Chapter 260 – Trial Surprises
How that final step would work, how throwing themselves forward like this would defeat the other races was never specified. Michael did not have to provide that level of detail. Their collective insistence that it was necessary was more than sufficient to enforce the compliance.
Once more, they ran the path alongside the pools, but this time instead of them being a vague form under the surface of the ponds, the amphibium infenus hoisted themselves out of the water to join the marching group. The monsters, their allies, filled the spaced in front of them and behind them and despite being creatures of water when they travelled they stayed on the various paths rather than plunging in and out of the pools. After witnessing one of the strange monsters dive in and then awkwardly scramble out of the pool, it became obvious why they preferred to avoid unnecessary transitions. They only had their thick legs to extract themselves with. Their anatomy meant they had no arms to help them scramble out, so they stayed on dry land.
Why the pool edges were so abrupt was a mystery to Tom. The only explanation he could think of was to balance the different species for the four-way war. Somehow giving the amphibium infenus the shallow banks that they must have had in their native world would unbalance things here. The consequences was this bizarre situation where animals made of both land and water stayed on the land and avoided the numerous pools like they were plagued.
With the broken landscape and the ferns that were everywhere, it was difficult to estimate how many of the monsters had joined them. Where ever he looked they were shuffling along with their weird gait. Every path was filled with them, creating a tide of monster flesh. Tom was very glad that Michael and Keikain had come up with the idea they had. His initial notion of their fire power making a difference… that was the stuff of pipe dreams. He had grossly underestimated the number of enemies. Not to mention how hard it would have been to fight each of the species in their favoured terrain. Eventually, even without Michael and Keikain to identify a superior plan, he was sure they would have realised their bash the enemies directly approach wasn’t working. They all would have been part of the devlishes fraction, but out of desperation Tom was sure they would have come up with the same solution. Effectively forcing the monsters to leave the safety of their homelands and attack the enemies’ fortifications and kill themselves. They would have worked it out, it would just have taken longer.
“Told you this would work.” Michael elbowed him. A proud grin on his face.
Tom snorted. “Feels an awful lot like cheesing.”
Michael grinned. “Don’t worry. There are going to be zones that need to be solved by us going nuclear. They won’t all be like this. As for this one being easier. We’re still on the outer ring,” he observed his amusement fading. “I’m not looking forward to what we’ll face closer to the centre. Some of those zone quests are going to be a nightmare.”
“Yous still thinks this is right?”
Michael glanced at the king. His expression remained serious, but Tom could see the sad glint in his eyes and something told him that the king had picked up on the subtle emotion as well. The healer smiled with fake confidence. “Definitely, if we stick to the plan and commit everything, the result will be victory. Right, guys?”
“Yes.”
“Agreed.”
“Precisely.” Tom added with the others.
The king missed a step and almost fell. “Yous honour us by giving us an inspiring.” It stopped talking, seemingly unable to continue the sentence. “Me… want… my people…why?” It sped up with the subjects parting to allow the king to go through them. Some even dived into the nearby water to create the room. Tom knew it would be back. The instincts enforced by the scenario meant it had no choice.
They broke out of the humid, pond filled landscape and entered the central area. On the scale of the natural wonders that existed in Existentia or even Earth, it was not notable. It was irregularly shaped like something you would find in nature as opposed to an area designed by the GODs or high levelled sapient. However, if you squinted, it was roughly spherical and from one side to the other it stretched over five kilometres. The army gathered around them and assembled in tightly packed ranks. They did not look intimidating. Compared to the surrounding space the entire force was just a fly on someone’s back. Relative to the space they barely filled it, but when he counted rows and did the multiplication, it was clear that over ten thousand of the amphibium infenus had assembled for this fight.
“These numbers.” Tom whispered. When they had been joining their procession in the midst of the swampy land, he had known that there were a lot of them, but he had not realised that it was this many.
Michael glared at him. The king and the generals were listening in. “Yes, a mighty army to guarantee our victory.”
Tom didn’t care about the warning, any damage a stray comment did could be unwound by a couple of sentences. “This is the type zone that would frustrate a competitor race with a singular person wouldn’t it?”
“Theoretically,” Michael agreed. “But from your dreams that’s irrelevant. I mean there is only that singular humanoid, and the dragon… Everyone else was in teams.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“I think from your description of their capabilities they could complete this zone using your method. It would be frustrating for them and potentially time-consuming, but there would be no point where they would actually be at risk.”
“Still, if you had to go into each pond…”
Michael shrugged. “There are probably other ways to win. If you killed the leadership, do they all charge you to get revenge, for example? They wouldn’t have to set it up in the way you’re imagining where you had to kill all of them.” The healer stood authoritatively. “Time to initiate the plan.” The amphibium infenus leaders all flinched. “Send a thousand to attack each of the other species. They are to be given orders not to retreat under any circumstances. Additionally, the ones entering the devilish area are to be split into groups of ten.”
“Approved,” Tom said at the same time as Keikain and Everlyn.
The king stood unable to speak.
“Give the order.” Michael commanded him.
