"Ready! Heave!"

Scott and Brayden worked in tandem to reset the trebuchets after firing off yet another set of boulders. Our attacks had started not long ago and we had a mesmerizing opening volley.

Rachel opened with a truly massive fireball that lit up the sky as it flew through the air. Her skill [Ritual Casting] worked to ease the burden on her mana pool and spread out the cost.

Other mages added to the sight with their own skills along with the few Rangers with us. Hal powered up a massive [Power Shot] while Carrie blotted out the sky with an innumerable [Arrow Rain]. The last Ranger was from Tracy's camp and was less impressive but contributed all the same.

Add to that two flaming boulders the size of a car sailing toward the camp and it was a glorious opening salvo. It was nothing like our first days where our 'volleys' consisted of a couple of arrows and a handful of magic bolts.

We were using giant magical projectiles, a hail of arrows, and actual siege weapons. It was slightly astonishing how far we had come in just under three months.

Rachel had connected to a few mages who couldn't reach far enough to attack with [Ritual Casting] and everyone she was connected with through the skill was using [Meditation] to regen their mana as fast as possible.

The warriors without any long-range capabilities mostly sat around and watched the bombardment. Occasionally doing the physical labor that was required when things needed moving or adjusting, but mostly just helped reset the trebuchet arms so they could fire again.

One of the mages that came along from Tracy's camp had an Earth affinity like Jonathan and worked to pull up giant boulders from the ground for the trebuchets to use.

He pulled up massive chunks of stone, evened them out, packed them down, and loaded them into the sling while Scott and Brayden worked with other warriors to crank arms down and lifting the counterweight into place.

The three were working together flawlessly to keep up a constant bombardment on the camp. Before the boulders were launched, oil was poured over them and lit on fire to add to the damage they did.

Running back to buy the oil was a good decision. It added to the damage significantly and it was well worth the time spent doing it. Austin, being the fastest beside me, ran back to our camp to buy it earlier in the day.

Our siege had begun a smidge past noon when everything was ready and in place for the battle to come. Allison was still out planting traps but that was just the cherry on top compared to the rest of our preparations.

Every once in a while, some of Connor's nasties were loaded into the siege weapon and launched into the camp. Where they exploded left either a cloud of poison or highly flammable mist in the area.

Whenever the next fireball from Rachel or flaming boulder hit it, a massive explosion echoed out that we could hear from even where we were hundreds of yards away.

One even carried a napalm-like substance that still burned in the area where it had landed. He constantly loaded new ingredients into his cauldron to keep up with the demands we asked of him.

Not wanting to be left out, I created massive balls of Ice to launch into the camp but they hadn't turned out that well. To get the distance needed, I couldn't make them too big or I wouldn't be able to throw them far enough and the size I could throw didn't do that much.

While my strength was high, it was more because of the ergonomics that hindered me so. While disappointing, I had to be ready for Kathy's signal and couldn't get too involved with the ranged attacks. I deemed throwing spears of ice not worth the effort and saved myself for the battle to come later.

I would have my time to shine soon.

A few of the other mages fired off long-ranged skills and one of them even had the Artillery Mage class. They did the most damage behind Rachel and their skills were designed for such a use. The only thing making Rachel outdo them was the fact she was using more than just her mana pool.

Everyone had been nervous when the siege started but Rachel's words proved true when the army inside the camp didn't come streaming out of the gates in response to our attack. They sat and waited in the camp launching attacks back at us but stayed behind the walls while we were free to continue attacking.

It was like they were all waiting for orders that had yet to come. It seemed like our surprise had worked somewhat because the thralls were lethargic to respond.

Everyone knew it wouldn't last but we would take the extra time we were given.

The first problem we had run across during our attack was that there wasn't a lot to burn in the camp. Thralls didn't need houses or buildings like we did and the Mindbreaker had declined to build any for his army.

There were only a few wooden buildings inside the camp and most were already aflame. The only 'real' structure inside the camp was the stone keep in the center and we weren't able to set that one alight.

To compensate for the lack of burnable material, jars of the oil were occasionally launched to help spread the flames alongside the napalm substance Connor whipped up.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

It worked to spread the flame quickly and wafts of black smoke rose into the air. I wasn't sure how hot it was in there but it looked smoldering from where I was standing.

Given the morning to prepare, Connor had come up with an aerosolized poison that mixed with the smoke of the flames to linger in the air and turn it into a toxic cloud.

While not the most lethal, it worked to hinder and weaken the army stationed inside the camp. Our bombardment was causing casualties but there were still a lot of them up and moving around.

Anything to weaken the melee to come was a boon in my book.

Every time I thought he couldn't make anything worse, he took it as a personal challenge to prove me wrong.

If pain was a response they could act on, they would surely be trying to flee the camp by now.

After our opening shot, the catapults and siege weapons lining the walls fired on our position and I finally got to figure out if I could tank them.

The answer was yes.

