Tinker, Tailor, Giant, Dwarf ( LitRPG Series): Difficulty:Legendary Book 2

by Gregg Horlock

  “Remember,” I told them, hearing the crunch of the Serpents’ boots in the field across from me. “We’re not going on the offensive here. We’re not trying to kill them all; we just need to defend ourselves enough that they leave.”

  There was the scrape of metal as Connor drew his sword. I saw that there were three gems in the hilt, which meant that his blade had some kind of enchantment bonus.

  “Make a stupid mistake, and a blade like this will end up in your belly. Get too cocky and you get a blade in the belly. What happens if you rush in?” he said, looking at the newbies.

  “You get a blade in the belly,” answered one of them.

  “What about if you break from our lines and decide to go on the offensive?”

  “You get a blade in the belly.”

  “That’s right,” said Connor. “We’re the like spiders in our lair, waiting to see which poor sap tries to enter. When they do, we strike. But not until then.”

  The sound of a horn droned out all around us. I realised that the marching had stopped.

  “Get in positions everyone,” I said.

  People scattered to their assigned defensive locations. We had the long-range fighters and mages capable of projectile damage in the high positions, so that they could start to pick off some of the advancing army. Melee fighters were on the ground. Their job was to wait, and only engage once the enemy broke our lines. The sharpened logs we had placed would make it difficult for the Serpents to move around, and we had to take advantage of that.

  I stayed out on the field. Smoglar was a few yards away, while Brian stood next to a wall and lined his bombs up next him. Ozreal and Feidan were on the west side of the guild house where a mound rose up from the earth. Ozreal had mana potions surrounding him, and Feidan held a staff in his hands. The healer didn’t have much in the way of offensive magic, but his mana shield would be invaluable.

  The air around us filled with the sound of men roaring. Across the field, the Serpent front line had begun charging at us. They gripped their weapons in their hands, and their faces were set with looks of grim determination. Appraising a few of them, I saw a mix of warriors, rogues and barbarians ranging from level 7 to 16. Around 70 of them charged at us, which was already double the size of our own army.

  “Let’s have some projectiles,” called Connor.

  The ex-serpent had taken the role of commander in the battle. Since he’d actually been part of an army, I was happy to give control to him. After that battle, we’d have to discuss a way forward for Connor, but for now, we had to trust him.

  For a few seconds, we all watched the charge of the Serpent frontline. There was nothing we could do until they got in range. The fields around us were silent. It was as if the creatures that scuttled over the earth and the birds in the trees knew what was to come, and they were waiting for the outcome.

  The Serpents spilt forward like a tidal wave, heavy boots trampling the fields and turning them into mud.

  “Bows and fireballs,” said Connor.

  Four of our newbies were mages. Each of them grew a fireball in their palm. Next to them, two hunters drew back their bows and leaned into the fireballs to light the end of their arrows. Turning to face the enemy, the mages and hunters released their projectiles into the onslaught.

  Men and women yelled in pain as fireballs scorched their skin and arrows pierced their armour. I watched the health bars of some of them drop, but none fell completely. The Serpents charged on regardless, crossing the field with an alarming speed. At the back of their formation, still partly hidden by the infantry, I saw that some of the officers rode mounts.

  “They’re about to hit the first trip wires,” said Brian.

  The mages and hunters knocked their arrows and grew their fireballs, then blasted them at the charging fighters. If our newbies had been higher levels, then their positional advantage could have done real damage. As it was, their fireballs damaged our enemy’s HP, but weren’t lethal.

  I looked at the fields ahead. I had spent so long planting trip bombs that I knew every inch of them. Looking on, I knew that one of the Serpents, a warrior with metal greaves and a sword in each hand, was just feet away from the first trip bomb.

  Time seemed to slow as I watched him. The warrior ran on, unaware that he was running straight into the path of a booby trap. Soon he would be blasted with gunpowder and screws.

  As he crossed to where the trip wire had been set, nothing happened. Maybe I had gotten the location wrong; perhaps I wasn’t remembering it right. But the warrior and his men charged on, and nothing happened.

  Luckily, the warrior took only a few more steps before he crossed another trip wire. The explosion from this one knocked him onto his back. I watched his HP drain satisfyingly low. Booms spread across the field and the Serpent’s life bars leaked health. The problem was that it seemed to be a lottery of which trip bombs would work and which wouldn’t.

  With the Serpents in throwing range, Brian and I threw bomb after bomb. Soon the air around filled with the smell of spent fuses, and I heard men and women cry out in pain. The Serpents responded with an artillery of their own, peppering us with arrows that were more expertly aimed.

  “I’m leaking HP,” cried one newbie, with an arrow sticking out of his arm. “They’re using poison tips.”

  “How many do you think we’ve killed so far?” I called out to Brian.

  “A dozen or so.”

  “And have we lost anyone?”

  “Not yet.”

