Southern China, December 2056

  Bolder fought with a heavy heart.

  It wasn’t because of the battleground, nor the length of time he had spent fighting.

  It was his thoughts and the way they kept wandering back to the allies and friends that had died in what some had taken to calling the Worldwide War.

  The mood was dark back home and they couldn’t mourn properly. Not while fights needed finishing all over the world.

  He had volunteered to join the Phoenix Dynasty’s war against the Stone Lords beneath the mountains all across the coast of Southern China.

  The latest battle had brought him to the Dapeng Peninsula.

  Well… underneath the mountainous terrain of its southernmost portion.

  He had volunteered, but it really wasn’t a choice as he saw it.

  There was none better on their roster suited to a war deep in the dark.

  Well… almost none.

  Doomborer strode over with several pouches of ancient military rations.

  The Threnosh always looked so small and frail outside of their power armor.

  The hulking thing hunched over next to Bolder like a silent statue in all its looming, intimidating glory.

  “I have secured lunch.”

  “Thanks, D.B.”

  “You may select first. I have BBQ Pork and… BBQ Pork.”

  Bolder chuckled.

  “Nice!”

  The Threnosh broke out a lip-less smile that unnerved Earthians not used to them, which was most of their empire allies.

  Speaking of which, those soldiers gave them a wide berth, which Bolder didn’t mind.

  Rather, he minded the reason they did so and it wasn’t because of Doomborer or him.

  Not a lot of people of African origin in the empire.

  He knew there was some, he just hadn’t encountered any during his six weeks moving from one fight to the next.

  No.

  They gave them a wide berth because of the third member of their elite team.

  Thankfully, that man knew what he was and did his best to avoid inflicting his presence upon all of them unless absolutely necessary.

  Bolder ate alongside Doomborer in companionable silence.

  The concept of small talk was as alien to the Threnosh as the concept of a genderless species was to Bolder.

  He understood it on an intellectual level. It was just… kinda… weird.

  The whole birthing sacs thing made him shudder on an instinctive level.

  Naturally, he kept that to himself because Doomborer and the rest of the Threnosh he had met were cool.

  Even Primal… RIP… was cool.

  They had been a dick, but a cool kind of dick.

  The large cavern-turned-forward base had been hollowed out by an underground river at one point in the distant past.

  The remnant of which was a small stream that flowed from northwest to southeast, bisecting the space.

  Electric lights had been strung up to bathe the entire area, while enchanted steel barricades with turrets, standard and magical, created kill zones.

  The cavern ceiling was dotted with small holes.

  His work.

  The vents led to larger pockets or sometimes to the surface to ensure that they had clean air to breathe and the smoke from battle had places to go.

  It was a viable tactic to seal off tunnels or caverns around people and use magic or machines to turn the air into things like acid or simply remove it. One didn’t even need to use an air removal spell. They just needed to set a few small fires or one big one.

  An earth mage like him was perfect for that kind of battlefield.

  He was better than the dynasty earth mages.

  Fact, not just pride.

  Their problem was that they took a backseat to the cultivators.

  Earth, rock, stone and others.

  Whatever Dao these cultivators took didn’t really matter because they didn’t use their abilities efficiently.

  Nope.

  They were almost all too focused on fighting openly and in a ridiculous duel-based fashion looking for individual glory.

  They’d walk up to a Stone Lord army and call out for champions instead of opening up the floor beneath heavy feet, then dropping tons of dirt and rocks after them.

  At least he had seen some change over the last few weeks.

  Less of that one versus one nonsense and more actual tactics.

  He’d like to think he and Doomborer had some influence in that.

  They did keep getting moved to faltering areas after helping to turn the previous one around.

  “Hey, D.B.?” He gently nudged the Threnosh’s elbow with his own. “How much longer do you want keep doing this?”

  “Until I am no longer required.”

  “You know you can say if you want a break, right?”

  How many years had Doomborer been on Earth fighting with him and the others?

  Six? Seven?

  He supposed it was different for a younger Threnosh.

  He remembered Primal, Kynnro and Frequency with their, basically, don’t give a fuck energy.

  Like his grandmother.

  Only one out of those still with them.

  Doomborer, in his opinion, needed to stop being a machine when it came to doing what they were told.

  It wasn’t like Cal was going to make them keep fighting if they said they wanted to stop.

  “Have you grown weary?”

  “I am,” he nodded. “Getting a little tired of not seeing the sky and having all this pressure around me all the time. A day or two topside when transferring between battlefields doesn’t quite fill those needs.”

  “I do not have those concerns.”

