Mark was less than pleased with how long it took their forces to reach the opponents dungeon. Their attack would begin nearly half an hour after Mareth had started her attack on their own dungeon. Not to mention that their army was already down five units. The scorpions had been too slow to keep up with the army. They would reach the dungeon in another half an hour, too late to be of any help.
Their defenses had done extremely well. Despite being outnumbered they had killed over half of Mareth’s army and were still fighting. They might manage to kill another 50 units or so, but more importantly, Mark expected them to hold out for another 10 minutes.
Mark almost smiled when it took a couple of minutes before the bronze guardians and jack o lanterns, that had been held in reserve, rushed to join the fight. A couple of minutes in which Mareth had been frozen in indecision. Seemingly she had realized that things were now a race. Mark had no clue what Mareth’s dungeon had to offer on the lower levels, but he was confident it would not be enough. Still he would have liked to proceed through them cautiously. Now the units would be rushing through as fast as possible.
Luckily, Mark and Amelia had the best vanguard dungeon exploration force that could be asked for. The cockroaches were both cheap, quick, and durable. Not to mention they were still powerful enough to pose a threat to weaker units. Mark had them rush forward into the territory to prevent Mareth from summoning more units, but now he had them stand aside. He could not afford to lose too many of them outside the dungeon.
Mareth’s walls were a good twenty feet high. They were made of wood, although an outer layer of stone had started being erected along the outside perimeter of the wall. Walkways and parapets surrounded the top of the wall. Mark sported a smile as big as the Cheshire cat when he saw how few units there were to defend it. Did she only have a couple hundred units? Still their units had to go around to a different side of the castle where Mareth had a wooden gate.
Scarecrow archers started firing, but the arrows were few and far between. The arachne mages made the first move and got in position in front of the main gate. Five lances seemingly struck as one. Runes on the gate lit up, but even against only five mages the runes did not stop the attack entirely. The 50 yellow mages moved in as the 100 yellow archers started firing flaming arrows at the scarecrows. Once the 50 yellow mages attacked the gates with fire balls and lances the door exploded inwards.
A minute into the attack and they were already inside. A small clump of clay and block golems moved to intercept the invaders, however they faced a platoon of armored bugbears. Like bugs splattering against a windshield the defenders were turned to rubble as the bugbears moved right through them.
Inside the outer walls were a handful of various buildings, but the attacking force immediately charged through them toward the inner keep. Units were streaking out from the mine. Individuals or pairs of units rushing to join the defense. It was clear that a lot of the forces that Mareth did have were all still in the dungeon.
Mareth had gathered about 100 units to defend her inner keep. A couple of creepers led the defense, sending globs of acid at the approaching army. Several bugbears went down due to the acid or arrows, but the rest continued forward right through the gap in the wall where a future gate would likely go. Mareth’s keep was still in its infancy. The bugbears engaged from the inside as spiders and cockroaches hit the outer wall. They went up and over
The defenders fell quite quickly, but Mark did not even wait for them to all fall before sending cockroaches into the dungeon. Mareth’s dungeon had fallen in five minutes, but her forces had already entered their own dungeon, while some units mopped up the rest. Forrest guardians and creepers, her fastest units were moving as quickly as possible through the hallways and chambers. In another five minutes they would face off against their first floor defenders.
It was a race against time, and Mark’s units were a few minutes behind. Mark could only hope that Mareth had fewer dungeon levels. However, if she did it would probably not be more than one less. A difference that could be made up or lost depending on the attacking forces and their dungeon layouts. However, it seemed the first floor was relatively simple, Tunnels and rooms.
Mareth’s forces reached the final room first and engaged the first floor defenders. The floor had a full complement of 10 orcs along with the defenders, but they fell seemingly just as quickly as the hobgoblins. Winnie the floor guardian got reduced to goo almost immediately, before he could do much. The trap crushed 10 units, but that was because all strategy had seemingly been thrown aside as units swarmed up the slope. Seemingly the 30 or so units lost were acceptable, but she took the room in less than two minutes. The constructs proceeded to the second level.
