Ruthless ~ 53!

~ 53 ~

“I do, in fact, have a plan.” Aten told Joe, much to his surprise. “It requires a bit of legal mumbo-jumbo, so bear with me.”

“Rawr!” Joe waved his hands in front of him like they were claws. Seeing that no one was smiling, Joe coughed into his hand and settled into a seat. “Sorry, was trying to ‘bear’ with you.”

Aten tapped the table with his index finger a few times, then shook his head. “Just… alright, here we go. Will you continue working to get this town to town level five? Even without a tangible benefit?”

“Of course, but-” Joe was cut off as Aten waved his hand.

“Good enough, then I predetermine that your quest is complete.”

Quest complete: The making of an Elder. The Guild Commander has determined that you fulfilled the spirit of this quest. You will automatically become the ‘First Elder’ when the guild upgrades to a ‘Sect’.

Aten leaned toward him. “As First-Elder-in-waiting, you have more power than a measly Guild Commander. Do you want to run the guild? I can get the paperwork-”

“Not even a little!” Joe physically recoiled from the offer. The others around the table sighed a breath of relief.

“Good, because I was testing you.” Aten admitted easily, ignoring the glare he got in reply. “Just like that, you are automatically considered to be at the same privilege level as me in the guild right now. Here is my plan. You have all the requirements to move into your second specialization, except the raw stats. You and I are going to go to the breach in the wall, and work to plug it. If the battle is turning against us, I am going to activate the Aegis.”

“What happens after that?” Joe pressed as the people stood up around him and started walking. “Guys? The rest of the plan? There was more to it than that, I know there was!”

“We’ll tell you if we need to do it.” Mike grimly stated, his hands on a pair of daggers at his waist.

“This is not a comforting plan!” Joe yelled at the group. No one was listening, so he hurried to catch up with them. They rushed toward the sound of clashing metal, breaking stone, and harsh screams. 

As they got in range, Joe felt like his eyes were lying to him. His guild members were being pushed back by what appeared to be non-player mercenaries, and hundreds of people holding mauls were bashing on the wall. There was a huge chunk of wall that had fallen inward, and their current actions were widening that gap every second. 

The leadership rushed into the fray, and combat over the next few seconds proved that they had earned their high positions. They moved in delta formations, five people each, and swung their weapons in harmony, sometimes almost touching their comrades with naked steel. But, each time, the weapon would slide past and land only on the intended target. Arrows rained down on the enemies as the wings of the formations opened fire, and narrow openings were exploited to bring down the opposition. 

The mercenaries were clearly around level fifteen, just from their dangerous air and the power of the abilities they could use, but they were still routed quickly. They fell into an orderly retreat, even though they were being heavily pressured by the Wanderers. Joe saw a flash of something… a sigil? That was… these were mercenaries from a Noble House! The sigil was quickly hidden behind combat, but Joe now knew for certain that there were enemies coming after them from all walks of life.

More good news reached him. Joe noticed that Kirby was directing a group of the builders into moving the massive stone that they had set a building repair ritual on, and it should be close enough to fix the wall in only a few minutes. All they had to do was push back the opposition, and they would once again have a thick wall between them and those that were coming after their lives.

It was just then that the leadership started dying. It began with an arrow through the eye of a mage. Joe would have chalked it up to standard combat, but her scream ended abruptly. Too abruptly. Seeing purple-robed wizards coming through the crowd, Joe understood what was happening. “This is a trap!”

Though he shouted as soon as he made the connection, it was already too late. Even as Joe responded, four more leaders on their side were killed by Jesters that seemed to appear from nowhere. The silence mages stopped anyone that seemed to be trying to shout orders, and the mercenaries surged against their lines. Joe watched person after person get cut down, and suddenly Aten was next to him. “Just like we thought. If we didn’t come, they would have been able to destroy the whole wall, but if we did… they’d get the leaders.”

“You knew this would happen, and you still-”

“We thought this might happen. We didn't know for sure.” Aten grunted his words. “It is time… Golden Aegis!”

