“Now I think I’m in love,” I said in a faux dreamy voice.
She giggled. She was cheating of course, I’d told her what I missed most about the old world in our conversations, morning coffee and bacon.
We got up, and I grabbed my pack and slipped on my soft leather shoes.
It didn’t take her long to slip into armor and put on her weapons, and we headed outside. It was humid and overcast again, the sky threatened rain. I wished I could say the air was at least cooler, but it wasn’t, it was warm and sticky. There was a light fog in the trees, but the sun would burn it off quickly. Lyre and Anlyth were over by the fire cooking breakfast, and we went over to join them.
“Morning. Where’s Wynn?”
Lyre and Anlyth nodded in greeting.
Lyre replied, “He’s scouting out our defenses. We moved the traps last night too, but they’re marked the same as last time so will be easy to avoid.”
Anlyth said, “There’s a chance we won’t have to retreat at all, the fortifications are a lot more impressive than a simple wall. There’re iron spikes sticking from the stone, as well as pits and thorn bushes. All of it will slow them down. I also built a second tier and wall in the back, a platform about four feet high with a four foot wall for you and Lyre to stand on and behind, so you can fire over our heads and still have cover. That meant making the back and side walls fifteen feet high, which are also spiked to slow down climbers.”
Right, as long as Lyre and I took out their cover fire, the three melee fighters in the group shouldn’t have a problem defending. They wouldn’t be able to rush in and breach quickly, and with restricted paths they’d be hard pressed to dodge anything. The second tier in the back was a good idea as well.
Breakfast was berries, nuts, and deer jerky. Another reason to look forward to the outpost, they’d bring flour for breads and biscuits, and a larger variety of foods. Equipment, upgrades, better food, and maybe some luxuries, not to mention the opportunity to go on the offensive. We just needed to defend from another wave or two of goblin troops.
Wynn jogged into the glade to join us about halfway through.
“It looks good. I think we’re ready, and if not, that tunnel will get us all out safely, relatively.”
I nodded, “I had a thought, Lyre, can you concentrate oxygen in an area?”
Lyre tilted her head, and nodded, “Why?”
I said, “Well, a magic wielder can’t combine the spheres until master level, but what would happen if we kind of did it as a team. Two separate spells that react to each other on contact. What if you fired an arrow with air control, and surrounded the goblin damaged with the arrow by pure oxygen. Then… my fire blast hits the same goblin. How much damage would that do?”
Lyre bit her lip, “Let’s find out.”
She walked over to the fire pit, and grabbed one of the larger log pieces and moved it far from anything in the large field. She walked over to us, and pulled out her bow, drew an arrow and lined up the shot. As soon as she released it, I sent out a fire blast. The one that cost eleven mana, which doubles the damage over five seconds.
The small piece of log exploded into splinters, and a plume of fire rose above it.
I laughed, “Alright, it looks like triple damage. My initial strike did eighty-one, which is three times a normal fire blast. Assuming it had burned another five seconds, it would have done one sixty-two in total.”
Lyre shook her head, “I don’t think so. The oxygen caused triple damage, but at the same time it’s a flash burn. The added mana for an extended burn using control fires would be wasted when it runs out of fuel and can no longer burn. My arrow did twenty-eight damage, which put us up to one hundred ten of immediate damage. Don’t get me wrong, it was effective, but no more effective than what we did yesterday. The extended burn of both our fire spells, plus my arrow strike itself actually does more damage. More like four times instead of three times, but over time, plus my arrow’s damage. We were doing closer to a hundred and thirty or forty damage yesterday, combined. Plus, if we don’t hit the same goblin I’d still do a great a deal of damage on my own sticking with fire.”
I went through what she said, and was forced to agree. It was a cool effect, and powerful, but in the end both of us using fire was more effective, both together or separately. Still, it was a sneak peek at what I’d be capable of someday. A master level fire blast did five times the damage, multiplied by three again would be a ridiculous amount. But… that was in the future. Far in the future. Of course, at that point we’d be fighting creatures with more than four hundred hit points, so it still wouldn’t be a one shot kill. There’d be other better tricks no doubt. Maybe.
