Organise. Delegate. One mind briefly texts Henry to tell him of the situation, and another analyses the situation through Mana Sense, while the last two prepare my new spell; Invaseviction as well as the trusty and only crowd control spell I have; Latent Coating. The parts of my mind that was done texting took control of the five permanent disks I now have and made them form into a circular shape to orbit above the party of six. It would hopefully deter any jumpers.
"How did you get here?" Their leader says. "This is dangerous. I have never seen them gather in such large numbers before. Please get away, teleport! Inform the base of our fall."
"No need to be so dramatic." I reply, the Acorneers are currently satisfied with making noises; chittering and snarls, partly to communicate and to taunt us---probably. But they have yet to make any significant move. I slowly back away to stand near the party. Conjure Trilattic Swarm. I spend significantly more mana this time, enough to summon six cubes of the swarm, one for each. "Please gently place your hands on the cubes, one to a person."
…
"Uh, we ain't got all day!" I whisper-criticise them for their delay. "See the armour I wear, these are it. Move it people!" These guys don't know what's good for them. Not even the people of Rumah had tried on these newer, compressed platings versions. Not only are they so much more comfortable due to being better at contorting to our shape, they are also sturdier; like how you can bend a 2 metres long pole by hand, but not a compressed 20 centimetres long one that is made using the same quantity of materials.
"Anytime now," I remind these slowpokes. As all noises caused by the evolved rodents begin to die down. This feels a lot like the calm before a storm. And apparently, their party leader seems to have felt the same way. As he finally decided to lay a hand on the cube closest to his person. I link the spell Core to him and with a final command from me; the swarm begins flowing up his arms to form armour.
"Command it with your mind. You can make it change shape and form. So form it to your preference and leave whatever you do not need on the floor." I tell him briefly. The others, having proof now that I had spoken truthfully, immediately placed a hand on the cube. Now they listen…
The two tanks who are more familiar with wearing armour thickens their currently equipped armour by a layer or two on select strategic areas of their bodies, then did subtle movements to test their range of motion. But, upon noticing the fact that the swarm barely hinders their mobility, they added more. The stealth built lady merely gave herself armour equivalent to that of light armour; minimising burden yet decent enough to protect her vitals her in times of need. The three mages on the other hand look lost, one at least, is simply following the design used by their only non-tank-non-mage member. Which I think is a good idea… "hey, you two please do what she does."
That barely took a minute, and still, the world is now perfectly silent. Not a sound for miles. Hastily, I withdrew what was left of the swarm on the ground; which ended up to be more than half of everything I conjured into the spatial storage on my armour. All is set---the first shot pinged off my armour. I'd wager due to being an outlier, standing alone on the outermost perimeter of their circle. Then it was a cacophony of pings.
Zen: Start from the outside.
Henry: K
Now that the Russian party is protected, and my friends are to attack from the outside. I too begin jumping from one spot to another, mostly finding myself standing on a branch, and once in a while, midair. To quickly unleash my spell before another repositioning. Bringing death, rat glue, and fear to gunner-like magical rodents.
Most enemies present are of the three known variants; Snipers, Bombarders, and Assaulters. But after the first twenty or so, I Blink to one positioned quite a bit away, one that I observe has been causing serious damage to our visitors. This one happens to be one of the newer variants; a level 49 Acorneer Cannon. Four minds are better than one. The instant I Blink-arrive; I Parried its last shot away from the general direction of the struggling party---Inspected the creature---and Invasevicted its Core before Blinking away to another random target. Hence I begin specifically targeting these stronger variants, noting that there is once again three different builds; beside the previous Acorneer Cannon, there is an Acorneer Trebuchet and an Acorneer Cluster. It's obvious that they have moved past being mere infantry and have evolved to becoming walking siege acorn-weapons.
Gradually, as the more powerful variants that are capable of damaging my Conjured Trilattic Swarms are eliminated, the pressure felt by the party of six lessens. The mages begin aiming better as the tanks find the situation tankable, Stabby made it into hiding. Soon, due to the incredible increasing amounts of casualties they are experiencing, the bunch of squirrels turned Acorneer retreats like receding tide. Henry's group of 5 approaches us even as the enemy wave resides and the forest around us becomes dead silent.
"Well done." "Thank you!" Henry, and Axey turned Shieldy, said together---I should get their names---before Shieldy continues. "You saved our lives."
"The damned creatures have been stalking us all day!" Stabby complains, "then, about thirty minutes away from where you all were reported to be. They stopped cluing us of their presence for a moment, and all of a sudden, we were surrounded."
"Good thing they have uncharacteristically been making so much noise, it keeps us alert of our surroundings and ready for danger." The other tank says.
Something doesn't add up… Henry and I exchanged looks but kept our thoughts to ourselves. While Billy says, "All's well that ends well. We're glad you're fine, but now is not the time for talking. First, let us return to safet---" A faint bang marr the new found silence. Not A fragment of a second later, a high speed object pierces the edge of my Mana Sense. Whatever it is, it is on course to collide with my forehead!
Stolen story; please report.