“Tat’s not right.” One of the generals interrupted. “It takes at least thirty of us to kill a single devilish. Groups of ten will be slaughtered. It’s.”
“Give the order.” Michael repeated.
“Give the order.” Tom added his voice to the healers along with the other two.
“Let it be done.” The king said as it slumped to the ground with legs tucked in under it. Its posture was like someone hiding under a bed.
The three thousand troops disappeared in their respective directions. Everyone knew they would never be coming back.
They waited ten minutes.
“We are winning. Do it again. Same strategy.” Michael proclaimed.
“Give the order.” Tom commanded at the same time as the other two.
“Tats not good strategy,” One of the generals argued. “We should wait for the scouts to come back and confirm the success.”
“The strategy is sound.” Michael interrupted without hesitation. “But in a way you are right. Fewer of us will die if the native generals accompany the troops to oversee the plan we have agreed on.
“Tats a bad idea.”
“No,” Michael said firmly. “It really is not. Three generals. Three attacking forces. It matches and if you are with your troops will they not fight better?”
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“Well, yes, they would but.”
“Great, then go.”
Once more, Tom added his words to the other two in order to make it four against three.
The generals were trembling now. They knew exactly what was happening. Their voice was being overwhelmed and they could do nothing to stop it.
“Give the Order!”
The king quivered and stood. “Yous all do what they say.”
The orders got spread across the army and more soldiers peeled off. With an air of despair, the generals joined each of the armies.
The king collapsed on the ground once more. It was wobbling like jelly.
“Good. This courage to stick to the plan will bring victory.” Michael said. Tom got the impression that he was trying to be kind. Visually, the attempt at inspiring words did nothing to help the king.
More minutes passed.
“We need to start the final wave.” Michael paused his eyes on the king who refused to make eye contact. “This time everyone goes.”
The king shuddered and stood. Without hesitation, without making the other three of them confirm the instruction it gave the order. It seemed almost relieved to be going with the troops to fight. The remaining force, about half the original number split up and went toward their three different destinations. There had been no formal notifications, but it didn’t matter. The amphibium infenus had been defeated. Half their army remained alive and unharmed, but it was done.
They knew it; the king knew it.
A king that walked proudly at the front of its troops as a ridiculously insufficient number of its citizens went to fight the entrenched devlishes.
“Let’s get somewhere safer,” Everlyn ordered once they were all out of hearing.
Tom suspected the suggestion was less about safety and more so that they wouldn’t have to watch them all march to their doom. They retreated to the swamp territory to be as far away from enemies as possible.
“I feel shit.” Michael stated.
“They’re not real,” Tom reminded them, but the statement felt hollow. There was something about witnessing the growing despair in the leaders. Observing as every order they had given had wormed its way into the creature’s hearts. Chipping away at their resolve and deepening their helplessness as they witnessed their people being sacrificed.
There was a ding, and they all knew what it meant.
They looked at Michael for him to confirm.
His face went inanimate for a moment. “We are free to choose another species. You all know what to do. This time, we want to guarantee mutual destruction.”
“Near,” Tom reminded the healer with a smile. “The phasebos need to sacrifice a third of their force piecemeal into the sword devilishs before we both engage in the neutral territory.
“Correct,” Michael said. “I’ll organise that while you and Everlyn have to buy us two hours before we meet in the centre for a winner takes all confrontation. Can you do that?”
Tom nodded. Having watched how Michael had controlled the conversation he could do the same. The arguments he presented didn’t even have to be plausible just delivered with unwavering confidence.
The ordering of who was in each fraction had been decided from the start. Because Tom and Everlyn had accumulated the most experienced to date, they were on the team that was going to die to the devilishs. It meant if there was experience associated with being on the winning species at the end that they wouldn’t get it.
The trip to the anemos thorns, their next allies occurred without running into enemies and once they entered the territory, they found themselves in a windswept landscape with lots of upthrusts of rock. Like before, a native guide appeared early, but unlike with the defeated amphibium infenus the rest of the host of monsters was not hidden. They flew around them and everywhere he looked he could see dozens of them.
They were kind of like a floating ball with white undersides and dark brown on top. Their entire body was covered in two centimetre long spikes, which were like sewing needles. That made them the size of one of his fists, but their core was only that of a golf ball.
Their assigned guide led them briskly in an upward direction, and eventually they were brought to the equivalent of the species’ throne room. Rahmat and Toni were present, standing next to the king equivalent and its general’s. The sapient versions of the anemos thorns were the size of a soccer ball instead of the fist sized run-of-the-mill variety.
The meeting space differed significantly from that of the amphibium infenus. Instead of a living building with mud floor this was set up on top of a large mound and exposed to the whistling wind. An environmental hazard that was kept in check by some unknown magic.
It was very effective.
Instead of being intense enough to almost push him off the feet like the wind that had grabbed them when climbing up the mound, now that they were on the flat top where it should have been stronger if anything the wind was barely more powerful than a summer breeze.
Everlyn smiled and immediately took point in the negotiation and used the same techniques that Michael had. The generals and king tried to argue against the plans when they realised that involved them leaving the rocky, windy area where they had such an advantage. They argued profusely, but with the four of them all expressing a singular opinion they had no choice.
