Nenn woke up the following morning. The warmth of the sun felt good on his face. It was a pleasant way to wake up, especially given everything that had happened so far. It was peaceful. The fortress was just beginning to stir with activity. Most of the occupants were just getting up, while the third shift of fire watchers were heading down for a well deserved nap. Thankfully, from the look of things and the undisturbed sleep Nenn had received, there had not been any issues last night. The morning cooking fires were being stoked, and the smell of freshly cooked bacon wafted on the wind. This caused a small frown to cross Nenn’s face. A small sour reminder to start the morning.
It was going to be an adjustment for Nenn. He loved food. He loved experimenting with new flavors and cuisines, striving for new innovative sensations. Cooking was one of his few physical passions. And now that had been taken from him. On the bright side, it beats being dead, Nenn thought.
Nenn laid there for a few minutes longer as he basked in the sun. The sound of clashing weapons prompted him to get up, but as he tried to do so, he found that his right side was firmly attached to the ground. Using his good hand he felt around his wooden limb. There he found that it had sprouted a couple of roots, anchoring itself into the ground. Nenn couldn’t feel the roots when he touched them but after a minute he found them slowly retracting on their own. The weathered wood of his body now looked a little more vibrant in the sun, as if it had somehow reversed the course of time and gone back to being only mostly weathered.
It was a sight that puzzled Nenn. He had been joking about putting down roots yesterday, but apparently that hadn’t been a joke. It was a process that was too interesting to ignore, so Nenn settled back down on the ground, found his inner calm and began to meditate with [Nature’s Regrowth]. He looked at his own body, marveling at the intensity of life mana. It had gotten brighter since yesterday. It was about the difference between a 60 watt bulb and a 100 watt bulb.
But what was truly interesting was the side of Nenn’s body that contained the death mana. Yesterday it had been a solid pitch-black block of stagnant mana. Now, it was more of a textured gray. Black with little white roots snaking through it. Nenn could tell the intensity of death mana had lessened. Huh. Maybe in a couple more days I’ll be sprouting leaves or something, Nenn thought. It was a bit of a relief to Nenn now that he knew his body wasn’t doomed to being half kindling for the rest of his life.
A few minutes later Nenn was free from the earthly hold of his roots. He figured that he could have casted [Entangling Roots] and immediately freed himself, but, for the time being there was no immediate rush. With that being said, Nenn hurried over to the small gathering of humans and goblins. They had paired off with one another and had begun sparring.
It was a weird sight to see. The goblins stood on the sidelines giving directions and pointers to the humans sparring against each other. Usually in any sort of fantasy media Nenn had consumed prior to The Trial, the situation would be the reverse. Goblins were rarely known for their superior combat skills. These goblins, however, had been born, raised, and survived in the world of The Trial without having access to The System. If there was something they knew how to do, it was how to fight.
The human duelists had to pull their blows, only striking their opponents with glancing blows. It wouldn’t do anyone any good to injure the person who was likely to be standing by their side in a couple of hours when the orcs attack. There were healers of course, but mending broken bones was slow and mana intensive. At least, that is what Harper had said last night after she and Aiden had finally awoken. Nenn thought back to that conversation.
“And stab wounds are just as bad,” Harper had said. “I wasn’t able to easily knit Aiden’s wound together during the battle. Maybe if it had been more of a clinical environment it would have been different, but an active battlefield is definitely not calm nor emotionless. Now with [Lay on Hands], I have a way of doing it, if it’s absolutely necessary.”
“Is there a limit on the ability?” Liz had asked.
“Yes, it costs all of my mana. Literally a full reserve's worth. And it knocks me out afterwards,” Harper had said. “I can just see it now, our backs against the wall and I think at that moment we have a chance of winning if whoever is injured is back at full health. I commit to the heal then pass out for 6 hours, only to be dead 3 minutes later having made the wrong choice, and making escape even harder.”
“At least you don’t have to deal with mana withdrawal,” Liz had said.
“Mana withdrawal?” Aiden had asked.
“Yeah, that’s what Liz and I have decided to call it,” Jack had said. “You can over spend your mana bar and go into the negatives. It gives you a debilitating headache while you wait for it to recover naturally. Moving is a struggle, let alone trying to summon the coordination to stand upright. And that’s if you’re at full health and used to it.”
