Project Seraphina [LitRPG, Magitech, GL]
2.64 Against the Cultists II

We march across the north side of the city. Forty of us in formation. Stefan and Lindsey leading in the front. And I’m not convinced at all that there’s nothing between them. They pretend to be complete professionals out in the open. They speak and act with nothing but professionalism and discipline. But their hands accidentally graze against each other as they walk, and from time to time, their heads tilt almost imperceptibly, their eyes gazing to each other.

Chloe seems to notice it too, even as she and I are acting as the rear-guard for our detachment. She giggles every time the two of them pretend to not gaze upon one another. And quite frankly, I’m happy for both of them. If it’s anything like Chloe and I, I’m sure the bond those two have built over the past few days will only propel them to fight that much harder, for their own sake and each other’s.

It’s quiet as we approach the cult headquarters. Too quiet. We’re moving along the outside of the city, but neither the System nor the Order of the Wilds has made any move against us. Even the normal wildlife is conspicuously absent. Birds aren’t flying overhead, rodents and insects aren’t scurrying about. I would have expected the System to play a role in the ongoing conflict, eager to put its own interests front and center as we battle for the future of the city and the nearly million people who live here.

But it seems content— for now— to sit back and watch. Maybe this, too, is in keeping with its overall primary directive. If, as I suspect, it wants to have us clash, growing stronger with each bout as one side falls and the other gains Experience, then it profits no matter how we fight and die.

It’s not long before we arrive, maybe half an hour. It’s still early in the morning, around 8:00. Enough that the orange and red of dawn has been dispersed, but not all of the morning dew has evaporated. Cool breeze meets warm sunlight, the red clay dirt of the city about to be stained crimson with blood, one way or the other.

After our march, after Stefan’s words, as we crest the final hill and set eyes upon the compound, my nerves stop and my heart rate returns to normal. I feel calm, focused, resolved. Fighting under the System, living or dying, invoking my Skills and overpowering my foes. All of this is what I was built to do. The part of me that transcended time and space to be here today remembers the intense training under Madison. It remembers the many missions I have been on over the years, even though my conscious mind has not yet recalled those memories. I will succeed.

Chloe looks a bit more unnerved. I grip her hand, giving her a quiet nod. She and I spare a glance toward one another before we advance.

The compound looks like it was once a set of old, abandoned aircraft hangars. Nine massive warehouses of brick and steel sprawled out over rough, rugged plains of asphalt turned to rubble. Among those rubbled fields are numerous tunnels that descend far down into the depths, no doubt where their summoned worm beasts rest underneath. No signs of sentries that I can see patrolling the perimeter.

A sense of foreboding comes over me, not unlike how my [Angelic Insight] alerts me to danger. We’re not being attacked, not yet. But we are being watched. Some sort of scrying Skill, perhaps a tremorsense, or maybe another farsight variant like the one Lindsey has. I scan the air around us as far as my vision allows, and detect nothing larger than a dragonfly out to a range of a thousand yards in any direction, nor any bird-sized object within a mile. Considering the number of summoners among the cultists’ ranks, though, I wouldn’t be shocked if there’s a hawk or eagle soaring far higher than I can see, obscured by some Skill or one of the handful of clouds overhead.

We don’t rush, although there are quite a few among our ranks whose eyes are darkened by bloodthirst. Kristil is among them, her eyes narrowed and her fingers crackling with electrical power as we survey the surroundings. So far, she’s holding her murderous yet righteous indignation in check. But only just.

I place my hand on her shoulder. She grimaces.

“Don’t try to stop me,” she says.

“When the time comes, we’ll get those bastards. Let’s just make sure we stay focused and disciplined a little longer.”

She grits her teeth a bit before nodding in approval.

Lindsey turns to us all. “This is the place. I’ve [Identified] thirty cultists and eighteen companions. Levels ranging from 25 to 40. Thankfully, only five among them and four of their companions have reached level 32.”

I shudder. 40 is definitely a step and a half above anything we’ve fought to this point. Even with my having also crossed the class threshold since then, we’ll be down in both numbers and strength. Our only advantages are my [Glyphcasting] and the handful of accessories I was able to craft since then. I pray to the goddesses that it’ll be enough.

“What’s the plan?” a man in the front asks. “We’re not going to fight them all head-on, are we?”

“We’re going to split up into three groups,” Stefan says. “Lindsey will go alone. She’s the single highest level of all of us, and has several stealth and reconnaissance Skills. Her job will be to find any Order bastards off guard and dispose of them before they can join the fight.

“Chloe, Seraphina, and Kristil are going to comprise the second group. Kristil and Seraphina both have high-level magic attacks, and I think you all know how capable Chloe is. Their job is to cause as much damage and havoc as they can. If they can get a few of the heavyweights taken out, that’ll be all the better.

