Why the fuck wouldn't I know?
I spent the entire night meditating on the possibility of me using the air affinity. It never registered to me to even bother trying, having only taken note of it whenever the energy type was the dominant mana in proximity. Steve had passively used it while flying over large bodies of water, the bled of swirling water and air mana keeping his wings aloft.
Yet each time I'd try to soak in the air mana around me as I had water and lightning, nothing special really happened. It would reach my skin, sure, but never breach within where I could harness its energies. My attempts at forcing it to move with my motions all proved wonderful failures, often forcing meditation breaks to refrain from breaking shit in my room.
It made sense to me having recalled that wind warrior I saw fight at the final 5 of the tournament however. He'd basically shaped the wind around him, using it to burst through the air and strike with unbelievable speed. Yet, any attempt at even tossing air mana felt more like a sneeze over a dusty table than a gust.
By the time I could even achieve that minuscule feat of control over air mana, Cassi had sent a soldier to fetch me for the wave. Feeling frustrated at myself for not training what I knew before a big battle, I joined the soldier and headed for the front gate.
The soldiers gathered mainly atop the wall, where many of the new recruits manned massive artillery that swirled with red fiery mana. Many designs look similar to a multi-nozzled flamethrower, only equipped with a seat and controls. Giants armed with their massive spears for hurling accompanied the bulky gunners at their side. At the base of the wall stood large catapults, loaded with red painted oval metal bombs. Our superior original 15 lined below at the gate, stood 10 yards behind my personal special unit of Steve, Becky, Phoebe, and Derrick.
Finally seeing Steve for the first time in a few days, I happily interrupted whatever conversation he and Becky were engaged in.
"Hey PAL! Was sure glad to see you visit me after both of my hospital stints m-OH WAIT. That's right, you didn't visit." I barked at my neglectful serpent.
"To be fair, I was pretty beat up after that wave too. And while you were recovering, I was trying to get stronger after dealing with that Cobra." Steve replied defensively.
"Yet my profession hasn't leveled? Must not have been hunting very well on your own then." I snapped back, vitriol lining my words.
"I wasn't alone, me and B-" Steve paused having realized he gave himself away. A mischievous grin overtook my face before I spoke back mentally.
"Ohhhh, it was a date night sort of deal. You could have just said that you know, I figured you were keeping each other's cold blood warm." I teased, finally dropping the angry girlfriend act. I just wanted to hear him admit aloud he got caught up in his own lady friend, so he can get back to what's important.
"Ha-ha. We split the hunts, but some of the beasts here are strong. Like the mother orca strong." Steve said, fully bringing the gravity to the difficulty of hunts they were dealing with.
"Well, with any luck you should level up today. Shit, if we make it out alive, I'd be shocked if you hadn't." I answered half-jokingly, feeling a hint of nerves at the thought of our impending wave defense. We had less than an hour now, but Cassi wanted to be sure everyone was in position in case the undead decided to show up early, so we'd they'd all been here for hours. Besides me, that is.
The next 40 minutes were relatively boring. I found myself wandering around the front of the settlement, kicking a few stones around until Phoebe showed off her juggling skills. Derrick gave it a try and had little issue, whereas I found myself losing focus trying to literally juggle three things at once. If I were more poetic, I'd probably find my current leadership role concerning. Poems only won arguments however, not fights.
"20 seconds soldiers! Ready yourselves!" Cassi commanded, now stood atop the wall behind the artillery and giant Javelin throwers. My personal squad's body language hardly changed, besides Derrick who's dripping sweat gave away the veil of confidence that his facial expression wore. Pretty sure Steve and Becky were too busy in mental conversation to care about the countdown, their eyes locked into one another's.
"10 seconds!" Cassi announced, my eyes scanning over our soldiers. To my surprise, not even the recruits looked overly worried. In fairness, a majority sat manning the insanely large metallic, multi-nozzled cannons above. I suppose a seated super-cannon of that magnitude would instill a little confidence in anyone.
"5 Seconds!! Tom's team, move!" Cassi called as the Pylon gates cracked open just enough for the serpents, Phoebe and I could fit through before closing behind us. Stepping out onto the familiar battlegrounds instantly raised my blood pressure.
"When will we know when to push forward?" Derrick asked, staring over the grassy fields leading toward the bordering woodland tree-line.