The cockroaches ran into random units quite frequently. Flesh golems and creepers that took their toll on the bug force. Most continued forward as a pair of cockroaches engaged the enemy. Mareth had unlocked the first floor maelstrom. The bugbear platoon following less than a minute behind quickly fell the individual units, hardly pausing a step.
The cockroaches also hit traps although few cockroaches were lost to such imprecise measures. A good five minutes had passed since Mareth hit their second floor, before the cockroaches reached the final room. They had lost some time, but what they found waiting for them in the final room of Mareth’s first floor only caused the alarm to deepen. The 25 defenders were all flesh golems or creepers, but the two cave trolls were what really caught the eye. Her first floor spawner was something to be envied.
Mark wished he had a way to stop the cockroaches, but they skittered forward. The flesh golems and creepers they could deal with to an extent. However the 2 giant cave trolls would smoosh them as easily as Mark could crush a bug. The cockroaches took staggering losses before the next units arrived, the arachne.
The cave trolls immediately moved toward the more appetizing targets. Mark could only watch as the five arachne went down causing as much damage to the trolls as they could in defiance., either under foot or by the giant’s clubs. The rest of the forces made it and started hitting the trolls from all sides. Mages started burning the trolls with fireballs which stopped the onslaught. Henry moved in to engage one, while the other bugbears whittled down the other. Despite the aid from the mages the trolls were able to last several minutes putting their forces' progress even further behind Mareth’s.
There were only 63 cockroaches left from the initial 150, however Mark sent them forward. He had already known this attack would be far different than their assault on Nehemiah's dungeon. The cockroaches had been crucial there, but they were less effective against enemies they had difficulty killing. Still they had done their job on the first floor. All of the traps on the floor had been sprung on them, and they had kept all of the defenders busy, even killing most of the creepers, while the bugbears and mages dealt with the cave trolls. The cave trolls should be a one-off. Mareth should not have any more spawners that were that powerful.
Mareth’s forces were nearly at the end of floor two, before the cockroaches continued on. The forest guardians charged up the two ramps as the creepers and jack o lanterns supported them. The only saving grace was that the slower stone and bronze guardians had fallen behind. Still that would not matter much, if Mareth’s advance forces could conquer the defenders prior to them getting there. The few rock and flesh golems were still on floor one, so like the 5 scorpions of their own attack force it seemed they would no longer be a part of the attack.
The second floor fell easily due to the high levels of fire power that Mareth’s forces immediately brought to bear. Mark could only hope that her forces would wane. They were constructs so they did not tire physically, but their manna was not unlimited. However, Mark noticed that each of the creepers and jack o lanterns had vials in a pouch on their lower back. They might be able to continue hitting the dungeon full force, while Mark’s own attacking army had to slow down or risk exhausting the units too much to battle.
Bruce the drone wasp went down as easily as Winnie. Once again he had been sent to attack the mages. He had managed to take a few down with him, but less than Mark had hoped.
The red mages in the side towers were the last alive once again, but Mareth’s forces did not even bother to climb the towers. Instead they poured towards the opening to the third floor.
Mareths’ third floor was an obvious rush job. No traps, nothing unique, but it would still take the cockroaches 10 minutes to cross it. They were a good 8 minutes behind at this point, so had ground to make up. Then there was the fact that their own third floor was just one giant cavern. If the defenders were wiped out quickly they would lose even more time. Mark had them hide away in a far corner away from the portal down to the fourth floor. As long as Dragon was alive they could not go down.
Mareth’s forces engaged with the bugbears, and skeletal knights on the third floor. They found them within minutes. Their frantic attack cost them a lot of units. The bugbears and skeletal knights were powerful enough to make it costly. However clearing out another 40 units did not seem like much, when Mareth still had 240 left to participate in the attack. She had entered with 400, but nearly 50 of them included the rock and flesh golems which had already fallen behind.