It's fast! We all know fast does not always mean power, but it at least means that there is a significant amount of momentum behind it. Bli---no! It is even angled in a way that should I dodge out of the way, someone behind me would be hit instead---Parry! The acorn-bullet arrives in the fragment of a second I spent to consider my options. First with the outer palm of my right hand, I block the bullet at an angle---at the same time, Haste has successfully been cast. As the bullet glances off my armour, unleashing destruction upon the trilattic plates it touches. Its trajectory is slightly altered, now more towards my upper head than the area between my eyes. And now, its speed is barely within the limits of my actions. With my left, I punch its tip to angle it further upwards while letting myself fall back. I catch myself before wholy hitting the ground, returning to an upright position even as the bullet sails past me through a few misfortunate trees and into the horizon. Even with both hands, I had only managed to slightly alter its course to miss the tops of our heads. "Wait here!"
I rapidly Blink in the direction of the projectile, and only manage to catch our assaulter; one Acorneer Commander level 89. Approximately one kilometre away from our location. That is more than twice the distance of my Mana Sense! And it had accurately aimed at my forehead! Currently It is greatly weakened and surrounded by a sea of its less evolved breathens; their numbers are easily in the thousands.
Zen: Uh. This is gonna take a while, return without me
Henry: Don't die!
---
The party of six exhaustedly follows the team from Rumah to their Tower in a cave, instantly settling down to rest upon arrival. Albeit still in formation; leader tank in the lead, off tank slightly behind and to the right, Stabby to the left, then the mages leaning onto the wall; nature healer naturally sits in the middle. Honestly, with the existence of Blink and AoE spells, nobody could understand the point of that. Though it is easy to appreciate the act of maintaining a good habit by practising such discipline.
All 11 people remains awkwardly sitting there as they await the return of Zen. Members of rumah because they received a text from Billy to allow the six people rest, and the six because they need to recuperate before all else, and while the situation is calm. Some would say the situation is tense, some others would deem it awkward.
---
"Why are you all just sitting there awkwardly?" I say, the moment I return from massacring marksman wannabe rodents for the last forty or so minutes and find all eleven people sitting in the first floor of my Tower silently with nary a whisper. "Go eat something! Or… at least drink something, satiate your thirst, people!"
At my sad attempt of trying to be funny, most startle out of the gloom, while a select few just look sleepy and bored. Billy for example, "about time you come back! What took you so long?"
"Just a few thousand of the previous enemies and their boss." I reply nonchalantly, making a non-direct power move on our visitors. "It was fun!" 'Updates please and thanks.'
** DING **
Skill obtained Battle Command
Skill level up, Inspect 35 > 37
Skill level up, Taunt 22 > 26
Skill level up, Sneaking 29 > 33
Skill level up, Intimidate 32 > 34
Skill level up, Battle Command 1 > 2
Skill level up, All-Armors Proficiency 19 > 21
Skill level up, Evasion 24 > 27
Skill level up, Pain Resistance 14 > 15
Skill level up, Fear Resistance 11 > 12
Skill level up, Shield Proficiency 15 > 16
Skill level up, Dodge Roll 18 > 19
Skill level up, All-Weapons Proficiency 19 > 21
Skill level up, Parry 19 > 20
Level 20 Threshold breached
Combat summary
Enemies slain:
Acorneer Sniper lv 15 - 44 x 320
Acorneer Bombarder lv 15 - 44 x 291
Acorneer Assaulter lv 15 - 44 x 304
Acorneer Volley lv 45 - 79 x 70
Acorneer Cannon lv 45 - 79 x 64
Acorneer Cluster lv 45 - 79 x 69
Acorneer Commander lv 89 x 1
32,911 syscred and 164,184 exp awarded
I truly feared for our lives during the second pertaining to that shot. True, I could have Blinked away, but the thought of someone picking up the baton and dying to the hit while I dodge a fatal injury to myself, did not sit well with me. Parry has finally broken past its Threshold. Previously, the skill would subtly but conveniently assist me in blocking incoming attacks. Now, its assistance expands to include ways I may use to redirect the attack in ways that will further yet, benefit me. Small change, big difference! That's both, one less attack that would potentially injure me and one extra attack on another enemy, a two in one.
"So what will happe---" Shieldy made to speak, but I cut him off.
"Wait before that, what are your names?" Can't keep referring to them with my nicknames. Any longer and I'll never associate them with their proper names.
"Yes. We have never been properly introduced. I am Igor, leader of team 6. My sub-tank goes by Nikolai. And our stealthed DPS is Varvara. Then finally Sasha, Nazar and Lucian our spellcasters." He replies, at the last three names, he first pointed at the only mage woman; green, followed by red the fire mage, and blue the water mage. "We are here on behalf of Solntse to receive your promised armour spell and offer a temporary alliance with you."
"Why temporary?" Billy asks.
"Because they are a mess, a bunch of indecisive old fools!" Varvara said blunt as a hammer. "Dedushka… my grandpa and his friends need to stop thinking too far ahead and make a decision. If only they'll listen! Just because I'm the daughter of a foolish---of his son, he thinks I too am a fool. Sen---"
"Peace Vara…" Igor says, placing a calming hand on her shoulder. "We're in the presence of important guests."
"---ile…" it's super effective, that made her shut her angry blabbering mouth. She visibly deflates. We are currently still within the influence of their Territory Core, which is why our communication continues undisturbed. Their base is generally placed inside parts of a small but steep mountain. While my Tower is on the same mountain, but on another side and at a slightly different elevation. Which made us both closeby and quite far away. As they have to walk around and descend or ascend the mountain through difficult terrain. But I can simply fly or Blink my way around.
"What she meant to say was that we are here to agree in joining your cause, but we hope it will be fine should we wish to one day withdraw." Igor clarifies. Which I can assume means; they want all the benefits and assistance we can provide, but refuse to commit. "I hope that is fine with you?"