The Grand Weave

Ventus activated his movement skill and rocketed forward, outrunning a particularly nasty-looking tentacle spike.

As he flew forward, he aimed his trident backwards and used another skill, this one in the form of three balls of grey wind that cut into the monster chasing him. They rotated at speeds fast enough to tear into the pale meat and send black ichor flying.

He landed beside the tank and steadied himself as the rest of the squad got to work slowing down the horde. Each activation of a skill, stone barriers, metal spike traps, and water walls caused the horde to slow and trudge their way to the group.

Ventus turned around and started spinning his trident. The weapon was spinning so fast that he let go, and it hovered midair. The woman who conjured up the water walls extended both hands, and a deluge of hail joined in the forming tornado that launched at the horde. The hail acted as bullets tearing holes into the eldritch horrors.

I stared in awe. The smoothness of the two mana types combined to form such a deadly combination was amazing. The attack looked straight out of a ridiculous anime scene.

The elf vice captain grabbed his trident, which had begun to slow in its rotation. "I led the monsters away from the rest of my squad. They're escorting the citizens to the undamaged half of the city. After they're done, they have orders to rush over here."

"Thank you, Vice Captain. Captain Callen is over there." The tank pointed to the right, where random bits of debris and blood could be seen launching into the air. "We are defending the breach, trying to keep it contained.

It was hard to see, but I caught the quick movement of a long blue tail that smashed down a long, watery serpent.

You better win. I'm not doing all of this just to die to another unbeatable fucking rift.

Ventus nodded grimly and raised his trident. A subtle green wind spiraled around the shaft of the weapon before he threw it like a javelin. The trident soared through the air with a low whistle that cut through the monster's roars. It punctured into the eyes of one of the monsters and then exploded.

The trident was ripped out and returned to Ventus' ready hand. The monster who received the attack was knocked backward, with a river of blood spurting out of the exploded eye.

"We hold till we can help the Captain, or we last long enough for him to help us." People nodded at his words, and Ventus smiled. "Let's make the captain proud."

I didn't sit but placed my hands on my knees and tried to regulate my breathing. My mana channels burned with strain and overuse while my chest hurt from the constant influx of energy.

When I tried to clear my throat, some pink joined my saliva, and I grinned. The sight of my own blood was becoming numb to me. In my short time in this world, I have become somebody city-boy me would never have recognized.

Probably not even in my wildest dreams. Yet here I am, looking at a horde of monsters trying to squirm and crawl their way over to eat us. Old me can kiss his ass goodbye.

I knew I wasn't the only one beginning to tire. Even if the fighting hadn't been that long, everyone had been using their skills nonstop. The healer looked ready to pass out, the first signs of mana fatigue showing in the stiffness of her fingers.

The tank sported several dents along his armour, and bruises left on his skin; the healing needed not important enough to waste precious mana on.

All around, the others had their own tells that showed their tiredness, and I didn't blame them. I glanced to the hall's entrance, where an earth user was conjuring barricades to help funnel the monsters that may come out.

Zharia and Áine landed on my shoulders, and I reached a hand up to both. Zharia rubbed her head against my fingers while Áine squeezed gently.

"You doing okay, girls?"

"Yes. Master," Áine responded calmly.

"Ready to burn them all," Zharia chirped.

"Good, I think whatever happens next will be the end of this rift. Be prepared; we know things can get derailed quickly."

"Yes."

"Yes!"

In the back of my head, Magnus gave me the impression of bashing his head against my leg, and I chuckled. "You too, Magnus. We got this."

The peace didn't last, and I felt a massive amount of spatial mana appear only a few meters away from where we stood.

I raised a hand to my mouth and pointed my dagger towards the area. "Incoming! It's big, too much to absorb."

In truth, I might have been able to absorb it, but it'd leave me disabled for a solid hour. The toll would be too much on my body if my senses were correct. Whatever was forcing its way through was similar to the main breach inside the hall. It was less powerful but strong enough that it set my nerves on edge.

The tank grunted and joined Ventus as they approached my side. "I see it. Are we expecting a second invasion point?"

I shook my head. "I'm not so sure. There's a lot of mana, but it's not as much as the spatial breach in the hall."

Sereza pushed herself off the wall she was leaning on and approached my other side. "Cyrus, remember the first night? Something large enough to create those earthquakes?"

I gritted my teeth. "Yeah, I do."

"What are the odds?"

"Pretty high," I sighed.

Ventus kept his gaze trained on the growing spatial distortion that was forming. "Context, please."

"During the first night's rampage, something big enough to shake the earth as it rampaged through the city streets appeared but then disappeared after the second night."

"I see." He struck the butt of his trident on the ground creating a loud ringing noise that drew people's attention. "Finish the preparations to slow the monsters seeking to devour us. We got a big one incoming. When it appears, use everything you have."

The wait lasted another minute while another pair of monsters from the outskirts tore through a few buildings. They screeched and launched themselves at the group but were slowed down by Ventus sweeping his trident in their direction and conjuring up a massive gust of wind that halted their momentum.

