Closing his eyes, Ambros leaned the back of his head against the corner of the crumbling wall. The slight breeze felt good against his skin as it played with his hair. He was tired. Night after night, the same scene would be played out. Despite it all, he could only hope it would do so again this time, or it would mean his end. Through the sound of distant screams and fighting, he heard the unmistakable sound of stone being crushed under heavy feet. It was time.
Looking at where the clouds were passing by the moon, he didn't have much room for delay. Summoning a cylinder-sized crystal, he flashed its almost invisible light to the other side of the road. He knew someone there was on the lookout for the signal. His job now was easy, spread havoc and chaos.
Sticking his head around the corner, he counted twelve. That meant only one battle leader. Things could be worse. He heard the arrows being released and the roar of the monsters as he ran around the corner summoning Ogre Slayer. At full length, it was almost as tall as him. Catching sight of the enemy, he could see the arrow volley had failed to take any of them down. It did, however, create a distraction for him. That was its real intention. Firing arrows at targets you couldn't see during the dark of the night was a difficult task at the best of times. Firing them at armored targets…
Launching himself at full speed down the road, he planted the but spike in the first monster's head and used it to vault over to the one behind, planting a knee in its face as he brought his left hand down and drow a knife into its helmets eyes slit. Leaving it there, he slid to his right as a huge maul crashed into the roaring monster's head. The battle leader was faster than he had expected. Bringing Ogre Slayer around, he had time to decapitate the one in front of him before the three monsters behind started slashing wildly with their oversized curved swords.
He knew their sight was worse than most humans during the day and even worse at night, but they had good hearing and could smell almost as well as a dog, he had learned. For Ambros, the night was his domain. During the day, the monsters roamed free. In the dark, he came to take his pound of flesh.
Taking a step to the left, he could feel the passing of the battle leader's maul on his face. He rushed the four standing at the back of the group, still trying to understand what was happening. Going for the right one, he impaled it on Ogre Slayers' top spike, twisted as it howled in pain while he summoned his shield to redirect ha sword slash coming towards his middle. Shrinking the shaft to a battleaxe, he struck out with the bottom rim of his shield and managed to crush a monster's throat. He spun under his shield and brought the axe up into the next one's crotch even as he felt a strong blow on his shield.
The last of the four was turned towards the monster he had given the impromptu deep circumcision. It was making its displeasure at Ambros's lack of bedside manners known in a most vocal way. He unsummoned his shield and struck them both with his extended Ogre Slayer. That left five, including the battle leader.
Facing against the battle leader and monster in the front and three monsters in the back. Unsummoning Ogre Slayer and taking a long slim knife in each hand, he launched himself at a wall that was still standing and flew at the group of three at the back. Landing in a twisted heap of limbs and bodies, he stabbed at anything he could reach as fast as he could before retreating ten steps down the road. Only one of them got back up. Looking down, he could see his left wrist bleeding. They had managed to bite him.
Resumminong Ogre Slayer and his shield, he went on the offensive again. Taking a sword on the top of his shield, he stabbed out twice with the spike on top of the axe into the closest monster's face even as he felt a sword crash into his right pauldron with enough force to unbalance him. Then he went flying through the air and slammed into something hard.
Feeling blood pooling into his right lung, he drew a ragged breath as the reserve lunge started working. Oh, that hurt. Luckily only his ribs seemed to have been broken, so he gently got up on one knee in time to see the last two monsters make their way toward him. He saw his shield a few steps to the left and scrambled to it as they sped up.
Winching as he felt his ribs beginning to reset themselves, he brought the shield up in time to deflect the maul past his head and kick out at the battle leader's scrawny knee, making him take a step back. The other monster was stabbing at his chest, but his breastplate kept him safe from that, even as its side was a crumbled mess, and he noticed he couldn't take full breaths. Having had enough of the stabbing, he smacked it in the face with the side of his shield, popping one of its eyes, eviscerating it as he rolled away from the battle leader swinging maul.
Running back the way he had started, Ambos did something dangerous. He would never have considered it if they hadn't already cleared the closest battle groups. Turning around and bringing up the crystal. He filled it with mana and bathed the street in red light. Arrows started raining down on the battle leader. Most failed to penetrate its thick armor, but a few made their way into the joints and through the thick but poorly made armor. Then an exceptionally skilled one or a lucky shot hit it in the eye slit, and the monster fell as if its strings were cut. Ambros smiled. The new tactic was working. They had only lost six people tonight. They might shake the unfortunate nickname The Death Squad if things continued like this. Now he would just have to find a way to make this work without taking all of the risks.