  “Lucky! Well, just remember you can say if that ever changes. And, I’d say that this one will be our last, but that’s just asking for it.”

  “The retirement trap.” Doomborer nodded. “I do not wish to see the sky again imminently, nor have I made detailed plans of the beach I will visit and the beach hotdog I will eat upon my departure from this battlefield.”

  “That’s right! I also do not have things I can’t wait to see, do or eat after we go home safely. Nor do I have a special someone waiting with a kiss.”

  Doomborer stared at him with those over-large, round eyes with dark pupils that squeezed out the whites to tiny dots at the edges.

  “But, you do not have a special someone.”

  “Don’t jinx me, brother.”

  …

  “Burn! HAHAHAHAHAHA! Burn in my flame! Burn in the flame eternal!”

  A phoenix princess bathed a wide swathe of the fortress wall.

  The Stone Lords’ weapon emplacements had nearly zero openings. Just thin slivers of space around the edges to allow the armored turrets movement.

  Which was enough.

  The weapons and armor held, but their fire dwindled and many stopped entirely.

  “It’s not technically fire,” Bolder muttered.

  It was plasma generation.

  Super-heated… stuff that… made fire…

  He supposed when put that way, it didn’t really matter what the princess called her power.

  His parents believed in the science of the old world, so he still had a bit of that skepticism when it came to the obvious displays of physics breaking.

  Granted, it was constant and they really needed to adjust to that.

  It had been over three decades since the spires chewed up and spit out the human understanding of physics.

  “Protect the 7th princess!”

  Bolder was looped into the dynasty warriors’ comms.

  She flew on wings of… fire…

  He sighed.

  “Plasma…”

  She flew on wings of fire across the face of the large fortress hewn out of the giant cavern’s southern wall.

  It reminded him of those ancient Native American ruins in the southwest that he had the privilege of exploring after they had cleared the spawn zone out of those terrifying skin monsters.

  Except, the natural stone in this area had been transformed into something he wasn’t familiar with.

  Still stone according to his magic, but so much stronger, denser and coursing with magic of its own that made it impossible for him to simply open up like he had all the different tunnels his allies were pouring out of.

  Cultivators leapt on air, deflecting or blocking projectile fire before it could strike the princess.

  More standard warriors and soldiers poured across the stone ground, setting up portable walls from which to start shooting the Stone Lords’ wall.

  These men and women had, unofficially, named the cavern Butcher’s City.

  Their leaders had given it an official name, but they weren’t the ones turning the small river running through the enormous space red with with blood.

  Bolder regarded the carnage.

  The Stone Lords had cleared most of the floor of obstructions to give them an open killing field.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  It was a constant battle for people like him to unclear it.

  A green-robed cultivator emerged from one of his tunnels and catapulted herself into the air on a pillar of earth.

  Stone and dirt flew to her as she moved her hands and arms in circles.

  Stone Lord turrets belched metal projectiles, breaking her shield.

  Bolder helped her out from the safety of his cover.

  He cast a granite shield just in time behind her shredded shield.

  She landed safely in the midst of a pinned down group of dynasty warriors.

  One fancy waving arms dance later and she had raised a half-domed wall of thick stone over them, giving them time to set up a stronger fortification with a mix of thick, enchanted steel and magic walls.

  “Fall to your knees and burn!”

  The princess was a useful distraction.

  He took aim at one of the turrets with his arm-mounted multi-purpose launcher and fired a finger-sized projectile through a gap.

  Was the fiftieth time the charm?

  He held his breath as he kept one eye on his HUD, specifically, the spot on the lower left side where the robot insect spy camera view would appear.

  A smile crept up from the corners of his mouth as an image appeared.

  The turrets were relatively small.

  Just enough space for a Stone Lord and the weapon system.

  The outworld invaders were superior to humans in terms of logistics.

  Specifically, they didn’t need nearly as much supplies, like food and water, to meet the needs of existence.

  Which meant the turrets were sealed off from each other.

  One couldn’t, say, shoot an explosive or gas in there and take out entire sections.

  They had tried.

  The flying robot spies revealed the armored back of a Stone Lord for a split-second before the image vanished.

  “Again!”

  Their countermeasures were so good.

  …

  Bolder stood near the medical tent in the forward cavern base.

  The mood was frantic three days after the initial assault on the fortress.

  The dynasty general was a big, gruff man that had lost a whole lot of his swagger.

  “Is there anything you can do? Ask your—”

  Bolder raised a hand.

  “We don’t have anyone available that would be better than what you already have here.” He nodded toward the medical tent. “It was my understanding that she will make a full recovery… eventually.”

