Chapter 194: Size Matters

“There’s a group, heading through the valley in the middle, straight towards the southern fort.” Ria said, leaning on a stolen halberd. It was the weapon she was most comfortable with, and she only used shapeshifted claws if it was absolutely necessary.

It was an interesting ‘personality’ quirk that Loth had noticed about the most righteous of the three facets of Brianna’s personality. Ria naturally felt that using weapons made her more human, just like Anna felt that the validation of others made her more human, and Bee got her fix by defying laws to prove she had free will.

Each of the girls unconsciously expressed their distaste for themselves in different ways, and if they had more time, they would be an excellent case study.

Alas, they did not have more time.

“What’s the group’s composition?” Loth asked.

“About forty of them…Looks like all warriors.” Ria said.

A vanguard meant to punch through Ria’s numbers and reinforce the defenses of the southern fort.

They were too far away from Loth’s group and June’s group were operating. The sky was still under their enemy’s control, so they wouldn’t be able to rush there with any speed without getting Abilities dropped on their heads.

They would have to carefully backtrack to the west in order to block them. A group of dedicated warrriors would probably cut through whatever barrier Ria could make, but she might be able to buy enough time.

“Engage them. I’ll send Mason to-“

THUD.

Loth watched as all the muscles in Ria’s body went tight at once, and the girl toppled over before a keening cry escaped from her lips.

Across the group from them, the same happened to Bee and another Ria, all their muscles tightening at once as though they were somehow displaying the symptoms an instant form of tetanus.

Mental attack. Crossing the link between them. Those were not warriors.

Loth mentally berated herself for not asking enough follow-up questions as she looked up at the sky.

All the patrolling palanquins were beginning to change course.

They’re going to meet somewhere to the northwest.

Loth’s mental map of the situation showed them coalescing around this mysterious group of forty and forming an escort, making them an impenetrable moving fortress with one goal:

The Tangled.

“Everyone that way! MOVE!” Loth shouted, pointing towards where Brianna’s real body was hiding and following that statement by breaking into a full-on sprint.

“What about them!?” Jason asked, kneeling beside Bee.

“That’s exactly why we have to run, GO GO GO!”

“Let me-” Jason seemed to concentrate for a moment before he, Reggie, Alicia, Mason and Loth were all picked up by invisible bands around their waists.

The kid didn’t have Will’s control or speed, but it was still far better than using their legs.

The landscape slid by underneath them.

An explosion sounded nearby as a distant Nuker tried to get a shot off on them, but missed due to their speed.

“There!” Loth shouted above the roaring wind, pointing at the hidden cave where they’d left Jean.

The fifty or so Tangled that had been guarding her had dropped their camouflage and were writhing on the ground in pain.

Loth had her bugs widen the cave entrance until they could rush in and pull Jean out into the light.

Jean’s eyes were wide but not registering anything as she gave rapid panting breaths, like a wounded animal trying to process the pain.

Crack-crack-crack-BOOM!

About half a kilometer away, a series of explosions was followed by a larger one, and even from here they could see Will’s hammer flailing above the short desert trees, soaked in blood.

He must be closing in on twelve feet tall.

“Mason and Reggie, go backup Will, he’s gonna get killed. Alicia, help me scan Jean Jason, buff them, then come here.”

“But-“

Loth silenced him with a crooked finger.

Loth felt several Charges travel from Jason to Mason and Reggie before they took off toward the battle, sprinting at full speed.

“Alicia, tell me what you see.”

“There’s some kind of curse in her brain.” Alicia whispered, kneeling beside Jean. “It’s…resonating? Like the way a guitar string vibrates.”

Figured as much. A resonance, huh? That’s probably a delicate maneuver.

If another psychic Ability took up space in her mind, it might crowd out the other one enough to stop it from reinforcing itself, breaking the loop.

Or she might just die and we did their job for them. One way to find out.

“Jason, have you ever tried to use Withering Repudiation to only do a little psychic damage?” Loth asked, rummaging through her pack for a healing potion.

Jason shook his head, his face pale.

“Think you can complement someone while using it?” Loth asked.

“I don’t…know?”

“Well, good a time as any to try. Give yourself and her that luck buff. You’re gonna need it.” Loth said, instructing her insects to create a shelter around them.

