I said.

Ezzie said, as a veritable army began spawning into the snow. More worrisome, though, was the huge shape growing far behind the enemy lines.

Ezzie said, breaking my train of thought.

As she’d said, one of the mobs was still spawning in, the nanobots forming it from the ground up. And even more curiously, its sloped face was covered in green health bars, the kind that normally indicated a friendly NPC or player.

Ezzie said.

I said.

I said, though the realization was already sinking into my gut.

Ezzie made a low-pitched sound that I did not like at all.

I said.

I groaned.

Ezzie said.

I said.

I said.

A dark line had formed above the oncoming enemies, and the air was thick with the flutter of wings.

{Lesser Skydragon} (Level 11 Dragonkin)

HP: 700/700

Ezzie said.

I said, as I broke into a jog toward the siege tower, which had finally finished spawning.

It stood about a story higher than our walls, and the frontal bulwark was plated with blue dragon scales, no doubt to keep the wooden structure from igniting beneath our mages’ attacks.

Ezzie said.

I slid to a stop in the snow.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

I grunted, though she had a point.

Ezzie said.

The siege tower rolled into motion, propelled by the combined strength of six yoked Siegebeasts in front, and several more pushing it from behind. The entire construct tilted and bounced as it crossed the rocky ground, but its huge, spiked wheels kept it from sliding or toppling over.

I heard screams behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder just in time to see a Skydragon rip a mage from the wall and fly high into the air.

The creature dropped the poor man from about sixty feet up, who screamed the whole way down but went silent the second he impacted the snow, a puff of white marking his passage.

An NPC has died. You have been docked 200 Renown.

I said.

Ezzie said.

More penalty notifications streamed in as I waited for the Siegebeasts to pull the tower closer, but the Skydragons were dropping at a rapid clip, too.

Ezzie said.

I sprinted forward, giving the six Siegebeasts a wide berth, though they seemed too focused on dragging the tower to engage me. Which presented an opportunity. Before I entered the tower, I sliced each of the yokes in turn, sending the Siegebeasts thundering down toward the wall as if they had no idea they’d lost their charge.

Which, in hindsight, was maybe not the greatest idea.

Ezzie said.

I said, as I ducked into the first level of the siege tower and was almost decapitated by the silver arc of a waraxe.

Ezzie said, as the mortars boomed off in the distance.

The creature that’d swung at me had a stocky build, similar to the warrior miniboss I’d killed earlier but significantly smaller, and it wielded a two-handed waraxe with a wide head.

And more importantly, there were four more of them standing between me and the stairwell that led to the second level.

{Draconian Axebearer}(Level 9 Dragonkin)

HP: 400/400

But I had almost a hundred refreshes ticking, so I pressed forward into the group, swinging my sword with reckless abandon, hits sparking off my breastplate and helmet.

Once all five of the Axebearers lay piled at the foot of the ramp, I climbed to the next level, poking my head out of the tower to catch another wave of refreshes. I said, though given the sheer number of NPC death notifications that were raining in, the answer was obvious: not well.

Ezzie said.

I said.

I pinched the bridge of my nose.

Ezzie said.

I ran around the second level only to meet another squad of Axebearers along with a Dragonkin mage dressed in black robes, his eyes glowing a worrisome shade of red.

{Dragonkin Spellscreamer}(Level 10 Dragonkin)

HP: 600/600

I charged straight through the lesser warriors, battering them aside with my shield and sending three of them sprawling across the floor.

I raised my sword and activated Refraction Strike, then the Spellscreamer raised a clawed hand and began to mumble in a language that set my blood to boiling.

“Magic Reflect,” I said, just as black liquid coursed vein-like down the Spellscreamer’s forearm and pooled into a ball in the palm of his right hand. The ball shot forward, rebounded off my shield, then exploded off the mage’s chest.

He screamed like I’d set him on fire and ran around the structure, smashing into one of his companions. Then he leapt straight out of the tower, howling as he hit the ground.

Ezzie said.

I said, as I cut down an Axebearer who had been trying to rise with a few quick strikes, his plate armor offering little resistance.

I nodded through the link as I blocked another axe strike and countered with a thrust of my own, skewering an Axebearer in the chest and sending the creature slumping to the floor.

Two more to go. My Refreshes only had a few ticks remaining, and Mirrorburn was holding steady, consuming about three percent of my health per second.

I took a pair of glancing blows while dispatching the first Axebearer, at which point the Refreshes fell off and my health began to drop.

Ezzie said.

I said, as I sidestepped a vertical swing and slammed my shield into the last Axebearer’s chest.

The Axebearer stumbled backward, and I planted a foot in its chest, sending it flying out of the tower.

I ducked out onto the railing and found three kids tied to it, the ropes that bound them glowing gold. I touched the first golden rope and the kid ran right passed me, dispersing into pixels.

Regional Quest Update: The Creeping Ice

Bonus Objective: 1/9 Children Saved

Alright then. I freed the other two kids, watching as they disappeared in the same way, then headed up the ramp to the third level. As soon as I rounded the corner and got a look at the next room, a spear caught me in the shoulder, lodging between two plates of armor and sending my health plummeting below sixty percent.

Shit…Ezzie hadn’t thrown any heals at me. I tried to double back the way I’d come, but four Spearmen rushed up the ramp, their weapons bristling.

{Draconian Spearman} (Level 9 Dragonkin)

HP: 1000/1000