Joe wasn’t firing very fast, maybe only once per minute or so as he made sure his arrow struck a delicate or soft location which could easily be bumped or harmed by other monsters around it. It was still a leisurely time, if a bit annoying and boring. But as time went on, the monsters came under control ever more rapidly as the monsters no longer snapped at each other. The monster tide line advanced closer and closer until the rest of the defenders on the wall began to nervously shuffle forward, obviously preparing to defend as well. When the monster line had finally halved the distance to the wall, the rest of the defenders began to sporadically throw out a vast variety of skills.
Joe found himself able to back off a bit, now only having to defend the small ten to twenty meter stretch directly in front of him. Joe fired off a couple arrows and broke his line into a mass of brawling monsters once again. That’s how it should be, heh… Then he had to take a moment to enjoy some rest as he found himself growing quite tired so he took a look at the variety of skills being displayed. He saw wind blades, lightning strikes both from the sky and from the user, waves of fire, thundering crunches from massive boulders, the whistle of incredibly fast small projectiles, the pounding of rushing water, the floundering of monsters in swampy waters or quicksand like areas, and waves of shadow or flowing movements of light. That latter two really drew Joe’s attention, seeing shadow and light moving in a way that was absolutely anathema to natural physics.
Joe found the light and shadow very interesting, but quickly turned back to looking at the examples of ranged attack, avidly interested in trying to understand how the mages were throwing magic out well beyond what he could. One mage had a lightning strike that left his fingertips, leapt across the space, and connected to a monster before power seemed to swell and just dumped itself into it, frying it to death. Another electrical mage had his lightning hit a monster then fork out to local monsters, all of them fried simultaneously.
The water mages, however, proved the most useful, for deep within the massive balls of mana that looked like water, Joe noticed an odd mana construct. It was hidden deep within and seemed to be constructed of mana, but somehow was a form that was separate to the actual attack. It was a sphere but seemed to spin and twist much like a tornado. Joe looked at it carefully and found it interesting, the sphere seeming to slowly shrink and Joe suddenly smiled. OK… that seems… to be an option!
Joe started trying to play with the idea for a good couple minutes before a cry from Garnedell brought him back to the moment. Joe glanced back to see Garnedell pointing out past the wall and Joe whipped his head back around to see the monsters in his area of the line once again advancing. Joe pulled an arrow and loosed it almost immediately, this one aiming for a kill. The shot missed, the arrow slamming into the side of the monster. Joe blinked in surprise when he saw that the force of his arrow was strong enough to slap it on its side, almost tumbling it over. It stumbled into the monster beside it and soon the area erupted into another brawl out of pure luck. Two more much more careful shots finished his line and soon his row was again embroiled in self destruction, although he was quite confused by how his arrow had hit so hard. Despite that, he focus shifted to figuring out how to possibly infuse his arrows.
Since he’d stalled out his line again, he began trying to send mana into his arrows. He continued shooting deep into the back behind his line, causing his entire area as far as he could shoot to become a massive brawl amongst all the monsters out there and he felt his exhaustion only grow. But the monsters didn’t really concern him right now. He once again began sending mana into his arrow, but nothing really changed, long lines of mana entering his arrow then crumbling once it left his bow. He just couldn’t figure out how to shift mana into the form he’d seen the water mage do.
Sighing once again and a bit frustrated, he stopped shooting not wanting to waste any arrows and looked around, then smiled, seeing how the two or three individuals on each side of him were now much more relaxed in their strikes, a few even relaxed as he was. Joe glanced back over the field then returned to his seat, sitting down on the stool he had. Right… so… how do I do this. Need mana to stay in the arrow. If it’s connected to me, it’s fine. Sounds like source of power is needed? Maybe? That… might make sense. So… it would make sense the mana ball thing is also a source of power, right? So, I’ll need my own mana battery. Joe fell into his thoughts, mind wandering rapidly through options as he tried to figure out things, every once in a while testing it on an arrow he dropped to the wall. However, each time, the mana connected to him would snap and then the mana would wildly evaporate explosively out of the arrow. He glanced at the monsters fighting each other, then dismissed them, turning his entire focus to trying to understand what was happening with the mana. He grinned, finding a burst of energy in finding an answer to this.
