Soulforge Legacy Series

“Private Vulpier!” The Captain’s voice echoed through the building. It was enough to break me out of my mental confusion. Her next words were enough to get me up and moving for the field. “Get your ass out here and join your squad.”

Once again, everyone was in formation. Each and every one of them shot glares at me. Though not a single one of them said a word, under their breath or otherwise. The worst was my squad. The moment I joined them the people in front of me crowded forward.

And it wasn’t just them that gave me room. It was like everyone had decided that I was bad news and were all making sure to give me space.

“For the first time in a while, the unit is moving out.” The Captain’s words brought forth murmured voices from nearly everyone. “As most of you know, we are usually kept in reserves for when shit hits the fan. Well, apparently it has.”

Wait, this unit was for what? They were sent out when things got bad? Just what kind of unit did I get assigned to? I mean, sure, I could see some of these people as being powerful, but not the majority of them. Just take the people in the numbered squads.

Fuck, they could barely conjure a spell. And they were better than the Clubs who were basically barbarians. Actually, that isn’t quite true as even barbarians in various games had one or two spells or abilities. These guys had nothing but physical strength. A massive amount of physical strength.

And none of that mentioned the crazy idiots in the Jokers unit. Holy fuck were they insane. Each of whom seemed to have one or more injuries at any given time. Like they needed the pain to stay centered or something.

“Club and Heart squads will head out to the east to deal with a band of encroaching beasts.” She didn’t pause as she gave out orders. “Numbers, you are to spread out north of the city. Support the various squads up there in diverting the horde heading this way thanks to a recent test in the mountains.”

Jesus. That was half of our number for one quadrant of the city defense. And they were going there to support other squads.

“Ace, Spade and Heart squads. Head to the east. Kill or block the monsters heading our way through the pass.” That only left a few more squads, including mine. “Jack squad. Head to the canyons. Clear everything that pops its head up. Joker, King, and Queen squads. On patrol duty. Clear anything that gets past everyone else. Dismissed.”

With that, everyone dispersed. And while no one ran, everyone moved quickly to get ready to go and grab anything they might need. Myself included.

The bunkhouse buzzed with activity as people tossed armor on. Strapping weapons into place even as they checked with everyone around them for what they were bringing. Even the Lieutenant was starting to give out her orders.

And none of it was directed my way. No one asked what I might need. No one asked for me to grab something for them. No matter how much I asked, they ignored me. Even the Lieutenant refused to acknowledge me.

So I did what I would have done if I was on my own. Mostly because I was on my own. If they were refusing to talk to me then there was no way I could count on them in a battle. Which meant that I had to be fully self-reliant.

Of course, that meant that I would also need to be at my best. Something I couldn’t do while in my fully human form. Not when the various senses this form had were so fucking bad.

A push of will into my orb, a pulse of mana, and my Kitsune features reemerged. With them came a sudden rush of noise and smells. Even my eyes weren’t spared. Everything around me sharpened in every way possible.

It was because of the sudden sharpening of my ears that I heard Lieutenant Mbeki’s orders to the rest of the group. “Femi, how do you feel about porting the group?”

“I can do it.” The single selkie, even if they are a bit odd looking, spoke. “But I will be useless for at least an hour afterwards.”

“That is fine.” The Lieutenant accepted the limitation without question. “Mako, use your water to drown any holes we come across. We don’t need anything to pop out of the ground mid-run.”

“Copy that.”

“Cressida, deaden the air around anything that shows up. We don’t need them calling for help if we can help it.” She didn’t wait to hear her answer, not that it sounded like the Void Elf said anything. “Kiran, Yuki, hit anything that pokes its head up.”

“Roger.”

“Will do.”

“Zara. Anything that gets past anyone should be shown the door. Preferably at high speed.”

“Got it.” A hyper voice chimed in as she raced off to grab something.

She returned before the Lieutenant continued. “Olenna, use your threads to slow everything down and direct them toward our kill zones. Also see about creating a few paths for Beatrix’s copies.”

The sound of glee filled the air. “Oh, I have always wanted to make a web. No better place than a canyon to try.”

“Just don’t stab my copies this time please.”

“That was only once.”

“Four times.” Multiple people chimed in.

