I was pleased. My troops were well-motivated, well-trained, and well-equipped. I felt proud to ride into battle with them at my back. Which reminded me of something.

  “Kaedric, call for the clan warriors. We’re going to have ourselves a little skirmish.”

  19 – Colossus

  The arena was the perfect setting for a battle. The deep pit surrounded by the barracks’ walls would keep my settlement safe from damage.

  “Kaedric, how many soldiers are off duty right now?”

  “Twenty four, my lord. Seventeen are on guard duty and an additional 12 are patrolling in four-hob groups.”

  “Have those 24 soldiers and everyone on patrol come here. I also need Rhyno, Kuzai, and all our adepts.”

  Kaedric clicked his mandibles in concern. “Is it wise to leave the Dark Temple unattended, my lord?”

  “I only need them for a few minutes; they can leave the temple for that long.”

  “Yes, my lord.”

  My troops arrived quickly. The hobgoblin soldiers nodded at me as they approached us and rearranged into three orderly rows. Rhyno soon followed, gruffly acknowledging my presence. “Boss-man.”

  Kuzai, the demented, darkness-born dwarf, came in last, followed by one of the clan’s adepts and Bek. The small goblin grinned at me nervously. “Dread Totem.”

  “Good to see you, Bek,” I said warmly.

  “It is back again,” Kuzai muttered. “Why did it summon everyone here, leaving the master’s temple unattended?”

  “Good to see you too, Kuzai,” I said coldly. “This won’t take long.”

  I had 26 scouts at my command and 10 melee-oriented warriors. I placed the bow-wielding scouts around the pit and sprinkled their ranks with the goblin adepts. Rhyno and the melee warriors were arranged in a smaller circle inside the arena itself.

  Once everyone was in position, I calmly delivered my order. “We’re going to have a small skirmish. I am going to summon an enemy, and as soon as I do, Scouts, open fire; Adepts, buff and heal; Rhyno and the other melee warriors, charge in, but rotate among yourselves if you get injured too badly – give the adepts a chance to heal you up. This should be easy. With everyone present, we have a lot of firepower, so I don’t want to see anyone die needlessly. Is that clear?” I purposely deactivated the arena’s failsafe; I was aiming to kill an enemy, after all.

  “Yes, Dread Totem!” everyone replied in unison, their combined voices sounding like a battle cry.

  “And what about me?” the dark dwarf demanded.

  I looked at him steadily and smiled. “Do what you do best. Destroy all who oppose us.”

  His eyes twinkled with evil glee. “I shall extinguish the life of our master’s enemies. I shall deliver their screaming, tormented souls into his realms, where he shall devour their–”

  “Yeah, that’s the general idea,” I broke in.

  I moved to the center of the pit and placed the gremlin totem piece on the ground. There was no reason I should face its ‘spirit guardian’ – whatever that was – on my own. I cast an empowered Shadow Hound spell, paying the required 540 mana to summon 10 level 22 mastiffs. Thanks to the Eternal Night’s blessing, the beasts were bigger and stronger than what I’d normally be able to summon. Then I spent an additional 420 MP to cast Dark Protection over everyone present. A semi-transparent sheet of darkness sprouted around each of my troops. I exited the pit and activated Mana Shield. Lastly, I accessed the Runecraft Design Interface and applied the Empowering Circle area schema. The runes lit up in a dull light on the ground around me. Having spent over a thousand MP on buffs, I only poured 500 MP into the enchantment. It was still enough to create a zone that strengthened my spells by 10 percent. That left me with a little under a thousand MP for the battle itself, but I seriously doubted I would need that much.

  With all the warriors present, we had nearly 800 levels combined. Taking into account the extra buffs and the presence of three bosses, we were a strong enough force to destroy a small party of mid-level players.

  “Get ready everyone,” I called out and activated the totem.

