The main street was swarming with elementals, all pouring out from the town center, so I kept to the alleys. The sun was almost gone by now, and it was easy for me to blend in with the growing shadows. I jumped over an overturned cart and I finally had a clear view of my destination.
At the center of the town’s square stood an uneven pillar of earth that looked like it had grown straight up from the ground. What I had earlier thought to be a bonfire was actually great billows of flame that sprouted from the pillar.
A man wearing heavy robes was standing in front, surrounded by five other robe-wearing men, their arms outstretched toward the blazing pillar. A crowd of hundreds sat around the six standing mages, their faces pressed to the ground, arms outstretched toward the center as if they were worshipping the pillar. A bolt of lightning shot out of the top, arching over the crowd and hitting the ground beyond them. Where the lightning struck, a giant earth elemental rose. The lightning hit again and again, birthing more elementals.
I frowned at the spectacle. This was not how it was supposed to work. Summoners were mages, but the layout looked more like a religious ceremony.
I closed my eyes, letting the information tendrils wash over me, trying to get to the metadata underneath.
The details were hard to understand. They had something to do with tapping into otherworldly power at a great cost. Vic, a little help here?
So the pillar thing is basically an altar?
I see , I replied darkly, noticing several sprawling husks among the throng. Whatever that ritual was, it was costing the defenders their lives to maintain. That explained the size of the horde we’d been facing. A level 200 mage was definitely a force to be reckoned with, but he could never hope to raise this many creatures on his own. Faced with their own destruction, he’d apparently convinced some of the town’s people to assist him. I could see that the mages in the inner circle looked weak – their limbs trembling, their mana tapping out, and their health slowly draining. They were paying a terrible price, but it didn’t look like it was going to kill them anytime soon.
I could help them with that.
I stopped myself, realizing I was a moment away from charging in, guns blazing, and I shook my head. That was not the right move. I needed to think.
What’s my goal here? I weighed my options. I don’t have to kill the mages; I just need to interrupt their ceremony. As long as I manage that, the rest doesn’t matter.
I was going to have to reveal myself to reach striking distance, so I would only have a few seconds before they’d notice and attack. And with this many high-level mages, they’d probably inflict enough damage to trigger Nihilator’s Sanction, allowing me to escape through the shadow plane. I just had to take down that pillar beforehand. And I knew just how I was going to do that: my newfound ability to quadruple-charge my spells.
The problem with that ability was that it tripled the spellcasting duration while forcing me to stand still. I’d be exposed for too long before the spell was completed – probably enough for the defenders to take me out. Going into the open to get into range, then simply standing idly by while charging up the spell, was out of the question.
But I had a hunch on how to bypass that restriction.
I brought up the ‘Noble’ trait description, focusing on the desired effect.
Effect III: Mana Multiplier X4: able to channel four times the base mana cost of a spell to triple its effect. Constraints: Triple casting time, can’t move while casting.
I closed my eyes and tapped into the metadata beyond. As I had discovered before, there was much more underlying information. I opened my eyes and grinned as a plan started forming.
Let’s take her for a test drive.
I cast Drilling Arrow, materializing six spinning projectiles in the air before me. Then I concentrated, channeling more mana into them, increasing their size and their power while moving my staff in slow arcs. I continued pouring more mana into the spell, tripling the base mana cost, while my arm still moved. I could feel it reaching a threshold when I pushed past the normal limitations. I pressed on to quadruple the base amount. My hand froze as the drilling arrows grew to immensity, each one reaching the size of a small ballista bolt. I dismissed the spell, reabsorbing the mana back into my body.
I was right. The immovable limitation only applied when reaching the fourth mana multiplayer. Up to that point, I could empower my spells as I always had, moving while I was doing it. I would still be forced to stand motionless out in the open, but only for a fraction of the time it took to cast the spell from scratch.
Time to go all-out.
I poured my mana and consciousness in equal amounts into my shadow, summoning my clone. Then, using the power of my full armor set, I cast Direball twice, summoning two orbiting spheres above my palm while my clone brought forth another one. I closed both sets of eyes in concentration, channeling more mana into the three spells. At my current upgraded spell level, each Direball cost 400 MP. The three volatile balls of black and purple energy grew into immensity as my mana bar shrank by a third, consuming 3,600 in a matter of seconds.
I opened my eyes.
Above my palms hovered three scintillating Direballs the size of volleyballs.
Looking at myselves from two different sets of eyes, I grinned and spoke in two voices. “Let’s get this party started.”
With my leg muscles still fueled by mana, I kicked off the ground, sprinting into the open toward the throng of worshipers. My luck held; no one noticed my approach before I made it into spell range.
Then someone shouted. Heads turned and some guards rose to charge me.
I ignored it all. Standing out in the open, I focused my entire attention on the three spheres of energy. Mana gushed out of me again, and my whole body froze, completely immobile and vulnerable during the few seconds it took to reach the fourth multiplier. My mana pool dipped by another 1,200 points.
