I woke up in my body when the first light of day had become visible. My department seemed to be untouched. The strings I had set up still hung in the air, although they had thinned out in intensity. When I slipped out of the blankets it was cold. The air had cooled down considerably. I enchanted a dim light into the ceiling of the tent and quickly dressed myself in something warm. When I continued on to pack everything up I began to warm up, but began dreading going outside. Instead of waiting I extinguished the light and slipped out into the main room. I wasn't the only one awake, in fact all the soldiers had also begun to pack up.

They had to struggle a bit more as they were in the dark and their eyesight must have been worse than mine on top of that. One of them asked me when I came out: “Can you please lent us your lamp for a moment?”

I stepped into the middle and lit up the ceiling again, this time quite a bit brighter, as everyone was up already anyway. The woman who had asked gave a quick thanks and as I was leaving I think I heard her murmur something about me being a scribe and of course it was no lamp but a spell. I didn't worry about putting it out. Either it ran out on its own or I would take care of it on the coming evening.

When I went outside in addition to the fresh air yet more rain promised a great morning. There weren't all that many people outside yet, but I heard the rustling in almost every tent. I considered heading back into the tent right then and there, but once I saw Tarvek I joined him instead. He had basically finished packing up his tent.

“I'm sorry, I don't have the time for a chat right now. I want to get a bit of exercise before we head out.”

“Mind if I join you then?”

“If you want, but I will train on my own.”

We stepped out of the camp, past a small heap of animal bodies. If I had to judge by it, there had been attacks, but nothing the current watchers shouldn't have been able to handle. Although I didn't know how strong these beasts in particular had been. I tried to use Analyse on them, but nothing came up.

The place we stopped at was still very close to the camp, but out of sight. I did my usual exercises and was glad that my movements weren't as awkward anymore with a possible spectator to my side. It didn't take long for the last of the cold to leave me and at least for a while the rain stopped bothering me. Tarvek mostly practiced with his glaive and though I mostly concentrated on my own movements what I did see looked very refined. My expertise in weapons wasn't anywhere close to my barehanded skills, so I couldn't compare. But what I glimpsed was a deadliness in each single swing that I mostly lacked. My form was fine, but I found myself severely lacking in the will to use it.

When I tried to perform with seriousness my movements became a bit too tense. By the time we finished I was content with my performance, but if I truly wanted to gain that extra edge I would have to practice on life targets.

“For a sorceress you have excellent martial skills.”

“Don't praise me for that, if I actually had to depend on it in a real fight instead of my magic I would probably die. Compared to you I feel a bit inadequate.”

“You don't have to. I actually have to depend on my skills, so I have to put in all the effort I can.”

Perhaps he was right. I didn't want to stop martial arts training, but I wondered how I had actually kept up the motivation to practice for years on end, when I didn't have any actual use for it. Even now magic was a much safer approach to fights for me. At least I believed that some basic capabilities would assist me in one way or another.

We returned to the camp and the cleanup was almost finished. A little later and everything was packed up, we had eaten breakfast and headed out. The monolith was very close now, so everyone was paying attention to their surroundings. The prince had ordered a formation that was much more compact instead of the stretched out train we formed yesterday. I was walking right in the center, but that didn't mean I was comfortable. Until now it had been possible for me to put the upcoming task aside, but now my nervousness had increased a lot.

Added to that was the fact that I expected a large fight up ahead. It might have been helpful to share my information, but I also feared that if I did I would be pressed for more and more. Information about myself, what else I had seen and then I might even be forcefully recruited as a spy. The scouts seemed to do a well enough job around us, so I didn't think we came unprepared.

But then I sensed something I didn't dare not to share. We had just come around a corner and were finally able to spot the monolith up ahead. It was pure black and stood a proud 20 meters tall. White glyphs covered the entire surface. At the base of the quadratic architecture one side was about five meters long. Towards the top it slowly became thinner, but only at the very peak did the four corners run together into a blunt spire.

I had little time to gaze at it though, because the entire ground in front of it was covered with multiple energy signatures. I quickly rushed up to the prince, forgetting about my dislike of him for a moment.

“Prince Nelantis, there are a lot of animals dug into the ground in front of us.”

He immediately turned serious and shouted out:

“Everyone stop.”

