Chapter 82

    The approaching small army stopped at the edge of the treeline and began to spread out. It wasn''t a full wall of people, but it was wide enough to alert the attackers if Matt and his team tried to escape from the fort by climbing over the back wall.

    It was a good strategic decision that he wished they hadn''t made. If they were incompetent, this would all be a lot easier.

    At least their reinforcements were only a few minutes away. Matt looked to their north and found nothing, but knew they had to be somewhere, racing across the horizon. They just needed to hold these guys off for a little while, and they would get harried from the rear, trapping them between a rock and a hard place. At that point, he hoped that the Queendom would give up on retaking the fort.

    Annie raced over towards them, under the area where they were standing on the outer wall.

    Any chance I can sneak out?

    Matt looked around and asked, Can you drop down without your invisibility breaking?

    Annie was silent for a minute. Not if they have a Tier 7. And the drop would be hard to hide.

    Matt reached into his bag and withdrew his modified golem crossbow, along with the three quiver of bolts he kept for the weapon.

    Maybe you can make use of this.

    He paused and asked, Wait. Are you any good with ranged weapons?

    Annie shrugged and said, It''s not my favorite style of combat, but I have the ranged module for my AI, and there isn''t much wind, so it should be fine.

    Matt cursed internally, but they had little recourse. He was needed to guard the broken fort''s door with Conor. It was very obviously broken, and he doubted that the attacking force would be caught unawares about their reinforcements. That would only lead to them sending a single, strong push to break through the weakest point. They would be hoping to secure the fort before more Kingdom fighters could arrive.

    It was a gamble on being able to overwhelm them with sheer numbers. With Annie on the walls, and the three mages attacking from the high ground on the fort''s roof, he hoped that they could hold through one or two waves.

    The attackers would need to storm the fort quickly with everything they had, if they hoped to overwhelm them. Unless they had siege equipment with them. Then things would get a little dicey. Especially if they had the means to climb the twenty-foot stone walls. Ladders would take time to make if they didn''t bring them because of the limited space that lower Tier spatial bags had to offer. Grappling hooks were harder to use, but easier to carry, so there was a distinct chance that they were equipped with a few. He made a note in his AI that they should have brought grappling hooks with them. It would have allowed them to avoid the front entrance.

    As he watched Annie vanish in the light of the setting sun, he received a message from Emily. My [Bolt] is too short-ranged to use from the top of the fort. I need to be on the wall.

    Matts initial thought was to curse, but as he rechecked his surroundings, he noticed that it wasn''t that bad of a situation. They would need someone on their left flank to protect from attacks holding them down, and allowing a token force to scale the walls. Annie could handle one side, being both invisible and ranged, but that left their other side undefended. This could work.

    Take the left flank. He ran the simulations and then added, to his distaste, Take Aster with you.

    His bond was a better pair with Liz and synergizing blood with ice, but she didnt quite have the range that Liz did. Even then, the situation was still less than ideal. Liz was basically a water mage who were mid-range at best. An archer would be ideal to cover them from above, with Liz guarding their rear, but they would have to have her take both roles.

    Aster would be better on the wall, helping to keep people from climbing it.

    He checked his AI and its internal clock. Fourteen minutes and seven seconds. They could hold out for that long.

    The first row of attackers moved forward with quick steps, and set up what looked like a stubby tube. Matt was confused until the image registered with his memories from the war movies that hed seen. It was a siege cannon.

    To his horror, they were pouring mana crystals into the rear holder from a spatial bag, as if they were water.

    He and Conor seemed to register it at the same time, and they dropped off the wall. A split second after they had the chance to hunker down, the concussive force of the spell shattered the air. The world seemed to shake as the dust settled. Matt stood before Conor, with the world around him ringing and blurring. The man was mouthing something while working his jaw. Matts ears had been mostly protected from the concussive force by his armor, but Conor wasn''t so lucky.

    With two steps, he was in the little gatehouse and staring at the door that was little more than remnants of hinges clinging to the blackened stone.