Looking at the ugly frog-faced monsters, he let out a tired sight. That was the seventh group they had taken out tonight. Time to get his people some food. Looking down at his side, maybe even getting his armor fixed.
Battle Award
1143 Exp
1409 Sp.
Do you wish to loot the corpses?
He accepted and got eleven serrated fangs. The system seemed to divide the experience and points based on participation when people fought in groups, but the loot would go to the slayer. One of the squad would have a frog eye and maybe a gigantic maul or an oversized breastplate of the strange material the frog people used. If the monster's killer died, the first one to touch the corpse would get the loot. Seemed fair enough to him. His squad always divided up the loot at the end of the night anyway, unlike most others where the commander kept all, if not most, of the loot. There was still a good bounty on the overgrown frog people, not to mention the variations they came in. Turning around, he signaled for his squad to meet him at the intersection.
Sitting down on a large piece of rubble, he unsummed his breastplate and took a deep breath. While checking the chainmail for damage, he popped a cleansing pill. Thinking back on the mess the last few weeks had been as he waited for it to run through his system.
The horde had hit them so much earlier than expected, and they had hit hard. Enormous lizards had been able to make a hole in the wall south of the east gate, between bastion six and the gate. Both the Gate Captains of the east gate and the commander of Bastion six had been at a certain brat's party, as had their second in command, and most of the guard was used to guard the inner ring against civilians interfering with the nobility. It was such a perfect tapestry of stupidity that Ambros nearly had an aneurysm. They still did not know why neither the remaining guards in the east gate nor Bastion six had failed to raise a warning, and since both had been captured in the first few hours, they never would.
Ambros was betting on treason, but he could not determine who would gain from this.
The settlements elite were quickly on the breach to drive off the giant lizards and kill a few but were met by the hordes elite. They now lived in a state of balance. Neither side could destroy the others quickly enough to get the upper hand before the rest of the troops could interfere. The settlement with long-range and surprisingly precise siege weapons and the horde with what seemed like an unending amount of troops. It was the cold war all over again. That left it to the people like him at the bottom of the totem pole to go and dance with the devil against a never-ending horde of invaders.
The damage to the wall was done either way, so now the horde had managed to get a foot inside the settlement from the fifth Bastion to the seventh Bastion, both of which still held, and an area of the outer settlement of three to five building blocks deep going in from those bastions.
Buildings and roads had been mined and razed to block any further incursion. It was somewhat working, but they were losing more than what they took back. It was the trenches of worlds war I, but with buildings, bringing it back to what Ambros was doing in this no man's land between the battle lines. Rescuing children.
He saw the first of his squad carefully make their way forward long before they saw him. He was proud of how much they had learned in the little time he had to teach them. A group of ragtag civilians given a chance to die in battle or live rent-free as cattle on the Castellen's new farm. Ambros felt bile rose in his throat when he thought about that animal. Why his part-time master and torturer Ekurzakir didn't strangle the man was something that confounded him. Despite that, he had to admit his respect for the old dragon man had increased. He would even go as far as call him a friend. If not for Eku, the entire outer ring would have fallen on the first day.
He saw Whisper at the back of the group, herding everyone forward. Another complicated matter, but he couldn't have managed to do these raids without her. She had become his unofficial second in command, and anyone that had trouble taking orders from a slave was told to leave. They couldn't afford someone failing to follow orders.
He knew they were growing apart, but the truth was they had never been that close, to begin with. He was still loathed to see it happen. She was the first person he considered a friend when he found himself stranded in this rift world.
Taking over her slave contract was what had turned things sour, unsurprisingly. While she intellectually understood why and was happy for the reason, emotionally, it was difficult to be property. No matter how much he assured her he didn't consider her a slave, and she knew he didn't, the thing was. She was a slave. She was his property as much as his boots or a knife. He could understand why this was tearing them apart. He just hadn't been able to find a workable solution while they remained in the rift. After his last happy mistake, Eku had warned him off doing what he planned, but Ambros figured if they were at a different city or county…
When the first of his group was a few steps away, he said, “We are heading back in. Good work today.” The scrawny orc, Grundan, almost jumped out of his skin when Ambros spoke. He gathered himself quickly enough and answered, “Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir. Ambros.”
He would never have managed to remember all of the names that had come and died in his squad if not for his high Mind attribute. This group started with twenty-two plus Whisper and him at today's muster. Now they would bring sixteen of them back, and if luck smiled on him, non of them would choose to return as the Castellan's slaves. After all, even slave soldiers got paid in the rift, and Ambros ensured his people got paid well. Not even the grumpy powers that be could obliterate him for keeping with the tradition. Well, they could, but it would look bad.