I nodded, “True. They were dying after a second or two, and if these are more powerful than yesterday’s group, maybe the full five seconds of our spells will be strong enough to end them in one shot. If they don’t, I’ll add another second or two to the burn at a time, until we find the sweet spot.”
Lyre smiled, “For every second we both add, that’s about ten more points of damage. Regardless, what we were doing yesterday should be more than good enough, unless they send goblins several levels higher in power. We were wasting a good thirty or forty points of overkill. That’s at least two or three levels worth of hit point gains for someone of high strength.”
“True, we…” I trailed off as I felt the steel oaks announce the presence of goblins in their forest.
Anlyth said, “They’re here.”
Wynn said, “Good experiment, let’s get moving.”
Wynn started back into the forest, eating the last of his jerky on the run, and we all followed.
Chapter Thirteen
The fortifications were even more impressive in person, and about fifteen by fifteen in size. The side and back walls were at least fifteen feet high, with spikes sticking down and out from the top, and it was slightly curved outwards to let gravity and physics help make the climb harder, if not impossible without a rope. The front wall was only four feet high, and had several long metal spikes sticking out and up. Directly below that in front was thorn bushes and vines that would trip someone up, which was in front of a large dug out pit the length of the wall with spikes on the bottom. Rushing it and maneuvering successfully past all the obstacles was unthinkable.
The rear five feet of the inside, was what looked like an eight-foot wall, with a small access stair on the side which led up to a four-foot-high platform. Lyre and I took our places there, while Wynn, Anlyth, and Gwen set up below. There was a pile of sharp and jagged nasty looking metal disks for Anlyth to use with his earth magic, as well as more than enough arrows for Lyre, Gwen, and Wynn. We were ready, and in truth I was feeling rather confident of our chances. My one real worry was opposing magic, and we’d take out any shamans first.
The forest was still partially blanketed in a light fog, but it didn’t hamper our sight too badly, and the sun was coming up to our right, giving us plenty of light. Then we waited.
It wasn’t long before I started to spy movement out there. The goblins already had a good idea where we were, if not our new higher level of fortifications. They weren’t in formation, or out in the open, I could only catch glimpses of them all as they darted from tree to tree.
I grinned, “It’s like Wynn was at their planning meeting.”
Lyre chuckled lightly, but kept her eyes on the forest as did I. The goblins as Wynn said, were approaching in two groups, about thirty yards apart. One group was headed directly for us, the other group was obviously trying to move into a flanking position, which wouldn’t help them at all. I didn’t get cocky though, this was our surprise, but I was sure they’d adjust quickly. They might not have been the smartest, book smarts wise, but they were cunning enemies. It wouldn’t do to underestimate them.
I heard the crack of sticks, and a guttural scream of pain, and raised an eyebrow.
Lyre said, “Anlyth may have put a few extra pit traps out.”
It was my turn to chuckle.
They were close enough to see clearly now, and I held my hand in anticipation of one breaking cover.
The goblin darted out and I released a spell, and Lyre’s arrow chased my fire blast as it slammed into the goblin’s torso. I held my breath as the goblin screamed and dove for cover. He rolled around on the ground trying to put the fire out, and as he died on second four I felt a surge of relief. These goblins were tougher, but only four or five, instead of three or four.
Unfortunately, my attack had also signaled our effective range, more or less. Several of the goblins pulled their bows, and stopped trying to advance. One leaned around his tree, and I let off a spell. I ducked down behind the wall, and heard the arrow hit the wall. My attack had missed somehow, maybe he ducked back behind the tree. I wasn’t sure, I just knew I hadn’t done my target any damage. That had never happened before, usually if I could see it I could hit it. Apparently, the goblin ducking behind a tree counted at not being able to see it.