The cave didn’t have quite enough space to work, but that didn’t mean they wanted to be exposed to the prying eyes of Caddock’s fliers.

Loth saw Jason take a deep breath and felt a Charge reach out and form a link between the two of them.

“Jean, I hate you because you’re such a stupidly nice person it makes everyone else feel like a jerk by comparison.” Jason whispered, his eyes watering.

*William Oh*

They must’ve spotted Will dropping on them, because his body was suddenly knocked around by the Nuker’s lukewarm Abilities, causing the Tanks in the damage relays keeping those fellows alive to wince in pain.

“It’s HIM!”

Will felt something insidious worm its way into his mind, bursting into the forefront of his thoughts like a-

The rapid build-up of ominous miasma in his mind was cut off by the jarring impact of Will hitting the target dead-on, crushing one of the cursemongers underneath him.

Again, the damage was relayed to the Tanks, but the man was just as neutralized planted in the ground like a daisy.

Will leapt to his feet and discovered he was surrounded by children.

Or…that’s what it seems like.

Will was three feet taller than the tallest man here, with most of them coming up to the bottom of his breastbone.

User gains a bonus to attack/movement speed when damaged.

Now was the time to see if he had truly packed enough speed into this Build to surprise them.

+65% movement speed base, plus a boost every time I’m damaged.

Will hefted the warhammer he’d created to round out the Build. Will had been running out of good Relics so it wasn’t amazing, but it had a good gimmick that scaled excellently with increased size.

Warhammer of shockwaves.

+12 Strength

+5 Resistance

+8 Kinesthetics

Creates a small shockwave on impact that redeals a small portion of the damage dealt by the initial strike.

8% Lifesteal

It had been a warhammer when he was only five foot eight.

Now it was a sledge.

Will felt an ominous Charge move behind him and to the left.

Will lashed out with blinding speed and folded a cursemonger around the hammer.

BOOM!

The damage was absorbed by the tanks but the shockwave launched the cursemonger into the distance.

Before he was even done swinging, Will felt another ominous charge begin to be channelled through a nearby soldier.

Will lashed out with his foot, sending the enemy tumbling backwards like a kicked toddler, his armor dented.

Gods, I hate this Build in theory, but…I have to admit, it’s fun when it works.

Will felt another Climber activate an Ability, but it didn’t have the queasy feeling of a curse, so instead of launching himself at the enemy and preempting the attack, Will held still for it.

A spear of liquid metal launched itself outward and caught him in the chest.

People get confused in battle. They forget things.

One of the nearby Tanks staggered back, eyes bulging as he clutched his chest.

“How much Resistance does he have!?” one Climber demanded, his voice buried among the barked orders and screams of pain.

A lot.

There’s one!

Will felt another cursemonger trigger his Abilities from across the clearing, so he put some effort into making it there as fast as possible. His feet cut furrows through the ground that looked like plow marks as his kit made him the fastest thing on the battlefield, despite also being the largest thing.

Depsite all that speed, it wasn’t fast enough.

Will blacked out for a second as the Ability leapt out of the mans’ hand and latched onto his-

Will blinked, discovering himself half-buried in the tree that had been behind the cursemonger.

The CC specialist was caught between Will’s chestplate and the tree, crushed like a grape.

Will shoved himself out of the tree and staggered to his feet, feeling more cursemongers triggering their Abilities.

I’m not gonna make it on foot, Will realized.

Because of all the damage he’d been soaking in the last few seconds, Will had grown another four feet, putting him at around twelve feet. His little warhammer now the size of a man.

Will juked behind the partially crushed tree and wound up a massive strike, hitting it from behind.

BOOM!

The shockwave had grown with the size of the hammer, as did the damage it dealt.

The tree disintegrated, sending shrapnel straight into the tightest cluster of Caddock’s men.

Slim chance this works, Will thought, already plotting his next move, only to pause as the two cursemongers were hit with chunks of wood large enough to send them skittering across the battlefield, disrupting their Abilities.

Wow, that was lucky…Jason?

Will’s reinforcements were coming.

Let’s keep their focus on me.

“AAAAAAAAAH!” Will let out a bellow so deep and earth-shaking that it even surprised him.

