He did find several goblins along the way trying to break down a door, but he ended them quickly enough as he ran past, ignoring yet another System notification as he hurried.
It took him another minute to get to the wall, finding that the defenders were having a hard time of it. As he approached, he saw two of them fall to huge hobgoblins wielding swords that looked much better than what goblins normally used.
To slow them down, he used [Block the Sun], [Quick Volley], and [Freezing Bolt]; the last in the hopes of affecting them with the [Slow] status. Again, several goblins fell, but not as many as he’d hoped. Nevertheless, most of them slowed down, giving him the chance to finally use [Foxhole]. But since the goblins were so close, he chose to drop the dirt on the other side of the trench as goblins fell into it as it formed.
The defenders fell back in confusion, shocked at what had just happened. Taking that chance, he sent out another barrage as he deepened the trench further, this time piling the dirt on the open space they’d left for him.
Even more goblins died that time, giving him grim satisfaction as he continued to run straight at the trench. The defenders called out in alarm as he ran past them, then onto the mound of dirt and stone. At the peak, he let go of his N7-90 so that he could be in his best form for the powerful leap he executed.
As he soared through the air- and he did soar- he reformed his mindbolt, but this time into the M-6 Desert form, leaving him a free hand to deal with anything that got too close. Then came the landing. If he hadn’t used [Biofeedback], he was sure that he would have had more than a few scrapes and bruises as he rolled to his feet using his considerable momentum.
Then he was in the thick of it, gobs, hobs, and those even larger hobs which [Analyze] identified as [Hobgoblin Elite]s.
Yeah, we can’t afford to leave that damn dungeon alone any longer. Because, what’s next? [Hobgoblin Paragon]s? [Hobgoblin Great Shaman]s?
He shuddered to think of how difficult those would be to deal with as he [Dodge]d a volley of arrows from the gobs, using the brute in front of him for cover. Which it took as an opportunity to attack him.
The attack glanced off his [Force Screen], sending it to land just to his left. Not one to let an opening like that go, he stepped forward and placed the muzzle of his mindbolt against its forehead and shattered its head into thousands of frozen shards with [Freezing Bolt].
He then took hold of the thing’s crude armour and heaved it up to so that it could swallow more arrows for him. Then, not wanting to seem ungrateful for the goblin’s warm welcome, he sent back his own volley.
When the weaker goblin archers fell, he dropped his meat shield and continued on towards the gate where he felt his dragon fighting a losing battle. He kept running, blasting any goblins he saw along the way.
‘Joram, you need to heal yourself,’ Avi’s voice came to him through the battle haze, making him realize that he’d take a few hits along the way.
He quickly stepped behind the corner of a house to manifest [Natural Healing]A, then looked over as the front gate where his dragon fought. It was an eerie sight to see a seven-metre space cleared of moving targets while watching goblins being suddenly torn apart for no apparent reason. He felt that his [Invisible] dragon was on its last legs, so he quickly pulled up [Energy Wall], review it, then manifested it.
A moment later, a fiery wall appeared in front of the gates, but on the inside of the wall, throwing waves of fire outwards. He could hear the screams of pain from the goblins, which brought a grim smile to his face. But not wanting to lose out on the opportunity the [Energy Wall] provided, he then manifested [Wall of Ectoplasm] right behind it, tripled up its width. With that in place, any goblins trying to get through the [Energy Wall] would hopefully fry trying to then get through the second, very durable, wall.
With that done, he sent his dragon into the air to start healing. Then he began running, soon losing himself in the flow of battle.
He went to support the guards on the far side of the main street, attacking the goblins from the rear, alternating between barrages and [Energy Ball]s. It wasn’t long before the goblins inside of Kirkwall were taken care of and he was back at the south gate where he could see a few small holes being chipped out from the [Wall of Ectoplasm]. So, he grinned, and repeated his trick from earlier, but changed the energy type of the [Energy Wall] to [Cold] in case the [Shaman]s had given them fire resistance or something.
When he heard more shouts and screams of pain from them, he put up another [Wall of Ectoplasm] just like the first, making it even harder for them to break through. Once done, he made for the stairs on the wall and switched his M-6 Desert for the shoulder canon, wanting the added range it provided.
At the top of the stairs, he found a few guards with bows a good twenty metres away doing their best to fell the enemy. He looked through the crenelations and saw that there were still a few hundred goblins out there, drying his mouth as his heart fluttered in trepidation.
Yeah, they’re certainly at the top of the list now, he thought as he found his first [Shaman] and carefully lined up his shot with [Through the Eye of the Needle]. He chose the [Ability Damage] option as he aimed, focussing on damaging its Constitution and adding [Frozen Bolt] for good measure.