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So… let me… maybe just disconnect? Joe then spent a good chunk of time trying to cut off the mana connection, but that proved to do the exact thing he’d done before when it was forcefully disconnected, with the mana flashing wildly out of control and dissipating explosively into ambient mana. There was some progress, however, as Joe was able to start forming mana into odd shapes and constructs, so he looked around and began duplicating some of the shapes he was seeing. This proved useless, as all of them simply failed, some slowly, others explosively, but still, they failed.
But, after a while, Joe wasn’t able to sit and tinker anymore because he was once again pulled to his feet, the entire line of monsters in front of his wall which had been in a self-destructive orgy all immediately stopped fighting and turned towards his wall before all roared simultaneously, a massive wall of sound echoing across the wall. Joe blinked, surprised. Huh… looks like whoever is running the show is pissed now…
* * *
Gwenvair had been watching the eccentric fight, and shivered in awe at his expertise. She’d never seen one man able to stall an entire side of a tide, and even enthrall the monsters to fight one another. Kilniara stared on as well, and both had long since stopped really caring of the conversation of the other two boys. Theirs was a private conversation which the two girls giddily enjoyed with one another. Her excitement only grew as the fight continued, but when she saw the monsters immediately throw off eccentric Joe’s mass delirium spell, shock thundered through her.
“Down! Down!”
Kilniara reacted immediately, even as Zilnek and Garnedell joined them a few seconds later, all four falling flat on their bellies on the walk wall, staring up at the attack wall in trepidation. The mana constructs and runes deep within the wall thrummed, and the attack washed above them, and she shivered in fear at its power.
Gwenvair had her attention torn, as she stared back and forth between her mother and Joe, concerned with how they could take the mental attack. Even as she watched, the entire wall of defenders staggered a few steps back and she gasped in a little worry when she saw her mother take a single step back under the assault. She glanced quickly at Joe, then smirked, laughing when she saw the eccentric unmoved, only cocking his head with some confusion. The mental attack did nothing to him, although it did appear that the sound component had some affect. Why did he not defend the sound? Or … Gwenvair stifled a gasp. Or the sound has no effect? He only needed to defend against the mental attack?
Joe watched on, staring carefully before stepping forward and looking out over the monsters. Gwenvair stayed rooted, belly down, on the walk wall and so could not see how the tide was continuing, but Joe’s movements caused her some trepidation. Joe then returned to his seat and took up his bucket of … arrows… yes? He called them arrows… and quickly returned to the front. If his attacks before were incredible, his speed of attack and rapid ejecting of … arrows only increased her awe. He fought and did not stop, arrows streaking from him rapidly.
* * *
Joe cocked his head and opened his mouth to pop his ears. He was rather shocked that the roar had been powerful enough to cause what almost felt like a shock wave, the pressure momentarily increasing the pressure in his ears and requiring him to equalize it once again. He shook his head a bit, just a tiny bit dazed, then once he felt his ears were comfortable again, took a step forward to look down on the tide.
The monsters were arrayed in discipline once more, although his entire area was mostly hurt, lame, and shredded monsters having recently come back under control of whatever was driving the monsters. The monsters seemed to need a moment to recover, all of them showing either a stunned, dizzied, or exhausted nature before shaking themselves. The stunned and dizzied settled themselves quickly while the exhausted simply steeled themselves even as the exhaustion remained. Huh. Something really took it out of them. Did someone…
Joe glanced left and right quickly to look at the fellow defenders and noticed the Matriarch standing at the edge of the wall as well, staring down with hard eyes into the monsters. Did she do it? Maybe? Seems like a cool skill to have, but why … no… that wouldn’t make sense. They were all fighting each other, then recovered to… ooh… maybe she did it after noticing them recover so quickly. Pop a stun spell or something and keep them all stuck. Maybe she’s buying me time?
Joe glanced over at her, but found her still in deep thought, staring down on the tide with focus. Joe, seeing that she seemed concerned, decided to offer some help. He returned to his seat and got the bucket of arrows before settling in for another long fight. Better safe than sorry!
He pulled out an arrow and loosed it, once again aiming for a delicate or painful location. His first arrow took a cat like creature in the paw once again; a good spot that seemed to incite them to violence. The monster did not move at all, however, and simply prepared with the rest of the line. Joe frowned, concerned.
He took another arrow and cautiously struck the same monster again, aiming for the same leg, but higher up. He hoped the strike would make the cat react, pulling the leg and making the arrow in the paw jiggle and irritate the already irritable cat. His arrow struck true, and while the cat did seem to shiver a bit at the strike, it did not move at all.