“Boy, take a break.”
“I can keep going.”
“Like hell you can, it’s been hours and you’re the only one who keeps refusing them.”
“Because I don’t need them. I’m excellent at regulating my mana output so I’m not going to fall into mana exhaustion.”
“Sure, but I’m not thinking of that, I’m looking at the mental strain you’re going to be under.”
“Which is also nothing, Falk. Don’t you know how many minds your lovely apprentice has at his disposal? Not to mention how high my stamina is, I could do this for days.”
It was a lie of course, even with every mind in his head splitting the load, he still felt the strain of all of that work. Each skill he had that could help was being pushed to the limits as he refined his enchantments as much as he could in all of that time, shaving off fractions of a point of mana with everything he put down, all to get just a little more out of himself as he worked, all while he got everything there was to get out of the skills at his disposal.
If he didn’t give all he could then people would die, plain and simple. He didn’t want to stop no matter what sort of strain it put him under and he was happy to deal with it. It was only as both his teacher and Iberu both put powerful hands on his shoulders and pulled him away that he had no choice.
“Hey-”
“Ben,” Iberu said firmly, cutting him off. “I cannot begin to express how I value the level of work and commitment you’re showing, however, you need to be aware that you are a limited resource right now. It’s only the three of us that have any sort of awakened enchanting and you’re better than I am at it, we can’t have anything happen to you. I’ve already sent a runner to each army, we’ll be shutting the machine down in five minutes for a thirty-minute break. In that time they’ll all need to fight whatever comes through on their own, but it will allow us to place as many of your enchantments as we can on it to lighten the load, and it will allow you to rest.”
“If I’m better at this than you then I shouldn’t be resting, I should be enchanting in that time too,” He shot back. “You can’t just depend on your workers when their skills aren’t as good, and you can’t act like more hands aren’t better here, right? We already said it, we’re going to have to do some crazy shifts for the next month, this is just the first day of that for me.”
He wasn’t going to back down, they could see it in his eyes, so instead they opted to compromise.
“Fifteen minutes,” His teacher told him firmly. “You’ll enchant for fifteen more minutes, then you’ll have a twenty-minute break or else I’m getting my niece to put you under a sleep spell for me.”
“Pretty sure that won’t actually work. It didn’t last time and I’ve only gotten more minds. But fine, I’ll take the break.”
Even if he didn’t want to, he couldn’t actually deny his need for it. His head was pounding more and more, approaching the full-blown migraine he’d been feeling after his minds had split while he pushed himself to do everything he could as the machine powered down, only stopping after another five minutes of applying the enchantment and getting the small bit of satisfaction that came with them not immediately breaking.
A part of him wanted to go to Thera, but with the weapon down she had her own role to play as bits of earth floated around her, being charged with mana before shooting off at speeds that left them invisible to the naked eye as they tore through swaths of demons making their way through to the warriors on the ground.
Even if she wasn’t busy though, he didn’t think he could move. He hadn’t realized just what sort of burden he’d been putting himself under with how much he’d been trying to do and it was only after taking a few steps away that he had to keep himself from crashing to the ground, moving to get out of the way the best he could, just to let himself get a little rest as he stared out into the death and destruction going on around them.
Each army was being pushed back in that short amount of time, that much was clear, yet the demons still hadn’t broken through, even if it was an eventuality they were all aware of. The point of fighting them at the moment wasn’t even truly to stop them, they knew that it would be impossible to keep everything from getting through, but to stop as many as they could so that the months after wouldn’t be filled with cities, towns, and villages falling to attacks from roaming groups of them as they slowly got stronger before the next wave.
His distance had plenty of benefits to go with it aside from the little bit of safety he got to enjoy, at least comparatively when he looked at everyone who was fighting. He didn’t need to see anyone die, not up close and personal, only grasping the fact that it was happening at all as he watched far-off figures fall to the ground while spells flew through the air in a constant barrage.
He took his eyes away from it, not wanting what was happening to invade his thoughts when he needed to work as he focused on his body, massaging his muscles to get some of the stiffness out of them in the time he had.
Hope all of you up there are doing your part Myriad ‘cause if we’re having this much trouble I can only imagine what every other point is going through.
He got no answer, not that he expected one, as he did his best to ignore the circumstances around him to give his mind and body what little rest he could.
----------------------------------------
As much as he would have liked to, he didn’t sleep. He couldn’t afford to with everything happening, but he felt his mana return to full for the first time in hours as he let himself not think in that time, meditating and letting the world disappear the best he could, right up until he saw that same black beam shoot out, giving the warriors on the ground the leeway to get their injuries treated and move their dead while at the same time it signalled his need to get back to work, standing up on shaky legs and rushing back over as Falk grumbled.
