Reborn as a Fire Mage!, page 32
I told her to thank Oliver again for staying with her. The gnome had gone above and beyond helping us. He took us home on a long journey out of the goodness of his heart. Then he delayed his trip back to his farm to stay with my pregnant wife. I am a big fan of gnomes now. I wondered if they were all this friendly and helpful. It was hard for me to picture an evil gnome in my mind. I don’t know why.
“Guys! A berserker is coming through the trees!” Lola shouted from the 50 Cal up top.
“Awesome, this gives us a chance to try the cannon out,” I turned toward the hatch behind me and slid the door open. The 120mm cannon rounds stared back at me. I grabbed one of them out and loaded it. We turned the turret 180 degrees then adjusted the cannon a bit to get the charging berserker in our sights and fired the cannon.
The cannon round pierced the berserker and turned the colossal beast into cottage cheese. “Holy shit, that was intense. Damn. Are you guys alright up there?”
“Yeah, we’re good. Deaf, but good,” Lola responded.
I replaced the round with a new one and shut the door. I understood this was not proper safety protocol for the army I was sure, but I’m just a firefighter turned fire mage.
“Are you good, Selene? You seem to have the hang of driving this thing,” I spoke loudly so she could hear me.
“Yeah, this is fun. I can’t wait to see the centaur’s faces when we roll on up.”
I snorted. “Yeah, it should be interesting.”
“This tank is like awesome and all, but it’s pretty cramped. I mean, I thought the Bulldog was cramped, but it’s like huge compared to this thing,” Lola whined.
“Quit bitching about something that’s going to keep all of us alive and save a town from bloodthirsty centaurs,” Piper snapped.
“Fuck, Piper, can I say something without you biting my pretty little head off.”
“Psh, little head? Have you looked at your head lately?” Piper smirked.
Lola growled then looked Piper up and down.
Piper’s eyes grew wide. “You want to make fun of my leg, don’t you?”
“Ladies, stop fighting like children!” I yelled.
Hestia giggled. “You are definitely husband and wife…umm wives.”
“That’s right, new girl! Wives!” Lola teased.
“Speaking of wives, what do you think of Boz’s announcement this morning?” Piper probed.
“I’m excited about it. Was I shocked? Sure, but it’s going to be a good thing for all of us.”
Lola clapped with a wide smile. “I’m so excited! We’re going to be the best aunts ever! I’m going to be the favorite. I think we all know that. This baby is going to be so stinking cute! I can’t wait!”
“It’s going to be fun having a baby at the refuge,” Piper remarked.
“If it’s a girl, we’re going to name her Lol-er, combining both of your names,” I nodded sarcastically.
Lola raised her hands as high as she could in the tank. “Oh, my gods! Really?”
“He’s joking, Lola. Well, I hope he is. Loler is a terrible name,” Piper reckoned.
“You’re right, just go with Lola,” the brown-haired cat girl advised.
“Doesn’t Boz, the mother of the baby, need to be involved in this discussion?” Hestia asked with a brow raised.
“You’re probably right,” Lola agreed.
Piper grunted. “Can we please move on from this ridiculous conversation? We do have a battle in our immediate future.”
“Yeah, it’s time to get our heads back in the game,” Mason asserted.
Selene cleared her throat loudly. “It’s good that you guys are focused again because we’re a couple of miles from Festerfield,” Selene reported looking over her shoulder.
“Damn, already?” Piper asked, then popped open the hatch.
“Yeah, I’m going to get some fresh air too,” I declared as I followed the blonde cat girl.
Lola scoffed. “Yeah, right, you just want to get a good look at her ass.”
I snorted and shook my head. The cool breeze felt nice. The inside of a tank is quite toasty after a while. Tanks aren’t actually built for comfort.
I coughed and wrinkled my nose. “I came here for some fresh air, but either you stink or something coming up smells gross.”
Piper grunted and elbowed me in the rib cage. “It isn’t me, meathead. I do smell something, and it’s terrible.
The road curved to the left. The source of the stink was revealed horrifyingly.
Chapter Fifteen
Alongside the road, there were long poles in the ground. Each pole had a naked corpse impaled upon it. There were two men, two women, and two very young children, a boy and a girl. They couldn’t have been older than 6 or 7 years of age. The macabre scene was undeniably difficult to look at. The poles were inserted through their anuses, then through their body and out of their mouth. Blood and other bodily fluids had streamed down the wood, leaving a chunky puddle at the base of the pole. If there was anything for me to be thankful for, it was the fact that all of the corpses were forced to face upward due to the impaling process. I didn’t have to look each of them in the eyes.
All of the girls sobbed and shuddered at the horrible scene presented to them by the centaur army. Lola threw up multiple times after we stopped.
I shook my head and looked at the road. “This is unbelievable. How can any living creature be this depraved and cruel? Impaling anyone is horrible, but to do it to children…what the fuck?”
Hestia broke her silence. “I knew that the Bureau would create a shitstorm with their decision to kill the centaur king, but never in my wildest dreams did I picture the centaurs doing this.”
