Pushing his body upwards, Robert dispersed the steel cover that protected him from the damage. The dust was floating in the ruined surroundings, hazing the picture of the stone and wooden debris that were mixed with bodies. However, the latter was the biggest indicator that the challengers were not dead, instantly setting Rob into motion. Glancing once at the newly made blockage of the door, he proceeded to strike with his conjured spear even at the slightest motion.
The first plate to turn into ethereal particles that disappeared into the air causing the debris to fall. A few more deaths led to a chain reaction, where the broken fragments of the tower and lost equipment suddenly started to find more free space. Ignoring painful groans and the wave of notifications, Rob hastily ended his control “shots” before jumping against the wall. Gripping the small deepening, he created a long hook from his stretched hand to pull him up.
The timing appeared to be a lucky one as a mage appeared above him. Dressed in red robes and a huge pointy hat that couldn’t hide his worried expression, he missed the moment when the hook grabbed his ankle. With a surprisingly high-pitched shrilling scream, he was forcefully pulled down to the debris, falling from the four-meter height. Turning around, while thinking about what to do with the enemy, Rob was met with a view of a motionless person, who was unfortunate to fall directly on the sharp tip of the blade that was protruding from the debris.
Here goes all the supernatural stats…
Pushing himself over the edge, Robert hastily stood up only to pause for several seconds, observing the intensive fight that was taking place on the wall. The explosive spell of the Archi-Lich destroyed huge chunks of the fortification, making it easy for the undead to get inside even without using any additional engineering equipment. The defenders had to concentrate their efforts on protecting multiple small breaches, dispersing their forces all over the defensive line. And it appeared to be hard, as the skeletons could ignore most of the hits and even the loss of bony limbs.
Rob saw how the fleshless creature without a hand simply jumped forward, trying to bite the warrior in full plate armor. The teeth obviously managed only to scratch the surface of the breastplate, but still made the challenger step backwards from the fright. The skull with glowing green eyes, which was dangerously close to tearing the part of his face through the open visor, was just too scary to be ignored. This tiny mishap might be not critical as the fire bolt from behind had burned a hole in the skeleton’s head. However, the latter wasn’t the only undead in proximity that made the challenger his priority target. Another one was already crawling underneath.
Legless, it was ignoring the steps on its bony frame from the fellow skeletons, fully focused on the living beings. And it achieved its goal, grabbing the leg of the warrior, when he was in search of balance. The sudden pull dropped the human down, giving a skeleton to opportunity to climb on top of the challenger. Wildly yelling, he asked for help, but even more undead were already jumping on him. The steel was still holding, giving the ability to save the warrior. One of the mages even tried to do it, charging some kind of spell, but the figure of the ghoul that appeared from the side made him miss the shot.
The lighting strike went far left from the intended aim, hitting another frontliner from the back. The next several moments went in a desperate attempt to save the situation. The mage that simply blew his own hand together with the ghoul’s head, when the latter was in the middle of the bite. The warrior, whose face was turned into mutilated meat by a skeleton. The frontliner tanked the hit and still pushed the undead back with a wide swing of the huge axe. The flaming blade penetrated the bony bodies as they were made from ice, breaking them into pieces, and only got stuck in the chest of a zombie. Engulfing its figure in fire, it paused the creature's tracks for a moment, before the undead proceeded once again, ignoring its state.
Robert couldn’t see far but was sure that such fights were everywhere. The army of dead was like an unstoppable force of nature that had no feelings, just the devastating motion that would continue its doings until its full exhaustion. The challengers had no way of winning. Even from the short observation, they were dropped on this floor at once, without any help and time to organize their defense properly. He couldn’t see any commanders or communication between sections of the wall. All tactic was an instinctive grouping together in an attempt to repel the attack, solely relying on the newly granted power from the System. And that wouldn’t work. Especially, if Rob was on the opposite side.