  A ghostly white light erupted from the log, reaching toward the sky. As we watched, the beam condensed, taking shape. Impenetrable ethereal walls appeared, hovering in the air. Four legs made of bricks formed from the shape and extended to the ground. Six round towers grew from the top of the walls, each about a meter wide. Four arm-like appendages of brick and mortar grew from the sides of the house-like structure. It grew taller and taller, towering over all of us. Almost unintentionally, everyone took a step back.

  Vic said in my mind.

  “It is,” I said grimly as tendrils of information entered my mind. “It’s a goddamn animated castle.”

  That was a little more than I’d bargained for. To make matters worse, it read off as an item instead of a creature.

  Gremlin Colossus

  Description: A masterpiece of gremlin engineering and enchanting ingenuity, the animated castle is the ultimate machine of war. It can easily move across a battlefield and bottleneck entire armies. Its battlements can be used to carry supportive gremlin staff.

  Type: Animated fortification

  Rank: Epic

  Number of Supporting Staff: 3 offensive casters, 3 debuffers

  The castle nearly filled the arena. Its semi-transparent white walls made it look like a giant ghost, but it still looked dense enough to crush any one of us. Since it didn’t have a health value, we were going to have to smash it apart, brick by brick.

  “I should have brought in some siege engines,” I muttered, still reeling from having to face that monstrosity.

  “For the GreenPiece Clan!” my warriors bellowed, having recovered from their initial shock. The scouts loosed their arrows, sending dozens of projectiles against the Colossus, but they bounced harmlessly off its walls. The melee warriors inside the pit had very little room to maneuver, but they shouted too – Rhyno the loudest among them all. The Ogre gladiator swung at the monster’s enormous legs, and his heavy steel mace smashed several bricks apart, but it wasn’t enough. In contrast, the other warriors were barely chipping the walls. Swords and axes were not designed to cleave stone.

  I should have armed them with pickaxes, I thought numbly, taking a step back and trying to assess the situation. Using one of my staff’s charges, I launched an empowered direball at the castle’s center. Further strengthened by the area enchantment, the spell’s impact blew a hobgoblin-sized crater in its wall. The Colossus seemed not to notice.

  Chittering noises sounded above us. I looked up and saw movement on the castle’s battlement. Six ethereal gremlins holding long staffs rose up from each tower.

  “Incoming spells!” I screamed as the gremlins unleashed their magic.

  Transparent white chains shot out of three of the gremlins’ staffs, snaking around my soldiers and restricting their movement. A moment later, the other three casters let loose, sending three white orbs of energy at the entangled hobs. The orbs detonated on impact, causing nearly a hundred points of damage each. The scouts got the worst of it. Luckily, I’d spread them out evenly around the pit, so the gremlins only caught half of them with their spells. They all survived the damage, though several were critically injured. The animated castle swung around, its huge stone legs stomping the ground. Sounds of crunching bones and tearing flesh erupted from the pit. My war party instantly lost half its melee fighters, and the rest were badly injured. If it wasn’t for my Dark Protection buff, none would have survived.

  The adept and Bek acted immediately, pouring healing magic into the wounded soldiers. Kuzai chanted a spell, creating his own sphere of destruction, and launched it at the castle, but it did even less damage than my direball.

  We need more soldiers, was all I could think. But the majority of my forces were already present. Even if I brought everyone else, it would only be a small increase in our overall strength.

  Vic shouted in my mind.

  They’re not here! I shot back.

 

  With a start, I realized what he meant. The Quest-Giver skill!

  I put my hands to my mouth and shouted, “The clan is under attack by a huge construct at the arena! Everyone who helps bring it down will be handsomely rewarded!”

  Grant an area quest [Storm the (Animated) Castle] Yes/No?

  I quickly adjusted the rewards, offering 500 gold and reputation increase with the clan. Then I confirmed the notifications and brought my focus back to the battle.

  The Dark Horrors protecting my clan made their appearance. They rose from the shadows, taking on the shapes of terrifying creatures of darkness, and charged at the walking castle. They poured into the pit like a black tide, but all the level 10 beasts could do was paw uselessly against its durable foundations. My mastiffs followed suit, but they didn’t fare much better.