His voice carried a lot of strength, so he must have reinforced it somehow. It also had a strong impact, as everyone stood still at once. Then he looked ahead and seemed to concentrate hard.

“I think I can make them out. Can you sense how much space they are occupying?”

I took some time to process the information. There were many weak auras. Without a visual reference point I couldn't really put it into a greater picture.

“It's difficult to tell, the whole area seems to be full of them.”

“That's going to make things difficult.”

Shortly afterwards the command staff had met up and began discussing the situation.

Prince Nelantis: “A large area in front of us is dug through by some beasts. Right now we don't know what creatures they are nor how large the area is. We will have to take care of it one way or another or they can pull away the ground beneath our feet once we get to the monolith itself.”

Richard: “We should scout out the extent of the holes first. Perhaps we can reach the monolith from the back.”

Captain Ravon: “We must be careful. We can't send our more sensitive mages around in small groups or they might get ambushed. One large group will take longer but we can't take the risk.”

Prince Nelantis: “I agree. And then we will still have to come up with a plan to clear the area even if we can reach the monolith from behind. We can't leave our back exposed to the enemy there.”

Captain Ravon: “We will also have to reinforce the ground beneath us or they can tunnel under any camp or fortifications we build.”

A soldier came running up to us from the direction we originally came from.

“A large force of beasts is coming up from behind.”

Prince Nelantis: “It seems we are already with our back to the enemy. At least we didn't fall into their trap first. We will get some distance from this place and prepare to meet them. If they directly rush towards us we won't have much time.”

While we rushed as fast as was possible with the packed mounts the prince began to order the basic formation. It basically came down to three groups build of his own soldiers, the towns guard and the adventurers. Each group would organize themselves, but listen to general directions from the prince. Then there were of course a few exceptions who had to stay with the horses or me, who just had to stay safe.

We didn't make it very far, because just a minute later a large group of close to a hundred wolves came rushing at us. Our position wasn't ideal, because we had the rising mountainside next to us, but it wasn't steep enough to offer us protection. At least there were no attacks coming from this side at the moment, but rather from the relatively flat area at the foot of the mountain.

Prince Nelantis: “Warriors to the front, Mages behind, get out as many spells as you can but stay covered.”

It began to show that we were no regular army and not as organized. The different groups still hadn't been assembled properly, but at least a somewhat solid line was building and the first spells were flung out.

“Great Gorundar's Magnificent Ice Lance!”

“Aspharis”

“Great Gorundar's Splendid Needle Shower!”

“Trees rise to my aid!”

A storm of different spells rained down on the entire area in front of us. There were only around ten mages all in all, but everyone had their own specialty it seemed. Although the attack wasn't organized it still covered almost the entirety of the space the wolves had to run through. They were burnt, frozen, some began to attack their own and others were grabbed by nearby trees. A few wolves just collapsed without any obvious wounds.

I found it irritating that a few of the mages were shouting out their spells before the cast. I thought nobody would willingly speak such long and arduous phrases in the heat of battle, especially not ones as embarrassing as the Gorundar spells. I suspected those chants were some kind of activation sequence from spells learned by a scroll.

Only a very few wolves were able to break through the barrage, and they were quickly dealt with. When the mages had stopped their assault, the attacks had stopped as well and the wolves began to regroup further in the distance around a very large wolf who seemed to be their leader. Since I was not directly involved I used the chance for a short Analyse.

Wolf

Beast Level 44-47

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Hunter Level 40-42

Leader Level 25-26

Brute Level 13

Scout Level 18-20

Strength: 68-70

Dexterity: 116-120

Vitality: 66-67

Endurance: 96-99

Intelligence: 87-91

I had to gulp at the sight of those stats. I was happy I didn't have to face him in a direct confrontation.

Instead of another direct charge the wolves began to circle around us. The prince quickly ordered us to quickly rush up the mountain until we reached a small plateau with a rock wall in the back. The position would be easy to defend. While we had climbed up, other beasts started appearing. Buffaloes, bears and even the supposedly peaceful korungas. One gigantic mammoth became visible even though it was at the back of the forming horde.

The animals were much slower than the wolves had been. We had arrived at the plateau before any other skirmish. We mentally prepared ourselves for the next flood. But then nothing happened. The animals disappeared into the distance.