Dispersing his armor, Robert created a short sword in his hand, before slowly approaching the nearest group. The few mages were in sitting position, leaning on the wall and clearly in the process of regenerating their mana. Several archers were busy shooting through the loopholes, while the group was focused on the gap in the wall. No one paid him attention, as he was human and was coming from behind. Moreover, the number of floating text above the crowd of the enemies made the feature simply unusable. At least it was Rob’s bet. And it worked, giving him an easy way to close the distance. Then he struck.
The blade pierced the head of the nearest mage before disappearing into nothingness. Robert’s hand was already smacking the conjured mace into the face of the other. Not pausing on it, he charged into the back of the nearest archer. Hitting him from behind, he threw the enemy from the wall directly onto the weapons of the undead. Ducking under the hastily shot arrow from another bowman, Rob created a huge polearm before making a downward strike. Its blade flashed with light as if confirming an addition of the “Heavy” rune before crushing the shoulder of the archer. Cutting through the armor and flesh up to the chest, it got struck, but Robert was already in motion. Tensing his muscles, he swung his weapon together with a dying man, throwing him into another challenger.
The archer’s body only started to disperse but it was enough to pull an unlucky guy down from the wall. However, Robert wasn’t looking. His mind, as always, was fully focused on the possible threats, disregarding what it marked as a temporarily disabled opponent. Lunging himself forward with a raised shield, Rob knocked a few “players” onto the stone floor, before starting to hit. Those, who turned their attention to him, were immediately punished by the undead. The jumping figure of the ghoul clawed one of the distracted defenders, piercing its chest with huge paws. Raising it upwards, the creature growled with satisfaction. The moment later Robert used it as a cover, avoiding a fireball.
Stolen story; please report.
The flaming explosion tore both undead and challenger while hitting Rob with a shockwave. Luckily, he was already clad in his armor and used a shield to protect himself. The latter appeared to be quite useful, as another spell had struck him from the side. Coming from the city, it was cast by some kind of cleric and caused a bright light to envelope Robert’s figure. At least that was his assumption, as except the illuminating effect, he felt nothing. However, it couldn’t be said about the undead near him, whose bodies started to burn under System’s holy magic.
Diving out from the bright area, Rob deflected the blow from the axe-wielder. The flaming weapon brought a wave of heat, trying to melt the reinforced steel. Maybe such reliance on the skill power made the challenger put all his strength into the strike, which caused an unpleasant surprise to him when Robert not only blocked it but also shoved the axe to the side. The created opening was used momentarily. The next several exchanges with the already panicking group, who were simultaneously trying to stop the undead, led to the obvious result – death.
Ignoring the pouring inside city walls skeletons and zombies, Robert lunged himself to the next group. The latter were already ready to meet him, putting a few melee fighters at the front and preparing the spells. However, in such a chaotic battle, the deadly threat could come from anywhere. In their case, it was a cloud of poison that covered their defensive position in a mere moment. Coughing with blood and dropping any resistance, they opened them to the claws of ghouls and rusty weapons of skeletons. By the moment Rob reached them, only three challengers were barely standing back-to-back.
The single usage of “Shockwave” killed two, leaving the last one – an older woman with a spear - alone. She tried to jump from the wall to save her, but just broke her legs, immobilizing herself instantly. That attracted the attention of a few zombies nearby, who simply followed the example. Unfortunately for her, the already dead creatures were not affected by broken limbs in the slightest, gladly diving their teeth into a screaming woman. The poisonous cloud hid the obvious outcome when Robert pushed himself through the deadly obstacle.
Another tower was standing in front of him. The defenders inside were still shooting as far as he could see. Quite a few spells from the Liches were trying to get the challengers, but the fortification held. The bone spears were shattering against the tough surface, sending the fragments everywhere. Only on rare and lucky occasions, they managed to slide inside the loopholes, exploding in the tower. On the other hand, the transparent phantoms simply ignored a physical obstacle, penetrating the fortification and causing terrifying screams. They were so awfully loud and seemed to affect something inside his own soul that Robert halted his steps for a moment.
