Life Reset: Human Resource (New Era Online Book 4)

by Shemer Kuznits

  Even from this far out, we could hear his happy cries of: “Oi, that’s gotta hurt,” and “Sorry, mate, mush luck next time!” We all cringed at the terrible puns.

  Still, the enemy wasn’t entirely helpless. Whoever was leading the guards was highly capable. Within seconds, the enemy’s melee soldiers divided into two. One part moved to surround and contain the golem, while the second one formed a line to block the incoming hobs. Spellcasters joined the fray, sending blobs of acid at the golem and waves of fire at the incoming force that was rapidly shrinking.

  “Now, Chief, now!” Bob cried.

  I touched my earring. Aidanriel, Nero – now!

  Aidanriel was visibly diminishing as the enemy destroyed more and more of his beads. But he still had enough to enact the next part. He raised two of his tentacles over the surrounding enemies and two short Viridium rods appeared at their ends.

  Flames erupted as the enchanted fire rods unleashed their magic, washing over the enemy and dropping several of the soldiers holding the line in front of the hobs. Emerging from the hob mass came the dark-skinned Nero. The half-dragon charged, barreling directly into the gap. The remaining two dozen hobs let out a battle roar and charged after him. They clashed with the town’s defenders, pushing them back with pure ferocity, forcing them farther away from the gates.

  The surprise attack was enough to breach the gap completely and drop a few more enemies, but the move had cost us. The enemy quickly retaliated, closing ranks around the fighters. The hobs were attacked from all sides while the enemy casters refocused their bombardment on Aidanriel.

  Then a white light flashed and every still-standing hob was reduced to ash.

  I gritted my teeth. That goddamn dwarf was starting to get on my nerves.

  But the mission was accomplished. While the hobs made their desperate suicide charge, lumps of shadow disengaged from under them, infiltrating beyond the defenders and into the city.

  Aidanriel, that’s enough, come back.

 

  You’ll be blasted to pieces if you don’t leave now. Hurry, they’re closing the gates!

 

  The golem started moving. It retracted its flailing limbs, transforming into a giant pink wrecking ball. Then he started rolling. Luckily, he still had enough spheres remaining to maintain his level above 100, granting him the ‘Hurl’ skill. The soldiers encircling him were thrown away like bowling pins or squashed under his weight as the golem rolled over them.

  More spells and arrows impacted his bulk as he made a mad dash out of the town, leaving a few broken spheres behind him. “Singer slash songwriter golem reporting for duty, mate,” Aidanriel said cheerfully as he came to a stop before me.

  I examined him and sighed. Aidanriel had made it out just in time. He was level 92, having lost over a third of his bulk. “Any spare spheres left?”

  “Sorry, mate, I had to use them to keep up the good fight.”

  There was no helping it. Still, we’d accomplished our objective.

  Caught unaware by the presence of the golem, the town’s defenders balked at a crucial moment, allowing us to breach through their defenses and slip in a stealth force.

  Sullivan approached me. “Phase three is complete,” he said, sounding excited.

  I glanced at the horizon. The sky was becoming brighter. “Now all we have to do is wait and watch.”

  ***

  The knight captain of the guards sheathed his bloody sword. “Report!”

  “Sir, we took down the entire enemy company. The golem escaped, though it was damaged pretty badly.”

  “Casualties?”

  “Twenty three guards and 60 drafted civilians, sir.”

  “Damn,” the captain said. He wasn’t too worried about the monster army though. They were numerous but weak. If not for the unexpectedly tough golem, his soldiers would have dispatched the hobgoblins with hardly an injury. Still, taking out 200 of the monsters’ finest soldiers was nothing to scoff at, even if the price was high.

  “Alright. Officers, I want everyone back on watch duty. Triple the guards on the front wall. Rotate the rest to be ready to engage at a moment’s notice. Send for builders to fix and reinforce the gate. I want half of our casters constantly on watch too. I doubt they’ll be trying this tactic again, but we’ll be ready for them if they do.”