“And the rest of us will be the main army. Our job is to push through, and more importantly, survive. The longer we all survive, the more time we buy the other two groups to do what they have to do.”

“But that’s–” one person interjects.

“Yeah. I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” Stefan says. “There’s a real chance that we die today. There’s more of them than we expected, and they are higher level than we anticipated. But we all knew this when we left. If we turn tail, or heaven forbid, we fail, then these Order pricks are going to kill our friends and family down to the last man, woman, and child. So we can either crawl back and wait for the end to come, or we can fight back, and maybe we take a few of these assholes with us!”

“We still have a chance to win,” I say. “Let’s not be in a hurry to lay down our lives just yet.”

And I mean it, too. Based on the strength I felt when I first tapped into the power of [Seraphina Overlimit] against Lindsey, I’m more than enough to crush a group of level 40 fighters on my own. The problem is that I still can’t access it! I have to assume that we haven’t been in enough danger yet. But I trust that when the time is right, that power will manifest itself once more.

I tap Stefan’s shoulder. “It’s not much, and I’m sorry I can’t do this for everyone. But–”

Chloe pulls me aside. “I’ll do it. You need to conserve your [Ether] for your role in this.”

She closes her eyes. Her own warm, angelic radiance bubbles forth, suffusing Stefan’s body.

“It’s like we’ve got our very own pair of angels here to ensure our victory today.”

That’s why we’re here. That’s why I have to keep pressing forward. To ensure our victory, or barring that, the survival of as many of these brave people as I can.

“You three take care of yourselves out there,” Lindsey says. “I better see all three of you alive when we get done here. I’ll make sure to buy you all a really nice dinner after.”

“You as well, Lindsey,” Chloe says.

Kristil and I nod. In the blink of an eye, Lindsey is already off to the eastern side of the compound. Her [Speed]-focused build is enhanced by my [Angel’s Grace], allowing her to move even swifter and silenter than before. I worry for her, just a little, but I resolve to trust in her capabilities. We have our own job to do this morning.

“We doing this?” Kristil asks. “I’ve got a shocking delivery for some raging assholes, and I’m ready to get going!”

I can’t help but crack a smile at the somewhat over the top declaration. With one final nod, we’re off toward the western side of the compound.

My [Angelic Insight] is firing harder than before. Not the raging ping of ‘imminent danger encroaching’, but one that stresses above the baseline level of vigilance. We are definitely being watched. Though, considering how few people are likely to have either [Ethersight] or an [Identify] variant, I’m hoping that they will underestimate our abilities. Because, System or no, three girls barely old enough to be out of high school are about as unimposing as they come.

The outer barbed wire fence is coated in electricity. It seems like a complete waste; I doubt the voltages involved can do serious damage to any creature that would pose a threat to these cultists. I suppose it might do a little damage for no real upkeep cost beyond a trivial electricity bill paid with ill-gotten gains. And it would keep out any scurrying wolves or rodents that might cause a ruckus.

Luckily, we have a [Lightning Evoker] in our midst, and quite a gifted one from the looks of it. She places her left hand on the wire, and pulls. Not just with her physical body, but with her [Ether] as well. It’s as if she’s… Yeah, she’s definitely feeding on the electricity. Her skin, normally a light tan, begins to glow the red tint of a sunburn as her body absorbs more energy. The amethyst crystal around her neck, my accessory, glows brightly enough to be visible even under her admittedly thin robes.

She grimaces, she stumbles over, her body and [Ether] core probably charged significantly past their normal limits. I know that it’s possible to overcharge. I had that happen to me the day the System arrived, when the first vestiges of my past life began to reassert themselves, awakening to help guide me through the post-Integration world. I also know that it’s very much not a pleasant sensation. But Kristil doesn’t seem to relent, even as her [Ether] core looks as though it’s getting close to bursting and her crystal equally close to shattering.

A moment before I’m about to forcefully interfere, Kristil raises the index and middle finger of her right hand, as though making a finger gun. And from them, she releases all that pent-up electrical surge. Explosively. A single blast of electricity launches from her fingertips, a violent violet bolt that blasts a massive hole into the nearest hangar, sending shrapnel flying in nearly every direction.

Which unfortunately includes ours. Chloe jumps behind the two of us, a healing spell prepared in her hands. But with my [Angelic Insight], I’m able to deflect, dodge, or parry each piece of metal and stone before it can do any damage. The barbed wire and electrical fencing apparatuses, on the other hand, are not so fortunate. The shrapnel has torn through them like a hot knife through butter, completely shredding the circuits and leaving a nice pathway ready for us to make our way inside.

“So much for stealth,” I say.

“Any pressure we can alleviate off Stefan and his group will give them that much more time," Chloe adds.

“Let’s not waste it,” Kristil says.

And with that, we enter the compound, weapons drawn, ready for combat.