CHAPTER 124
They were grouped together all of them waiting patiently for a dome to come down in order to find out what, once a day, we’re going to face. Quiet resolve, anticipation, confidence were the dominant emotions. People were scared, to be otherwise was foolish, but overall they felt ready. The fortifications had been improved and the thrice daily prayers had thrown fate at the problem. That, to their minds changed the calculations. The coming wave should be advantageous and that settled their nerves at facing creatures that on paper were so much more powerful than them.
Misplaced, perhaps, Tom thought to himself. There would be a new trick, a threat. Things always got harder.
The flickers got closer together and then just like last time the dome abruptly expanded. One second it was within reach of his enhanced throwing arm and the next it was a few kilometres above them and even further away horizontally.
The event monster could come from anywhere, but only a sky beast would require an immediate reaction, so that is where he looked. It was a dreary day; the patchy clouds were high in the sky but under the dome, which illustrated just how massive their cage truly was.
Unless monsters were hiding behind the clouds, the attack was not coming from the air, so Tom focused on the surrounding foothills. The fake flat ground was deceptive. The patchwork of boulders acted to hide how fractured the entire space was. With the first wave, he had found the goblins immediately. This time, nothing stood out to him.
Camouflaged under the ground, flanking from a different side, options flashed through his head.
Next to him, Everlyn tensed.
“What?” he asked, and he would have turned around to check the other walls if his girlfriend had not clearly spotted something out into the distance. An enemy that Tom, with his closer to mortal eyes couldn’t see yet.
Her hand waved at him. An instruction for him to be patient and let her do a job.
Then she abruptly relaxed and cleared her throat loudly. “We’re fighting longjoules.”
It was instant silence on the wall.
She had pitched her voice so everyone heard.
“If you’ve never heard of them,” she continued after a slight pause. “Don’t blame yourself, nor have I. They are a six-legged cross between insect and mammal with antennas that can fire spells. Effectively they’re dual armed ranged magic artillery. Individual rank is between thirteen and fifteen. We were expecting rank sixteen, so they’re below that threshold, so we need to expect hundreds to be assaulting us.”
“Dual armed ranged magic artillery.” Rahmat said, repeating her description. “Not on anyone’s bingo card.” There had been some light-hearted betting on what they would face and apparently the other category had won.
Everlyn said nothing for a moment, waiting for questions.
“Do they have camouflage?” Michael asked, peering over the edge. “I can’t see them.”
“No. But they are almost half a kilometer away. And using the shelter to stay out of eye line. They also have a weak skill to turn the eye away. It’s weak.” Everlyn guaranteed. “They’ll be visible soon.”
“How strong is their magic?”
This question from Legen actually made Everlyn visibly annoyed. The two of them did not get on. “They’re rank fourteen. Specialising in range artillery. What the hell do you think?”
Legen did not look perturbed by her reaction. “Are all of them magic artillery or just a specialist subgroup?”
“It’s a species thing.” Everlyn told him. “My recommendation is that we abandon the fortifications and take the fight directly to them.”
The surrounding group, considered to be the brains of the fighting teams glanced at each other, with no one willing to decide.
Tom was also part of them, but was prepared to admit his weaknesses. He was not a tactical expert and for this he would trust Everlyn’s strategic sense.
“The walls are our strongest weapon.” Ran Seong said finally. “We’ve invested a lot into fortifying them. Seems self-defeating to just abandon it.”
Tom smiled at the crafter being the one to break the silence. She was not supposed to even be here.
Legen appeared affronted on behalf of the rest of the fighters most of whom didn’t care. “Does this fall into one of the operational plans that we’ve discussed?”
There were shakes of the head all around.
“Our battle planning sessions agreed we would abandon the walls only when there was the threat of imminent catastrophic failure like various earth worms can do.” Rahmat stated. “I don’t know what a longjoules is, but it doesn’t sound like they meet that criteria.”
