The others around me seemed to catch on to the idea, and once more the walls were cleared of climbers, about the same time the last giant died from a stone spike in his eye which exploded. That was pretty much instant death, no matter the damage amount. Brains, heart, and throat, were all pretty much instant death when heavily damaged.
I started to send out exploding fire blasts for a thousand points of damage give or take a few, every ten seconds or so to keep my mana at an even keel, right around three thousand. We had the advantage for the moment, perhaps for the first time since the battle started the enemy seemed unable to get on the wall, but I knew the air sphere wielders wouldn’t be able to hold up their shield against arrows for much longer, they had to be low on mana covering such a large area, even if there were a lot of them working in concert.
Still, it seemed almost hopeless, taking out ten at a time when we were facing fifty thousand. Twenty-five to one odds just wasn’t doable, even with fortifications. Of course, I wasn’t the only one firing, there were just under two hundred of us on the eastern wall at that point dedicated to offense, a little more than that for the second shift working on defense. We’d lost almost thirty percent of our soldiers. The walls kept shaking too, like clockwork.
It wasn’t all one sided either, despite the shields some few arrows still snuck in through the small gap, as well as spells getting past the light wielders’ dispels. Still, we were killing them better than ten to one for the moment, but we were weakening, and things would break sooner or later. It was just a matter of time before either the wall gave out, or our defenders exhausted themselves.
I had me a brilliant plan, when the wall finally gave out and collapsed beneath us, I planned to cast control water and create an ice slide of sorts, which would safely get us to one of the harness rigs to fly out as the walls came tumbling down. I figured I could get our party out, as well as a whole bunch of soldiers as well.
But… I hadn’t counted on shitty timing, and really bad luck. I knew dying was a possibility, but I hadn’t really expected it. I’d only died once so far after all, and I’d been in plenty of tight spots.
One of the enemy archers must’ve had dispel magic, and at the time I didn’t give much thought to the glowing white arrow amid several other steeply arcing arrows coming down in our area. I peeked up in my usual manner to send out a fire blast, and the dispel arrow hit the whirlwind shield disrupting it temporarily. The mana shield was useless, and only good against magical attacks.
Before I could duck back down, another arrow impaled my throat, a lucky shot given the odds, and an almost immediately mortal wound. The pain of it was shocking and I fell back as my mind struggled to align itself to the life sphere and get off a heal. They say lightning doesn’t strike twice, but I call bullshit, as another arrow impaled my chest.
The pain was shocking, and I couldn’t quite get off the spell, nor could I seem to breath and my mind was clawing in panic for oxygen. I saw the horrified look in Gwen’s and Lara’s eyes, they were both in my view. Lara’s hand started to glow, no doubt she intended to heal me. But… it was too late.
Everything went dark, just as last time there was no feeling, no senses, just popup boxes. It was eerie, but I wasn’t too worried, I’d been through it before.
You have been killed! Didn’t your mother teach you to duck, or that arrows have the right of way?
You have lost two million three hundred thousand experience points!
You have lost a level!
Would you like to make your corpse recoverable by your allies?
Last time I’d said yes, because I was pretty damned sure some of my party had survived. I thought about it for a while. If I said no, I’d respawn with all my equipment anyway, but Gaia would extract further penalties for it. Thing was, I wasn’t sure if the rest of the party would survive, and being under attack where retreat was the best possible option, I figured they didn’t really have time to do it. A part of me was also curious what the cost would be, though I hoped I wouldn’t regret it.
No, I replied mentally, because I didn’t have a mouth, or lungs.
Further penalties have been assessed. You feel less hardy.
Crap, I cursed up a storm in my mind as I realized I’d just given up a willpower point. I wasn’t sure if it was worth it, even if I could regain it eventually through physical training. Problem was, I didn’t do physical training.
Congratulations! First battle of the war. Despite the long odds, you bravely and perhaps stupidly engaged with an overwhelming horde in a tiny fort. You have earned five million experience points!
You have leveled!
You have leveled!
You feel wiser!
Several more popups followed that I just dismissed, my spheres and other skills all going up to journeyman level four.
Congratulations! You have killed two hundred and ninety-eight giants, two thousand forty-two orcs, two thousand one hundred and three hobgoblins, and three hundred dark elves. You have earned five thousand Experience Points!
Huh, that not only brought me back up to twenty-three, but level twenty-four as well. New concepts streamed into my mind, it was quite overwhelming given my state of mind after dying. It also almost made up for that willpower point, but not quite. I hadn’t been expecting such a high price. At least I’d gained a wisdom point out of it, which was actually more useful to me. As a caster I didn’t need all that much in the way of stamina.
Or so I told myself. I’d think long and hard before I did it again.
Chapter Fourteen
I was back on the puffy clouds, the temple to Gaia behind me, her statue in front of me as I sat on the steps.