We were jolted out of our stupor with a grunt from the tree line behind us. We turned and gasped simultaneously as we saw another gruesome sight. There was a small man attached to a wooden cross. I darted over to the cross to see the mayor of Festerfield, Ernst Ballard, with his hands and feet tied to the cross with something that looked like barbed wire.
“Ernst!” Selene screamed, then she put her hand over her mouth and fell to one knee.
Ernst coughed and moaned as he looked down at us, clearly in agony and exhaustion. “Why did the gods allow this to happen?”
“We have to get him down. Selene, drive the tank over here, and we’ll get on top. That will give us enough height to untie him. Hurry,” I commanded.
Selene nodded and wiped her face with her forearm. She ran to the tank and cranked it back up. When the tank stopped in front of the cross, I hopped up there and stood in front of the dying dwarf.
“You girls need to untie each of his limbs, and I will make sure he doesn’t fall,” I demanded as I pointed at Ernst’s arm. Piper, Hestia, and Lola sprang into motion and began untying the rusty barbed wire. The crucified man wailed as the barbed wire ripped off flesh as the girls removed it.
“Damn, we’re so sorry,” Lola apologized with tears streaming down her beautiful face.
I held his torso as his limbs were freed. Once all of the barbed wire was removed, blood oozed from the tears in his flesh.
“I got you, my friend,” I gently laid him down on a patch of soft grass.
“I’m going to grab a med kit from my inventory. Hold on, Ernst,” I stuttered.
Ernst grabbed my forearm with his surprisingly large hand. “No, I want to die.”
“Die, what are you talking about? Let us help you!” Hestia demanded as she wiped his forehead with a cotton rag.
“I cannot unsee this horror, and it will haunt me every second of every day. I want to die. Leave me be and save my town. This cannot happen to anyone else,” Ernst expressed as loudly as he could in his weakened state.
“We’re going to save the town and you!” I assured him.
“No, I deserved to die. Not these children. I can’t bear this grief and guilt.”
Hestia put his hand in hers gently. “You aren’t responsible for this. Those bastards are. You can’t blame yourself for what happened to them.”
“I have a med kit and a canteen of water,” Selene placed beside Ernst as he laid broken physically and mentally on the grass.
“I want to thank you for coming back. I’m happy to know that you are still alive. The centaurs killed so many people that I just assumed you three were victims of their brutality.”
“We were lucky, but we’re here to end the lives of these monsters. I won’t leave until every one of the centaurs are dead. I promise you that,” I said sternly.
Ernst patted my arm with his bloody hand. “I know you will, thank you.”
“You’ve got to let us heal you. Your citizens will need you after all of this. You can’t abandon them. You don’t want them to be alone, do you?” Hestia pleaded.
“She’s right, and you’re important to this town. You’ve gotta stick around to help them rebuild their lives,” I added as I unscrewed the canteen and held it over his mouth. The dwarf hesitantly opened it, and I poured the cool water into his dry, bloodied mouth. He drank a swallow and came close to throwing it back up.
“We have to go now. Here is the med kit. When we leave, I want you to use it. You got that?” I begged.
Ernst nodded and coughed again. “As you said, the people need me. I will use it.”
Hestia leaned over and kissed the man on the forehead. “That’s wonderful. You’re making the right decision for you and Festerfield.”
When the tank crested the hill overlooking the town, someone noticed us immediately because the gate to the town slowly opened. Dozens of black and white centaurs thundered outside of the walls and formed in a line. Since we left the town, more troops had arrived. The line reached 75 troops strong.
“Well, I'm glad we bought this tank. Otherwise, we’d be fucked,” Lola said from the top of the turret.
“These douchebags are going to find out pretty quickly that spears and arrows aren’t going to pierce this armor,” I boasted.
“Whoa, look behind us,” Hestia announced.
“They must have sent troops in the woods out of sight,” Selene interjected.
“How many are there?” I asked
“I’m counting 25,” Hestia answered.
“Alright girls, we have three machine guns up there. I’m going to handle the cannon.”
“Got it,” Piper replied as she prepped the M240 machine guns.
“I’ll run the 50 caliber!” Lola exclaimed.
“They’re charging from the front and back!” Piper yelled.
“Go to work!” I instructed. Gunfire erupted above the hatch.
I aimed the cannon in the center of the approaching threat. I fired the huge round, killing several of the monsters. The line split, sending centaurs in both directions. Their arrows bounced off the armor like expected.
I heard a scream. Lola plummeted down the ladder from the hatch flat on her back. An arrow had pierced her shoulder. The arrowhead went all the way through.
“Lola, fuck!” I yelled as I rolled off of the gunner's chair to the floor beside her.”
It was a blessing in disguise that the arrowhead went through the other side. I clenched my hand around the shaft and snapped the arrowhead off. I grabbed the shaft on the other side and yanked it out of her flesh. It was a clean removal. Lola wailed in pain with tears streaming down her cheeks. I opened my inventory and grabbed the healing foam. I put the spout in the wound on the front of her shoulder and squirted the foam inside. Lola screamed again from the vicious sting. I then put foam in the wound on the back of her shoulder.
