CC 9: Tenacity ~ Thirty-Eight

The ever-swirling storm clouds hung low in the sky, seeming to sink lower as if to get a better view of Novusheim’s impending doom. While Joe had convinced the Dwarves to set scouts, and ensure that they weren't taken by surprise by a sudden surge, his main focus was completing the inner set of Journeyman ranked walls. The only creatures to escape the commands of the Cyclops were the least intelligent, most feral of monsters. Fodder, in other words.

So long as the main force was held back, Joe was confident in his capabilities, and had the Dwarves with him smash the walls that were in place, immediately beginning work on the replacements. Each time he heard one of his ritual towers strike a creature down, he had to grimace at the sheer waste of the Mana Batteries. “That could’ve damaged fifteen monsters…!”

The countdown had continued apace, and already the twenty-fourth wave was set to begin. Joe had given up on watching the monsters accumulate around the Cyclops: he already had such a desperate sense of urgency that he was practically drowning in it. Acting quickly to defend the Village was one thing. Seeing close to ten thousand monsters surrounding a massive behemoth in their midst?

That was enough to cause urgency to shift into despair, and Joe wasn't about to let that happen. “Gotta stay busy, gotta keep everyone else busy as well. Idle hands means a mind focused on things that are out of our control. Fight that anxiety!”

The last section of wall he had a ritual for finally went up, and Joe sent an extremely relieved smile toward the Town Hall. Every corpse in town, every scrap of raw material, had been donated to the cause of upgrading the walls. The town would need to pay back the appropriated materials, but that should be a blip on the radar compared to the sprawling field of creatures that were going to be coming in the next few hours. A slightly dark thought made Joe realize that perhaps the town also wasn't too concerned about repayment… perhaps they thought they might not make it through the attack.

“Incomiiiing!” An undulating call went up, causing the fresh smiles to slip, and removing the feeling of relief that the intense walls had created. With a simple nod at the people that had been helping, Joe shot into the air, flipping over and using his motion to gain a panoramic viewpoint of the situation. From this distance, he could only make out the fact that a subset of the creatures had broken away from the main forces, and were zooming along the ground toward the walls.

“Why now?” The Ritualist grumbled to himself as he stared at the snow that was being kicked up into a cloud around the approaching monsters. “If he has control of them, why not wait until wave twenty-five has officially begun? Is there a limit on how many he can control? Or is this something more sinister?”

He waited as patiently as possible, having no other options at the moment. The rituals were as charged as they could be, the inner walls were complete. That meant that his role in the situation was now only to watch and support as needed. Time passed quickly, and the monsters were exceedingly fast. Only the vast distances involved made the procession seem slow—that, and Joe's mounting anxiety. Yet, even as the kicked-up snow got closer, Joe found that he still couldn’t see the individual monsters that were leading this charge.

He knew that could only mean one thing, and the rapid-fire shouting from the scouts only confirmed his fears. “The entire attack force consists of Salamanders! Prepare to engage, they’re after the walls!”

Like a German sausage festival, this was a wurst-case scenario for Joe. His rituals would be effective against the cluster of deadly chill-exuding lizards, but there would still be a lot of wastage. In practically no time at all, the maelstrom of Ancient Ice Salamanders crashed upon Novusheim; each step the icy creatures took sending more intense shivers down the spines of the defenders. Both figuratively—as they prepared themselves for a battle more against the elements than against the creatures they could easily dismantle—while also literally, since the movement of the beasts caused a shift in the air itself, rapidly decreasing the temperature of the early night of Jotunheim.

The Trash-rank barricades of the Village—already weakened by previous assaults—groaned, and in places cracked, under the strain of the creeping frost. The super-chilled air clung to the walls, moment by moment increasing their fragility. Joe realized that this was an effective tactic that the Cyclops was using against them, creating a vulnerability simply by having these physically weak Salamanders lead the path forward. Joe was certain that the incoming monsters would cause layers and layers of the walls to fall, simply by walking past them and engendering enormous vibrations to shatter the now-frozen emplacements.

Unsure of how he would handle the situation, the Ritualist was taken aback as the Legion called for a charge. Thousands of Dwarves rushed forward, swarming up and over the walls like an ant hill that had been kicked. Even with their speed, by the time they reached the enemy, the Salamanders had completed two circles around the Village, and he could see enormous fissures ready to fracture further and leave holes in the defenses.

Taking the fight directly to the enemy proved advantageous, even if the Dwarves had to be mindful of the splash-damage Joe's rituals could inflict on them. The defenders had split into three groups: the main body of fighters had remained in the Village, while the attacking force had split into two groups, one to go forward further, and one to handle any Salamanders that managed to escape the vanguard.