Status.
Name:
Jason
Classes:
None.
HP:
1451
Regeneration 1.5%/sec.
Race:
Half-Elven / Half Human
Mana:
5875
Regeneration 1.9 (2.6)% /sec.
Platinum:
0
Stamina:
1399
Regeneration 1.2%/sec
Gold:
362
Level:
24
TNL: 1,875,420 / 2,400,000
Silver:
49
Strength:
15
Bronze:
47
Agility:
14
Intelligence:
20 (26)
Willpower
12
Wisdom:
18 (23)
Magical Spheres:
Fire:
Journeyman level 4 (24)
Water:
Journeyman level 4 (24)
Air:
Initiate level 1
Earth:
Initiate level 1
Light:
Initiate level 1
Darkness:
Initiate level 1
Life:
Journeyman level 4 (24)
Death:
Initiate level 1
Skills (Combat)
Combat Skill Name
Description
Level
N/A
Skills (Non-Combat)
Skill name
Description
Level
Sneak
Allows you to move silently.
Journeyman level 4
Builder
You can build a small modest home.
Journeyman level 4
Hunter
Your skills at tracking and killing animals.
Journeyman level 4
Meditation
Calm and focus your mind.
Journeyman level 4
Could have been worse, but then I could have been level twenty-five if I’d managed to live and escape. Still, I couldn’t complain, or at least it wouldn’t do me any good if I did. There was a timer again, that time it would take twenty-three hours to respawn
in the glade. One hour per level, I’d been level twenty-three when I’d died. I imagined the battle would be long over by then.
I also noticed my gains for HP, mana, and stamina had calculated the bonuses attached with my equipment, but not with the added three percent bonus from Lara’s enhancement spell. Presumably because I’d leveled after I died, which had stripped that spell bonus.
I stood up and looked around, not much had changed since last time. I sighed, sat back down, and closed my eyes. There wasn’t anything to do really, but I’d be able to meditate on all my new concepts, as well as general meditation. I was level twenty-four, almost half way to the grand master levels, or at least the first level of the ten grandmaster levels, but I’d only gained two wisdom and one intelligence. That… I needed to do better.
That said, there were no real breakthroughs in the concepts, so they wouldn’t be hard to integrate, but I’d have plenty of time to figure out new spells or look for things I’d missed.
It was very comfortable, no distractions, pains, or pinches while dead. Even sitting on the marble steps didn’t get uncomfortable. Might as well take advantage of it, less distractions meant better meditation. It was also boring being dead, so I might as well meditate and figure things out.
The mass heal spell was easy to figure out, now that I knew it was possible. It was just tied through detecting life and assessment. Just jam a bunch of mana into a heal spell, and then target it through detecting life to gain the recipients in the area of effect, and then assessing life on the targets to see how much of the mana to spend on each target. It was complicated to be sure, but not too bad. My current detect spell could already do all that other stuff, I just had to add a healing layer to the spell.
I also figured out something kind of neat. The limit to my detect life spell was a fifty foot radius sphere, and I learned how to double that, sort of. I could stay connected to my spells as long as they were within my detection sphere. In the past, I’d cast spells to detect goblins, to target them through detect life and entangle them. Yet, even though my spell could detect them, I didn’t personally detect them because the spell was out of my range to feel.
Apparently, I could now cast my detect spells up to fifty feet away from me, and since it was still in my fifty foot aura I was still connected to the spell, because I could now sense and feel magic outside my body at journeyman levels. Which put me on the edge of the fifty-foot aura of the spell, while the other side of the spell was actually a hundred feet out. It was still a fifty-foot radius of detection, it just didn’t have to be centered on me. If I caused the spell to orbit me at fifty feet away, it was like a radar to a certain extent, and I’d detect up to a hundred feet away, just not in all directions at the same time.
It wasn’t that big a deal at this point, but I was pretty sure at expert levels we’d be able to effect mana outside our body, not just sense it. That would mean that fifty-foot range for the spell while still feeling and controlling the spell would be gone, I’d be able to stay connected to it with a string of magic so to speak as it stretched out. The radius wouldn’t get bigger, well sixty feet in diameter at expert levels, but I could send the spell out thousands of feet, and actually scan a huge area for life over a short time, sixty feet at once. When I hit expert anyway. I was looking forward to that, there were a lot of other tricks possible as well with controlling and shaping mana outside the body. Still, I got back to what I could do already, there was no point in focusing too much on the future.
After all it was just speculation, I could be wrong.
I was only meditating a few minutes and hadn’t figured much out, when Gwen appeared next to me. It was maybe two seconds later when Steve popped in and started cursing up a storm.
I ignored him, and I leaned over and kissed Gwen. It was… weird. No discomfort in death, but apparently no pleasure either. I felt the pressure of her lips, but no real sensation.
