The Siege

by Jakob Tanner

  Arcane Kingdom Online

  Book Five: The Siege

  Jakob Tanner

  Contents

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  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  FREE EBOOK

  Author’s Note

  The Chosen Reading Group

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  Dedicated:

  To my mom and dad, who have encouraged and supported me in everything that I’ve done.

  Special Thanks to:

  Richard Sashigane for the awesome cover art.

  Joseph Gisini and Daniella Zanchetta for help with the cover typography and design.

  Andrew Smith for sage advice.

  Everyone who picked up AKO 1, 2, 3, and 4 (seriously, you’re all amazing!) And those who left reviews (you’re doubly amazing!)

  Thanks to my beta readers and their amazing feedback:

  Frank Albelo

  Jo Hoffacker

  Carol Sherman

  Erik Tanner

  This book wouldn’t be what it is today without you guys!

  1

  I soared across the sky ocean, my arms wrapped around the reins of a tempestuous gryphon. The legendary bird ruffled his feathers, flying higher into the storm-ridden clouds. The cold air burned my face. The siege was about to start.

  Below the drifting white swirls of clouds was the shoreline of a gray continent. One of the five floating landmasses of Illyria. Arethkar. A looming stonewall defended the approaching port town. The cobbled bricks were worn away from the endless battering of the cloud ocean’s heavy winds. Black fishnets along the wall held the captured shells of wind oysters and air mussels. Laser turrets ran along the ramparts. Anti-aircraft artillery.

  A noise chimed in my mind. A new message arrived in my head-up display [HUD]. It was my girlfriend and first-mate, Serena.

  Serena: We’re all waiting for your signal.

  I took in the port town below. To the east were large purple mana crystals, jutting out from the surrounding black ash-coated ground. The crystals were surrounded by workers, mining away at the resource with grunts and pickaxes. With the power of my ranger ability, sniper’s eye, I zoomed in on the location as if my eyeball was its own spyglass. I grimaced at the sight. It wasn’t ordinary workers mining the crystals. The workers—men, women, even the occasional child—had shaved heads and were malnourished to the point of skeletal. A gold necklace wrapped around each one of their necks, debuffing them with the enslavement curse. Their lives were out of their control. This was what Arethkar did to its Chosen. Its players were forbidden to play, to live, to take a breath and call it their own. This was why we were here. To undo this grievous wrong.

  I wrote back to Serena.

  Clay: Let’s do this.

  Engines rumbled as fifteen of Laergard’s finest airships, including my own, The Horizon’s Dream, emerged from the cloaking fog below me. Cannons poked out from the portholes of their hulls. They roared, powerful blasts bursting with fire and smoke. Balls of flaming metal hurled across the sky and bashed into the stonewalls. Rocks and debris crumbled into the endless cloud ocean down to the bottom world. Arethkarian guards ran across the ramparts and took control of the turrets. Screams and orders were barked. Pink laser blasts of mana flew towards our cluster of airships. The floating frigates spread out, flying off in different directions, while continuing their offensive assault on the defensive wall. Cannon shots rang out across the clouds. A metal ball hurled towards the wall, smashing into one of the turret stations. An explosion of shrapnel knocked a guard back, the metal splintering right into his face and depleting his health points [HP] down to zero.

  I tugged on Gryph’s feathers, signaling him to descend. We flew overtop the wall and above the port town. The turret operators paid no attention to us, too focused on the armada of airships firing at them. The town was in a frenzy. Citizens scurried to find shelter. Guards rushed towards the wall while other soldiers hurried to the aerodrome to mount a defensive aerial assault. It was a good plan of action on their part. Too bad for them we’d accounted for it.

  A booming roar came from the hills beyond the city. A huge army of soldiers appeared in the distance. Row after row of pikemen made up the Solmini Mercenary Corp, an army lent out to me by the duke of Salaphem. Breaking up the focused monotony of the mercenary corp was a colorful collection of players who joined their ranks—mages, rangers, and warriors of all types. At the very front leading them was a woman with long flowing brown hair standing on top of a massive truck-sized turtle. Raylene. She lifted her mana rifle in the air, shouting a battle cry.

  The soldiers pushed the turtle down the hill, the shell spinning and gaining momentum as it headed towards the aerodrome. The soldiers rushed down the hill behind Raylene and her spinning tortoise shell. The turtle shell broke through the glass of the aerdrome, damaging a large number of enemy airships.

  The Arethkarians directed their attention to the incoming ground attack, sending more of their militia towards the ground assault. Arethkarian soldiers rushed to meet our own on the muddy battlefield. Their heavy armor clanked and creaked as they charged towards our incoming swarm, swords raised. Metal clashed on metal. Critical spear hits laid a dent in the weak points of their armor. Blood spurted across the field.

