CHAPTER 63: BATTLE AT THE GATE

Reidar watched as a Mauler spat a glob of corrosive acid that ate through a defender’s shield. The man fell, clutching his arm as the flesh sizzled.

The settlement was on the verge of being overrun because of many reasons, but especially because of the monsters’ numbers.

There had to be at least hundreds of them. It was an amount he only saw in the rift-sprites, and even in that case it was because of a special condition, the presence of hundreds if not thousands of free bodies on the highway.

Reidar raised the Shepherd’s Crook of the Wild. His summons stirred, and their gaze locked on the battle.

He was still far, though.

"Go," Reidar said.

The Primal Pack surged forward. Two streaks of silver fur tore down the ridge like an avalanche.

They hit the Mauler’s flank, shredding through the amphibious creatures with savage brutality.

Next came the Bone Militia. The skeletons charged in silence and crashed into the main body of the horde in the same silence. The monsters, caught between the wolves and the undead, fell into disarray rather quickly.

From the walls of Havenwood, defenders stared in disbelief as a tide of skeletons and beasts tore into the amphibious Maulers. Shouts of confusion mixed with the clash of weapons.

"What in the world—?"

"They’re fighting each other!"

A woman with a spear stared, wide-eyed, as a wolf tore a monster’s head clean off. Despite the bizarre turn, the defenders didn’t hesitate. They kept fighting and tried to make use of this new variable, striking at the disoriented Maulers caught between the two monstrous forces.

Arrows flew into the melee skirmish, and a man with a hammer bellowed, "Keep swinging! Whatever they are, they’re on our side for now!"

It wasn’t just that.

From the ridge, Reidar’s Rift-Sprite squad used elemental attacks. Stone bullets hammered the creatures’ skulls. Aqua projectiles slammed into them with the force of fire hoses. Wind blades sliced through their ranks.

Reidar watched his summoned army create a pocket of controlled chaos. The defenders fought with renewed vigor, their confusion eclipsed by simple survival instinct. They were using the distraction, carving a path through the enemy ranks.

The problem was that there were other monsters around.

A mixed swarm of Rift-Sprites and larger, insectoid creatures with iridescent carapaces attacked the settlement’s southern walls.

At least 200 hostiles around level 20 pressed a group of 80 defenders behind the still-standing walls. Contrary to the other monsters, these were weaker, so they didn’t breach the walls.

Reidar’s fingers tightened around the Shepherd’s Crook. While his summoned creatures were taking care of the beast on the eastern side of the wall, he went to the southern side.

Reidar kicked his wolf forward. The giant summoned creature leapt down from a large boulder and landed amid the stone below.

"Hold the line!" he said as the group rally skill took effect.

Shields lifted. Men found footing. Arrows flew truer.

These guys must be wondering who the hell I am.

A warm pressure rolled across the defenders, including Reidar’s summoned creatures and himself, because of the Group Rally skill. Muscle tightened. Voices sharpened.

A woman at the wall roared and shoved a spear through a ravager’s throat. The man beside her aimed with a steadiness that wasn’t there earlier, and a volley of bolts pinwheeled into an approaching insectoid.

From atop the wolf that didn’t join the fray, Reidar checked both fronts. The eastern fight had become a harder grind; his Primal Pack wolves, Rift-Sprites squad, and Bone Militia held it like a wedge while the defenders regrouped.

The wolves tore at the monsters’ flanks while skeletons braced for charges. The Guardian Shade hovered behind Reidar, since the man needed the constant flux of mana from the creature.

However, each direct attack he made, thanks to Arcane Leech, restored his reserves, and actually, since he got Mana attunement, what he gained from both sources increased by 25%, which meant that what Reidar got was even greater.

Besides, he didn’t need to use that much mana to have the same effect he had before he got Arcane Potency, as his spells were 24% stronger than they were before that perk.

I need to take care of the southern side.

He rode the wolf through the gap between two collapsing barricades, the splintered wood groaning under the creature’s weight.

The air buzzed with the sounds of battle. Monsters were shrieking, defenders shouting, and blades hitting solid scales.

The wolf charged forward like a battering ram, shoulders driving low, teeth bared as it snarled at the horrors closing in.

"Close to me!" Reidar said.

He planted his feet against the wolf’s back and channeled mana. A faint ring of pale light blossomed inside the courtyard, petals of mana falling in steady ticks. He heard the system in his head announce the effect.

