章節 177: An Unexpected Journey
It didn't take long to discuss who exactly would be joining the rescue squad of Red's future avatar (and who else could it be, since the rather passive entity was so worried that it even opened the satyr's third chakra).
Bats successfully self-dismissed, having gone with one of the sphinxes to search for samples of infected fauna, Shepard commanded the local militia, which will simulate an offensive to pull the nearest mutants. Constantine was at most ready to help with the cloaking charms, but personally did not really want to participate. It is clear that during the main confusion he will have to go together with everyone, but now he talked himself out of the fact that he would prepare spells and artifacts for the upcoming battle. It turned out that Frankie had a choice of either taking the usual crowd of local magical creatures, or cool superheroes and their powerful allies. Naturally, the choice fell on us, but since the operation was secret, and a large number of living creatures can surely attract monsters, the squad included only five intelligent people. Frankie himself, Gaius, as the strongest demon, Green Lantern, who could drag our whole group away if it got too hot, Simon with a very interesting set of dark spells that would make even Black's avatar sick, and, of course, a green-haired gentleman with a gorgeous smile, a rich arsenal of abilities, and excellent physical fitness.
Tony was dangerous to take with him because of his young age, and his mother was not very mobile, because of too many tentacles. And here, even a change of form would not work, because the transformation takes time, and during the transformation of demons so smells energy that only a sorcerer-unlearned will not feel it. Arkane is not an opponent that can be underestimated, even if most of the witch doctors do not really go into the subtleties of the art of magic, using borrowed forces.
What really surprised me, though, was my favorite one deciding to join Bats. Although everything was logical here. Harley is an incredibly talented chemist, knows biology quite well, and also knows a little bit about magic, so together with Puffy Mouse she really has a good chance to develop, if not a cure, then a magical poison to weaken the creatures of Black.
However, before going to help the man in the latex bat suit, the blonde decided to find out one important thing.
"Hey, Mr. Buckethead," the blonde beauty addressed the warlock.
"You'd better address me Dr. Fate," the wizard replied, interrupting his meditation.
"Sounds good to me, polite," Shepard remarked.
"Who'd doubt it," Konstantin muttered quietly, who clearly didn't like his own nickname, but there was nothing he could do about it.
"Okay, Dr. Fate, I need to talk to Giovanni Zatara."
"You're already talking to me. Dr. Fate is, in essence, the title of a person who wears the Helmet of Destiny. It serves as a kind of protection against all kinds of curses, but unfortunately not all of them," he finished a little sadly.
"Doesn't Nabu take over the body of the helmet wearer?"
"Only if the situation demands it. I cooperate voluntarily, so Nabu doesn't need to strain his mental powers unnecessarily. Right now, he only gives advice and access to the Tower of Destiny and his artifacts."
"I mean, you're a sorcerer."
"You could say that. I only have a rough understanding of how all these magical artifacts work, and without them I won't be able to do a tenth of what I can do now. But if you have any questions about classical magic, I can answer them. Hmm..." A blue glow appeared in the slits of his helmet. - You have an unusually large amount of pure natural energy and something else... Strange... In any case, I'm not very familiar with druidism, so I'd advise you to ask Shepard.
"No, I don't really care about magic," my faithful assistant said. - What I do care about is why the hell did you leave Zee and stop communicating with her! - She raised her voice at the end of her sentence, causing the mage to tilt his head to the side in puzzlement.
"It's all about the curse of the dark sorceress Allura. That's why I made a deal with Nabu to become Dr. Fate."
"So much for writing Zee a letter to explain the situation, since she doesn't seem to know what happened to her father herself."
"You think I haven't tried it? Even if the aura traces are completely erased, the curse is still in effect," a heavy aura spread from the golden-helmeted figure. - I've been on the verge of death several times, and only the rituals performed in the Tower of Fate have kept me from perishing.
"Well, maybe we should try something else," the girl suggested uncertainly, not expecting such a violent reaction.
"You really don't understand," the warlock said tiredly, slouching slightly. - Any contact with relatives must end in death...
I glanced over at my beloved, trying to figure out if we were related to the wizard. I looked back at my beloved, trying to figure out if we were related to the wizard.
"Hey, there's this-" John's voice came from outside, but no one paid him any attention.
"I've tried many ways," Zatara continued sadly. - Astral projections, the Stone of Visions, conjured mirrors, thought-speech, eventually even writing regular letters and calling from a pay phone, but despite the many tricks, they all carry the imprint of my aura and make the curse respond. Nabu manages to keep it at bay during the experiments, but that's only because Zatanna and I are far away from each other. If I go near my daughter, not even the Lord of Order can help.
"Aura imprint... Have you tried posting on Weinstagram," Harley suddenly questioned.
"Where?"
"In Weinstagram," the girl repeated, pulling out her smartphone. - Now, I have her in my friends... Oh, but there's no internet connection here, but there should be saved tabs in the memory. Here," she handed the device to the magician, who was looking at the device with great curiosity, as if he was seeing it for the first time.
