With Maria's surprise arrival, the equation had changed significantly. The three ascended and split desperately, trying to escape, but their attempt had been useless. The first attack from Maria was enough to temporarily shatter their protective aura.

I didn't waste even a second before tagging them with several decay attacks, damaging their armor. Not enough to turn them useless, but enough to damage it. A few repeats, and instead of returning their army, they choose to split and escape directly.

As much as I wanted to talk with Maria and learn about her adventures when she was away, it was not the priority. The ascended were. I was ready to chase them. Killing three more ascended from Drakka would ruin their plans further, but that particular plan was quick to be abolished when Maria gestured to me with a sign.

While we had explored the dungeon, we had developed a rudimentary yet effective set of signs to allow quick communication in battle. And, the gesture she flashed was told me that her mana reserves were depleted somewhat. Not running dry completely, but enough to be careful.

I stopped chasing the ascended, letting them run away while I turned my attention to the beast wave. While Maria descended to my side, I sent several Radiant attacks to deal with some of the stranger beasts that would resist the artillery bombardment.

Maria descended to my side during the chaos, a smile on her face, her eyes glowing fiercely while her hair cascaded like flames around her face. "You have been busy without me," she teased lightly.

I shrugged. "Things might have gone a touch out of control."

"A touch. Is that what you call a battle against a city," she replied, but her smile stayed on her face, showing that she wasn't blaming me for … well, anything.

"A good way to keep things exciting," I replied, then looked at the beast wave. "Where's Eleanor?"

"She'll be here in a few minutes. I decided to go ahead once we saw the size of the beast wave. But, I shouldn't have worried. You have everything under control."

"No, your presence really helped," I said. "Dealing with both the ascended and the beast wave would have been a nightmare. Their commitment really surprised me. I was sure they wouldn't send any once they lost two of them during the previous attack."

"Two of them?" Maria asked, shocked.

"Ah, you don't really know what happened in your absence, right?" I asked.

She nodded. "We can share stories once we deal with the beast wave. We still have a lot to talk about, including how to deal with my monster of a cousin. I have learned some worrying things about his support —" she started, then paused, noticing my sheepish expression. "What's wrong?"

"Well, you're a bit late about dealing with Thomas. His final attempt was … well, final."

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Her eyes widened. "You are filled with surprises, aren't you, Devon? And here I was, confident that my gift would be enough to thank you for everything you have done for me…"

"The circumstances forced it somewhat," I replied, feeling sheepish. Frankly, I was glad that she didn't come out and blamed me for killing her cousin. Admittedly, Thomas more than earned it, but it wouldn't be the first time someone acted irrationally when it came to the death of a family member.

"Circumstances… We have a lot of stories to share, it seems."

"True. Why don't you go back and escort Eleanor back here while I organize the defenses, and we can swap stories once things calm down," I said.

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"Good plan," she said as she gave a radiant smile, then floated away. I rushed back to the defenses, but instead of running at full speed, I used my relative proximity to the beast wave to observe the effectiveness of the shells.

The results were not as good as I hoped. Without the direct countering effect from the dungeon material, the number of deaths wasn't as impressive as I had hoped. Not bad enough to be called ineffective, as it was enough to destroy the weakest ones, but it was just stealing droplets from the suffocating incoming wave.

There was a reason Drakka believed that this particular beast wave would be able to do what their army could not.

Yet, I was feeling no pressure even as I went back to the third defensive line, the one that was under construction. I gave another signal, summoning more of our forces to the third line.

Without Maria, I would have ordered a full retreat to the second defensive line, ready to abandon the construction despite its full implications. Admittedly, I didn't know just how much her ascension affected her potential, but even assuming a modest increase, her presence changed the arithmetics of the defense equation quite a bit, as she could deal with the great number of weaker beasts better than I could, while also giving us another option to deal with the bigger ones.

Then, there was Eleanor, who could probably deliver a performance similar to me once I found a way to help her replenish her mana.

When I reached the first defensive position, Harold was waiting for me. "Sir, is that…"

"Yes, Lady Maria is back," I said, making sure to reflect my happiness. I could see Harold tense at the mention. I could understand where he was coming from. After all, in her absence, I had been the undisputed ruler of the land, and her return meant a demotion for me. Others, I could easily imagine trying to maintain their authority.

Me, I just wanted to return to my experimentation.

"We need to put together a defense. Maintain a constant bombardment, and authorize a limited authorization of Radiant shells if necessary. We don't want the beast wave to reach the walls before they are complete," I said, pointing at the workers moving at a desperate speed.

"It's risky, sir," Harold admitted.

"Somewhat, but we don't have the luxury of playing safe," I said. "If we pull back, we'll lose most of the material we committed to the construction, and delay the construction," I explained.

What followed was a battle that could almost be called routine. Just like how I fought back when we were dealing with the lizard waves, I stayed near the frontlines, dealing with the larger beasts that could cause risks while our siege weapons shredded through the weakest variants. As for our soldiers, they focused on dealing with the mid-sized variants, using their abilities to the best light while also leveling up.

And, they were not the only ones to level up. An hour into the fighting, I received a happy notification.

[Level 80 - 81]

[+5 Vitality, +4 Strength, +3 Dexterity, +5 Essence, +3 Wisdom]

However, the true difference was the performance of our surprise reinforcements. Maria had fought amazingly. Every time she raised her hand, intricate mana symbols formed in the air around her, turning into scorching heat. The beasts barely had time to react before waves of devastating flames crashed into them again and again, turning the strongest part of their formation into ashes.

Her spells moved fluidly, alternating between precise strikes against the boss monsters and sweeping the mobs whenever their numbers built up to a point that they could risk the construction efforts.

Eleanor was visible at the distance as well, dancing smoothly between boss monsters, easily taking down the biggest opponents with ease, her performance was enough to show she had ascended as well. Though, interestingly, the difference in performance was only visible when she used Health to attack. Her mana attacks were merely similar to her past attacks.

I wondered what was the reason for the great difference, but only momentarily. Talking with them would give me a better understanding of what was going on. All we needed was to deal with the monster wave.

Reinvigorated, I rallied alongside them, cutting through the weakening beast wave, slowly dwindling it until it finally stopped posing a risk to even half-completed defenses. I gave a few orders to organize the extraction of the materials, already planning on how to put the great variety of materials to better use.

As the army dealt with the rest, Eleanor approached me with a mischievous smile playing on her lips, Maria not too far away. "Did you miss me?"

"More than you can imagine," I replied, genuinely relieved about their presence. "The timing is your arrival is truly incredible."

"Hey, what about me?" Maria asked from a distance, earning a chuckle from me, feeling a part of the stress I had been carrying for weeks disappear.

Hopefully, things would get better, and I wouldn't have to respond to every little crisis anymore…