[Circle of Renewal activated. Casting: 15s. Mana cost: 120. Area: 12m radius.]

The defenders inside the ring lunged again while their wounds knitted themselves, and their breath eased.

Reidar wasn’t sure if they even noticed he’d healed them, but it worked—that much was clear. A woman slumped behind a crate staggered to her feet and started tending to the wounded. She must’ve been their healer, but she’d been too hurt to help anyone else.

Why she didn’t heal herself was a colossal question mark, but Reidar assumed it was because she likely got skills that only healed others to maximize the impact of her spells, at the cost of not being able to heal herself.

Reidar had made the same choice in the past, so he understood the reasoning. However, since he had many creatures to take care of, he decided to buy a healing AoE skill from Keth’Moran before leaving the three lakes, since he knew he would need it.

Reidar spurred the wolf forward toward a cluster of ravagers pushing at the southern wall.

"Root Grasp!"

Roots erupted from the cracked ground where he pointed his wand. Tangled vines wrapped legs and wrists, yanking creatures to their knees.

Wood cracked and grew, fingers of earth pinching joints and jaws alike. The insectoid carapaces snapped under the strain. Several ravagers toppled and lay thrashing as tendrils choked their legs.

[Your Root Grasp strikes Chitinous Ravager for 15 piercing damage. [STATUS APPLIED: Restrained].]

[Your Root Grasp strikes the Chitinous Ravager for 15 piercing damage. [STATUS APPLIED: Restrained].]

[Your Root Grasp strikes Chitinous Ravager for 15 piercing damage. [STATUS APPLIED: Restrained].]

[Your Root Grasp strikes the Chitinous Ravager for 15 piercing damage. [STATUS APPLIED: Restrained].]

[Root Grasp struck 6 targets. Restraint applied: 8s. Thorn Damage: 15/sec.]

He leaned into the channel and felt his Shade bleed mana back into him. He narrowed his eyes at the line where the insectoid Chitinous Ravagers clustered and pushed outward with hands cupped.

"Void Javelin."

A spear of black light streaked from the crook, clean as a knife, cleaving a path through five enemies. It tore through armor and carapace, leaving a scent of cold ash.

[CRITICAL! Your Void Javelin pierced Chitinous Ravagers for 702 Void Damage. Void Corruption applied: -30% magical resistance.]

A roar went up as the spear struck. Several defenders sprinted into the gap, their attacks now cutting deeper because of the corruption.

[Grave-Gill Mauler1 defeated.]

[You have gained 194 C.L.A.S.P. Points.]

[You have earned 250 Survival Points.]

[Grave-Gill Mauler defeated.]

[You have gained 254 C.L.A.S.P. Points.]

[You have earned 189 Survival Points.]

[Grave-Gill Mauler defeated.]

[You have gained 201 C.L.A.S.P. Points.]

[You have earned 213 Survival Points.]

The boys are really going berserk!

His summoned creatures were killing the monsters at the east breach. That was great, because those were the only monsters that would give him C.L.A.S.P. points, since those he was directly facing were too low-level to give him some.

He felt the tide shift in the humans’ favor but knew the fight called for a heavier hand given the number of monsters. Even if they were lower level, level 20s and 30s monsters were not level 5s and 10s. They were stronger, more cunning, and had skills.

He braced the wolf and drew in a deep, slow intake of mana. The sky above him tightened; the air smelled like iron.

"Elemental Storm!"

He poured everything into the channel. Four elements answered: fire braided with water, earth grounding the surge, and wind shearing the edges. The storm spun over the southern wall like a small, furious planet.

Fire licked through ranks. Water slammed beasts into the ground. Stones erupted under armored feet. Wind threw smaller sprites into one another.

[Chitinous Ravagers defeated.]

[You have gained 0 C.L.A.S.P. Points.]

[You have earned 90 Survival Points.]

[Chitinous Ravagers defeated.]

[You have gained 0 C.L.A.S.P. Points.]

[You have earned 90 Survival Points.]

[Chitinous Ravagers defeated.]

[You have gained 0 C.L.A.S.P. Points.]

[You have earned 85 survival points.]

[Chitinous Ravagers defeated.]

[You have gained 0 C.L.A.S.P. Points.]

[You have earned 79 survival points.]

The Grave-Gill Maulers and the Chitinous Ravagers are not the same creatures. The ravagers came later.