Jonathan and I worked together to create shields of Stone and Ice respectively over the entire group to block the boulders launched in our direction while Austin speared some of the incoming boulders with beams of light, exploding them prematurely. For the initial attacks, I had used only [Ice Fortress(Un)] to defend and it nearly cost me.

The boulder had smashed through the ice of the skill and nearly hit me head-on. My quick reactions and instincts were the only thing to save me from eating the boulder in the face.

After that, my Law and [Ice Manipulation(Un)] worked to strengthen my skill and the empowered [Ice Fortress(Un)] was enough to deflect the boulders. If they hit straight on, they would explode and shatter my ice which was both annoying and slightly painful.

Using [Ice Manipulation(Un)] as I was, I held a clear feeling over all the ice I was empowering and it wasn't pleasant to have it shatter to pieces while I was trying to keep it together.

Jonathan's stone held up better to the bombardment than my ice which only added to my frustrations. His skills were suited to defending against attacks like this and even though it shouldn't have, my competitiveness flared.

He had skills like [Stone Aegis], [Stone Empowerment], and others to complement his stone and empower it further while I relied on [Ice Fortress(Un)] and my Law. Jonathan's own Law permeated the stone he pulled up which only made it stronger and evened the playing field between us.

If it were a competition on durability, I would be losing.

This went on until something finally changed and Kathy gave her signal. The people and monsters inside the gate were finally stirring and were given orders to follow.

Both Jonathan and I knew we were up. I gave him a look and said, "Good luck, my friend."

"Godspeed," He said back.

After that, we both took off toward the camp heading toward opposing gates. Our attack commenced from the southwest and we planned to leave only the southern gate open. It had the most vegetation and obstacles for us to use for cover and place traps for the enemies that would come streaming out of the gate.

Jonathan would take the western gate while I went around to the eastern gate before both of us met in the north. As we started our charge, both our respective armors coalesced around us.

Stone and earth flowed up from the ground covering Jonathan from the ground up in a thick plating of stone while Ice condensed and froze around me all the same.

I didn't even wield my hammer, leaving it tied to my back to give me one less thing to worry about. I wasn't planning to fight, only block the gates and get back as quickly as possible.

After we left, Austin had to pick up the slack of defending the boulders raining down on our position but he was up to the task. He didn't have the same reservations about evolving as I did and had done so already.

He didn't feel it was necessary to wring everything he could before evolving and chose to do so ahead of me. His new class stayed the same rarity and was a powerful Rare spear-wielding class.

His new E-rank class was strong and he gained a well-deserved power boost. He even bought some of the materials needed for his racial trait. When we were told it would start small, I hadn't expected to start that small.

He didn't appear any different visually, but when he called upon his bloodline faint wings of light appeared on his back. They weren't able to give him lift yet, or anything close really, but he was hopeful they would get better when he evolved to D-rank.

The genetic material he used was the wings of the Golden Sun Eagle along with their feathers and blood. His goal was to give himself wings temporarily when he called upon his bloodline. The materials he used were expensive but since he didn't need to save up for a bloodline anymore he could more than afford it.

The new skill he got was something that he could use to threaten even me at the right time and was one of the main reasons we started the siege at noon. Just like I got stronger the colder it was around me, he got stronger the higher the sun was in the sky.

He was most powerful right now when he could harness the powers of the sun at their zenith and we used that to our advantage. He used that power to his advantage, slinging out beams of light that shattered the incoming boulders.

My mad dash toward the camp reminded me of the last time I did this and I couldn't help but chuckle. I was beginning to surprise myself with the amount of times I was charging into a sea of attacks headed toward me.

The attacks couldn't keep up with my speed and those that could were weak enough for me to smash through. I made it to the eastern gate without too much trouble and started using both [Hail(C)] and [Ice Fortress(Un)] to block it off.

I poured a generous amount of mana into both before topping it off with [Ice Manipulation(Un)] to pack everything down. It was a rush job but it would take time to get through.

The last thing I did before moving on was empower it all with my Law. It would help if they attempted to burn it and keep it from melting due to the heat.

From the start of it all I had a lingering feeling of doubt. Everything had gone too smoothly and I couldn't help but worry something was going to go wrong. Our attack had gone off without a hitch and now we were moving on to phase two all without any major hiccups.

It was unnerving.

The camp was set ablaze and the answer we had expected to come, did. It was like this was all choreographed but I was missing something. This was the threat that I had been worried about and deemed necessary to eliminate but everything had gone by smoothly.

I left the eastern gate behind and moved on toward the northern one. It didn't take me long to get there and Jonathan was already there blocking it.

I added some of my ice to the stone that was already there and we both ran back toward our places for the plan to come.

We would be the vanguard standing down in front of the mages and siege weapons and the time for that was coming soon.

The thralls were all gushing out of the only gate open streaming toward our position to the southwest.

Jonathan and I completed our circuit around the camp and met up with all of the other warriors standing at the ready.

I tore the hammer from my back and twirled it around me, smashing it into the ground.

We were ready.

It was time to end this.