    His AI had already identified the model of cannon and done the math. They had used at least 10,000 mana in that blast. That was fifty Tier 5 mana stones; essentially the value of a Tier 6 stone, if not its mana equivalent.

    Matt was aghast. He created mana at an absurd rate, but that single attack was the production of a Tier 5 rift run eight times, if the average reward was given. It just seemed wasteful when that much mana could have sustained a crafter making a permanent weapon, or powered a city for hours. If they converted that mana into personal mana for their mages mana pools, it could have completely refueled four or five mages.

    Matt wasn''t able to think anymore, as the enemy had charged forward in unison with their first wave, and were now only steps away from the annihilated entrance.

    He cleared his head, and realized that he had been instinctively charging [Mana Slash]. The blue crescent quickly lashed out with an eager bite. Two people vanished as they tumbled in a spray of blood and still-settling dust.

    Conor appeared next to him as the attackers reached the doorway. The other man stood at his shoulder and thrust his shield forward, blocking a descending mace. An idle part of Matt noticed that the man was using a short metal truncheon instead of his sword, or longer mace.

    Matt kicked an attacker in the knee and immediately noticed that they were only Tier 6. The way they crumpled under his full power almost gave him pause, but he had no time to think, he could only act with power and speed.

    The door was four people wide, which let him swing his longsword around without any hindrance, but it also meant that he was always fighting at least three people while they cram their way in. A shield was split under his Tier 7 blade as he braced himself and swung at the nearest enemy.

    A screaming howl of wind tried to knock him off his feet, but Matt instinctively used his Concept to anchor himself to the ground. It knocked everyone else to their asses at the same time, and Matt noticed the mage and five archers standing behind their fallen allies. He didn''t know when they moved forward, but they were now only fifty feet away, so Matt rushed them.

    As he stepped over the rising bodies of the Queendom forces, he kicked an armored head and winched as the man vanished. Head wounds were dangerous, he tried to avoid them if he could, and only hoped that the man had been pulled out before any significant damage was done.

    The archers and mage hadnt missed the opportunity created by their comrades falling, and the archers loosed their arrows. He didn''t know if it was a miscommunication or not, but they all aimed for Conors still prone form instead of splitting their targets.

    That was their final mistake.

    Matt was close enough to get off a [Mana Slash], which he realized right as he was nearly halfway across the distance separating them. A [Wind Wall] sprang up, protecting the mage in the center and an archer on either side of him. The others were just gone, and as Matt slammed his ever brightening blade into the defensive spell, he understood why.

    They were only Tier 5.

    He almost felt like a bully, but they were a part of a mixed force, and therefore fair game. His feelings didn''t cause his blade to slow as he reared it back, and with a bright explosion of blue light, broke through the mages defenses.

    The wind mage just dropped to the ground, with blood running from his nose from the rebound of having his spell forcefully shattered. But Matt still had two archers to deal with. They hadn''t been dumb, and knew they were stuck behind the [Wind Wall], but they hadn''t sat still.

    Once the barrier fell, they both fired arrows at Matt. They were good shots. One went for Matt''s face, and the other at his chest, making them exceedingly difficult to dodge or block at this range.

    Matt ignored the arrows as they bounced off his armor, and bounded towards them. He cut through both of them in a heavy horizontal slash.

    As they fell, he noticed another group of attackers forming up at the edge of the woods, and more people mulling around the cannon. Matt sprinted back to the safety of melee combat with his enemies, and started slashing at them from behind.

    Conor was back up and had taken most of them out already. He had four arrows sticking out of his shield, and another in his shoulder.

    They retreated into the hall and peered out as the attackers prepped their cannon.

    Can you pull this arrow out? It''s stuck in my shoulder joint and I can''t reach it.

    Matt reached up, and after checking the direction of the arrow, pulled it out. To his surprise, it only had a small drop of blood on it.

    How didnt this hit you?

