The non-stop bombardment on the raised tower shield constantly pressed Robert against the ground. Spells, arrows, bolts, javelins – the huge torrent of every possible projectile’s type was trying to crush him, evaporate him with a flame, freeze him to death, electrocute his body. There were so many options of death and only one Rob to fight against them. Luckily, the “Reinforcement” rune not only increased the resilience of the steel to any damage but seemed to improve anti-magic properties. Only that could explain how he was still standing after being the primary target of almost all challengers with ranged capabilities on his place of the attack.
The dense ranks of the undead didn’t give him an opportunity to retreat. The dumb creatures simply stepped forward, not seeing him as an obstacle. It was like with a bad AI in the games, where the NPC failed to find a correct way and was constantly moving into the wall, ignoring a collision. However, this time the wall was Robert, which made him drop the futile resistance against the stupid animated machines and follow the flow. The problem with this approach was an underestimation of the challenger’s minds. Having a game like System, missions, and floors, they quickly noticed the oddity in an enemy’s rank – a unique named mini-Boss.
Obviously, it led to the desire to kill him as fast as possible to get a hidden reward. The latter wasn’t so untypical for the Tower, as Rob’s previous floor was basically the same thing. Therefore, most defenders, led by greed, decided to use all their means in an attempt to be the first one, who would win a jackpot. Abandoning the threat from other undead, they simply focused their fire on Robert, who at this point turned himself into a slowly walking turtle. The metal “shell” was in a permanent reconstruction mode as the amount of “hospitality” from the challengers went beyond any reasonable boundaries.
Soon the “Heavy” rune followed as the bombardment threw him off balance. It turned the feeling into a shower of hail that was dropping from all sides. The constant knocking sound was only muffled by the concentration on several tasks – a recreation of the defensive layer and on making another step, as under the steel shield he basically couldn’t see anything. The thought of trying to go back rose again when Robert noticed a forming spell underneath his feet. Not having the ability to jump to the side, he simply covered his legs with steel and added another construct, almost turning his shield into a sphere. The blast of fire burned his body, finding a gap in the defense. The painful groan was cut by Rob when he forcefully clenched his teeth and continued.
I hope my role as a walking target will count towards the merits…
When he finally reached the wall, the intensity of the attacks slowed by a lot. Clearly, the challengers in an attempt to get the kill blew through their mana reserves. Another reason was a bad angle for shooting from the loopholes. The towers that leaned out from the walls had several spots to aim at Robert, but by this point the hyper-concentration on his persona and the dire consequences of such an approach became obvious to the defenders, thus making them redirect the range strikes on the skeletons around. This gave Rob the opportunity to take a breath.
His body ached from the amount of indirect damage he took. No matter how he was covering himself, the skill-based attacks sometimes managed to slip through the raised defense. Several thorns from the odd plant left nasty cuts on his leg. The imbued with magic bold penetrated the steel and hit his forehead. Losing most of the killing energy, it was still stopped only by his thick skull. Some parts of his exposed to the fire skin had burns. Even the limited space under the outer flaming attacks made the air inside his sphere as hot as in the sauna. Not speaking about some “shocking” experience, that he got after being hit by lightning spells.
However, his inhuman body and acquaintance with pain made all the feelings not less sensible, but at least tolerable. Therefore, exhaling as if to get rid of the stress, Robert focused on the wall in front of his eyes. The undead around were mindlessly crowding around, slowly pushing their long-ceased-to-live comrades upwards, almost like creating a ladder from their own bodies. Maybe it was their plan in the first place, but Rob wasn’t going to wait. He needed to make an impact on the battle’s outcome.
Okay, let’s test the new addition of my rune’s alteration. This robotic bitch took 12 thousand points for that, leaving me with nothing! I hope it was worth it.
The hast and chaotic explanations to the System of what he wanted to alter in the “Heavy” to get the new rune’s effect was met with rejection. Not giving up, Rob just continued to insist on the correctness of his version until he managed to get something similar to what he imagined. It wasn’t a completely brokenly overpowered rune as he desired deep inside but might be enough to raise his attacking power. He only didn’t know to what extent.