Captain Ravon: “They are waiting for a better time instead of attacking us when we have a solid position and are prepared. They might even wait until it is dark and we have to sleep before trying another assault on us.”

Prince Nelantis: “We can't just stay here all day and do nothing. Our rations aren't an issue right now, but we still have to get to the monolith and either prepare good defenses there, or at least secure the position long enough that Shalyne can get to work.”

Me: “I can't just rush in there and do this in a short few minutes. This is something I have to concentrate on for extended periods of time.”

Prince Nelantis: “Then we must completely secure the monolith and prepare the camp there. I'm just afraid we won't be able to do so undisturbed.”

Captain Ravon: “I suggest we fortify relatively close by and just dig out the ground and strengthen it. It's a lot of work but I don't see any other option but the hard way. Our mages will have to reserve enough of their mana for a serious fight, so we can't rely on them too much.”

Prince Nelantis: “Then lets not waste time and get to it.”

And so began the most amazing building project I had seen so far. Until now basic construction seemed very similar to that on earth, but now I got to see the actual process of it. There are options to work on a different scale when every worker has superhuman strength. The soldiers only had a limited amount of them, but there were some huge shovels and they began to dig out one cubic meter of soil after the other. Soon a trench that was five meters wide and three meters deep began to make its way through the area in front of the monolith.

At the same time close by, but still outside the trapped area a place was fortified. A bit of the ground was also dug up and then filled in again with large rocks a few of the strongest of the group carried over. Entire trees were used to create a small wall around the camp. The space of this area was not very large, and if we had to actually camp there we would have to sleep close together.

A few of the animals showed up now and then, but that was more a distraction than anything else. We were always very aware of our surroundings. Captain Ravon estimated that animals couldn't keep up a formation for extended amounts of time like humans could. They also had to eat, but didn't carry anything with them. It was enough of a surprise that so many different kinds of animals were working together, even when some would normally prey on others. Keeping up this state of peace couldn't be easy on their part.

No one was spared from work this time. Funnily enough, those who ranked the highest would also be the ones who could do the most difficult physical tasks. Although they would supervise the others, even the captains and the prince were laboring by carrying some large pieces of trees and rocks. When he helped with those tasks, Captain Windon had more trouble with properly holding things than with their weight. His opulence impeded him somewhat.

This time I was also put to work. My job was to keep an eye on the surrounding earth outside the trench. Tons of rabbits had hidden there, and every now and then one of them came rushing out.

They were very strong for such little animals, but their levels were all very low, so none of them would have strength that could become fatal as long as we paid attention. A large scale attack of rabbits might be a different thing though.

So I stood somewhere below ground level and kept my senses open to all sides. There were so many auras around me to keep track of that I couldn't keep up with all of them. Whenever a rabbit decided to try something funny and rushed out into the trench I was usually able to await it and cut it with my sword before it was able to do anything else. There were a few times they escaped my notice and then quickly rushed at the closest soldier or adventurer who was digging or removing the earth. They could deal with the nuisances themselves, but it annoyed me that I couldn't stop them all in time.

They weren't even as organized or intelligent as the other beasts. Most had a level in scout or leader, but the best they were able to accomplish was a combined attack of maybe twenty of them.

After yet another one was able to slip past me I decided to do something about them proactively. Aiming was difficult without line of sight, but I wanted to take care of them nonetheless. I began to cast searing light at any rabbit that was within one or two meters range of the earth wall. It didn't take much to kill them, but I wasn't always able to get actual hits on their small bodies. But searing light was very cheap in its cost, and death would almost be a guarantee on a successful hit.

I began racking up my kill count. At first I still had to pay attention to the other areas but after a while the rabbits were thinning out and I could concentrate more and more on my massacre instead of observing the area close to the trench. The fact that I didn't ever see them at any point in time created a bit of an emotional distance between the act of casting and the resulting deaths. The only time I even got to see the seared rabbits was when the soldiers were extending the trench. They were a bit surprised at first, but soon realized that the attacks had stopped almost entirely.