“It’s my unfortunate pleasure to tell you that you can only overcast your mana bar with one cast, before you go into mana withdrawal. I drew the short straw for that experiment,” Liz said. “But, as soon as you are at positive one mana, you can do it again, if you happen to hate yourself.”
“Better to hate yourself then be dead,” Nenn had said, drawing attention to his new wooden appendages. The conversation continued, with Nenn describing how he ended up as half of a treant, and what new abilities he got.
The conversation had returned to Aiden, who went on to explain that his newfound [State of Martyrdom] engaged when he took damage while defending others. It basically allowed Aiden to partially ignore the pain and disablement from his injuries, while increasing his offensive prowess. The state lasted for a little while, but could be re-engaged if the conditions to activate it were met again, as long as Aiden had the mana to activate the ability.
Nenn returned his focus to the present. There was still lots to be done. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. The fort, for the most part, had reached its rudimentary completion. Going forward, most of the projects would focus around internal structures. Eventually, with 40 new bodies coming through the obelisk everyday, they would outgrow the size fortress and would need to expand and densify.
Nenn’s job was to sit around and look pretty. Which is to say that he was to hurry up and wait for the orc’s attack. Last night Hetruvensho laid out the battle plan. Nenn and company were to stay at full resources and wait for an attack. The rest of the alliance would be hard at work training, building, or gathering while they sat around and waited for things to happen. It made sense to Nenn. Afterall, why would you risk your best fighters not being in optimum condition to fight? Being 9 levels above everyone, other than Ortango, made them incredibly powerful and not a resource to be squandered on building wooden huts.
Nenn had just managed to settle down on a rocky fortification, when the first orc horn sounded out in the distance. It was loud and singular, piercing Nenn right down to his soul. The whole fortress ground to a halt as if everyone had been stunned in the moment. The blaring sound of the horn began to fade. There was a second of silence before a cacophony of horns blared out in unison responding to the first.
“Everyone to your stations!” Hetruvensho yelled out. The call to battle helped, breaking the spell that the horns had cast upon everyone. The fortress came alive with activity as everyone ran to their spot. Real weapons were drawn, and melee fighters took up their positions near the entrance. The casters and range fighters climbed into their positions and readied themselves.
The fort had been cleverly designed to funnel intruders into a kill zone. All of the range positions had been oriented around providing sightlines and clearing over top of the melee line. And the melee line wouldn’t have to engage the enemy until they had managed to traverse the bombardment zone, ideally having taken damage along the way. The plan itself hinged on the orcs not opting to make their own entrance. Nenn marveled at the handiwork of everyone involved. The fort had come a long way in such little time. Having many hands truly makes light work.
“I see movement down the path!” Ortango called out. The path was the game trail that led roughly to where the Orc encampment was. It was also what one of the fortress’s entrances had been oriented around. The path would lead straight into the entrance, and hopefully lead a lot of orcs to their demise. “There looks to be…” Ortango trailed off as he inaudibly tried to count the number of groups. “It’s the whole tribe! They’re all coming at once!”
“Good. If we defeat them here, we’ll be in the clear for a bit. Get ready everyone!” Hetruvensho said. The goblins, true to their word, had interlaced themselves in the defenses. Most of the range fighters had been goblin hunters, and they now stood atop their quickly constructed platforms.
A moment passed as Nenn felt his heart rate thumping away in his chest. The defenders were silent, waiting for the next instruction to come. This would be the first battle for most of the humans, and the atmosphere was tense. I just hope we are ready for this, Nenn thought.
“Ready!” Ortango called out, the archers raising their bows in unison. “Aim! And… Fire!”
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Two dozen ranged defenders let their first volley of arrows fly. The arrows arced out over the fortress walls and into the tree line. Shouts and yelps of pain followed, leading Nenn to believe that at least a few of the arrows had found something fleshy to embed themselves in. He couldn’t see through the walls of the fortress to be sure.
Five heartbeats later and another horn bellowed out, and the first orc combatant came charging into the fortress, followed half a step behind by what could only be described as a horde of orcs. orcs of all shapes and sizes. They were carrying hatchets, battle axes, rusted swords, spears, clubs and whatever else they had managed to weaponize over the years. The entranceway was maybe wide enough to fit three orcs shoulder to shoulder.