"I'll tell you." I answered, refusing to take my eyes off of the tree-line myself. In truth, as much as I was ecstatic at the opportunity to fight stronger foes again, having other people's lives on my hand brought fear my role might force me to hesitate. One member in particular I worried for the most; Derrick.
As impressive as his rapid progress in his training had been yesterday, he was still only level 2 in his class level. Everyone else was somewhat comparable to me, being in the levels 6-7 range where I sat at class level 9. Meaning, our dear pal Derrick had a lot of stats and skills to overcome if the beasts we fought today were as strong as our average elite fighter.
Not to mention our numbers hadn't quite recouped since the last wave. We hadn't lost much of our own soldiers compared to what it could have been, especially given how dodgy things got toward the end. The giants however could not say the same. They fought bravely in their roles as frontline tanks, with a devotion so powerful they died willingly for it. For us, I should say, something I doubt anyone will forget
Part of me secretly wished we had more giants at our factions disposal, but logically that should naturally occur sooner or later. So long as we win today, our future relations with the Jaia should only improve. My mind snapped back to the present at the sound of Cassi's shouting, "TWO…ONE!"
As soon as her countdown finished, a terrible cacophony of deep guttural grunts and screams that nearly sounded human erupted from the forest ahead. The ground began subtly shaking under my feet, a crescendoing low rumbling rising not long after. Out of the tree-line bursted a legion of massive long black ants all beelining for the settlement. Alongside them ran 7 foot apes with vibrant blue markings along their nose and bright red lips. Their eyes glowed a deep orange that was visible in the daylight from over 60 yards away.
"ARTILLERY, FIRE!!!" Cassi commanded from atop the wall. My eyes barely glimpsed the massive line of orange glowing metal tubes when a thunderous chorus of computerized ringing crescendoed in pitch and volume. Then, over a dozen bright beams of orange flames with two fire trails spiraling around them shot out of the tubes, hurtling through the air faster than a pre-integration missile. The impacts blasted into the giants insects, reaping massive fiery explosions across the attacking beast's front line.
"AGAIN, FIRE!" After another cluster flaming death courtesy of our cannons rang out, another barrage of fiery missiles ravaged the ants and apes alike, sending limbs scattering through the air. The first two barrages alone had killed more beasts in a matter of seconds than I could manage in 6-10 minutes, earning much of my respect for Pylon defense capabilities. The ants managed to sneak a decent size wave about 40 yards away from the Pylon when Cassi called a new command between artillery fire.
"CATAPULTS, FIRE!"
Over the wall arched the red oval bombs I'd seen before we exited the settlement. The collective hurtling bombs red paint lit aflame as they traveled aloft before falling down onto the encroaching wave of massive black ants. The bombs exploded on impact, fragmenting a shower of vibrant orange flame that appeared to dash across the battlefield like sentient napalm. The miasma of burning ant flesh wafted across the battlefield, prompting me to cover my nose with my cowls cloth.
One or two ants managed to snake about 20 yards closer before being incinerated by the barrage of fiery attacks, along with the occasional javelin slamming into an ant's head. The apes showed more signs of intelligence, splitting in formations and trying to group charge certain sections of the battlefield. By the looks of it, Cassi took note and assigned them as priority number one for the artillery.
One giant black ant sped through the group, rapidly approaching our squad across the field and allowing for me to get an Identify Off.
[Giant Bullet-Ant (Level 8)]
The bullet ant was quickly closing in, my blades splitting with flash of crackling lightning mana at the sight. Before I could dash out, however, a red mana barrier in the shape of a star erected from the ground around the fire ant. Its head singed as it barreled into the barrier before retreating, only to have its rear burned by the barrier behind it as well.
At its feet, a glyph about 20 feet in circumference glowed a deep red circle around the ant, as opposed to the orange energy that emitted from its design. The energy pulsated before intensifying, hundreds of strange symbols flowing through the containment field. The ant within started squirming in a panic before its body began visibly melting, like spilling a dark hot wax candle onto the floor.
The blasts from our cannons atop the Pylon wall persisted, mowing through the many giant bullet ants and apes alike. I'd almost ordered a retreat toward the gate and enjoy the fireworks when an ape body rocketed by me, exploding into a puff of red mist and contorted body parts.
