Duke called the first wave as everyone settled in, filled with anticipation. The first foes were announced by a low bass thrumming tone that echoed throughout the area. There would be no mistaking that the wave had begun.
The first creatures were short, brown-skinned reptilian humanoids that skulked along the road in a very loose pack of twenty. They constantly looked about themselves as they began down the road. It did not take long before they spotted Axis and Jablach further down the road as it wound its way back and forth across the field of battle. With hooting and hollering, they charged right across the field, ignoring the winding path in favor of a direct assault.
The lot of them slammed into an invisible barrier at the edge of the road that prevented them from crossing. They howled in anger and pain as they were bounced back onto their backs sprawled along the road. One’s howling was cut short by an arrow the length of its entire body slamming straight through its chest. It had fired from the Archery tower and had struck true.
The anger of the rest of the kobolds drove them to race down the road, bouncing off the barrier as they tried to get past it. Another kobold succumbed to the Archery tower before they reached the corner, scratching their way around it. The entire group was then subjected to a blast of blue light which left them covered with a rime of ice. Their movements were significantly slowed, and the Archery tower took them out one by one before they could get anywhere near the party’s front-line.
“Well, that was easy.” Greslarnier declared. “Maybe we can call the next few waves early.”
“If Elaine was here, she would smack you for tempting fate. Never say it’s too easy.” Duke replied. “But, yes I think we can call the first ten waves quickly and the towers can probably handle them.” Duke checked his notification, seeing that he garnered a whopping 71 experience from the first wave. He knew it would ramp up but had to chuckle at the amount. It’s not like I really had to do much of anything for the experience though. When we get to the later waves, Eihlen is going to power-level like I had wanted to all along.
Duke called the next four waves in rapid succession as Axis and Jablach made their way back to the starting tower. The group watched as the number and strength of the kobolds increased. Each wave added five attackers and increased their levels by ten. So, the fifth wave consisted of 40 level 50 kobolds. With the combined waves, there was a total of 130 kobolds coming down the road.
One by one the various towers engaged the approaching kobolds. The Archery tower was slowly killing the weakest of the kobolds but was unable to effectively injure the higher-level ones. Slowly, the remaining mass of kobolds made it into range of the Energy Blast tower. The tower unleashed a crimson beam of energy that impacted on a conjured shield that the lead kobold was maintaining.
This lead kobold was significantly larger than the rest and had glowing red scales trailing down from its head crest down its back. By the magic barrier it was maintaining, it clearly was a mage of some sort. And it was doing a solid job of protecting its fellows from the Energy Blast tower.
“This is not what I remember encountering in my past run. The towers were all different and the dungeon creatures were all some sort of Desert Raider variant. Any ideas on what is going on here?” Duke called out. He received a notification in response.
*** I have changed things to make this a real challenge for you and your team. Don’t worry. The rewards will be worth it. ***
“Perhaps the dungeon is adapting to our presence. Different levels and tiers causing it to react differently?” Jablach responded, still watching the kobolds as they advanced behind the magic barrier.
“Can they do that?” Aurelia asked, pointedly looking at Duke.
“It seems this one has done just that. We should take care in how we approach it and not take things for granted. Look, even now that kobold mage is stopping the Acid Spitter tower as well as the Energy Blast tower.”
“Should we see how far it gets or intervene?” Axis asked, deferring to Greslarnier as the coordinator of their actions.
“Watch its progress. If it gets to the Enhancer, engage.”
They continued to watch as the protective barrier moved with the group of kobolds. They were now outside of the range of the Archery and Slowing towers and approaching the outer limit of the Energy Blast tower’s range as well. The Armor Breaker tower engaged with a blast of directed force that caused the barrier to ripple with cracks. The kobold mage stopped advancing, dropping to a knee as a second blast struck from the Armor Breaker tower. The cracks in its barrier grew more pronounced and spread further away from the impact point.
With a third strike, the barrier shattered. The chaos among the kobolds was immediate and total as their rear fighters were slammed down to the ground by the Energy Blast tower, never to rise again. The rest were bathed in bright green acid that melted through armor, skin, and bone alike. They were wiped out in a matter of seconds.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Duke quickly dismissed the notification telling him that his experience total for the dungeon was up to 535. It was still a long way from making an impact on his level. With a glance to Greslarnier who nodded, he called the next wave.
The sixth wave began the tier two monsters. These kobolds were visibly larger than the tier one foes. Whereas the kobolds of the first waves had been short, thin, creatures who had been poorly equipped at best. The new wave of 45 kobolds were a full head taller and far more filled out than the previous ones. They moved with less caution and more boldness. They also moved in a cohesive unit, forming nine ranks of five kobolds that marched down the road. Duke also noted that there were two mages in this group, and each had conjured a barrier, forming a double-layer of protection.
