CHAPTER 149: Tower Defense
Lucas looked over at Adam’s chair, the raised and sculpted throne that Tom had made for him. The gold-colored inlay of it, the scenes of heroics carved into the wood, they drew the eye. He wasn’t the only one to spend time glancing at it during the meetings since Adam had been captured.
Though they had lost their appointment title locator skill, they knew he was alive since the Rift base hadn’t been inherited yet. There was an underlying fear that somehow the invaders knew how to forcibly transfer it or reassign it. That would be a nightmare scenario.
The girls also had their connections with him. No one knew if there was a distance limit to the connections, yet they had survived them going in the dimensional rift convergences, which tended to cut off standard communications and signals, so hope remained there. The biggest concern with the connections was what the girls said was coming through them. Adam was happy and positively excited.
How could Adam be feeling those things when his standard emotions were the opposite when involving invaders? The fear that his group had spoken about in private was that they were somehow brainwashing him, which seemed unlikely to them due to him previous immunity to the mind witch. Tom was confident he was in his right mind, even proposing that he was playing possum with his captors. Even if that was the case, how could he be happy when so far removed from what he fought to protect?
Adam was hardly the greatest concern though. He was just a constant thought on everyone’s minds. The chair and Adam were just a distraction that Lucas was using to avoid the current conversations.
“Say that again, Jordan,” ordered Lucas.
It didn’t feel as odd to Lucas as he expected to be looked to as a leader. He had been leading groups both large and small since the [System]. Before the [System], being a thug and collecting riff raff as a small gang had been a sort of vengeance on society, an attempt to prove that he deserved a place in it. When Adam had never questioned him, his ethics or judgement, treating him as a peer and trusting him with the fight against the goblins, Lucas had stopped caring about what he deserved or was owed. If he couldn’t take and protect what was around him from the invaders, then there would be no place for him in this world.
His group all seemed to defer to him, even if Adam often switched up who lead particular missions. At this moment, they were all looking at him as the primary voice. With the strongest group deferring to Lucas, no one in the Sentinel Army was willing to question it. Unfortunately, it was at a time when the next few days would end in temporary victory or death. That was where Adam’s confidence and steady hostility to the invaders helped drive people forward through their fear.
“The invaders have cut off our ability to change the base,” Jordan said hesitantly. For once he was sitting at the table alongside all the other base leaders.
“Please explain how that affects things,” said Colonel Davian.
“Lucas told me to work with the engineers to design traps and defenses for the incoming army. We spent a bunch of time discussing it, but after only a few hours of deciding on positions for things, and getting a few defenses built up, I got a message. The [System] told me we were under siege and that all energy was restricted from being used to change the base.”
“Where did the energy go?” asked Andrea.
“The message said it was being used to reinforce existing structures. I can’t add new buildings though. The wall and other buildings constructed using the Rift Menu should be 20% more durable,” explained Jordan while cradling his head.
“Lashtam, do you know what features are affected?” Lucas shifted to someone not wallowing in misery.
“Certainly, Lord Lucas,” nodded Lashtam, sitting upright on the edge of a chair. “Creating portals to travel to other bases is cut off. Restructuring materials is unusable. Changing or moving structures is unavailable.”
“I was so excited to use the materials we finally took from the city. There was so much possibility for it all,” wailed Jordan. “It was like spending a ton on pay to win packs in a tower defense game.”
“How did they stop it?” asked Tom.
“Three Scyrric Tier 3s walked into our territory and sat down,” moaned Jordan.
“They sat?” asked Brittney.
“That’s right,” answered Jordan.
“And that is enough for a siege?” asked Lucas.
“Yes, Lord Lucas. Since they are more powerful than anyone within the base, according to levels, the base has changed to defensive mode. We must weather this assault with what we have,” explained Lashtam.
“Which includes no portals to escape?” asked Lucas.
“That is correct,” nodded Lashtam. “Though if a networked base has enough power, then they can create portals to us. However, we transferred the power from the other Rifts to us already, so none of our satellite Rifts contain enough power.”
“So, technically we could receive reinforcements but not flee,” sighed Lucas.
“Who even sets these stupid rules?” asked Randall absently.