Counting thirty-five children, four adults in the middle years, and eight elderly, he considered this a good night. When he learned that quite a few of the new slaves that had defaulted on their loans were simply dragged from their homes, leaving children to starve, he would have nailed the Castellan to a tree if he had the power. The ones they found were those that had grouped together, sometimes with adults, but more often, the older children had taken care of the younger once to the best of their ability. They had been feeding them steadily since they found them with small portions of broth-soaked bread. It was as much to keep them quiet as to give them the energy needed to move. Thinking of the ones they found that hadn't made it made his jaw and fists clench. Someone would answer for that one day.
Those in his squad that passed nodded. The adults and elderly tried expressing their gratitude, but he quickly hushed them. The children ate. Then there was Wispeher bringing up the rear.
He fell in beside her. She did not look happy, not at all. “It worked.” He said. “You got hurt again.” She hissed back at him. “You can't take all of the risks like that. What if there are more ranaestantes leaders next time? Or higher-level ones? You could have died before we could reach you…” He just surged. “Well, you could always try to take the remaining steps.” It was another of the solutions he had come up with to their problems since the rules were different for adepts. She quickly looked away when he met her eyes. “I'm already in debt.” She was being stubborn and, in his eyes, stupid about this. People had too much unnecessary pride sometimes. “Well, then you just need for me to get killed. That will clear you of any dept. Or you can grow strong enough to stop that from happening.” She didn't answer him, but he knew she was seething inside. He could feel a tiny part of it despite the block he put on the bond.
The group turned left and shortly found themselves at a well-lit rampart. He could see the guards were already working to open the gate.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Summoning the loot he had gathered so far and the breastplate, he asked Whisper. “Can you see that everyone gets an equal split, and please have the armorers see if they can do anything with this?” At the sight of his breastplate, she drew in a breath. “You are going out again?” Making sure he had her eyes, he said, “You know I have to Whisper. I'm close, so very close.” She finally gave him a one-armed hug and said, “I'll make sure. Be careful, you strange, foolish man. I need to think. We will speak when you come back. You will come back.” He felt the warmth and worry from the bond. This time he let it flow for a moment before shutting it down again. Smiling at her, he walked backward and was soon lost from sight in the darkness.
Making his way south, along the outside of the barrier, he was almost at the outer wall before he found a building that still looked safe to climb. Sitting on the roof section that still had support, he started scouting. When he first managed to compress his mana, he was elated. It had come about as with so many other things these days, frustration. He had been in a mid-level circulation room for what seemed like the thousandth time. Again he had been unsuccessful. In anger, he had forced his will down on his mana channels and put pressure on his entire channel system, it had nowhere to go but his mana pool, and go it did. He forced all the mana in his channels into his mana pool and then continued forcing it down. Until he felt like the mana pool was about to explode. Then the mana particles started forming links between each other, and the two became one. They didn't grow in size, however. It was a strange dance to watch. When they wouldn't form more bonds, he let go, and the slightly thicker mana met the mana on the other side of the pressure wall he had built, and that started forming bonds, and so it continued until his entire mana system was full.
What happened next made no sense to his understanding of how mana worked, but any time Energy came in contact with his mana, it became denser mana. As far as he could tell, it was making something out of nothing, a bit disconcerting. He later noticed using his new denser mana would expand and harden his mana channels more, so he kept going in circles. Using mana to expand his channels and how much mana he could force together in as little time as possible and used more mana to do the same dance over and over again. His mana pool felt slightly less compact than water now. It was liquid and not gaseous, however. He also needed to raise his stats to forty, so any chance he got, he went out at night when the leaders wouldn't see him. His stats were growing as fast as he could increase his level and get to a system node.
Name: Ambros Mardux
Race: Human, variant. Grafted Primus modus, Sanguis Kronos,
Titles: Eques
Class: Arcanist
Level: 46
Experience: 11,647/13,435
System rank: Questor*
System points: 16,279,672
Circle: Neophyte
Step: 6/6
Body: 40 ( E )
Mind: 36 ( E )
Spirit: 28 ( E )
Unspent attribute points: 0
Active Skill: Analyze ( E ), Meditation ( E ), Arcane Sight ( D ), Sanctum ( F )
Passive Skill: Mana-Core ( F ), Revitalize ( E ), Omnilingual ( A ), Giant Slayer IIII ( F ), Toughness V ( F ), Adaptive Vision ( E )
Spells: Arcane Bolt ( E ), Arcane Shield ( D ), Control Heat ( E ), Control Earth ( D ), Control Wind ( E ), Control Water ( E ), Stasis ( F )
His gains were good, but each level was becoming costly now. He couldn't imagine how it would be for someone who needed twice or triple his levels. His real gains had been the increase in the grade of his spells, except for Stasis. Eku had been right. They were the true force multiplier. He had never told anyone else he could understand what the frog people said, but it was time to truly become what they had named him. Reaper.
