by Prax Venter
“The reason I’m here,” Harrak said, “is to exchange intel on the changes to our enemy. We have encountered two new types of Demon and there may be more out there. The only way to prevent more casualties is to know what we’re facing.”
“A wise man,” Reedon said.
“What do you know?” Keo asked.
Jack had an enormous flat stone hoisted into the meeting room from the beach and Pan carpentered him a sturdy stand to brace it against one of the walls. Haylee stood and approached this blackboard already filled with pictures and data by Demi this morning.
“These drawings represent the two new types we know of: The Vel Demon and Floateye Demon. From reconnaissance and experience, we know Vels vaguely resemble the former Orchid Oracle, Velintanna. They are more intelligent than Stalkers and serve as competent and strategic commanders. They all spawn with unique faces and do not exhibit her personality. It is possible the real Orchid Oracle will still respawn as a child and any sighting must be reported immediately.”
Jack didn’t believe she would reappear. It was wise to keep his mouth shut because he really didn’t know anything for sure and it was obviously in everyone’s best interest to make sure she wasn’t able to hurt anyone ever again. But the way Velintanna died did not feel false to him. The only other real human in this virtual existence looked him in the eye with the weight of eternity lifted from her mind as she lost the final numerical representation of her virtual life. His Royal advisor continued and pulled his attention to her presentation.
“The Corruption not only copied her form, but it also copied Hero abilities from The King, the Queen, and me. Through some initial scouting encounters, we’ve determined all three powers are lesser versions of the originals. My Withering Stare is a channeled ability that I can spend Mana to keep active indefinitely while the Vels can only trigger a 10-second movement-slowing effect. We are not sure when it resets as they either escape or die before they use it again. They can become untouchable mist for 5 seconds instead of the full 15 granted by a third-tier Bastion Class. The Demons still cannot move or act without breaking the effect. Lastly, they can Teleport short distances. An ability stolen from Jack’s Dimensional Blade path.”
“Fortunately,” Jack added, “it’s only short distances, but we’ve received reports that they can trigger these six-foot shifts every thirty seconds or so.”
“None of this is fortunate,” the Supreme Mayor said.
Jack held up his hand. “Yes. Antagonizing the corruption incurred its wrath, just like you said. But our whole existence is under attack by a force of nature that will not stop until everything good is gone. How about you and I admit that we were both right and move forward.”
“The Floateye Demons,” Haylee continued, “are small, capable of flight, and can attack with an energy beam from their single eye that deals 10 damage per second. They look similar to our Orb Pheasants, but with webbed wings instead of feathers. Guard archers can take them down with one arrow, but as we saw in Pinefall, they can appear in overwhelming swarms and are resistant to the lightning damage dealt by the kingdom’s defensive towers.”
“That’s what we know,” Harrak said. “Most of you are shielded by Towns at the front line and do not see many threats leaking through, but these Vel Demons are too smart. Stalkers were bad, but the other Demons never truly followed strategy of any kind. Our foes no longer blindly rush our Walls. Even the lesser ones become organized and uncomfortably disciplined when a Vel is nearby.”
“There’s more,” Asarah said. “Farrah and Sevik led deep scouting to the east and came back with tales of enormous teeth pushing through the Corrupted land to form rings around Dark Towers. Our foe is now building its own Walls.”
“And our Walls are ineffective against teleporting Demons,” Keo of Tyga Slopes said.
“This is true,” Jack agreed after a pause to gather his thoughts. “But we are not done changing the rules. Right now, we have scholars and inventors working on new ways to abuse what we know, while still others are pushing the edges to learn more. The children of Mother Sana are only beginning to take hold of the wonders lying in plain sight just waiting for us to pick up them up and help protect her. Our new steam-powered boat prototype is days from seaworthy and will open new unreachable places to us. The Corruption wants to build a monster that can teleport through Walls? So what? We build two Walls with spike traps between them. We have a foe that flies? Then we build giant nets, or develop craftable AOE bombs any Townsfolk can throw, or we answer with our own flying machines. Nothing is against the rules, and every time the Corruption grows frightened and adapts to our tactics, we will rise to the challenge with ten more new ideas it never saw coming.”
Jack got nods from everyone and turned when his Queen and Bastion stood.
“That this is our world is no longer in question. It never should have been. But that was before- what we were before. This is a new world. It now falls to us to determine what both we and Mother Sana will become, together.
THE END
of
Irrelevant Jack V
~
I’m starting on Irrelevant Jack part 6 immediately. Hopefully, 3-4 months.
But you know how the real world can be.
~
You’re 5 books deep now.
If you’ve made it this far, there is a good chance you are enjoying the series. I needs them sweet reviews to live, but this time, I am asking you to please take one more step and find a positive review to mark “Helpful”. Especially way back on Book 1. If you’re a Prax Venter fan, these little anonymous clicks can make a huge impact.
Thank you for discovering Subroutine Sana with me.
Prax Venter
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