Gwen, Wynn, and Anlyth fired arrows and Anlyth’s jagged disks of metal. Gwen’s arrow hit one, and it yelled a war cry and attacked recklessly. The three of them put it down fast with a follow up attack. Wynn’s and Anlyth’s first arrow however, had missed their targets. These goblins might not have been much higher in level, but they were more experienced, and a lot warier than the first wave. From what I could tell, they were in three groups, about ten archers of covering fire, and two groups of ten advancing from cover to cover. One slightly to the right, and the other to the left of straight ahead.
I fired another spell at an archer, and it ducked back behind the tree before it could get there. This was going to be annoying, they’d clearly been warned about our tactics and magic. The only good news was I didn’t see any goblins in robes, maybe that would be in tomorrow’s wave. If we lived I mean.
Lyre said, “Just pin them down, so they can’t cover their own people.”
Good plan, but easier said than done. There were two of us, and ten of them. That wasn’t good enough for me.
I flittered through the concepts, and fired an area affect fire blast for twenty-six mana. Twenty-six was a lot, that meant I could cast just five spells for all of my mana, and four more than that. But I regenerated over two mana a second now, which meant I’d just have to cast every twelve seconds or so to keep my mana in decent shape. After the first three that is, I decided, I’d leave a reserve of over twenty five percent of my mana during the fight, just in case.
Five for the spell and base damage, ten to make it area of effect the size of three feet which meant any goblin inside it would take full damage, ten for ten more seconds of control fire damage for the goblin I knew was hiding behind the tree, and one mana to make sure nothing else got set on fire. I felt guilty about the tree, it would take the initial damage as well, but it wouldn’t burn after that. I could always heal the trees after the battle.
I released the spell, aiming for the ground next to the tree, just past it. I knew the goblin was standing behind the tree trunk, so it would hit the ground maybe a foot away from the goblin. The ground exploded in fire, and I felt a little relief as the damage numbers were fed to my mind. Twenty-five initial damage, then five per second for another ten seconds, which added up to seventy five damage. Which of course, hurt the goblin badly, but hadn’t killed him.
That was okay, the screaming goblin had moved far enough while trying to pat out the fire to leave his cover, and Lyre shot him with an arrow and fire spell.
She grinned, “Or you can do that.”
She grabbed my shirt and pulled us both down, and nine arrows shot over the wall and hit the wall behind us. That’ll teach me not to get flush with success mid-battle, if she hadn’t grabbed me I’d have been a pin cushion. I’d been too focused on my target and measuring the spells success, instead of what the other archers had been doing.
“Thanks.”
She nodded.
Another volley went over our heads, and some hit the wall in front of us. The nine remaining archers were suppressing us and our melee fighters, enough lying around.
I stood up and released another twenty-six-mana spell. It was horribly inefficient, but it was what it was, and what we had to do. Maybe I’d come up with a better idea later.
Before I ducked back down to avoid their return shot, I saw Gwen, Wynn, and Anlyth finish off two more chargers, both of them had been cursed by Gwen. The two goblin teams were already awfully close, and we’d only killed about five of thirty of them so far. Two of ten archers, and three of twenty melee fighters.
I heard a death scream as I ducked down, Lyre had picked off the archer I’d hit, so I guess that was three of ten archers now. Regardless, this was a fight to the death, and I didn’t feel as nearly as confident as I had five minutes ago. Clearly, the goblins got a vote.
I rose back up and shot another spell at archer number four. I watched in disbelief as the bastard dove to the right, and escaped the area of effect before the spell could hit. That left him in the open though, and Gwen’s follow up arrow dug into his side and set the asshole on fire. Pissed off at the wasted twenty-six mana, I fired an eleven-mana fire blast with the five second double damage, and hit him before he could get back to cover. Number four was as good as dead.
Of course, the eleven-mana spell took me a couple of seconds to cast, which was a second too long before I would have dropped back behind cover. An arrow took me in the shoulder, and another one in the gut. I screamed, because it hurt like a bitch, and collapsed backwards onto the platform. My life dropped from ninety-nine, to sixty-eight, and then to thirty-nine in quick succession.
I may have said several bad words.
