CHAPTER 549: WHAT’S NEXT, FLYING HUMANS?

Mason half flew, half floated through the giant cavern, sailing right past the deadly pool of lava below. He was descending, but more like a plane going down for a landing rather than a man-shaped baseball.

His new magic ‘nature’ item seemed something like gravity boots. But he could tell it affected his whole body. He felt…not just lighter, but faster. Like he could move through the world with less resistance. He couldn’t wait to try the thing more, but it was hard to think about that or anything else as he went flying.

His jumping aim had been pretty damn good, if he said so himself. He was soaring over to the others right on target, with enough time to summon his bow and start picking off targets as he came in. They were still fighting in formation, blocking off the whole ramp using higher ground as demons came charging up.

A few flyers had started coming at them from other entrances in the cave, just like ‘the watcher’ promised. One had dropped from above nearby, and it stared at Mason as if it didn’t understand what it was looking at. He turned in the air and put an arrow through its throat.

Then he was over the ramp. Over his players. And still sailing towards the engineer settlement. He banished his bow and summoned his Claws, looking down for a juicy pack of demons until they were just…right…

He dropped the meter on his boots, and descended like a comet. The demon directly underneath shattered, bones breaking as Mason’s boots then Sleeved forearms slammed into its neck and shoulders. It collapsed, and Mason dropped to a knee from the weight and force of his own landing.

He grinned and winked at his players all standing there staring, confident he looked pretty God damn cool. Then he flipped his boot meter back to ‘light’ and rose with a slash.

And left the ground.

“Shiiit!”

A few demon soldiers clawed at his legs as he accidentally ‘jumped’ down the ramp, kicking and fighting for balance but failing. He literally spun out, only remembering to slide the boot meter back down after a few seconds of twirling away. He slammed back into the stone with a grunt and a few rolls, looking up to find he was completely surrounded by demons.

“Well.” He stood and spun his blades. “That was embarrassing. But don’t take my stupid leaping around for a sign I’m not perfectly capable of…”

A dozen flavors of demon all roared and charged, coming from every direction, showing no obvious path to safety except another leap. Mason instead made himself heavier, and prepared to get shredded from several angles. He tried not to look forward to it.

**

Princess Lodie, daughter of Fragie, and Engineer Second Grade, had seen her very first human the day before. Today she had seen a flying human. Whatever tomorrow brought her, she was absolutely sure, would be totally awesome.

And the fighting was amazing, too! Magic powers were blasting everywhere. She’d put on her Arcanite Goggle doodads and tried to identify what she was seeing, but the sheer volume of abilities and affinities was like watching fireflies dance.

For awhile she just stood there staring, probably with a big, stupid grin, listening to the humans call out tactics and orders. They were incredible. Fantastic. Gizmatic and best-green and terrifying and just so…

“Flyers from behind! Move!”

Lodie shrieked and dodged as a spear-wielding human almost trampled her, skewering some flying nasty thing.

Humans were big. Alarmingly big, because they were still fast and very strong and maybe not so coordinated as goblins. They swung those big limbs around like automatons with mangled sprockets.

“Stay with me, darlin’,” said the big, pretty bubble-girl. “Over here by the wall.”

Lodie flipped up her goggles and beamed, then did as instructed. It was mostly just nice to be paid attention to. She had all kinds of tools and tricks in her bag but she didn’t want to get in the way. She’d never been in a real battle before, and these humans seemed like professionals. She even kind of weirdly felt safe.

But she was worried about her brothers and cousins, most of whom still lived in Mecha-town when the demons came. But these Planars were red not black. They were clever and nasty to the nasty but maybe not to the not-so-nasty.

Her kin were good and clever, and they wouldn’t have killed them. She was almost sure of that. They needed the engineers to maintain the machines. They’d have them locked away somewhere, maybe dirty and underfed and afraid—but still alive.

Lodie just had to convince the big, lord flying hunter human with the green eyes and tattoos and giant muscles…if she could get him alone. Then maybe they could talk some more, and she could convince him, and then she knew for sure that…

What had she been thinking about again?

Your brothers and cousins!

Right. Because that was what was important. That’s

why she was here. And maybe to help with the Heart.