A moment later he flickered forward, diving back into the thickest knot of soldiers and lashing around with all his might, ignoring their retaliatory strikes, as each one only made him stronger.

Each swing came faster than a blink, absorbing the panicked flails of tiny toddlers with their toothpick weapons, sending half a dozen of the dwarfs hurtling away. The Tanks in their damage chain slowly begin to sink to their knees, fumbling through their doll-like pouches and suck their tiny potions as the damage began to mount.

Holy crap, I might actually-

Will blacked out for real this time.

**Caddock**

“Huh. We got ‘im.” Caddock said with a satisfied grunt, looking down at the fifteen foot-tall William Oh toppling to the ground from his flying observation deck. Several of the small desert trees were crushed under the giant’s bulk.

His cursemongers had finally managed to get him under control, but not without some serious damage to their formation.

At least six Tanks were dead, and more of his men were buried in surfaces where a blindingly fast swing from the Deceiver’s hammer had planted them.

“Alright, kill him.” Caddock said without preamble. He didn’t know how much time they had before his Party arrived.

“…How?”

Caddock blinked, slowly turning to his lieutenant, a single brow raised.

“Take off his Relics.”

“Right. Right!”

“Take off his Relics!” The lieutenant shouted as they descended.

His men leapt into action, swarmed around the giant, like ants tearing apart the corpse of a giant beetle.

Shoes the size of a man were unlaced and pried off the enormous feet, immediately returning to normal size the instant they left the last head-sized toe.

“Sixty-five percent to move and attack!?” The man removing the shoes yelped in surprise before running up to Caddock, who was overseeing the process of dismantling their foe.

“My Lord, what should we do with his Relics!?”

In response, Caddock unsheathed his blade and bisected the boots in the man’s hands, causing him to flinch and inspect his hands among the swirling Relic dust.

“Don’t give him a chance to put them back on! That’s what you do with it!” Caddock shouted.

“Listen up! every Relic you take off of the Deceiver is to be destroyed immediately!” I don’t care if he dies in the next few seconds, or if it’s the most powerful thing you’ve ever seen, I want no trace of this kit to tremain in the next fifteen seconds, understood!?”

“Yessir!” A chorus of voices shouted as they pried the helmet off and destroyed it, accompanied by the bangle, amulet and ring.

I guess it’s the armor doing it, Caddock thought, watching the process proceed. The soldiers began to gather around the armor, frowning and talking in a knot that suggested a slowdown.

“What is it?” Caddock asked, approaching.

“The armor, it’s fixed.”

“…What?”

“Looks like he welded parts of it together and the laces are knotted and glued together. They’ve got wire in them and they’re thick as a man’s wrist. It’s not meant to come off. We could do it, but it’s going to take some time.”

Bastard.

Caddock shook his head.

“Too slow. Form a damage relay on me! I’m going to cut this bastard’s head off!” Caddock shouted. There was no way his Thorns and lifesteal were potent enough to ward off a determined hacking with all his other kit gone.

He felt the link form behind him and he braced himself beside William Oh’s enormous neck, like a logger about to get to work.

Caddock raised his blade and brought it down with all his might. It felt like cutting into Blessed Steel. He’s got over four hundred Resistance. No Wonder.

The damage backlash was strong, but not insurmountable. About sixty percent. And the lifesteal was even less. Caddock glanced back at his Tanks, who looked fine.

He’d cut through a half-inch with that one strike.

Just need to get through the spine.

Caddock raised his blade again.

BOOM!

A Conflagration detonated on top of them, shaking him in place.

“Nuker! Nuker!” his men shouted as they returned fire.

“My Lord, the Tangled are waking up!” Caddock heard the shout from across the clearing.

Lucky Bastard.

Caddock sheathed his sword.

“Grab all our cursemongers, living or dead, and retreat.” Caddock said. They were the key to curbing the Tangled going forward, and as long as the enemy didn’t know how many he had left, they wouldn’t dare to be as bold as they had been leading up to this engagement.

“What about-“ His lieutenant pointed at William Oh, bleeding slightly from the back of his neck.

“What, you wanna carry him?” Caddock asked. William oh was simply too big for them to cart back and dispose of at their leisure.

Giant Lucky Bastard.

“Let’s MOVE, people!” Caddock shouted.