Watching the two battle groups standing in the middle of an intersection, he found the battle leaders quickly enough, larger and faster than their smaller counterparts. They were also clearly more intelligent. Using a new ability of Control Water, he summoned large amounts of it down the side of the building where he was hiding on top and ensured the water made its way several steps around it. Then he froze the entire puddle with Control Heat in a few moments. Denser mana and higher-graded spells made what had been impossible a few weeks ago easy.
He then took aim and fired off four Arcane Bolts at once. They went screeching toward the two battle leaders. When they impacted, they splashed their payload all over the nearest frogmen. The intersection lit up as frogmen burned in an arcane fire. It would keep burning until he stopped feeding it mana, or there was nothing else to burn. The entire street lit up in its purple hue. The remaining frogmen knew where he was, but listening to their comrades screaming in pain gave them pause, so he fired off more Arcane Bolts until he almost ran out of mana and retreated back and a few steps to the left so he could still observe them. Acracne Bolt was still a mana hog in comparison to his other spells, maybe with good reason.
Not a single frogman was spared. He watched them burn for a moment longer before turning the ice back to water as he stepped off the building. He was running as his feet hit the ground. Moments later, the system asked him if he wanted to loot the corpses. Leaving behind the smoke that remained after the system remained something it considered a monster.
He made his way north along the outset wall. It was dangerous, but if he could find a big enough gathering… The last double group had already pushed him to level forty-seven.
He saw one of their behemoths moving towards him. He hid in a ruined building. It stood three times his height and was much more nimble than its size implied. Wielding four enormous clubs, it stomped down the street on four legs, its toad-like body and head staying in the same direction, but he could see its protruding eyes scanning everything it passed.
The last time he had tried engaging one of them, his entire squad of “volunteers” was lost. Whisper had dragged his mangled upper body far enough away for him to heal. No, he was staying away from that thing. His Arcane Bolts hurt it, but he would be in a running battle through the entire occupied territory, and it wouldn't certainly not be quiet.
When it was far enough away, he made his way toward the breach. Trying to stay off the ground as much as possible so he didn't leave his scent.
The moon told him he still had plenty of time as he caught sight of their perimeter guards. It was as it had been every time, easy with their torches and croaking toad-like dogs. The entire encampment was lit up with fires. They deeply dislike darkness. Using some sort of domes of sticks and twigs to sleep in. He guessed each would house twelve or fifteen. Having completely leveled off a large section of the outer ring, the encampments could hold thousands. On the outside, millions more waited their turn to enter the rift settlement. Ambros still didn't know if this was some sort of system test or if they were an invading force by some unknown kingdom.
He had tried torturing a few for the information, but they didn't understand what he was asking. Well, they seemed to understand the words, but they made no sense to them. Even stranger was that none of the ones he had encountered seemed to follow the same system as he did regarding circles and levels. That didn't stop quite a few of their number from being able to match the settlements elite. No one in the settlement knew either.
His mana pool was about half full again, so he hunkered down and used Meditation. Despite what one would think when hearing the name and what he experienced in the Sanctum, he was fully aware of things around him. He just put himself in a state where the Energy was attracted to him, filling up his mana pool faster. Hopefully, he would be able to put himself in this state while being a walking, functioning human being, but for now, he had to sit still. His already ridiculous mana regeneration because of his Mana-Core became even more ridiculous. He still didn't understand how to increase the grade of Mana-Core. Imagining a day when he had unlimited access to mana brought a smile to his face. Power, unlimited power.
When Ambros felt he had a full mana pool, he made his way back to the patrols. Watching carefully as he crouched between large pieces of rubble, he waited for both of the patrols to be facing away from him and not cast any light on his intended path.
It took some time since they weren't synchronized, but he moved at full speed and climbed the guard tower they had made out of building rubble so fast that he only needed a few heartbeats. Waiting under the lip of the guard rail, he made sure the one standing watch was good and blinded in his own light before pulling himself up. Knowing he didn't have long before the thing smelled him, he summoned a long thin knife and drove it up the frog man's neck and into the back of the head where he had checked the brain was. Carefully leaning the frog man against the guard rail. It should buy him a little time as long as none of them tried talking to their deceased comrade.