  Raylene emerged from her turtle’s shell and headshotted an enemy soldier to the ground.

  The battle was going in our favor, until a howl echoed over the land. Uh oh.

  The enslaved miners turned towards the battlefield. Shadowy black smoke poured out from their slave necklaces. Their eyes rolled into the back of their heads as the Arethkarian magitech took complete control of their bodies. The necklace did more than strip them of agency over themselves, it also had the power to turn them into mobile monsters [mobs], human shields to protect their own more privileged and official soldiers. The transformed slaves swirled through the air, leaving a trail of black wisps of smoke. Above their status bars was the nameplate for what they had become: [Shadow Crawlers].

  The monstrous reinforcements crashed into the battle like meteors, leaving craters of dismembered limbs and puddles of blood in their wake. The shadow crawlers shook off the dirt and loose flesh from their persons and swarmed into the battlefield. They held their claws out and dragged their thick deadly fingers across the frontlines like lawn mowing scythes. They sliced thro
ugh the mercenary corp with ease. Soldiers screamed out in agony as their HP plummeted to zero.

  I grimaced at the sight of so many of our soldiers dying, but we’d be able to revive them later. If we won this battle.

  Behind Raylene’s defensive line of warrior tanks were two long rows of apprentice mages. The first row raised their staffs and created bright glowing crystals in the air. They were casting a favorite spell of mine: status cure. Soon after, the row of mages behind them cast air blast, whisking the curative spell across the battlefield. First, wounds and instances of stun and poison flickered away from our soldiers’ status bars, but then an even more effective thing happened. The shadow crawlers’ inky black skin cracked, revealing human heads beneath the monstrous exterior. The former monsters didn’t move, paralyzed with confusion. It was a moment of doubt. Endless captivity had lifted itself away. Gone. It was like the breaking of a dam: first a conscious blink and then a relished clenching of the fists, followed by an unwavering torrent of anger.

  The newly freed players reached up to their slave necklaces and ripped them off. They scrambled around the battlefield picking up anything—spears, swords, guns, scraps of metal—capable of viciously killing their former oppressors.

  Chaos reigned across the enemy line.

  Gryph swerved above the battle and returned back to the town. We circled in the air as I cast status cure again and again. The mighty gryphon then twirled its wings and unleashed twister, sending a blanket of the curative vapor across the town.

  Gryph flew over the town once more, as a chime echoed in my HUD.

  Serena: The wall has been breached. The remaining reinforcements are all on the frontlines fighting the mercenary corp. The keep is ours for the taking.

  Gryph arced towards the tall stone tower overlooking the city. A group of four players ran up the stone steps leading to the keep’s entrance.

  Gryph flapped his wings and landed on the steps.

  “Well look who decided to come help out,” said Shade, clapping his hands as I climbed off Gryph.

  “I’m sorry, did you not see me dodging cannonballs and turret fire up there,” I said.

  “No, I was too busy smuggling this lot across the city,” grinned Shade, his furry cat tail wagging behind him. “And if you can believe it, there are only two pubs in this entire town. Isn’t that the most outrageous thing you’ve ever heard?”

  “Uhh—“

  “There’s no time to discuss the severely limited options of drinking establishments in this place,” said Jackson, pointing to the keep. “We must take advantage of the chaos while we still can.”

  The rest of the party nodded. Serena, a tall impressive blonde warrior with a giant sword at her back; and Kari, a diminutive fox creature, and our party’s dedicated healer.

  “Agreed,” I said. “Let’s do this.”

  The five of us rushed up the keep’s steps with Gryph flying above. The screams and gunfire of the battle swirled alongside the howling wind. When we reached the top there was a tower with a tall wooden door. The entrance to the keep. There was one problem though: between the door and us was a large rock golem with blue crystals jutting out its back. Arcane runes ran all along its arm, feeding the creature energy and power. Crap. Its stats appeared in my HUD.

  Keep guardian

  Level 32

  HP: 2533

  MP: 40

  “They never make it easy for us, do they?” said Shade.

  The keep guardian lifted its two fists—each one the size of a colossal boulder—and smashed it into the ground. A ripple of energy swooshed across the platform, knocking us all back. I fell to the ground. I moved my legs to stand up but found myself moving at a snail’s pace. A message popped up in my HUD.

  Stun (Debuff): Don’t you just wish you could move. Too bad you can’t. Sorry not sorry. (Duration: 1 minutes)

  “Aw crap is everyone else stunned?” I said.

