Hack, Slash & Burn 2: A LitRPG Fantasy, page 32
The good thing about the portal was the orcs were funnelled into one spot, making them easy pickings from this side.
The portal Calder had made was quite large, as he had wanted everyone in the vicinity to be able to easily get through it.
“I thought we were going to retreat.” Peter loosed arrow after arrow as more orcs streamed through.
“We haven’t taken any casualties,” Calder said. “We can still do this. We can hold steady, portalling to one place after another as we lose our grip, making our stand in countless spots around the city, whittling down their army into nothing. We’ve already killed at least two thousand of them.”
Yesna walked up to him, her staff gripped tightly, knuckles white. “If we’re to regroup, shouldn’t you close the portal? And what of those Orc Tyrants? Even if we take out all the lower-level orcs, we’ll still have those to deal with.”
“We’ll figure out a way to take down the Orc Tyrants.” Calder looked at the portal, and was about to close it as Yesna had suggested. But he paused. A smile split his lips as he remembered what happened when an unstable portal closed prematurely… “I think I’ll leave it open. At least for a little bit longer.”
Calder tore his shield from his pouch of holding and jumped straight back into the fray. The orcs that came through were easy enough to deal with. He killed them swiftly, one by one, and instructed those who weren’t in need of recovery to begin harvesting and looting the corpses around them to clear their new square.
Looking at the size of the portal, he was glad he had created it so large. All we have to do is wait a little bit longer.
Graham spoke within his mind. The orcs seem to have found your new location. The bulk of them are on their way here and will arrive within a few minutes.
Good. Let them come. He would ensure the portal was closed and that they had built a perimeter around their new square before the orcs got too close. For now, he waited, killing every orc that came through, keeping an eye on the portal the entire time.
He needed to time this perfectly if it was going to work out how he planned.
Finally, after gaining four more Killstreaks, a massive figure stepped through the portal. First, Calder only saw its foot, then the rest of its leg. He focused on his Portal spell, waiting a moment longer until half its body—and half its head—was through.
Calder cut the portal, making it dematerialise. The Orc Tyrant was severed cleanly in two as the portal disappeared. A great amount of Proficiency entered into him. It wasn’t enough to gain another level—perhaps it would have been, if he hadn’t split the Proficiency between twenty people—but it was still a lot.
Others in the area glowed, showing that they at least had gained a level from the kill.
Calder stepped over to the dead Beast Shifter. He nudged the body slightly with his foot. “That’s one down.” He wasn’t sure how many of these bastards they had, and he wondered if that same tactic would work a second time. Still, he was glad it had worked at all.
He turned and addressed the other Berring Touched. “This fight is fiercer than we had expected. Some of their soldiers”—he gestured at the dead Orc Tyrant—“are even more formidable than we had feared.” He looked at the corpse. “But, as you can see, that does not make them impossible to kill. That just means we must be creative.”
Yesna, Peter and Luceen came to stand around him in support, though Yesna still wore a frown, she did not speak out against him or his decisions.
He pointed at the Shield Carriers. “You know what to do. Ensure we are secured before the orcs arrive once more.” He looked at Yesna. “And you, cast Sacred Barrier on yourself when the enemy nears. It shouldn’t be hard for us to keep it active with this many targets, and that way we can ensure you don’t come to harm. You’ll also be able to move more freely among us, giving you the ability to heal us more effectively.”
Yesna looked as though she was going to protest. Perhaps there was some detriment to using the spell so often, though none he was aware of. She didn’t argue when she saw his expression and simply nodded instead.
Calder looked at his Proximity Scanner. The sea of red looked as infinite as before, but he knew they had dented it considerably. He wondered if they would have enough time to take out every enemy within this city before the exodus was to start. We can always leave early, if we really have to. Though he had to admit, he hated that idea.
That’s why he hadn’t made them escape, but rather regroup. They were strong enough to take this city, and he was going to ensure that they did.
~
Two thousand enemies later and Calder had managed to get to level 69. He wished he could gain levels at a faster rate than that, but he was glad he was gaining any at all. Every bit of strength he gained before the exodus—and every bit of wealth they earned—would help protect those who remained in Halanor all the better.
He could sense he would gain something when he got to level 70, just as he had sensed he would gain something when he reached level 60 before that. He wondered if it would be another spell, or another Avatar boost. Hopefully, it would be both.
If he were to gain such things every ten levels, it would make a massive difference to his strength and progress.
It was hard to believe he had come so far.
They had taken down far more than half of the army, though the rest of the Orc Tyrants still remained. Unfortunately, though magic was effective against them, it wasn’t effective enough. The Beast Shifters were simply too strong. Unimaginably so. And the trick with the portals simply wasn’t working anymore.
He was sure there was another way to take them down. Something that he was missing. Perhaps it had to do with their classification—Beast Shifter. He had heard of Beast Elementals, but Shifters? And since when were orcs beasts? He may think of them that way, but as Graham had long ago said—they weren’t beasts, they were sentient beings that shouldn’t be underestimated.
So what were they missing here? Why were these orcs so much stronger than the others?