"What the fuck wa-"
"Boss, closing in." Phoebe called cutting me off. Her bow knocked with a glowing red arrow that let out an audible concussive blast as it loosed. Following the arrow through the air revealed its target, a massive 8 legged ape with bright red lips and eyes, its nose a jagged pattern of blue and orange. The ape dashed away from the arrow in a blink, grasping the earth with 3 of its appendages and leaping toward the group.
"Steve, you're u-"
My winged snake Steve was already serpentining toward the massive ape before I finished my command, feigning a chomp and diverting the beasts aggression towards Steve. Phoebe whistled with her fingers, signaling Becky to scoop her up and chase after Steve and the ape. I was already in pursuit of the fight we could actually take part in when Derrick shouted from behind me.
"TOM!!"
I whipped my head back toward Derrick who was slowly backing away from a considerably larger bullet ant, his halberd at the ready. Identify activated as soon as I laid eyes on the massive insect surrounded in an amorphous dark mana that swirled and rippled over its entire body, barring its completely black eyeballs.
[Necrotus Clavata(Level 11)]
Fluidic Fighters Stance activated practically involuntarily, giving me the boost in speed to land a slash into one of the Bullet ants massive legs, breaching its thick body a couple inches. Its limb spewed a vile black sludge that spattered through the air. Its blood fell beside my leg, leaking a terrible miasma of dark cloudy mana that just felt…wrong.
The massive bullet ant twisted its body and fired its sideways snapping jaws for my torso. My feet shuffled diagonally towards its body activating Water Step, where three Flow Strikes quickly slashed away some of its tougher armored skin and sliced through its exposed under layer. More dark sludge spilled from its body, its stench making my eyes water as it wafted from the ground.
Where every other mana type so far was filled with bustling energies performing very differing tasks depending on the affinity, this one felt like the complete opposite. Every ounce carried an insidious intent to take my energy, rather than add or even merely affect it. The disgusting stench that bled from the beast invaded my sinuses, nearly distracting me from its gnashing maw. The Flow collected in its throat, my legs only reacting once it fired up into the bullet ants maw.
The same putrid fluid that cascaded from its wounded limb showered from its mouth, spraying across the grass behind me as I dodged. The grass rapidly tanned before rotting completely around the rippling black puddle. Derrick snuck around its backside, swinging his violet glowing halberd into the ants backside. His arms jolted back a few times straining to free his weapon, yet his Halberd remained unmoving.
It's stuck.
The Necrotus Clavata spun its body around, chittering its mandibles as it lurched its head down, attempting to latch its jaws around Derrick's torso. The halberd ripped around with its contorting body, Derrick flailing through the air behind having never let go of his pole arm.
My peripheral vision caught a glimpse of Derrick tumbling to the earth having finally let go of his halberd. The bullet ant hadn't even acknowledged me as I charged, its many legs clambering past me tunnel visioned on Derrick. My eyes squinted tight from the flashes of several Lighting Strikes penetrating its thick hide, one stabbing breaching flesh unfettered between its natural armored plating.
Dark deathly ooze spattered through the air, Water Steps agility boost keeping me mobile enough to avoid the sludges' terrible touch. The monstrous ants' head arched to the sky in response to the surge of Lightning Mana invading its body, the flashes giving brief outlines of its organs.
Explosions across the field persisted unrelentingly, dwindling the combined forces of colorful snouted apes and Giant bullet ants. Yet the powerful gnashing of this massive bullet ants jaws pierced through the booms. Its body contorted violently, changing its relentless pursuit back toward me. Its jaws continued clapping together as it raised its wound and dark rippling sludge covered chest facing me. Flow gathered at its bulbous rear end in clusters comparable to two headed Wyvern, causing me to retreat toward the gate to create space.
My caution was immediately rewarded as the bullet ants head emitting a terrible dark mist reared 12 feet into the air. Its head lurched forward violently with its maw still snapping, unleashing giant strings of its terrible dark blood at velocities comparable to bullets.
The space I'd created gave me a moment's notice to dash horizontally from the incoming barrage of deathly sludge. Every planted foot and change of direction made in response to the rapid crescendo of the ants' vile blood breath thumping behind me. The earth puffed aloft in a mixture of muck and soil behind me, the ant slowly forcing me away from the settlement walls and toward the shelling-zone.