Arrows fell around me, some bouncing off my mithril vest, while two found my flesh, still barely penetrating my enhanced tier 4 boss’s skin. The charging guards faltered as they drew near, cowering before me. I ignored them, shrugging off the minor damage. All that mattered was finishing up the spells.
The movements caught the attention of the mages in the inner circle. Their eyes widened when they noticed the lone goblin and his shadow standing out in the open with three spinning balls of destruction the size of wrecking balls hovering above their palms.
I smirked as three of the high-level mages abandoned the ritual and hastily started casting spells.
They were too late.
With a heave of my hands and a shove of my will, I flung all three spheres of death at the flame-wreathed pillar.
***
Lirian teleported onto the roof of the last building before the street opened into a large square. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw her father standing out in the open, arrows raining all around him while armed men charged at his position.
Despite all that, the chief ignored the shallow wounds he received, staring with contempt at the other mages as they hurriedly summoned their own brand of destructive magic.
But her father was faster. He completed the spells, letting loose the three huge Direballs at the pulsating pillar.
The first Direball detonated mutely, its energies seeping into the flames. An instant later, the second Direball hit, causing cracks to spread along the stone shaft. Then the last one hit, overwhelming the pillar’s magic and driving the full force home.
The enormous detonation annihilated the pillar, leaving a blackened stump in its stead. Stone and earth shrapnel pierced every corner of the town square. A shockwave followed, flattening anyone still standing.
Anyone
, except the mages.
Domes of protection flared over the spellcasters. And they all turned their gazes toward the brazen intruder, their eyes promising death.
From her vantage point, Lirian could see the elementals running through the town collapsing as their bodies dematerialized. She could hear the distant roar of her clan’s warriors as they poured through the city’s walls. But they would never get here in time.
Her father stood alone against the six powerful casters. He did not waver. He didn’t flee. He simply stood there, defying the odds, snarling at the enemy, ready to take them on by himself.
She couldn’t let him stand alone.
***
For a fraction of a second, I felt a pit open in my stomach. The first Direball’s power was almost completely negated by the pillar’s magic, but I breathed easier as the second and then the third completed the job. If I hadn’t upgraded my Dark Mana skill before coming here, the spells might not have been powerful enough. Between them, the three Direballs had drained 4,800 MP – nearly half my mana – but they were worth it. Combined, the three spells held enough destructive strength to inflict over 7,000 damage. It was sufficient to kill even me three times over. Even with my shield on. It was truly a raid-boss ultimate move.
In normal times, players relished fighting such foes, developing tactics specifically to counter their moves and banking on the short time of inactivity to attack unimpeded or to find shelter. But the enemy I now faced wasn’t prepared for me. They had no well-thought-out tactic to handle a raid boss appearing in their midst, and my attack caught them completely off-guard.
But now I was in trouble. The blast from the pillar’s destruction killed or disabled most of the common guards, but the mages had shielding spells. And now I had their full, undivided attention.
Every single one of the six mages was over level 100, with the High Magus at 200. At level 61, even a raid boss wasn’t a match for them. But I wasn’t going to run away. I was going to deal out a heavy toll of blood and death before they brought me down.
I activated Mana Shield just in time to intercept two hurled spears of conjured stone while a third mage cast some sort of mind-affecting spell.
The spears shattered upon impact, but their tips still broke through the barrier and injured me.
Hibernation spell resisted! (60% mental resistance)
Stone Lance hit you for 274 damage. [(base 780 – 322 shield) – 40% spell resistance].
161 mana drain.
Stone Lance hit you for 262 damage. [(base 760 – 322 shield) – 40% spell resistance].
161 mana drain.
The defenses around my mind proved stronger than the ones around my body. I looked down at the gaping wounds in my flesh. My health bar instantly shrank by a quarter.
Shadow-crap. These mages were all business, and they weren’t pulling their punches. Without my magical defenses, the full force of three or four of those spears would be enough to kill me.
I had already cast a shield spell, but I now used my extra free spellcasting to erect another mana shield over the first while my shadow retaliated, casting a normal Direball at the clustered mages.
Direball inflicts 0 damage. [832 – 100% magic absorption shield]
I was a little taken aback that no damage made it through, but the attack was just meant to probe their defenses. As I suspected, their own shields were powerful enough to withstand most destructive spells. But I had a special spell specifically designed to penetrate shields. And now, protected by double domes of energy, I launched volley after volley of drilling arrows while my clone cast a single one, powering it up into immensity.
Drilling Arrow hit Mage Darius for 218 damage [(base 270 – 100% spell resistance) + 81% barrier penetration].
Drilling Arrow hit Mage Rissa for 218 damage [(base 270 – 100% spell resistance) + 81% barrier penetration].
I targeted the casters around the High Magus first, trying to thin their numbers before they overwhelmed my defenses. I’d have loved to take down the High Magus, but his level was too high. It was better to aim a little lower to inflict some real damage.