Leaning to the stone surface, Robert glanced to the sides to see how his own value in the eyes of the challengers had decreased under the threat from the undead. The latter had already built two pyramids from their bony bodies, pushing an odd variation of their king on the top. Engraved with shining markings, without any weapons, they were constantly chattering with their yellow teeth. It immediately raised suspicion of their true purpose, but seeing as nothing was happening, Rob calmed down and focused on his new rune that took the fifth slot.
Dispersing the shield, he quickly conjured a huge pickaxe. In the next, it was raised above his head before going down in a powerful swing. The weight increase during the motion accelerated the weapon even more, making the future hit even more devastating. The stone cracked, sending its fragments everywhere and leaving a deep mark on the surface of the wall. However, the dust hadn’t even fallen when Robert finally activated “Shockwave”. The instantaneous decrease of the weight followed the expulsion of the fueling process mana which resulted in an energy blast. The cone of unfocused destruction crushed the stone, mangling everything that fell under its effect. Rob even had to take a few steps backward to keep his balance.
Well, that is strong but will not help with stone walls… upwards then!
Despite the failure in helping to breach the wall, Robert was satisfied with the result of the test. The rune that had to be created with a conjunction of “Heavy” was really dependent on the weight change, making it a perfect choice for any enormous weapon. That was the biggest obstacle – to convincing the System that despite the fact of constant energy level to supple the process, the bigger the weight in absolute numbers the more energy it had to create after the sudden collapse. The System already broke the physics with its runes or skills, so why wouldn’t it do the same again if the basic outlines of logic were complied with.
Maybe not the best, but it is what I managed to squeeze from my imagination to alter the “Heavy” rune… It is still better than this Archi-Lich can do. What the hell is he doing? Oh, shit!
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Robert was already near the top of the wall when he noticed how the weaponless skeletons started to lean on the surface as if they were trying to cover as much space as possible. Moreover, the other undead simply dropped down, leaving their comrades to hang on the wall by themselves. That was the moment when Robert understood that his initial assumption was correct, and the delay might be caused only by the need to wait for the skeletons on other spots of the wall. He was the one who attracted the defenders in his area, but the situation might be different in other places. However, it was already too late. The voice of the undead’s leader resounded through the battlefield, activating the spell and creating a really devastating chain reaction.
“Corpse Explosion!”
The chain of explosions burst from the inside of the bone creatures, turning their bodies into dust. Sending the two powerful shockwaves from both sides, it threw Robert upwards, when he tried to avoid the blast. The hooks he was using to glue him to the stone surface didn’t manage to hold the force, tearing deep holes in a cracked wall. The suddenness and instantaneity of the event changed the scenery for Rob with so insane speed that he only came to sense, it while already being in a flight. He still caught a glimpse of the destruction from the Archi-Lich’s spell that simply obliterated part of the fortification before his body started to descend.
Conjuring the steel wings to slow himself down, Robert twisted his body to correct his trajectory. In the next moment, his engulfed metal foot crashed into the head of the mage, who was watching a flying humanoid projectile with a wide-opened mouth. Adding even more constructs to his body and strengthening them with a “Heavy” rune, Rob crushed the poor guy. Stomping a few more times until the notification’s appearance, he paused to look around.
The free space between the wall and the city building wasn’t very wide but still made a gap that encircled the whole settlement to ensure the access of the defenders in case of a breach. Right now it was filled with dozens of challengers, who were eyeing Rob’s figure in a state of shock from his fabulous way of entering the scene. He knew that this fragile peace would break in a mere second, so he had to make a choice. Either he would go into the city to fight in densely packed surroundings, but alone. Or he would go back to the wall and wait for the reinforcements. However, seeing the greed in the eyes of the challengers, their quantity, and their complete focus on himself, the choice was obvious.
Hastily turning around, Robert sprinted to the opened door frame of the nearest tower. The following yells of anger and anticipation only added the speed, almost blurring his running figure. Any uncomfortable or painful feelings were momentarily forgotten, shoved away by the wave of adrenaline. No matter how easily Rob could deal with challenger parties, this wasn’t the case. The number in such groups never exceeded five, which was at least several times less than the current crowd of chasers.
Shitty crap!