“We were hoping you’d have a nap or something.”
“In this racket? No way. Anyway, how are things looking?”
“Nothing broke through in that time,” Iberu told him positively. “The soldiers are holding the line well enough for now. We’ve also got the others who haven’t gotten the knack for the enchantment yet at least working to keep the ones we’re making from breaking.”
“It shows.”
He immediately felt more leeway than he had before, not needing to push quite as hard to ensure everything that was there was maintained. He was even confident that he could add more enchantments with the extra energy they had, giving them that tiny bit of wiggle room if things went wrong and got to work doing exactly that, with neither Falk nor Iberu stopping him as the latter spoke up.
“I believe we need to discuss how we’ll be doing this,” The guild head began, talking being slightly easier for everyone as they felt their workload decrease. “Ben is right of course, it looks like we’ll all need to split the load. If we do eighteen-hour shifts each then that will keep two of us on at any given time which should be enough to ensure nothing goes wrong and as my people get more skilled at the enchantment, then it should lessen the load just a little.”
Eighteen hours a day of constant enchanting. It wasn’t like he’d never worked himself to the bone like that in the past, but doing it for a straight month was asking a lot. All of them were going to burn out in that time, and the buffs they were under would vanish in a matter of days, making things even harder for them. Still, what choice did they have?
Iberu was able to pick up on the sheer unreasonableness of the suggestion himself as he continued. “I’m sorry, I asked you both to be here to act as a reserve in case of an emergency, yet now it seems I’ll be working the two of you to the edge of death.”
Falk could only laugh. “Infinite hells, what else can we do? Who knows, maybe this will be the push I need anyway.”
He said it with a forced smile, Ben putting on his own in return. “But maybe see if there’s a free awakened light mage anywhere to give us some buffs, yeah? And pay us well for our work after ‘cause I’m not cheap.”
“Ha, I believe you’re already both quite well off but after this, I’ll make sure you get a sum that would leave an average citizen never needing to work again if that was their desire. Not much point in hoarding wealth if everything comes to an end, is there?”
“In that case, we better do our money’s worth,” Ben laughed. “Anyway, that means one of us needs to stop to rest. Iberu, I vote you since I just got a break and Falk basically had one as he was teaching your people earlier.”
“I couldn’t possibly!” He argued. “I see how hard you’re both working and your break was already insufficient for what you’ve done Ben, you need a real one.”
“The boy isn’t going to give in Iberu and I don’t entirely disagree with him. Even if you don’t sleep, relax and handle other matters. When it’s time for you to come back I’ll send him off next whether he likes it or not.”
“Hey, after another nine hours of this I can say with certainty I’m going to like it.”
He was fairly sure he’d already done ten, but it was hard to be positive since he had no way of keeping track of the time and his minds were too devoted to other tasks to count out the seconds like he had for the gate opening.
Iberu wanted to argue it more, but seeing both teacher and apprentice standing firm he eventually relented.
“Alright, I’ll go see about finding an awakened light mage like you suggested. The odds of one being among any of the armies present are slim, but not impossible and I believe we’re showing enough value that they’d be fools not to accept. Worst to worst though I’ll definitely get us a couple ninth-level ones. Be safe till I return, and Falk, if anything goes wrong I leave you in charge.”
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“You got it.”
With that he ran off, leaving Ben alone with his teacher and all of the other enchanters as they worked.
“You know,” Ben tried to joke through it all. “I was expecting this month to be hell, but it looks like hell is worse than I thought.”
“If you need to take ten at all boy, I can hold up in that time.”
“I’d say the same for you. Don’t think just because I have less mana doesn’t mean you can’t take a breather. I do get nearly a point of it back every second now.”
“Ha, you don’t have to tell me how ridiculous your regen is, I just don’t want my niece complaining when you look like a rung-out rag by the end of this.”
“Hey, just you wait, I’m going to use this experience to get another level or two of enchanting in the month. I can only imagine all of the job experience flooding in too. Just watch Falk, if I need to put up with this for the second and third wave as well then I’m hitting the third tier and becoming a god of enchanting. Actually, what do you think divine enchanting would turn into if it gets to the third tier? It already has the word divine in it. Super divine enchanting? Mega super divine enchanting? The possibilities are endless!”