  “Looks like it,” said Serena, also squirming on the ground.

  The keep guardian waddled towards us.

  Kari and I locked eyes right then. I lifted my hand right as she did and we both cast status cure. Glittering curative diamonds surrounded my person before seeping into my skin. I jumped to my feet and so did Kari. She stretched out her arms and shot the curative vapor to Jackson, then Shade. I ran to Serena and cured her.

  The keep guardian smashed another fist into the ground. We all jumped back to dodge the stunning force of energy emanating from the attack.

  “Everybody stay separated,” I said. “Even if it stuns us, the entire party won’t be vulnerable to wipeout.”

  Kari threw out a spell, a purple warble of energy emanating from her fingertips, crash landing into the keep guardian. The purple spell spread across the entire keep guardian’s body. The monster reacted, lifting up its arms in rage. Unfortunately for it, it performed all these actions trapped in slow motion. Kari had gained new support spells. Hostile support spells.

  The golem turned its attention to the little fox-girl, waddling slowly towards her. Serena charged the golem, unleashing blade tornado, spinning rapidly against the keep guardian with her powerful greatsword. The aggro did not transfer over to Serena though. The monstrous golem continued chasing Kari.

  Serena slashed her sword one last time. “Screw this!” She then beat her chest and unleashed her classic tank move: “Protect Thy Allies!”

  A golden burst shot out from her body and knocked into the keep guardian. As if it had been put under hypnosis, it turned around and focused all its rage on Serena.

  “That’s right,” said Serena. “Fight me, bitch.”

  The blade soldier and the golem traded blows. Kari sent out protect and healing spells to strengthen Serena’s tanking.

  Emerging from the shadows was Shade with both of his new ninja kunai, unleashing an epic back stab into the golem’s neck.

  Jackson jumped in the air and with both of his fists covered in flames landed a one-two punch into the golem’s rocky head.

  The keep guardian’s HP was at 55%.

  “Guys,” said Kari. “We need to beat this thing faster. The Arethkarians will notice us soon and start sending troops back to the keep.”

  “Why do we even need to fight this thing?” said Shade, sliding beneath the golem’s wide legs towards the keep door. He pulled at the doors with all his might. “Dang, why won’t it open?”

  “The door won’t budge unless the keep guardian is powered down or destroyed,” said Serena.

  “C’mon then,” I shouted.

  Gryph swooped down and I jumped onto his back and flew up in the air.

  “It’s time to bring out the big guns,” I said, stretching out my arms, triggering my summon bound spirit spell.

  Please don’t, said Gryph via our psy-link.

  “What’s up everybody!?” shouted Chip, the pathologically happy ghost spirit.

  I materialized my bow into my hands and held up the arrow. Chip knew what I needed him to do, flying right to my bow. I imbued the spirit into my nocked arrow and unleashed the blast. It was a completely made-up move and it was one of my new favorites: Rocket Chip. The spirit turned arrow flew threw the air and knocked right into the keep guardian’s eye. It stumbled backwards and lifted its arm to remove the arrow. Chip floated out from the keep guardian’s head and unleashed his hypnosis spell.

  “You want to fall asleep goofy rock golem,” said Chip, floating around it.

  The golem collapsed to the ground, powering down.

  Shade took the opportunity to unleash his move—assassinate—which had a 30% chance of killing off a monster if it was either below 15% health or if he was able to deal a high stealth critical. With the golem asleep, this was a piece of cake. Shade’s kunai ripped through the rock golem’s neck and the monster soon disintegrated into rubble.

  +325 EXP!

  “What’s up everybody,” shouted Shade. “Looks like the kill belongs to me. Your friendly neighborhood thief. Oh wait, what’s that? Tier-2 c
lass. That’s right. Your friendly neighborhood ninja!”

  Serena clapped her hands. “Well done Shade, you deserve it.”

  The Lirana stopped wagging his cat tail and winced his eyes at her suspiciously. “Wait—you’re supposed to be annoyed with me? Why are you being so nice?”

  Serena grinned brilliantly. “No reason at all, Shade. Well done.”

  Shade scratched the back of his head. “Are you tricking me? Guys—is this even Serena? I think this is a spy in disguise!”

  Jackson pointed to the keep’s doorway. It was opening. “Let’s move.”

  Gryph soared back down to the ground and I climbed off of him.

  “Good work everyone,” I said running to the keep’s entrance and stepping through the open door. The inside was an empty dark throne room. In the center floated a white orb.

  I ran towards it. There was no time to hesitate.

  I reached out my hand and touched the glowing sphere.