    Conor shrugged with his now mobile shoulder. No clue, I was just huddling behind my shield when I saw the backline. Got lucky, I guess.

    Matt tossed the arrow and asked everyone else on his team for a report.

    Annie responded first. Two small groups of people tried to scale the wall. They were going more for stealth, so it was easy to deal with them.

    Emily said, A full team with ladders tried to scale my wall, but I managed to kill them and destroy the ladders.

    Matt cursed and asked, Did they look made here, or professionally made?

    Rough, Sticks and shit lashed together.

    Matt breathed a slight sigh of relief. It wasn''t ideal that they were making them, but they at least hadnt come prepared with them.

    Liz noted, People were sniffing around the back wall where it meets up with the fortress, but I was able to keep them away without much effort.

    Matt peered out of the tunnel and saw that the enemies were actually pulling back their cannon and assembling a larger force. It looked like they were gathering everyone that hadnt been a part of the last rush or the encircling force.

    Scared to see how much time had passed, Matt checked his countdown. Seven minutes fifty-seven seconds left.

    Matt sighed. They were practically guaranteed their victory when their reinforcements arrived.

    If his initial guess of one hundred people was correct, he estimated that they had sent twenty-five or so people to surround them, with another twenty-five in the last attack through the three places they tried to gain entrance. If they attacked with everything they had, it was at most fifty people, if they wanted to keep their encirclement up.

    At five people abreast, if they all tried to cram through the front entrance, they could probably do this. They didn''t need to kill all of them, just weaken them enough. When their reinforcements arrived, the Queendom fighters would either flee or stay pinned between two attacking forces.

    The party of fifty people moved forward in a ragged formation, with shields in the front and the archers and mages behind them.

    Matt slapped Conors side to get his attention, and they moved to either side of the opening. A quick glance at his AI showed him that Emily and Aster were slightly forward, but still guarding their side. Annie had mirrored their actions, and Matt steadied his breathing while he peeked around the corner.

    The approaching unit was peppering the tunnel with arrows, trying to keep them pinned down. But with the thickness of the wall and construction of the gatehouse, there was little chance of him or Conor being hit.

    Emily agreed with the sentiment, and from Lizs curled lip and Matts armored stance, they seemed to as well.

    At the pounding of feet, Emily turned to the door and shot out a [Water Bullet], quickly followed by a [Bolt]. Her Talent increased the effect of the last skill, and [Bolt] normally had a slight chance to jump from person to person, if there was leftover energy. When it was twice as strong, the spell almost always took out two people. She wasn''t sure if that was the army watchers being cautious, or if it would take more hits to really kill someone.

    It wasn''t a pretty thought, but she was pretty sure that with both [Fireball] and [Cracked Mana Bolt], she would be hitting seven times harder. That was a jump of nearly a Tier and a half. It was a scary, but exciting thought. She needed to find a way to solve the problem of spiritual strain and mana cost.

    Her mental eye went to the blue armored man in front of her guarding her front. With Matts Concept, while she couldn''t cast indefinitely, she could get as far as her spirit let her. The thought that she needed to keep close to him was quashed ruthlessly. She wasn''t her parents, who used everyone near them. She liked Matt, and firmly made up her mind to never ask the man for mana.

    He was a friend, not a resource.

    It was still a welcome novelty, as she cast without care to her reserves. She didn''t worry about saving her attacks for the optimal attack, and just cast [Water Bullet] and [Bolt] as fast as her spirit let her.

    Two Queendom fighters shoved their way into the door, and Matt and Conor stood firm, taking blow after blow. They were more a makeshift wall of skill and steel, but they held admirably.

    She cast her combo once again, and the front two people vanished.

    They were settling into a rhythm when Annie messaged them all, Theyre breaking into the second floor. Earth mage or something.

    All of them cursed, and a rain of [Hail] burst out on the door, causing a pile-up as they all ran to the rear and up the stairs.

