The morning was interesting. Hopkins wasn't the only place that had been attacked, but it had suffered the worst attack. Afterwards, people were outraged, and they were ready to charge out and hit the goblin right at that moment. Tom had actually managed to level up [Wordsmith] in getting them to put their rage into joining the raid party. Tom didn't want to admit it, but he had been a bit worried that he might lose control of the crowd.
But he had managed to wrangle them. Will made sure that everyone was fed before they moved out, and Tom made sure to tell everyone to store at least two additional meals in there [Storage] for later. Then he needed to resurrect everyone who died, and he finally managed to push [Hand of Mercy] up to level 50.
Starkiller had wandered in but had been annoyed at the lack of a market and had said as much. He still bought food from Will in the form of magic cores. He also purchased a few choice items from Abaddon in the form of materials that Tom recognized as ingredients for a Bloodline Ritual. Tom didn't stop him, ignoring the creatures he needed to acquire the bloodline. The ingredients weren't actually that rare. It was just a really complicated ritual—no need to snub the man over something he could grab on his own.
Tom had been working almost all morning when he received yet another surprise. An army, not more than two hundred, maybe three, walked up to his settlement. A half-orc in a Hawaiian shirt and flames licking up and down his army marched at the front nonchalantly.
"Well, are you attacking me, or are you here for the raid?" Tom asked as his paper airplanes orbited his body.
"I'm here for the raid," Ignis said. "I trust I'm not too late."
"We still have some time. Come on, your people can get a last bit to eat before we head out while you and I head to the war tent," Tom said, gesturing for Ignis to follow as he took to the air.
Ignis's wings of fire erupted from his back, and he moved to follow.
"Cora, take everyone to the parking lot to get some food. I'll find out the plan," Ignis said before turning to follow Tom.
Tom made sure never to lose sight of Ignis and kept his paper airplanes floating around his body. Cora, the angry-looking woman, marched her people into the parking lot, moving towards the food. Many of them looked half-starved. Ignis seemed confident as he kept pace with Tom, his eyes wandering. First, he spotted the scorpions on Hopkins' roof, followed by the watchtower over the main entrance. Despite these improvements, it wasn't until he spotted Lucy and Chloe hanging out by the gym entrance that he faltered.
"You have a hellhound?!" he hissed in a near panic
Tom understood the fear. Ignis was an even worse matchup against Lucy than he was. Strictly speaking, Lucy wouldn't consider Ignis anything other than free food.
"Yes, she's a tamed pet. Do you like her?" Tom asked happily.
Ignis blanched at his words.
"Will it be fighting with us?" he asked.
"No," Tom said. "She'll be staying here to defend the settlement, as she did yesterday after the goblins attacked us. This allows us to put even more people in the field."
More importantly, Lucy wouldn't go far away from Chloe, and he wasn't bringing his sister to war. That was out of the question. So his sister would stay here, and Lucy would help defend the settlement, hopefully from nothing.
They finally arrive at the party tent that the Major had set up to help organize everything. SGT. Thorn, Abaddon, and Duncan were already there, going over the battle plan with the major. That all stopped as they approached.
"Tom," the Major said as he and Ignis stepped down. "Is this …"
"Yeah, this is Ignis of the [Apocalypse Force]."
Major Adams seemed to tower over Ignis, and even Tom felt a little intimidated by the officer.
"Why are you here?" Major Adams said.
"Um, I Don't …"
"Let's not bullshit each other, kid. Your people had no intention of coming here. In fact, they have attacked people at every turn. Despite that, now you're here. I want to know why. And if you don't give me an answer, I like I'm going to shoot you dead right here." the Major asked, his hand on his pistol.
Ignis frowned as he recentered himself. The man stood up to meet the Major's eyes. "My guild disagrees about it. But I think the Regional Quest rewards are worth it. If you aren't interested in my assistance, we'll go."
"Yes, we're interested," Tom said. "Under a [Karmic Contract], of course."
"Fine," Ignis said. But let's see the plan first. I'm not agreeing to anything that will get my people killed."
"Fair, let's agree to a basic deal. You won't betray us to the goblins or your friends. And if you do, you die. In exchange, I will resurrect everyone who dies in this battle. Acceptable?" Tom offered.
"Fine," Ignis said, shaking his hand.
Tom nodded as he felt the contract snap into place.
Major Adams didn't look happy, but Tom gave him a nod as they surrounded the table.
