Gentleman's Wars 2: A Tower Defense LitRPG Series

by Andrew Karevik

  At the same time, I immediately dropped the Attraction Ping in the middle of the lane, right where the designated square stood. A small circular sphere of bright yellow energy appeared in the air. It let out a loud pa-goong sound that I could feel in my teeth. The Boulder Golems who had neared the turn at the bottom left of the first lane immediately stopped moving. Another obnoxious pa-goong sounded, causing them to turn around and begin lumbering back to the target spot.

  All Boulder Golems converged towards the Attraction Ping just as the first payloads hit the targeted area. The trebuchet payloads themselves, smatterings of heavy rocks designed to explode on contact with the ground, hit within a four square radius, meaning the golems who were just catching up took full damage.

  “Yes!” I shouted as I watched their collective health bars drop down to half from the impact. The Boulder Golems ironically had little defense against boulders! And best of all, now that the enemy forces were all in one spot, the trebuchets were all firing in sync to the same location anyway. They didn’t need to rely on another Square Barrage.

  The second payload came crashing down as the ping wore off, turning the Boulder Golems into rubble. Twenty down! Thirty to go. I could do this. I just had to stay focused.

  “You read the entire ability section?” Joeth asked. I could hear just the tiniest shred of respect in his voice. “That’s in the back half of volume one.”

  “One of the most valuable things I learned at school was how to extract information from texts quickly,” I replied, keeping my attention on the entrance of the map. What was next?

  A piercing shriek answered my question. Ten Vulture Golems came flying out of the spawn point, their long wings flapping as they took flight upwards, past the hills. Immediately, my four ballistae were upon them, firing rapidly at each golem as they flew straight towards the Mana Sphere. They were taking enough damage to where I wasn’t worried about the attack on the Sphere. My Karrack Golems in the back would have an easy time blasting the birds as they grew closer…but something was nagging me here. Only ten vultures out of the gate? Was there something I was missing?

  I zoomed in on the battlefield to get a closer look, a feature I had recently learned from my intensive evening study. One of the Vulture Golems was different from the others; it had a glowing translucent torso. Within the torso I could see a strange black pulsing mass. A Leech Carrier!

  Leech Carriers were special units that were housed within any regular golem. When the golem was destroyed, the Leech Golem within would land on a nearby target and begin draining health rapidly. This too I had learned from rapidly skimming the golem codex in volume 3.

  I quickly activated the Target Marker ability, focusing on the enemy carrying the high value target. If the leech landed on the Mana Sphere it would drain our health so quickly, I wouldn’t have a chance to pry it off. Fortunately, that scenario wouldn’t be happening today. For as soon as I activated Target Marker, a large crosshair appeared over the Leech Carrier.

  Immediately all of my ballistae took aim, delaying their shot for a split second as they changed to the same target. Four piercing bolts took flight, smashing the carrier right in the torso, causing the Vulture Golem to crash down at the entrance of the courtyard. The golem’s body exploded in a black burst and the leech flew towards a Stone Golem who was standing idly by. The golem didn’t survive more than two seconds as the leech burned through its hit points almost instantly. However, upon killing the golem, the leech itself fell to the ground and died. Without a host, they were useless, hence the need for a carrier.

  “Color me impressed. Now, that must have been a lucky guess…no, you used Target Marker…” Joeth murmured. “Did you read the golem codex?”

  “What?” I asked, feigning ignorance. No reason to give him any insight into how much I had read.

  “Har har,” the Erudite replied. “Don’t think me stupid. You know how many students I know who studied in secret and claimed to be natural geniuses? Too many.”

  The small talk died down as the round continued. I had made it past the halfway marker; he only had 20 units left. I hadn’t seen any Siege Golems yet, however, and knew that those could still change the tide of battle if I wasn’t careful.

  Five Ignition Golems came scuttling out of the spawn point, their little red glowing bodies crackling with energy. Looks like they wanted to change the layout of the battlefield, for they were heading straight towards the barricades that blocked off access to the courtyard. With the barricades destroyed, the enemy had a short trip to the Mana Sphere.