Everlyn took a deep breath. “Even with our upgraded walls we can’t beat these monsters in a sustained long range fight. At the very least, we need to send out kill squads and prepare everyone else to evacuate.”
“That is a plan that we’ve discussed.” Rahmat agreed immediately.
They all glanced at each other, once more suffering decision paralysis. Drop a monster in front of this group and they were the bravest people in the world. Throw them into a social situation… There was a reason that Jeffrey’s terrible leadership had gained traction and that decision making was controlled by Michael, Joline and Ran Seong.
Tom sighed. “Sounds like a plan. Will it work Evie?”
“Yes. We release the independent kill squads. Everyone else defends the wall with a willingness to retreat depending on how the conflict goes.”
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“Enemy engagement protocol?” Rahmat asked. He was one of the seven squad leaders of the independent kill squads.
Everlyn took a moment to think through the question. “From what I’ve seen they’re your standard terrestrial ranged opponent. I couldn’t spot any specific weaknesses or sensing capabilities. So, guerrilla tactics and each team sticks to their assigned area as best they can.”
“Finally, I get to be a scout.” Tom joked, elbowing Everlyn, knowing that she would have to correct him. No one who had survived ten years in the tutorial was gung ho, but it was easy to forget how limiting their reset bodies were and needed a reminder.
Everlyn rolled her eyes at him and gave him the stink eye. She was not fooled in the slightest. “The longjoules have an average rank of fourteen. Unless you have dedicated skills, you’re not sneaking up on them. That includes you, Tom.”
“I’ll do everything you tell me to do.” Tom answered happily pleased she had understood what he was trying. “What about Golly?”
“You need to pull it behind the fortifications.” Everlyn suggested. “It lacks the range for these enemies, and their spells will hit hard enough to destroy it. Have it defend from inside the walls. It should buy time for the less combat capable to retreat when they’re breached.”
“If…” Legen interrupted. “They’re broken.”
“Do you actually believe that?” she shot back.
Legen looked like he was about to argue and instead shook his head. “No, I guess not. I agree the golem will be needed inside to buy time.”
Tom sent instructions to the elemental. It frowned in disappointment and he summarised everything he knew about his enemies and sent them through to the inquisitive mind. He could feel the elemental absorbing the information and then considering the implications.
Agreed, it thought back with images that highlighted how much it would struggle with fighting an enemy whose preferred range was over a hundred metres especially if they struck with sufficient power where every single attack could hurt it. Will kill if they get over the wall.
Michael clapped his hands. “We’ve decided. Let’s move.”
Everlyn flashed a smile at Tom. “Stay close.”
He followed her.
Under the protocols drawn up in this situation, the pair of them were an independent attack team. Their job was to go out and take the fight to the enemy.
Everlyn now that they had the green light wasted no time. She didn’t bother with the official exit and relied on her agility to hop down the wall. It was a magic world and the spikes they had installed to stop giant monsters charging were still in place and acted as conveniently placed steps. Once she hit the ground, she sprinted, aiming for a nearby rise. Just before reaching the top of the ridge, she skipped down into a slight hollow that had formed. It was actually the gap between three elephant sized rocks and it left them with more than enough space to hide from any observers.
She didn’t waste any time moving right up to the edge and then peeking over it to check on the enemy. Every movement was cautious and Tom even from just two meters behind her found his eyes drifting away from her as she engaged all of her stealth skills to remain undetected. All the attacks groups were on their own now. There would be no one to save them if they overextended.
“The good news is that their stealth craft is terrible, apart from that one minor skill.” She told him. “The bad news is that they’re not splitting up.”
Tom frowned at that. “How smart are they?”
“Monster smart.” She answered, which basically meant not at all.
“That’s positive.”
The meteorites, because he was aiming for stealth had retreated downwards to buzz around his legs. The staging area Everlyn had chosen was large for two people, but there was barely enough room for the rocks. They were currently spinning at the bottom of the hollow and invisible to the enemies. But even an amateur at stealth knew movement drew the eye.