"How many people did you bring?" Duncan asked.
"Around two hundred," Ignis stated.
"How many beta testers?" Abaddon asked.
"Just me. The others are more interested in grinding the goblin horde for levels." Ignis said.
"Well, that's disappointing," Tom said.
"I'm noticing there's not a lot of us," Ignis said.
"That brings us up to around six thousand seven hundred hundred people. Three thousand from Hopkins, five hundred first responders, two hundred of the [Apocalypse Force] and another three hundred volunteers from various settlements." Major Adams stated.
"I was expecting more," Ignis said.
"The people in charge are dragging their asses. Furthermore, they're still trying to deal with almost five hundred thousand people trying to deal with the system all at once, " Major Adams pointed out.
"Well, less than that," Tom said. "Most of the designated emergency shelters were turned into lairs, so everyone who went there is dead and isn't coming back, including the nearby hospital, and everyone who entered Langley died for some reason. You know that's still bugging me. We still need to send someone to--."
"Tom, could we refocus." Major Adams cut in.
"Right, sorry. Ignis, do your people have any way to coordinate?"
"No, they're mostly just people in my faction that volunteered to be here," Ignis said.
Tom tried not to react to that. Ignis clearly wasn't that good at Noralon's political aspect. He had just admitted that his guild had factions and, by extension, that the factions clearly weren't working together. Valuable information and not something you wanted your enemies to know about.
"That sounds about right." Major Adams said. "We've had to forgo some of the more complex plans in order to best utilize the simpler ones due to the lack of discipline and experience."
Tom had to blush at that. He had wanted to have a row of shieldmen while riflemen fired over their shoulders. The Major had vetoed that plan, pointing out that almost no one here had any actual training, and they were just as likely to kill each other as they were to kill the enemy. In the end, it was Abaddon who came up with a reasonable plan. He called Jaime.
Jaime was one of Awoken Myth's founders, along with the rest of them. He was also the biggest blackest person Tom had ever met. And that was before the system. Now the guy looked like black Heracles. Skippy had already made contact with all of their former guild members over the Internet.
They had initially planned to group up in Hopkins for safety. However, he and a couple of other people were based in Chilliwack and making their way to them. With the monsters and the weather, that was taking time, especially with the ever-growing line of refugees following after them.
Of course, the reason for making the contract now was because Jaime was the guild's other tactician, and Abaddon figured if Tom didn't have the answer, Jaime might.
"You need to be taking inspiration from the Zulu, using the horns of the bull formation," Jaime said from the Abaddon's phone. Jaime was face timing. He gestured to the illusionary map Tom had placed on the table. The map was based on his own mapping effect and was being updated with scrying as often as possible, giving them real-time information.
"Chester and the tanks will be taking up vanguard in the centre. With a combination of Coffeehouse's Balista, riflemen and a phalanx. Your vehicles will be set up back here to create a second blockade and a base of operations." Jaime gestured, and Tom placed an origami token of a bull's head at the intersection of 126 St and 78 Ave.
"Sgt Thorn will be in charge of the people with guns here on the nearby roofs. She'll work to pick off the enemy as quickly as possible. Coffeehouse here is going to be manning the ballista with explosive tips --"
"Core Bomb tips," Duncan corrected Jaime.
"They explode on impact; no one cares about the semantics Coffeehouse. If they get close, the rifleman will switch out with melee units, and you can hold the line with shield and spear while the first responders chuck magic over your heads into their ranks, " Jaime began. "you want to remain in a crescent formation, so you have overlapping fields of fire."
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Then Jaime gestured to two other tokens of horns next to the token of the bull.
"The left and right horns will be taking up positions in the supermarket directly south of the intersection. There are a few ways for the goblin to go through the supermarket to get behind you. So, the horns will need to lock down the supermarket with earth magic. You can also have people get up on the roof of the buildings and rain fire on the goblins. These jobs require more imagination and adaptability than discipline. So it will mostly consist of volunteers, small groups, and larpers."
Finally, Jaime pointed to a token that looked like a pair of testicles on Jaime's instance.
"Finally, we have the loins. These are your reserve units. They will also work as a medical station and, in the worst case, can be called in to plug up any holes in your formation when you inevitably make a mistake, and more importantly, they can guard your escape route." Jaime explained.
"Do we have to call it the loins?" Sergeant Thorn asked.
"It's historically accurate," Jaime stated.
