LIGHTNOVELWORLD Loop 254 - Part 110
“What’s up?” Cal said the moment he spotted his father, still surrounded by his royal bodyguards. He had tried to apologize to Ethel on their quick way here, but she had given him her trademark scowl. Someday, he’d need to figure out how much she actually disliked him.
Stan turned to look at his son, his face giving away the annoyance he felt about the guards. Cal knew his dad, and that meant the idea of standing around here while others were fighting and possibly dying was gnawing at him, but there wasn’t much to be done about that now. They needed the squirrels, and the squirrels wanted to make sure their new ruler was safe.
“There are apparently two ships in orbit. The Gryalth are trying to escape in them. As far as Jen can tell, no one has made it on board yet. Somehow, we have managed to really catch them with their pants down with how quickly we got inside, I guess.” Stan said.
Cal now recognized a second part of the look in his father’s eyes. He didn’t like leaving Jen out there with just Onelder. Stan wanted to be there, keeping his wife safe himself. “Where is she, and how did she figure this out?” Cal asked.
“About two levels up from here in some sort of central control room. She sent a scout back to inform me of what was happening and to get an answer on whether we should trash the equipment just yet or not. That’s why Excalibur summoned you back here. I need you to go check on her and make the call,” Stan explained.
“Got it, and based on what we just found, I’m leading towards destruction already. If any squirrels find something that looks like a large mirror. They need to shatter it as soon as they can. I don’t know exactly how it works, but I think it’s tied to their home universe and we don’t need any reinforcements showing up,” Cal said. He had no idea just how many more there could possibly be. He hoped none, as everything so far had suggested it took a ton of resources to bridge the realities, and they didn’t want to do that unless necessary.
“You heard the man; get those orders out to all squads, and good luck Cal. Try to stay alive,” Stan ordered, his voice growing softer for the message to his son. Several squirrel scouts dashed off down corridors.
Keeping track of the one that had alerted Stan about Jen’s discovery, Cal ran after. The loud footfalls behind him told him that at least Frank had decided to join him. As they ran on, Cal saw squirrels battling Gryalth in corridor after corridor, none of them looking to be on the defensive. Every broken-down door or corridor bereft of fighting was instead full of corpses. Cal understood why they were trying to escape. This wasn’t a fight. It was a slaughter.
Had all the truly powerful opposition already fallen to him? Where was the shadow Gryalth? The second question focused him on the mission on the mission at hand. It wasn’t anywhere near over until either that specific Gryalth was dead this loop or until all of them were safely home in the void house.
“In here,” a voice called from behind a broken door. Jen stood in front of another strange-looking console, this one with several different monitors showing various places inside and outside the base. Onelder was pressing buttons at another console.
“You know how to use that?” Cal asked the alien.
“No, but I’ve seen somethin similar. None of this is what ya are looking for, though. It ain’t capable of blocking signals. If I hadta guess, it’s probably this room right here,” Onelder said as he typed away at the strange keyboard. Several images came into view of a long corridor and a strong Gryalth resistance, much stronger than anything Cal had seen so far. There were several dead squirrels in the image and not a single fallen Gryalth.
“Yeah, it looks like they are guarding something there, at least. It could be a decoy, though. Get us there, and then make for the actual escape route,” Cal said, examining the scene playing out on the monitor. Another squirrel fell. “Fuck, okay, squirrels are dying, so I guess it doesn’t matter. Frank stays here and guards Onelder and Jen. You two keep searching for more areas. We won’t destroy this equipment just yet. Albert, you’re in charge of message relay with those mushrooms of yours. Wait, can you do that?” Cal asked, not actually sure what the Capybara’s skill set was these days.
“Yes,” Albert answered quickly.
“Okay, good. If anyone sees Ethel, send her after me. I’m going there,” Cal called these words back to the room, having already burst into a run towards the quickly falling squirrels after Albert’s answer. Expecting a trap, he began to charge his entire body as he ran. Electricity mana flowed into each of his limbs, followed by friction mana.
The squirrels came into view, but he didn’t stop his run. He expelled the friction mana through his feet and lept off the ground. The force of his run let him clear the entirety of the squirrels, who, it turned out, were locked in a desperate fight against the battle mages on the other side. Cal felt himself crash hard through a wall of magical force that had been placed to hold them there and stop them from alerting the others.
It apparently wasn’t erected with the expectation of anyone launching two close-range lighting bolts directly into it. Shards of mana glittered in the air as the force wall exploded around Cal. The moment his feet touched the ground, he released the rest of his charged lightning, arcing dozens of deadly bolts across the space in front of him. No Gryalth fell, but several screamed. The real goal of lightning discharge had been to interrupt any casting of their own, not kill them anyway.
The squirrels surged up beside Cal. There was no way to control the rage they were feeling over the death of their comrades, and he had no intention to try. Instead, he echoed the earlier orders. “No Gryalth prisoners!”