“Are our towers being completely countered already? We will have to physically engage them before too long.” Aurelia asked.
“Maybe not completely, but their mages seem to have specialized in barrier magic which will certainly reduce the effectiveness of our towers.” Baslin responded.
“Perhaps we should engage the next few waves directly to get a feel for how they actually fight before they get to the point where they overwhelm our towers. Axis and Jablach return to the field. Duke you stand ready to intervene should it be necessary. Aurelia, you maintain protection for Eihlen. Baslin, come up with some way to break their barrier spells.”
The group moved to act. Axis and Jablach hopped off the defensive tower displaying their strength and toughness by absorbing the more than five-meter drop with little more than a flexing of knees. They charged down the road quickly, reaching the kobolds just as they came into range of the slowing tower. The tower engaged its icy blue beam of slowing energy which danced and expanded across the barrier.
Axis was the first to arrive. He charged forward intent to slam into the kobold’s barrier and test its strength. He led with his shoulder, braced for the impact his speed and mass would cause. He passed through the barrier without resistance. With a graceless tumble, he wound up three ranks deep into the kobolds who had parted around him. Weapons drawn, they pounced on him with excited yips.
Jablach had just enough time to alter his approach based on Axis’s crashing spectacle and leaped through the barrier with his pair of glowing red blades held wide. He landed, blades scything through flesh, among the first few ranks of kobolds that had turned to tear into Axis.
Axis was nearly buried in kobolds as they swarmed him, stabbing with their thin blades as long as his forearm. He burst forth from the mass, his own curved blade slashing around himself in a spinning slash that sent dead and dying kobolds falling away from him.
The kobold mages’ barriers were disrupted by the fighting around them and the Archery and Slowing towers were finally able to engage. The Archery tower slowly fired arrows the size of spears at the kobolds but was able to do little more than knock them off-balance. That, however, made it even easier for the pair of fighters to slice them down. When the Slowing tower engaged, the movements of the kobolds slowed down by about a third and the fight was quickly over.
“Get Eihlen in there to make sure they are both healed up. I think we need to alter our strategy some. Give me a minute to think it over.”
Duke TELEPORTED with Aurelia and Eihlen to the pair of fighters and the healer went straight to work. Axis’ own healing abilities had started to close his wounds, but Eihlen’s efforts instantly healed both him and Jablach. None of their wounds had been serious, which was a surprise in Axis’ case as he had been swarmed by the knife-wielding kobolds.
As they finished with healing, the kobolds’ bodies sublimated into wispy smoke that rapidly dissipated. The kobolds’ equipment, however, remained behind. With a grin, Duke collected all the gear into his INVENTORY. “We’ll go through all this stuff later when we have time to IDENTIFY it.”
Nods of agreement followed before they were interrupted by Greslarnier. “I have established a mind-net. We now can all speak with each other mentally so there is no chance we will not be heard through distance or the din of battle.”
“That’s great – should prove to be quite useful. Any thoughts on our approach from here on out?” Duke responded to the group.
“We are going to have to treat our towers as a useful convenience but not rely on them. The real fighting will need to be done by us it seems.” Aurelia posited.
“I believe you have the right of it. I will remain up on the defensive tower and continue to layer my own barriers for our final line of defense. It will take some time to truly build this defense. Perhaps as long as an hour as I will need to set up some runic structures to truly make it a magical fortress. Will you be OK without my support for that long?” Baslin asked.
“I think we can handle it as long as we don’t stack too many waves on top of each other. Their numbers will start to become a problem when the waves start to number in the hundreds.” Axis responded.
“I am going to start upgrading towers as we gain the credits. I have enough to max out the Archery tower, so I am going to do that and see if it has any effect.” Greslarnier didn’t wait for a response before starting the upgrade process. The tower’s response was immediate, growing three meters taller and expanding outwards to show multiple ballistae atop it.
Duke was about to send Aurelia and Eihlen back to the defensive tower when Aurelia held up a hand to pause him. “We should stay down here with you three. I can help with the fighting if needed, but I will mostly focus on protecting Eihlen so that she can be ready to heal any of us that need it. I know we will be able to handle these early waves without issue, but things could change rapidly. I don’t want you splitting your attention trying to fight and TELEPORT us in for support.”
Duke decided not to point out that his plan was to TELEPORT those needing healing back to the defensive structure and decided to agree. “OK, but remember your primary duty is to protect Eihlen.”
Aurelia’s response was lost in the horn indicating the start of the next wave. The group retreated to the Enhancer tower and waited for the group of 50 kobolds to make its way to them.