When both the Dragon’s Breath and Heaven’s Wrath towers failed to affect the charging kobolds, the group’s nerves started to show. Axis’ knuckles cracked around the haft of his axe while Jablach’s blades calmly moved in a figure eight pattern in front of him. The fact that his blades moved at all showed his nerves, relying on the repetitive motion to prepare him for action. Aurelia had her sword drawn and shield at the ready, behind the front line as she prepared to protect Eihlen from any attackers that passed through the front line.
Are they immune to magic? Should I send a blast of LIGHTNING to see its effect before they get here, or just let them come and see where this goes before stepping up my efforts. MY tonfa should be enough to handle them, I think.
Duke stepped up next to Axis and used IDENTIFY for the first time since the first wave.
*** You have encountered a Kobold Dragonkin. This is a draconic creature.
Tier: 3
Level: 20
Health: 153,045
Mana: 64,980
Special Abilities: Magic Resistance, Tower Immunity
Weaknesses: None detected
***
“They are resistant to magic and are immune to the towers. Let’s keep it melee for now.” Duke related his findings and prepared himself for the charging kobolds that now stood taller than him.
The kobolds burst out of the light of the Heaven’s Wrath tower and bore down on the group. The kobolds formed behind a spearpoint of the first few. Their crests glowed with an eerie red light that reflected off their glassy black eyeballs. Their claws were fully extended like fifteen-centimeter blades to match their sharp teeth. Their skin was covered in thick dark scales that Duke imagined was strong armor.
When “tip of the spear” came close, Axis sprung forward with a rising sweep of his axe that started just below knee height on the kobold he was aiming for. The strike came so fast, Duke barely registered it before the kobold was nearly bisected by the blade of the axe exiting its shoulder. The kobold, itself, collapsed before it could even react and the battle was well and truly joined.
Jablach waded in with his blades flashing through flesh, using his considerable strength and speed. Duke followed suit, smashing bones with his tonfa. The three’s drive into the surging kobolds stopped their advance cold as they now moved to envelop the three combatants. The kobolds were able to surround them, but any that got close were cut down rapidly.
One tried to break away from the melee and threaten Aurelia and Eihlen. With her INSPIRATION and Commander’s Might combined with the Enhancer tower, Aurelia found herself moving faster and striking harder than she had ever imagined. She struck the kobold down with a single bash of her shield followed up by a slash of her golden sword.
Eihlen took the opportunity to weave a Healing spell that would normally heal their entire team a modest amount every second. With the boosts she was receiving, the power of the spell was essentially doubled.
When the last kobold was felled, they took stock of themselves and realized that they were all in great shape save for the slick of blood that covered them. Duke CLEANSED them and RESTORED their equipment to make sure they were in the best shape for the waves to come.
“They were tier three, but they were only level twenty. Not too far into the tier and we’re not even halfway through the waves. It’s going to get much harder.” Duke reminded the group.
“And remember, Duke got further than this solo.” Aurelia added.
“It was different then. The mod type and strength were easier. I didn’t even need to put up any towers.”
“Didn’t know how to put up any towers.” Greslarnier added to chuckles all around.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The next wave was announced shortly afterwards, and the fighting commenced again. This seemed to be a normal wave with mages and large kobold dragonkin. When Duke extracted the mages, the rest were subject to the towers’ attacks, and they were quickly defeated.
“I have enough for the final upgrade on the Enhancer tower. I’m going to spend it now so you all can get used to the boost before things get really difficult.” The Enhancer tower grew larger, spikes of coppery metal sprouting from its crown. The group felt the added power immediately.
“It feels like all my stats doubled. I’m so fast now.” Axis remarked.
“And you weren’t fast before?” Jablach quipped.
“You feel it too, don’t you?” Axis ignored the quip.
“I know I do. I feel like I could flatten a mountain.” Duke replied.
“Point your mountain-flattener that way, please.” Eihlen added, pointing back towards the front of the level where the waves originated from.
“Um, right. Pointing my mountain-flattener that way.” Duke responded deadpan.
They waded through the next few waves, sticking with the formula of TELEPORTING the mages and letting the towers kill the bulk of the attackers. Things started to get more difficult at the 25th level.