  “Yes. That is accurate, however—”

  “You’re want the 7th princess back on her wings before one of the other phoenixes decides to come see how she’s doing with their own eyes? I get it. It’s hard and a little unfair to take all the blame when she’s the one that doesn’t listen and just does whatever she wants. She’s a real Leroy Jenkins.”

  “Excuse me?”

  Bolder waved a hand.

  “It’s nothing. Just a legend the old guys like to tell. About this warrior that charges in and drags the rest of his team to their deaths.”

  “How dare you degrade the honor of the 7th princess!” the general hissed.

  “Hey, you’re the one with a blade on your neck because she’s—”

  The general suddenly froze just as he was about to launch a spittle-laced tirade about honor, dishonor and flea-ridden dogs.

  Cultivators loved calling each other and everyone else that.

  Bolder didn’t understand even after one had explained in great detail why.

  Dogs were admirable animals.

  To him, the cultivators and their ilk would’ve bettered themselves as people by imitating the loyalty and unconditional love the sweet doggos displayed.

  Bolder turned, following the general’s eyes.

  He refrained from flinching, but only just.

  The little creature had slipped out of the shadows as its kind always did.

  He regarded it… then the general… then it… the general.

  The two were wearing the same combat uniform.

  As if reading his mind, it shot from its slouch into a straight-backed, heel clacking attention, complete with smart salute.

  Before Bolder could open his mouth the gray-skinned creature raised a clawed finger and dipped it into the pool of shadow at its tiny combat boots.

  It wrote in the air using shadow like ink.

  False dark one. Follow.

  It drew an arrow on the ground.

  Bolder glanced at the general and shrugged.

  He cast a spell and opened a passage way where the arrow pointed.

  The general’s eyes narrowed.

  “What is this?”

  “I’ll find out.”

  The creature traced another message.

  Follow, he who fears.

  The general blinked.

  “Yeah, it means you.”

  Bodyguards appeared out of concealment, but before they could voice objections the general silenced them with a gesture.

  “Our allies would not do me harm.” He regarded Bolder through narrowed eyes. “They are honorable.”

  Bring all who fear— nevermind. Bring just two.

  “Does this mean your… third… has succeeded?”

  “I’d rather not speak for him, but I don’t think you’re in danger.” He grinned at the look on the general’s face. “Well, I know that I’m not in danger.”

  Bolder created a passage where there was none by following the creature and its shadow arrows.

  It was a surprisingly long walk.

  All those tons of stone and darkness pressing down from all directions.

  Oppression given physical form.

  He was used to it and he had Skills to mitigate the effects from an environment that humans weren’t evolved to spend any amount of extended time in.

  The general handled it better than he had expected.

  He supposed one didn’t make general in the Phoenix Dynasty without being tough.

  A combat one no less, not one of the soft kinds that stayed safe and pampered in the cities.

  Mana drained quickly when used to create such long tunnels, which was why he had been amply supplied with plenty of potions and gems.

  The creature vanished into the shadow-drenched wall.

  “Where—”

  “Relax, general. We’re here.”

  Bolder crumbled the stone with a touch.

  Stale air rushed past him.

  The HUD said it was safe, which didn’t matter to him.

  The general was vulnerable but he had an oxygen mask on his belt for emergencies and they weren’t about to get him killed.

  The third person of their team stood facing the other side of the cavern.

  Dark gray, verging on black, plate armor.

  Bolder couldn’t recall him being out of it from the moment they had landed in China.

  He had only met the young-looking blond-haired man out of armor once when Cal had introduced them prior to departure.

  He cleared his throat.

  The Dread Paladin turned and regarded them with eyes glowing yellow-green through the thin horizontal slit of his full-faced helmet.

  He spoke with a voice that reached the little boy in every man that had once feared what lay under his bed or just behind the closet door left ajar and dragged him back to the surface.

  “I’ve found a way through their walls. Their dread reveals.”

  “Awesome news!”

  He didn’t trust the Dread Paladin, he trusted Cal, but he was starting to wonder if the scary man had been dragging his feet.

  The self-imposed penance living and fighting with the bat people was his idea, but one had to wonder.

  A different cave system must’ve been a nice change after such a long confinement.

  The general remembered that courage was a choice.

  “I’m going to need more than that to order another attack.”

  Bolder rolled his eyes behind the general’s back.

  A bit of revisionist history.

  He distinctly remembered advising the general and the man’s command staff to hold off on a full frontal assault until other possible options had been explored.

  The princess had called him a craven dogfucker, though she used flowery language that had actually impressed him. Never had an insult touched his poetry loving heart before.