The ants firing patterns remained on my side, never overcommitting to lead its sputtering blasts at risk of allowing me to flip hips the other direction. A wild shriek echoed through the bombardment blasting behind me. I dashed forward clumsily in response, a gust of air brushing behind my neck. My head spun around revealing one of the apes that must have snuck closer to the pylon flanking me.
At least, that was my immediate impression, until a deafening magma missile impacted the ape directly. The concussive blast launched me through the air, the bullet ant boss crossing my spinning vision upside down before I crashed into the dirt. The momentum carried my bouncing body several feet before rolling onto my back. My eyes fluttered, refocusing my vision to find myself at the feet of the Necrotus Clavata.
The colossal ants blast had subsided, its head rearing in apparent surprise at finding its target difficult meal fall at its lap. My twinblades cross in front of me in preparation for whatever attack it felt like using now fully caught out of position. Its head lifted, the horizontal mandibles snapping in anticipation. The Flow assembling in its neck mirroring its bite attack clumped before beginning its violent downward descent.
My arms braced for the impact of its massive jaw fully accepting my mortal mistake. Its head had just shifted its momentum down before twisting skyward, its body convulsing while violently spinning back around. Looking under its legs from the ground revealed Derick, dashing beside the bullet ant with his halberd in hand.
Derricks heels dug into the dirt, his eyes locked somewhere onto the ants thrashing body. I had just pushed up to my feet when Derrick swung a slash into the massive insect's body where I'd previously ravaged with lightning strikes, his axehead glowing a violet hue. The creature shook again, its Flow generating a sickly blood blast tracking Derrick.
My eyes trained onto the bullet ants neck dashing to its side, having noticed the unprotected flesh inflating with the energy generating in its mouth. My arm pointed straight for its maw, firing the grappling hook from my forearm. The hook latched into its many snapping mandibles as I willed the reel to retract and leapt as it tugged.
The Necrotus Clavata's head yanked to the side under the weight of my body as I spun aloft, riding the momentum from leaping and pulling my arm. My head flipped around to relocate its neck as I needed the utmost in precision to land my slash. The Flow in its neck shook like it was stuck in an electric current before resettling, its maw opening a foot from my spinning body. A glimmer of oily sludge dancing in the sunlight shining into its mouth.
The Flow network flared its familiar bright white glow throughout its anatomy, concentrated heavily under its chin. My eyes trained on the clump slashing my twinblade across my body, cutting diagonally at its neck from under its jaw. Flow Sever extracted a massive amount of mana from my body, releasing it into the steel slicing through its neck like butter. The Necrotus Clavata's head flew through the air, its neck blasting its terrible sludge from its body like a fire hose.
My feet found the sludge soaked grass, the mana being tugged immediately from within my boots before I dashed to clean grass. The chittering of the bullet ants legs alerted me back to its headless body, now spinning and running around aimless firing a constant stream of dark rippling muck.
Holy shit, is it still alive? Wait, where's D-
Derrick's fearful face hovering close to the headless ants body to avoid its hosing dark sludge shuffled into view as the insect spun wildly.
"Derrick! Get out of there?" I yelled, confused at his lack of a retreat. His feet twisted around toward my voice before stumbling on his first step away.
Oh, right. Clumsy people.
Freezing in its tracks, the headless ant reacted to his change of direction and responded in kind. The spray began panning toward his now sprinting figure. A rush of fear I'd let yet another person under my care die washed over every fiber of my being watching Derricks bulging eyes turned to the stream of tarry death. His eyelids slammed shut bracing for impact and leaned into the stream. A moment before his shoulder impacted, his figure shimmered out of existence in violet glow for a fraction of a second.
Gallons of life-sucking blood crossed where his body had been, his figure manifesting a millisecond too early. The blood splashed against his armors shoulder plate before he sprinted to me. Derrick frantically ripped his armor off, barely tossing it from his body before the sludge ate through the metal completely. The headless bullet ants thrashing slowed as the pressure of its spewing blood from its neck lessoned. Finally, it collapsed to the ground, the glorious death notification birthing a rush of relief.