Then, when Calder had portalled them to a different location within the city for the third time, an unassuming Mage-looking orc had stepped through. Calder always kept an eye on the portal, ready to cut if off on the higher-level orcs to take them down easily, but this orc didn’t look threatening in its tattered robes. It didn’t even have a weapon.
It wasn’t even as tall as a level 1 Orc Raider. It was shorter than Calder, which was something he had never seen happen with an orc before.
Calder tilted his head to the side as he scanned it before he rushed it, curious as to why he hadn’t seen its like before.
Orc Tyrant
Level 150
Classification: Beast Shifter
Attributes
Strength: 188
Agility: 167
Magic: 133
Stamina: 200
Perception: 67
Calder blinked, confused. He was about to ask Graham when the ghost spoke in his mind.
I see what you see, Graham said. It’s the same level as the others, and its attributes are… where it should be for an orc of that level.
Calder was about to sprint forward and decapitate the orc when it raised its arms, reached high into the air, and howled some awful sounding, guttural words. He ran to meet the orc, slashing at its neck. But a light enveloped the weirdly small Orc Tyrant.
His sword went right through the orc, hitting nothing.
It was… incorporeal?
Then the shape of the orc twisted and grew, taller and wider, until it stood forty feet in the air—as tall as the other Orc Tyrants they had encountered before.
The beast thumped its fists against its chest and roared as loud as all the others had. Resounding roars came from another part of the city, alerting the remaining orcs of where they had relocated to.
Calder stumbled a few steps back. That… was not what he had been expecting. “It’s a skill,” he muttered. “That’s why their attributes are one and a half times as strong…” It went a long way to explaining how the orcs were so powerful, but it still didn’t exactly help them defeat it. It almost seemed as though they were invulnerable in this state.
Then he remembered his fight with the first of the Orc Tyrants, when he had used Burning Devastation on one of its legs.
Calder grinned and surged forward, dodging a lumbering strike that came for his head. The moment he was within range, he activated Burning Devastation. Roaring flames engulfed his sword as he unleashed an inferno of damage against the bastard’s… calf.
He alerted the others of his plan, having every single archer among them fire Knockdown Arrows at the beast, wanting to ensure this would work. He had gotten lucky the first time.
It didn’t take long for it to topple over—straight into the open portal.
The moment the Orc Tyrant’s head was through the portal, Calder cut it off—the portal and the head. He let out a small laugh as Proficiency entered him and a white light enveloped him.
You have reached level 70!
Your health, mana and adrenaline are now restored in full.
You have 50 attribute points to apply.
Avatar of Light boost: +5 to all attributes.
Choose one of the following spells:
Body of Flame – Passive
Shockwave – Active
Distilled Rage – Passive
Aura of Fear – Passive
Last Ditch – Passive
You have 10 minutes to make your choice! If a choice is not specified, the spell will be chosen at random.
Calder was somehow simultaneously glad to find he could gain a new skill—and that he had received an abundance of attribute points—and saddened that he hadn’t gained as many as before.
When he had gotten to level 60, he had received four spells. He had been able to choose three from the list—a list, he noticed, that hadn’t actually changed. Plus, he had gained the Temporal spell “Time to Die.” Though he didn’t even know how to use that spell as it was described as automatic. At least he had gained something.
Still, he knew he shouldn’t complain.
As he had looked at these spells before, he was at least familiar with their names, though it was frustrating that he didn’t know what any of them actually did. Body of Flame sounded fairly straightforward—he could only imagine it would engulf him in, well, flames.
Shockwave sounded like an area-of-effect Mage spell.
Distilled Rage was definitely a Berserker spell, perhaps with a similar usage as Berserk? Though it sounded more… emotional. He had already struggled to control his emotions while using Berserk in the past. He wondered what this skill would do to him.
Or would he need to be enraged to use it?
Aura of Fear sounded like… something that scared enemies away? Though he supposed a spell like that might be useful, usually bringing enemies toward him was his goal, not the other way around.
Last Ditch was perhaps the most appealing of the bunch. All he could surmise was that it was a spell that could help him if he got into life-threatening danger. And considering that had already happened once today, and there were still plenty of those damned Orc Tyrants left… What would have happened, had I laid there with every bone in my body broken, and the Orc Tyrant had come after me?
Well before the ten minutes were up, Calder chose Last Ditch. As the square they had portalled to was rather quiet, he also took a moment to apply his attribute points. Applying the attributes, they appeared as his current, modified values.
With 50 attribute points, he decided to make things simple, adding 10 to each. He finally realised—after being blinded, and then finding Kohl in the mess of enemies using his hearing—how useful having more Perception might actually be.
Strength increased from 167 → 178!
Agility increased from 202 → 213!
Magic increased from 202 → 213!
Stamina increased from 177 → 188!
Perception increased from 77 → 88!
Calder released a breath as the changes from all the attributes flowed into him. Gods, he felt so much stronger. So much faster. So much… more in so many ways. The colours in the world around him were more vivid. The sounds more clear. He clenched his fist around the hilt of his Sage Sword, feeling the strength of his grip.
