The room was a kaleidoscope of purple hues, pulling and pushing shadows around the room frantically. Attacks washed over the Guardian: from bullets to magic, to bladed and bludgeoning trauma—nothing was withheld. And yet, the heart restored itself almost as fast as they could damage it.
The Guardian was recovering from its wounds, but it didn’t stop there. The walls and ceilings acted as a delivery method for the Corruption and any creature standing on the network of black mycelium became flush with power. Their durability and aggression shot through the roof, and if that wasn’t bad enough, Mark noted their wounds were beginning to close.
It was nowhere near as fast as the Guardians but any sort of healing factor made their fight that much harder.
The small fry were still manageable, but it was the Titans and Hydras that took the greatest toll on their people.
Their one saving grace came in the form of the Church of Brilliance. As it turned out their Ideal was not only capable of keeping the Corrution at bay, but it was also burning into the base of the Guardian, slowing its healing in that area. Where the light touched, the corrupted flesh sizzled, steam curling upward. Attacks in this area were much more effective but the limited area made doing any real damage difficult.
Mark had taken a look at their circle and saw that a lot of their people were sagging gently against one another. When their light went down things would become infinitely more difficult.
Right now Sam, Isabel, and Sofia, along with the other high-level casters from every faction were gathering up near the base for one colossal bombardment.
At the same time, Jonathan, Lisa, Daphne, Gibby, and many more moved to the opposite end of the formation to face the oncoming waves. Their back was against the Guardian, so they were attempting to buy the casters as much time as possible.
The word ‘retreat’ had been thrown around, but Lisa wanted to try one final concentrated attack before they left this place. If they had to abandon the mission and this thing lived, there was no telling how it would grow in that time, or if a larger force would even be able to reach down here again.
Mark didn’t have the offensive devastation required to help Sam in the back so he fell in behind Jonathan. Taking control of the bulk of their forces, Mark kept their people together.
With the expansion of their defensive line, things became more difficult to keep track of. Whenever a large wave of Corrupted crashed against them it sent a ripple through their ranks. This would cause gaps to form and then every so often a group of Titans would head directly for the opening. It almost felt coordinated and yet there was no rhythm or reason that Mark could see.
There was one other thing that stood out to Mark. By the very nature of combat, with each wave, their faction was shifting further from the frontline towards the right. If Mark was on his own he would just reposition himself.
Unfortunately, it was impossible to do that with this many people, because of the chaos it would cause in the formation.
So as they were drifting away Mark had to make a decision. Get back to the frontline, or remain with their forces.
Every one of them had volunteered to be here and they had known the risks involved, but still, Mark would make sure all of them got home. He trusted their heavy hitters to retreat if things got too dangerous.
Putting a finger to his lips Mark made a short repetitive whistle. He could just barely make out Jonathan turning to search for him. When he found him, Mark signaled his intentions with a thumb over his shoulder. Jonathan nodded and then he too was lost to the crows in front.
Mark moved to the center of their forces and had them lay down suppressive fire, assisting NAS to contend with the real threats. Time blurred on, and Mark could see they were nearing the edge of the formation. He had a construct tucked low to the ground, surrounding their forces. Over time he saw a good number of them were physically and mentally flagging. Without much hesitation, Mark cast his improved [Invigorate] through his construct, making sure to start with a half dose. Heavy arms lightened and spines straightened, even excited smiles broke through the seriousness of the situation.
Renewed enthusiasm bolstered their spirits and not a moment too soon, because the next thing Mark heard was a release of pressure, and light bloomed far too close to their frontline. Mark felt the shockwave rebound of his construct a moment later. His first thought was a spell misfire because the magic had punctured a large hole in their defensive line but something about it seemed wrong, besides the force it wasn’t very bright. People had been blown to smithereens and a good number still writhed on the floor shouting in pain.
Mark didn’t have the time to think about it they had to plug the gap and manage what they could. A command was all it took for their people to fill the hole and push back the intrusion. Tommis and the other healers immediately rushed to assist where they could.
Mark had no idea what just occurred, but he would not allow the same thing to happen to them. Drawing more from his [Animated minds] he funneled it into his construct so he could handle anything big should it come. Mark had been trying to conserve as much energy as possible, and while his personal stores were full, both his little spell batteries had almost been drained dry. The one was barely hanging on and the other couldn’t have more than a third of what it started with.
Mark was just bringing the construct into proper cohesion when he saw movement out beyond the Corrupted, or perhaps it was the lack of it that caught his attention.
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His frontline was already in place defending, but Mark had raised himself slightly over them to see the battle unfolding.
Amongst the constantly moving, thrashing crowd stood a human. He didn’t move even as the hordes swarmed past him, ignoring him completely.
Mark's fingertips went cold, he knew exactly who and what this was. He couldn’t forget that jagged blade strapped to their back nor the vicious intelligence behind those eyes.
Roland's lips curled into a vicious snarl as he lazily raised his hand, his fingers flicking dismissively in the air. He couldn’t hear the sound from here but he’d wanted Mark to know he was here.