However, Dragon was still on his feet. He had not participated in the brief, yet intense struggle, nor would he. Mark smiled wickedly as Dragon ran from more attackers. Mareth did not have a single unit that could run the powerful reanimated behir down, and the cavern was so big. Mark was asserting direct control on the undead beast, moving him away, keeping him alive.
How long could Mark keep it up? He did not know, but a minute had passed and Mareth’s units had not hit it with a single spell. That might soon change. Mareth started having units fan out. Mark would not let Dragon get cornered, but when they came spread out like that, it was inevitable that some attacks would hit. If enough acid attacks hit, Dragon might lose the mobility that was crucial in keeping him out of reach. Things would end quite quickly after that.
The cockroaches reached the end of floor two revealing only 25 defenders, which appeared no different from the first floor. More creepers and flesh golems, although these ones might have an extra boost from an upgrade or two. Regardless, they went down quickly once the goblin support arrived. There would only be 24 cockroaches to check for traps on the third floor. They would all die by the end, and then it would just be the goblins and the 10 spiders.
Mark weaved Dragon in and around, occasionally sending Dragon right through a thin net of attackers. Dragon carved up units when he could. However, Mark could tell that the game would soon be at an end. The jack o lanterns were now resorting to their ultimate move whenever the dragon got close. So far only a few had hit near the undead beast, but one direct hit might end the keep away game.
Mark focused intensely zooming out his tactical screen occasionally to look for a new place to move Dragon to. However, the game ended when Mark moved Dragon to a seemingly clear area. Several jack o' lanterns attacked immediately from all sides emerging from hiding behind large stalagmite pillars. Their ultimate moves smashed into Dragon’s sides and legs. A couple legs hung limply and others were heavily damaged.
Not able to keep running away, Mark switched Dragon to carnage mode. However, he was able to kill only six units before the overwhelming amount of attacks coming from all directions brought him down. The construct army did not stop to admire their handiwork, they immediately marched for the entrance to the fourth floor. However, Dragon had bought them a lot of time. The goblin forces were already engaging the creeper and flesh golems at the end of Mareth’s third floor.
With all of the cockroaches gone, the goblin regiment led the charge into the fourth floor. They were only minutes behind Mareth’s forces now, but Mareth’s forces were already fighting the scorpions while the arachne launched attacks from above. Mareth’s forces were taking losses, but not as much as Mark would expect. They were also killing the scorpions quite quickly.
Nearly a hundred jack o lanterns had made it into the dungeon. Upon entering the fourth floor a small majority still had their pumpkin heads, but now they were pulling them off and using their ultimate attack without abandon. The jack o lanterns would be left extremely weakened, but it looked like a good 30 to 40 would still have their ultimate move in reserve after this floor was conquered.
Mark had King move to the opposite corner from where they had engaged the enemy forces, but they quickly flowed that way after wiping out the majority of the other scorpions. Having reached the back side of the level, the units found the entrance to the next floor and a way to get units up to the second level. Some units went up and some started making their way across the dungeon level. Two scorpions had been kept to ambush Mareth’s forces, and hopefully lead Mareth’s forces in a different direction to keep them from finding King the floor guardian, but with the way they were attacking without abandon the ruse would not last long.
The fourth floor was buying them more time, but the goblins had slowed significantly. They had marched hard for over an hour to reach the dungeon and had been moving or battling for the last half hour. Unlike the constructs they were flesh and blood, they could not continue forward at full speed.. Mark allowed them to slow down to a quick walk. Hopefully, they could regain their breath and get ready for a final push. They were on Mareth’s fourth floor the same as her forces were on theirs.
Mareth had spent a little more time to make her fourth floor more formidable. A room of spiked pendulums swung back and forth. Occasionally some bashed together changing their trajectory. How much DP had she spent on this? Mark was left to wonder.