“Hi. Sorry to see you, never thought I’d say that.”
Gwen smirked, “So this is the afterlife? Clouds and a temple?”
I laughed, “Yes, so what happened after I died.”
Steve growled, “Faelyn’s a dead man, or elf, whatever, as soon as I see the bastard.”
Gwen sighed, “At least Lara, Lyre, and Anlyth escaped. Robert’s team died, as did a lot of the others, I wonder where they are?”
I frowned, “Maybe there’s a heaven for each group? Otherwise it would get crowded.”
Steve snorted, “Maybe, probably. It makes sense, last time you were here you were alone for hours, right? And it’s hard to believe no other undying died during that time. There’s four million of us after all, even if only about two hundred thousand are fighting I’m sure the others get killed too.”
“So, what happened, why are you going to kill Faelyn.”
Gwen took my hand, “You know how he wasn’t as upset about your escape plan as we thought he’d be? When he piled into the scout ships with the others, he gave one last command. Hold the walls at all costs. In other words, he never called a retreat, so the condemned weren’t able to leave, or take off their cursed collars. The bastard just ran, and he left them all to die.”
I felt a surge of anger go through me, but I didn’t say anything. Damn murderer, and betrayer. Maybe I’d help Steve when we caught up with the bastard. Gwen’s hand in mine felt good, not sensation wise, but it was a mental comfort at the least.
Gwen continued, “Anyway, it was only a few minutes after you died when the grand enchantment broke. The walls started to crumble and fall under the spells of the enemy. There wasn’t time, and the soldiers in anger just stopped fighting, I didn’t blame them, but it meant the horde overtook us quickly as we lowered to the ground. Steve and I covered Lyre and Anlyth’s escape, since they can’t come back. Lara was no help in that, so Steve made her go with them as well. The last thing I did before death was put all the rest of my mana into a cloaking spell, and I hit them with it as they took off. I imagine it was enough for several minutes, more than long enough for them to make the tree line, as long as they weren’t hit with a random dispel. A few others escaped, but most of the undying died as well. It just happened too fast.”
Steve said, “I’m sure they’re fine and avoided any random dispels, if they weren’t Lara would have joined us by now. I imagine by the time we respawn, and get to the elven city, the horde will be ready to attack. Also, they went to the glade, so they should be there when we respawn.”
That made sense, I also thought it would be safe enough. It wasn’t very much protection against a horde of evil races, but I doubted they would bother with that tiny forest or anyone that might be in there, not when their hated enemies and elven cities were in the other direction. Even more, I wasn’t sure where the elven cities even were in the forest, we’d need Anlyth and Lyre to find them quickly.
“You’re both twenty-four?”
Steve nodded, so did Gwen.
Gwen said, “I imagine Lara, Anlyth and Lyre made it to twenty-five.”
Gwen stood up.
“I’m going to meditate, might as well do it so we’re ready for level twenty-five, and boost our damage by one again.”
Gwen ran her fingers through my hair, “This is weird.”
I nodded in agreement.
She added, “I’m going to do the same, but I want to check out the temple.”
She turned and walked behind us.
I said, “Don’t bother, it’s locked…” I trailed off as she tugged on the door, and it opened.
Damn, I didn’t even think to check, I’d just assumed it would still be locked like the first time. We got up and followed her inside.
Chapter Fifteen
The temple didn’t look much like a temple from the inside. Oh, the architecture was of course, marble columns, huge vaulted ceiling, and there was even a thirty-foot-high statue of Gaia all the way across the very long room. That’s where things kind of deviated though from what I’d expect of a temple.
There was a holo-table in the center, displaying a globe of our new world. A guess maybe, but I knew just glancing at it that it wasn’t Earth, the continents were all wrong. The walls along the sides were made of large high definition glass panels, which displayed several scenes of battle and even mundane situations.
Gwen sighed, “She’s not here, but at least there’s no altar.”
Steve snorted, “Altar?”
“Yeah, I think she means Gaia hasn’t lost it enough to want to be worshipped.”
Gwen snickered, “That too, but I was thinking it might have been a possible interface.”
Yeah, I’d pretty much given up on having a conversation with her, for the moment.
“She’ll talk to us when she’s ready I think. She must have some goal she wants us to reach first. I hope? Otherwise…”
Steve sighed, “What do you suppose this is about? Why unlock the temple of death if she isn’t going to talk to us?”
I walked further and approached the globe. My head turned back and forth, looking at the screens on the way over. It wasn’t just our large island that was undergoing war and turmoil. It seemed like the whole planet was at war with itself.
I circled the globe, there were ten continents, and about thirty island chains. At a glancing guess the world was about half water. It was intimidating in scope, but it made me curious on what else was out there. There were only three large islands of the size we were on now.
Island Kingdoms' War Page 8
