CC 11: Thunderplump ~ Twenty-Four!

As soon as they were out of the doors, the sound of dozens of alarms being sounded around the Town reached Joe's ears. Clearly, nearly every sector was dealing with a breach, and the closest ritual towers to the Town were sending out their deadly payloads. “I'm just going to go ahead and say it. The soundproofing in that building is crazy good.”

“Happy for you,” came the curt reply from the Legionnaire still running alongside the councilman. “Southeast section is the most heavily damaged. No one was expecting the Boss Monster to attack from an angle that wasn’t at least somewhat in line with the main entrance.”

“Can you give me a rundown on that beast? I need to know more so that I can plan for it in the future.” Joe's question was met with pursed lips for a long moment, as the soldier was either ordering his thoughts or calming himself down—giving Joe the chance to feel twice as bad about having ignored combat for so long.

“Yeah. It was a new boss, along with a set of elites that were the same as it, just a lot smaller. It was called a Pachycephalosaurus Palisade Puncher, which we already shortened to Triple-P.” The Dwarf paused and worked his jaw, trying to push past the minor tongue spasm he’d just experienced. “It was some kind of dinosaur pulled out of a glacier, set up like an oversized battering ram. The thing ran in a straight line, pretty much ignoring anything that hit it straight on. Couldn't make a dent in the blasted beast.”

Joe's eyes scanned the inner wall, not noticing anywhere that they’d even cracked. “Well, it's obvious you guys took it down, so…?”

“Right, so, it was massively armored and completely mana resistant on its head, but once we were able to get behind it, the boss fell as easily as any Penguin would have. Only problem was, by the time we figured that out, it’d smashed through six walls and turned to hit the next ones. It cut a ‘V’ by going straight in, then straight out, somehow ignoring the compulsion to go after the Town Hall, I guess.” The Dwarf sighed and pulled at his beard. “First line of defense got to have all the fun bringing it down. To be fair, I guess most of the big threats have gotten deeper than that, and they've missed out, so it's all working out in the end.”

“Yeah, but not in the way I hoped it would.” Joe lightly stated. “I'd be pretty happy if all of the Boss Monsters broke against the first line of defense. Abyss, here’s a scary thought. Can you imagine how completely wrecked our Town would be right now if we only had a single layer of walls?”

Both of them shivered at that, then the Ritualist grabbed the Dwarf and activated Omnivault, launching them over the innermost wall and into the next set. “Blasted human! Dwarves aren't meant to fly!”

“Not flying!” Joe chuckled in reply. “Are we getting close to… oh.”

“Yeah.”

Two major sights had caught Joe's attention. The first was the swath of destruction that had been cut through the barricades. From the space where they were standing, they could see the swarming monsters outside of Town. The hundred-foot-long chunks of wall had thirty-foot holes that had been shattered in almost the exact center of the outermost one. They continued at an angle, thanks to the curve of the hallways, until the final one had been struck and ripped off the endcap of the wall. Then the pattern reversed itself.

The second and much stranger event was how the sections of walls that had not been destroyed were behaving. The enchantments Grandmaster Snow had ordered to be placed on them were active, and Joe was thrilled to see them in action for the first time.

Little by little, the hundred-foot-long sections of wall bounced into the air and approximately a single foot over at a time. Joe had been leery about its usefulness, but the Grandmaster had pointed out an extremely pertinent detail: when there were breaches in the wall, they could move sections so that they created funnels, exactly as was happening now. Also, when they started to have an area get overwhelmed, they could move the walls and cut off one route into the town, opening up another that would force the monsters to stop, turn around, and seek out the new entry.

“I love seeing what magic can do,” Joe cheerfully commented as he set up the Ritual of Repair. These had been in such popular demand that he always kept a few primed and ready to go—for situations exactly like this one. Tapping the activation sequence, Joe pulled out a Mana Battery and set it on top of the ritual, allowing the glowing stone to act as the power source. As it connected to the wall, chunks of stone that had already begun burying themselves in the blowing snow began lifting up and rolling toward the wall, seamlessly melding back into place.

Taking a few moments to ensure that everything was running properly, Joe clapped the Legionnaire on the back and Omnivaulted forward, setting up another ritual at the wall in the same layer that had been damaged during the triple-P's exit of the walls. “This isn't too bad, give it… let's say half an hour? Then this layer will be fixed up.”

“I'll inform the commander.” The Dwarf stoically replied. Joe shrugged nonchalantly then threw himself to the top of the wall and across to the next layer.

While it certainly would have been easier to just walk over, the density of monsters pouring into the labyrinth suggested that attempting to set up another ritual at ground level would not be a wise decision. While his debuffs insidiously attempted to make him do just that, Joe pulled out another diagram and set it up. “Abyss. Never expected I’d need a giant stack of these. I'll have to go see if I can borrow some from the maintenance crews.”

After he finished activating the ritual, he looked around and noticed that there were active rituals humming along around the entirety of the settlement. “Oh, right. It wasn't just the Boss Monster that smashed in. I wonder how bad the damage is from the smaller versions?”

He waved down a work crew, letting them know where he had set up the rituals and leaving it to them to finish up the repairs.

“Our enemies are adapting.” It took a moment for the voice to be recognizable, but Joe paused as Grandmaster Snow's voice boomed throughout the entire area. “They’re going after our walls, our confidence, attempting to subvert us and crack our protections. But we are still learning and growing faster than they can! Our victory over this most recent Boss Wave may feel like a tainted victory, that we’ve been pushed to our limits, and I know all of you are feeling the strain.”