Once I had cleared out the closer perimeter I didn't even have to keep watch at all. Any rabbit that tried to get across this zone of death now immediately became obvious to my senses and was soon dead. With nothing much to do anymore I continued to practice my blind aiming at a greater distance. I was able to get proper hits up to a range of maybe five meters, but after that I was only successful because I could just continue to fire off spell after spell. I never used much energy for the pin point attacks, but the sheer amount of single casts still depleted my entire pool of mana. I just took out one of the crystals and drew its reserves into me.

I tried to use more than one spell at once to aim at a target further in the distance. With a formation of ten searing light strikes at the same time I could cover half a meter in every direction and had a good chance of any one of them landing the hit.

Sorceress has increased to level 12.

These multi attacks were effective, but nothing I could keep up. With single casts my chance of hitting began to drop too low at a certain distance and I reverted back to protection mode instead of active hunting, as long as no rabbit closed in on my safe zone.

It was afternoon when we finally arrived at the monolith. There the close surrounding area was dug up and refilled just like the first defensive station. The effort shifted completely to the monolith, the first fortification never meant as anything more than a place to fall back to if things went down south. The real fortifications were now set up, and once a certain foundation had been prepared, the materials of the earlier one were just taken out and brought over. Perhaps it might be better to consider it a deposit instead.

Everything had to be transported over by use of the trench. We had lost some of our apprehension concerning the rabbits, they were easy enough to kill on their own, but the hollowed out ground was another matter. Carrying heavy weights across this area full of tunnels was a bad idea, especially considering how much a single person was able to lift. And if several soldiers were stuck in some holes, rabbits below and a surprise attack from the side, it would become difficult to defend.

The continued construction process didn't concern me anymore however, as I now had to get to my actual purpose of being here. To offer me some halfway decent space to work a provisional tent was set up. It was little more than a stretched out tarp, but offered some protection from the weather. I had full vision of the monolith in front, and even some sort of privacy. Unless someone was busy at the very base of the monolith, he wouldn't be able to watch me. I sat down in this abode and began my study.

The first look I took just brushed over the surface. I didn't want to activate any contraption that reacted to my sense. It was magnificent. The entire monolith was used as anchor for an extremely complicated construct. Without actually studying it I took it in as a whole. Although the underlying structure was very complex, as a whole the monolith served a function that I might be able to grasp.

It felt as if the monolith itself was just an extension. Whatever it did ultimately happened elsewhere. It wasn't difficult for me to sense the energies that connected it with some other place, but I couldn't follow them from my current fixed position. In case someone did look over I didn't want to lie down right now, but a meditative looking sitting position shouldn't arouse any suspicions. I crossed my legs and my knees easily touched the ground. I hadn't realized I was this flexible. I tried putting my feet on the opposing side's leg and actually comfortably reached a full lotus position. That was something I had never even come close to before and I was quite happy about it.

In this position I could comfortably sit and remain upright without any effort. I stretched my senses out from me until I was hovering in my energy form. My physical body remained properly seated even without my conscious effort. I wouldn't leave it behind for long, so I paid it no more mind.

Observing the energy that flowed in and out of the monolith I was able to actually detect in which directions it flowed. The one easily observable main stream went towards the northeast and it came as no surprise to me when the general direction was exactly the strong aura I had made out a few times already and which I could see in the far distance when I flew up a little. Of course I would have to follow the flow to its end to be certain, but I was reasonably sure I wasn't wrong about that connection.

What actually surprised me was that another small stream, probably undetectable to anyone without extremely good senses, went into the general direction of Barlaine. Sadly I wasn't able to make out any of the flowing content, as it seemed very cryptic to me.

I slipped back into my physical body. Although it provided some more distractions I considered it best to stay present with the possibility of imminent attacks or simply people who were observing my work here.

The next step I took was to let my mind softly flow over the structure, one little area at a time. Whenever something began to react I blocked off that part of the structure and dissolved it, but never anything more than that part itself. One such part didn't react at all after I blocked its connection, but suddenly from somewhere entirely else something locked onto me. Before I could even react from various parts of the monolith sensors picked up my presence. Before I could even try to do something about it the monolith shot out a beam right at the place I was occupying.

I got a very rough sense of the type of energy before it was actually shot out. I quickly poured my entire mana into a shield that could hopefully block it and then rolled to the side. An energy blast as wide as my body shot right at the space I had just been at. But the little distance I had barely made a difference. Neither did my shield. The beam still graced me and the space where the beam hit the ground sent out a blast wave which burned into me and threw me through the air.