Though the guild had never let her touch it because she was a freshy and a female. But yes, here to help. That was Lodie. And not at all to get out of the castle, or to stay close to the humans, and especially not the goblin lord human who even her uncle feared and liked and wanted an alliance with…

Because Lodie hadn’t been lying. She was made for making bombs, not babies. Not like all the other boring, baby crazy females. Though maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to make a few of each…if the father were a cute, pink-brown giant who could scoop her up and…

Lodie!

She flipped her goggles back down and stuck to the wall, watching everything, keeping safe, keeping out of the way. Everything would be fine. She was sure of it. Her kin would be OK, and they’d help with the Heart, and the pressure wouldn’t all be on Lodie. Then the demons would be gone and things would go back to normal…

And then? She tried not to think about ‘and then’. Because as she watched the humans and especially as she climbed on a rock to see the front, she knew she didn’t want to go back. She wanted to go with them and see all the things, and do all the things.

Because ‘Mason’ was a lord of goblins, wasn’t he? He could be her lord, too. Why couldn’t he? She didn’t have to be a bed slave and make babies like her mother. She’d swear a human oath, lickity split, and show him her gizmos and how useful she was!

And then he’d for sure look at her like he looked at the others, and not with that other way that meant politeness.

Making the human hunter goblin lord proud was some weird mission she’d planted in her brain. And once a thing was in Lodie’s brain, it never came out. That’s just how it was.

Like becoming the first female Second Grade engineer in Mecha-town. Like getting out to go to her uncle in the big city and becoming a proper princess, with proper manners and everything.

She’d done that, and she could do this. She just had to be clever, and quick. She had to impress him without getting in the way. And without getting squished…

**

‘Stop this…useless waste. We are not your enemies.’

The greater demon’s previous ‘whisper’ was getting a lot grumpier. It made Mason smile.

He was standing in a growing field of demonic corpses, their hacked and broken bodies laying around him in a circle. The rest had finally pulled back and given him a moment to breathe. He rolled his shoulders and turned, staring them down as his body kept healing.

“I’ve been watching demon handiwork for awhile,” he said casually, knowing the creature could hear. “I’d say you’re my only real enemy.”

We are not like the mindless ravagers of the abyss! We destroy only that which is worthy of destruction. We are a cleansing forest fire. A plague that culls the despoiled and corrupt.

“Sure. And whoever gets in the way. Come on, boys,” he shouted at the surrounding demons. “I haven’t got all day.”

He glanced back to see his people were on the move. They were coming down the platform now, powers flaring as they slaughtered their way towards him in good order. He grinned.

“And neither do you.”

The demons all quirked their heads or blinked as if they were hearing a voice. With a few growls and shrieks, the rest turned and ran towards the engineering town.

Mason summoned his bow and filled some backs with arrows. But he eventually turned to kill the creatures between him and the others, shooting most of them in the back, too. The poor bastards were pincered between the melee mulching wall and Mason’s arrows.

Soldiers, flyers, weird elemental things, and mutant animal hybrids—all fought with wild abandon and desperation. And all died in record time. A few even jumped off the cliff, straight down into the lava.

“Well howdy, stranger.” Becky came down first from her spot in the line. She stepped over a twitching soldier and crushed its neck with the edge of her shield. “Did I see you flyin’? When did that happen?”

“More like floating.” Mason scanned his ichor-covered players and gave them a fierce grin. “You’ve never looked better.”

“I’m still clean. I mostly just watched from up top.” Carl appeared and picked his way through some corpses as he came down. “It was great.” He slapped John’s back on the way by. “I didn’t get goo’d. Especially in the mouth. Nothing exploded. Did you break the Heart yet?”

Mason snorted, then looked for the little goblin girl until he found her near the wall. He met her eyes.

“We’re gonna need your help, Lodie. That machine’s too complex for us. It’s also hard to get to. I was hoping the engineers had…” he shrugged. “A mobile lift, or something. Think you’ve got something that can help us get up there?”

Plan B was picking her up himself and carrying her. But that felt like a good way to get her killed. The excitable creature stared like she’d heard something she didn’t like. And Mason the fear-detector smelled it right away. That wasn’t a great sign.

“Yes, maybe,” she squeaked, then pointed at the engineering town. “But…need help.”

He nodded and turned, waving his people forward. He hadn’t expected it to be easy.

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