The first few goblins that ventured out into the chaos got brained. The others did not make a move until Henry lifted his hammer menacingly. They started forward once more, Each goblin choosing their own path. It was better to face the pendulums and maybe make it through than to face certain death from a motivated superior. The goblins knew to take a superior's threat very seriously.
The room slowed down the army significantly, but there were far fewer deaths than Mark would have expected, maybe 30 in total. None of the bugbear platoon were among them. Oddly enough none of the large spiders were struck either. Mark chalked it up to them having a spidey sense. Regardless, it was good since they carried the 10 spiritualists.
Despite the danger, them having to navigate through the room would have to be the end of the goblins breather. Mareth’s forces had found and eliminated King. The 190 that remained moved on into the open air room. The sudden sunlight did not affect the construct creatures, however they did pause to study the spiraled mountain before them.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Mark had set up floor 5 like a tower defense game. Enemy units would have to move back and forth up a hill to reach the top. Brambles and steep terrain would keep all by the most determined from just going straight up. Three sets of 3 blood roses formed walls across the paths. Their tangled vines and bulk would slow enemy unit progress even further. All the while the 15 sunflowers would rain down attacks on the units from above. The lotus power would empower them as much as it could from out of sight.
Mareth had her forces reconfigure immediately. All of the bronze guardians were still alive, and she had determined it was time to use them. Other than the 86 of them Mareth had 55 forest and stone guardians and 49 jack o' lanterns. However only half of these jack o lanterns still had their ultimate move available to them, the other half were about as dangerous as level 1 units.
Light beams blazed down on the approaching army. The sunburst had to be focused on one bronze guardian for several seconds to melt the unit enough to end its existence. The fifteen sunflowers were only able to kill 22 after blowing through their charge. Mark had them target the bronze statues with the sunburst. Then they would focus their other attacks on the softer targets. The jack o lanterns could only strike the nearest blood roses with their attacks, the elevation would keep the sunflowers and the lotus out of range for a majority of their climb.
The goblin forces found Mareth’s defenders in a simple room at the end of the fourth floor. A couple of tiers of a walled fortress lay before them. The goblins would have to climb the stairs and then cut back up another flight of stairs to the next level's wall. All of the defenders were creepers and manned the battlements. They would pour acid down as attackers approached. The floor had familiar units from a spawner, thrash bears. Mark could see them ready to ambush attackers as they climbed up the flights of stairs. Just like Mark’s tower defense level, multi multi-tiered tower would allow the creepers to rain down acid on the attackers.
Henry sent the goblins charging forward. The archers and mages started firing burning arrows and spells over the walls. The spiritualists sent their shadows forward. The shadows overtook the charging goblins. The thrash bears would have a hard time ambushing them. Some shadows would kill the bears while the others would continue up after the creepers.
While initially menacing, the defenders fell quite quickly. Mark watched as the shadows cleared out the bears and the creepers. The biggest delay to Mark’s forces would be all the steps. The goblins slogged up them tiredly. Mark had the 10 spiders move on over them and into the fifth floor. Each carried their spiritualists and Mark had a couple mages jump on each. The bugbear platoon was able to power through on their own. They entered Mareth’s fifth floor several minutes after Mareth’s forces had entered theirs.
However, due to Mark’s urging Henry was leaving behind the majority of the goblin forces. Hopefully, Mareth only had five floors, but if she had a sixth then the goblins needed to hurry. If she had a seventh, then only God could help them get out of this. Henry left with most of the leaders of the goblins, which left the goblins with less formidable leaders in charge. They urged the green goblins or other yellow hobgoblins forward, but Mark could tell it was just lip service. One leader even was sitting on a step yelling at those down below. It was very likely that they would not be a part of the attack anymore.
The blood rose’s proved to only be a minor inconvenience. Mareth sent a flaming or acidic ultimate move into each of them. Mareth was not holding back resources if it meant stalling progress. The final moves devastate the blood roses if not kill them outright. The attacks from the sunflowers had slowed down significantly. Most had burned through their manna. They replenished it extremely quickly if they were rooted, which they all were, but the result was still only an attack every couple of seconds from the 15 units.
