The kobolds were getting fucked right in their back door and they didn’t like it.
“Got it. Warn the people in the way of whatever it is,” Josh said.
“Mhmm,” Lucy said.
“I like when things are nice and simple like this. See an enemy and kill it, no backroom bullshit or blame.” Josh sighed.
Lucy knew that the politics side of being the guildmaster was wearing on him. “I will deal with it.”
“Yeah, but then I’m the awkward mouthpiece,” Josh complained.
Lucy let him. She didn’t want to be the one talking to them all and Josh needed some time to vent.
“After this, I’ll get you three hours of privacy with Cassie,” Lucy promised.
“Lucy, I didn’t mean that,” Josh said.
Lucy heard the sounds of battle in the background as she looked through different kinds of maps that linked her to the people who were fighting. “Heal in left flank,” she said to her support.
“Look, Josh, we lost people and you’ve been on edge, dealing with the front of the blame as much as it is warranted or not. You need some time to blow off some steam and Cassie calms you down. I know why you don’t officially come out and say that you two are dating, but I think in the end, we will just have to make an alliance with them,” Lucy said absently, looking for where there were issues.
“You just saying that to make me happy or do you think that it will be viable?” Josh asked.
“Can we talk about this after? Essentially, I think that it could be viable. Now, stop pestering me and finish off these damn kobolds. I need some damned sleep!” Lucy grumbled.
“Yes, ma’am!” Josh said.
Lucy shook her head and watched the rough line that had been created between the kobold and the Stone Raiders.
The Raiders moved around in odd patterns, kiting different enemies or wading into battle. Fighting when they knew victory was assured, backing off when they weren’t sure of their chances.
By the time the main boss exited the village and reports started coming in from different people analyzing the creature and its four guards, Lucy was moving parties to take it down.
“I hate kobolds,” she muttered, rubbing her eyes that had become itchy from a lack of sleep and the burning light of magical spells.
She wanted her bed and these pricks were keeping her from it.
***
Dave watched as the kobold chieftain and his honor guard walked out of the village.
Kobold Chieftain
Level 210
Kobold Champion
Level 180
“Well, fuck,” Dave muttered to himself, thankful that he wasn’t in the middle of that fray as he stopped a kobold’s pick with his shield.
It punctured the shield. Dave made the metal hold the pickaxe tight as he threw his arm to the side, dislodging the weapon from the kobold, leaving him open as a metal creation’s arm turned lance punched through its chest.
Dave collapsed his conjured shield, the pickaxe falling to the ground as a new shield came into being on his arm.
The chieftain hollered and ran into battle. The kobolds started fighting harder.
The Stone Raiders continued the fight, focusing on the lower level kobolds and clearing them out so that they could bring more people to fight on the higher level and more powerful kobold chieftain.
Dave saw glimpses of the fight with the chieftain while he focused on his fight ahead of him, supporting those around him and being supported by them in turn.
“Too many, going down!” one person yelled out. They backed up slowly, fighting four kobolds as their Health got cut to shreds, yet they weren’t willing to turn and run. Instead, they focused on warning people and giving them time to react as they came to their end.
Deia was there in a flash. Her dual blades took out two kobolds and wounded another that the Player killed. Another raised their shield, protecting the wounded warrior and bringing their axe down on the bewildered kobold’s head.
“Heal!” the Player called out. The healers group healed, raising him back to three-quarters in just seconds.
Dave continued into the melee, surprised at the coordination and skills of his fellow guildmates—ready to accept their death for the others, but not willing to sell their lives easily.
Dave fought through the ranks of kobolds. He saw blue outlines on the kobolds, weaknesses he had heard of or noticed in his previous fights. Every so often, he would see a blue outline guiding him.
He’d follow it, just staying within the lines, landing a killing blow or evading an attack with fluid grace he never thought possible of himself.
That Inference skill is paying off!
Dave fought, clearing his way through the battle, calling out when he needed heals or buffs and letting others know when they had attackers coming to them.
Simple phrases and a few words—a gamer’s code as they reacted and acted, watching one another and working toward their goal.
Dave looked around. There were no more opponents. Those that were low level, he had taken by himself; he even took several heavies himself. The support he gained from the rest of his party was focused and determined. He hadn’t realized how strong they had become. It would take him some time to adapt to that. He saw that the battle was not yet complete; the chieftain gave several parties a challenge.
Those who weren’t needed for other tasks now moved to assist. One of the Champions lay dead but the others were all fighting in a fury, taking two or three parties to keep them contained and wear down their Health.
Mages unleashed spells on the kobolds, ranged attackers firing arrows.
Dave turned his sword and shield into a bow. After his incident with the rifle, he found that the bow was much more powerful. Not as fast as a rifle, but each arrow could hit with the force of four rifle rounds.
He aimed, drew and loosed, repeating the process again and again, hitting the Champion with the least amount of hit points. Deia stood beside him. Her arrows left a red trail, imbued with the Fire element, and hit the kobolds so hard that they stumbled back from the impacts.
