“Why aren’t we using the wall?” Tristan asked.
He had never been part of a city assault or a city defense. The Forrest Caldera did not count as he was already within the walls. Still, he was sure that the walls were a Caldera’s greatest advantage, a warrior could just poke anything trying to climb over the side. They were made to stop mythical beasts, not people, but vertical walls stopped both just as reliably.
Luke seemed uncertain, “I don’t know. Blacklake claimed that walls were only good if you could reliably expect aid. All the loyal warriors are here, so no one is coming to help. Also, I saw how much good the walls of the Stone Caldera were, I don’t want to use something that frail for defense.”
That seemed like sound reasoning. Tristan internally debated his current decision. He needed to give the gauntlet to someone better suited to using it than himself. Looking out over the plains he could vaguely see the dust cloud from all the enemy army marching towards them. While Merrick was an option, the man's lack of a force would get him butchered in a straight up fight with any elemental lord. So Luke for raw damage output or Siren for sustainability.
Looking around he saw hundreds of people in cloth armor lining up behind the trench separating the plains from the Lake Caldera’s territory. The viscous substance at the bottom was originally meant to stop ghost crabs from escaping, it would work well as a barrier against humans. Tristan saw more people lined up than he had ever seen in any location, they had staying power, even if it was just in the form of bodies.
“Here,” Tristan handed Luke the gauntlet.
“This is what you and the skinny smith were working on?” Luke took it, inspecting the interlocking pieces of metal, “I kind of expected more for the two days you spent on it.”
Tristan blinked, two days. Then he remembered that he should be cranky about the insult to his craftsmanship, “Yes, it uses the force of erosion to destroy rigid objects. It is pretty good for a first try. If you get the chance it should chew through the Lord of the Underworld's dual anima.”
It was actually his second try, but that nightmare of a glove was best forgotten. Luke nodded, then put it on. Tristan snickered as he yelped and jerked his hand back out.
“I thought you said it used the force of erosion to destroy rigid objects!” Luke glared at Tristan.
“That's why you should only use it on the Lord of the Underworld,” Tristan explained slowly like he was talking to Fluffy.
Luke harrumphed and tied the glove to his belt. The dust cloud was not growing larger at a visible rate, but if he looked away for fifteen minutes and then looked back, there was a noticeable difference.
“What do you think this will be like?” Tristan had fought people before. However, many of these people would be recognizable.
He was not sure he could stomach killing a baker or farmer. It was possible that he would see some of Harp's relatives in there, maybe his other uncle. Tristan wanted to retreat into the murkiness of his memories of that time to treat everyone as faceless enemies. He just was not sure if that was the kind of person he wanted to become.
Luke was perhaps the worst person to ask that particular question. So it was a good thing when he was stopped from responding by a new voice, “Sage, Luke, are there any others at tier four with you?”
Tristan glanced over to see Bruce jogging up. He had the blue uniform on but was missing the gold plating common to guards. In his hand, he was gripping a large bag that looked to be holding equipment. Between his well cut blond hair, sky blue eyes, and uniform, he looked like an odd combination of high class noble and delivery boy.
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“Glow Stone!” Luke cheered getting a frown from Bruce.
“No, just us, do you need us somewhere else?” Tristan asked.
Bruce shook his head, “No, as pissed as Siren is, it turned out to be a good decision to force his team up to tier four. It is the moral boost our people needed.”
Tristan felt better about that. Then he immediately chastised himself for the feeling, a good effect from a poor decision did not suddenly make his lack of foresight a beneficial quality. Still, they would need everything they could get from the normal people. If every tier four had the strength of five men, then they only accounted for a fraction of the army’s power. Still, to most of these people tier fours were the pinnacle of power and that was worth quite a bit.
“So why are you here,” Tristan asked, “I assume that Eve still needs protection?”
“Herod came out publicly as the River Caldera’s civil protector,” Bruce explained, “That freed up her light kern attendants to support the tier four warriors.”
“Personal healers,” Luke nodded in approval.
“Yes, and we need to change your equipment,” Bruce said. He set the bag down and started removing pieces of leather armor.
Tristan recognized the same navy blue and black pattern that was standard in the River Caldera, “Is Eve trying to put her mark on all the tier four warriors?”
Bruce looked at the leather, then back to Tristan, “Maybe. I was told that we did not want our strongest people vulnerable to the Lord of the Underworld’s metal control.”
It did not take long for them to change. Tristan ran his metal sense over Bruce, finding three healing artifacts aside from the spear. So the Caldera was genuinely sending out healers to support their people. Tristan and Luke were not likely to take injuries that also wouldn’t be lethal. Luke would just be too hard to strike, while Tristan had excellent defenses and healing.
It would open up a good amount of hit-and-run tactics. They could stay out longer and take a few more risks. He realized something else, his uniqueness might have diminished.
“Bruce, have any of Siren’s elite gained forces?” Tristan hoped they all had.
It was not Bruce who answered, but Luke. This was good because Bruce appeared to have no idea what a force was, “Yes, Grant got adamance, making him a better punching bag and Jenna got something weird.” At Tristan’s raised eyebrow Luke explained, “It allows her to convert her essence directly into stamina, and any constructs made with it last longer.”
Jenna had a dual light and earth kern. She would have also made a good fit for the gauntlet now that Tristan thought about it. She had something that improved the basic aspects of both of her essence types without adding anything new.
“I would guess persistence, it should also make most injuries treatable. Even to arteries and most organs,” It was one of the ones Tristan wanted, it would help him overcome his deficit of essence compared to others with forces.
“What are forces,” Bruce asked.
“Can’t tell, it would just make you jealous, Glow Stone,” Luke mocked.
“My name is Bruce,” Bruce grumbled.
“Oh look they are getting closer,” Luke changed the subject.
All three of them and the people eavesdropping looked back at the approaching enemy. The approaching army was much larger than it was supposed to be. Tristan had just been to the Forrest Caldera and there was no way there were this many citizens left, let alone soldiers. There were also large wooden contraptions that Tristan did not recognize.
“Where did all these people come from,” Tristan muttered.
“That was the other reason we were sent out,” Bruce’s voice had dropped to a whisper to keep the surrounding people from hearing, “We had been keeping this secret, but the Lord of the Underworld tortured and killed everyone in the Stone Caldera, there are quite a few more elementals than we had previously been anticipating.”
Tristan wished that he was surprised. Blacklake had been saying that this was exactly how the Lord of the Underworld should use his defeated enemies. Tristan had no true acquaintances from the Stone Caldera, but still, the approaching dust cloud represented the complete annihilation of another Caldera.
A full half of the Caldera was dead now, not including any casualties in the Forrest Caldera and taken in the squabbling between the other. Tristan clenched his fists, today would decide whether or not another two Calderas were destroyed.
“You find the Lord of the Underworld,” Tristan glanced at Luke, “I’ll slow him down.”
Luke grinned at the spinning flame topping the lamp post, and patted the glove hanging from his belt, “I’ll rip his stupid undead face off.”
“Guy’s what am I supposed to do?” Bruce asked.
Tristan was not sure, however, he was sure they would need to be put back together, “Stay close enough to patch us up, we’re pretty tough, but not tough enough to fight an elemental lord without injury.”
Bruce nodded and firmed his stance. They faced the approaching army and searched for the target.