    Matt threw himself at a man who, even when cut nearly in half, didnt disappear, and instead quickly fused together with a burst of lighting. They were entangled, and Emily had no idea who would come out on top. She cast her combo at another two people, and watched as they vanished.

    Conor intercepted a man in armor with a pink undershirt who cast [Force Bolt] at the frontliners armor joints. Conor took the hit without a sound, even as she saw blood fly. She tried to give him a hand, when the world went white.

    Everyone froze, and all of the enemies were encased in white, while Aster was standing at the center of the growing ice attack. The other Queendom fighters were covered in frost, which grew to ice, then roses. It was so pretty, but while she wasn''t affected personally, the display was a reminder that her fox teammate wasn''t just a cute mascot, but a dangerous mage in her own right.

    Matt disentangled himself from his opponent, and as everyone encased in ice vanished, Liz stepped into the second floor. She was being pushed back from her position holding the first-floor attackers off.

    Aster broke herself from her spell, and they all ran up to the third floor, where they would only have to defend a single point of entrance instead of the two on the second floor.

    The door was slammed shut, when Emily noticed that her sister was nowhere to be seen. She cursed and was about to go back out for her, when Conor stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

    If it was anyone else with her sister''s Talent that had stayed behind, she would have expected they would run and abandon them, but not her sister. Annie had always taken the burden from her.

    ***

    Annie pressed herself in the corner of the room''s ceiling and waited. Watching Aster flash freeze half a dozen people was impressive, but she still saw the way things were going. They were left out to dry, and they were all fucked if they didn''t do something.

    Matt had a good point about holding out, but she didn''t think it was likely. The commander was throwing everything they had at this assault, and from the way the fights were going, she noticed at least two groups of Pathers being sent ahead to clear the building.

    No, if any of them wanted to get out alive, some chaos needed to be spread.

    She waited until a mass of Queendom fighters came, and then slipped down to the first floor while the stairs were clear.

    She didn''t know what Liz had done, but the room was painted red. There was blood dripping off of the ceiling in a disgusting display.

    Annie picked her steps carefully. While her Talent allowed her to remain invisible and mostly intangible, it wasn''t perfect, and bloody footprints would give her away. Even if she could walk through most soft objects without disturbing them, liquids were still beyond her for now.

    Carefully picking her way out of the fort, she found a wounded man and scooped him up while using his body to cover her Kingdom arm sash. She had learned long ago that blending in was more than not being seen. Sometimes, being seen was far better, so she abandoned her Talent without hesitation.

    She stumbled like her leg hurt and started to move the man out of the fort, where there was a triage station set up. No one wanted to be killed and lose their points if they could avoid it. She also noticed the leaders camp right next to the aid station.

    As they limped closer, she inspected the healer. It was a party healer, which meant that they were fair game. She formulated her plan, and as the healer reached out to help her and the man she was caring for, Annie thrust a knife into the man''s chest,and pulled the three of them down.

    She didn''t go for his heart, but his lung. Without the ability to hold air, the man couldn''t scream. The man next to her was dispatched by touching her dagger to his throat. Both of them vanished.

    Annie reactivated her Talent, and half crawled away and under a table. She waited until someone noticed the disappearance of their healer, and ran to report to the leader. When she identified the man in charge, she prepared to slink away.

    From her spiritual sense, the leader was Tier 7, and might be able to see through her Talent. So, she fell into step right behind a Tier 6 woman as she brought the leader a scrap of bloody cloth as evidence of the healers death.

    When the aide was a step away from where Annie thought she would stop, she kicked the aide''s forward-moving foot behind her planted one.

    As the woman flailed out, the leader instinctively reached out to steady the falling woman.

    Annie jumped into action, and had just enough time to see the mans eyes widen as her dagger took him in the throat.

    Annie didn''t bother to run. She was surrounded by people, and used her dagger to slash out at the other people who seemed important.

    Her blade met flesh until she was too slow, and took a dark, black, mana made chain through the chest.

    She flung out her dagger in a last, defiant, attack, but was in a hospital bed before she saw the result.