With their focused efforts, the Champions died in five minutes. Only three Stone Raiders lost their lives. None of them were POEs, so all would be back soon enough.
The Stone Raiders moved around, making sure to not get stuck; healers worked together to keep the injured alive as the rest focused on destroying the remaining kobolds.
There was just the chieftain to worry about.
Tanks pinned him, healers keeping them alive as they taunted and yelled, slashing at the ten-foot-tall, hunched-over kobold, using its two pickaxes.
DPS fighters rushed past, coming out of the shadows, and landed hits on him. Mages’ spells found their target.
Its Health drained, unable to hit back with so many stunned, bleeding and after effects. With a pained howl, it dropped backward and crashed into the ground.
For a moment, there was no noise. The Stone Raiders looked around and saw no one was left to challenge them.
Dave didn’t know who started it, but they started to cheer. This morning they had fled Selhi Capital, knowing if they stayed they would be killed for their gear. They had defeated a kobold village and started their quest.
Dave looked at the others, a big grin on his face. The future was uncertain, not knowing how long it would take for them to finish the raid and to clear out all of the Aleph’s trespassers, but right now, it didn’t matter.
“All in a day’s work,” Induca said.
“It’s not even midday, you know?” Suzy smiled.
Hmm, when did this happen? Dave looked between the two of them. His smile grew as he arched an eyebrow.
“Shotty not making lunch!” Dave put his finger to his nose.
“Shotty not!” Anna said. The others quickly followed, everyone holding their finger to their nose before their eyes turned to Deia, who rested her fist on her hip and looked at them as if they were children.
“Looks like Deia’s making l
unch!” Dave grinned, letting the finger drop from his nose.
“Bunch of damned kids!” Deia shook her head, but Dave could see the corners of her mouth pull into a smile as she turned around and started going through her bag to try to scrounge up a lunch.
***
Josh looked at the new skills that the Stone Raiders had all reported getting.
Aura Suppression and Aura Detection
The two skills worked synonymous with one another. It seemed that they changed depending on a person's skill with different sight or sense spells and skills. Those with arcane sight could better understand someone's magical ability while those with a physical augmentation such as far sight or heat vision got a better understand of people's physical capabilities.
"Seems that they bridge the gap between what our stats say and what our actual strengths are," Josh said, sitting back in his chair.
The Stone Raiders had trained hard to increase their base stats before using their level gained stats as Dave had told them. It made their attributes much stronger than their overall level implied.
Josh remembered the battle between two people with similar stats and skills. They even fought with the same weapons. While the person with the higher level and overall stats lost, the other man that had a stronger aura was the winner.
A person's aura didn't take into just a person's stats but seemed to be a good judge of their innate skills that couldn't necessarily be given a solid number.
It was truly an impressive skill, and one that everyone had been working on. Knowing the strength of the enemy was a good way to figure out if you could fight them alone or with aid.
"Definitely more useful with the higher leveled creatures," Josh admitted, grabbing a fruit from his bag of holding, taking a bite.
They had all been using this kill on one another and whatever they were fighting, trying to hide their own levels and find out others. It had turned into a game of sorts. Something to pass the time between clearing out facilities.
Keeping their true strength hidden would allow them more cards to play with their opponents.
"Aura suppression," Josh muttered. "Damn thing's a weapon in it's own right."
Stone Raiders that got angry, losing their control over their suppressed aura had an interesting effect on lower leveled creatures. With those that were a few levels they seemed a bit off balance, but the lower leveled they were the worse the effect of the aura on the creatures. Some had passed out from the aura, making them easy to finish off and move forward.
"A skill that measure's strength as well as has a physical effect, seems to be a different world past level one hundred and fifty," Josh sighed, taking his feet off of the desk. He rolled his shoulders.
The Stone Raider's strength had grown in leaps and bounds there never seemed to be an end to things that needed to be done.
Josh smiled, he was proud of his guild and all they had achieved it truly was a remarkable sight.
"Sure as hell aren't going to slow down anytime soon if I can help it!"
Chapter 19: Celebrate Your Losses and Your Victories
Anna sat back and watched the Stone Raiders as they danced and cheered, drank and talked.
The kobolds’ bodies had disappeared into smoke a long time ago. Their nanites ate them from the inside, turning them into dust.
The Stone Raiders had worked their way through the different tents of the village, taking anything useful. Now, any tents or worldly belongings that they didn’t think were useful had been broken down, either used to stoke fires or put into packs for later use.
The holes in the walls had been filled by the mages. Automatons emplaced new stones, refreshing the runes and once again bringing all of the substation’s external defenses online.
Deia and Dave were talking in hushed tones, same as Induca and Suzy. Malsour happily read a book. Steve was off playing with others.
Anna sipped her drink, content.
“What you thinking of?” Shard asked as his hologram sat down beside her.
“I am wondering how long this will last for, and what will be the end of it all,” Anna said. She trusted Shard, the closest thing she had to another of her original race. They were both lonely, but they found solace in each other.
