CHAPTER 305 – THE LOAKA PLAN
Tom was surprised by the level of anger Everlyn unleashed as she verbally lashed them for their response.
“So do you all understand. If someone goes down, Michael and only Michael is on triage duty. If he needs help then he’ll get your attention. Clare.”
“Yes, I got it the first time.”
“Tom?”
“I won’t break discipline again.”
“I still can’t believe you guys were that undisciplined, but I’ll move on. I’m sure I’m sounding like a broken record. Now we need to talk about the second issue that the engagement revealed. The Loaka reached us and hurt us. We need to do better. Michael, do you have a solution for this?”
“Yes, this is one of the holes in our team skill set that I’ve been researching.”
“One of the?” Tom asked before he could help himself.
“Yes,” the healer answered. “One of them. We’ve partially addressed the perimeter issue, but we still need to expand our coverage. Eventually we’ll want to have ones that hide us, spells that are exclusively for defence, particularly versus ranged magic and others to stop physical attacks. Then there are a lot of gaps in our offensive capabilities that we need to boost. For example, we have to improve our abilities against physical armour. Relying on the chaos bolt for pretty much everything is not sensible.”
“Michael,” Everlyn interrupted. “You can brief Tom later, what about the Loaka? Do you have anything for that.”
“Yes, I do. A spell or skill tailored for each of us. We’ve all got something different that takes advantage of our affinities and complement each other. The combinations should help us with the Loaka even if three or four times the numbers get through to threaten us at melee range.”
He called the names of the spells he wanted everyone to get and Tom safe while flying on the chosen immediately ducked in to purchase it.
Spell: Defensive Stone Turret – Level 16 – Tier 3.
Fires disks of stone to neutralise magic attacks or projectiles. Can block all spells of tier 2 which have less than forty mana invested in them.
Note. The chance of successfully extinguishing hostile spells diminishes with the amount of enemy mana invested and tier of the spell.
At level one, this spell begins with ten ammunition and can fire once every three seconds.
Cost to cast is fifty mana and the amount of ammunition and rate of fire increases per each spell level.
Threshold bonus - 8 – Probability of blocking higher tiered spells increased
Threshold bonus - 16 – Protection extends to allies.
Threshold bonus – 32 – Can fire up to three defensive disks simultaneously. (Title: Stage Advancement (Earth))
Cost: 45,000
It was an inspired choice by Michael that would help with their immediate needs and suited him perfectly. It would compliment both his current and future requirements but like all high grade options it was not a panacea that would solve everything. Pure melee strikes or anything that cast magic at him from close in weren’t going to be countered by the spell. The physics just didn’t work that way. The turret had to register a threat, aim, and fire. All actions that would take a fraction of a second. Then there was the flight time of the disk that also needed to be considered. If an enemy was launching death missiles from twenty metres away, then that type of attack would be easily neutralised. However… a fireball to the face from twenty centimetres?
Nope! That was a scenario that this spell did not cover. Luckily, he had other skills to save himself from that type of threat.
But that was okay. Nothing was perfect, and he was confident that he had the experience to call upon the tool when needed and against the loaka it was definitely required. He knew that if this spell had been deployed, then the attack that had savaged Toni would have been blocked and probably Harry’s as well.
He, of course, was not the only one with a new ability. Everyone had counter magic of some sort. They would now be able to survive being swarmed by a significant number of the creatures.
Long term the spell to neutralise ranged attacks, even if it was only guaranteed to stop lower powered tier two spells would be an important addition to his arsenal. When he stood in the back lines, protected by others it would be super effective and free him up to fight exclusively offensively.
Toni’s leg was declared fixed, and they immediately continued on their journey.
They swept down to battle a mostly aquatic school of flying fish.
The moment they landed he cast his barrier and defensive turrets and then waited for the loaka to swarm. The chosen’s magic tore apart the fish as they leapt from the pond and then they looted the portal and scrambled up onto the nearest of chosen before the entire group flew away.
