Bottlenecked

The watchtower was about to be swamped with demons, so we took quick action to prepare ourselves.

“Yalda, it'll be your job to bottleneck them at the door.” Uncle ordered.

I nodded, pulling up my spear. “Right.”

“Marek and I will cover from above.” Uncle handed Marek a crossbow.

“I actually have my gun.” He whipped out his pirate pistol. “I just realized it was in my pocket.”

He had that all this time? Or was that some weird dream logic that allowed him to bring it with him? Makes me curious to know what other stuff we could just pull out of our hats.

Mella pulled out a potion from her bag and threw it at our feet. A quick gust of red over took the floor, like when you pour liquid nitrogen out.

That potion she gave us was for a damage boost. Our attacks would be a quarter stronger.

“I’ll keep looking in the chest, Elder of the Little One,” Mella said.

“Alright, find it and quick,” Uncle nodded.

“Find what?” I asked them, but an arrow whizzed right past my head and almost hit Marek again!

Even though he wasn’t hit, he suddenly cried in pain and nearly feel over. Uncle got him back on his feet.

“I just remembered…I got shot by an arrow earlier.”

“Don’t focus on that right now.” Uncle tried to calm him. “You’ll be alright if you don’t think about it.”

In this dream, it seemed like the more we remembered about our problems in the real world, the more it affected us here. So keeping it out of mind would pretty much keep us safe.

Anyone who wasn't combat capable, which was Indena and the baby, took cover under a table. She wasn’t happy to be stuffed under there while the rest of us did the fighting, but kids shouldn’t be in combat.

I mean…kinda sounds hypocritical when I say it like that, right? Since I am a kid…

Anyways, a few barricades went up around the door, and we prepared for the worst.

I stuck my spear out and jabbed any demons who tried to get through. The fear caused the smarter ones to avoid that entrance entirely, while the dinky night hags became demonic shish kabob.

Tall Nephilim had managed to scale the tower, but were met with a nasty surprise…

BANG!

SWING!

Marek shot his pirate pistol. Uncle swung his broadsword. They kept the demons at bay.

Uncle spotted something however, something big, heading our way. One Harrowing Hag, maybe two…no…three! They were holding big hammers and had construction helmets on. They were about to M***craft this tower for all the cobble it’s worth!

“Uncle, we gotta do something!”

I could charge up my mana cannon and hit them from a distance, but that would take a lot out of me, and this war of attrition wouldn’t end there. They’d just keep attacking until we were finished.

Mella was digging through a chest, still trying to find something. Uncle never did say what she was searching for.

“Witch, what are you doing?” Indena asked.

“We didn’t come to this watchtower for no reason. The front gate to the castle is locked, and we are looking for a key.”

“There’s always a locked door, isn’t there?” I stabbed a demon to vent my frustration.

Mella brought up that the chest she was searching through was completely filled with tiny bits of junk. She’d found a few keys already, but she couldn’t tell which one was which.

“Once we find the key, we’ll flee this tower!” Uncle shouted down to us.

So that was our plan here. It would take her forever to find which key was the right one, if there even was one to begin with.

A small light was sticking out of the chest, just like the chest I saw before at Blue. Could I access its contents? I’d need to be a bit closer for that.

I called down Marek, handing him my spear to guard the door temporarily. Meanwhile Uncle held both a pistol and a broadsword to fight, looking like a boss.

That prompt asking if I’d like to access the chest popped up, and I started searching the contents.

Luckily, everything was sorted by name in the menu. And wouldn't you know it, the key to the front gates was inside.

“Got the key!” I sent it into my virtual inventory.

“Then it’s time to fly!” Uncle’s glass wings sprouted out. He jumped down and took my spear from Marek. “Mella, grab Indena and the baby. Yalda, get Marek! I’ll cover our exit.”

I threw Marek over my shoulders and my wings blasted us up into the sky as quick as they could.

Mella's broomstick appeared, and her little cat body hopped right on, balancing perfectly on its shaft.

“Fool, get on,” she shouted to Indena.

“Don't tell me what to do!” Indena mounted the broom, holding the baby tightly in her arms.

They took flight, leaving Uncle to cover the escape.

One of the hammers of the harrowing hags crashed through the cobblestone wall, thrashing through the debris and missing Uncle by a hair. he retaliated by striking the demon in the gut with both his broadsword and my spear.

These harrowing hags were bigger, more powerful. His attacks were nothing but a bee sting.

Their slowness worked in his favour. He cut off ones arm, then flew up into the air toward us, narrowly escaping another strike.

We made it out of there just in time. The demons were so plentiful, they looked like ants marching on a single position.

“Everyone alright?” Uncle asked.

“I’m good.” I replied.

“We’re fine as well.” Mella said.

“Don’t speak for me…but yeah, she’s right.” Indena grumbled.

“Eh…” Marek looked like he wanted to throw up.

Crud…I think I flew up to fast for him. Unlike Mella’s broomstick, I didn’t come with magic stabilizers to ease up the g-force…

Before he ralphed all over my back, Uncle grabbed him and faced him in another direction.

On the complete other end of the spectrum, the baby was all giggly, so she was okay too.

“Little daredevil, ain’t she?” Indena commented.

“It would seem that way.” Mella agreed. “A devil indeed.”