Ruthless ~ 25!

~ 25 ~

“Welcome to the party, Joe!” A guard shouted at him. It took a moment for Joe to remember the man’s name, it had been a while since he had talked to him, and he only seemed to appear during stressful situations.

“Uh… Jay! What’s happening?” Joe looked around and saw that there were various Mages blasting water at the burning barracks, and even more people were running toward the walls. 

“Under attack from, I don't know, some kinda collabor-” Jay coughed in pain as a blade erupted through his chest. Joe’s eyes shot wide open as an assassin resolved out of the shadows for only an instant before vanishing again. For the first time, Joe started having serious doubts about losing his ability to see and interact with the shadows. Before now, he had been able to somewhat see the rogues. Now, that extra defense was gone.

Almost before thinking of it consciously, Joe used Mend on Jay and brought his health back from the brink. He wasn't able to fully heal the critical backstab, but Jay didn't die instantly. “Dark Lightning Strike!”

There was a clap of thunder as his skill impacted his shield and traveled across the ground. Two previously stealthed attackers appeared, and he pointed his staff at the one that was dripping blood from his blade. The man flinched back, but a moment passed and nothing happened. Joe cursed as he remembered that he had no idea how to call the shadows anymore. “Wither… Plant!” 

The spell fired off and hit the assassin, who looked at himself, then Joe, and started running at him with his daggers out and poised to strike. Joe turned and ran, cursing himself repeatedly. “I literally only have Acid Spray right now!”

On the plus side, that was a spell that could be blind fired. He cast over his shoulder, using his staff so that it wasn't too awkward to keep running. He was aiming for the open doors of the Pathfinder’s Hall, and while running he promised, “I’m getting a weapon skill as soon as this is over!”

Critical strike! You have been backstabbed! Exquisite Shell absorbs 822 damage! 42 damage taken due to defense penetration! Bleeding heavily due to damage being focused on kidneys! -15 health per second. Poisoned! -20 health and -50 mana per second! Mana regeneration halted. Poisoned: Mage Murder: 00:01:29

Exquisite Shell: 878/1,700

Health: 457/534

“I hunt Mages like you for fun!” The assassin called at him, clearly furious about the face full of acid. “You’re already dead, you just don’t know it!”

Joe put his full strength into a leap, shooting forward like a rocket and covering dozens of yards in an instant. The assassin called out in shock, but remained focused on ending him. He made the mistake Joe had been hoping for, following him into the building. “Juggernauts! Enemy attack, defend the building!”

“Acknowledged.” Purple and silver raced up the suit of armor as it activated, and the assassin was cut in half by the third step he took. “Warning blow given. All future attacks will be instantly fatal. Enacting defensive protocols.”

Joe healed himself, stopping the bleeding but keeping an eye on the poison that was coursing through his body. His Aura made it last forty-five seconds instead of the ninety it was supposed to, but the poison was draining him of mana at a huge rate. At the last second, he healed himself one more time, bringing his mana to zero. He gasped as his Aura collapsed, and the poison started vanishing at its normal rate.

He did the math as quickly as possible, and sighed in relief as he saw that the poison would end in twenty-three seconds. That would take four hundred and sixty health, but leave him with roughly forty. Joe was going to survive. “If I couldn’t heal myself, that single attack that I mostly blocked would have killed me…”

Joe looked at the Juggernaut. “Did you say that was a warning attack? The one where you sliced him in half?”

“Affirmative. Deterrent protocols. First offenders are given a warning.”

“But you cut him in half.”

“He survived long enough to receive the warning.”

Joe gulped, once again very pleased that these things were on his side. It did make him think about and discard his idle thoughts about stealing active temples from others, they would certainly have their own ability to defend themselves. “How in the world did I get into this building? I was running, and I jumped, but…”

Since Joe could barely move, and didn't really want to crawl to the exit, he pulled up the information for his jump skill; trying to determine if there was any information it could give him. After a moment, he closed it and sighed. He would need to search for answers elsewhere.

Poison: ‘Mage Murder’ has worn off!

After another ten seconds, Joe used Lay on hands, then again until he was at full health. He waited for his mana to reach full, then activated his Exquisite Shell and Neutrality Aura once more, then waited longer to have full mana. “That took… like three minutes. That’s pretty rough… I would have been nothing but a liability if I would have stayed in combat.”

Now determined to help, Joe raced toward the fighting. He healed everyone along the way that didn't have a player killer Aura, and avoided anyone who did. After searching through the chaos for a short while, he heard Bard’s voice chanting something and followed the sound to the source. He stepped through the choking black smoke and found Bard and Poppy with their backs to the burning barracks as they faced off with three attackers in hot pink armor.

Since they were facing away from him, Joe felt comfortable in his next action. “Acid Spray!”

The attackers screeched as their gear started melting, giving off a toxic odor. His teammates used the opportunity to take down two of them, then Poppy vanished with the third before coming back a moment later standing over a corpse. “Whew, that skill is sure seeing a lot of use today!”

Joe dent a heal to Poppy, he was bleeding freely from a cut that ran from his nose to his temple. “They catch you with your pants down?”

“Basically.” Bard gruffly nodded, coughing as he pulled in too much smoke. “Ya see Alexis anywhere?”

“No, I almost got killed by a mage-hunting assassin.” Joe’s Aura finished off their smoke-inhalation debuff just as he asked, “Do you have any idea what’s going on?”