They repeated the routine over and over again. The ambushes were as frequent as before, but they weathered them easily. On one hand, the defensive measures they had bought meant that the few loaka that reached them were helpless and both Everlyn and Rahmat had purchased specific detection spells, so they had a warning before each attack. Those advantages let them respond effectively to each attack and even the one in three times when the loaka came armed with ward breaking skills the team was easily able to repel them.
The bosses fell and well before it started to get dark, Everlyn called a retreat.
They flew right out to the wall and camped in a safe room. It was not the one they had entered, and the exit tunnel was not useable as it led back to layer two, which no longer existed. But the cave itself was defendable, and the room maintained the aura of safety. They could never fully trust it but it felt like they should be protected from monsters while resting here.
Tom immediately laid down his bedroll.
He got tapped on the shoulder. “What do you want Michael.”
“I’m here to remind you about the Golem component upgrade.”
Tom grimaced through his pounding headache. “Oh, that.”
“What are you going to upgrade?”
He was exhausted, but understood this was not something to delay. He glanced at his creation. It looked as good as it had when he had first constructed it thanks to its self repairs and the effort of the two lesser elementals that had gone through the driver’s seat. There were two because the first had upgraded itself and so Tom could no longer summon it.
The golem had contributed to their group by being a consistent low-level threat but unfortunately never a difference maker. “What do you think?”
“I think the mana engine is the correct play.”
“I don’t have the skill to upgrade it to tier three.”
“I was thinking more that you should upgrade the second normal one to an enhanced version. I know normally this would be considered overkill, but the elemental changes everything.”
Tom nodded in agreement. The elemental did change everything. It allowed the construction to use far more power than it would otherwise be capable of. Its presence enabled the conjuring of extra strong dust storms and let remote earth manipulation act in an offensive capability that the control orb wouldn’t be able to generate.
“Fine.”
Upgrading a component was a simple activity now. Thor laid out the various minor treasures that the process intelligence might want to use, and then the others gathered around. They were available if he needed support for a tricky bit or if extra mana would help the process.
“Here goes failure,” he quipped and reached out through the threshold link, dreading the response that was going to occur the whole time. Part of him hoped the intelligence would be busy like it was occasionally, but it was not to be. It responded immediately and Tom focused on the tier two non-upgraded mana core.
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He got the sense that it wanted to know whether his desire was to make it tier three or only to improve.
Improve, improve, he thought rapidly.
The intelligence mentally laughed at him in response. A list of instructions that were slightly different to last time was sent to him along with his ring being filled with additional energy and two one off ritual spell forms to help him.
Then, still laughing it vanished.
Apparently, what he was attempting was simple enough that he did not require active supervision. With the intelligence gone the dangerous part of the process was over. The physiological reaction to his brush with the deadly mind, however remained. Sweat ran down his face and his heart thundered.
Everyone else looked as equally distressed and Michael theatrically wiped the sweat off his brow. “That’s so stressful. I’m not even its primary focus and I can feel it.”
“No, it’s not pleasant,” he croaked. “But the threshold ability is too useful to ignore. We’ve got our instructions, so let’s do this.”
He worked with the others and thirty minutes later with his headache having only increased they were finished. The mana engine was successfully upgraded,
Artefact: Improved Mana Engine – Tier 2
This is a tier 2 mana engine which produces sixty raw mana per minute. The mana produced is useable by most constructs and defensive artefacts.
Ten times a day the engine can be tapped to generate one and a half times its usual output for a seven-minute period.
Overall, it was a decent improvement. The raw mana generation had been improved by fifteen, which was a thirty percent increase, and then he had the boost that could be used ten times a day. He was sure the elemental would get a lot of benefit out of the excess capacity that it now had available to it.
Thor caught his eyes with a predatory glint in them. He produced a broken tier one engine. “Do you think you can make this tier two, now?”
Tom was tempted to say no, but instead he studied what was being handed to him. While it was broken, he could immediately see both how to fix it and upgrade it’s tier. The recent upgrade had filled in a number of his weaknesses. “Actually, I can.”