“That is unknown, Lord Randall,” Lashtam answered as if it had been a real question.
“Then what do we have? What did you get done?” Lucas asked Jordan, who was too busy rocking himself that he didn’t hear.
Taking a page from Adam, Lucas slapped his hand onto the table with enough force to shake the room. A sound like thunder echoed and Jordan’s terror filled eyes locked onto Lucas’s.
“What do we have?” repeated Lucas slowly but forcefully.
“So little!” Jordan stumbled out. “We set up only a few pitfall traps. They won’t trap very many and we doubt the spikes at the bottom will harm the Tier 3s. Then I created towers for ranged within the walls. I meant to make a lot more but only was able to make two per gate and then one at each quarter mile interval around the rest of the wall. All my play to win resources wasted because I thought I had more time.”
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“Towers with no weapons aren’t good for much besides lookouts,” muttered Elias.
“Oh, I put weapons in them,” said Jordan.
“What kind of weapons?” asked Lucas. “Ballistae? Catapults?”
“Not ballistae or catapults. Why go back to the Middle Ages? We made guns,” he answered dismissively, as if it was too obvious to even mention. Everyone looked at him with exasperation.
“You said before making guns was pointless. They disappear when used. Were you lying to us?” demanded Randall angrily.
“What?” startled Jordan. “No, of course I didn’t lie. If anyone took the bullets or guns made within the territory to outside of it then they would disintegrate. Right now, our territory is so large that we’ll be able to use them for defense without fear of them breaking down.”
“Isn’t there an issue with skills not working on them and materials being too weak?” Lucas asked.
“Well sure, skills won’t work on them. But that will hardly matter when they are more powerful than most of the skills and don’t require high level operators to be effective,” Jordan said dismissively.
Lucas turned to Garrett Starf, who was representing the crafters at this meeting.
“How did we make more effective guns?”
Garrett gave a wide smile. “There are two problems with guns in this new world. The first is that the bullets need to be strong enough to actually harm higher leveled people. That needs to take both the level and vitality stat into account. The second issue is creating enough explosive force to launch the bullet without destroying the gun firing it or the person holding it.”
“You’ve solved those issues?” asked Lucas skeptically.
“Absolutely! Don’t underestimate our skills!” crowed Garrett.
“It was thanks to the materials you’ve gathered more than the crafters,” said Jordan, earning him a scowl from Garrett.
“Fine,” conceded the blacksmith. “It was mostly the materials you young’uns brought in. We’ve been using the Horkos skeletons to make bullets. Those guys had such high vitality that to even test the viability we had to use the Rift to shape the early ones. Now we have some machines we created to do the shaping, which is good since we would have run out of bullets quickly with the Rift Menu no long shaping things.”
“What about the guns themselves?” asked Tom.
“Those required a bit more experimentation. We needed to use a combination of materials to craft chambers and barrels sturdy enough to survive an increased explosive force. To get enough power for us to believe the bullets can penetrate high level creatures. Those alchemist rabbits…”
“Bunnies!” corrected Tom with a shout.
“Leputi,” interrupted Lashtam, politely daring to correct Tom.
“…furred folk,” continued Garrett, not missing a beat, “made it all possible. We mixed some of the metals with the leftover Horkos bone powder and some different chemical solutions to strengthen them. Then we used some of the more fireproof high-level snake skins to wrap the metal to direct the heat and explosive force. They aren’t the same as traditional guns looks-wise, but they work the same and can have a bigger kick. In fact, we had to lock them into the towers on special aiming stands to keep the kickback from wounding lower strength users. Even the gun powder has been mixed with combustible oils of high-level enemies you’ve slain to boost the power.”
“Sweet!” said Tom. “Then we can outfit the whole army with these suckers!”
“Uh, no, Tom,” said Jordan. The glare Tom sent him caused the man to shrink in his chair, trying to hide.
Garrett coughed to get their attention from the cowering gamer. “We were only able to make about two dozen of the guns and they are locked into the towers we put them in. Each required the Rift Menu to create as we didn’t have the ability to mix and shape the materials with our skill levels. The ability to create more is shut down until we break the siege.
