Hack, Slash & Burn 2: A LitRPG Fantasy, page 33
As the people leaving would be non-Touched humans, a lot of them might die if that happened. He didn’t know if he would be able to stop something like that, but he felt as though he should be there to at least try.
Calder heard the stomps of hundreds of heavy, booted feet. The roars of tired orcs, still eager for blood, still ready to defend their city. Or try to.
He didn’t wait for them to come. Instead, he sprinted out to meet them.
A street away from where they were making their last stand, Calder had all his passive spells active except for Last Ditch—he had quickly discovered that one wouldn’t let him activate it unless his health was below 10%, something which he doubted would happen again that day. Still, he was glad he had chosen it.
One couldn’t be too careful with their life.
Calder quickly lost count of the number of Killstreaks he had gotten. He flitted from one enemy to the next with incredible speed, felling them before they could even raise their weapons at him. He didn’t need to use his adrenaline-powered attacks. All he needed to do was hack, slash and burn his way through the bastards.
He could also Dream Step far more effectively than before. With the number of attribute points he had gained for his Magic attribute, which currently sat at 213 with the 10% boost, the spell now only required a measly three second of cooldown.
He must have taken down half of the remaining enemies before they even got close to where they were having their last stand. The Proficiency he gained was incredibly negligible, however. It felt like he was getting even less than he had before.
Levelling always got harder with each one gained, but perhaps it got even harder after level 70. He didn’t know, and he didn’t care. He just wanted to get this over with.
Soon, another near thousand corpses littered the streets of the orc city. Twenty Berring Touched had taken down five thousand enemies in hours.
Now, all that remained were the six Orc Tyrants. Those tall bastards that seemed almost impossible to kill. Calder opened a portal in front of one as it barrelled toward them, but it deftly avoided the portal. Well, deftly wasn’t the right word—it stumbled and fell as it had to redirect its momentum faster than it could manage, given its bulk.
Jonah, how far away are those Spell Bombs? Calder asked through the link.
Well, I got stuck talking to the merchant. She’s a high-level Mage taking a break from fighting. Apparently she’s fifty years old, but I tell you what, she doesn’t look it—
Jonah! Calder shouted through the link, going for an admonishing tone.
I’m running up the stairs as fast as I can. I’ll be at the portal platform in less than a minute, I swear.
Calder sighed. Less than a minute. All they had to do was keep these bastards at bay a little while longer. The offensive Spell Bombs he had thought he would need for the mass of orcs, but they had already taken them all down. That boost he had gained from hitting level 70 had made him even more lethal than before.
Right now, every single one of them was barricaded in the square, surrounded by four barriers the Shield Carriers had made. There was no point risking tanking against those bastards—they were too strong. Calder had gone this long able to avoid any casualties on his side, he figured with six enemies remaining, he would be a fool to risk any of their lives now.
Without any foes for her party members to kill, Yesna’s Sacred Barrier ran out. So did Calder’s Berserk.
Almost there! Jonah said through the link. Through the Spirit Construct, Graham had shared with him where they were, so he was able to create a portal directly to the square. Even inside the barriers.
Twenty Spell Bombs fell through the portal, clattering onto the cobblestones. Calder grinned when he saw them. He identified the ones he wanted—the high-level interruption spells—and snagged them, throwing six into his pouch of holding.
Then he Dream Stepped out of the barrier. His shield on his back, he tossed one of the Spell Bombs straight at the closest forty-foot-tall Orc Tyrant.
Instantly, the Beast Shifter shrivelled as a bright light enveloped it. It shrunk, turning into a small Mage-looking orc in tattered robes, just like the other one they had seen before.
Calder didn’t want to waste any time. He picked up one of the offensive Spell Bomb—this one called Conflagration—and threw it at the bastard.
BOOM!
The explosion was so damned loud that it pierced Calder’s eardrums. He felt them heal as the other Orc Tyrants realised what was happening. A humongous column of flame appeared where Beast Shifter had been standing.
When the smoke cleared, all that remained was ash.
Only five left.
Charge reached its cooldown. Calder activated it. He tossed the Spell Bombs at one Orc Tyrant after another. Without their Shift active, he was sure they would have been able to take them down in their “weak” form, but he was sick of this fight.
He wanted it to end.
And, moments later, it did.
You have defeated the previous inhabitants of this City.
Do you wish to claim this City for the Light?
Feeling giddy, and more than ready, Calder thought, Yes!
A bright light blossomed around them, just as it had around the settlement. This time, it encompassed the entire orc city. It only lasted a moment, but its brilliance was remarkable.
Congratulations, you have claimed this City for the Light!
This World has been claimed by Darkness, placing your City in the minority. Because of this, Lighttouched will now gain twice as much Proficiency when in a twenty-mile radius of this city.
As the Main Defender of an Outpost in hostile territory, you have been granted a +15% modifier to all of your attributes while in this World.
Calder studied the text that appeared, noticing the slight differences. Just like with the settlement, Lighttouched in the vicinity of the city would gain twice as much Proficiency. Except the radius had doubled. At the settlement, it was within ten miles. Here, it was twenty.