Thor grinned. “Great. It’s a hundred thousand credit profit per restoration. Do you think you can do one per day? I won’t ask for any more because it will flood the market but five or six per week. We’ll make a killing..”
“You’d do anything for a profit wouldn’t you.” Tom said with a shaky laugh.
Thor shook his head vigorously. “It’s not like that. We haven’t had to do it yet, but you and I are both smart enough to realise there’s going to be a zone out there that we won’t be able to beak with our rank and abilities. When that happens, I want to be positioned to win with economic might. Like if we hadn’t been able to buy the spells we did to stop the loaka we could have spent a few million credits to get artefacts to do the same job. When our back ends up against the wall, I, I mean we, need a stockpile of credits. One of these created and sold per day will help us get the credits to afford that plan.”
Tom agreed and glanced longingly at his bedroll. Before he could get near it. Everlyn intercepted him with a bowl of stew in her hands that she handed to him along with crunchy buttered bread. “I’ll talk while you eat.”
“Is that necessary? Can it wait for tomorrow. I’m going to be honest with you. I’m exhausted.”
“It is. And yes, it could wait, but better to get it over and done with.” She sat down next to him. “How are you holding up?”
Tom glanced at her curiously. “Fine, why are you asking?”
She recoiled slightly at his blunt response. “Because I’m interested. A lot’s happened and I’m checking in on you.”
“I’m a big boy. Despite what you believe, I can look after myself.”
“And I didn’t suggest Otherwise.” She massaged her brow and frowned at herself. “Sorry for raising my voice. I know the situation’s my fault. When we brought in the murderers and gave them that reprieve, I overreacted. I acknowledge that but you haven’t. You hate me and I’m not sure it’s fair. Do you think you can get over it?”
He shrugged. “I am over it.”
“Tom, I’m not an idiot. If anything is troubling you, then talk to someone don’t keep it bottled up. I know Toni getting injured affected me and I’m sure you’re feeling the same way, even if you are not showing it.”
“I’m fine.”
“As you’ve already claimed.” She sat back. “Surprisingly I didn’t come over to fight. Tomorrow morning we’re going to skip the sub bosses and hit the main ones bright and early. The loaka will observe our approach and defend to their last so I want to get in and out. Your job is to turn the surrounds of each pool into a molten wasteland.”
“How.”
She tapped her head. “Strategy and planning. We’ll fly above them. You launch one volley, recast and then throw down the second.” As she spoke, she drew a rough map for him. It showed a pond and the loaka boss den next to about a third of the perimeter. “I want you to ring the pond with seven meteorites, basically use the first volley to pin them in place. Then you drop the last three in the centre of their den.” She scribbled X’s on the map to show where she wanted him to hit. Only one would go into the pond, but that would create a mini tidal wave, which would stop the loaka from fleeing into the water before the three central meteorites hit. “This should kill them all, but we’re still going to land to cleanup in case the boss is strong enough to survive. Your only job while we do so is to recharge and recast so we can attack each of the other camps in the same way as quickly as possible.”
“Wait are we skipping the minor bosses between the major ones.”
“Yes, once we start hitting the loaka properly I want to act as quickly as possible to stop them from adapting. I’ve mapped a route the team can use where we won’t trigger any flying monsters. We possess the ability to get to where we need safely. Just remember your role.”
“I will. It’s to throw meteorites and then regenerate my magic to create more of them. There is to be no ward casting, healing or fighting.”
“Unless things go to shit.
“Obviously.
“And Tom I meant what I said earlier. You’re a valuable member of our team if you need to talk about anything I’m available. We can do it semi-privately over party chat or in my system room, whichever you prefer.”
“I assure you that I’m fine, but I’ll keep the offer in mind.”
He finished the bland stew and soaked up the remaining juice with the bread. Then he collapsed onto his bed roll and fell asleep.
The True Dream grabbed him immediately.
