few of the giants then fell, struck by vagrant lightning bolts, but more emerged to replace them. There were more than Tyler expected. Their weapons were wreathed in flames, reminding the mage of Tyndur’s battleaxe.

“Come on, you limp-dicked sons of that one-balled jotunn you call your leader!”

Tyndur was in his element again.

“What he said!” shouted Orm.

Tyndur’s foul mouth really is contagious, thought Tyler.

Chapter Twelve

Ymir's Domain, Ymir's Rules

As Tyler watched the fire giants surge forward, loud cries of defiance called his attention – the leading wolf-like creatures had reached the dokkalfr line. The melee fighters defended two each to a beast, and the mages had started with their spells which now started to work as they were within the area of the ruins. The company’s line didn’t move from where they were positioned as they awaited the brunt of the assault. With their experience, they knew the dokkalfr won’t last long.

Some of the advance guards were bound to get past the dokkalfr, noted Tyler.

He was starting to feel useless, hesitant as he was in using Elder energy except for area-of-effect incantations. It was not as if he had an unlimited supply of the precious resource. The mage also didn’t know where the boundaries of Ymir’s power weakened or ended. But from what he could see from the dokkalfr mages, it was a very short distance from their battle line.

He involuntarily looked back, watching for the duo’s return. They were still nowhere in sight, and the giants were nearly upon them. The attacking behemoths were of two kinds, one distinct from the other. The first type looked like enormous versions of human warriors, though encased in mystical flames, and the mage wondered at the kind of armor worn