Poppy replied, too calm for the situation at hand. “It appears that we are under attack from the other three Noble Guilds. As far as I can tell, they are targeting buildings and attempting to sabotage our progress.”

Quest update: The making of an Elder. Town rank has fallen to Rank One! Current progress: 1/5.

“Oh, that’s not gonna fly! We need to put an end to this right now!” Joe’s entire bald head went red as fury coursed through him. He turned and ran toward the gate, trying to think about what he could do to fend off three guild’s worth of attackers, but honestly couldn't think of… Joe winced as one thing came to mind. He still had one more anti-personnel ritual ready to be activated, but if he just dropped it somewhere it would impact his guild mates as well.

“Bard, can you watch my back and help me get to the main gate?” Joe didn't wait for an answer, jogging toward the place where smoke was most prevalent. It seemed that there was a huge amount of fire mages or something along that line attacking over there, and he was never more pleased that the walls themselves were a combination of metal and stone; those wouldn't be burning anytime soon.

“Want me to come too?” Poppy asked so seriously that it was clearly sarcasm.

“Of course! I need someone to clear the way!” Joe kept his eyes forward, so he missed the smirk on Poppy’s face. The town was pretty small and compact, so it only took a few minutes to push through the smoke and devastation. The main gate had been forced open, and the Wanderer’s Guild was fighting in the chokepoint and trying to push the people back. There were clearly heavy losses on both sides, but there were so many more people attacking than defending that the tide was shifting drastically.

“Aten! Mike!” Joe’s voice was barely heard over the din of battle, but between one moment and the next, Aten was in front of Joe.

“What, Joe? I know this is important, because otherwise you wouldn’t be interrupting me in the middle of a siege!” Aten barked, his eyes glowing almost as brightly as his armor and weapon. 

“Guild Commander!” Joe returned with as much military discipline as he could muster. “I need to get to the gate, then I need all our people to move back! Area of effect coming. Friendly fire is a concern, but it should give us a serious reprieve!”

“I’ll make it happen.” Aten didn’t ask for any more specifics, simply turning and barreling into the cluster at the gate. Joe and his current teammates followed as closely as possible, but Aten was fast. His sword was dancing through the air with flashes of light that seemed to capture too much attention. At one point, Joe was almost positive that he saw Aten punch people with both his hands while his sword cut down another foe at the same time. 

Joe blinked, and Aten’s sword was in his hands. That had been a… mirage? With Aten leading with such momentum, they were able to shove the fighting back a few feet. That was enough. Joe took the metal plate the ritual was inscribed on, slapped it on the ground, covered it with bloody dirt to hide it as much as possible, then brought up the activation option.

“Full retreat!” Joe bellowed, his odd dark charisma making people around him flinch. Aten echoed his order, and the Wanderer’s Guild fell back, losing all the ground they had just managed to take. Enemies started pouring through the breach, and Joe let loose a deep breath.

Activate Ritual of Proximity (Wind Blades)? Yes / No.

“Yes.” 

Defensive charges used: 0/500.

Joe opened his eyes as the ritual powered up. Wind blades started sweeping through the area, faster and faster as the ritual realized that there was a plethora of targets. The screams of battle turned to pain and outrage as the gate area was turned into a charnel house. 

Only the people without defensive abilities or high constitution were killed or heavily damaged outright, which turned out to be a surprisingly small amount of the players that were attacking them. Most were able to tank several hits before they took damage, but there was a secondary effect. Jo noticed another weakness: the ritual seemed to have no tracking ability. As soon as the target was determined, a blade flew out. Here it didn't matter too much. There were so many people packed together that even if someone dodged, the blade still hit someone. On the plus side, the blades hit hard, which meant knockback came into effect. Thanks to that, enemies were sent onto the waiting blades of the Wanderer’s Guild or slapped back into the enemy lines. 

“Poppy, Bard!” Joe bellowed, over not only the combat, but the rushing wind. “We are the only ones it won’t outright attack, we need to get over there and close the gate!”

Joe and Poppy ran into the open space and started pulling the left gate door closed. This left them open to spells and archers, but most of them were at the back of the enemy lines and didn't have a clear shot. The attacks that got close were tanked by Bard, and he also worked to shove bodies out of the way as the gates were pulled. 

“Gah! Need ah heal, Joe!” Bard called over painfully as he pulled an arrow out of his clavicle. Joe wasted no time, slapping a hand on the Skald and pumping him full of healing energies. When the left gate was closed, they moved to the right one and started repeating the process.

Defensive charges used: 431/500.

“Aten!” Joe shouted into the town, “Five more seconds and we could use a hand!”

“Charge! Close the gates!” Aten bellowed, charging forward. He took a wind blade, then two, and the ritual collapsed. More people grabbed onto the gate, while those that had been slightly slower cleared the fallen. The gate slammed closed, and a few bars were loaded onto the rungs.

“Reinforce this!” Aten moved from fighter to commander in an instant. “I need everyone in first and second division to sweep the town! For anyone that doesn't know what I mean, that's all rangers and people that can spot stealthed players, paired up with a fighter to hold them off! Move, move, move!”

Joe collapsed against the wall and heaved in a few breaths, his stamina hovering near empty. He watched Aten run to the top of the wall and shout at the people now trapped outside. He couldn't hear what was being said, but Aten came down with furious eyes almost ten minutes later. “Joe, top level meeting, right now. Come with me.”