I could get used to this. He smiled, broadly, then turned to the others. He raised his sword. “Two Orc Tyrants down!”
The others raised their weapons and cheered. Even Yesna raised her staff.
As the fight for the city continued, Calder had only grown more and more confident as they went. After gaining level 70… that confidence had soared. “How many enemies left, Graham?”
Graham popped into the space beside Calder. He held a piece of parchment and peered at it, tapping a feathered quill against his chin. All for show, of course, as he would never need to write something down—nor could he. An odd illusion. “There appears to be… huh. Less than a thousand foes remaining.”
Calder raised his chin. He looked up at the twin suns. “And the time in our world? In Kashan?”
“Twelve hours until the exodus.”
Well, Calder hadn’t expected them to get any sleep before it came. Good thing they didn’t really need it—not that it wouldn’t have been welcomed.
“Twelve hours. More than enough time.” Calder looked around the square, pointing at places for barriers to be created as he nodded at the Shield Carriers—they were getting used to doing this. “One last stand, people! One last stand, and we can defeat all these bastards and take this city!”
Cheers sounded after his words, and the twenty Berring Touched prepared for the final battle.
Chapter 39
Peter waltzed up to Calder as the new street was prepared for the oncoming assault. He raised an eyebrow and gestured toward the downed Orc Tyrant. Someone was already kneeling by it, carving into its chest to retrieve the soulstones within.
“So, how exactly are we taking the other ones down? By my count, there are at least five more,” Peter asked.
“Six,” Calder grunted. “There are six more of these bastards.”
Peter looked at the corpse—or what remained of it—as it disappeared into nothing. The Hunter frowned. He didn’t look afraid, simply concerned. “The way it transformed. I guess that’s why its class is called Beast Shifter. Whatever it uses is a passive spell, but we haven’t been able to interrupt or cancel its spell before. It must last for quite some time.”
Calder nodded. “Indeed. I’ve been thinking about that. But… no spell lasts forever.” He eyed the prince. “They can’t get through our barriers. We’ll be able to take them down. Whether we knock them through a portal or lock them in barriers until their passive spells wear off.” He shook his head. “There has to be a better way, though. If an army with these bastards in it marches on Kashan…”
“We’ll be in for some pain,” Peter said.
Luceen ran up to them, seeming to hear their conversation. “Spell Bombs.”
Calder frowned. “Spell Bombs? I don’t think even those will be strong enough to kill it while its seemingly invulnerable.”
She shrugged. “Not what I meant, though they may be enough. I only have three more of those—most of them were left in the stores back in Berring.”
“Then what did you mean?” Calder asked.
“There are certain spells that cancel out another being’s active passive spells.” She gestured to another Mage among them. “He has a spell that does that, but…”
Calder tilted his chin up. “He’s not strong enough for it to have any effect.”
“Exactly. But a high-level Spell Bomb should be able to do the trick.” Luceen sighed, putting a hand on her hip. “The only problem is, we can’t get one of those Spell Bombs, not with the portals blocked.”
Calder had a thought. “Are the portals still blocked? We’ve killed hundreds of their Mages. Perhaps whoever was responsible for casting it has already been slain?”
Luceen glanced at Calder, then looked down at her pouch of holding. “Can’t be that easy…” She pulled a Portal Stone out, charged it quickly, then tossed it onto the cobblestones.
A portal materialised instantly.
“Huh,” she said. “I didn’t see that coming.”
Calder smiled. Jonah. I’ve got a task for you. But first, we’re going to be sending in a lot of loot.
I’ll get in position, Jonah replied.
Calder looked at his mini-map. The enemy appeared to speed up when the portal had been opened. They’re always attracted to them. He wondered if they would try to cast another spell to block it. He instructed everyone to start tossing their loot through the portal, as Luceen had opened it to the portal point outside Berring. Perhaps they should create an actual outpost there, instead of tossing all these valuables into a clearing to await Jonah’s collection.
Ellen, there’ll be a lot of soulstones incoming as well, Calder said down the link. Ready yourself to start crafting them into Weapon Stones. He had left her as one of the defenders of Berring, in case they got more soulstones back to her in time to craft Weapon Stones before the exodus.
Already on my way, Ellen replied.
Calder nodded to himself.
This was all going rather better than expected. Jonah made it to the portal and the loot before the enemy orcs even reached them, and Calder informed him of what to get—he also told the man to buy a lot of offensive Spell Bombs while he was at it. While he knew they were fairly expensive, and they needed as much gold as they could get for the defences in Kashan, he figured this was a more efficient way of getting what they needed.
The faster they took down the enemies, the faster they could loot them all then plunder the city’s buildings and lay claim to it.
Not to mention get back to Kashan well before the exodus began. Calder couldn’t help but want to be there for that, knowing it would be quite a sight to see half the population leave through portals. He also wanted to be there so he could help prevent any violence from being perpetrated. He was sure the Soldiers of Light, and the representatives from other worlds would be there for that… But he could imagine full-blown riots, people rushing to the portals and trampling over others, not caring if they killed them.