From there, they were locked in place by a series of walls and spikes. The squad slayed the monsters as quickly as possible, the one melee unit of the group going in with an axe and chopping the heads off.

A loud pop rang out, and the spatial distortion folded inward as a long-clawed foot crashed onto the city road. The stone cracked and shattered underneath the sheer weight of the monster, enough to cause destruction with a single step.

Unfortunately for the creature, easy access to this realm wasn't allowed. The metal-hand guy clapped his palms together, and the metal coating his hands was drawn inward. He spread his hands slowly, and the metal continued to pool and grow. More metal was conjured, and he continued to shape the liquid iron.

The sphere rounded out and then extended into a rod. From there, the man moved his fingers, and the rod became a massive spike nearly the size of the man himself.

The monster's foot twitched, the long claws pressing furrows into the stone. Before it could move, the man lifted the spike and threw his arms forward. The iron spike drilled through the air and impaled the monster's foot.

A loud roar made the last of Callen's protective buff fade, and the barrage continued. Even the people guarding the hall's entrance turned their attention to the emerging monster.

Another foot stomped down while tentacles began to slide out. They were as thick as my body and began to slither across the ground, leaving behind a disgusting trail of ashy mucus.

"Zharia, let's see if it's flammable."

Zharia flapped her wings and zoomed towards the distortion. I directed her to where the mana was the thinnest, and she approached the wide trail of goop leading to the monster's foot.

She sent a torrent of flames onto the ground, the golden flames lighting up the night with its splendor. When the flames hit the slime, there was a flare of light as it started to burn, trailing dimmer orange flames across the ground. It raced up the titan's foot, and the monster roared, but I clenched my fist.

The fire burned the mucus, but the flames were struggling to stay lit, the mucus somehow sucking away the heat and forcing the fire to run out of fuel quicker than it should have.

Zharia poured more mana into the stream of flames, directing it towards the foot. The flames caught and spread upwards, the distortion making the fire look like it curved midair before disappearing.

"Let me help, young spirit," Ventus said calmly.

He raised his trident and grabbed it with both hands. I felt mana build at the tip and then expand outwards. He moved it in an arc and swept it forward.

A gale of wind rushed forward and stroked the flames higher. The torrent of golden flames was pulled away from Zharia's control, and she squawked as she flapped hard not to be sucked inward. Ventus adjusted his grip on his trident, and the air stopped pulling on her body.

The monster roared again, but the sound was drowned out by the flames erupting along the monster's body, turning the night to day.

Throughout the roars, my body absorbed the damage from the sound waves, and I felt it join the rest of the kinetic energy pooling inside my chest.

I formed my hand into a claw and sliced downward.

Five lines of energy appeared and cut into the monster's ankle. Sadly, the damage was minimal as it failed to penetrate deep and only made shallow wounds relative to the monster's size.

I tisked and lowered my hand. The thing was too strong, the difference in tiers being too far for me to affect it.

More tentacles spilled out, and another weaker roar caused rocks and dust to fly. Ventus kept most of the projectiles away from us, but a few pelted my side where the crystal was absent and caused me to wince.

Even standing next to the thing is becoming dangerous. It's not even out of the dimensional space!

The rest of the squad continued pouring attack after attack, aiming upwards and sending the skills through the breach. The iron spike guy started forming thinner javelins long enough to puncture through the meaty muscles of the legs.

Sereza growled. "Fuck, I feel useless."

"I don't think the rift is playing fair," I replied.

A large clawed hand joined the two large feet and started to extend outward. The earth and ice user worked together to form a mold around the limb while the iron-spike guy grunted and fell to one knee. He was conjuring another person-sized spike, but his movements were slow. He was already deep into mana fatigue. If he continued after sending the spike, he'd definitely go into mana-shock.

He created the spike and sent it spiraling towards the monster's hand. Only, at the last moment, he twitched and coughed, causing the spike to veer off and impale the side of the monster's hand.

The monster reacted by pulling its hand away, causing a massive wound to open up. Another roar sounded out, and I clamped my hands over my ears.

Giyanni summoned her barrier, and the vibrations lessened. "What do we do, Ventus? We can't stop it."

Ventus gripped his trident tightly and grimaced. "We hold on, that's all we can do."

He stuck his weapon outside the barrier and sent another trio of grey air balls at the monster's fingers, causing more blood black-tar blood to join the ground.

Zharia landed back on my shoulder and chirped angrily. No words were said, but I understood what she meant. The whole situation was frustrating, and even my bloodlust was simmering low, the tension and stress clawing deeply, taking its toll.

More tentacles started to spill through, and then the breach shuddered. Reality split into three halves for just a moment—the expanse where the dimensional space was hurt the eyes of everyone who looked towards the monster.

It was a disgusting thing that looked like it belonged in the world's deepest trenches. Tearing open the breach, the clawed hands gave way to more tentacles that squirmed like angry snakes. The flesh was slimy, mucus-covered, and tinged a sickly green-grey. The head of the creature was hard to make out under the sheer quantity of protrusions and bulbous growths.

I found myself holding my breath. The thing was straight up a Cthulhulian monster.