It took the better part of an hour to get everyone gathered and sorted. Part of that time was lending our Ocalan allies some true quality equipment. The Cloth Muscles, with their stone silk robes, were the best protected but it didn't compare to proper Infused Artisan products. I was fairly sure I spotted Madeline trying to get one of them to let her Infuse the thing while they were wearing it, but there was too much going on for me to follow up with my pseudo apprentice.
The other one, Marie, was working with Sam on the pair of pendulum cannons they had assigned to the mercenary corp. They had seen an upgrade even since I'd seen them brought to the Outpost. Both of the weapons were double barreled, and had self feeding mechanisms. It looked like the Stoneshaper with the metal magic had gotten involved, as the barrels and loading chambers were all metal, making for a more compact design. Additionally, there were reinforced flaps to either side of the cannon that could be opened once the cannon was set down to provide cover for those manning the weapon. It honestly looked like a bastardized version of a hercules beetle; with Marie involved, I wouldn't dismiss some artistic theming.
The whole thing was designed for beasts of burden, but considering my own track record with that title... it was fitting that it was going to be carried by giants. Rodrigo was salivating while Samuel explained how to operate them and their capabilities anyhow. I had a sneaking suspicion we'd have some weapons trade in the future, but as long as it was aimed outward I wouldn't step in.
Besides the siege weapons, Sarah and her team of assistants were passing out batch after batch of healing brews. It wasn't quite a potion, but the sharp strawberry tang of the refined and re-refined Health Smoothie that Samuel had created had come far. Every person was given one finger-thick tube of bamboo that had been partially Infused with Earth to improve its durability. The healers of the various squads were given any extra to distribute during combat as needed in the hopes of preserving their mana.
Sam, also, had one final experimental product he'd passed along: a jello shot. He said it was the worst thing he'd ever tasted by and large, but it was effective together with mage healing or the potions without pushing someone into the Overhealed Affliction. Two or more of them, however, would leave them out for the rest of the fight. These Health Shots he only gave to team leaders to administer as needed thanks to their limited quantities. When he handed over mine, he put two in my hand.
"If you have to take both of these..." Sam said, shaking his head. "I think you'd be able to keep it together. If I could, I would load you up with them because I don't see a way out of this that doesn't leave you battered, Ron."
"It'll be alright, Sammy," I said, gripping his shoulder. With a smile, I drew him in for a hug and did my best to crush him in my arms. His living cloak of vines fought against my Strength, so it was more of a regular hug. I whispered, "We'll make it. We have to."
When we pulled apart, I could see his eyes were moist through my own blurry ones. Thankfully, Daniela was close by to ruin the moment by jumping up to loop an arm around each of our necks. Her light frame barely moved us. "I didn't realize we were dog piling! Squirt! Get in here!"
"Miss Daniela, I--Ah!" Billy was pulled into the hug with a dexterous flex of the brunette's feet. The youth didn't fight it, considering his legs had been inching him closer, but he had a 'cool guy' reputation to keep. Several of the once-trainees were around, which now included Joe Kelly and Amaya, as part of the gathering fighters.
"Don't leave me out!" Jolene called, halting the conversation she'd been having with Clara from the New Hopers to jump up onto my shoulders.
Of course, Blobby wasn't to be outdone. The slime shifted into its humanoid form --which had grown by a considerable margin to almost fifteen feet after binging on grubs -- to wrap around all of us and hoist us two whole feet into the air. Everyone squirmed in surprise, but the slime seemed to take that as encouragement until I poked him in the side with a pulse of mana. Fievil and Amelia snickered in my mind while many of the gathered fighters from Wildwood laughed at our antics. Levity was going to be light where we were going, so I didn't even try to put on a strong front; I laughed right along with everyone.
Unfortunately, reality crashed back upon us all too soon.
"Scouts reporting!" The call came from the wall. That meant that they were within a mile of the Outpost. It was time to move out.
-- + --
"Good and bad news," Devon reported, the scouts having stopped at their max range.
"We've talked about this, Dev," Clara, his squad leader said, her eyeroll practically audible through the comm-plant. "All news are just that. Qualifiers come after people have gotten a chance to evaluate them. Bad to you can--"
"--Be good for someone else. Yes, yes I know," the elf complained. "I think more shit to fight is an objective negative, though."
"Err, probably so in this case," Clara admitted.
"Anyway," Devon continued. "Their number of creatures has gone up. One of our elves has a quick motion Trait and she estimated some five hundred creatures. They lean heavily on Fire Attunements, but they run the whole spectrum."
"Not optimal," I said, frowning in the direction I knew the elf was even if he was out of sight. "We've got a few things that can handle large swaths of enemies, though."
