Sam stopped thinking about such things, and focused on his captains, trying to see where they would best fit with the structure of the unit. He would be at the front, along with Eduardo, Pyotr, and the other physical fighters. Meanwhile, Jeffrey would lead the ranged combatants at the back, using his abilities to help their shots hit.
As they formed up, Sam started to layer his buffs upon himself, and then finished it off with a use of his Mantle of the Arbiter skill, empowering his captains beyond their limits. With that, they were ready to fight.
They made their way grimly towards the nearest gate, which slid open with a slight creaking noise. Outside, the skeletons battered at the force field around the city, slowly tearing it apart through the combined weight of their blows. Sam gritted his teeth, and then roared out loud, before charging towards the enemy.
They reached the force field a moment later, and then slammed into the enemy lines like a platoon of wrecking balls. Sam shattered bone beneath his bare hands, and his hammer moved like a force of nature, destroying the enemy with its air pressure alone. He was swinging it almost at the speed of sound, and when it touched a skeleton, nothing was left afterwards, save for a beige dust that slowly drifted towards the ground.
Sam tore through the lines, his captains beside him. Lao extended his staff to its full size, and the weapon came crashing down towards the ground, crushing skeletons beneath its bulk. Shots began to come from the back of the division, with Jeffrey sending vast balls of acidic blood, and shots made out of mana, from his guns. Addas started to send his exotic abilities into the enemy lines, creating various tarot related effects. A wagon the size of a house crashed down into a large group of skeletons, quickly followed up by a massive foot descending from the sky, as if some judgment from God on high.Addas quickly began to run out of juice however, and his slack was picked up by the other ranged fighters at the back.
Sam barely noticed all of this as he slowly ran through the enemies like a wild bull, crushing them beneath his strength. However, he made sure not to let his ego get to him, and he tried to stay within sight of the city walls. He was far from an invincible force, and he knew that his stamina would eventually drain. He would be vulnerable then, and his efforts to defend himself would further drain his stamina, rendering him defenseless. No, he needed to stay near his captains to remain safe.
Over the next fifteen minutes, he destroyed thousands of skeletons, and he could feel tiny bursts of essence rushing into him, However it would take tens of thousands of kills to even raise him one level, which showed how much the scaling went up once one was in F Rank. It was quite something however to simply be able to dominate his foes in such a way. He knew that these monsters were just the fodder, but it was still quite enjoyable.
In any case, there was barely any damage dealt to him at all. Instead, he was left within a cocoon of his own strength, impervious to outside harm. That was until the elites came. A group of four hulking skeletons, each of which was made up of layers of compressed bone, strode out between a gap in the ranks, and attacked.
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Each of them had four arms, which were tipped with various weapons, such as massive hammers and serrated ax heads. Sam roared at them, lost somewhat within his own bloodlust, and he charged them.
The first monster fell before his hammer, but it was not destroyed, and it reached out with one of its weapons as it fell, a hooked appendage that pulled him down towards the ground. Another monster brought its weapons down on his armor, denting it slightly and rattling his bones.
Sam tried to get up, but he was in an awkward position, and he was starting to take damage. He quickly pulsed his armor’s ability, and surged upwards, tearing through one of the skeletons and turning it into fragments of shattered bone. Sam battered the other monsters with his newly enhanced strength, turning them into so many shards of broken bone. A moment later, a few more of the skeletal juggernauts charged in, to attack him once more.
He saw where this was going all too quickly, and he began to get ready to stand his ground for a long and hard fight. Behind him, the artillery boomed out as it sent its devastating payload into the skeletons. In the distance, Reaper sat on his palanquin, regally surveying the work of his minions.
Fifty miles away, Hugo Mar and his lieutenants sat on top of a mobile command structure, peering through magically enhanced telescopes to make out what was happening at the city walls. In Hugo Mar’s case, his power was enough to allow him to see across that distance.
They could see that the city was already surrounded by skeletons, and the shield was beginning to take some damage. There was no way that they would be defeated any time soon, even with all of the strength of the city leveled at them.
The mushroom clouds had reached the upper stratosphere by now, and they were an imposing sight. There would definitely be a few mutations within the local wildlife when this was all said and done, and the area would be almost uninhabitable for all but the strongest of Earth’s inhabitants.
Hugo Mar smiled grimly, his lips like a thin line across his pale face. Raising one hand, he signaled for their own artillery to fire, sending bolts of fiery light streaking up through the heavens. Mana cannons with the power of ballistic missiles tore through the clouds, and impacted the city shields mere seconds later, causing them to flicker more rapidly than before. He could see a few shots coming out of the city, but they were far too weak to do any damage to his command center, or even reach it for that matter.
They fell dozens of miles short, and Hugo snorted, turning around. A moment later, a speck of light blossomed at the center of the city, and a giant shard of purple crystal was launched up into the air, moving at multiple times the speed of sound. Hugo whirled around, and snarled. This attack might be able to reach them.
A minute later, the attack was within a few miles, and the light that it produced was incredible. Hugo Mar flew off his platform, leaving behind a few of his lieutenants, who scrambled for safety.
Back in the city, one of the artillery teams cheered as their attack hit home, sending a pillar of purple light up into the sky. The Crystalline Devastator had certainly lived up to its name. For now, the threat of enemy fire had ended, and now the city was safe to focus solely on the skeletons. Meanwhile, the Superior Mana cannon was recharging, and when it was ready, they would set it off directly into the enemy lines, hopefully doing considerable damage.