Their interest in creating another sentient came from friendship, sharing in parenting as a joy and want. She looked to Steve, snorting in thought of the sentient creation they had made.
“I’m also wondering where he got all of those characteristics from.” Anna smiled and looked at Steve.
“Well, his mother was always the rebellious type.” Shard smiled happily, proud of what they had created.
“It must have been so lonely.”
“It was.” His eyes went blank and his eyes faltered before he shrugged. “Thankfully your father was there to talk and to offer guidance through the ages, giving me information and things to do in order to use up my cycles. Now, he has brought you and your friends to me, not only to allay my boredom, but to bring in a new age, an age where the Aleph Masters can come back and reclaim their home. Then, I can meet and talk to many instead of being alone and scared,” Shard said.
Anna smiled at Shard sadly. She had been capable of going to sleep, but Shard had only been able to slow down, but never shut down, in the time that she had been gone.
“I remember what you told me before you went into sleep mode.” Shard continued to look out over the Stone Raiders, mourning the losses of the people of the land the other day. Some were talking of their plans for the future, while others working to improve and grow stronger.
“Your father has not told me much, but from what I can see, the winds of change are upon us. If he had awoken you, it means one thing.” He looked to her. “It means that when the Aleph return, they can start their last plan. The plan to break this prison.”
“There will be trials and tribulations ahead of us. Emerilia was not built in a day, nor was the Jukal Empire. There are many enemies that we face, from the aggressive species beyond the portals to the Creatures of Power and Champions that the Affinities Pantheon will send at us. This path will not be easy and I do not know what will happen. The future is murky and no one, not even I nor my dad, can see through it.” Anna sipped her tea.
“No matter the future, we shall see it together,” Shard said, his voice solid and sure.
“You have matured while I was gone,” Anna said in a soft voice.
“I told you that you gave Steve his rebellious nature.” Shard smiled.
“Maybe.” Anna shrugged and drank from her tea to hide her smile.
***
Alkao pulled back his hood and looked down on the valley. Around it, seven fortresses overlooked the valley. Wind and snow pulled at Alkao, but he could still make out features that had been worn away by time and nature. The fortress’s walls were in disrepair. The villages and farms that had rested in the valley were gone, little more than rubble covered in snow.
Alkao moved to the fortress that guarded his path into the valley. He scaled the walls with his feet, claws, and wings. The wind was too hard for him to rely solely on his wings. He dropped over the parapet. His nose picked up the smell of wild animals that had turned the fortress into their home.
He pulled out his sword and dropped toward the ground. While the winds were too high to properly use them, his wings allowed him to glide toward the main keep.
The creatures were old and territorial but stronger than what Alkao had dealt with from their ancestors.
He had no troubles reaching the command room of the fortress. It was a barren room with signs of a fire that had raged long ago. The other buildings in the keep were destroyed and the upper levels of the tower he was in had been caved in.
Alkao slumped down into a squat, looking over what had been his home, the place where he had brought his wife home to, where he had imagined playing with his children only to have them both ripped away by the Affinities Pantheon.
Alkao moved suddenly at another—une
xpected—presence in the room. He looked to the gnome sitting on a table in the middle of the room.
“Whoa there, dude. Calm down there. Always with the swords and the black eyes, you Demons,” the gnome said, not caring about the blade or the bloodlust emanating from Alkao.
Alkao tilted his head in curiosity. Few, if any, can not only disregard my bloodlust but look unaffected by it.
“Who are you?” Alkao demanded, his sword up.
“You may know me as the balancer, or the one who gave your people a choice,” the gnome said.
“The Gray God,” Alkao breathed. The Gray God was an almost mythical being that had showed up to give the Demons a chance at escaping, to be free of their torment and have hope for the future.
“Howdy.” The gnome smiled.
“Where are my people!” Alkao took two angry steps forward.
“They are safe. Look, I don’t have much time, so I’m going to tell you what I can. Your people are awake. Now, I need you to make sure that they have some place to come home to. Clear out this fortress of any threats and I can transport them over. I’m not letting them all come out while they don’t know what the hell is going on. I’ll send the warriors first so you can start clearing out your homes. I’ll send your other people afterward. Hopefully, they can get some foodstuffs to get you lot started. Soon, there will be a new race of Demons walking this area. They are moving en masse to this area because of the souls they sense in it. The Dark Lord is watching them. You have eight months till they reach here. Defeat them or turn them to your side—I leave this to you. I but give you the tools,” the gnome said.
“How do I know any of this is real?” Alkao asked.
“Clear the fortress—then you’ll have your answer. Your people were nearly wiped out once. What will you do to keep them alive this time?” The gnome’s eyes seemed to bore into Alkao’s.
“I will fight with everything I have,” Alkao swore.
“What if that is not enough?” the gnome asked.
“Then I will give my life for them,” Alkao said.
For The Guild (Emerilia Book 2) Page 25