"In the newspapers, her costume seemed much more modest. And what are these angles?! - The man was sincerely indignant, accidentally clicking on a photo from the last performance, which showed the illusionist in a rather provocative pose. Given the revealing costume, such a photo could well serve as the cover of some adult magazine.
"Okay, stop looking at the pictures. It's got a texting function. The signal goes through a bunch of repeaters, not a wire. Aura is definitely not used," Harley quickly went back, demonstrating the necessary function. - Not like that. Here, poke here and write a message. How did you get your doctorate if you can't figure out a smartphone! - She was outraged when Fate suddenly returned to the home screen, swiping his finger upward.
"I'm a different doctor and I guess I got too far behind while I was in the Tower of Doom. It's amazing how far human technology has come. In my time, only skillful artifacts could demonstrate something similar," the wizard finally lost his cool, passionately studying the smartphone's functionality.
Being too much engrossed in what was happening no one noticed that for a couple of minutes several magic circles stopped concentrating mystical energy, and with it maintaining the defense of the wall.
"Ahem..."
A half strangled wheeze reached my hearing.
"John? - I called out to the wizard, who stood a little ways away with his arms wide apart. Sweat was dripping down his forehead, and he looked like he was about to give birth to a hedgehog.
"Shit!" Dr. Fate sputtered, flaring an aura of power, but not in time.
Having lost their source of power, the defenses protecting the area from the attacks of the Rot fell, and hundreds of monsters rushed at the totem's flesh walls in a unified rush.
In general, distracting the mage who controls the defenses of your base is an incredibly stupid idea. We saw it for ourselves when the hordes of infected creatures came storming in. It's a good thing that the flesh and bones of the Rukh bird acted as another line of defense and weren't harmless in and of themselves. They grew numerous bloody tentacles saturated with Crimson energy, grabbed the rot-altered monsters, and literally tore them apart, raining down a torrential downpour of body fragments and black blood. The defenders did not sit idle either, and used a rather rich arsenal of abilities against the enemies.
The manticores fired venomous spikes at the creatures, growing them from their tails, which resembled huge scorpion stings. Some small green goblins deftly wielded long vines, throwing the attackers off the walls. Satyrs used powerful bows and special arrows. When hit, the projectiles turned into small spiky bushes sprouting through their bodies. These weapons, of course, were not as effective as Abby's magic, but the monsters were still far short of Simon's brother, who had been subjected to dubious experiments, and could not boast of abnormal regeneration or a large mana reserve. Smaller units of centaurs also used bows, but they were more focused on the enemy aircraft, galloping through the streets and preventing the mutated birds from reaching the survivors to establish a beachhead inside the walls.
"Finish the Spawn of Rot! - Shepard's mighty voice echoed over the battlefield.
Satyr was crushing the head of another monster with his hoof when a seemingly dead enemy with a ruptured rib cage suddenly tried to bite him. The magical hybrid not only led the defense, demonstrating good commanding skills, but also scattered around him special seeds, from which in moments grew huge predatory plants, and he was not lacking in physical strength, dealing at once with several opponents with the help of his spear staff. And during the battle his figure occasionally underwent strange metamorphoses. His arms would become noticeably thicker due to the appearance of a powerful frame of muscles, and his legs would change slightly, beginning to resemble the paws of a cheetah, in order to develop a higher speed.
"We're not going anywhere," Lantern shouted back, creating a huge mechanical lawnmower out of the green energy, which he used a couple of times to run over the monsters lying here and there, turning their bodies into mincemeat. A red silhouette whizzed by, throwing more creatures off the walls and into the tender embrace of bloody tentacles.
Although the Black Spawn were killed by standard methods, some of them pretended to be dead so that they could suddenly attack the defenders and bite them at least a couple of times, spreading the magical virus. Or maybe they were really dying, but the rotten mana spilling around them made the corpses awaken again, as long as at least one energy center was intact. However, the demons present on the wall could destroy the infected with their energy. Though the procedure was not pleasant, judging by the screams of the unfortunates who'd been bitten, it was much better than turning into another mindless creature driven by the will of the rot.
Despite the bacchanal, there were some positive aspects to the situation. The main barrier had survived because it was powered directly by the Nabu artifact. If not for this fact, all these monsters, unsuccessfully storming the well-fortified walls, would have broken out into the main city. The military, of course, did not sit idle and organized barricades on most of the streets, but for the army of undead creatures such islands of resistance will not be a big obstacle, because they can easily bypass them, or flatten them with a couple of waves to get to the defenseless residents.