“What about me?” The spear wielder of the group asked, pulling the topic back to the matter at hand.

“Watch the new girl.” That was all the Lieutenant said. Given how no one said anything for or against her, or me for that matter, that was all she had to say. “Speaking of that fox, where the fuck is she?”

I took that as my cue to join the group just inside our squad common room. “So, what is the plan?” I managed to sound like I wasn’t annoyed at this group, let alone everything that was going on.

“Just stay out of our way.” Beatrix said as a copy of her appeared behind me. The copy shoved me to the side just as a space in the middle of the room rippled.

It didn’t tear. It didn’t part open. No portal appeared. It just rippled. In fact, it almost looked like the space had turned into a liquid. One with a faint outline of something solid on the other side.

“Let’s go!” While I doubted the Lieutenant had to say anything, the group as a whole moved through the effect. Each person acting almost like a rock as it hit the surface of a lake. Ripples that washed out and over something less fluid like, yet for the life of me I couldn’t make out what it was.

Because I had been so focused on the spell’s effect on space, I missed the spear-wielding Wolf Beastkin as he moved behind me. However, I didn’t miss the shove he used to propel me through the damned thing.

While the air had looked like a liquid, it didn’t feel like it. If anything it felt like I had stepped through a fucking sandstorm. One where the dust ground against everything it touched. Neither my eyes or my ears were spared by this and reacted on instinct.

With my eyes closed and my ears down, I was completely defenseless on the other side. Scents flowed past me, carried along the steady, if a bit chilled, air that flowed through the place.

Not sure of what I would find, I opened my eyes to find myself in the middle of a canyon. Covered in striations from various rock layers, the walls rose high above us. If not for the fact that the crack was in a direction aligned with the sun, the area would have been completely dark.

As it was, the sun was only just coming over the mountains in the distance. The mountain that was likely the source of the water that even now trickled through the center of the place.

Though, while the saying of ‘Where there is water there is life’ was usually true. Something about this water was off. Like it was contaminated or such. No plants grew near it. No animals drank from it. It didn’t even smell right. Almost having a metallic smell.

“Olenna, Kiran, get up top. Keep an eye out and let us know if something is coming.”

“Got it.” The two of them called back. The female Wolf Beastkin tossed something high into the air. Whatever it was pulled her up a moment later. As for the Elf, he just climbed the damned wall like a spider. With them up the wall and out of sight, the rest of the group started to head toward the mountain.

Other than a few small scuttling bugs, the trip was fairly boring. Though, there were times we did have to stop as the Shark Beastkin filled hole after hole with water. How he had the mana to do that time and time again I had no fucking clue. Or was he using magic to pull the water from somewhere else?

At the next hole I wasn’t going to watch him. I was going to watch the small trickling stream. If it slowed or stopped, then he was just pulling the water from there. Which would honestly be smart given that none of us knew how deep the things went, but I never got the chance.

“RUN!” A high pitched squeal called from one of the few branches we had found in this place. But unlike the rest, this one went counter to the direction of the water. Almost like it had been formed by another stream. One that was no longer around.

Everyone in the group tensed up. Weapons rose and mana filled the air as we waited to see just what was coming.

My chisa katana popped out of my inventory to settle in my hand. It almost felt happy to finally be brought out after being left to sit unused for so long.

Soon enough, what looked like a Mouse Beastkin appeared around the last bend. As she raced toward us, she kept her attention on something behind her. “Come on Jerad. We can…” It was only then that she noticed us. Eyes wide, she let out a cry. “You guys need to run!”

Lieutenant Mbeki scoffed at that but didn’t say anything. Simply gesturing for the woman to go past. The woman shook her head and mumbled “Your funeral.” Before once again checking behind her.

A man in what looked like plate armor lumbered around the corner. Every piece of his armor was torn apart. Rent in such a way that it served more to slow him down than protect him. Honestly, I had no idea why he didn’t just stop and remove it. Surely he would be able to move faster than.

My answer came a moment later as something clicked. Like something was tapping against the stone with a hard point. The single tapping point was joined by a second, then two more. Time slowed to nothing as more and more things joined the first. Soon enough, it sounded like a whole army of something was approaching.

“FUCK!” Was all the Lieutenant had to say before the first creature appeared.