For a moment, he thought he was sharing the memory of a human. His body felt familiar. Even the well of power in his muscles reminded him pleasantly of the strength he had possessed at the end of the tutorial. Two arms, two legs, lips, hands with fingers, bi-vocal vision. He could almost cry at the joy of that familiarity. It was such a contrast to the sickening nausea he normally suffered in these visions due to the host of weird sensory information which would assault him. The person was in a tent, and the flap opened. The woman that stepped through was not human and the mind he was in appreciated her beauty. Purple skin, eyes set deep into the skull, wide hips, very human apart from the missing shape of breasts. Much to his disgust an explanation of that lack and how the young was fed was shared with him. When he examined her closely, there was a bulge around the stomach. That was this race’s equivalence of human breasts. But it had no sexual functions. It was like a cow’s udder and allowed multiple members of each litter to feed simultaneously.
Beauty was judged on facial symmetry, smoothness, hip size and the general bounce the female had. Under that criteria this woman was gorgeous.
“It’s time,” she said simply. There was no bowing or scraping, but her forehead had gone pale, which visually showed her deference to him.
The differences between them and humans, Tom realised were not great, but the similarities combined with the jarring differences actually made them more alien.
“Already?”
“Yes, Sir. I was told to bring you. Your domain will be needed.”
She left through the tent flap and the body he was in followed. Human movement with similar anatomy and pressure in all the same places. When he emerged from the tent, he discovered that the rest of their army was in position. Hundreds of soldiers, all with a quiver of spears like what Rahmat had carried on that first day. A primary weapon and a handful of throwing ones.
The males of the species looked like humans apart from the purple skin and how deep set the eyes were.
“Where?” he said simply.
The woman next to him, that was part aide and part partner pointed.
He studied the enemies. The army that faced him was larger than his own. Hairy, multi armed, ugly things that looked more like food than sapients. She had got him at the right time. They were coming. He had only a minute to reach the command group and then the fight would be on.
He flexed his mind, and instantly he was aware of every spear in the camp. The number of presences in his domain made his inside glow in pleasure. He took his spot on a chair in the tent. Eight other domain masters, lesser ones to be sure were already there.
As he sat, the first spear was thrown, and he smiled as he tracked its progress. A flick of his mind adjusted its flight so that instead of slamming into its hindquarters, which probably wouldn’t even slow it the tip would strike the middle of its skull. The spear already had a penetration spell cast upon it and the creature it was about to hit was weak.
With its course corrected, there was nothing more to do.
The moment before his mind moved onto other tasks he watched it land front and square in the middle of its skull. The magic flared, and the point penetrated through the solid bone and began to enter its brain.
There was no time to confirm the kill or to watch the outcome because hundreds of other spears were already on the way toward the enemy. Efficiency was the name of the game. He settled into a pattern, flicking his consciousness between one weapon and the next. Occasionally he redirected a spear but often that sort of finesse wasn’t needed and instead he focused only long enough to infuse one of his spear skills to increase the lethality.
Sometimes as a result they exploded on impact, other times he imparted lethal venoms or a skill that let the weapon pierce through a shield that it would otherwise have bounced off.
The creatures that looked like food died by the scores and more spears were launched as they charged across. The other army was not stupid. They would have scouted his force and confirmed they had the superior numbers and probably ranks. But none of that mattered. His army was winning because they hadn’t factored in the multiplier on his army’s effectiveness that he represented.
The enemy was crushed and eliminated before they reached the neat ranks of his army.
The True Dream ended, and Tom smiled. Another chat was needed with Rahmat, but it was clear that the spearman’s contribution was going to be critical in the coming fight.
These dreams of spear domains in use were very similar to what Rahmat had confessed to possessing in the tutorial. The other man just had to make the breakthrough before the last layer or give up on evolving his skills into a domain and buy one instead. He hoped he would achieve the first option but if he didn’t Tom was more than happy to insist; he make the purchase.
Maybe the answer was not slingshots of the type that threw stones. Possibly, they could rig the launchers to toss mini spears. That would let Rahmat work his magic. With dreams of constructing the perfect army and weapons, Tom let himself drift into more standard sleep patterns.