Lyre ignored my bad language, and ordered sharply, “Heal, I’ll pull these out.”
The pain was bad, and when I cast heal nothing happened. I was confused, angry, and in pain. It took me a minute to remember I had to align my mind with life instead of fire. Idiot, I hadn’t forgotten that for a while, but I figured I had a good enough excuse in that moment. I cast heal with my mind aligned correctly, and she ripped out the arrow in my gut, and pushed through the arrow in my shoulder.
My mana dropped like a rock, as I healed sixty damage. It wasn’t quite zero, and I was regenerating quickly. But it was still just one more delay in this battle. My heart was pounding, and while this battle was as exciting as the last, it was also rather frustrating at the same time.
“Thanks, sorry for the language.”
She smiled, “Don’t worry about it. Comes with the territory.”
An idea popped into my head.
I sighed, “New plan, less mana use. By about ten anyway.”
I kept my mind aligned with life, and popped my head up. I cast a growth spell using detect life for goblins, as the targeting parameter. I wasn’t sure it would work, because detect life didn’t have the range, the goblin archers were a hundred feet away. Which is probably why they had enough time to dodge my spells. Point being, the spell itself was targeted on the tree the goblin was behind, and the tree would be able to feel the goblin, right? Or at least, the spell itself would, if not me personally. It should work, the detect life was centered on the spell target, not on myself.
I wasn’t sure to tell the truth, but it worked. Several roots ripped up out of the ground, entangled, tripped and pushed the goblin out of cover, while I switched my mind’s alignment to fire, and nailed the then exposed green bastard’s chest with an eleven-mana fire blast with double damage over five seconds. In total, both spells cost me sixteen mana, instead of twenty-six for the area of effect fire blast. As for Lyre’s attack, her arrow had beaten my fire blast to the punch, no one could ever say she was slow on the uptake.
I ducked down behind the wall before becoming aerated with arrows again, and five flew above my head. I hoped they were getting frustrated and would make a mistake. On the other hand, they were also learning more about our capabilities. If I could manage it, I wouldn’t let any escape this time to report back.
“Five d
own, five to go.”
Lyre’s amused tinkling laughter reached my ears, “That was clever. What made you think of it.”
I blushed, “Being aligned with life magic and the concepts. I should have thought of it sooner. I suppose I should thank those two goblins that shot me.”
Lyre smirked.
We both turned our head at the metallic ringing sound of sword strikes, one of the goblins had made it through the fortifications and to the wall. But from the sound of his death rattle, he didn’t last very long.
After the next wave of five arrows, we stood up and I repeated my new trick. Entanglement to get them out of cover, then Gwen’s arrow hit followed by my Fire Blast spell. Gwen was faster than I was, but to be fair, I was also slower because of the mental adjustments from one sphere to another plus the casting time. Goblin archer number six died in his own personal inferno.
I’d also spied some damage to the thorn bushes, and a dead goblin lying in the pit, he must have rolled in there when he died. We were down to four enemy archers, and as far as I could tell there were still thirteen or fourteen melee goblins who were now very close to our fortifications taking cover in the surrounding trees. I wasn’t sure what the hesitation was, but they were obviously trying to come up with a plan to overcome those obstacles and kill us. I got all that in just a split second, as I ducked back behind the short wall.
I kind of wanted to go hunting, but I couldn’t deny that defending had its advantages. Assuming we successfully defended today and tomorrow, we’d go on the offensive. At that point, we’d need to build our defenses on the fly. The goblins today outnumbered us six to one, but the fortified position made those good odds. Well, that and the magical advantage.
I pushed that all down, my mana levels were above half, and we peeked over the wall. I cast entanglement again, and then moved to nail the then exposed goblin with a fire blast, but dropped my hand instead.
Lyre’s arrow had taken him in the neck, and the goblin’s blood sprayed and fountained. For wounds like that, counting damage didn’t matter. It was a mortal wound without immediate healing.
Gaia's Gambit: Evolution Online I (A LitRPG) Page 12