"You assume we're going to make a mistake?" Alex asked.
"I'll be shocked if you don't. Honestly, I would prefer if you guys could postpone this for a few more weeks so we can show up. I've already got half the guild with me," Jaime offered.
"You already know we can't wait." Tom reminded him.
"I know, I know. I'm just annoyed I'm missing this." Jaime grumbled.
"Couldn't we buy time?" the Major asked. "Use hit-and-run tactics until your group arrives."
"No, the goblins outnumber you ten to one, and that number is growing exponentially every day. The simple fact is you can't kill every goblin there, even if it wasn't for the [Blood mage]. Your enemy is replacing their losses faster than you can inflict them. That's why we're going to focus on stopping them from gathering more reinforcements." Jaime explained.
"What about this group?" Ignis asked, pointing to two origami tokens of paper horses.
"That is not directly part of our formation. These are our mounted units. These troops will be coming up from the south. To cause as much trouble as possible." Tom explained
"Why are we bothering with that again?" Abaddon asked.
"According to Penny and Eve, who actually escaped from Kwantlen, I believe the [Blood mage] is here in the student enrollment building as this appears to be where the leadership is located. Since our objective is to take the bloodstone, I'm hoping to get you as close to the mage before the battle begins as possible. That being said, you don't want the rest of the goblin army on your butts while you're fighting the blood mage. So this Luke guy and the orcs are going to take some mounted forces, get the attention of the goblins from the south and create as much mayhem as possible in order to give you the best chance at the target." Jaime stated.
"And how are we going to take down their leaders?" Ignis asked.
"That's our job," Tom said. "The beta-testers will primarily be dealing with the [Bloodmage] as well as any other goblin leader. Abaddon has [Lesser Colossus] and [Siegebreaker], so he's going to be our point man against the [Bloodmage] while we all work to support him."
"I think I should focus more on the goblin army. I have the [Incenorater] skill, which evolved from the [Funeral Pyre] skill." Ignis explained
"How is that relevant?" Major Adams asked curiously.
"A [Bloodmage] will use the spell blood harvest to drain the blood out of any corpses on the field in order to recharge the bloodstone. [Funeral Pyre] turns my victims to ash. No bodies, no blood, and the [Bloodmage] can't recharge." Jaime explained.
That also meant Tom would need to ensure that Ignis didn't kill anyone before he got [Soul Lantern], or they would be dead for real.
"More importantly, my build is currently better suited against an army right now than it is for a one-on-one fight." Ignis points out.
"That's not a bad idea," Tom said, considering it. "It doesn't affect our own plan of attack, but it does make things easier for us and safer for everyone else. You'll need to focus on supporting the army, AOE spells, and thinning their numbers as they move closer. Can you manage?" Tom asked.
Ignis nodded.
"Alright then, it's decided."
"If you think it's best, we'll go for it." Major Adams said. "What about Skippy and Starkiller?"
Tom noticed Ignises eyes going wide at the mention of those two. Jaime just frowned. He didn't like Starkillers unprofessionalism.
"Skippy is going to be trying a sneak attack when we attack, and Starkiller is going after Seraphel, who was the original boss of the Kwantlen Lair," Tom explained.
"You have two of the top one hundred PVP players working for your guild?" Ignis asked.
"Skippy is a founding member," Tom said purposely, avoiding talking about Starkiller. Better that the [Apocalypse Force] believes he is a guild member instead of a free agent.
Jaime clearly noticed the indiscretion but said nothing.
"I'm not sure if this is going to be enough," Major Adams said as they arranged the token. "We lost almost half of the police force when we first tried. Are you sure we can manage it now?"
"Don't forget we have guns and better people," Tom said.
Major Adams shrugged, "Numbers are often the deciding factor in war. And according to the quest, the goblins are already up to fifty thousand."
"Don't forget that the [Apocalypse Force] has been spreading disease through the goblins' ranks. Even if most of them aren't directly helping us, they are indirectly helping us. We can win this fight," Tom said.
"By the way, who is the [Leader]?" Ignis asked.
"That would be me." Major Adams stated.
Ignis looked like he was about to cut in when Tom beat him to it.
"Actually, Major, You're in charge of the operation. But you're not the technical [Leader]. That would be me. I'll be pulling all of the party leaders into my party, and they'll be making smaller parties on their own."
"What does that mean?" Sergeant Thorn asked.
