The moment I tell him to start the process, Gibnic starts. There is a feeling around us like the air has been pulled into the formation controller before there was nothing. We wait near the door, not wanting to overthink what could have been and hoping that Gibnic knows what he is doing.
From all over, we can hear claws scuttling on the walls outside the windows, but nothing so far has started to get through the barriers that were hammered into place. Upstairs, I can hear people shouting while shooting their bows. I can also hear Koto's voice ring out now and then. Most of the time, it calls for Strauvana or Muiress to help with a larger group of ants that enter the window. From what I can hear, there haven't been any issues yet. I am hoping that they can hold on for longer. It doesn't take more than a minute before a loud crash as the front door finally can't hold on anymore.
In front of us is a small group of wolves mixed with ants. Xelyphe steps into the doorway momentarily, blocking everything but the smaller ants. While she was standing there, I cast Nature's Grasp since it was the best area-of-effect spell I had on hand. I also cast a shield of Xelyphe so she can withstand more damage. Seeing that many lesser monsters are being either outright killed or heavily injured by my first spell. I cast one more defensive spell onto Xelyphe. It hasn't gotten much use other than for some basic fights, but it seems like a good choice for the amount of mana consumed compared to the effect. Casting Barkskin on her gives her some more damage mitigation for two minutes. With the shields I can cast and regular frequency, I should be able to prevent the vast majority of the damage done to her.
Wanting to go and check on the upstairs but knowing that now isn't the right time, I continue to cast my spells as I watch her hack away at the monsters in front of her.
- 10 Minutes until Formation Reset -
After a couple of minutes, there is a pile of bodies in front of the door. A couple of monsters could get past her, but nothing that I couldn't handle on my own with my spells. Looking at Gibnic, I can see he is still tinkering with the formation controller.
"How long until you can get the formation to start its reset?" I call out.
"It is more complex than I thought. It will take a few extra minutes, so keep up the good work." He responds with a bit of glee in his voice.
Hearing more voices from upstairs, I can tell that more monsters are coming in through the windows, and some are even appearing on the main floor where we are. They are just smaller ants, so there is nothing to worry about, as my area-of-effect spells block most of the paths to our location.
I quickly refresh my Barkskin buff on Xelyphe and look at the growing carnage in the doorway. Due to the bodies, the wolves can't come at Xelyphe as a pack. Instead, it is either one or two that appear at a time. The side doors are also congested because the lower-level ants are dying due to Nature's Grasp.
- 13 Minutes until Formation Reset -
Another minute passes before I hear steps coming from upstairs. I see Koto peering over and down at me from the edge of the staircase. "Drake, we aren't able to shoot the monsters anymore; we are out of arrows." Her voice is frantic due to this problem
"And what do you want me to do about it?" I snap back while gesturing to the three sides of the entry we are holding with just the two of us.
I can hear her gulping. "Well, I was hoping you would be able to guide me."
Casting another spell to hold off the waves of enemies Xelyphe is facing. I look at her, shocked that she is asking me such a thing with our current predicament. "What could you possibly think I could do as we are right now? I have my hands full. You would be better off asking someone else up there with more fighting experience than I do." My frustration is mounting at how incompetent Koto is turning out to be.
As she blushes at the thought that I can't help her anymore, I hear a call from upstairs.
"Everyone, pull back to the hallways. Use the doors as another blockade. Hopefully, that can save us some time." Strauvana's voice pierces through the din of battle.
Hurrying to follow her command, the rest of the settlers quickly evacuated out of their rooms. Thankfully, no one has died from what I can hear, but it will be a close thing with more monsters getting inside the longer this goes on. While that is all good news, there is another crash as another doorway I can't see is brought down. Turning my head to Koto, I dread the question I must ask.
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"Is there a doorway on the back of the manor?"
Not wanting to answer the question but knowing there is no hiding it, she nods, "Yes, but it is a normal door, unlike the front door, so there shouldn't be that many monsters coming through that one."
Wanting to be more frustrated than I am at the current situation, I can only hope that there is only one path the monsters can take to get into the main lobby that Xelyphe and I are holding onto. Taking another moment to cast another shield on Xelyphe, I quickly go to close one of the side doors. It takes me a moment because the door keeps getting caught in the dead carcasses of ants, and the ants themselves are still coming through the windows. Finally, I could close the door, but not before I cast another Nature's Grasp inside the room, hoping to alleviate the pressure on the door.