  We had poured on an immense amount of damage and warriors, but the huge construct just shrugged it off and kept on fighting.

  “Target the gremlins!” I shouted when I noticed the ethereal bastard preparing to cast another volley. Most of the scouts followed my command, and the next arrow barrage shot straight up. The gremlins simply ducked, and the arrows hit the battlements harmlessly. Though ineffective, the attack delayed the gremlins. The Colossus stomped its feet, and more sounds of crunching came up from the pit, leaving Rhyno alone in the melee.

  The shackles binding my scouts disappeared, and the adepts healed most of them back to safe levels.

  Shadow-crap! I had to figure this out, and quickly. With the Colossus’s impenetrable walls, there was really only one option available for me. I teleported straight up to one of the defense towers, appearing directly in front of the impassive face of one of the gremlin ghosts. Now that I had a clear sight of him, I could read his information. It wasn’t a separate creature, but an extension of the Colossus. It did have a health bar though, exactly 500 HP – a huge amount for a caster. Shooting his face full of drilling arrows wasn’t going to cut it. I needed something more powerful. I pointed my staff straight at his face and channeled a condensed direball through it. This form of the spell caused no AoE damage and had a high chance of missing the target, but I did hit it. The condensed spell inflicted double the normal damage, blowing the ethereal gremlin’s head apart.

  Direball hits Colossus’s gremlin for 606 damage. [base 303 X 2]

  The moving castle bellowed a roar and stumbled. Its two huge fists impacted the ground with a thunderous thud as it stabilized, smashing two scouts into meat paste in the process.

  Suddenly, Kuzai appeared on another tower near me. He launched his prepared spell at the gremlin, then followed up with his dagger, stabbing repeatedly until the phantom monster stopped moving. The castle jerked, but with its arms already on the ground for support, it was over in a heartbeat.

  Sounds of stone breaking came from below, but I couldn’t see what was happening.

  The four remaining gremlins aimed their staves at my soldiers again. My scouts, having been distracted by the castle’s giant arms, didn’t react in time, and the gremlins released their spells. More shackles shot down, followed by two explosive orbs. The Colossus swung its arms sideways, connecting with the injured soldiers, killing five more.

  A fresh cry of battle came from the direction of the barracks’ gates. Five players came through, running and screaming. Wielding weapons and magic, they stormed the animated castle.

  The Colossus, now stabilized, continued swinging its fists sideways, killing several more of my soldiers.

  I sent a telepathic command to the war party. Scouts, maintain your distance from those arms. Concentrate on distracting the gremlins from shooting more spells.

  The scouts obeyed and retreated from the pit while Bek and the adept continued healing their wounds, and the players took their place. A level 15 bugbear blocked a Colossus arm with his shield. The steel buckler dented horribly, but somehow, the bugbear stood his ground. That gave two of his friends the opportunity to shower lightning and acid on the structure’s outstretched arms, sending spider cracks through the tough stone.

  I locked eyes with Kuzai, and we nodded at each other. We each teleported to a different tower and similarly dispatched their guardians.

  The Colossus retaliated, lifting its arms and smashing them down on me and the dark dwarf. The tower I was standing on exploded and I found myself falling toward the ground, surrounded by a hail of shrapnel.

  Colossus hits you for 220 damage. [250 - 30 armor]

  Luckily for me, the tower received the brunt of the damage. I hit the ground hard, losing another 50 HP, bringing my health bar down to 80 percent.

  “You alright, Chief?” A Shadow-Touched traveler, who was obviously a member of my clan, offered me his black-striped hand, helping me to my feet.

  “I’m fine,” I said distractedly, taking in my surroundings.

  Across the pit, Kuzai had also hit the ground. The priest was only a tier 1 boss, and the hit nearly killed him. Slowly, he rose to his feet.

  The scouts let loose another volley, forcing the two remaining gremlins to duck for cover instead of casting more spells. More noises of stone breaking came from the pit, then the Colossus lifted one of its huge pillar legs, bringing it out of the pit. It was trying to climb out.