The reaction wasn’t as instant as he had hoped it would be, but the change started soon enough. There was a deep *thrum* from the center of Towney McTownface, similar to a jet engine spinning up. Golden light began pouring out from the Guild Hall, coating everything in its path like honey pouring over a spoon. Everything the light touched, so long as it was owned by the guild, a member of the guild, or was a person who was a part of the guild; all of them started to shine with the golden glow.

It sped up as it got closer to the edges of town, and in seemingly no time crashed over the walls. Joe felt a glorious sense of well-being fill him, and a counter appeared in his vision. 

Golden Aegis activated! Immunity to all damaging effects is in place for 24 hours, so long as you are in the town-specific territory controlled by the guild ‘The Wanderers’. All damaging effects against someone under the protection of the Golden Aegis will rebound upon the attacker for double damage!

Joe jumped forward and into the open, past the protections of the wall. Hundreds of arrows were aimed and released at him, dozens of spells were fired off, and fighters charged at him. In an instant, Joe was peppered with so many attacks that in any other circumstance only the heel of his feet would have remained non-shredded. Instead, roughly forty percent of everyone who had aimed at him was slapped by a dark clone, and all of the enemies were slapped if their attack landed; then dealt double damage by a golden light that rebounded on them.

Damage dealt: 83,219 Dark damage. Title effect Pierce the darkest night has come into effect: Damage increased by 10%! (All damage dealt now includes 5% armor piercing. The piercing bonus increases to 10% with dark-aligned spells and weapons.) Damage partially reduced when dealt to lower-leveled personnel, due to title effect: Tatum’s Chosen Legend.

Damage dealt: 159,211 Dark damage. (Split between 312 aggressors. See full damage breakdown?)

Skill increase: Retaliation of Shadows (Student IX). It’s not about the ability, it's about how you use it! Killing three hundred people within two seconds by using a single-target spell is quite the achievement! 

“I went up nine ranks in that spell?” Joe gasped as he looked at the data swarming in. Then he looked at the wave of arrows coming for him and laughed wildly. “More! Give me all your anger! Let the hate flow through you!”

Seeing him taunting them, hundreds, thousands, of attacks and attackers flew at Joe. Cone of Cold took the lives of dozens of fighters as they closed in, and a Dark Lightning Strike took those that managed to survive. His shadowy self was everywhere at once; slapping, slapping, slapping. Anyone who survived the double slap that could deal up to three hundred and ninety damage before other effects were considered were then hit with double the damage they would have dealt. In this way, nearly two thousand people died in under thirty seconds. 

More would have followed, but there were professionals in the mix as well. Before Joe could react, a net settled over him and took him to the ground. No damage was done, and so no reaction occurred. Joe was yanked to the ground, and though people were still dying from barraging him with attacks, he was being drawn slowly and steadily toward the enemy lines.

He couldn’t believe that he had been captured so easily. Joe roared like a caged tiger and flung spells as fast as he could manage. Acid washed his nets, and the fibers started to wither. Rough hands grabbed him, and Joe was tossed to the ground. Then, seemingly from nowhere, his robe was caught and he was yanked back into Aten’s embrace. The huge man sprinted for the walls, and dove through just ahead of yet more nets.

“You absolute walnut!” Aten shouted at Joe, who was spotless even though he had received hundreds of attacks. “Didn’t I tell you that we had a plan for all of this?”

“I was able to take out over two thousand attackers.” Joe’s words caused Aten to blink. “I thought it was a good deal.”

“What happens when they drag you off our land and toss you in a place you can’t escape, that automatically forces your bind point to that location? Less of a good trade, yes?” Aten took a deep breath as he saw Joe turn serious. “Listen to me, abyss-blast it! I need you to go and get your specialization, and I need you to do it now!”

“I can't-”

“Everything is set, except for your stats, correct?” Aten interrupted joe.

“Yes, and that’s why-”

“Otherwise, you are prepared?”

“Of course-”

“Then you need to go. You need to come back, and you need to save us. In a single day, we were forced to use our final trump card. In one more day, it will run out, and we will be running on fumes. At that time, if we don’t have something else ready… we are going to lose everything. This will last for five minutes.” Aten took a deep breath and put a hand over Joe’s heart. “Might of the Guild.”