  Smoglar, Connor and Dereck stood impatiently. Each of them gripped a blade and waited near the gap in the sharpened logs, ready to slice at the first Serpents to step through. After seeing that the Serpents had indeed brought their mounts, I was glad we’d taken the time to chop the trees.

  “We’ve got visitors,” said Smoglar, and pointed up.

  Above us, flying well above the tips of the sharpened logs, a unit of Serpents rode winged creatures. Some were on the backs of what looked to be Blood Steers with wings, while another flew on an oversized bird. Although we had stopped some mounts getting through, there was nothing we could do about the flying ones.

  Balls of fire and ice began to rain down on us. One well-aimed ball of inferno caught our hunters and mages head-on, draining the HP of three of them to just above a quarter. The fourth man died instantly.

  “Drink a potion,” I shouted to them.

  Ozreal held his hands in the air and sent a wave of purple light at the bird rider, knocking him off his saddle and sending him to the floor. He was a level 22 warrior, and I guessed that he was an officer. He didn’t have time to get up before Smoglar and Connor stood over him and used their blades to rid him of his HP.

  More mounts flew over our defences and peppered us with fireballs. I threw bombs, aiming my arc so that they would explode in mid-air. The air stank of burning gunpowder, and I had already had my fill of men screaming.

  I heard an explosion in front of me. I saw that a whole section of our sharpened logs had smashed into pieces, revealing more of the fields in front of us. I saw that across the acres, the Serpents had a row of siege cannons. That meant that they must have had a tinker with them who was beyond my level. Or at least, he had access to blueprints that allowed him to build such destructive weaponry.

  Three more booms sounded out. One cannon ball flew overhead and exploded on a field too far away to cause damage. The other shots hit our defences head-on, and soon we were left with just a few logs dug into the dirt.

  The sky flashed purple, blue and red as Ozreal’s arcane magic melded with the fireballs of the mounted Serpents. Across the field, I saw that the ground-running mounts were ready to charge. With our defences gone I had was able to see the whole Serpent army now. There were nearly two hundred strong and were comprised of all classes, by the looks of things. I scanned through their lines from left to right.

  Then I stopped. My pulse raced. Someone was in the middle of them, a person I hadn’t noticed until now, becaus
e he must have been obscured by the mounts in front of us.

  It was Herelius Rouge. He wore armour that made him look double the size of the men around him. Where everyone else had polished their armour, his was dirty and bore the red marks of bloodstains. He rode atop a black stallion that looked like it could do more damage than siege cannon.

  I hadn’t believed that we would see him here. When Connor told me the Serpents were coming I assumed that we would see their rear guard. We weren’t the mightiest of guilds, and I imagined the Serpents had enough arrogance to think they could wipe us out with ease. Seeing their leader move his horse calmly toward us, I knew that Herelius Rouge hadn’t underestimated us at all.

  I only had to look at him, and I felt myself start to fill with hate. I needed to shake it off. The middle of the battle was no time for me to lose my head, and it looked like I’d need to keep it clear.

  Ahead of us, the Serpent foot soldiers ran beyond the ruins of our defences and charged at us. This was it. This was no longer a long-range battle, and that mean our odds had just shifted dramatically.

  I knew the next few minutes could signal our last stand. We’d agreed that rather than let the dagger fall back to the Serpents, I would escape with it. All the same, I couldn’t stand the thought of leaving. I couldn’t turn my back and know that my friends fought on against a Serpent onslaught. Besides, we still had some tricks left to play.

  “Feidan,” I called out. “Give them their first present.”

  Feidan nodded. He reached to the side of him and picked up a vial of potion. The liquid inside was blue and had yellow specks floating in it. Feidan lifted it above his head and aimed it at the first onslaught of Serpent footmen.

  As the glass smashed in front of them, the liquid sprayed out. It froze all those who it touched. The only ones unaffected were those who must have worn something that gave them stun resistance. I knew that the frozen ones weren’t dead, but it eased the pressure and allowed Brian and me to throw bomb after bomb at them.

  Smoglar, Connor and Derek charged forward. Connor held his sword upright and in a perfectly-parallel line to his body. Derek had his pointed forward, as if he planned to stick it through the first Serpent belly he reached. Smoglar, on the other hand, raised his axe into the air and bellowed. He’d practiced his one-handed skill over the last day, and I just hoped it would be enough.

  As the infantry poured forward and more mounts flew above, it seemed that for every Serpent we killed, three more took their place. The main bulk of their army advanced forward, and I looked on in horror as more and more of them rushed through our defences and turned it into a melee battle.

  We needed to do something. There were too many of them. Although our traps and defences had left a good number of them dead, we didn’t have enough people to fight them hand-to-hand. Without something else, we were done for.

  I had to use my Greye ability. I didn’t know how, but somehow I needed to wield it. I looked at the ground around me. If I could draw power from the earth, maybe I could create some kind of shield like Helblake had with the stone. I focussed on the field and tried to imagine the power draining from it and becoming a barrier between us and the Serpents.