"Holy shit, what the hell was that thing spitting everywhere?!" Derrick asked, his voice cracking in fear. His bare chest was exposed, not 30 yards from constant bombardment keeping our dooms at bay. Further along the walls, Steve was dodging around the many armed ape boss, Becky circling the ape with Phoebe on her back, raining fiery arrows into the monster. The beast fired massive webs of orange glowing energy all around, however none had appeared as much of an obstacle to either serpents.
Sighing, I grabbed Derrick's shoulder.
"You did good today, Derrick. Let's get you back inside, I'll help them finish off the other one." I said calmly with a smile, hoping to ease his visible anxiety adorned on his quivering face. He nodded in agreement before we jogged back to the settlement entrance. I pounded my fist on the massive metal gate, screaming over the thunderous explosions.
"CASSI! ONE WOUNDED! OPEN THE GA-"
The gates rumbling mechanisms cracking entrance open interrupted my pleas, which Derrick happily shuffled through before it was fully ajar. The gate immediately shut behind him as he quickly walked back into the Pylon walls. 'He did good' was all the consideration on Derrick's performance I could afford, sprinting to join the rest of my squad in dealing with the ape.
Closing in on the waging battle induced a great pride for my team giving the beast they battered a thorough inspection, including a quick Identify.
[Demonic Arachnis Mandrillus(Level 10)]
Ohh, they're mandrills.
The mention of 'Mandrillus' in their name evoked a drunken late night nature documentary with friends long ago from my memory. The colorful designs on its face should have been a dead giveaway, though my priorities have admittedly shifted since after-party bullshit was an option. It had 8 unnaturally long ape legs, with more knee joints than they ought to possess. Each leg was equipped with hands as well, though their palms had a large sharp bone sticking out as well. An absolute abomination, by all respects.
The beast was decently leveled too, compared to Steve at least. To my knowledge, Becky was the only beast present sub-level 7, though that could have changed since the contract. In any case, their combined efforts had left the spider mandrill a bloody pincushion full of flaming arrows. Its many arms remained nearly fully occupied on swatting at Steve as he glided from the ground to the air around its body.
Phoebe's endless barrage of arrows no longer carried the explosive potency they held in killing the cobra last wave, though she also remained conscious with each knocked arrow she fired. Very much so in fact, her toothy white grin visible from 20 yards away. Seeing the opportunity, I stopped to take inventory of my resource pools swaying in my fighter stance to keep Fluidic Fighter Stance active.
Health: 98/158
Mana: 13/76
Stamina: 294/497
Yeesh, didn't know I was so spent.
The state of their battle was by all respects in our squad's favor, though it was clear they'd been forced to whittle down the mandrill with arrows. Steve had yet to land any bites, at least since I'd been watching. The many arms firing the webs wildly must have been an issue he had to distract, with Becky's constriction completely unviable against the thrashing many armed mandrill.
This deadlock can't be sustainable for either party, though I'm not nearly confident enough to assume which will break first. Gritting my teeth, I turned heels toward the raging spider mandrill, resolving myself to basic counter striking. In my current state, even Water Stepping might send me into mana exhausting in a less than opportune time.
Steve completely occupied the mandrills attention, giving ample opportunity to time my approach toward the apes back between its spinning swipes. Dashing behind the beast, my twinblade slashed into its inside legs aiming for the femoral arteries. The blades ripped through multiple layers of skin drawing blood, but failed to breach deep enough to knick anything vital.
My feet shuffled in retreat anticipating retaliation, the mandrills wildly swinging backhand from two of its arms my reward. My front foot kicked off the dirt, pushing me out of range as I slashed across its passing hand. Orange glowing energy erupted a flowering flame from its body as two of its fingers rolled across the grassy field.
Steve latched his fangs into the mandrills shoulder, causing its top two arms to fall limp instantly. The ape slammed his opposite fist into Steve's skull, knocking his maw open as Steve spun his body to the grass. The mandrill spun its orange glowing webs from its remaining functional arms around Steve before he could slither away. Steve wriggled helplessly trying to free himself from the fishnet patterned mana webbing that pinned him to the grass.
The mandrill lifted its leg to stomp onto Steve's writhing skull, turning its back completely to me. One blade sliced across the mutated primates leg, the other stabbing into the previous wound I'd left in its inner thigh. The mandrills back leg collapsed under its weight, forcing me to leap and roll away from its crashing 15 foot body.