The first orc managed to make it halfway through the killzone before it had been firmly stapled to the ground with a couple of arrows. The ones behind it didn’t fare any better as they quickly received a bombardment of magical bolt spells from the warlocks and mages. The shaman’s were flinging rocks from their stockpiles at the orcs causing them to crumple onto the ground. The other druids were holding onto their mana for now, waiting to ensnare the Orcs as they entered into melee combat.
A minute later and all was silent once more. The orcs had stopped filtering through the chokepoint. Nenn knew there had to be more of them. The first wave had only consisted of normal-sized orc melee fighters.. Where are the larger ones, Nenn thought.
As if answering Nenn’s thoughts, Ortango called out “A quarter turn to the left.” Nenn’s head snapped around. The fortress walls began to shake. There was a loud thud. Followed by another one and then another one. And then, part of the wall gave way as an orc, larger than any Nenn had seen before, barreled through the wall and rolled to a stop. It was an orc so large, it had transcended the orc race to become an ogre.
The ogre had to be twice as tall as the larger orcs and eight times as massive. It suddenly made sense to Nenn why the goblins had been referring to the larger orcs as half-orcs. Ogre was the other half. The ogre wore only a furry animal skin loincloth, leaving its humongous muscles and strongman-esque gut on display. It had no weapon, but, given its size, Nenn didn’t think it needed one. It was a weapon.
This was exactly what Nenn and the rest of the party had been waiting on. Nenn sprang into action as Aiden raced before him to engage the threat. Two voices cut through the sounds of battle.
“[Mana Bolt]!”
“[Shadow Bolt]!”
Two weaponized bolts of magic flew through the air and stopped dead a foot from the ogre as a dim blue transparent mana shield rippled into sight. The shield dissipated the potent magic attacks. It produced a sizzling sound as the mana involved dissipated into the environment.
Aiden leapt to engage the orge, his newfound strength propelling him through the air. He had raised his sword overhead and brought it down in an overhead stabbing motion as it made contact with the mana shield. The mana shield flared into a translucent blue dome around the impact point of Aiden’s sword. It flashed in brightness as it repelled his attack, sending the off-balance Paladin flying backwards. Aiden was unable to orient himself and fell in an unorganized manner.
Aiden’s body flashed red as his [State of Martyrdom] skill activated. He recovered quickly then charged with renewed fervor at the orge, stabbing at its shield once more, this time electing to stay on the ground and push with all of his weight against the impassible shield. More of the shield turned translucent this time. A well timed [Mana Bolt] and [Shadow Bolt] impacted the shield drawing even more resources. The whole barrier turned an opaque blue then shattered with a pop.
The orge roared, and swung its fist down at the closest target. Aiden managed to dip out of the way just in time to avoid the blow, but not the other forces at play. Aiden found himself sprawled out on the ground five meters away covered in a showering of dirt displaced from the impact.
“[Entangling Roots],” Nenn said, willing the roots to entwine themselves around the orge’s buried fist. The ground rumbled as all of the living roots in the spell’s location shifted following Nenn’s command. The orge quickly found its fist stuck fast in the ground letting out another roar as it tried to pull itself free. It held fast for a second, but then the orge’s hand arm moved an inch as it pushed off against the ground. Then three inches, and finally a foot. Then on the final push it managed to free its hand.
The ogre’s victory was short lived as it found Aiden’s blade cutting through the back of its knee. It roared in pain as it rolled onto its back. In doing so it howled again as it pushed a dozen or so arrows from Ortango further into its musculature.The ogre spasmed on the ground, riving in a pain that it had probably never experienced before. The ogre’s antics came to a swift conclusion as it found its neck immobilized by another usage of Nenn’s [Entangling Roots].
Aiden, who had stopped glowing red, took the opportunity to circle around the downed behemoth of muscular brutality. He thrusted his sword through the monster's eye socket, twisting the weapon until the orge laid still.
For a moment a sense of pride and accomplishment filled Nenn. He marveled at the sight of the dead orge, only for it to be swiftly interrupted by another war horn sounding out just beyond the fortress walls. A set of hands emerged from the hole the orge had made. No more than thirty seconds had passed since the ogre had breached the wall. The new set of giant hands gripped onto the wooden wall and pulled, taking another section of the wall with it. Through the now gaping hole in the fortress wall Nenn saw what could only be considered despair.
The orge they had killed was not the only one. Far from it. And it had been one of the smaller ones. A crowd of orges had emerged from the treeline. And they were now charging straight towards their fallen comrade. Nenn and company prepared themselves for the assault, but doubt filled Nenn’s mind.