  I closed my eyes and concentrated. It seemed like my stamina was draining just by the act of thinking about it. Try as I might, nothing happened. I heard a scream, and I opened my eyes and saw that a Serpent warrior had stabbed his blade through the belly of a newbie. Smoglar leapt forward and cleaved his neck with his axe, leaving the Serpent dead on the floor. No sooner had he perished, than four more warriors stepped forward.

  The battle became a din of screams, and the sound of metal meeting metal. I saw health bars drain all around me. Brain launched bomb after bomb, spraying the Serpents with screws. Feidan threw the last of his stun potions, holding ten Serpent fighters in place. A flash of purple light was cast out, cutting three of them down. I looked at Ozreal to my left and saw that he was bent over and panting. His mana had drained.

  This was it, then. There were too many of them. I wondered if this was the time for me to leave with the dagger, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t turn my back and leave my friends here. Not only that, but I saw that Herelius Rouge galloped forward on his horse, and he was close to meeting us on the battlefield.

  As the Serpents ran through our defences, I saw looks of panic on the newbies around me. Connor, Derek and Smoglar fought on, faces set in anger, blades swinging at anyone who came their way.

  Despite all their bravery, I knew we wouldn’t hold out. The army opposing us was just too great.

  Soon Herelius loomed into view. Up close I saw that he had levelled up five times since I last saw him, which was no mean feat considering he was already above level 100. Behind and around him, his army ran toward us, ready to finish us off.

  A horn sounded. At first, I thought that one of the Serpents had blown it, but when I looked to my left I saw that a portal had opened on the battlefield. From it, came a number of hooded figures wearing grey robes. With relief, I saw that the Greyes had joined the battle.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  The Greyes rushed out of the portal, wielding all manner of weapons from short stones to staffs. As they stood on the field together they all formed a line. Although I was glad of their numbers, I knew that the Greyes’ greatest strength was in their special ability. As powerful as it was, it had its limits. The Greyes could only draw power from what was around them. Here, there was little to draw from other than the fields that had become muddy from footfall.

  “I’m out of bombs,” called Brian, to my right.

  I moved away from the front of the guild house and walked around the side. Behind me, men screamed as the last of their HP was taken from them. I couldn’t tell whether the shrieks belonged to the Tinkers or the Serpents.

  I came to the barn where we had buried our charterstone. I opened the doors and stepped inside. The roof reached high above me, and hay was scattered on the floor. In the corner, next to a pile of spears that Guile the banker had bought, were boxes of gunpowder and casings. I didn’t have time to assemble the bombs here and carry them out, so I’d have to take the powder and casing over to Brian. We’d make the bombs in the middle of the melee.

  “I’d say it’s nice to meet you, but we’ve seen each other before, haven’t we?” said a voice behind me.

  The hairs on my arms stood up. I knew who the voice belonged to straight away. I drew my dagger and turned around to see Herelius Rouge stood in the barn.

  Up close he seemed as bulky as a giant. I knew that he was a man, but the sheer size of his armour was intimidating. I couldn’t even imagine the strength stat you’d need to wear it.

  As I looked at his face and saw the scars on his cheeks and his black, piercing eyes, I felt hate course through me. I pictured myself back in the cave near the Plains of Jordan, and I saw Herelius raise his sword as he prepared to kill me.

  He had his weapon in his sheath now, and he took two steps toward me. Behind him, his black stallion waited at the barn door.

  “I’ve been looking for you, tinker,” said Herelius, his voice deep and rough, like the sound of a boot crunching on glass. “But luckily, you made it easy when you used the dagger.”

  He seemed to know too much. Somehow he knew who I was, and he knew I had the Old Serpent’s Sting. I was aware of the map marker placed on me, but I didn’t see how he could know my class.

  “I remember you, you know,” he said. “You were different then. You had a different class and a different name. What was it again? Oh, yes. Chimera.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I know a lot,” said Herelius. “But I didn’t come here to talk. Give me the dagger, Janus.”

  Suddenly, the Old Serpent’s Sting in my belt seemed to become heavier.

  Herelius held out his hand. “Give me the dagger, and we’ll leave your guild intact. I’ll spare your friends.”

  For a second I wondered if I should do it and spare my friend
s’ lives, but I knew that Herelius wouldn’t keep his end of the deal. Treachery was so deeply ingrained into him that it showed in the dark contours of his face.

  I shook my head. “You know I can’t do that.”

  “You’re playing games far beyond your level, tinker. Stick to blowing up rats with bombs. Pass the dagger to me, and I’ll be on my way.”

  He stepped forward. He was so tall he seemed to loom over me. I looked at his armour and tried to see any cracks or weakness, but it seemed to be perfectly crafted. Gemstones gleamed in sockets across the metal.

  I gripped my dagger tighter.

  “I take it you don’t want to talk then?” said Herelius. “I’m not good with words, in any case. Better I explain your situation to you in a different way.”