Page 70 of Elven Crown

A very familiar low whine, like that of a particularly large magitek weapon powering up and readying to fire.

Shit. There were more weapons in that fourth truck. Only these ones were live and ready to be used against Rebecca and her team.

Before she could sound the alarm to ready for another attack that was coming, the rear door of the eighteen-wheeler lifted violently open with a metallic rumble and crash. The whine of the weapon powering up inside doubled in volume.

That wasn’t a good sign, but Rebecca focused not on the high-powered magitek weapon inside that truck but on the creature standing behind it.

The griybreki who had opened that rear door was enormous, damn near the size of a full-blooded ogre when every other griybreki Rebecca had seen was under four feet tall.

This one bellowed in their guttural language, spittle flying from his huge, grotesquely bloated lips, his voice nearly as deep and gravelly as an ogre’s too, though there was no denying the hulking creature was griybreki through and through.

Once he had everyone’s attention, the big guy turned, bent behind an enormous metal crate beside him, and straightened again with his acquired item in hand.

A terrifyingly large weapon, like a cross between an RPG launcher and an M249 belt-fed machine gun, the entire system lighting up with deviously bright, shimmering green light from within as the wine of the weapon system’s power-up only intensified.

It wasn’t the magitek RPG launcher inside Eduardo’s base that Aldous had wanted to get his hands on so badly. But it certainly could have been in the same family of black-market augmented weaponry.

The second the griybreki had the enormous weapon lifted in both arms, propping the thick, heavy stock against the side of his overhanging belly, Rebecca knew she and her team were in trouble.

The monstrous griybreki opened fire with a warbling bellow that sent a tremor through the docks.

The same eerie green light erupted from the weapon in a blazing line of energy.

Like a damn magical laser.

The first shot zipped across the docks and crashed into the closest shipping container with a metallic boom.

The giant griybreki screamed non-stop as he fired, turning continuously to spray a stream of magical laser beam back and forth across the docks. Explosions erupted in quick succession at the contact.

Metal shipping containers ripped apart or were seared in half beneath a single blast of light. Bits of concrete were drilled free and knocked high into the air before crashing down in a crumbling, crushing mess.

Everything that green laser touched fell under the spraying stream. When the charge hit a stack of shipping containers andcut through the first layer of them like a knife through butter, Rebecca started moving again.

The tower of shipping containers burst apart with a deafening roar, sending the remaining slivers of metal shrapnel zipping in every direction across the docks. All that remained in its place was a pile of glittering dust and the last few bits of debris pelting down around Rebecca, her team, and the few remaining griybreki they hadn’t yet subdued.

It didn’t seem possible that this was only a demonstration, but the giant griybreki in the truck let out a blood-chilling roar of laughter before he slammed a meaty fist into the side of the new weapon. The system’s magically powered whine kicked up a notch until it practically screamed across the docks.

So did the griybreki when he opened fire with an even deadlier stream of blinding green light swiveling back and forth.

Clearly, Rebecca’s celebratory pride had been a little premature.

The docks exploded wherever the passing stream of green laser touched. Rebecca darted forward, summoning more powerful fireballs in both hands to blast at the griybreki in the trailer as she screamed to her team, “Take cover!”

The battle on the docks reignited when the remaining griybreki realized they might gain the upper hand. A dozen others swarmed from the fourth transport truck, veering around their giant firing one of the deadliest magitek weapons on Earth.

Her team wasn’t out of the woods yet.

Shade’s shouts now mingled with the griybreki’s wild screams and the wail of the enormous weapon firing in every direction, carrying far more griybreki into the fight. The creatures now swarmed across the docks again, renewing their attack on Rebecca and her operatives.

Colorful, magical bursts sprayed everywhere, illuminating the darkness like fireworks. Rebecca’s team scattered to avoid theworst of the magical laser’s destructive bursts. The enormous griybreki inside the new eighteen-wheeler just wouldn’t let up on his firing.

Then she heard the shouts of her team but couldn’t quite make sense of what they were saying.

“We gotta bring him down!” she shouted anyway, then dove behind another stack of shipping crates to avoid the next hissing burst of green light swerving in her direction. She missed getting caught in the crossfire, but the second the sizzling energy crashed into the shipping containers, the entire stack was obliterated.

An explosion of green light and sparks and shreds of bursting metal illuminated the area around her.

“What the hell do we do now?” Diego shouted.

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