She paused, her voice losing its weary tinge and allowing steel to seep in. “On the plus side, we are the Oligarchy! We don't just stand on the edge of disaster, we stomp on it and try to figure out how far we can fall before catching our balance! I'm sure you’ve all seen the Legendary-rank monster bearing down on us in the distance. Well, the world does not punish without offering a gift in the other hand! When we defeat this giant, it will be smooth sailing to the next two settlement ranks! I have received confirmation that there will be no final boss allowed during our next upgrade, nor the one after that!”

Joe perked up at that, tilting his head and listening intently, as it seemed that the Grandmaster’s speech was not yet complete.

“To that end, I am authorizing the use of three Grandmaster-level abilities that had been classified as too brutal for general use back in our previous home. When the time comes, don’t try to take a peek at the devastation. Just bunker down and try not to get caught in the fallout.”

There was a subtle shift in the air, and Joe understood that there was nothing else coming. “Yeah, right. Like I wouldn't try and see what Grandmaster-rank abilities look like in combat. Although… I hope that when she said ‘fallout,’ she didn't mean literal fallout. That’d be annoying to clean up.”

Joe snorted at that thought; if they had radioactive fallout drop on them, he was more concerned with how long it would take his Neutrality Aura to clean the space around him than he was over its long-term effects. “I've said it before, I'll say it again. Magic is neat.”

As Joe moved among the defenders, he found the air abuzz with discussion on what Grandmaster abilities would be used. People were debating whether it would be Havoc, Mcpoundy, or Snow who showed their trump cards first.

“You’re forgetting that Master Wrath pushed through to the Grandmaster rank!” another voice chimed in excitedly. “That's why he stepped down and allowed Master Frenzy to take his position; he wanted to spend time in seclusion, gaining control of his skills. I hear they were too strong for him to use anywhere someone else could see him.”

There were a few other names bandied about, but Joe didn’t recognize them. That did put a question in his mind that made his brow furrow and his eyes narrow. “How many Grandmasters are hidden away in this group? Why’d I have to run across the entirety of Alfheim to find three of them who would come along with us, if a sneaky half dozen were already standing around me? I swear, if I find out they gave me busy work to keep me away from the cool things happening…”

He let out a breath, reminding himself that he had a part of a pretty amazing adventure himself. With a coy smile, Joe muttered, “None of those hidden ones managed to melt the Elven capital, though, did they? That was all me and Havoc.”

In fact, it had been almost entirely Grandmaster Havoc, but Joe liked his version of events better.

Wave forty-seven came to a close with the repairs more than three-quarters complete. As the last monsters in wave forty-eight were cut down, the defenses had regained full functionality. Joe made sure to be present after he realized that repairing the walls with his ritual also repaired the enchantments that had been placed on them. There was something extremely satisfying about seeing a wall have a final chip of stone replaced, shine like a strobe light for a half minute, then begin bouncing along in time with all of the others.

As he thought about how he could probably figure out a way to mimic that ability, using rituals of course, Joe turned his thoughts toward the Novice-rank skill he needed to choose. From the time it became available, until it was too late to get one, was three hundred and thirty-six hours. At this point, from the start of the Beast Waves until the twenty-fifth wave, two hundred hours had passed. Until now, the remaining waves had only consumed a hundred and thirty-eight hours, leaving him with only an hour and some change until the option was lost. Even then, he would’ve missed it, except for the fact that wave twenty-six had been initiated early.

“Whew, that was a close one.” Joe chuckled nervously as he looked at the timer that was still counting down, having had to dig through hundreds and hundreds of notifications in order to find it. “Well, at least with the energy in the air stabilized, I can just ask my faction leader. Query: Tatum, which skill or spell should I choose?”

For a moment, the air around Joe's head went still, then his mind was blasted by static, similar to when he’d tried to send a message through the walls of the greenhouse. He clutched at his ears, screaming in pain from a sound only he could hear. The sound cut off, and he pulled his palms back, noting that they were coated in blood. He healed himself, unable to even hear the words he was saying to cast the spell.

Sound returned in a rush, and he looked at the notification that was waiting for him.

Occultatum is unable to answer this Query! His attempt to inform you of a Mythical-rank spell has earned him a three-day period of silence. As it is not your fault for making the attempt, and the Skill you used was forcefully canceled, resulting in backlash, you have been compensated in the form of Skill levels!

Query (Beginner 0 → Apprentice 0). Congratulations! By reaching the Apprentice rank in this spell, you are now able to reach out to your deity twice a day for Simple answers or once a day for a Minorly Complex answer.

“Wonderful, how great is that?” Joe spat sarcastically, waiting for his Neutrality Aura to clean off any remnant blood. “A whole rank in a spell they don't let me use. Nifty. Why not two ranks, three? It won't matter, will it?”

His annoyance went unanswered by the system, which he was equal parts thankful for and annoyed with. With a sigh, he tried to think of who else he should ask, and immediately his mind went toward Havoc or Snow. Unfortunately, Joe fully understood that the two of them would most likely be busy at the moment preparing their most powerful weaponry to throw at the giant.

“Jake the Alchemist it is.” Without another word, he pushed off of the wall backward, flying across open space as if he were lucid dreaming. “Ooh, that’s nice. High Characteristics are pretty neat, too.”