  Fortunately, I had prepared for this well in advance. The golems were able to hit the barricades and explode, but my explosive resistant upgrades prevented all but the first barricade from being demolished.

  “Hrmph,” Joeth said. “There is no way you accounted for that too.”

  “Actually, in all honesty, I had prepared for this a while ago,” I confessed. “Had an entire army of Ignition Golems ruin a map once. Never again.”

  “I suppose there is a reason your House is still standing,” my instructor said. 15 enemies to go. What else would he have up his sleeve?

  Four Siege Golems were the answer to this question, accompanied with the usual Karrack Golem escort. The final group for Wave 1. Predictably, the Siege Golems dropped down onto the ground and began their preparation time, armored shells covering them. Two minutes was long enough for all my cooldowns to reset, save for the Attraction Ping.

  The enemy Karracks were forced to begin moving, however, for they were within range of my Miniature Trebuchets, the payloads narrowly missing them as they marched down the first lane. With their enhanced fire rate, the ballistae were working their magic, firing shot after shot at random soldiers, dealing a serious amount of damage. In truth, I wasn’t worried about the escort. The Siege Golems would be a hard fight due to their armor.

  Although, I could just drop Sandozium on them once they were up and about, then watch as the invasion attempt slowly rolled to a halt. I let out a sigh of relief at the realization that my foe wouldn’t have a chance of winning this round. Had I really done it? Had I repelled his forces?

  No! Whether it was the Study Brew causing its natural paranoia side effect or my determination to win, I decided not to assume that the battle was over. As long as there were enemy golems on the field, the fight was still going on.

  I focused, waiting for the two minutes to pass. Time seemed to inch by, until finally, the shells retracted, freeing the enemy Siege Golems to begin moving. The payloads from my trebuchets harmlessly bounced off their armored bodies, barely denting the large stomping constructs as they lurched down the lane.

  “Quiz time,” Joeth said. “What is the biggest strength of the Siege Golem?”

  “How much damage they do to buildings,” I replied, watching as the enemy force lumbered down the lane.

  “Nope. It’s that their upgrade path is unbelievably versatile, making countering them always just a little hard to predict ,” he replied. “Let’s see you learn that in a single night, flipping through books.”

  I opened my mouth to question what that meant but was interrupted by a strange grinding sound. The Siege Golems were beginning to scamper? It wasn’t particularly graceful, but yes, moving like elephants, these golems began charging forward, building up momentum with each step. My jaw dropped at how damn fast these constructs were going.

  The large golems tried to take the first turn gracefully, but they had trouble maneuvering, instead slamming into the wall of the map. I could feel the ground beneath me shake, even though I was still inside of my office in the Manor. The golems recovered from their crash and began lumbering forward once more, charging down the lane in a matter of seconds.

  The enemy Karracks were thinned out here, too few for me to worry about. Instead, I had to figure out some way to stop these giants from reaching the end point so easily. They were moving too quickly for my trebuchets to do any good and they’d easily knock
aside my defending forces in the courtyards. Sure, I could drop their armor with Sandozium, but they were already halfway across the map. They would still have a great deal of health by the time they reached the end of the map, even without armor. And it wouldn’t take too many hits from even one of them before my Mana Sphere was done for.

  Come on…think. What about…hmmm. They couldn’t take turns easily enough, right? They smashed right into the wall cutting off the battlefield from the rest of the world. My eyes turned to one of the alchemical compounds. Pulvarium. In liquid form, Pulvarium caused anything it touched to become brittle, destabilizing the item on a very small level, disrupting the essence flow. The application in battle was that any enemy covered in the stuff would cause damage to itself when attacking an enemy, but with a tiny little modification…

  I was quick to activate Alchemical Barrage, inputting Pulvarium, mixed with Aquani and a dash of Ichor. The effects of Pulvarium would spread throughout the mixture, giving it an area of effect, since Aquani was more liquid. This would dilute the strength of the mixture, but judging from how fast those Siege Golems were going, I wasn’t too worried about dilution.