“We have six single shot sniper rifles. Those are more powerful and have bullets that use Tier 3 bones. We’ll want to only fire them in emergencies or against Tier 3 opponents. They will wear down more quickly, so don’t bother using them against common enemies you can take out with magic or skills.
“The rest are automatic, loaded more like a gatling gun with chains of cartridges than magazines. Either way they will eat through ammo, and we have to hand craft each bullet and cartridge ourselves. Making them is dangerous too. Don’t want the gunpower and oil exploding during the process. The crafter won’t walk away from that.”
“Where are these located?” asked Lucas, most concerned that they weren’t mobile weapons.
“Two machine guns by each gate along with one of the sniper rifles, and the rest are spread out a bit,” squeaked Jordan, who then realized something and began groaning again. “Oh, I had no many other plans…”
Lucas ignored the man and continued addressing Garrett.
“Any other weapons?”
“Only one more. Everything else we worked on isn’t ready and can’t safely be finished without the Rift Menu. You know Napalm? Yeah, we essentially created a Tier 2 and Tier 3 version of it. Only, this stuff is WAY more dangerous. Like, we aren’t really sure how to deliver it without requiring suicide bombers.
“Basically, we can put it in a bottle with a fuse, but there is quite a splash range with it. Almost like it increases in mass outward once ignited. It won’t stop burning either. Had some go off in a test bunker and we had to cut off all oxygen to stop it. The stuff reignited whenever we opened the room up to check on it. We ended up burying the bunker. Had to watch it all through the Rift display. You really don’t want to need the Tier 3 stuff.
“Once again, it was all thanks to those … fuzzy alchemists. One of my people, an Earth chemist, went through a few books with them. They were quite excited about learning the science behind it.”
“Oh yes,” said Lashtam with excitement. “Your science is amazing. The rest of the universe just uses skills and magic, but you learned the how and why of things. There is so much more we can do once we study what you know and adapt it to our skills. If we can study this then eventually we can find new ways to apply it that the rest of the universe hasn’t discovered. That book Lord Tom provided on D.N.A. and mating has given us new ideas on how to create more capable offspring as well.”
“Well, for this battle we don’t have time to create those offspring,” said Lucas, causing Tom to snicker. He flashed a scowl, causing Tom to stiffen. “Ok, so we have potentially powerful new weapons that might be as dangerous to us as to our enemies. Then, for the rest of the time, let’s discuss how we should deploy our forces, and what we can do to prevent Carmichael’s people from making this even more difficult.”
***
“They are plotting,” muttered general Carmichael to himself while looking in every direction at once. He was seated around a table with his officers, trying to figure out what to do. Several of their scouts had tried to find hidden tunnels or ways to get further into the base, but those had been quickly caught and returned with warnings.
“Sir, maybe we should…” started one of the officers.
“Wait!” snapped the general loudly. He looked in different directions and then under the table. “They are watching us even now! Those traitors. Why did you even bring us in here with them, commander?”
Rexus shrugged at him. “In here we have more of a chance then out there. Wouldn’t we rather stand in the armory than the latrines? At least here we have a chance.”
The general thought for a moment and then came to a decision. He nodded back to Rexus.
“I see. Then, before we hear what you have planned, we need to think of a way they won’t listened in.”
Several of the officers sighed at that, but the general only smiled wider.
***
Sgolkr looked down on his brethren who volunteered to enter the territory. They were all waiting for the rest of the region’s Scyrric to arrive. Sgolkr wasn’t sure it was necessary, but this was the proper way to do things. The Scyrric way. Overwhelming force. Tomorrow they would roll through the territory, crush the walls, and consume all those natives worth taking the XP from.
There would be no infiltration, no sneaking up on them. The Scyrric would show their superiority and power. Without the aberration, the natives would have no one strong enough to oppose them. Not that the aberration had been much when faced with a true Scyrric warrior. Sgolkr’s sharp teeth gleamed as he spread his mouth into a smile.
“Are you so happy?” asked a level 48 “Barrier Obstructive.”
“Oh yes. These natives have caused our purpose here to be altered too much. We are the Scyrric. We will be the victors!” Sgolkr hissed as his smile widened.