Just for a moment as in the next, he was already making a swing with an enormous mace, crushing the closed wooden door. The flying remnants of it blinded the warrior that was standing behind. Another one, who attempted to hide behind the wall was too shocked to notice that his leg was sticking out, exposing his position. Following the attack broke the stone near his head, throwing him to the floor. Glancing on both disabled enemies, who tried to make an ambush, Robert sighed.
It was like a slaughter, only without the corpses, as the latter were constantly disappearing without a trace. Still, his resolution was as firm as before. Rob wanted to live and was ready to kill for that, especially in such fair conditions where he wasn’t fighting someone unarmed. He was sure that there was a scenario where he would prefer his own death then the cost of living, but this wasn’t the case. And until he would get in such a situation, he wouldn’t theorize about it. Therefore, he moved, swinging his weapon. Two short notifications later Rob broke the ladder that led to the upper floor and proceeded through the tower. The newly appeared scene was similar to the previous one. The same group of challengers fighting off the horde of the undead. The lack of communication and focus on the battle made them completely miss the breach of the fortification. And Robert was going to use it to a full extent.
Rushing right into the center of their ranks, he had put the shield in front of him. The instant he rammed into the enemy, the chain of “Heavy-Shockwave” runes was activated. The following moment brought a sudden explosion, sending everyone backward. Rob was already in motion. Replacing his shield with a huge sword, he made a wide swing, bisecting the nearest challenger in a cloth and with a staff. The blade continued further, hitting the thigh of another warrior.
The pain dropped him to the knee only for his face to meet Rob’s feet. The strong kick threw him backward, right in the assaulting crowd of the undead. Conjuring a steel plate on his shoulder to deflect a hastily made thrust, Robert swung again. The diagonal cut beheaded another mage but was stopped by a shield. The owner of it tried to shout something, but Rob was faster. Activating the chain of runes once again, he caused a sudden hit that pushed the shield to the side, opening a way for Robert’s knife.
Bashing the already deadly wounded warrior with his shoulder, he threw him from the wall. The undead were already in the process of dealing with other survivors of his attack. The moment the disoriented group fell into a panic, it signed a death warrant for itself. Therefore, not sparing a glance at the dying challengers, Rob moved forward. The next mixture of parties was already retreating, abandoning the wall after seeing the outcome for their neighbors. The Tower was covered in a thick smog, literally imbued with poison. And, taking into account that there was no returning fire at the Liches, who cast the spell, the fate of defenders was obvious.
Still, the wall is long. Enough for me to widen the gap.
Continuing to move along the defensive line on the wall, he cut through it like a hot knife through the butter. Whenever it became too dangerous, Robert simply retreated and used an undead as an improvised walking shield or cover only to attack again and again after a short pause. He couldn’t avoid being wounded but was in relatively good shape despite all the fighting. Most of the cuts, bruises, or even burns, be it from the frost spell or flaming strike, were not too deep and were constantly healing under the effect of his increased regeneration. The self-conjured armor proved its worth, making an injury to his face the only heavy one he got during this time. Others, despite the pain, were just cosmetical.
The previous experience in mass battles together with caution helped a lot to save him from getting killed. He didn’t try to play a hero to rush through the enemy ranks. He didn’t try to murder each challenger personally. No, Robert methodically and steadily crushed the defensive line of the “players” to widen the gap of a breach. Therefore, only when the signs of the battle started to spread all over the city, Rob decided that the hole in the outer fortification was enough to redirect his attention to the overall number of challengers. Unclear goals in merits led to the constant need for action without a pause. He just didn’t know what was enough to fulfill the demand for contribution, setting him on the road of a real killing spree.
Where the fuck is my mission’s objectives count? System, you are lazy as fuck… or trying to be a smartass in using me beyond anything adequate.