  “Told ya those goblins were a bunch of crafty sonsofbitches,” the dwarf traveler said, cleaning the crystal scepter with a piece of cloth.

  The captain nodded grudgingly. “Thanks for the help back there. That light burst was effective, and it didn’t hurt any of my men.”

  The dwarf chuckled. “Just an Agent ‘o Light ‘ere, fighting the good fight. Got myself some sweet bit of XP from them mobs. Some of ‘em were even decent level.”

  “I’m glad you’re satisfied,” the captain said dryly. “In any case, it seems like they’re not preparing for another attack, so–”

  A shrill scream cut through the air.

  Everyone turned toward the sound that came from farther inside the city.

  “Dear gods,” one of the guards breathed. “They’re inside the walls!”

  ***

  The crew manning the mounted catapult was bored. Most of them were civilians – engineers who were tasked with maintaining and operating the mounted war machines. They rarely ever fired the massive machines and only as a training exercise. The guard detail that usually accompanied them had all left to reinforce the front gate and were expected back soon now that the attack had been repelled.

  “I’m telling you, Jin,” said Ontro, an enthusiastic youth warming his hands over a small brazier. “I heard one of the veterans say this is the largest force to come out of the Badlands in the last decade. We’re sure to see some action on our side.”

  Jin, the elder of the two, rolled his eyes. “Not likely. There’s a whole river on this side of the walls. Those catapults were put here over 20 years ago in case someone tried to bridge over it, but it never happened. It’s a wonder those rust buckets still work.”

  “Hey!” a third member of the crew protested. “I’m working maintenance. Those babies will keep for another hundred years, mark my word.”

  Jin chuckled. “I’m only joking. The catapults were a gift from the capital. Dwarven made. They’re bolted into the walls and will last as long as the town stands.”

  “Still, I wish we’d seen some action,” Ontro said with a big smile. “I’d love to smash in an Ogre’s head. If one of them ever gets close enough.” He punched a fist into his open palm, and a spray of blood came out of his neck, painting his crewmates in crimson.

  The two looked at each other uncomprehendingly. A blade was yanked out of their young friend’s throat, and he fell limply, revealing a grinning beast, all scales and teeth, behind him.

  Two more kobolds attacked from the shadows, slitting the throats of the other two humans. With the crew taken care of, the kobold assassins picked up the brazier and turned the decade-old war machine into a burning pyre.

  ***

  A panicked alarm arose from within the walls.

  I stood far outside of town, eyes closed, my mind searching at the very limits of my range, tracking the movements of my troops inside.

  The kobolds were systematically moving toward the mounted catapults at the sides of Novenguard’s walls, taking out their crews and destroying the dangerous war machines. It didn’t all go smoothly. Some of the crews had soldiers bolstering their ranks, and some of the surprise attacks failed to kill everyone, giving the survivors the chance to raise the alarm and call for reinforcements. Still, the assault was mostly successful. Before they were picked off, the kobold assassins destroyed two-thirds of the machines, leaving the west and northern parts of the walls exposed.

  Everything we had done so far – keeping pressure on the front wall to draw in more defenders, sacrificing 200 hobs and over 3,000 foblins, Aidanriel’s big reveal, and the
mad dash at the end – was just a distraction to allow the assassins into the city undetected.

  And it worked.

  The city was far from defeated. Their archers and soldiers still posed a significant threat, but their ability for heavy bombardment was mostly taken away from them.

  The cost was high. The dead kobolds alone had a combined level of 1,000, and the slain hobs included some of the highest levels of my army. Still, it was worth it. With phase four complete, we were ready for the next one.

  “Zuban.” I approached my chief constructor. “The area around the town is secured. It’s your turn.”

  “Yes, Dire Totem,” the hob replied. With a few sharp orders, he got the dozens of workers moving. In no time at all, they split into three lines and were moving toward strategic locations around the enemy town.

  Lirian approached me. “Father, I want to join the final assault.”

