Boar Charge
Level: 29
Experience: 94.25%
Spell Damage: 725-925 per second
Spell Cast Speed: 5.00 seconds channeled Cooldown: 29 minutes
Spell Mana Cost: 775
Spell Effect (Active): Summon a stampede of spectral boars that will charge a targeted area dealing damage and knocking down anyone in the area of effect.
Charm Earned Bonus (Passive): Blessing of the Boar Spirit - +10-Endurance, +10-Stamina.
I knew the spell would hurt them, interrupt them with the knockdown effect. I thought one or two might even die. Only two walked away, or rather tried to run away. They didn’t make it very far. A ‘Holy Smite’ each finished them off. I don’t know if I was just that lucky or they were just that foolish, but I wasn’t going to complain.
As soon as they were dead and I was technically out of combat, I had a system message pop up in front of my face that almost made me trip on the uneven ground.
Blades from Heaven Charm has become fully charged and shatters. You learn the spell ‘Heavenly Blade’.
I completely forgot about the charm. I had gotten it at the beginning of the month. I had purchased it from my Goddess’s . . . store . . . I traded the sigils I earned for it with the promise it would teach me a crowd control spell. It seemed I had finally completed charging the thing up.
Blades from Heaven Charm (Unique) - +10-Intellect, +10-Wisdom – Equipping will teach spell ‘Heavenly Blade’
You have learned the Holy Spell ‘Lesser Heavenly Blade’.
Lesser Heavenly Blade
Level: 1
Experience: 0.00%
Spell Damage: 4-5 per second
Spell Cast Speed: Instant Cooldown: 60 seconds
Spell Mana Cost: 100
Spell Duration: 15 seconds
Spell Effect (Active): Pierce a target with heavenly blades that burn with Holy Fire, pinning the target to the ground and adding a stack of ‘Holy Fire’. Each cast of 'Holy Fire' resets the duration of 'Heavenly Blade' and resets the Cooldown Timer. Any damage to the target other than ‘Holy Fire’ damage will break the pinning effect.
Charm Earned Bonus (Passive): Caller of the Burning Blade - +10-Intellect, +10-Wisdom
The middle of a battlefield was not the place to have a notification like this pop-up. I shoved it away with a thought and continued to run back to my group.
“Back so soon, Jack?” Rose asked, her shield’s edge impacting with a loud crunch into a player’s face,
“Squishies, am I right?” I asked, stabbing into the downed player.
Rose slammed down with the edge of her shield again. “I wish this guy was a little squishier,” Rose complained, suddenly standing between a large Ogre and me that had tried to sneak up on us.
“Finish the Paladin,” Rose said. “Then come help me with Lumpy.”
“Lumpy crush pretty girl this time. You no beat Lumpy again,” the Ogre,
“You know this guy?” I asked, silently casting a ‘Beginner Holy Shock’ on the downed Paladin. I stabbed again with my spear, aiming for the gap between the Dwarf’s helm and chest armor, scoring a big hit but not killing the player.
“Yeah,” Rose grunted, blocking a heavy hit to her shields. “Lumpy and I go way back. He was one of the fighters that tried to break the gate control room.” Rose shifted again, slamming her shields into Lite again, stopping him from standing for the moment.
I used a ‘Ligament Rip’ on Lumpy’s arm as the Ogre was reaching for Rose, causing the arm to fall uselessly at his side.
“Owwy, don’t hurt Lumpy,” the Ogre complained, taking several steps back.
“Jack, stop messing around and kill the Dwarf already,” Rose ordered, turning back to face Lumpy.
“So pushy,” I complained, stabbing the Dwarf again, another shot between the helm and chest armor that finally ended the Dwarf’s struggling. “Bye-bye, kill the ten spellcasters and healers. Bye-bye, kill the Paladin. Bye-bye, take me dancing. Pushy woman.”
“Dancing was your idea,” Rose stated, groaning under the pressure of the Ogre trying to separate her shields.
“You’re still pushy,” I said, jumping over her and landing behind Lumpy. Two quick uses of ‘Ligament Rip’ had the behemoth on his knees. I was about to stab him when Heath appeared, delivering a coup de grace, killing the player.
“You two need to stop flirting,” Heath chided the both of us. “Rose, Olaf called for the tanks to go confront the next wave. I’ll clean this mess up.”
Rose and I looked where Heath indicated. We saw the next wave was coming quickly, I wasn’t sure if the enemy players would be dead before they got here, but I knew Rose and I weren’t going to just stand there and hope they changed their minds.
“Next wave!” Rose bellowed, getting the attention of a few players but most of them were engaged with another player or two.
I was right behind Rose as she and a group of about ten heavily armored players formed a loose line facing the group of 50 more Dwarfs that were coming to kill us all.
“Hold the line,” Rose shouted. “We need to give our damage dealers time to finish up the players so they can come to help us.”
I kind of wished I hadn’t used ‘Boar Charge’ on the players. It would still be another 25-minutes before it was off cooldown.
“Jack, find the Sergeant and eliminate him first,” Rose ordered.