* * *
“You stay here, and we’ll take care of these cunts,” I assured the cat girl as gunfire blasted my eardrums from above. I darted up through the hatch. “Piper, get on the M240. I’m running the 50 cal.”
“Is my sister okay?” Piper asked with panicked eyes.
“Yeah, she’ll be fine. I took care of it.”
“Guys, help me! Shoot your damn guns!” Hestia demanded as she prayed and sprayed everything in front of her.
I aimed at a bastard as he pulled his bowstring back. I blew his head entirely off before he let go. As his neck geysered blood into the air, his hand let go of the string, and the arrow soared over my head. The arrow plunged into the eye socket of a centaur charging from the rear.
“Holy shit, I can’t believe that just happened,” I yelled.
The cannon blasted another round into a small crowd, turning the centaurs into a pile of limbs and guts.
“Nice shot!” Piper cheered.
“Hell yeah, it was. I’m pissed. They fucking shot me!” Lola snarled.
As we grew closer to the town, a centaur launched over a centaur corpse with something glowing in his hand.
“It’s a mana bomb,” Selene shouted from the driver’s seat.
The centaur tossed it at the tank tracks. The explosion was deafening and blinding from the purple radiant light. I heard a loud crack and snap from below. The mana bomb destroyed a section of the tracks, and they came off. We weren’t able to move the armored beast anymore. Another mana bomb was tossed by the same centaur but flew over our heads and left a crater in the ground.
“Take him out. I don’t have a shot,” I exclaimed.
“Me either he’s too close,” Piper yelled.
“I got this,” Hestia growled as she leaped from the turret and landed on the back of the centaur bomber. She roared and ripped the centaurs throat from behind. Blood rained on the ground, and the centaur gurgled and fell to the ground. The cheetah girl sprinted to a nearby centaur and performed a tornado attack slitting its throat. Afterward, she jumped back on the tank and operated her machine gun.
“I’m in love. That was the most epic thing I have ever seen. Oh my god,” I declared with wide eyes.
“There’s another mana bomb guy on the way,” Piper pointed.
We almost jumped out of our skin when the cannon fired and turned the mana bomb wielder into a pile of horse goop.
“Yeah, fucker!” Lola cheered from the gunner seat.
“Cover me while I repair the tracks!” I commanded. “It’ll take a couple of moments to look through the menus.”
“It’s alright. We don’t have to move. We can go into town on foot!” Piper exclaimed.
I thought about what she said and decided to go ahead with the repair. We didn’t know how many centaurs remained in the town. I would like to think that we killed the majority, but there was no way of knowing.
“We need to fix it. Cover me.”
“We got you, Mason. Go now!” Hestia instructed as she began firing and the final mob of centaurs.
“Move your ass! Fiends have arrived too!” Piper pointed at a large herd of fiends making their way toward us. Lucky for us, many of them were distracted by the fresh centaur corpses and began eating them.
I dropped to the ground and selected the tank track. The menu materialized, showing different options such as upgrades and color schemes. I found repair and selected ‘yes’.
I pumped my fist in celebration as the tracks mended back together. Suddenly, I felt a sharp burning pain in the back of my left thigh, and I fell to my right knee. I glanced at the cause and saw a large arrow protruding from my flesh. The pain was excruciating. I screamed in agony when I tried to stand.
“Mason!” Hestia yelped. “Lola! Get on the machine gun. I have to help Mason. He’s been shot with an arrow. Cover me!”
The cheetah girl dropped to the ground and looked at my wound as Piper mowed down approaching fiends that smelled my fresh blood.
“Hestia take this,” Lola demanded as she dropped the wound foam that I had used on her earlier.
“Mason, bite on your robe. This is going to hurt,” Hestia communicated as she grabbed the shaft of the arrow.
“Okay, shit,” I mumbled and put the collar of my robe in my mouth and bit down hard.
“Here we go, on three!” Hestia shouted.
“One, two, three!” Hestia yanked on the arrow with all of her might and ripped it from my thigh in one tug. Bright red blood began to spurt from my wound. I knew immediately that the arrowhead had torn my femoral artery. The cheetahkin threw the bloody arrow to the ground and squirted the foam deep into my wound. It felt like another arrow had shot me, but the pain was necessary. Tearing a femoral artery can be fatal if treatment isn’t given quickly after the injury.
A few seconds later, I felt the flesh begin to mend itself back together. It was a bizarre, painful feeling, but I was going to be alright. “Thank you, that fucking sucked.”
Suddenly out of nowhere, Hestia pulled me up by the collar of my robe and kissed me hard on the lips. She pulled away and smiled.
I was shocked by what had just happened, but it made me happy. This cheetah girl was a fantastic person. She saved my life, and I owed my life to her.
“Was that okay?” Hestia asked as she caressed my cheek.
“Yes, that was more than okay,” I pulled her in for another kiss. This time it was much more passionate.
“Wow, making out in the middle of a war? That’s hot!” Lola chimes in.
Hestia and I separated and looked into each other’s eyes, and smiled.
“Get your asses in the tank so we can continue, please,” Piper scolded.