  I closed my eyes. I knew this moment would come. I brought Lirian here because I’d witnessed her power and had to admit her capability. But she was still my daughter, and it was hard to allow her to enter a dangerous situation.

  I opened my eyes. “I’ll put you in charge of one of the main attack groups. But I want your promise that you will go in last.” My eyes located a hulking spiked Ogre. “And I want you to take Rhyno as your bodyguard.”

  She nodded. “Yes, Father.”

  I could tell she wasn’t happy about my wariness, but she was still going to see a piece of the action. She knew me better by now than to push for more.

  With a flick of my mind, I accessed Alpha Base’s resurrection menu and paid the required 50,000 EP to bring back all of our dead. I had enough energy remaining left to afford such a price two more times, but we were going to need all the forces now.

  The sun was rising over the horizon, and the Shadow-Touched bonus left my army. We had dealt the enemy a decisive blow, but we were vulnerable now.

  And it was their turn to act.

  27 - Counterattack

  “Dear gods, they’re retreating!” a guard on top of the wall exclaimed to a chorus of cheers.

  The captain of the guards watched the horde of monsters pulling back into the fields and shook his head. “It’s not over yet.”

  “Why would they be pulling back?” one of the officers asked. “They lost a quarter of their numbers, but they still outnumber us, and they haven’t even sent the Ogres to engage us.”

  “That’s ‘cause the greenies hate the light,” a gruff voice answered.

  The soldier turned as Ragnar approached. “Them beasties love the dark, see?” He chuckled.

  “How would you know that?” the officer scoffed.

  “Ye’ don’t get to be called The Goblin Slayer for nothing, boy,” the dwarf answered. “They’re weak when the sun’s out. Now’s the time to bring in the hurt to them.”

  “No way,” an officer objected. “You saw what happened when we sent out a force; they murdered every one of our soldiers.”

  “I was there, boy,” the dwarf snapped at him. “I know what we’re up against. We got our body count back there, but them greenies keep comin’ back. See?” He pointed out at the far distance. As the bulk of the monster force pulled back, dozens of others streamed out from the Badlands toward them.

  “This is our chance,” the officer said. “They’ve started building something around the town at the catapult’s blind spot. They’re lightly guarded; we should use this chance to destroy them.”

  “Wha’ we need,” the dwarf countered, “is to attack them head-on. Cut off the head of the snake, or they’ll just keep on comin’.”

  The captain nodded slowly. “The traveler has a point. Those constructions are probably just another decoy.”

  “Now yer getting it.” Ragnar smiled darkly. “I’m going out there. Who’s coming with me?”

  The captain looked over the horde of retreating monsters. “I have a plan.”

  ***

  We retreated about halfway toward the Badlands, giving the town a wide berth and giving us ample time to respond when the counterattack came.

  I doubted Novenguard’s defenders would send another force, considering what happened to the first one, but Sullivan convinced us we should be prepared for another assault.

  “From their perspective, it’s their best chance to deal with us, you see?” he explained patiently. “As far as they know, we can take our time and pick them off one by one until we take over the town. Their best course of action is to send out a preemptive strike to try to cripple our forces, maybe even call for help from Everance. My point is, we should prepare for an attack.”

  So we did.

  We spread the army out in a protective circle around our players and officers. An attacking force would have to cross a battalion of Ogres and hobs to get to us. The town garrison still held the advantage of having higher-level soldiers. If they’d committed their full force to a single concentrated attack, there was a good chance they could inflict some serious damage on us, but Sullivan said they’d never leave the civilians as Novenguard’s last line of defense.

  We settled down to rest for the day and prepared ourselves to act at a moment’s notice.

  It was close to high noon when the enemy finally made their move.

  “The gates are opening!” a call sounded over the slumbering army.

  Everyone got to their feet, and all eyes went to the incoming forces. Instead of sending their full force, a group of only 40 mounted warriors came charging out through the gates.

  My soldiers readied themselves, closing in around us as the group charged at full speed in what looked like a suicide attack.