The two mages I hit stumbled, their health shrinking by half. One of the downsides of spellcasters was that their health pools were relatively small. Most spellcasters, anyway, I thought smugly. They didn’t have the benefit of my boss bonuses. Even a common warrior their level would have been able to weather twice the damage.
The other mages continued to throw more spells at me, shooting lightning bolts and more stone spears. My dual-layered shield absorbed all the damage, though the spells burned through my mana supply alarmingly fast. The High Magus himself hadn’t released his own spell yet, taking the time to cast something I imagined would be able to kill me regardless of my defenses.
I launched two more volleys of drilling arrows, targeting the same two mages, killing them on the spot. My clone finally finished casting a quadruple-charged volley. The six bolts, each the size of a ballista bolt, drilled through another mage’s shield as if it wasn’t even there, their rotating heads acting like meat grinders. His flesh exploded, coating the inside of his protection globe with an opaque layer of blood and viscera.
Then it was the High Magus’s turn.
The level 200 caster raised a hand, struggling as if it was weighed down. Five pillars of stone rose around me, their tips curving and grabbing my shields in what I suddenly realized was a gigantic earth fist. The fingers pressed, and my shields trembled under the stress, dust and pebbles raining off them as the pressure built. My mana bar, now at 20 percent, started draining rapidly, my enormous mana regeneration proving no match. It reached zero before I could grab for a void crystal. The first shield shattered, followed closely by the second one. Before I could do anything, the fingers clamped down, and I found myself being squeezed to death like an insect. The pressure was terrible. The fingers pressed on with enough force to turn any normal goblin into red and green paste, but my tier 4 body fought back. I felt a sharp stab of pain as my prodigious health bar gave way and my ribs broke one by one. I was completely at the High Magus’s mercy, and I knew he wasn’t going to show me any. Out of mana and out of options, I ground my teeth, waiting for my health to run out so I could escape into the shadow realm.
It wouldn’t be long now.
***
The young goblinette’s eyes blazed.
She knew the chief wouldn’t die; he was protected in more ways than one.
But it didn’t matter.
All Lirian could see was her father suffering, being slowly crushed to death by that human mage. She couldn’t stand by and watch.
***
My health continued to plummet, passing the 30 percent mark. I could feel my blood boiling in my veins as the damage triggered my Blood Wrath skill, but I knew better than to activate it now. The stone fingers squeezing me couldn’t be budged by mere force.
Then, suddenly, the pressure eased. I looked around in surprise as the stone fingers crumbled away, letting go of my body and allowing me to stand.
The High Magus across from me gaped in shock at the black blade that was protruding from his chest.
Lirian yanked her sword back, and the mage stumbled away – injured, but not dead.
The four mages turned as one toward her, and my eyes widened in horror as I realized who it was. “Lirian!” I shouted as the four mages zeroed in on the defiant goblinette and summoned their magic.
Warning: Vow breach is imminent.
Without stopping to formulate a plan, I teleported over to my child and released the rage had that built up inside me. A triple-charged Blood Wrath spell exploded from me in a wave of several tons’ worth of concussive force.
For the second time, a shockwave flattened the entire crowd, hurling them backward a dozen meters. Even the mages, protected by their magic barriers, faltered in their step, losing hold of their spells. I didn’t stop to wonder at the newfound strength of my skill, which had also been upgraded.
Using th
e few seconds of reprieve the blast had bought me, I grabbed my daughter with both hands and teleported away.
We stumbled out of the shadows next to the army’s mobile shrine outside Storg’s walls. There was no sign of any elementals around. Already, hundreds of my warriors were pouring into the town, happily massacring anyone who stood in their path.
I turned to the goblinette at my side. “That was a stupid move, Lirian,” I said. It came out more harshly than intended. “You almost got yourself hurt.”
My daughter met my gaze, unflinching. “I couldn’t stand by and watch you die.”
“I was in no danger.” I sighed. Then I wrapped my arms around her in a tight embrace. “But thank you for coming to my rescue.”
I could hear the smile in her tone as she answered. “A princess’s duty is to rescue a chief in distress.”
I chuckled. “That should have been my line.”
Sullivan approached us. “Good job stopping the elementals. Our forces are taking over the town with little resistance. I relayed orders not to kill any civilians and to take prisoners whenever possible.”
“I guess they didn’t like that.”
“No, they didn’t.”
“We are monsters, after all,” I pointed out. “But you are right, of course. No sense in killing our future clanmates.”
I watched the ensuing battle through the wide breaches in the wall. A host of pinkish tentacles flailed over the buildings, bolts of magic deflecting off their hardened surfaces. “Looks like Swarm is having fun,” I noted.
“Savol sent Swarm to kill mages,” the goblin general responded. “Traveler squads looking for town’s leaders to kill, too. Army elites help stop strong enemy fighters.”
Life Reset: Conquest (New Era Online Book 5) Page 38