It also named him a Main Defender of an “Outpost” instead of a “Lesser Outpost” and gave him +15% instead of plus +10%.
Other than all the Proficiency, loot and soulstones they had all just gained, not to mention the many levels, Calder had been excited to find out of that percentage boost stacked with his last one.
As he instantly felt the boost to his attributes—which made him feel absolutely unstoppable—he took a moment to look at all of his stats and spells.
Calder – Avatar of Light
Level 70
Classification: Spellsword/Berserker
Attributes – Simplified (Modified Values)
Strength: 235
Agility: 281
Magic: 281
Stamina: 385
Perception: 140
You have 0 attribute points to apply.
Spells
Heal Other: Active; Constant Mana Drain = High
Illumination: Active; Constant Mana Drain = Low
Fireball: Active; Instant Mana Drain = Medium
Freeze: Active; Constant Mana Drain = Medium
Lightning Bolt: Active; Instant Mana Drain = Medium
Mana Blade: Active; Instant Mana Drain = Medium; Instant Adrenaline Drain = Medium
Burning Devastation: Active; Instant Adrenaline Drain = Very High; Instant Mana Drain = High
Tough Skin: Passive; Initial Adrenaline Drain = Medium
Strong Stance: Passive; Instant Adrenaline Drain = Low
Charge: Passive; Instant Adrenaline Drain = Medium
Strike Advantage: Passive; Instant Adrenaline Drain = Medium
Berserk: Passive; Instant Adrenaline Drain = High
Last Ditch: Passive; No Cost
Shield Bash: Active; Instant Adrenaline Drain = Low
Eviscerate: Active; Instant Adrenaline Drain = Low
Bleeding Strike: Active; Instant Adrenaline Drain = Low
Crippling Strike: Active; Instant Adrenaline Drain = Low
Power Strike: Active; Instant Adrenaline Drain = Low
Power Throw: Active; Instant Adrenaline Drain = Low
Dream Step: Active; Instant Mana Drain = High
Portal: Active; Instant Mana Drain = High
World Step: Active; Instant Mana Drain = High
Time to Die: Automatic; No Cost
Calder’s eyes widened seeing how high his stats were. He almost stumbled backward at the sight of them.
It took him a moment to realise why they were so insanely high compared to before. He was a defender in the city now, which meant he gained a boost from the defensive walls they had erected around it. Of course.
Instead of bothering to do the math, Calder shared the information with Graham and simply asked him if the modifiers stacked from being a Main Defender of two Outposts—though from what he saw, he was mostly sure they did.
The Spirit Construct responded instantly. They do indeed stack. You now have a 25% boost to all your attributes while in this world. Also, you are receiving quite the boost to all your stats from being inside the wall’s Enchanted Stone’s range. Just keep in mind, only base attributes will have an effect on your spells’ cooldowns. I know you want to get your cooldown on Dream Step to zero seconds, but modifiers like this won’t help get you there. You need to keep increasing your base Magic attribute for that to work.
Calder hadn’t known the modifiers didn’t affect his spells’ cooldowns, but now that he thought about it that made perfect sense, as no matter how his modifiers had changed he hadn’t noticed Dream Step’s cooldown—or any other cooldown—reduce except when he raised attributes with his free points.
Still, Calder grinned. If the Main Defender modifier had stacked once, could he stack it again? What would happen if he had three outposts? Twenty?
A hundred? Do you think it will continue to stack? he asked Graham.
I am not sure. But that will be very interesting to discover. This is yet another thing I cannot recall from my life…
Calder turned to the others. It had only taken him a moment to accept the prompt and look at all of his stats. He glanced down at his Proximity Scanner before looking at them, just to confirm they had defeated all of the enemies within the walls.
The moment he turned to face the other Berring Touched, they all raised their weapons and cheered their victory over the orc city. Calder had been so distracted by his attributes he had forgotten to make some sort of speech.
Still plenty of time to make it back to Kashan before the exodus.
Chapter 40
Calder didn’t spend long in the city after having claimed it. There was simply far too much to do. He gave a short speech about determination and victory, but honestly, other than when he had almost been killed by the backfire-attack on the first Orc Tyrant, and Kohl having been overrun by the enemy… taking the orc city had been far, far, easier than he had expected.
A part of him was almost disappointed by that fact. It wasn’t that he wished for it to be more dangerous for his people, or for there to have been casualties. Of course he did not wish for that. But… he had expected the battle to be more challenging. Twenty people against five thousand? It only made sense that that would be incredibly hard.
A part of him craved that challenge.
He admonished himself. There will be plenty of challenges protecting Halanor. Also, having looked at the faces of his fellow Berring Touched, it may have only been him that thought what they had done wasn’t difficult. Despite all of them having been fully healed, they looked just as exhausted as they had following the Battle of Berring.
Calder left the Dark World, heading to Kashan before everything had been completely harvested and looted. As much as he might want to know how much wealth they had just gathered from their victory, and maybe even explore the city he had just laid claim to, he couldn’t stick around to harvest and loot thousands of orc corpses when there were others who could do it for him.