He released the shot and was gratified to see the [Shaman] freeze solid, fall over, and break into several pieces.
The other [Shaman]s didn’t let that go, though, and sent a flurry of spells his way. He wasn’t fast enough to dodge them all, though, and nearly got cooked as he fell to the walkway, coughing.
[Clear Mind] helped him to manifest [Natural Healing]A again, restoring his charred skin, but not his clothing or hair. Feeling more than a little shaky after that, he pulled up [Energy Adaptation], found it easy enough, then manifested it, choosing the invisible release option. Thus protected, and resolved to add that to his standard combat buffs, he got up into a crouch as he reformed his shoulder canon and peeked around the crenelation.
Choosing the wiser option, he started using [Strafing] in earnest to make himself harder to hit. Unfortunately, that decreased his accuracy, but with [Block the Sun] and [Quick Volley], it didn’t matter as much since he was basically carpet bombing them all.
It wasn’t all one sided, however. He saw more guards fall to attacks from the goblins, as well as the occasional goblin that managed to get tossed up onto the walls by its compatriots, who then went into a frenzy to kill as many guards as it could.
One part of him wished that he’d gone with [Vitalist] so that he could help keep the defenders both healthy and in the fight. The other part assured him that ending the goblin threat as soon as possible would ultimately save more lives.
But man! This sucks, he thought as yet another defender fell.
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By now his dragon felt to be back at full health, so he sent the [Invisible] terror to reap havoc amongst the goblins, instructing it to make flyby attacks against them. Going for broke, he manifested [Astral Construct]A a few more times to get three more 9th Level astral constructs, with the same configurations as the dragon, and let them loose after designating them as his last three [Astral Ally]s.
Then the fight became a repeating patter of move, attack, renew the [Energy Wall], and manifesting the occasional [Energy Ball] for good measure when his power pool allowed for it.
When things finally quieted down, he looked around with a heavy heart. The goblins hadn’t just attacked the walls and guards, but had also managed to set fire to many homes. He saw people trying valiantly to fight the fires, but it was hard without the convenience of fire hydrants and hoses. They did, however, have magic, so it wasn’t completely hopeless.
Before going to help in any way that he could, he instructed his dragons to start piling their, and his, kills off to the side of the main battlefield. Once they were done, they were then to do the same inside of the walls.
Then he got to work, putting [Ectoplasmic Creation] through its paces as he created deluge after deluge of water to help put out the fires. He’d occasionally need to blast an area with a barrage of [Cold] from his N7-90 after having doused the area with water. It provided a slight firebreak without having to level a building to slow the spread of fire.
Then dawn was there, bringing light to their burnt and broken village. He looked around, seeing that almost a full block around where the goblins had attacked had been razed. People were looking around, dazed and lost as they probably wondered what they’d do.
Not wanting to expose himself to such raw and puissant emotions, he went to the ruined gate, both broken and burnt form the goblins and his [Energy Wall]s. He shook his head, wondering how they’d get everything fixed in time if he failed to destroy the dungeon.
Should he stay and try to help get things fixed? Help people rebuild? But with how many had attacked this time, he was certain that the next attack would be enough to wipe out Kirkwall. But would he be enough to deal with the dungeon solo? He really wasn’t sure he’d succeed.
Thus deep in thought, he went out and began looting his kills, a veritable mountain of bodies. Once more, System notifications pinged, but he set them aside for later, not wanting to deal with them right then.
He was almost done when Asami came to find him, her clothes lightly scorched and smeared with soot and ash.
She didn’t say anything as she watched him work, just kept close to him. He appreciated that, for he wasn’t in the mood to talk just yet.
He’d thought that he’d had all the time in the world to get strong, learn new things, and even have fun with his new friends. Build a house, take it easy. Live it up.
But now there were a lot of dead people. People who might have lived if he’d just doubled-down on his training and then gone and dealt with the dungeon before it had grown enough to send armies out to kill them all.
“Stop,” Asami said, placing a hand on his back. “That way lies grief and madness.”
“But it’s true,” he said quietly, hating himself for the first time in years.
“No one should be punished for wanting to live a peaceful life,” Asami replied softly, placing her other hand on his back next to the first.
“I was told that dungeons form occasionally. Not often, but rarely. Settlements usually make sure to scout out their environs to make sure that none have popped up. If they do, they usually destroy it before it can get too strong.
“But they’re rare. That a dungeon formed near where I… was living, now seems odd to me. Did it form when I arrived? If so, even if I’m not directly responsible for it, it’s still related to me.