  “Do what you will.” The Dread Paladin’s eyes blazed into Bolder. “You will open the way.”

  “I’ve tried that. They weave their magic into the stone and earth. Its too strong for me.”

  “They are masters of their domain, but no master is always perfect. I’ll show you.”

  …

  Bolder puked into his mouth.

  Couldn’t open the faceplate in the middle of a fight.

  He had just enough mana left to raise a dome of stone over him and sink into the floor a little.

  Then he could let it all out.

  Mana potion overload.

  He had lost track of how many he had downed to bore a long, tiny pinprick of a tunnel up through the floor of the Stone Lords’ fort.

  But, he had succeeded just like the Dread Paladin had said.

  After that, it had been easy for the nightmare on two legs to walk through the shadow into the fort and slaughter his way to whatever device they used to maintain the magical protections in the stone.

  Thus, he and Doomborer had joined their third while the dynasty warriors tried to crack the fort from the front.

  To think that such a tiny missed spot in their defenses would lead to their deaths.

  He was almost sad.

  Not that the dead Stone Lords littering the floor inspired the same kind of revulsion that dead humans sparked in him.

  They just looked weird.

  Body shape, proportions, face.

  Everything plunged firmly into that uncanny valley for him.

  Short, but not short enough.

  Broad and stout, taken to the extreme.

  Younger ones had flesh that resembled humans, while older ones had skin that resembled stone or rock.

  “Do you need assistance, brother?” Doomborer said over the comms.

  He took a mouthful of water, swished it around and spat before closing his faceplate.

  “Nope. Just taking a breath. I’m ready to fight. Going to have to use mana gems, though.”

  It was always more inefficient and difficult to draw mana from other sources outside his own body, but needs must since he couldn’t put any mana back into his body at the moment.

  “I guess this really is going to be my last battle here for awhile.”

  Recovery would take days.

  Safe recovery would take weeks.

  No way Cal would allow anything other than the latter.

  He felt really bad about letting Doomborer down like that.

  “We’re going on break, brother.”

  “Do not jinx.”

  “Ha! What do you need me to do?”

  The Dread Paladin cut into the comms.

  “Corridors marked 3A, 2D, 7F. Collapse them. Or impeded them as you see fit, The Boulder.”

  He still sounded scary even when he sounded like he was trying to keep it light.

  Bolder consulted the mapping the Dread Paladin and Doomborer had done by using heavy duty drones instead of the more fragile insect bots.

  Doomborer was collapsing corridors in the north section of the fortress, having already taken care of the south and east.

  Which left him the west.

  The quickest routes to the command center.

  That was what needed collapsing.

  Well, his head pounded like the morning after Jayde decided to ‘take you under her wing’ for a night of boozing, but he did have plenty of mana gems in his armor and compartments of holding.

  Sometimes one just had to look on the bright side of things.

  “Stone Wave.”

  The floor undulated under his boots, carrying him to his destination.

  “Liquefy Stone.” To weaken the ceiling enough that the tons supported by it collapsed it without further effort on his part.

  He had to speak the spells.

  He imagined the stares of disapproval from all the guys back home.

  One corridor down.

  Two to go.

  Luckily, he beat the Stone Lords to each location.

  The last one had been close.

  Tons of stone dropped on their heads.

  Poetic.

  But, they were masters, which meant none of his efforts could be counted on to last for long.

  He opened the stone beneath his boots to drop a level and begin collapsing all the corridors.

  The drawback of architecture built around a strong central cylinder as the heart.

  Easy access to the center applied to everyone.

  It took five minutes for him to finish his part of the destruction.

  Which left the central command chamber.

  The giant geometric shape was suspended in the center of the fortress connected to the each level by so many stone bridges and stairs that it resembled the heart of a spiderweb.

  He gazed appreciatively.

  The Stone Lords did their base stonework with physical tools and yet, had he not known otherwise, he would’ve bet any amount of money that they used magic bullshit.

  “Got to give it to the stonoids.”

  Seamless.

  A complete lack of tool marks.

  It was like a subterranean god had willed the entire structure into existence.

  He considered wrecking some of the bridges and stairs, but decided against taking a risk on the strength of the two vertical pillars to keep the chamber from collapsing with the Dread Paladin inside.

  Then again…

  The Dread Paladin’s survivability rating was really high.

  “I’m collapsing most of the bridges to the command chamber. Any objections?”

  “None,” the Dread Paladin said.

  “I will help you,” Doomborer said.

  “I’ll do the west half.”

  “I have the east.”

  “Leave the vertical and cardinal connectors and leave me a few bridges. I want to give the stonoids a few surprises.”

  “Acknowledged.”