They were both bantering as a distraction, nothing more. Ben had the leeway for it with his minds while his teacher had the decades of experience behind him to put together his enchantments without much thought, and they both only wanted to keep from thinking just what they’d have to do. Forget just a light mage, if they really were going to do eighteen-hour days for a month then they were going to need a life mage on them as well, along with a constant supply of potions and maybe even a good dark mage to help with some of the mental strain.
I mean, worst to worst we have Thera standing by for two of those things, but then mind-type dark spells don’t seem to really affect me. Looks like I’ll be doing a lot of gritting my teeth and bearing it for the foreseeable future.
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As the next few hours passed, the two of them were still working in full force, even as the sky grew dark. Everything that had gotten through during their thirty-minute break earlier had since been slaughtered, leaving the armies around to handle the comparatively smaller number that had been able to push through the effects in a far less dangerous battle, while Ben focused on his own fight against himself.
They were keeping up, ensuring everything that broke could be replaced, but it was a mental battle against how much he could take. The headache he’d felt growing the entire time had changed to a full-blown migraine, being experienced with all thirty-two minds he had, but he pushed through the pain for the few more hours he would need to wait. The moment it was time for his break he had no intention of making it back to the city, he was finding a comparatively quiet spot on the ground to sleep like a corpse.
He cast the smallest look beside him, finding Falk holding up a bit better than he was since the yeti had gotten to spend a couple hours earlier training the other enchanters on just what to do to keep everything running, and that was enough to make a decision as he spoke up.
“Falk, I’ll take ten if you take ten right after.”
“I don’t need it boy, you go and have a break. Get a drink or something.”
“If you don’t need it then I don’t either.”
“Ah, you damnable… Fine, I’ll take a small break after you do. In that case, bring me some water back with you so I can enjoy my time and not need to grab it myself.”
“You got it,” He said with a weary smile as for the first time in ages he took his hand from the weapon and stepped away, rubbing some life back into his stiff arms as he did.
The first thing he did was what his teacher asked of him, going to a supply of food and drinks for them to take as he scarfed down a piece of fruit and grabbed two cups of water, drinking his immediately and holding onto the other for Falk as he walked over to where Thera and Sonya were standing, looking into the battlefield.
“How’s it look right now?”
“Thanks to you both, shockingly good,” Sonya told him as she glanced his way, giving a strained look. “I can’t help but feel guilty that if this keeps up I won’t have anything to do.”
“Ha, consider that a good thing, having things to do is super overrated.”
“And are you holding up okay Ben?” Thera asked him as she took his face in her hands, seeing the strain his brain was under and running all of the life spells she could through him to help. “You’ve all been at that for hours, how much longer do you need to go?”
“Two-thirds of each day for the rest of the first wave,” He told them, seeing the shock and horror in their eyes. All they knew was that he was helping to keep the weapon running, they hadn’t known what an investment it would end up being. “Looks like it’s a good thing I came, right?”
“Ben-”
“It has to be done,” He told them. “Better to suffer for a month and live, right? I’ll be fine.”
It looked like they both wanted to say more but couldn’t. He was right, the weapon was saving so many lives by being active and slaughtering an uncountable number of demons trying to make their way through. Even if it pushed him to the edge, he could be healed. By keeping it running he was doing too much good to stop, no matter how hard it was.
So with nothing to say they stood in silence for the last bit of his break, Thera slipping her free hand into Ben’s own as she worked to shoot down any of the winged demons that came out as he just watched all of the senseless deaths as the demons rushed through to meet their end, with him about to turn away to go back until something small caught his eye. Another demon, bipedal and vaguely in the shape of a human, standing within the zone of the weapon’s attack, not dying, not breaking down, simply looking around as Ben felt a shiver go down his spine.
He wasn’t the only one to notice it either. Even if warriors on the ground couldn’t reach it to attack without falling victim to the same weapon that had been keeping them safe as the hours rolled by, the mages could and many of them fired off spells as beams of fire and raw mana, along with plenty of earthen bullets were shot its way, only for all of them to vanish or collapse to the ground with a wave of the creatures arm as it looked around, eventually focusing on where the zone of death it stood within was coming from, the very weapon he and the others stood so close to, as it reached out a hand to act.
The moment it did, the very earth around it reacted, ripping from the ground and shooting at them, Thera trying to stop it with all of the power at her disposal while Ben screamed out for Falk and the other enchanters to run, knowing that despite her power, Thera’s attempt would fail. If she’d gone for a barrier of stone it would have been one thing, but in the split second there was to act, he was one of the few that instantly grasped what the way the creature had defended itself signified; magic nullification.