  I narrowed my eyes. “What are they doing?”

  “Ogres to the front,” Bob bellowed. “Soldiers, close ranks, don’t let the enemies through. Archers, ready to shoot when they come into range.”

  However, halfway through, the riders split. Two, ten-men groups went to either side and moved to flank our forces, while the main group of 20 heavily armored warriors charged on ahead.

  “What are they doing?” Bob said with a frown. “Why are they trying to flank us with only a handful of soldiers?” The general motioned for another squad of Ogres to take point to meet the cavalry charge.

  I concentrated on the smaller groups, reaching with my mind across the distance. It was far outside the range of my Analyze skill, but I could still get whiffs of information from them. It was subtle. And full of mana. My eyes widened as I realized what was happening. “Those are mage squads!” I shouted. “Disperse our forces! Casters, raise your shields!”

  Our enemies had played a clever ruse, using their higher mobility and our tightly-knit formations against us.

  The disciplined hobs started following my orders and spread out in all directions, but the Ogres were slower, and they were still clustered closely together. At least the Ogre Mages had managed to activate their mana shields before the enemy acted.

  The flanking riders started raining spells on us. Fireballs, ice waves, and lightning bolts descended on my army. Dozens of hobs fell to the AoE effect, but much more would have been killed if I hadn’t ordered them to break rank.

  I spotted a fiery bolt reflected off a glassteel armor, but that was a solitary occurrence. The hob archers tried shooting back, but their arrows deflected harmlessly when a shimmering dome appeared over the enemy mages.

  My forces were being bombarded as they scattered, but it was the Ogres who took the brunt of it. Clustered together, the enemy spells hit them a dozen at a time. The large brutes were tougher than the hobs and had innate magic resistance, but even that wasn’t enough to stand against the combined barrage of level 40 and 50 casters.

  Scores of Infernal Ogres fell as smoking heaps, leaving only a dozen Ogre Mages, saved by their mana shields, to intercept the cavalry charge.

  And charge they did.

  Leading the attack was a knight in shining armor riding a magnificent warhorse. I had time only to glimpse his title and leve
l: ‘Captain of the Guards. Level 82.’ Riding closely behind him was the hated dwarf holding an axe in one hand and the glowing scepter in the other.

  The knight leading the charge plowed into the Ogre Mages and the 30 other soldiers – elites and officers all around level 60 – followed him through. Mana shields burst apart as the overwhelming force rode through them, and the powerful brutes started to fall.

  The enemy had sent their best against us.

  The two enemy mage groups seemed to have exhausted their mana pools and were circling back toward the city with groups of howling hobs hot in pursuit.

  The mounted force charged on, cutting down the Ogres who tried to impede their progress. Here and there, an Ogre Mage sent a burning mace at a passing enemy, but it was not sufficient to down them, and the retaliation strikes were usually enough to put their attacker down.

  In mere moments, the coordinated attack brought down over half the Ogres in my army and those unlucky hobs who stood between them and us. The officers.

  “Guard Lirian with your life!” I shouted to Flamebreath and Skullscorch, our two strongest Ogre Mages. I tried to freeze a raider and control one of the horses, but my attempts failed when they reached the glow emitted by the dwarf’s scepter. The enemy elites nearly reached us, playing on their momentum instead of getting bogged down and swarmed over by our superior numbers. “Players to the back! Bosses, to me! Bob, call the army to close around them!” I had just enough time to raise a shield and cast Dark Protection over everyone around me.

  The enemy had bet everything on this mad dash. If they delayed in killing us, my entire army would close in and drown them with overwhelming numbers. Killing us quickly was their only chance.

  I had to give it to them – it was a dangerous, but smart move. The players would respawn quickly, but without us bosses to direct the army, the enemy would have an easy time thinning out their numbers. And bosses took time to respawn. I didn’t even want to consider how long a tier 3 boss like me would take to return. Days, if I was lucky. Weeks, if not.