Dren burst out of the treeline at full speed while using his teleport to its limits. It was the first time he put its limits to the test. Its range was short, twenty meters at most. But its cooldown was slightly less than a second, making it an excellent combat skill and only decent as a travel skill. Still, between his speed and rapid teleportations, he was a good quarter of the way to the walls before anyone saw him. His eyes flicked to the timer showing less than a minute left until the Monster Surge started. It would still take a few minutes if it was like the last one for the monsters to show up. Dren’s plan was simple, he wanted to make the biggest impact with his new skill. While attacking after they engaged the monsters would have been better tactically. For his goal now, he wanted to make a big show out of his assault. Using the Monster Surge more as a backdrop to his own attack initially.

Shouts rose up from the wall and to his surprise orbs of lights appeared in the predawn sky overhead. They shone brightly, pushing back the gloom before several harmless beams of light landed on him. Dren just chuckled even as a few long range spells and projectiles started filling the sky as they sailed towards him. It seemed despite the large number of natives on the wall, they didn’t have many long range attackers either. Far less than Dren expected.

In no time at all he hit the halfway point to the wall as he weaved his way through the rain of attacks. Glancing up to the sky he frowned slightly. ‘That is odd, there are even fewer attacks than before.’ Just as this thought raced through his mind enormous bones erupted from the ground. It looked like three meter long rib bones forming a cage around him just shot out of the ground. Dren snickered and teleported past them. Or that is what he tried to do and instead slammed face first into the rib right in front of him.

Stun resisted.

Bouncing off the rib he glanced at the resistance notification, dismissing it another one appeared.

Space has been sealed within the Necropolis. Unauthorized teleportations will now be blocked.

Dismissing this notification Dren glanced up to the walls, his eyes landing on the cackling skeleton standing up there. But only briefly as they moved higher to the previous dark skies that now blazed. It was as if every native on the wall had been holding their attack for just this moment. Without hesitation he jumped up, three meters wasn’t a very high wall for someone with his attributes. Yet, his head slammed into an invisible barrier as if the curved rib bones had continued upwards to meet in the center above him.

Crashing down to the ground he grunted and gripped the fetish in his hand. “You better work as advertised.” The mana barrier around him tightened and grew denser as he force fed it mana while drawing in more through the fetish just as hundreds of attacks crashed down on him.

*****

For a moment the chair balanced on just one leg, rocking slowly before falling back on all fours with a loud thud. Kitty let out a gasp of both relief and excitement. Bouncing around as she struggled she had nearly topped the chair over but had managed to wiggle around enough to cause it to land on all four legs again. At the same time, her second leg finally tore free of the bony hands grasping it. “YES!” She cried out ignoring the new set of claw marks that dug through her pants. Both legs were finally free and unlike her cage, this one didn’t have some invisible barrier. Just the physical hands holding her down. Too strong for her arms to tear free of but not her legs. More importantly, she finally had both legs free and could use her skill.

With some effort, she got the chair to hop and was able to land awkwardly on her two feet, plant them firmly, and activate her Redoubt skill. With a loud clatter the bones that made up the chair bounced off the walls as the projection of nine chest high wall sections erupted from her body, blasting apart the chair. They settled in a tight circle all around her while pushing back everything not nailed down. “Holy shit that worked.” She gasped in excitement at being free. It hadn’t worked against the strange barrier of her cage. It was the skill she gained at level five, it created a temporary fortification which triggered her passive bonus for being in a defensive structure while fighting. It did have the requirement that she place both feet on the ground and remain in that spot. If she moved from where she stood the skill would end. But the sections of the wall around her would move up or down as she needed, blocking attacks or allowing her to shoot freely. The speed at which they moved was based on her agility even, turning her into a fortified defense location at any time.

Only she had used the fact it pushed away loose items as a way to blast the chair apart. It had still hurt, blood trickled from claw marks where the bony fingers had been scraped against her. But she was free and that was all that mattered. Taking a step towards the door the circle of walls around her rushed in on her before vanishing. “Just wait until I get my hands on a bow you bony piece of shit.”

*****

From the walls they watched the lone man trapped in the Haven Lord’s cage of bones as the barrage of attacks crashed down. It seemed overkill just for one person, no matter how dangerous they were supposed to be. But most cared little, turning their attention to the countdown that just ticked to zero.

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Ned was one of them, and he started building another fireball for the monsters to come. He wasn’t worried. Despite knowing he was a meek person he had done well in the madness that was this new world. It reminded him of novels he had enjoyed well into his adult life. Of magic and monsters, though he was quite glad he had selected mage. After all, with the Haven walls, he could just stand up here and throw fireballs at whatever came. No matter how terrifying they might be, from up here, he had nothing to fear. The ground trembled beneath his feet as hundreds of attacks struck at once. Fireballs detonated, lightning bolts crackled, icicles shattered, earthen spears exploded, and more projectiles than he could identify slammed into the same spot.