  Gritting my teeth, I targeted the square right before the point of impact. The four Siege Golems charged forward, building up momentum that could not be redirected towards anywhere but the wall. At the right time, a coat of thick blue and white liquid came crashing down from the sky, covering all but one of the golems.

  “You kept Alchemical Barrage? Kind of a niche ability…” Joeth murmured. I braced for impact as the three coated golems smashed right into both the wall and each other, unable to take the turn due to their momentum. Each Siege Golem exploded into a thousand pieces, shattering like glass. The first broke from impact on the wall, the second and third died from crashing into each other, their bodies too weak to hold together.

  “Son of a bitch!” Joeth shouted, watching as the fourth one slammed into the wall. All other units were dead, save for the last unit. It was tough to take down, but thankfully with the combined force of all those Stone Golems, towers and Karrack Golems, we were able to kill it before it got to the last turn.

  I felt myself panting as the words appeared before me. Wave 1 complete! I did it! I actually did it! The world around me began to buckle and wobble, and I could see the Grid begin to fade in and out. Oh great…of all the times for the Study Brew to wear off. My victory was short-lived, for at once I felt a sharp thump against my skull and then nothing.

  Chapter 21

  I woke up gasping for air, swiping my hands wildly like a madman. The assassin! The assassin had struck me! I had to fight back.

  “Eeep!” Lily shouted, leaping away from me. I realized that I was in a bed, in our medical ward. Lily had been stitching my forehead, leaning over me as she worked, only to be slapped by my frantic attempts to prevent another assassination.

  “Easy, champ,” Joeth said. He was sitting beside me, munching on an apple without a care in the world, boots propped up on a table. “You got the old Grid Wobbles and cracked your skull on your desk. Hah.”

  “Grid wobbles?” I repeated, sitting up. The world was slowing coming back into view. “Oh Lily! I’m so sorry!”

  “Don’t be. I’m glad you’re okay,” she said, smiling pleasantly at me. I smiled back at her, then felt my stomach drop as the rest of reality returned to me. I still had to have a miserable chat with her.

  “Give us the room, will you? Gotta talk trade secrets,” Joeth said, tossing an apple in the trash can, eliciting a loud clunk!

  “Come, he just woke up. Why don’t you give us a minute instead?” Lily growled. She didn’t seem to like the Erudite much, scowling at him and crossing her arms. I’m guessing this was a common reaction he had from others. But she wanted to talk to me about something? What could it be?

  “Actually, Miss Lily, I do need to speak with him, I apologize,” I said, wincing as the pain began to return to my head. I really had done a number on my brainpan. And the aftereffects of the Study Brew were now in full swing; I could feel my teeth chatter and the sensation of spiders running down my legs. How much of that stuff did I drink?

  Lily smiled back at me and bowed deeply. My eyes went wide as she swept down, her cleavage quite revealed at this angle. I quickly looked away (well, as quickly as any man could, I suppose), thinking about what Sigmund had said. The top button of her blouse was indeed undone. “Of course, Master,” she said. “Anything you wish.” She rose up, gave me a little wink and then strolled off, unceremoniously slapping Joeth’s boots off the table.

  Once the door was shut, I looked at the Erudite. “What do you want?”

  “Two things. First, that girl is mad for you. You should have seen how fidgety she was while waiting for you to wake up,” Joeth said.

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  “Because if you don’t make a move, I will,” he said with a chuckle. “Sharp, educated and has a mean streak hidden deep beneath a façade of subservience. By the Stars I love maids.”

  “I get the distinct feeling she won’t find you as charming as you find yourself,” I replied. “What’s the other thing?”

  “Just gonna glance past it? Fine, whatever. Second, we gotta talk about the fainting. Serious talk here, have you passed out before while using the Grid or afterwards?”