    ***

    Matt brought his blade forward in a thrust.

    His head was pounding, and he felt like deactivating his armor and just letting someone split open his head to relieve the pressure. He had never overused his Concept this much before, and keeping the mages over half mana was all he could do.

    It was the only reason they were still fighting strong. Emily was continuously blasting people away, and if not for the force of people pushing from behind, Matt knew that no one would be willing to face the embodiment of a lighting blast.

    Liz and Aster took potshots while Emily caught her breath. She was panting as if she was running sprints, and clutched her rib as she cast spell after spell.

    Matt was angry.

    They were only in this situation because the Kingdom had put a coward in charge, and he had every intention of breaking his bones for a few weeks straight.

    A [Wind Blade] shot up the now cleared stairway, and Matt took in on his chest with a wince. That was no normal Tier 6s attack. They broke his armor for a second, but were unable to punch through his lighter inner armor with a single attack.

    Mentally thanking Keith for his armor-breaking training, Matt quickly reformed the spell in his spirit, and had it ready for the next attack.

    The mage realized that they werent getting anywhere after three more attacks, and gave up.

    The only thing Matt could hear was heavy breathing from around him and from the floor below.

    A scream behind him caused him to whirl, only to see what looked like a physical shadow behind them, and a bloody Emily vanishing.

    Matt lashed out with a [Mana Charge], but Liz beat him to it with a rain of [Blood Bullets]. The blood attacks didn''t do much to the living shadow, but Matts mana empowered blade cut a rent out of the man, and he vanished.

    It was already too late, though. The man had done his job, and people poured around a vanishing Conor and flooded the room.

    Liz lashed out with whips of blood, but a glowing barrage of arrows took her out of the fight. Matt heard a yip and felt a flash of pain that only hammered the steel of his rage even further.

    Standing alone in a sea of bodies, he slashed with large rending strokes. Bodies vanished, but more always appeared to fill in the gaps.

    Matt fought on his own for what felt like years, but his AI said it was closer to fifteen minutes. They kept sending bodies at him with little strategy, and the fighting turned primal. Strategy and technique was discarded for power and bloodshed. The Queendom fighters stepped forward and one by one he cut them down as he was slowly pushed back into a wall.

    His armor was broken through more than once, but he was always able to reform it before taking more than shallow cuts.Rage fueled him more than stamina or mana could at this point. In his anger he discarded [Endurance], and put everything he had into [Mages Retreat] and [Cracked Phantom Armor]. They had harmed his family, and he was going to make sure they paid for it.

    With his back to a corner, Matt felled a dozen people in Queendom uniforms. When they pulled back, a shorter man with dark hair and a blue tint to his skin replaced them.

    Matt panted heavily as a wave of what looked like ink flew out at him in a wave. Matt tried to sidestep it and charge forward, but felt himself lifted off his feet as the pressure increasing on his armor. The dark water mage was squeezing him until he popped.

    He ignored it and tried to think. He had no leverage, and his only option was to use his teleporting ring. But it felt like a waste to give up his trump card so easily.

    As he tried to think of a way out, he swung his sword through the water ineffectually. The glowing blade gave him an idea but with nothing to hit he couldn''t release the mana stored in [Mana Charge].

    Bringing his blade around to his leg Matt let the blast of mana out. It was unfortunate but without striking something the skill couldnt be triggered, a safety measure he intended to remove after this.

    It broke [Cracked Phantom Armor] and mangled his leg, but it also shattered the spell around him, and he dropped down into a watery puddle. Matt awkwardly lunged forward, but someone else stepped up to protect the mage, and stabbed him while his armor was still coming back.

    The leg he used [Mana Charge] on wasnt working properly, but Matt pushed through the pain and ripped the shield forward with a guttural roar.

    He brought his fist down on an armored head, even as he felt metal bite deep into his back and chest.

    With a final punch and roar, the man under him vanished.

    A moment later, and with an ever-growing cold sensation through his chest, he did as well.