"Prep them, and get ready to use them again and again. There are now humanoid Tendrils in their ranks. They are establishing control to some degree, somehow. I wouldn't call them structured platoons, but it's more organized than a bunch of beasts have any right to be."
The elf paused for a second, prompting Sarah to speak up. "I certainly hope that's it for the bad news."
"Oh, yeah, sorry. The good news is that the Mother Boar is working in our favor for now. If we leave now I think it's possible that one or two of those platoons I mentioned will be engaged with the roaming Boss. Our other squad of eyes and ears took some liberties... well, let's just say Dai needs a pay raise."
"We aren't getting paid," Daniela interjected.
"Really? I thought awe and adoration was a pretty good currency," Devon said, his voice entirely too serious.
"Moving on!" Sarah said. "Okay. I think it will be manageable. It will be dirty, and costly, but I agree that we will likely not get a better opportunity. If the Aberrant is forming up, then they are building up to attack us or Ocala. Neither is an option that's tenable."
"Do you think it was the best idea to poke the hornet's nest, Ronan?" Clara asked. She was standing in the leadership huddle atop the Outpost walls while the fighters arrayed outside of its walls. "I'm not questioning your decision, especially since the trigger’s already pulled, but do you see another path forward?"
Just because it was Clara asking, I tried to reconcile what I'd seen with what needed to be done. Ocala was no less entangled with Aberrants than Wildwood. It was entirely possible that the city could have lived for some indeterminable amount of time without intervention. However, that hinged on the Aberrants maintaining the status quo. From what Jolene and Billy had uncovered, the Mania cases, the population of Tendrils and Partials had only been on the rise even before Bunkerites and the Implants had disrupted the surface. It was true that the effects were contained... but for how long? If the Entities, which were objectively on our side, were unpredictable and alien except for on rare occasions, what could one expect from a being that resorted to enslavement, mental subversion, and unquestionable violence as a matter of course.
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The argument for stalling, of course, was that everyone at the Outpost and possibly some selected members of Ocala's forces like Ponzio and April could have been uplifted with our mission. That, however, would have put us in direct contest with the Aberrant. Crossing into Q7 had taken considerable effort, not least of which the lives of Dreg Appendages. Getting our fighting force to that level... it could have taken years. Not to mention what the ramifications of teaching people my Dreg absorption method via Mana Overdraw -- for humanity as a whole and for the ambient mana.
There were too many lives at stake to leave an injustice unpunished. Perhaps one of the cities like where Joe came from would have demarcated lines for Aberrant and Entity, where outside threats forced their hand. In a place like Ocala, where the melting pot was barely held together... it was a matter of time before it blew up. It was better to throw rocks at a minefield than to try to walk through it blind.
With a deep breath, I turned to Clara and the rest of the squad leaders that had been gathered to share in on the latest information. "No. Not only do lives need to be protected, but the Tendrils have a chance at freedom. That's not going to happen with an Aberrant as strong as this one hanging over our heads. It can't ignore a gun pointed its way, and neither can we. Our best bet is to act ourselves and seize the initiative."
Those gathered understood the weight of my words. When they didn't immediately jump to dismantle my words, or support my actions, I knew we were in a good place. All of them showed deep consideration and concern only highlighted by touches of fear. It was an assurance my Diffracting Tissue gave me that I wasn't going to ignore. There was a place for following orders, and a place to question them. If one happened when it should have been the other, that was when things fell apart.
"Very well," Sarah said, drawing everyone in with a loud clap. The conversation continued aloud as several of those present were not Dreg Warriors in truth. I was sure that Clara, as second in command, or even Sarah herself, was keeping a dialogue with the scout squad concurrently. "To put the plan as simple as possible then. We are to deliver the Purger to the Entity, cram it absolutely full of Infusions and hope it is enough to overcome a Category 3 Aberrant."
"Are we... are we sure this will work?" Teion asked.
"We've done it before," Daniela said dismissively. "Now we just upscaled our operations."
"That's not... you know, never mind," Sam mumbled. He shook his head before raising his voice. "Yes, we know it will work. The only variable is how much energy it will take."
"That's what my boys are for," Rodrigo huffed. "We've got you a Sixth Threshold Essence, and Miss Zebelos gave us payment for two Fifth Threshold Essences. At her request, we brought all the other lower Threshold ones we had on hand, as well as transported what Mister Zebelos provided us."
"We cleaned out Huck's stock," Ponzio clarified.
"More like you robbed him. There's no shot he gave you his Condenser supply no matter how much you told him they would pay," Filomena chuckled. "I didn't take you for the dirty handed one. Nice one, bro."