The jack o lanterns had done their best to hide against the side of the hill, making the various guardians the only target available. Mark had them focus on the forest or stone guardians. It took quite a few magic missiles to even bring one down, but the sunflowers were somehow good at coordinating targets. One unlocky guardian would take attack after attack until it went down. Then the sunflowers would move on to the next one. They could not beat the force, but decreasing their numbers would be extremely beneficial. It would leave Mareth with fewer units to search on the sixth floor.
When Mareth’s forces killed the last of the blood roses they streamed uphill. Enough time had passed for the sunflowers to shoot a fraction of a second sunburst. They all targeted a couple of bronze guardians leading the charge over the hill lip. Hitting at the same time, the two guardians die, melting into a metallic slag. Then began, Mark’s last trick, sequential concussion waves. Ten of the sunflowers had held onto enough manna for one last spell. Mark actively coordinated their 30 second cast time giving 10 seconds in between each attack.
Only one bronze guardian made it around the beams of translucent air that knocked the force back. The closest sunflower engaged him while the other sunflowers shot their concussion waves 10 seconds apart. If Mark would have known how effective it would be he would have had them save a lot of manna and keep this going for 10 minutes, but the 10 waves only held off the guardians for an additional 2 minutes. The sunflowers fell quickly in the melee, and the lotus with its tendril vines was hardly even a challenge. The guardians struck them all down and proceeded onto the sixth and final floor.
The sixth floor was a near copy of their fourth floor. When Mareth saw it she adjusted her forces appropriately in a short time frame. She had just over 120 units to take on the 25 defenders. Mareth did not know it was their last floor, but it did not matter her forces proceeded forward to wipe out this floor as quickly as possible.
The goblin forces were running several minutes behind. It would not matter if the fifth floor was Mareth’s last floor, and with how her units were attacking he could have believed it. But how could they be so lucky? The fifth floor defenders challenged them on a narrow passage of steps. It was the first floor that she had level 2 units, so perhaps she had thought the rock golems would stall attacks allowing the jack o lanterns to devastate from above.
Last floor or not, Mark had a third of the bugbears take their rock skin pills and charge forward. A half dozen final moves turned the passage into a death trap. Only one bugbear who had been out in front was able to continue forward. Twelve more had been killed instantly. However, Henry surged forward moments after the explosion. Mark saw him ingest his own pill. The other bugbear in front of him went down to several fireballs. Henry burst through the flame and brought his hammer down on the first rock golem.
Now in close, Henry was able to go to work. The jack o lanterns behind did not care about hitting their own units; they sent attacks down at the bugbear colonel, but the rock golems blocked him from the worst of it, and his high defense helped to prevent critical damage. The last few final attacks exploded from behind, sending shrapnel into the colonel’s back, but they had been too far behind to do much to the bugbear leader. Dozens of magic lances streaked over the melee into the mass of jack o lanterns. While powerful units, they were not entirely durable. Without room to maneuver, being packed in like sardines now made things go poorly for Mareth’s defenders.
A majority of the scorpions were dead by the time that Henry hit the portal…To find that Mareth indeed had a sixth floor. Mark heard Amelia gasp in dismay. Before Henry was a seemingly endless corridor. Mark immediately guessed the purpose of the long unending tunnel. Mareth had thrown this floor together to stall them, just like he had done an hour or two ago. Mark shouted direction to Henry who quickly complied.
Unfortunately, for Mareth the spiders could actually be quite quick, moving as quick as a human could sprint, and despite the morning’s exertions the spiders were ready to go. The type of spiders these units were based on were the big wandering spiders so moving for hours was not really too much of an exertion. They should still be good for a quick burst, even laden down with three units each.
Mark brought all of the spiritualists. A handful of the best bugbears and the mages with the most manna. The rest would be left behind to follow at half the speed that the spiders could muster. Mark had thought to leave Henry behind since he looked like he was barely holding it together. His skin was burnt, his armor was charred, and he had more than a few puncture wounds. But Henry took another rock skin pill from one of his subordinates staying behind and hopped on. The spiders started streaking down the tunnel.