The power of delegation. Of all his newfound abilities, that was the one he was still getting used to the most. Soon, he hoped that Peter and the others would be able to run Kashan, setting him free to slaughter the enemy in droves.
He wasn’t the kind of leader who knew how to run a city, or even a town, really. Not even an army, if he were honest. He didn’t even know if he was a leader at all. All he knew was that he needed to be strong to protect his people.
Killing the enemy? That was something he could do. Having taken a good look at the carnage they had inflicted on the orc city, and his newfound strength from having gained level 70, he was quite sure of that.
Calder stepped out of the portal with Peter by his side. He had left the others in the orc city. Perhaps I will have to come up with names for my two outposts. I can’t keep thinking of them as orc settlements and cities now that I’ve laid claim to them.
When all the loot had finished being gathered, that’s when Luceen would join Jonah in the Great Marketplace to make more trades for the defences in Kashan, while Yesna would head back to Berring and help Ellen craft more Weapon Stones.
The gates to Kashan were swiftly opened for the two arrivals. As they had already effectively taken over the city, word had quickly spread about who they were. Calder was surprised—and more than a little dismayed—to find that the guards on the walls weren’t even Touched. They were normal city guards without Weapon Stones.
The Touched in the city must already be lining up for the exodus, even though it was still hours away yet.
Calder had checked his Proximity Scanner the moment they had gotten here. Even with its larger radius, he was glad to find there were no enemies blinking at him on the mini-map. Before Ballam came to meet them, he checked in with Karla.
Have you managed to visit all the other cities? he asked her through the link.
Yes, every single one of them. There has been… varying reactions. Some of these cities have been left more or less untouched by the orc threat. They do not believe it is as dangerous as it truly is. Some… don’t even wish to leave through the exodus portals.
Calder had to admit that he was taken aback by that information. They’re refusing to leave?
They are. But the Soldiers of Light, in every city, have told me of orc armies amassing. The enemy knows of the exodus deadline, and they’re readying themselves for attack. There’s already an army in the capital of the Palaria Collective, just waiting outside the walls. Fortunately the citizens there are convinced of the threat, as they sent their army to meet the enemy against the Soldiers of Light’s recommendations.
Calder bit his lip. That can’t have gone well.
No. Not a single soul returned. We were lucky, Calder. Berring never would have made it without you.
Calder pushed past those words. It was Ballam who had provided him with the Weapon Stone in the first place. He certainly wouldn’t have been able to save everyone without it—nor would he have been able to do it alone.
People refusing his plan had, perhaps foolishly, not been a consideration. It was one thing to keep hold of their Outposts in the Dark World—Outposts they could simply abandon if they needed to—it would be another thing entirely to protect multiple cities around the world if the citizens refused to come to Kashan.
Though he imagined once orc armies were attacking all of the cities, the citizens would quickly change their minds. When the time comes, we’ll send someone to each city to open portals to our new outpost. They can flow through there before they make it to Kashan. Jonah has already acquired some Advanced Portal Stones, at great cost, that should remain open for as long as we need them, and don’t have any limit to how many people can pass through. Calder had originally planned for people to flow through their smaller outpost, but now they had gained another it seemed prudent to use the larger of the two. Those who don’t want to leave… we’ll have to deal with them later. I’m sure they’ll soon change their minds when they realise how serious the orc threat is.
Calder struggled to imagine that anyone didn’t realise how bad the threat was. Demon-like beings were coming through portals, beings that normal weapons didn’t do a damned thing to, and they weren’t taking it seriously?
Calder let out a breath as Peter gave him a sideways glance. His anger and frustration must have been evident on his face.
They met with Ballam in the guard tower, as Calder had the last time that he had been here. “I’m sorry I couldn’t give you access to the Advanced Proximity Scanner, but Karla tells me you were able to procure one on your own.” The man raised an eyebrow. “Quite impressive, if I must say.”
Calder waved away the man’s words. “Karla tells me there are armies headed toward the other eleven cities that remain untouched by the enemy. Is there one heading here?”
Ballam’s forehead creased. He stared down at the table. His eyes didn’t glaze over, so it was clear he wasn’t reading anything through his scanner. But his mind still seemed elsewhere. “Yes. There is a… quite large army heading this way.” He tilted his head to the side, still not meeting Calder’s eye. “It’s not just orcs, this time.”
Calder raised his chin. “What else? Beast Elementals?”
Ballam blinked, finally meeting his eye once more. “You know of Beast Elementals?”
“We’ve faced much, lately.” Calder briefly told the man of the city they had just claimed and the Beast Shifters they had fought.
Ballam’s mouth fell open. “You claimed a city?” He shook his head. “Soldiers of Light are not even allowed to travel to a Dark World without permission, for you to just waltz into one and…” He rubbed his head. Closed his eyes. “Part of me wishes I could be as free as you. That I could simply abandon my orders and fight the enemy as I see fit.”
“What’s stopping you?” Calder asked. “We could use your experience.”
Ballam sighed. “That, unfortunately, is simply not possible.” He put a hand to his chest, where his Weapon Stone sat. “I have entered a Binding Contract with the Protectorate, as all Soldiers of Light must. I cannot go against my standing orders.”