As my luck would have it, the moment the door is shut, I hear the yipping of what I can only hope are the monsters coming from the back door. Rushing over to the other door, I once again struggle to get it shut and do the same thing I did with the other side: I cast Nature's Grasp right before I closed it.
This pattern holds out for another five minutes.
- 8 Minutes until Formation Reset -
I continue to cast Shields and Barkskin on Xelyphe as she holds the line at the front. Over the last few minutes, I have heard a couple of the doors upstairs break apart, and combat has resumed at a more sedate pace. A couple of those who can fight has come down to help where they can with their daggers, but from what I see; they are just standing around Gibnic, hoping that things finish sooner rather than later. It doesn't take long for Xelyphe to finish off another wolf with my help, and with that wolf, the front door is almost entirely blocked by monster carcasses. I count at least 27 wolves having fallen to my spell and her blade.
Taking a much-needed break, Xelyphe steps back and waits for the next round of fighting when the monsters finally can get through their fallen monsters. Taking a break myself, I check over my mana reserves.
- MP: 240/380 -
I'm glad I have such a high mana pool; I can only thank my lucky stars. They would have already run out of mana if it were any average mage. For my part, I head upstairs and cast a couple of defensive spells for those who are at the front line. It just so happens to be Muiress and Strauvana. There are minor wounds on their legs from the ants, but nothing serious. From what I can tell, they can hold off the ants until we get through the reset timer. No sooner had I thought that I had jinxed myself. There is a louder crash from one of the rooms, and then an ant at least twice as big as the current one appears.
The ant soldiers have finally decided to enter the fray, and I can only dread the next several minutes as we fight these more brutal monsters. Rushing back down the stairs to see if there are any changes in the wall of corpses blocking the front entrance, I see the larger wolves pulling some of the dead out of the way so they can pounce over them. These wolves are smart. I can only think to myself before I know it. Xelyphe and I are back at killing the wolves as fast as possible, hoping for any respite.
- 5 Minutes until Formation Reset -
After several more minutes, those on the second floor started to come down to help us hold back the wolves' tides. There wasn't much that could be done, but from what I could feel in the flow of the combat, I knew something would change soon, either for the better or worse. It has been several minutes since the side doors on the main floor have been shut, and I can hear scratching at one of the doors. When the door finally opens, a small rush of ants burst through. At the exact moment they burst through, Gibnic finally calls out.
"Just a couple more minutes, and the formation will be reset, and we can go to protecting one entry point." With that declaration, a burst of lightning bursts from his hands and into the incoming ants, arcing from one to the other, crisping them and clearing them out.
- 2 Minutes until Formation Reset -
With Gibnic's help, we have pushed most of the monsters hard. The bodies have been piling on both sides of the main lobby to the point that we have been pushed back to the stairs. Defending that point, I look hard at the options left for my party. We can continue to go back as best we can, but that won't help us, or we can withdraw from this battle. No one has died on our side yet, but I can see a couple of members from this settlement have been buried under the carpet of ants and wolves.
"Gibnic, how much longer till we can finally not deal with enemies from all sides?" Strauvana asked. She is sporting several wounds from the ants upstairs. Currently, I am trying to heal her as quickly as possible while also ensuring that Xelyphe stays topped off.
"It shouldn't be long before the formation starts, I would say another couple of minutes tops." He is still casting his spells, which have helped tremendously as larger groups of enemies have come together. He will cast his lightning spells, either outright killing them or paralyzing them enough for someone else to finish them quickly.
As Xelyphe finishes thrusting through another wolf's throat, there is a sudden shake in the mana surrounding the manor, and all at once, it feels like a breath of fresh air. Upstairs, those still able to fight on clearing the remaining ants while we can push the wolves back slowly from our position on the stairs. The floor is slick with blood and ichor from all the death. Not wanting to waste our effort, the settlers quickly cleared out the upstairs so they could help us in the lobby.
Seeing a brief break in the fighting, I recheck my mana for what feels like an entire hour.
- MP: 46/380 -
Concerned with how low mana I am at, I look around and find that Xelyphe has finally been able to take a break. The settlers have pushed the beasts back as much as they can and are holding them off at the doorway once again, using the bodies of their fallen to create a choke point at the main doors.
"What do you think, Xelyphe? Do you think we will be able to pull through?" I asked.
"I don't know. From the way these monsters keep coming, it feels like they will never end," is the reply she can provide after taking several deep breaths to get her breathing under control after the rough fighting.
While we pause slightly, I hear another call from Muiress upstairs.