The last big bulk of scorpions were making their last stand as the arachne and bugbear healer supported them. However, they would not hold out for more than a few minutes. Within another five to ten minutes she could sweep the entire floor. She already had a handful of units standing by the portal door that would allow them into the core room as soon as the guardian was slain.
But to Mareth’s dismay when the final defender her forces were facing fell, she found that the guardian lock was still there. Mark watched as her forces exploded in all directions. She had killed 24 defenders, but this was Mark’s last move. If Mareth discovered the trick they would be finished.
Amelia grabbed his hand and gave him a frightened smile. All they could do now was wait. The dungeon core interface screen showed a line of spiders running down a hall, while both their personal screens showed the 100 or so remaining attackers scrambling to find their sixth floor’s guardian.
Ten minutes passed, and Mark felt her hand clench his tighter as the end of the hallway came into view. Henry was already shouting orders. He was riding the front spider. He threw in the pill, brought out his shield, and activated the barrier as they crossed the threshold of the tunnel’s opening. Magic attacks including jack o lantern’s final moves erupted in explosions around Henry and his mount. The spider he had been riding, the spiritualist, and the mage that had been riding beside him were all torn to shreds despite the barrier offering them some coverage. Henry was flung forward crashing on top of his shield. His body smoldered and looked ripped apart despite the shield's barrier. The room was large with two sides separated by a fifteen foot line of water.
Mareth’s forces were gathered on the other end. Ten jack o lanterns supported by fifteen bronze guardians. The spiders poured into the room immediately moving over the crisp corpse of the foremost spider. Another spider and its riders were incinerated by an ultimate move. However the next two flying pumpkin heads were both surprisingly caught by a fireball from the mage on the third spider. They were both blown back into their own force.
That fireball might have saved the attack force. The rest of the spiders were able to make it into the room safely uncontested as the jack o lanterns own attacks ripped half of them to shreds. Spiritualists and mages rolled off the spiders landing with a thud, as the spiders charged forward to battle. Half of them leapt across the line of water entirely, the other half landed in the water. Although they broke the surface and crawled onto the opposite side in a matter of seconds.
One of the spiders was almost immediately cut in half along with its bugbear rider. The guardian’s sword seemed to become molten hot and it easily carved through them like they were butter. Mark had not had much of an opportunity to observe the different essence guardian’s before, but now he could see that each could perform acid, or flame attacks with their sword. One of the bugbears' hammers met blade but flames were still seemingly sent forward into the bugbear’s face. It resulted in the bugbear being blinded for a crucial second, and cut in half the next. The bugbear likely had a defensive bonus of 11 or so, but it did not seem to matter.
Black shades joined the few remaining bugbears in open combat. Effective against most things the shades died fairly quickly against the essence based attacks of the bronze guardians. A round of magic lances took out several guardians, but the long cast time for magic lances would prevent them from sending another wave anytime soon.
Most of the jack o lanterns were down, and only one of the remaining still had its ultimate move in reserve. However it had gotten separated from the battle by one of the spiders who was attacking it ferociously. The jack o lantern probably was twice as strong as the spider, but it was a fifth of the spider’s size and was not able to bring its magic to bear.
Mark switched his attention back to their own dungeon. It looked like Mareth had still not figured it out. When building the floor, Mark had made six ambush tunnels. A scorpion would be able to attack units that passed, but would have its flanks protected. More importantly, once the scorpion died its body would fill the opening.
The interface prevented Mark from having secret rooms or hidden passages for the most part, but it would not restrict him from having dead end tunnels whose opening would be covered when one of the defenders died. Emperor, the sixth floor guardian hid at the end of one of these tunnels. His body was behind a bend so even whatever life sense the constructs had should not work. The constructs were still running around like crazy, but as soon as Mareth realized the ruse, things could be over in less than a minute. She easily still had the firepower to burn out Emperor without really having to fight him.