Constantine's intervention also played its part. Noticing the shimmering circles of the weave that Dr. Fate had stopped paying attention to, he bravely rushed to patch it up, obviously expecting to fix his karma a little, but he overestimated his strength, and when he realized that he couldn't cope, it was too late. If the mage had released the spell on his own, jeopardizing the lives of hundreds of sentient beings, his already damaged karma would have gone into the deepest minus. And I'm not even surprised that right now he is almost single-handedly holding the entire southeastern direction, organizing a small branch of hell on earth for the climbing monsters. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the head of a huge fire elemental that had taken the form of a European dragon. Judging by the echoes of mana, the call is incredibly powerful, and it's unlikely that John pulled out one of his trump cards just to show off... Though I can't help but admit that the mage is a bit like Gloomy Mouse when it comes to mystery and pathos, even when it's not needed.
The assault ended rather abruptly. The infected monsters were climbing the walls right on the dead bodies of their comrades, and then, bang, and under the howls of wolf-like monsters, the formidable army began to retreat, dragging numerous corpses behind them. In five minutes the space in front of the wall was completely cleared, and then the protective barrier finally worked, covering the outer side of the wall with a golden film.
"Ha ha ha, victory! - The lantern laid down a particularly beautiful turn, blazing with a bright green aura.
"Yes! Hooray! - The numerous magical creatures that survived the massacre cheered the superhero, and they were understandable, because our side didn't have many casualties.
I had heard somewhere that in a good defense the losses of the defenders to the attackers should be in the proportion of one to three, but in our case, due to the presence of the magic wall, mystical powers and the general stupidity of the enemies, this proportion was almost one to twenty. But still, I was not in a hurry to share the common joy of the defenders.
"Did you notice, too? - Shepard asked quietly, glaring frowningly at the houses behind which the remnants of the enemy army hid, as well as the black tower of Apokolips that Arkane was using as his base.
"Yep... I felt the concentration of pure energy in the wall, but the creatures started retreating even earlier."
"That's right. And also notice exactly which way they started doing it."
"North?"
"Yes. It seems Arcane has decided to focus on finding a victim to create a passage to the Kingdom of Rot," the satyr stood still for a moment, as if listening for something, and then his eyes widened in surprise. - The sentries reported that Frankie was already on his way.
"Got it. We'll follow to help in case of emergency."
***North quarter of the bloody wall. Half an hour before the assault begins***
"Damn it, come on! - The teenager in the tight black suit with the blue jackdaw on the chest tried in vain to open the hatch of the airplane, cursing quietly to himself. He was doing it from the inside, of course, because he had sneaked on board, wanting to prove to his foster father that he was ready for serious business, but the device he had borrowed from the cave stand didn't want to pick up the right code, though it did the alarm system in a couple of minutes.
Hypnoprograms and drugs administered by the Court of Owls perfectly complemented Batman's training. And the curious thing is that if it had been any other teenager in his place, it was very likely that he would not have survived even the first injection of drugs. During his investigation, the superhero discovered that Dick was a hereditary Claw. Even at a young age, instead of one of his teeth, the teenager had been implanted with an electrum, which over the years of being in his body gradually changed his body, turning it into a perfect hunting machine. Yes and all those acrobatic tricks performed with his parents, prepared the perfect foundation for mastering the fighting style of the Claws, which further expanded the legendary style of Batman.
After a while, the hatch did open, letting the irritated boy out. A quick reconnaissance of the area showed that he had found himself in some strange city inhabited by faeries. The guardian's computer had information about such enclaves in the folds of space, but none of them mentioned that the fae built human dwellings in the Arabian style and got along with ordinary-looking people. The occasional stores with human goods, like televisions, telephones, and simple stationery and groceries, also added to the oddity of the place.
After a short acquaintance with the city, the young superhero's attention was focused on a huge wall, as if created from real flesh and huge ribs, the height of a three-story house. As he made his way toward the defensive structure, Nightwing kept his attention on the conversations, though he didn't understand much of them, as most of the creatures were speaking in some incomprehensible, singsong dialect. However, he could tell from the occasional glimpses of English that came from the human-like creatures that the community had been attacked by some evil entity commanding an army of the dead, and if that was the case, he could go scouting outside the wall and bring back important information, demonstrating to his guardian that he was useful and ready for a career as a superhero. The idea itself was incredibly stupid, but the teenager who had gotten special powers didn't realize it.
The sentries couldn't even think that someone would venture into the infected area instead of sitting quietly in safety, so they didn't notice the nimble figure in the dark suit. The wall didn't prevent Richard's escape, either, for he didn't smell of the emanations of Rot.
"I hope it wasn't me who broke something," he thought worriedly as the yellow barrier on the outside of the wall shimmered and then disappeared. The sudden appearance of hideous mutants, who seemed to have been skinned from every crevice, didn't allow him to ponder over what had happened for long. To Knightwing's great fortune, they were too busy storming the fortress, and the hero did not stand still, but quickly hid in the narrow alleys, avoiding the gaze of others, and after a short reflection went on a reconnaissance to the northern part of the city where most of the creatures came from, expecting to get important information.
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