"There are a lot of skills that boost leadership. But they need the [Party Leader] skill to work. Now, it is possible to form parties while still being a part of a larger party to expand the party size even more. There are problems, though. You can only form a party in my party if your party leader skill is lower in rarity than mine. That's why I'm the leader. I have the highest rarity party skill, so I can add the most people to my party. More than that, since you are all in my party, everyone will benefit from my leadership skills. Unless someone has one of those skills at a higher level."
"What if they do?" Sgt. Thorn asked.
"If you have leadership skills at a higher level than Tom's, your skills will supersede his. Alternately, if you have the same skills as he does but at a lower level, his skill overwrites yours," Jaime explained.
"I offer [Terrorize], [War Map], [Supply Chain Master], and Mental Resistance."
"That's not bad, but it's not great. Why didn't you max out [Tactician]?" Ignis asked.
"We wanted to avoid a paper general situation," Tom said. "Unfortunately, if I knew this was going to happen, I would have gone all in on [Tactician] regardless."
"That's Too bad," Ignis said. "A +25% to all stats would have been extremely useful."
"Will the goblins have these Leadership skills?" the Sergeant asked.
"Definitely. It's actually worse for goblins. If you kill a human leader, it's problematic, but you can still pull through. Goblins, on the other hand, rely on leadership skills to work together. Once we kill the goblin leaders, the goblin army will descend into infighting as every goblin with a bit of power tries to become the next goblin king. Most of the goblins won't even do that. They'll just run for the hills," Abaddon said.
"So if we kill the leaders, the goblins will route?" the Major asked dubiously.
"Pretty much," Duncan admitted. "Goblins are dumb like that."
"That's the best news I've heard all day," the Major said. Well, after you handed out all those scrolls this morning, Tom, I'm hoping the blood resistance and buffs you handed out will do the job."
"It sounds like we can go at any time. So then, when do we head out?" Ignis asked.
"One hour, we need to inform your people of the plan and then get everyone into assigned vehicles, " the Major said. Everyone, do what you need to do before we head out. We meet back up in thirty minutes, and then we start moving people into the vehicles."
They broke at that point, everyone moving off to do their own thing. Tom took a moment to walk up to the sidewalk and look over his army as they prepared, loaded up the ballista into the back of trucks, armed with selves with steel they had taken from their enemies and learned spells from Alex's Grimoire.
It was time to go to war.
You may skip to the next chapter.
Name: Bailey Adams
Race: Human
Type: Humanoid
LVL: 20
SubRace: British
Age 36
Health: 1800
Stamina: 2600
Mana: 800
Health Regen: 22.0 per hour
Stamina Regen: 30.0 per min
Mana Regen: 12.0 per min
Titles: Major, Awoken Myths
Immune
None
Resistances
Physical 13%, Elemental 13%, Vitality 13%
Weakness
None
Bane
Manslayer
Classes: Rescue Ranger 19, Major 1
Total
STR: 80
AGIL: 132
DEX: 100
CON: 140
END: 80
PER: 110
INT: 40
WILL: 40
SPIRIT: 80
EGO: 60
CHA: 88
LCK: 40
Base
STR: 80
AGIL: 120 +10%
DEX: 100
CON: 140
END: 80
PER: 100 +10%
INT: 40
WILL: 40
SPIRIT: 80
EGO: 60
CHA: 80 +10%
LCK: 40
Personal: +4 AGIL, +3 DEX, +3 PER, +2 CON, +2 CHA
Racial: +3 CON, +2 END, +2 SPIRIT, +1 EGO
Skills: +2 STR
Skill Slots: 14/60: Skill Points: 0
Personal Skills
* [Endless Brawler] - Level 13 >> Level 20
* [Storyteller] - Level N/A
* [Storage] - Level 19 >> Level 21
Rescue Ranger 10/16
* [Bound Weapon] - Level 18 >> Level 20
* [Hazmat] - Level 26
* [Snake Eyes] - Level 30
* [All-Seeing Eye] - Level 19 >> Level 20
* [Fancy Feet] - Level 24 >> Level 27
* Capstone: [Legendary Agility] - Level N/A
* [Stasis] - Level 10 >> Level 12
* [Coordination Ⅳ] - Level 1 >> Level 14
* [Accelerated Thoughtspeed] - Level 15 >> Level 16
* [Time Leap] - Level N/A
Major 01/11
* [Military Leader] - Level 13 >> Level 15