Chaotic Neutral
Unspent points: 500
Health:
18,900
Regen:
7.96 /s
Mana:
6,740
Regen:
18.30 /s
Stamina:
2,590
Regen:
15.05 /s
6740-
Vitality:
209
Endurance:
398
Intelligence:
674
Willpower:
366
Strength:
273
Agility:
316
Dave closed his eyes as he confirmed the placement of 350 stat points: 230 to Intelligence—any more and he felt he would collapse. He increased his Endurance by 70 as he felt it was the only way to stay conscious, and 50 to Willpower to actually carry out what he needed to do.
He felt the world seem to slow down around him. He opened his eyes and they shone silver; runes across his body brightened with power. Gray smoke seemed to escape his glowing runes and eyes. His mind whirred with ideas. So many possibilities: a spyglass, a big rock, buffs. All would take a massive amount of Mana but it couldn’t affect the battles already going on. More likely to kill the DCA than help them.
“Create armor.” Dave’s voice seemed to carry across the field of battle.
Once again, he closed his eyes. He opened up the Mana sharing function on the Abscondita armor Suzy, Deia, Anna, and he wore.
Magical coding started to form underneath Dave; silver lines carved into the ground, reaching the DCA’s soldiers.
A Demon emerged from the forest to attack Dave. An arrow sprouted from their neck as Deia and Malsour watched over him and the rear of the Stone Raiders.
The lines extended through the formations of DCA soldiers. As it passed, simple steel armor seemed to grow over each of the soldiers.
As Dave expended power, the vacuum left in the Abscondita armor was refilled with the energy of the dead’s souls. Dave saw the soul power moving in all its glory, his Touch of the Land and increased Intelligence allowing him to take in more information than ever. His eyes might have been closed, but he saw more than ever.
Soul gems appeared on the backs of the steel armor. Soul gems formed in the DCA soldiers’ hands and next to their arms, swords and shields grew from them.
Dave used the conjured soul gems like the bottles he had made for Bob. They were given the form of the weapons and armor. They would continuously replenish the armor and keep it running as well as their own conjured constructs until they ran out of Mana. The lines Dave had laid in the ground acted as ley lines, glowing with gray power and channeling nearly all of the Abscondita’s power through the lines to charge the soul gems.
Souls that hadn’t left now rushed toward Party Zero, absorbed by the armor and funneling it to Dave, who directed them into the ley lines he’d created. Dave let out a yell. The ground around him turned into a tornado with all the Mana. There was so much that it created visible lines from Anna, Suzy, and Deia back to Dave.
His aura seemed to capture the entire area, making even the Demon Horde pause for a moment, stuck in their berserker state.
As people died, that power was captured and distributed, creating new soul gems, forming weapons and armor.
Dave set controls into his armor, feeling his consciousness waning. With the massive point increase, he’d already put tremendous strain on his body. Using his full capacity before he had even gotten used to it, he was on the brink of losing consciousness.
Dave let out a yell to all DCA soldiers and Stone Raiders as smoke poured from him. Soul gems with magical coding imprinted into them, continued to form and encapsulate their wearers, arming and protecting them.
***
Efri looked to his body in wonder as armor seemed to grow from his chest outward across his arms and legs; a sword appeared in his right and a shield in his left that he used to block claws that would have gashed his arm badly. Efri reacted, his blade piercing through the Demon. He withdrew it and looked at the fine steel blade in his hand.
“The more you kill, the longer the weapons will remain!” Dave’s voice carried over the Stone Raiders’ and DCA’s general chat.
Efri felt as his armor started to heal his wounds. Energy filled him once again. “Clean up your lines! Prepare for advance!”
The DCA used the new weapons and armor with brutal efficiency. They had been trained to use the shields and swords, having to revert to their claws and simple makeshift weapons due to their limited number of crafters.
Now, with Dave’s conjurations, they were a heavily armed and armored army.
***
Malsour rose a protective cairn over Dave, who had collapsed in exhaustion. His armor still touched the ley line, pouring all of the soul energy into it, continuously feeding the DCA’s new armaments.
He looked out over the battlefield as the DCA’s lines reformed. The injured pulled themselves up, the minor healing properties of the armor pulling them back together.
The others were systematically blasting the ground from the keep into the DCA’s formations.
Vrexu and Malkur’s formations started to move, finally able to get a minute to sort themselves out. They marched across the battlefield forest and toward their brother brigades.
Lezar’s brigade had barely four thousand left standing; two thousand of them had been pulled back for medical treatment. Efri’s forces had fared better: ten thousand of his people had survived, with nearly four thousand wounded.
It was only because Malkur and Vrexu’s forces had reinforced the two brigades that there was anyone left. Even they had taken heavy losses, losing nearly fifteen thousand soldiers already to the fierce and brutal fighting.
“We’re going to move forward, linking up the other brigades with Vrexu and Efri,” Dwayne said.
The cairn Dave was in rose up from the ground; power seeped out of it, through the air, connecting to the armor of the DCA soldiers. The ley line went dark along its length.