"Not something I'd like to discuss in public, sis," Ponzio hissed, glaring at the draconian smirking unabashedly in his direction. "Roughly a hundred lower denomination Esse--Infusions."
That's a war chest and a half. The higher Quotient Infusions were the big price items, of course, as the mana density gave them more bang for their buck even if the volume was the same. Despite that, I couldn't help but shake off the feeling that it wouldn't be enough. Gec had only taken the equivalent of one Q7, but that had been while the Death Aberrant was acting as a parasite. One that was already subsumed... More unknowns that wouldn't get cleared up regardless of us attacking now or later. I doubt the Aberrant would be nice enough to tell us how many Infusions it would take to neutralize its mana frequency.
"We know what we have then. Ronan will be breaching the line along with the Bunker Busters. They will open a path, and it will be our job to hold it. If Ron can't make it to the Aberrant, we've already fizzled, understood?" Sarah said, meeting everyone's eyes. Once she received a nod, she quickly outlined some general responses with the squad leaders. One Mage Circle would always hang back as triage with at least one other squad running interference and defense for wounded. Half of the fighters would engage with the monster hordes and humanoid Tendrils with more or less getting shifted depending on how the fighting went. She'd even taken into account what we'd learned from Lake Weir's Dungeon assault, preparing whatever teams were stationed on the outside edges of the engagement for the monster wave that would come the moment magic as dense as ours started flying. The remainder would be in roaming response, seeking to hard counter or negate magics as appropriate.
It was four dimensional chess, and the Council Woman of New Earth was adamant to flip the board whenever possible.
The actual planning session lasted no more than thirty minutes. I quickly found myself getting hugged by Marie and Madeline, who'd squirreled themselves out of the wall on excuses to check the Pendulum cannons one last time. The two girls clung to my side, squeezing hard enough for Striated Dermis to trigger. With gentle motions, I pried the two of them off and took a knee to be eye to eye with them. "You two know I need to go."
"We do," Madeline sniffed.
"But we didn't want you to go without the proper gear," Marie added.
At her words, I tilted my head a full 45 degrees in confusion. While I was still barefoot, my
"You always craft things for others," Madeline continued. "We wanted you to receive something from us."
Marie retrieved something from the satchel full of wooden shapes she carried with her. It was triple wrapped in elephant ear leaves and about half the size of my palm, even if it hung off of the young Woodshaper's. When they didn't say anything more, I took the present and unwrapped it to reveal a beautiful carving of a sturgeon. Blue accents marked where the boney plates on the creature normally were, reaching up to the tail of the fish with a level of detail that made it look as if I'd caught a baby beastie. The barbel whiskers even swooped out to either side of its head.
My Implant quickly recognized it for the achievement that it was.
"It's... beautiful," I whispered, smiling at my apprentices. "You two will pass me before long."
"We could only get one normal Trait on it," Marie said with a huff. "Even with Madeline's skill with the Deepening Technique and my magical control of the material. We didn't think it was that good because--"
"It's perfect," I said, raising a hand and halting the girl. "Just because you learn that you could do better in the future doesn't mean it wasn't the best you could have done. That's the whole point of practicing something: incremental progress. I didn't get so good at taking a punch without getting hit!"
"My mama says it's going to cause you problems later," Madeline whispered conspiratorially.
"Madeline!" Adeline's voice cut through the hubbub of the moving fighters. The woman had an eyebrow raised halfway up her brow visible even from the temporary gate she'd been waiting beside for the girls to return.
"Oops," Madeline blushed furiously. Marie just giggled. I gave the pair one final hug before Adeline dragged them back into the Outpost. Before she went out of sight, the woman caught my eye and bowed deeply. She held it for a moment before scurrying off after the two youngsters. The future of the surface. The whole point for this fight. For now and for tomorrow.
"Now... how can I get you on my--" Amelia burst out of her bracelet, possessing the Talisman. With a mental nudge, she had me place it against my neck and the wood flowed through the necklace until the Talisman was secured seamlessly. The avian Totem manifested for a moment, bumped me on the forehead, and disappeared back into her bracelet as if she hadn't casually reshaped an Item by possessing it. "Cheeky little Totem. We'll be exploring that power in the future, don't you worry."
Amelia giggled in my mind, flying through our mindspace to bug Fievil after nudging my attention towards the slowly moving column of fighters. The other Bunker Busters were waiting for me. Daniela was trying to see how much heat it took to light Samuel's living cloak while Jolene was acting as a standby firefighter. Joe, Tucker, and Amaya stood awkwardly to the side, no less enthralled by the experiment. Billy was helping to feed Anthony the carcass of some kind of bird he'd killed while waiting.
"Yup. I wouldn't want to fight beside anyone else," I said, a hungry grin on my face as I jogged to join my friends.