Everlyn focused on them. “They’re a problem.”
“Should I dismiss them?”
“No, but we want to use them as soon as possible.” She looked over the ridge once more, then down at their meteorites. “Might solve our problem of them clumping up. What would you say their optimal range is? Two hundred metres?”
“Yes.”
“Two minutes and we’ll use them.” She slid down next to him. “I’m sad no jumping bunnies.”
“And no monstrosities that are immune to my meteorites, either.”
She elbowed him playfully. “They’re also not any birds firing arrows.”
Tom shrugged. “We were both wrong. Do you have a plan?”
“Yes. First, we get rid of your missiles. Then we set you in ambush and I harass them from afar and lure them into your ambush points.”
“What formation am I using for the meteorites?”
“Assault.”
“Three metre gaps between each edge?”
“Yes. And no need to worry about height. They’re not jumping over your spells. It’s better to skip the balls into them. We want a line of destruction.”
“I remember what the assault formation is.”
She glanced at him, quizzically. “Nervous?”
“No.”
“Oh, you just seemed defensive.”
“Yeah, maybe I am. Sorry.” The situation of fighting with someone and depending on them differed from what he was used to.
She snuck another look this time holding her position as she calculated angles. “Forty seconds…” she declared before sliding down beside him. “You want to shoot about ten degrees that side.” She pointed. “Of the sun. Launch as stealthy as possible and target ground impacts at two hundred metres.” She stood up and double checked their location. “Get ready. Three, two, one.”
Tom imagined exactly what he wanted.
He knew this terrain. He understood the angle that she needed him to fire on. They were in a hollow on top of a slight rise. Nothing was accidental where Everlyn was concerned. Not only did this protected area have a bolt hole it was also high ground, at least in its immediate surroundings. The meteorites spinning around him rose, all five of them above the lip of the rock. Then they shot away almost perfectly parallel to the ground. They sped up as they went aligned so that they would skim a metre above the ground until in a hundred and fifty metres the slope would rise and reduce that buffer. Then, just before two hundred they would physically collide with the ground. Then, when they reached the target distance, any longjoules in the line of fire would need to evade both his missiles and the displaced rock and stone from the start of the collision. They had only tested it twice, but it should create an almost impassable wall of debris over a twenty metre wide front.
He hoped it was going to work but would rely on Everlyn or system messages to check given he didn’t know the enemy’s capabilities and they were ranged and he didn’t want to stick his head up only to be struck by some sort of spell.
“Perfect.” Everlyn whispered right. She stood up with her bow in her hands and her grin on her face.
Boom!
The shock wave from the meteorite collision reached them. It was like a punctuation mark announcing her entrance into the fight. He felt the noise through his feet.
A magic arrow was on her bow, and it was pulled back as far as it could.
Crack.
With a grin, one that Tom knew all too well from personal experience, battle lust filled her face as she defied her enemies. Another arrow was placed and then the bow straining under the pressure as she pulled it back.
Crack.
Simple, deadly elegance that he wished he could be part of.
Crack.
Crack.
She ducked. Lightning shot over their heads and there were sounds of explosions as magic struck the base of the small mound they were hiding in.
“Whoo hoo.” She called out in delight. “Your explosion. Perfecto.” She gave him a thumbs up. “How many kills did you get?”
“You want me to check now?”
“Yeah. We’ll want to hold here for as long as possible. You have time.”
Tom stepped into his system room.
“Statistics from meteorite strike.”
14 confirmed fatalities.
15 significant injuries.
4 Light wounds.
He reappeared in the real world and told Everlyn the results.
“More than I hoped.”
She stood.
Crack.
Crack.
She ducked down, frowning. As a serious of explosions, struck the boulders protecting them. “They’re being annoying.”
“How?”
“They haven’t scattered. They’re coordinating more like professional soldiers than monsters.” She hit the rock next to her in frustration. “This might be harder than I hoped.”