The Demonic Arachnis Mandrillus showcased its arachnid nature, using the remaining 4 functional limbs to crawl across the grass. Its head twisted around unnaturally, lifting above its torso and facing forward as it scuttled toward me. The mandrill roared as it charged forward in its grotesquely contorted form, only to be bashed by Steve's head from the side.
Steve's wings spread as their momentum carried them toward the earth, propelling him up into the sky. His feathered tail oscillated rapidly, rippling up his body generating a mass of Flow that stored under his neck. The mandrill struggled to clammer back onto its 4 legs, one limping under its weight. Steve's wings slapped to his body as his head lurched forward, zipping through the air onto the primate.
Steve's fangs pierced through the Mandrills neck, the force of impact causing its head to snap down hard under the force. Its body fell completely limp, though Steve felt no refrain in peppering the apes body in Flow Bites. Becky slithered her body around the mandrills neck a handful of times, Phoebe walking toward me casually from my side. Becky had just begun exacting her patented vice grip when Phoebe came close enough to speak over the Pylons turret fire.
"You sure know how to make an entrance!" She shouted with a smile, giving a friendly pat on my back as she walked around me.
"Once they finish, we need to head back to the Pylon! No need to risk any casualties!" I shouted back, unwilling to feel ease until everyone under my care was safe behind the walls. Of course, we could feasibly assist in finishing the ape off. However, there was an unspoken understanding that our beasts needed this win. They'd both had their prides shaken by the King Cobra, and a cowardly snake is no good to anyone.
*ding*
"It's dead, RETREAT!" I yelled to my squad having heard the mandrills death notification finally chime. Steve slithered over with his bloodied head high, flapping himself skyward as the four of us sped back to the gate and called for our entry. Once inside, Cassi met the four of us as Phoebe and I were dismounting our serpent friends.
"I take it your return without falsely reporting an injury means that's the last of the major threats?" Cassi asked sarcastically through a smirk as she approached.
"As far as I can tell. Hey you could have told me we had an unending bombardment at the ready, I damn near had my ass incinerated out there?!" I said, feeling slightly frustrated at the lack of very essential information considering my positioning.
"Doesn't look like it bothered you much. Besides, the battle is all but won now. Their numbers are rapidly depleting, and the mandrills have already been completely eradicated. Only a fraction of the ants remain." Cassi stepped closer, extending her hand out before smiling as she spoke again.
"You did good, Captain."
A grin emerged across my face accepting both her handshake and unofficial rank. Outside of insults, 'Tom' was the only name she'd ever referred to me as up until now. Besides, 'Captain Tom' had such a ring to it, I already resolved myself to the title whether she intended to assign it to me or not. Looking back at my team with pride reminded me I was a head short.
"How's Derrick? Did any of that black goo get on him?" I turned and asked Cassi hurriedly.
"Relax, he's fine. Jeez, you're acting just as worked up about that sludge as he was." She said, her eyes squinting and drifting to the floor in visible consideration.
After a couple minutes, the cacophonous explosions that rumbled the ground finally halted, leaving an eerie silence hanging in the air. A few of the soldiers on the wall arming the cannons bursted in cheer, the rest of the soldiers and giants instantly joining in celebration of our victory. My personal glee was the warming sensation of my mana being passively regenerated being back within the pylon wall. Everyone was handshaking and hugging one another, except Cassi who looked more confused than excited.
"Cass, wake up, it's over now." I said, snapping my fingers in front of her face. Immediately she slapped it out of the way with a serious expression.
"No, that's the thing. It's not over yet, the wave's still incomplete on the Pylon prompt." Cassi said, still not returning my gaze.
"But, everything out there would be dead if they stopped shooting, right?" I asked, looking up toward the laughing soldiers. A dark figure growing in the distance above them took my attention, forcing me to squint hard trying to focus.
"Cassi, what is th-"
A high pitched unsettling shriek echoed from the clouds, prompting a giant on the walls to peer up into the sky. Like a meteorite slamming to the earth, a massive eagle with a woman's face covered in patches of ice slammed its massive talons though the giant's torso, stomping off the wall and taking flight in a blink with him still in its claws. Cassi sighed as she answered my question I hadn't finished asking her.
"Nothing good. Fucking hate this place."