The ensuing pain drowned out anything else. I wasn't aware of any sound around me, my eyes were blinded, if they still worked, and I was only hanging on to my consciousness by a bare thread. If I hadn't gone through so many similar situations lately it surely would have slipped away, but this way I could observe as the pain suddenly and completely subsided.

I felt just as free as in my energy body, but something was different. The energies within me began to drift apart, the light to one side, the dark to the other. Each wanted to go their own way and take what part of me was here with it. But they both clung unto the entirety of me, ripping at it, trying to free me from the grasp of their opposite. The pain that followed was by far worse than what I had felt before, this time my very self was burning up. The tearing became absolutely unbearable and just wouldn't stop. By some force everything held itself together, finding something in my center to surround. I felt into that center that kept me together, kept me here and found a weak connection back to my physical body.

I became horribly afraid of what would happen to me if I lost that connection. Would I float around forever as a vengeful spirit, unable to perish but ever without form, existing in everlasting pain? I pulled myself and all the swirling storm around me back there, still being ripped apart, but never severing into parts and landed back in the physical. Instead of relief additional pain awaited me, which combined with the other.

Still without senses I struggled, I don't know if I screamed, or slashed around myself, I think I was forcibly held down but didn't really know. Then, from one moment to the next light and dark stopped tearing my soul apart and just settled into their old dispute over me. They were easily suppressed when they were happy to stay again. The physical pain I felt all over didn't subside as easily. Squirming around I had to endure and endure until it finally began to lessen somewhat.

First dull sounds began to get through to me and I was able to get enough of my bearings together again to activate my energy senses just a bit. All around me were auras huddled together. I wasn't able to peak close enough for who they were, but at basically every end of my body somebody either held an arm or stood over me.

Even after some basic functions had returned it felt like a long time until I only felt some comparatively dull pains in mostly non vital areas of my body. At least compared to before it was a huge improvement. My eyes had regained some blurry function and I tried to look around with them. Around me stood several people who all channeled some type of healing energy to my body. A man who seemed to be busy with parts of my head spoke up:

“I think she is regaining consciousness.”

Without my additional perception of energy it might have been difficult to make out Brinnia who was now bending over me from the side and looked at me.

“I honestly thought you were already dead, or at least only a hair's breadth away. I could almost see the light leave you. I am glad we got you up in time. Take a rest for now, we will get you back into shape by tomorrow.”

It would have been so nice to slip into a peaceful sleep now, but there was none for me. I still tried to fake a light and peaceful breathing while holding my eyes closed, if only to comfort those around me who continued to poor their effort into me. Even if I had to lie around for hours on end, I was in no mood to do anything. I was just exhausted and almost enjoyed the peace of holding still to recover.

When my constitution continued to improve and I finally found enough energy I began to start some healing work of my own. I had been left alone for a while already and the healers were taking a rest. From what I had gathered they were utterly exhausted from the effort they put into saving me. I began to scan my body and with a tickle at the back of my mind understanding of the different functions of inner body parts came to me when I observed them.

The healers had certainly done a good job, but the work was far from over and they lacked perfection. I could see scars all over and through me that just shouldn't be there. Places where the flow of blood slightly slowed. Inner functions of organs that I didn't really comprehend, but where I was still able to sense what was somehow right. Just how badly had I been wounded that I had such inner wounds? Maybe I didn't want to know, I was just sick of getting hurt all the time and didn't want to even think about it. I got to work.

Priestess has increased to level 6.

Priestess has increased to level 7.

I had only begun to take care of my inner parts and not even started to work on the scars I had sensed all over my skin. It must have been bad, but it was dark and I wasn't in the mood to make a light and take an actual look at myself. Instead I took a break and just ignored the itching on my skin.

My sense of time was off right now and I had no idea how deep into the night it was. But with my senses restored it couldn't escape me that in the distance a large gathering had begun. It was too far to make out specifics, but the amount was enough to make me aware. I could already tell right away that the attack we were expecting all day would soon be under way. I left the tent where I had been laid down in and looked for the current commander of the night watch.