The stones, loaded with the creature's power ripped through the mana she’d reached out with as Falk and the other enchanters were slow to move, too invested in their work to pay attention to the world around them as the boulders rained down, smashing the weapon that had acted as a source of hope and throwing all who stood around it to the side as the ground under them exploded from the force.
Ben didn’t notice the creature who’d made such a thing possible go back through the gate where it had come, nor did he pay attention to the unimpeded flood of demons that were no longer being held back. His eyes were only on the yeti lying broken on the ground as he, Thera, and Sonya rushed to his side.
There was nothing he could personally do to help so he stood out of the way and let the two women work, their healing magics being pushed to their limits for the person they cared so dearly about as Thera let out a relieved sigh despite the chaos around them.
“He won’t die, but this isn’t going to be quick and it looks like there’s a lot of people to treat now. Aunty, keep looking after him and I’ll gather the others,” And with that plan formed she rushed off, going up to the many other enchanters laying on the ground to give whatever emergency medical treatment she could before raising the very earth beneath them all to move together to continue, as Ben alone was left useless.
With the weapon destroyed, there was nothing he could do. His part to play was finished, replaced with the screams of dying soldiers that filled the air from the onslaught coming for them as he clenched his fist in impotent rage. Even if it would have been a miserable experience, a month of burning himself out would have been infinitely better than the nothing there was for him now as all he could do was stand by and hope that those he loved who’d have to fight wouldn’t die.
No.
There was one option. As Thera and Sonya had their hands full while armies had to fight in earnest, he instead turned his head to look at the pile of wreckage so close by.
Powerless? He still had all of his skills at his disposal along with all of the information in his head. Resources? There was a pile of them there waiting for the taking, with his material magic primed to shape them into whatever form he could. He may have been lacking in rings for options, but he had the eleven that were ever-present on his fingers, along with everything in his status, all he had to do was figure out how to combine them all into something that could be put to use, and with that resolve firmly in place he ran to it, digging through what he could see as fast as he could, gathering the bits that were clearly magic materials like mana crystals and mythril as he examined the parts that had made it through relatively unscathed, pushing his minds for any way they could be put to use as he found himself with one single piece of hope. A metallic sphere, no bigger than a soccer ball that had survived the attack undamaged, its construction built to ensure it could handle such things for whatever it contained. The mysterious power source that managed to not only let such a weapon exist, but to even start to break it in its might.
“Okay, this is actually something,” He muttered to himself. “This is options. If I can just put it to use then I should be able to build something that could do an insane amount of damage. Let’s see, if I can build something that would collapse space like my space bombs would, only using all of the power this thing has and drop it in the front of the gate then even if it doesn’t kill as many as it did before I could probably get tens of thousands of them since nothing would be able to get close to stop it. Unless that one comes back. Or it breaks under the pressure it would exert like my bombs did. And then if it does I don’t even know what will happen because I don’t even know what this stupid thing is. Fuck!”
He rolled it around in his hands, trying to understand it in all of the detail he could. The thing was positively coated in non-affinity enchantments, many that were clearly to keep it from breaking but even more he couldn’t begin to guess the purpose of. Other than that, there was the only noticeable feature to it as well. The entire thing was a smooth, metallic surface except for a circle on it the size of his palm, what he had to assume was its output.
So if I link everything to that then it should work, but I still don’t know what this is or what could go wrong. With all of the power it has in it, if I break it then for all I know I’m going to blow up everyone here. I need more information.
He desperately wished Iberu was there, even if the man wanted to keep the power source a secret he would have beaten the information out of him if need be, but as he looked around the troll was nowhere to be seen. All there was, was the sight of armies being pushed back under the tide and in one area collapsing altogether, letting the demons break through, into the world beyond where they’d be able to cause unending harm even after the gate closed, a scene that was sure to be taking place across all of the invasion points by that time.
He didn’t have the time to find Iberu or hope that he’d show up, so he did the only thing he could, connecting to it, feeling each and every enchantment it had to try and understand them beyond just the list he could see in his head, trying to process everything that was there to get even a clue of just what was in his hands, only to feel something else, something deeper scratching at the edge of his consciousness as he dove in further, feeling his mana burn in a way it never would when he practiced the skill as he used it to power it, needing to know the mystery the tool held if he wanted any chance if putting it to use.
All of his minds were on the task, each one pushing farther until there was nowhere else to go. Everything snapped into place as Ben’s mind didn’t strengthen or split, but was instead torn to shreds, everything he was breaking down and being destroyed with it as the sounds of notifications and screeches of pain filled his last bit of consciousness before nothing on the surface layer of who he was remained.