  There was a seriousness in his voice now. He had sat up and was leaning forward, intently listening to my words. Was something wrong here? “Er…once before. But I was tired. And had been running pretty much nonstop.”

  “I suspected as much,” Joeth said, drawing in a breath so sharp it whistled. “That’s not good. Not good at all.”

  “Is it a disease?”

  “No. Just a sign that your physique is…maladaptive towards the Starmetal Signet. It’s a hereditary trait, passes down on the male side,” he mumbled. “Probably why your patriarch didn’t participate. It’s not so bad when you’re young, but when you get older, it can become a serious health issue.”

  “What does that mean?” I said, frowning at this news. I was searching the man for some hint of jocularity, some irreverence to indicate this was some cruel prank, but no. He was dead serious.

  “In practical terms? You now have a bedtime and someone who will be assigned to get your ass in bed every night by ten. No more all-nighters. And you’re going to have to put on some weight, eat full meals with plenty of meat. Cut back on the booze if you drink too much. No smoking either. Cause it stinks and stains your teeth.”

  Those all didn’t sound so bad. If anything, it sounded like I’d have to stop living life like a college kid and more like an adult. That would go well in line with my new list of adult responsibilities. “Anything else?”

  Joeth slapped my thigh. “Get working on a replacement for yourself. If you have kids now, you’ll be able to pass your starmetal on by the time your issue starts to become a real problem. Otherwise, expect to bring a bucket and a fainting couch with you in your forties.”

  I didn’t know what to say to that. On one hand, it seemed that this would be a perfectly legitimate excuse to leave the life of a Grid Commander in a few years, once I had an heir and the gentry was stable. On the other hand, this was a very curious thing and the scientist within me wanted to do some experimentations with alchemy to solve this problem. No doubt many others were afflicted with such a curse.

  “Do you have literature on this?” I asked. “I would like to know much more about this condition.”

  “It’ll be in your books,” Joeth replied with a sigh. “Sorry, bud. I thought you had real promise. But, hey! That’s then and this is now, right? Let’s focus on today and to hell with tomorrow! I gotta say, I was really impressed with your defenses. Really impressed.”

  The match! That’s right, we had been battling over some kind of wager. “Oh…did I forfeit?” I asked. “By passing out, I mean?”

  “Once invasions begin, they don’t end until someone loses,” my in
structor replied. “Your towers made it to wave three without you. Though you had like 3 hitpoints at the end of the second round. Still, two wins is impressive. Not shoe-eating impressive, but impressive enough.”

  I groaned and leaned back in my bed. My head was really pounding from the hit I had taken. “So what’s your evaluation now?”

  “Quick learner. Studied man. Very fast at adapting,” Joeth said. “You’ve got the goods, kid.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means you have massive potential. Short-lived, as mentioned earlier, but I’ll be honest. I could see you reaching Lord fairly quickly. I’d put money on you becoming a Baron, if you can master the political game. But that’s not my department.”

  These were encouraging words. Becoming a Baron? Wouldn’t that be something? “Thanks,” I said. “Now, I need to get a straight answer out of you. No more studying or evaluations or challenges. What is the best way to prevent a superior force from annihilating you?”

  “Superior in skill or number?” he asked, producing another apple from seemingly nowhere.

  “Assume both. And they’re not going to bother attacking my territories; they’ll head straight to my Manor to take me down.”

  Joeth thoughtfully bit into his apple, crunching loudly as he ate. “A wall defense is your best option. Build a wall around your entire domain. Then, you design a defensive map. But here’s the key. You don’t place the actual defenses until the attack happens.”

  I frowned. “What would that accomplish?”

  “Walls are different from territories. The enemy chooses a point of entry, which then creates an exterior battlefield area. If you place your defenses on the west side, for example, he’ll just attack the south side. It’s virtually impossible to defend all points of your wall at the same time. Instead, you keep your defenses nonexistent, having mapped out your strategy on paper. Then, in five minutes you buy buildings like hell, as fast as you can. An entire defensive force pops up in front of him and you make him suffer.”