A moment later the maelstrom of destruction winked out leaving a crater of smoldering earth, molten slag, and oddly enough glistening frozen spots. Glancing down he took in the destruction before moving to stare far out in the distance towards the movement of monsters he could already see. But as he did, he froze. Amongst that wild amalgamation of destruction in that crater, a figure stood. A chill ran down his spine as he faltered, his spell dissipating. There was no way someone had survived that level of destruction. Even with the madness of this system, the advent of magic and superpowers. That might as well have been a small nuke dropped on them.

Around him, others seemed to have noticed the figure within the crater too. Murmurs of confusion spread and with it came the hint of fear. Just how powerful would one need to be to withstand the barrage of so many people at once?

All eyes seemed to be on that figure as the tension grew, the air seeming to grow still as the defenders held a collective breath. Then they moved, a single step forward. Then another. Slowly, unhurried, they strolled up and out of the crater. All eyes were on that figure and an eerie silence fell over the world, even the baying of the monsters in the distance seemed to cease.

“Really? That is it?” Their voice seemed somehow soft and quiet yet able to be heard despite the distance. As the defenders gaped down at the invader, they spoke again. This time their voice was booming, loud beyond seeming reason. “This is my Proclamation.” There was a pause, longer than one might need for theatrics. Almost as if they were hesitating. Then just as the spell over the area seemed on the cusp of breaking, their voice boomed out. “This battle will only end when the native called Katherine is returned to me or I no longer live.” All the tension, silence, and a strange pressure that Ned hadn’t even noticed building before seemed to rush forward toward the speaker as he finished. Shouts went up and attacks were launched. In the distance, the strange baying sound returned. Ned stood, frozen still. Looking down at the figure as they started moving again, he could taste it. Fear.

“It’s a monster.” He whispered.

*****

Dren watched as his mana bar spiked repeatedly as it almost emptied and then refilled thanks to the fetish in his hand. The amount of power it was drawing was insane. Fear, hatred, anger, and other dark emotions rolled off the defenders and turned into raw power for him to draw from. It all fed his barrier for the few seconds the bombardment on him lasted. On his finger the ring grew hot and vibrated intensely, making his finger tingle uncomfortably. While sinew snapped, bones cracked, and the fetish in his hand struggled to contain the flow of power. ‘This thing is beyond ridiculous.’ That was all Dren could think as he watched his mana continue its rapid spiking.

Then just as quickly as it had come it ended, the maelstrom of destruction around him vanished and he found himself standing in a crater of devastation. It was time to use his newest skill. It was an odd one and he wasn’t sure how it would really work out. But if it did as he hoped, it might be a game changer.

“Proclamation. Publicly declare a path of action. If you complete your actions as stated, rewards will be given based on calculated factors. These factors include the number of system-integrated entities to which the proclamation was made and their mental states triggered by the proclamation. Strong reactions, such as fear, anger, joy, hope, and other states will potentially increase the rewards. Difficulty calculated by the system will be used to modify the outcome. The cooldown on use is one week when successful. One month when failed.”

The first oddity was that, unlike all the other skills he had acquired since evolving his class. This one had nothing to do with the Profane Order his class was related to. In fact, it seemed less like a skill anyone would normally get. It worked almost like creating a personal quest for himself. But seemed to be tied to the number of people he made the proclamation in front of and how they reacted to it. Dren thought it was more a skill one might get as a noble class, not an assassin class based on using all three resources to boost themselves. It felt as if the skill wasn’t meant for his class, but had been shoved in there. That said, he was highly curious about what exactly it would reward him. Since he already wanted to make a bold statement with his attack. He figured it would be a good chance to test the limits of this odd skill.

Standing in that ruined crater he steadied his breath and ignored his pounding heart. While he had been confident in his ability to attack the Necropolis and escape. He hadn’t expected such a bombardment or the sealing of his teleportation ability. Yet, there would be time later to dwell on that. For now, he started his performance as he thought of it. Then triggered his skill before he made his proclamation. That he would not leave until he killed the Seer Maria. Yet, Just as he started to make the declaration, he paused unsure. Before he could think too much his mouth betrayed him and he spat out something embarrassing. Worse, the system accepted it as a proper proclamation.

“Proclamation witnessed by one thousand one hundred ninety two valid entities. Calculating difficulty and rewards…”

The three dots on the end kept vanishing and reappearing as the system did its thing. Dren dismissed it, it wouldn’t matter now. What was done was done. It was time for him to do what he came to do. His first problem now was how to scale the wall without his teleportation ability. He didn’t even have his spider climbing ability as he had left his cloak with the Witch. “Just take it one step at a time.” Dren muttered as he rushed forward again, attacks raining down in his wake.