  I tried lining up another teleport, but the castle kept moving, and its two towers swung so violently, I couldn’t get a fix. Another leg emerged, and the animated monstrosity pulled itself all the way out, slowly rising to its full height. Despite the damage it had sustained and the net of spiderweb cracks that ran through its body, it was still very much a threat. Coming out of the pit, its next step would crush the barracks.

  I shot more direballs, trying to aim at the base of the towers, and the players next to me followed suit. But we only hit the thick battlements, showering stone chips everywhere. The Colossus was looking directly at us, and his huge leg blocked the sky as it prepared to stomp down on our heads. I could teleport away, but if I did, there was no one who could stop him from rampaging through my settlement.

  Then two things happened at once.

  The Dark Horrors erupted like a river of blackness out of one of the remaining towers, completely engulfing a the gremlin as they tore him apart. Simultaneously, a huge, spike-covered arm appeared from the bottom of the other tower and grabbed the last gremlin by its neck. Rhyno slowly rose from inside the battlement, somehow forcing his wide shoulders though, and lifted the thrashing gremlin. He didn’t have room to swing his mace, but The Champion had other weapons at his disposal. He opened his mouth and bit down on the gremlin’s head, tearing it off at the shoulder.

  The Colossus stopped moving at once. Its semi-transparent walls began crumbling away. I stared, transfixed, as the entire castle crumbled into dust and dissipated into nothingness. Rhyno was suddenly left hanging mid-air and plunged straight down, landing at my feet.

  The Ogre had lost half his health, but he rose easily, patting himself to get rid of the non-existing debris. “Good fight!” he bellowed. “Rhynorn be The Champion!”

  “How the hell did you get into that thing?” I asked.

  He looked down at me in puzzlement. “I smash wall open, then go inside. Go upstairs, find gremlin, eat his head.”

  The Ogre was the living embodiment of the phrase, ‘If brute force fails, it probably means you haven’t used enough.’

  Vic said.

  He was right. Had I known what we were about to face, I’d have waited until the War Machine Workshop was completed and commissioned a few catapults or battering rams. We won, but as a result of my complacency, I now had 15 dead soldiers I had to revive. All were above level 10, some even nearing 20. Raising them was not going to be cheap.

  “Damn it, I was sure we were ready for whatever the totem was going to throw at us,” I said bitterly. I should have figured out sooner that the gremlins were the key to victory.

  Kaedric approached, and having heard me, said, “It was a well-placed assumption, my lord. Our assembled forces were strong enough to take down a sizeable foe. You had no way of knowing you would be facing a construct.”

  “I should have,” I countered. “That piece of unimpressive log symbolizes the spirit of an entire clan. I should have foreseen something monumental was going to happen. We were lucky the allied travelers came so quickly, or our losses would have been even greater.” I threw a glance at the five players. They stood together, taking the time to deal with their own slew of post-battle messages.

  “Shall I resurrect our casualties, my lord?” Kaedric asked.

  I sighed. “How much is it going to cost us?”

  “Two-thousand and seven hundred energy points, my lord. We have exactly 11,517 in store. I’d say we’ll be able to bear the cost quite easily.”

  I nodded. “Take care of it.”

  “Yes, my lord.”

  Vic said.

  Almost all the skills and spells I’d used during the battle had risen by one level, and Direball had risen by two. Fighting immensely powerful foes had its upsides, after all. I also received a message notifying me of the surviving troops’ level-ups. Rhyno had even reached level 30. The Champion’s health had climbed to nearly a thousand, almost as much as I had. That was impressive, considering the Ogre was 18 levels below me. The final message was especially rewarding.

  Level up! You have reached Character Level 48.

  You have 1 ability point to allocate.

  I put the new point in Mental and watched as my mana pool increased, reaching a respectable 2,400 MP. I now had as much mana as a level 240 mage traveler, though I didn’t have comparable firepower. Yet.

 

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