Dave’s runes were now doing the work; he’d had the forethought to make each part of the system able to rely on itself. His armor worked to power the other soul gems, which obeyed the magical coding inside them to create different items.
The ley line had made it easier for Mana to pass from Dave to the DCA soldiers; now it was just at a much slower rate.
As one, the Stone Raiders and the DCA surged forward, but the Stone Raiders were no longer tethered to them. Now, with their new armor and weapons, the DCA took more risks as they were able to hold their own with some support from the Stone Raiders.
Josh protected their backs as Kim and Dwayne led their forces forward. Lucy was running support with the cannons and mages at her disposal.
Following the line, a metal spider trailed along. To those with mage sight, it looked like ribbons of pure Mana were funneled into the spider and then back out to the DCA.
They were still outnumbered nearly five to one.
The DCA had taken terrible casualties being caught out in the open, with little equipment and their lines so thin they hadn’t been able to switch out from the fighting to get some rest.
The combined brigades of two hundred thousand had been brought down to nearly one hundred and twenty thousand.
The Demon Champions were stronger than the DCA soldiers. Only the Stone Raiders and DCA commanders could fight them toe-to-toe. The front line soldiers simply slowed the champions down so that the Stone Raiders and commanders moved to aid them.
Now with their new armor and weapons, they saw a chance. Their training took over as they moved forward. Demon claws found armor instead of thin clothing. The DCA stepped up and pushed back, their lines reforming as commanders yelled out their orders.
Malsour looked to his friends fighting off the Demon Horde in front of him. And the spider he controlled. His eyes thinned as shadows seemed to wrap over his entire body. Waves of po
wer billowed off of him, those around him looked at him in alarm.
He cast hexes on the Demon Horde. They let out wails, clawing at their bodies as growths started to appear. Their bodies succumbed to plagues within seconds.
Malsour conjured steel spears that flew through the air, clearing a path in front of beleaguered DCA soldiers. He had been close to changing into his draconic form in order to try to save the battle. Thankfully, it looked as though it was not needed.
Malsour glanced to the spider.
I wonder what Dave will be like when he wakes up. That aura he was giving off was amazing. The power he held within his hands was incredible.
***
Cassie stepped onto the teleport pad, leaving Markolm behind. She stepped out into the middle of a city under attack by Demons. No, there are Demons all over the place, attacking one another.
She watched as soul gems seemed to appear around some of the Demons and Beast Kin. Armor seemed to grow from it, covering them in steel plate; weapons and shields formed from thin air.
The armored creatures worked together, pinning down the stronger Demons.
She consulted her map, seeing that the defending armor-wearing Demons had icons indicating that they were allied. Cassie looked at it all, stunned.
“Just what I expect with the Stone Raiders—two races that we’ve never even heard of before.” Bok Soo laughed and stepped around her. Golden Sabres, recently turned Stone Raiders, marched through the teleport pad and into the city.
She could see far above the city. Demons fought in the sky, showing off their aerial dominance. Her eyes caught onto a massive fortification built into the cliff of the surrounding crater. It was lit up from behind with massive spells and the din of a melee fight.
Cassie shook her head, focusing on the unfinished town she stood in. Beast Kin and Demons huddled in their homes, looking at the golden warriors with hope.
“Spread out! Assist our allied forces!” Cassie said. “Move in groups of four or more!”
“Damn, I didn’t even think that there were Beast Kin and Demons on Emerilia. Where the hell did the Stone Raiders get this quest from?” Cassie asked in a low voice.
“We’ll find out soon enough.” Bok Soo spotted a group of armored Beast Kin and Demons fighting off three large Demons who were completely naked and fighting like rabid animals.
Cassie rushed toward the fight, a smile on her face and adrenaline in her veins. This is what she had come to Emerilia for, not the fame or the glory. For the thrill of it all. To see the unexpected, do the unbelievable and have fun with it.
Being the guildmaster of the Golden Sabres had dulled that. But now, she once again found that fire, the ever progressing fire of a gamer. Never settling for just easy, but always pushing to be stronger. To overcome her obstacles and be wowed by the game she immersed herself in.
This is how you game. This is how you play Emerilia.
Chapter 11: From The Jaws Of Defeat
Deia looked over the field of battle. The DCA’s forces, now encased in armor, shone brilliantly in the midday sun. Their lines firmed up, no longer faltering and falling apart. They advanced forward with the Stone Raiders, moving to enclose the Demon Horde within a kill box, making the keep the only direction in which they could flee.
Deia looked to Induca.
“Well, I think it’s time that you tried out your real fuel air bomb,” Induca yelled.
“I think you might be right,” Deia yelled back.
Fire grew from her feet, lifting her into the air so she could see the battlefield. The rocks thrown by the Demon Horde were destroyed by her Mana barrier before they could reach her. Her hair whipped around, catching the sun like moving fire as her eyes glowed deep red.
Below her, spells continued to tear through the battlefield. Mana cannons supported the Devil’s Crater Army as they advanced forward, fighting on two fronts.
Deia had a proud smile. With Dave using everything he had left, he’d given the DCA the advantage they needed to overcome the Demon Horde.