The level started as normal but quickly changed when the more than hundred kobold dragonkin ignored the towers again. This would not have been as much of a surprise except this group was escorted by mages as well. Duke had TELEPORTED the mages to the group where they found themselves hard-pressed to kill the mages quickly as they all had some form of personal barriers that took significant damage before breaking.
The fourteen mages had split into three groups. The first had engaged the group and fought with their barriers and various attack spells. These spells were mostly countered by Baslin’s defensive casts but a few did get through to land painfully searing attacks on Duke, Jablach, and Axis. The second group focused its power on destroying the Slowing tower while the third focused on the Energy Blast tower. Both of these groups were successful before the trio of fighters could cut their way through the barriers. The final mage to go down held up three clawed fingers as if indicating the three towers that had been destroyed.
It wasn’t until the rest of the kobolds ran through the Acid Spitter tower’s effect that the group realized that they were dealing with another group of immune kobold dragonkin. At tier three and level 100, these kobolds were stronger than most foes the group had ever faced individually. When they came as a horde more than one hundred strong, the group wound up on the back-foot fighting through the monsters that now stood taller than all of them with significant reach from their twenty-centimeter-long claws.
The last kobold fell, ending the wave and Eihlen nearly collapsed from the strain of constant healing she had been providing. Aurelia helped prop her up as Duke again CLEANSED and RESTORED the group.
“Mana fatigue?” Duke asked.
“Yeah, I just don’t have enough Mana to keep casting like that. It doesn’t regen fast enough to maintain that pace.” Eihlen replied.
“OK, go rest up with Baslin and Greslarnier. I’ll start blasting these next few waves so you can get some Mana back and spend your points from leveling up. What level are you up to now, anyway?”
“I…I haven’t checked. I minimized all my notifications, concentrating on the fight.” She paused looking things over before replying with shock. “I gained 10 levels already, bringing me to level 90. I’m almost at my Tier 3 breakthrough! Oh, and my Spells have all advanced, nearly up to the Adept rank. That will help a lot. I just need to get my mana to refill.”
“Let me help you with that.” Baslin started to hand her a brightly glowing blue potion but pulled it back at the last minute. “What is your maximum Mana?”
“Close to 70,000.” She replied.
“That’s quite respectable for a tier two caster. But this potion would be way too much for you. Use this one instead.” The new potion had a very soft blue glow, and she drank it down without hesitation. Baslin watched her carefully as if waiting for a reaction.
Her eyes opened wide, briefly glowing with a bright blue light before returning to normal. She gasped and stumbled before Baslin steadied her. “Perhaps that one’s still too strong. Cast some spells. You’ll be fine.” Duke and Axis were the only ones to hear Baslin very quietly add, “I hope.”
She cast a Heal Over Time Spell on everyone which seemed to settle her balance back down. “Yes, that was too much. I’m better now.”
Baslin handed her a pair of dull blue potions. “Use these when you need them. They should restore about two thirds of your Mana each. But for now, follow Duke’s advice and rest. He’ll make sure they are all ok. If you haven’t noticed, none of our front line has even used any Abilities.”
“The enemies aren’t that hard yet.” Axis commented. “If I were to transform, I could likely handle the next wave by myself.”
“Transform?”
“Yes. I’m a werewolf girlie. You really thought my only thing was to swing an axe around like some confused druid? That’s funny.”
“I’m just a demon who uses blades, if that makes you feel any better. I just have a bit more of a fighting style than this swing blades back and forth thing I have been doing. But really, unless they are at tier four or higher, it’s really a waste of energy for me.” Jablach added.
She stared at them for a moment before responding. “I should have known. If Duke brought you along, you all have to be extraordinary in some way or another. He doesn’t associate with the mundane.”
“Is that what everyone thinks about me?”
“Just the ones that have spent any length of time with you.” Aurelia added. “And there’s the signal. Wave 26, here we come!”
“Stay up there, Eihlen. We won’t need healing in this wave.” Duke turned back to the approaching kobolds and checked everyone’s readiness before TELEPORTING the kobold mages to the group. He did note a hint of resistance to his Ability but nothing he was concerned about just yet. The mages appeared before the group and the fight was joined yet again.