I nodded. I still didn’t like the idea of killing these guys, but I accepted that most of them would die today.
I ran with Rose and the other heavy armor bearers. When they blurred from view almost in unison I kept running, scanning through the NPC army for the one with the
I found him in the back row of the ten soldiers wide by five soldiers’ deep column. I would need some height from the leap this time in addition to distance. I used my ‘Body Control’ skill to pick up speed going forward then triggered ‘Jump’ just a few feet behind the line of fighters.
My arm shot forward, trying to spear the Sergeant but he rolled out of the way. I ended up overshooting the mark, landing behind the Anvilton army and I now had the attention of not only the Sergeant but also the three closest Archers that were with him.
Bolster – Boost your soldiers to fight harder and faster than ever before. Increase their resolve to never surrender and take no prisoners.
I could honestly say I didn’t like Bolster. I liked less how porcupine-like I was starting to look as my health continued to drop.
I needed to get rid of the faster Archer first. The problem was, every time I got close, the Sergeant would intercede, and I would suddenly be open to being shot by the other two, who did more damage than the fast shooter.
If I could at least get the fast Archer out of the fight, even temporarily, I might be able to take out the others. Then I remembered I had a brand-new spell that would do exactly that. I focused on the Archer that was peppering me with arrows and cast my new spell, ‘Lesser Heavenly Blade’.
At first, it didn’t seem like anything happened. Then glowing white swords fell from the sky, stabbing into the Archer, pinning him to the ground in an instant.
It was the opening I needed. I jumped on one of the other
I stunned the Archer with ‘Beginne
r Holy Shock’, making it much easier for me to take advantage of the leather armor the Archer wore and the vitals it exposed. When the left side of his neck suddenly glowed, the ‘Perception’ subskill ‘Find Weakness’ finally kicked in. With that glow, I knew he was going to die from the attack. I hit the jugular with a ‘Power Thrust’, a critical hit notification flew, followed by additional bleed effect notifications and the Archer died seconds later.
I grabbed the Archer before he could fall and started charging toward the last Archer, using the one I grabbed as a shield until I could move him further. As the body dropped, I cast ‘Beginner Holy Fire’ on the Archer pinned by my ‘Lesser Heavenly Blade’ spell, renewing the pinning effect and adding another stack of the damage over time effect.
The Sergeant stopped barking orders. He charged at me, his form blurring and slamming into me. I went sprawling across the ground for a few yards before I rolled back up to my feet and leaped in at the Archer. I needed to get rid of him first.
My spear sunk into the Archer’s shoulder just right, I instinctively activated ‘Ligament Rip’ paralyzing the limb. It gave me a moment to stun the Sergeant with another ‘Beginner Holy Shock’ spell.
I used that time to put the Archer between the Sergeant and myself. I also added another stack of ‘Holy Fire’ to the faster Archer. I couldn’t afford to forget or miss the cooldown and have him get up. I would be another minute before I would be able to pin him again and by then I would probably be dead.
I added another ‘Ligament Rip’ to the Archer’s other shoulder leaving him defenseless for the moment. I hit him hard and often but the ‘Find Weakness’ never popped up again for me. The Sergeant tried to rejoin the fight at some point, but I made sure I kept the Archer between us until he died as well.
Finally, it was the Sergeant and the fast Archer versus me. Another cast of ‘Beginner Holy Fire’ kept the Archer out of the fight as he slowly burned to death in Holy Fire . . . Godly Flames?
The Sergeant was a giant pain to fight by myself. His shield seemed to be able to find my spear every time I struck unless I was able to stun him first. I couldn’t even add ‘Beginner Holy Fire’ to him with its 10-second cooldown or it would let the Archer up. I tried hitting him with ‘Ligament Rip’ where I could but the gaps were tight enough that I couldn’t get his shield arm at all. I finally got him in the leg once and after that, he was nothing but armor gaps.
“Surrender,” I tried to use ‘Order: Surrender’ on him but he refused. Another spear strike and he died.
Finally, it was just the Archer who would be dead in a few seconds if I just left him as he was. I canceled my spells and rolled him over with my foot, his . . . no, her body was still smoking but the ‘Holy Fire’ wasn’t actual fire that burned you. This was more the sort that burned your soul.
“Surrender,” I ordered once again.
“I surrender,” she said, gasping for breath.
“Good, police yourself to the Hammerton lines. Try anything and you will be killed,” I said. I looked back toward the fight and leaped right back into the battle.
As soon as this wave died, Olaf was bellowing out more orders.
I was met with an unexpected notification.
Congratulations! You’ve reached Level 16!
+1 to bonus Holy Spells, +1 Intellect, +1 Charisma
Once again, I was up two levels and had no time to train up the stat points.
“Healers, resurrect anyone you can as fast as you can. I get the feeling the players will be on us any second now. Everyone else, regroup, renew buffs where you can,” Olaf’s loud voice carried over the battlefield.
Siege Status
Outer Gates:
5,965/10,000
Soldiers:
400/500
Officers:
2/2
Wave Three: 6:01
Six minutes was going to pass very quickly. I renewed my own buffs on my friends and I then took a minute to drink from both my stamina thermos and mana thermos, trying to replenish as much as I could before the next wave.