The armies massed and when the time ticked over to two hours Everlyn sent them out onto the field of battle.
The empty grasslands, unlike last time, were populated. In addition to the massive swarm of anemos thorns directly in front of them, there was the army that Michael controlled. It was like a withering mass of deadly darkness. The creatures were as long as an arm but as thin as a pencil. They lacked physical heads, having two tail ends instead, and moved like a snake. They withered together in a carpet that filled more space than what the amphibium infenus with their disciplined squads had occupied. It contrasts with the spinning mass of anemos thorns that his own army consisted of.
Numbers were probably similar, but the flying army took up relatively little area but more volume Tom realised, as they were still dense right up to four metres above the ground.
“Attack! Fight to the last.” Everlyn shouted.
The monsters surged forward and the carpet of black wiggly horrors did the same. On the other side of the armies, Michael waved at them, and then they retreated. Michael’s team pointedly hiking toward the devlish territory.
Tom lingered for a little longer in order to watch the fight. The spiked balls would shoot down at the snakes, releasing magic and trying not to engage, but tails would fling out or occasionally a shadow would erupt. Who was winning was a mystery.
“In an eternal war, these armies have to be matched.” Rahmat said quietly. “Even if it looks like those Phasebos are winning the initial engagement they aren’t. Their magic will run out or the accumulation of wounds will get them. In a straight battle like this, numbers will win. The Phasebos forces should have been reduced by thirty percent by Michael, so I guess they’re about to get overwhelmed.”
The two sides kept clashing and more spiky balls seemed to die than the not snakes.
“We might need to retreat.” Everlyn said worriedly.
Tom ignored her and waited for the change to occur. Then he saw it. The Phasebos had shadows whipping around them, but even away from the frontline, those shadows started to be torn apart. He could see the creatures and their wet bodies clearly when initially he had only perceived them as vague shapes twisting in the dark mists. “The battle is about to turn.”
“Yes, it is.” Rahmat agreed.
A group of the anemoes thorns flew high up over the battlefield and fell on top of a car sized patch without the defensive mist. Phasebos died and the attack squad flew away with barely any losses.
“No need to retreat.” Everlyn agreed.
Tom wanted to cast his meteorite spell and score some easy kills, but he resisted the temptation. He needed the remaining phasebos to kill as many of his own troops as possible.
The battle became one sided after that. There were some losses from their army of course, but not as many as he expected. When the last of the phasebo’s died, Tom frowned at his own force. He couldn’t grab an exact count, but by volume he figured that maybe fifty percent had survived.
“No time to wait.” Everlyn yelled, her trait boosting it. “This is our opportunity to defeat the delivish’s. We take the war to them.”
“No,” a general argued. “We should retreat recover our numbers. The devlish breed slowly. We can wear them down easily. There is no point taking risks.”
“No, we fight now! Everyone charges. Spread out attack any you see, try to kill their king.”
“That’s is the suicidal plan.”
“I agreed with Everlyn’s approach.” Tom said hastily and the other two stated the same. With that, spike balls rushed off into the distance. “What now?”
“Our jobs done,” Everlyn told them. “We might as well head to our target zone door.”
They walked, and it was strange that no monsters accosted them but they knew it was because the only monsters in this zone had been part of the four-way war and they were all dead.
There was a ding, and they paused to check their notifications.
Everlyn snorted when she came out. “We’re automatically allied with the devilishes. There is nothing in this zone that can hurt us. That’s official. It was from a system announcement.”
“How much?” Tom asked.
“Two million five hundred and sixty thousand split evenly between us. No bonuses for anyone.”
“Just under three hundred thousand each. That’s good.”
She shrugged. “Yes. It’s the same amount as the flower zone with less effort.”
Rahmat and Toni finished their checks, so he stepped into the system room.
Warning you exceeded the maximum allowed experience of 1,280,000 for this ring of the challenge trial.
While you remain in this ring, you will earn only 5% of base experience.
Tom read the warning with a sinking feeling. His dreams of near unlimited experience crushed in the single line. He wanted to scream. He had mentally already spent those thirty million points and now they had been ripped away from him.
Given how generous experience in the zones had been so far he couldn’t say he was surprised to have found this limitation.
He returned to the real world.
“Tom, what’s wrong?” Everlyn asked in sudden alarm. “What’s happened.” Her bow was in her hands an arrow drawn. “You looked like someone kicked your dog.”
“FUCK I HATE THE…” he bit his tongue sharply to stop the blasphemy from slipping out.
“Hate what?” Rahmat asked. “The sky?”
“Yes, the sky,” Tom hissed, taking the lifeline that the other man had offered. He didn’t know if it had been enough. He had been half a second from finishing that sentence and given GODs could read minds his mental reaction might be judged as crossing the line. “I hate the sky,” he repeated, “But mainly the rules?”
“Why?” Everlyn asked. Her face was white. They all knew what he had almost done.
“I’ve been experienced locked.”
Shock crossed all of their faces.