Conjuring the shield on his back and watching how few spells and arrows flew above his head, Robert continued his charge despite the appearance of the enemy in a door frame. Attracted by a commotion, the person in chainmail failed to realize what was happening until it was too late. Creating something akin to a knight’s lance, Rob impaled the enemy. Following the inertia, he threw his body against the wall inside the tower only to crash into it a moment later. The painful groan of the warrior only started to leave his mouth, when Robert headbutted him again. Not seeing the notification, he gripped the head of the disoriented enemy and forcefully twisted, cracking the neck.
Turning around, he noticed how the chasers were already nearing the tower. The problem was that a single way out was the wooden ladder that led to the second floor which was currently occupied by another challenger, who was quickly descending. Acting on instinct, Robert lunged forward. Gripping the leg of the enemy, he pulled him down, turning the fall into some kind of throw. Planting the enemy against the floor, Rob shoved a conjured knife into their neck, interrupting the attempt to use a skill. Hastily turning around to the ladder, he had to jump backward to avoid the flying bolt shot from above.
The opened hatch showed the enemy’s face, who was already preparing another projectile. Shining with energy, was definitely a skill. On the other hand, the first chaser had already appeared in the tower, putting the giant shield in front of him and steadily approaching, despite being pushed from behind by the crowd. Robert left with limited options. Glancing around and noticing four wooden support beams, he smiled before instantly recreating his set of armor.
However, this time instead of a shield and a mace, Rob created a huge axe with a heavy blade. The latter looked like a sharp triangle that was crudely attached to the long handle, making it too big and unusable for anything apart from straightforward hits. But this was what Robert aimed for. Swinging it in a wide motion, he smashed the first beam, while giving out a wild intimidate roar. The effect of it was clearly visible as the approaching warrior paused for a moment, while the crossbowman missed his shot, only gazing at Rob’s shoulder.
Repeating two more swings to cut through the air like he was trying to keep the enemies at the distance, Robert broke another beam with the demonstrative clumsy hit. Striking the floor, he sent stone debris everywhere. However, it looked like an opening for the warrior, who immediately tried to capitalize on the “mistake”. Lunging forward with thrust, he shouted the name of the skill. Rob was ready, twisting his body and sending his own weapon into motion while activating the new addition to the rune’s arsenal.
“Piercing hit!”
The grinding sound of metal resounded in the tower when the sword was tied to penetrate Rob’s helmet. To be able to cut through the steel with its physical form, it still sent an ethereal copy of itself that simply ignored the protective gear. Only the tilting his head to the side had saved Robert from the sure death, when the blade left a slash on his cheek, deep enough to damage the zygomatic bone. A moment later Rob’s own axe clashed against the raised shield. The following energy outburst smashed it and sent the mutilated body of the warrior into the flight, creating a real pile of bodies from those, who were behind.
Ignoring the pain and conjuring the metal over the bleeding wound to stop the loss of a red vital liquid, Robert tensed his muscles to fight the inertia. Forcefully changing the trajectory of his axe, he repeated the attack once again. The third strike appeared to be the last one as the crossbowman shot once again, this time hitting Robert’s helmet from the back. The steel held the strike, but the impulse threw Rob out of balance, crushing the wall instead of the scared mage, who wetted his own robe. Seeing as more enemies started to appear behind the piles of dead, pushing forward and disregarding the corpses under their feet, he jumped backward.
In a matter of a dozen seconds, Rob was pressed against the wall on the opposite side of the tower, while being surrounded by multiple challengers. The latter were approaching with the pace of a snail, clearly afraid to be the first to attack. It might be different if there were many spellcasters among them, but because of the siege, most of them were currently on the wall. The densely packed space gave a limited opportunity to use flashy skills. Moreover, Robert was sure that the strongest were already fighting against the undead, and these were just either weak or cowards, who tried to stay behind. That gave him the ability to deal with them at once.
Conjuring two short axes in each hand, Robert smiled with a mad grin. In the next moment, both of his weapons flew into wide swings before crushing the last two wooden beams in one swift motion. They were not the only supports of the floor above, but they were taking enough toll from the overall weight. And adding the fact that there were more curios challengers, who tried to follow the fight through the hatch, it was like a last straw on the camel’s back.
“Sky-shattering strike, bitches!”
A glimpse of understanding flashed in the eyes of the nearest enemies, despite the System’s obstruction in communication. However, before they managed to raise their heads, the floor above was already falling down, burying everyone under the debris.