“There’s no way we can fight all of those at once,” Nenn thought. But they didn’t have any other choice. This was where they had to make their stand. If they fell here, that was it for their control of the Obelisk. If they failed to hold the line, that was one less foothold for humanity in the ruthless world of The Trial.
This was their only chance to hold the line and Nenn hoped that their plan was going to work. Nenn and the rest of the party were on the same page.
“Scorched Earth!” was simultaneously called out by all five party members as the plan moved into action. The twins interlaced their hands as they began to chant to each other. Nenn cast [Entangling Roots]. He pumped a good chunk of his mana into the spell to create a wide arc of ensnaring roots that would spring as soon as an ogre stepped on them. Aiden cut into his own flesh with his blade, enveloping himself in the warm red glow that accompanied [State of Martyrdom], while Harper threw a [Healing Bolt] Aiden’s way.
Aiden raced to close the ten meter gap he needed to occupy. The ogres had advanced into the [Entangling Root] zone, causing the massive monsters to stumble, but not completely fall flat on their face like their less fortunate lesser cousins. Aiden engaged the first orge to reach him catching the ogre’s strike with his shield. He managed to hold his ground, even if he was pushed back a couple of inches in his empowered state.
“[Hellfire],” the twins called out as they unleashed the group's trump card. The sky turned red and the air grew insufferably hot as a deluge of high-powered firebolts fell from the heavens, smiting the clustered ogre’s. For a second the collection of enemy shields held, flaring blue with every impact. But even they could not withstand the hellacious onslaught and shattered. The ungodly sound of a dozen ogre’s screaming in pain filled the battlefield as their skin began to burn and their flesh boiled off of their bones.
Nenn seized the moment and casted [Rot] on several of the larger ogres, trying to direct the spell towards the behemoth's vital organs, focusing towards where he thought the lungs and heart should be. The rain of [Hellfire] tapered off and the sky returned to its normal morning blue color as the smell of burnt flesh filled the air.
Aiden leapt forward once more after having taken refuge beneath his shield. He had retreated as soon as the fiery rain and seemed to be just fine for the moment. The lead ogre had managed to withstand the onslaught and, with its half charred body lashed out at Aiden.
Aiden was able to dodge the monster's enraged blow, sidestepping in towards it. He pushed his sword into the monster's side. The orge howled in pain and moved to defend itself, raising its other arm to swat at Aiden, only for it to clutch at its shoulder before it could swing. A black bubbling substance oozed out, forming thick drops of repugnant refuse to drip to the ground. A second later and its shoulder had fully rotten through. Its massive arm fell to the ground with a sickening, and less-than-solid squelching sound.
Aiden, who had been hard at work puncturing the unfortunate ogre’s gut, had just managed to move his shield and brace in position in time. The monster tried to smash him into the ground like a tent peg. Aiden held firm and after a couple seconds of stalemate, had managed to turn his shield enough to push the orge’s arm aside, following up with a stab through the monster’s thick wrist. For all of his efforts, Aiden was awarded with a warm shower of nasty ogre blood.
The ogre slumped forward, and collapsed. Its body was nearly unrecognizable as it finally succumbed to the beating it had taken. Half its body from the waist up was burnt, its shoulder and internal organs had turned into rotten black sludge, and it had lost a fair bit of blood and physical integrity from Aiden’s attempts at acupuncture.
Nenn began to relax as he trotted out across the field to help Aiden up. He helped Aiden back to his feet and stepped aside so Harper could hit him with another [Healing Bolt]. While he hadn’t been directly impacted, the [Hellfire] barrage had taken its toll on Aiden. Combining that with out-muscling a weakened ogre was definitely not a no-effort task. After a few more [Healing Bolts], Aiden was raring to go again.
A moment later the group returned their whole undivided attention to the battlefield. A long warhorn call sounded out followed by three more short blasts in quick succession. The orcs stopped trying to pour through the front entrance and the few that had were scrambling to turn around and retreat. Not that they were allowed to leave without testing their luck as the ranged defenders continued peppering them with attacks.
“That’s it! We did it!” Hetrevensho called out. “They’re retreating!” The goblin elder looked up towards the tallest watchtower.
“They're all leaving!” Ortango called back, confirming the elders' claim. There was a moment of silence before the defenders broke into cheers and turned to their neighbors celebrating their victory.