Now it’s time I did my part.
Power seemed to surge through her body. The very air around her smoked from the heat she gave off.
Time you saw what the daughter of Fire can do. She smiled as she poured Mana into her casting, using her arcane sight and what Dave had told her about spell formations to firm up her spell.
Rings of red light with symbols formed and spun around her.
She pushed her right hand forward, pointing toward the Demon Horde as they were pushed back more and more. Although they had the numerical advantage, their numbers were spread out across the cliff range of Devil’s Crater, trying to find an entrance into their ancestral home.
The spinning rings aligned with Deia’s hand. “Burn.”
A fine mist seemed to appear above the battlefield. The forces fighting one another seemed to take a collective breath.
The mist erupted into Fire, obliterating anything in its path. The destruction ranged from ahead of the Stone Raiders, right through the Demon Horde and toward the keep.
Shockwaves threw the Demon Horde into disarray; it killed some, but it stunned many more.
Deia sighed, relaxing as she saw that her attack hadn’t slammed into the DCA forces. She’d made it just strong enough to tear through the Demon Horde, but not too strong to do the same thing to the DCA’s lines.
Deia watched as the DCA’s lines made use of the attack, moving forward as fast as possible while still retaining their ranks.
Efri and Malkur’s brigades finally reached Vrexu’s. As one, the remaining DCA soldiers marched forward, cutting back the stunned and wounded Demon Horde.
The ranks covering their rears were reinforced as the U-shaped formation reached the edge of the cliffs, soldiers being moved from the front ranks to the rear. The U-shape solidified till the bottom of the U was only four hundred meters wide, creating a kill zone just wide enough for the Stone Raiders.
Spells ranged down the corridor that now led into the keep.
***
“Now we finish them off!” Kim yelled.
“With me!” Dwayne raised his blade before he cut a Demon down. He started forward at a walk, cutting down those in his path. His walk turned into a light jog toward the Demon Horde’s members still holding their heads, still trying to recover from Deia’s attack.
The Stone Raiders and DCA weren’t going to give them time to recover.
The DCA covered over the rear of the Stone Raiders, killing anything that tried to hit them in the rear.
Dwayne and the Stone Raiders charged through the corridor. They used every trick they had left. Kim and her mages cast every buff they had as the Stone Raiders’ line turned into a meat grinder.
Demons fell to their weapons as they charged through.
Dwayne cut a Demon down, turning around it and planting his shield into another’s head. He ducked under a swing; his sword tore the Demon apart as he continued his charge forward.
He felt invincible with his guild mates.
Strength—from his buffs, from his adrenaline—filled him as he charged onward with his guild, a savage smile on his face. Just months ago, these Demons would have torn them apart. Now, well, now they were as strong as the Demon Champions.
The regular Demons could hurt them pretty badly if they could get past their armor. The Stone Raiders’ time in the Aleph’s cities and facilities had turned them into true warriors.
Dwayne was no longer a one-armed veteran discarded by the people he had sought to defend and the institution that had turned him into a war fighter. Here, he was Dwayne Trebault, Guild Lieutenant of the Stone Raiders, the indomitable warrior he had always wanted to be and trained for. He wasn’t weak or broken here. Here, he was complete, with friends who would do anything for him.
***
Bob looked down over the battle. The Stone Raiders swept up and through the remaining Demons that had been boxed in by the DCA.
The Demon Horde was injured, bare
ly on their last legs as the Stone Raiders cut through them with ease.
“Well, there’s still the Demons in Unity and the ones crawling through the cliffs and trying to get into Devil’s Crater to deal with,” Bob said. “Though, I have a feeling that they will do just fine.”
His screen changed, showing a Jukal wearing a mass of finery.
“To what do I owe the pleasure, aide to the emperor?” Bob asked.
The Jukal looked annoyed, shaking his large chin as colored water misted over his body. He was obviously used to being deferred to and pampered with small talk by the most powerful members of the Jukal Empire.
To Bob, it meant nothing. He had created Emerilia. The emperor might give him orders through his aide, making it look as though Bob were insignificant. However, they had chained Bob to the place and to his life. If Bob was to ever die, he would come back again and again.
He was the only one who knew all Emerilia’s intricacies. As much as the controllers and vetters might question his actions from time to time and give him more rules, none of them would ever become the game master of Emerilia.
“The emperor is quite pleased with the results of the Demon War. He has agreed to your plan for the tournaments, with reviving the other species that have been stored away.” The aide was clearly unhappy to be talking with Bob.
“Good, though he’s going to have to wait some time. I have other plans that have been put into place to heighten the excitement of this cycle. I will also be extending this cycle for the Players due to the extra content,” Bob said.
“I will consult with the emperor and see if he deems your ideas as worthwhile,” the aide said.
“Ah, I don’t care if you say they’re your ideas. Just piss off and let me do my job.” Bob closed the channel. Moments later, the aide was back on the screen.
“Do you know who I am? Do you know who my family is?” The aide inflated himself to bulbous proportions, a clear sign of aggravation and desire to fight.
This is Our Land (Emerilia Book 5) Page 12