“Sure, Kirkwall should have done something about it before now, and I don’t know why it hasn’t been dealt with already. But if I had gone and tackled the problem shortly after arriving, those people would still be alive,” he finished with clenched fists and hazy vision.
Asami was silent for a while, then he felt something else press against his back and realized that she’d leaned her head against it.
“Life happens. So does death. Dungeons happen. People aren’t perfect. Don’t expect more of yourself than you can give or accomplish,” she said, sounding a bit distant as though she was speaking through the distance of memories. “You’re strong now, stronger than I expected you to become without taking a Path. But I’m not sure you’ll survive raiding that dungeon on your own,” she said, proving just how much of his mind that she read on a regular basis.
He couldn’t even summon up the inclination to get angry at her for that with everything else that had happened that night.
“Kirkwall won’t survive another attack,” he said quietly, finding it hard to speak any louder with how tight his throat felt.
“Is that your responsibility?” she asked quietly, her words digging into his heart. “We’ve managed over the years well enough before you came along. This isn’t the first time we’ve suffered from an Overflowing Dungeon,” she said, now sounding a bit angry even though her voice was still quiet.
“No, but it’s something my conscience won’t allow,” he said, wondering if it came from what he’d been taught growing up, or if he’d somehow caught chuunibyou syndrome from somewhere. Either way, he couldn’t let it go.
“I’ll prepare a moat around most of Kirkwall before I go,” he said as he lifted his head up. “That’s about all I can do besides helping with repairing the south gate. But after that, I’ll be heading out…” he paused a moment as he felt Asami stiffen against his back, but continued with what he had to say. ”… and I’d appreciate it if you could stay and help everyone in case I fail,” he finished, not feeling terribly optimistic with his odds of survival, but oddly at peace with his decision.
With that said, he stepped forward, feeling the loss of contact with Asami as he continued looting. She didn’t say anything after that, but still chose to keep close to him as he worked. It took much longer than he thought it would, yet finished all too soon, leaving him standing there, thinking as he then called one of the construction constructs to collect the goblins’ fallen weapons.
Eventually a few guards were sent out to loot the dead. He noticed the strange looks they shot his way as they worked and wondered if they blamed him for not having dealt with the dungeon sooner. So instead of dealing with those looks, he set off to the west side of Kirkwall, then went a bit further north before getting to work.
He paced himself as he used [Foxhole] and [Telekinesis] to create a moat that spanned just over six metres wide and as many deep. He spread out the excavated earth on the far side of the moat, but used any rocks and stones he found to line the bottom of the moat. It wasn’t much, but it would at least hurt a creature more falling on the stone than onto dirt.
He worked like that until evening, which found him on the southeast side of Kirkwall. When he came out of his fugue state, he noticed a few things.
First, he was practically caked in dirt. What was left of his pants was brown while the rest of him looked as though he’d competed in a mudwrestling competition.
The next thing he noticed was the largest gathering of foxes he’d seen to date sitting several metres behind him. They all regarded him with varying expression that he couldn’t read, but felt that curiosity was prominent.
The last thing he noticed before his head started swimming in dizziness, were the people on the walls. As he tried to keep his balance, a veritable wall of sound hit him as they all began shouting.
Then everything went black.
* * *
Asami looked down at a now clean Joram. She was glad that young Melois had the [Cleanse] Skill, making it easier on them all as they cared for, and check on Joram that evening. She’d long since changed, the clothing that Joram had made for her having been ruined and unsuitable to stay in as she cared for Joram.
She was impressed with his determination to do what he saw as right. In all her years, she’d never met someone like him. From how he smelt to how he acted all the way to how he could use [Mind Magic] without the aid of the System, he was unique.
She looked over at Myra sitting on a chair beside his bed, looking exhausted in her vigil. None of them had slept over the past day and a half, and it was evident to see.
“You should sleep,” she told Myra, who jumped a bit when she heard her voice.
“No, I’m fine,” she said, then tried to stifle a powerful yawn… and lost.
Asami just shook her head. Young ones needed their rest, especially ones who’d worked so hard through last night and all throughout the day.
So, she waited a bit longer. When Myra’s head began to once more tilt towards her chest, she cast [Sleep] on her, then eased her down until her torso was resting on the bed beside Joram. With that done, she got up and made her way to the living room where little Celys was still directing the clean up and rebuilding efforts.
When she entered the room, everyone went quiet and gave her nods of respect.
“So, what happened with the Dungeon?” she asked, looking between Celys and the head of the Exterminator’s Hall. “From what I’ve gleaned from Jorma’s memories, that was a new dungeon just a few weeks ago and should have been easy to destroy. So. Why wasn’t it?”