Their own attack was faltering. All but one of the spiders were down, and only two more bugbears were left against the seven guardians. Four of the guardians had crossed over the water to deal with the spiritualists and mages. The mages and bugbears that had been left behind were still five minutes or more away. Who could say whether they would arrive before Mareth figured out where the sixth floor guardian hid?
Then Mark noticed Henry rise back to his feet. He was almost definitely finally using his soak skill, wounds were closing enough for him to push on. One hand still clenched his war hammer. Three steps forward and the colonel launched himself forward over the water. He landed near the ledge and pulled himself out a second later. It would basically be him against three guardians since both of the other two remaining bugbears had just fallen.
That number soon became two as Henry smashed the heavily wounded guardian before proceeding toward the other two. Henry’s hammer immediately met a molten sword, receiving a splash of molten metal in return. However, Henry continued the attack even as the other guardian with the corrosive sword joined in. Henry's armor was already thoroughly charred, but now it literally had parts melting off his body.
Henry had the advantage in both speed and strength, likely would have won quite quickly if he was one on one with either of them, but the two could keep him from pressing an advantage. The other guardians were finishing off the last of the mages and spiritualists. In less than a minute, at least three more guardians would rejoin the fight. The spider fighting far off to the side was on its last legs against the jack o lantern.
Mark heard another gasp from Amelia, following her line of sight it appeared that Mareth’s units had figured it out. They were already pulling one scorpion after another out of their tunnels. Mark made a mental order to Emperor. The sixth floor guardian moved forward and clenched the scorpion, blocking its tunnel tail. Mareth’s units started pulling on the scorpion, but the body resisted the pull as Emperor resisted. Mark watched with alarm as all the enemy units in their dungeon started that way. Emperor with his power rating of 5.2 and his size could likely hold against quite a few units, but he could not win the tug of war against all of Mareth’s forces.
“Henry, we need victory now,” Amelia shouted through the link.
The bugbear heard her and increased the ferocity of his attacks, although it was clear that he did not have much more to give. However, he was their only hope since the reinforcements were still minutes out and only the spider and a few more mages remained.
Henry gave out a passionate grunt as he brought his hammer back around dealing a crushing blow. The guardian caught it on its shield, but the weight of the blow caused both weapons and shield to slam into the guardian’s head. The bronze flame guardian was knocked back several steps, and Henry went to work on the guardian with the acid sword.
Henry finished off the acid sword guardian with four powerful blows and refocused on the guardian that carried the molten sword. His hammer met the shield with such power the guardian was once again knocked back. Henry followed up blow after blow, all the while Amelia bounced up and down on the couch screaming for his victory. Mark clenched the couch side and watched Henry fight. If Emperor lost the tug of war battle, they would know quite quickly since units would pour into the core room soon after.
Henry gave one last guttural roar as he brought his hammer up and around. The battered guardian only half caught it on his shield. The blow continued forcing the shield down and crushing into the guardians’ head. The guardian crumpled to the floor, and Henry’s attention focused back to the three guardians climbing out of the water back to their side of the room.
Mark felt his heart sink for a moment but only a moment. Not all of the floor defenders had to be killed, just the guardian. Mark jumped from the couch and started shouting as soon as he saw that the far door lost its protective haze. “Henry run through the door and crush the orb!” he yelled over and over again. Amelia joined in a second later. They were both jumping and shouting.
Henry got the message he turned for the door, with three guardians hot on his heels. Seconds later a pumpkin head sailed toward the four of them. The jack o lantern had been pushed away from the fight with the spider, and was trying to stop the bugbear colonel. The end of the room exploded. Henry was sent through the door. He rolled back to his feet. Five strides later he brought his hammer down on the orb obliterating it.
[Notice: Contender, Mareth Ingall, has been eliminated by another contender. Contender has been given a unique reward. Contenders remaining 13/35]