With the speed that the creatures could move, it almost proved not to be enough, but Joe's Ritual of Dark Lightning Strike managed to snipe the last few that escaped their clutches long enough for the aggressive Legionnaires to fall on them. The final Salamander fell, and soon the last of the Dwarves that had been trapped by the breath weapons of the monsters were chipped out of their icy prison. A quick headcount later showed that they’d taken no permanent losses, and the healers were already moving to assist the worst damaged or debuffed of their comrades.

A resounding cheer went up as the announcement was made that they had won without any losses, which turned out to be a grave mistake. As the shouts reached a crescendo, harmonizing with each other, chunks of the Trash-walls in multiple places around the city shivered and shattered. Joe could only clutch at his head with both hands, letting out a deep sigh of frustration as the now-sheepish Dwarves simply shrugged and scrambled swiftly to the semblance of safety they sought.

Joe counted eleven enormous gaps in the walls, and quickly mapped out the path that would allow for the quickest entry into the Village proper. He could only groan as he realized that without fixing the issues that had just been created, over two-thirds of the total defenses would simply be ignored by the oncoming horde. “There's no way. There is absolutely no way. Even with everything that we can throw at them before we have to have blade meet flesh, it's still going to be a rough battle. If they don't even take a ball of acid to the face? Yeah, we'll be overrun in no time flat.”

The Ritualist wasn't one to give up, and even with the fact that they were on the brink of defeat, understanding the likely destructive power of the impending Cyclops attack, he wasn't ready to evacuate or throw his hands up and surrender. Joe simply couldn't shake the feeling that there must be a way to salvage the situation. With that in mind, he sought out answers by walking atop the walls, inspecting the damage and comparing it with what he knew he could do, and what the people around him could provide. “The attack could come at any time… but I'm betting the Cyclops is going to wait until the start of the next wave, when he maximizes his forces.”

There was a thick layer of ice on the walls, and Joe knew that over half of all of the Earth Mages had left with the group of civilians to set up their own defensive encampment. The likelihood of fixing these long stretches of wall with the same magic that had raised them in the first place was, to put it gently: low. “I just don't have the resources to set up effective walls out here with my rituals, not to mention how complicated that version is compared to practically anything else.”

The sound of skittering Salamander claws caught his attention at that moment, and he unleashed his Ritual Orbs without another thought, following up the physical attack with every magical option at his disposal. The nearly-invisible Salamander that had been creeping through the area, apparently sent to weaken the foundations of the walls, was pinned in place and torn apart by the swirling combination of attacks.

You have slain an Ancient Ice Salamander! Experience gained: 100.

As though that notification was a rough kick into the slow-moving system, several other notifications Joe had been waiting for appeared.

Experience calculations complete! Due to special circumstances and the recursive rewards that you are able to gain, you have been given an option. While on Jotunheim, you may choose to either:

1) Gain 5% of the standard experience and 100% of the resources that you reduce into aspects, when using rituals to slay your targets.

or

2) Gain 10% of the resources that you reduce into aspects, and 100% of the standard experience given for a kill when using rituals to slay your targets.

Yes, this will limit you greatly. These rules apply here due to the sheer quantity of targets, and are to help enforce balance.

As soon as the words entered Joe's eyes, he could only see red. His mind began spinning in circles as he weighed the two options presented to him. With option one, he’d be leaving this world nearly as weak as he had entered it; but with a surplus of materials. It seemed like a reasonable choice, certainly the best choice for him with his magical lifestyle. Still, Joe couldn't shake the feeling that he was being short-changed, as if the world was deliberately attempting to hold him back.

His eyes flipped to the second option, promising a more generous return of experience… but it would mean losing ninety percent of everything he was owed. The allure of faster progress and greater awards also was enticing, but the sense of unease settled deeper into his mind. He hunched over slightly, so disturbed by this strange imposition that he instinctively curled into a more defensive position. Attempting to take deep breaths, Joe tried to think of what he should do.

In a moment of clarity, Joe activated Query for the first time in weeks. “Tatum, what should I do here?”

With his divine spell at Beginner zero, the feedback was almost enough to drown out the near-instant answer that came to him. Still, it was clear enough to understand. A single word answer from the in-game deity that he followed made Joe's eyes go hard.

“Refuse.”

“It is giving me options… I see. I think I understand.” The Ritualist’s back straightened, and he firmly stared down the message, trying to swallow his anger and spit out his thoughts. “You're not giving me choices. You are asking me to willingly accept a lesser reward for the work that I'm doing. This isn’t about trying to make balance… this is someone realizing that they messed up along the way and didn't expect us to be this successful, this fast. No. I will not accept this neutering. I will not go along with it.”

When he turned his head away, the system screen he had been seeing remained locked in its geospatial coordinates, as though it were frozen there by a bug in the system. He could only assume that was the world's way of saying that it was in shock, but frankly… it wasn't Joe's problem. He glanced back at the screen every once in a while as he walked away, until it faded into the distance.

Then it appeared in front of him again, three times as large as it normally was, replaying a message that he’d grown to hate.

Experience gained! Calculating…