Now that he had his spot, it was time for the night's entertainment to begin.
Taking in the camp, he was, as always, surprised at their discipline. Their domed circular huts were spread out in an ever-expanding ring from the large hut in the center he imagined belonged to the commanders and elites. It was large enough to be a palace.
He had done this at random nights since the invasion started, but this would be his first attempt when his mana was liquid, not gaseous. He had hopes that the result would be spectacular. Drawing on his mana, he expanded his consciousness to cover as large an area as possible. Control Wind started a light breeze blowing. He gradually increased it until he could see the fires flickering. With Control Heat, he told the fires to spread to the nearest huts, and burn, burn hotter. White hot tongues of flames flickered everywhere as a massive blaze started in the encampment. With a final push, he used Control Wind to blow the wind harder and harder again. It was his limit for now. His mana was close to being spent again.
Staring out at the inferno he had created, Ambros had trouble understanding the full scope of what he had done. A full quarter of the encampment was in a blaze. It was staggering how dangerous a caster could be under the right circumstances. He was having trouble crediting himself with doing this, it was so much more than he had ever been able to do, and he was still tottering at the begging of his road. What would he eventually become?
He saw frog men running around on fire, creating more chaos. He knew most deaths would be from poisoning or the lack of air, but it was still gratifying to see some of the monsters burn.
Clarions to call for order were ignored as the screams drowned out everything. He heard some of them screaming their name for him. “It has come!. The reaper has come!.” Looking around to be sure he wasn't spotted, he soon realized they only referred to his previous excursions to do the same, but never to this scale. He needed to leave. He could already feel their elite circling, looking for him. The ash and smoke should cover his retreat, however.
Vaulting over the rail, he was out and past the patrol before anyone noticed his escape, he could sense an elite coming closer to investigate what it probably perceived as a disturbance, but it soon left. Everywhere was disturbed tonight. He passed other settlement squads out to take their own revenge on the invaders, but non noticed him flicking from shadow to shadow. Then he made it back to his own lines. Still not sure why he had yet to receive a battle award or had been asked to loot the corpses. There should be quite a few. Vaulting over the rampart, he greeted the guards in passing. He thought it lax at first, but after realizing the only ones that would cross this wall were humanoids. Anything remotely froglike would be killed if it tried. He gave up on pointing out that treachery could still happen. Mostly because people kept looking at him funny when he said it.
Making his way to the inner ring, he stopped to pick up some food from one of the few stalls that stayed open all night to serve the night watch.
Flashing his golden broch at the gate guards to the inner ring, he was handed another golden token with a “T 1” written on it. Heading towards the quarters he had been given here, or borrowed at least, he spotted Eku waiting at the entrance. Not too strange considering the villa his quarters were located in belonged to him, but he did look irate. Thinking about it, that wasn't unusual lately. How he didn't strangle most of the settlement leadership was still a mystery to Ambros.
Getting close, he gave a tired wave to Eku and said, “Lovely night is it not?” Eku just stared at him for a moment longer before he said, “You know we can see the enemy encampment from the war room in the central tower? Imagine everyone's surprise when almost half the inner encampment suddenly stood in flame. Do not get me wrong, disciple. I applaud what you do, but be careful. Eventually, one or two of the settlement leaders will put two and two together. Please be careful. Despite occasionally wanting to hang you by your small intestines, I do not wish you to become a puppet to whatever lord manages to lay claim to you first. It would staunch your potential.”
Ambros was about to reply when the system finally decided to chime in.
Battle Award
Title awarded: Reaper Apprentice
167,150 Exp
234,500 Sp.
Do you wish to loot the corpses?
Standing with his mouth open about to reply, Eku. Choosing yes. He got one thousand one hundred and twenty-nine serrated teeth, a hundred and thirteen frog eyes, seventy-two great mauls, and three hundred and ninety-two of the small dog-like frog spikes.
Reaper Apprentice is rewarded for reaping more than one thousand of the same opponent close to the contender's own power in a short span of time during the same battle. Enemies at your power level or below must do an attribute check when in contact with your aura. If it fails, they will freeze or run in freight. The contender may add an additional ten attribute points total for their rank on each attribute. This title can be upgraded by increasing the numbers reaped during the same battle in a short period of time.
Looking at Eku, he asked,” Please tell me there is still an increased bounty on the frog men?”