An orb of pale yellow light bloomed in his hand
Mark knew for certain the first explosion hadn't been a mistake, the only difference was now he wasn’t hiding and this attack contained much more Corruption
Mark shouted a command just in time for a bolt to come their way. The construct expanded forward and covered their frontline just as a line of sickly energy washed across it. The light from Patrica was weakening the attack.
Mark’s reaction was immediate.
“Return fire in the direction of that attack! Andy, I need you! Get Jonathan here as quickly as you can!”
Andy bolted from their formation and Mark cursed himself for not creating a [Telepathic link] before they’d all split up.
The match-up was horrible. Roland was incredibly fast, only Jonathan or Lisa might be able to keep up with him.
Even their return fire was too slow to catch him as he dodged through the enemy ranks. He didn’t seem to have control over the Guardian’s creatures like he did before, but a select few were listening to his commands. They seemed to be rejecting the Corruption coming up from the Guardian. Two large groups of Titans rushed to either side of their Order as though to distract and cut them off from the others.
Mark ground his teeth, Roland was challenging him, calling him out from the safety of the formation. He had melded into the steam of bodies and it was only when another bolt arced over the frontline too far for Mark’s construct to reach that he decided to make a move. All their elites were elsewhere and Mark didn’t want to risk anyone else. He could not cover the whole formation on his own and Roland seemed determined to slither around until he got what he wanted.
So, Mark, had them remain in formation to try to keep the skies clear. Flexing [Telekiesis], Mark lifted up and over the frontline. Dangling himself there like a piece of meat, Corrupted swarmed together below him, but Mark kept his eyes peeled for that flash of yellow.
Mark was highly aware this was a trap, but one that also gave him some power to direct things. If Roland was too busy throwing things at him he wouldn’t bother with anyone else. Hopefully, he could entertain the guy until reinforcements got here.
The signal Mark had been waiting for manifested as a sudden, palpable pressure against his construct. The bolt of menacing energy cracked against the surface, unable to pass through and scattering into a cloud of rapidly dissipating corruption. Even through the sickly yellow radiance Mark saw where the bolt had originated and raised a palm and slammed it down. A perfect circle of force was slammed into the mass of Corrupted. Flattening everything in the circle with the equivalent of a hydraulic press. Every Corrupted within range had been turned bloodied pancakes, viscera exploding out their sides. Mark had been consistently practicing with [Telekinesis] and he found that if he kept the area of effect small, the costs were manageable.
Unfortunately, that also meant he had to be precise, and with a foe this fast he had to react quickly.
Another bolt came from the complete opposite direction and Mark turned, crushing another disk of unfortunate enemies but once more he was too late.
Roland had to be moving while firing, so by the time Mark got there he was already long gone. Mark growled his frustration and searched the hungry crowds. If he could tag him with an orb of light that would allow Mark to track him, but as fast as his light was, if he couldn’t see where his target was then its speed was useless. Another bolt came directly from below, coupled with a mocking laugh. Mark didn’t see him but so far there had been no further attack on their line and Mark used that to calm himself.
Mark’s breath came out as nothing more than a whisper.
“That's it, keep your glowy eyes on me”
Pulling heavily from his orbs to replenish the construct caused one of them to wink out of existence. Then he created a secondary construct around the first. Mark knew this was going to suck but he couldn’t see any other way to track the guy down.
Feeling for the feedback offered by his Resistance Mark charged the construct with mainly Mana and had it focused on information gathering.
Once the choice was made, he released the pulse of power, and the construct expanded out below them, returning the exact shape of each creature piled on top of one another as they swarmed. The information steamed in behind his retina, and Mark continued to expand the dome as quickly as possible. His ability to handle the incoming variables was largely improved from what he had when had first created the technique, but even so, it was a huge amount of space he was taking in, and his temples already throbbed even as he expanded his search further.
Mark knew the moment he had found what he was looking for. It was not hard to spot because of subtle differences in their stances. The majority of creatures down there were frothing beasts that simply charged, but one stood out with a defined purpose and intelligence behind every movement.
Locking onto his target began to send Mana into [Light control], but at that very moment, his construct returned a secondary reaction. The figure was heading right for their frontline.
Mark's mind registered there were two, and in the same breath, he turned back to the frontline. [Telekiesis] flared and Mark sent the spell downward. He must have given something away because the one behind him suddenly jumped straight at Mark's shield.
Without much time to react Mark could only move his body slightly and follow through with his spell.
The magic crushed down near his frontline but a single creature remained in the center, hunched over as though gravity were trying to crush her. Her skin reminded Mark of a titans, dry and clumped together.
Mark wanted to keep the spell going, but Roland arrived behind Mark at that same moment. Stabbing his shield with tremendous force. It held for the first four resonating impacts, but like a drill through stone, it pierced through the barrier and sank directly into Mark's right shoulder.
Roland had been going for his heart but the movement had saved him. The pain cut through Mark's telekinetic hold, and she was free. All of that was bad, but Roland was not done with him yet. Leveraging himself on the dome, he brought his leg up and then smashed his heel down. Mark was already struggling to maintain his shield and sudden immense pressure ripped the last of his control on [Telekinesis]. Both Mark and his shield were sent hurtling toward the ground at incredible speeds.