“Players inbound,” Leafy called out from somewhere. I was starting to recognize the boy's reedy voice.
I cursed, at least my stamina was back to full.
Chapter 34
Ten waves of soldiers took their toll on us in casualties. After the fifth wave, I had expected . . . hoped one of the two Captains would attack. They didn’t. Neither did the players, the players had run out of bodies after the third wave. At least, until the sixth wave, then players attacked again. I guessed that they had been rallying at the graveyard until after that third wave. As a large mass, the regrouped players attacked us all at once. It nearly worked. If not for the Hammerton soldiers taking the brunt of the Anvilton soldiers and allowing us to fight the players, it probably would have been a wipe otherwise. They still managed to kill me . . . stealthy bastards. Thankfully, Baby was able to resurrect me as soon as the fighting ended.
Then on wave nine, they did it again, but this time, we were prepared for it. Unbeknownst to me, Icyhot had ordered the cannon crews at that end of the line to open fire on the players if they came at us like that again.
By the end of the tenth wave, we were exhausted.
Siege Status
Outer Gates:
915/10,000
Soldiers:
0/500
Officers:
2/2
Wave Eleven: 19:14
The time on wave eleven was extra-long, something I think everyone appreciated. It gave those players we hadn’t been able to resurrect some time to run back, even though I knew it would take longer than 20-minutes to make that run from the Hammerton graveyard.
“Eat and drink, replenish as much as you can,” Olaf ordered loudly, coming to sit down next to me. He looked a mess. His armor was torn in places, one of his guns looked messed up, and I was pretty sure one of his horns had a crack running down it.
“You look awful,” I said, giving him a smirk.
“Yeah, and you look positively pristine,” Olaf retorted. We sat in silence for a good 10-minutes drinking and eating before either of us spoke again. “You know, in a real battle, they would be sending a lot more troops at us. The waves would be in the hundreds. There would also be a lot more soldiers to pull from. Still, if they chose to send every soldier they have at us, we would have lost a long time ago.”
“Probably,” I said. “Let’s be thankful this is a game then and that they have their own rules of engagement.” It was probably more to do with the difficulty of the province that things were moving this slowly.
“Speaking of, I should get Icyhot to gather his soldiers, without any more waves, we’re going to need every fighter we can get to face these Captains back to back,” Olaf said, grunting and groaning as he stood up from the hard, rock packed ground.
With my HP, MP, and SP all full up, I went in search of Rose. Last I saw her, she was chatting with Baby.
“Rose,” I called as I approached. She didn’t look much better than Olaf. Her armor was dented and dinged, there was actually a large gaping hole in the chainmail near her stomach where a player spellcaster’s fireball had killed her in the ninth wave. He didn’t live long after that, I made certain of that.
“Jack, you look like you got run over,” Rose said, smiling at me.
I guess I hadn’t really paid much attention to my own appearance. My leather armor had seen better days, that was for sure. There were dozens of holes in it from where the Archers made me look like a porcupine, healing may have pushed the arrows out and repaired the holes in me, but healing did nothing for my armor. There were plenty of rents in other places from sword strikes and the like. The durability of my armor was not looking great.
“And you look like a Picasso,” I replied with my own smile.
“Having fun yet?” Rose asked.
Was I having fun? I wasn’t hunting for the Easter Eggs I so love to find. I wasn’t exploring or making maps. I wasn’t doing any of the
things I love to play the game for. Instead, I was fighting in open warfare and competing in Player vs. Player battles, things I generally disliked or absolutely hated. And yet . . . “Yeah, I think I am,” I answered honestly. This wasn’t so bad, as far as PvP went. It wasn’t overly favorable to one side or the other. There were no super high-level players on either side picking on weaker players. I hadn’t needed to cast ‘Justice Bringer’ even once, granted that might change once we were actually in the city. Still, if PvP could always be like this, I don’t think I would mind all that much.
“Me too,” said Rose. “Though next month, find us something more dungeon and less . . . this,” she finished, motioning to the battlefield.
I smiled at Rose again. “I’ll do my best,” I said, hoping Rose and the others would still want to run around with me after this battle was all said and done. I know I should tell them what I had planned but I can’t afford to mess this up. Them knowing my plan could ruin everything. There was too much on the line if this failed.
“Movement in the East,” Leafy shouted loudly.
“Movement in the West,” someone else shouted a second later.
I was quick to my feet with Rose hot on my heels. I looked east then west. Both Captains were moving toward us.
I cursed, Rose cursed next to me and several other players let loose their own curses, some of them were far more creative than necessary.
“Left, or right?” Icyhot asked. I hadn’t noticed he and Olaf join us.
“Left looks like heavy armor, right looks like leather. So, tank or rogue?” Olaf asked.
“Tank, I’ve got more spellcasters than you,” Icyhot answered.
“Works for me,” Olaf said. “Charge group, we’re going right! Cannon group, you’re going left!” Olaf ordered loudly.
The Mountain Valley War Page 59
