Shadow For Hire: Books 1-4 (A LitRPG Series)

by Adam Drake

  In moments, they would be at my front lines.

  Let them come, I thought with a smile.

  Enemy spotted!

  I blinked in surprise. Where did that come from? Looking past the approaching enemy I didn't see another new unit.

  Panicking, I looked behind us. Nothing was there but empty grass.

  Then my eyes were drawn to a flashing icon on my map.

  The Lookout at the Keep had sent the warning.

  He had spotted an enemy unit approaching the base from the northeast. It was an icon I did not immediately recognize. Then cold dread washed over me.

  Cavalry!

  Amara had cavalry? So soon?

  My thoughts were cut short as the first elements of the enemy grunts suddenly stepped up their advance as they got closer.

  One of the trolls raised his spear and let out a war cry. The other grunts shouted in kind.

  I looked to my footmen in confusion. Shouldn't they be shouting, too?

  Then all three grunt units slammed into my footmen's front ranks.

  Whoa. Things were happening fast. I looked from the fighting troops, with spears and swords flailing, to the icon of the enemy cavalry descending on my defenseless base.

  Suddenly, there was the sound of two dozen enemy bows releasing their arrows.

  I looked up at the cloud of death from above.

  Oh, crap.

  The arrows fell into the footmen's ranks where men screamed. But when I looked to my archers, they simply stood with arrows nocked in their bows, doing nothing.

  “What are you doing?” I yelled as I ran over to them. “Why aren't you firing back?”

  “You want us to fire back?” The archer leader asked.

  “Yes!” I shouted, incredulous.

  The archers then raised their bows and fired.

  “And keep at it,” I said. “Don't stop.”

  “Yes, Commander!” the leader said. They loosed another volley.

  What was with that delay?

  On a hunch I checked the archer's unit info screen and found an unchecked box at the bottom marked 'Autonomous.'

  I checked the box and the archer's leader shouted, “Fire at will!”

  If there were time, I would have smacked myself in the head. Under each of the footmen units info screens was the same unchecked box. Cursing to myself, I checked them all.

  This had a dramatic effect on the men. Instead of reacting to the trolls attacks, they became aggressive and pushed forward.

  Stupid learning curve.

  But I didn't have time to lament. On the map, the enemy cavalry icon had cut the distance to my base by half and closed fast. And there were three minutes remaining on the barracks training timer.

  Other than a single Lookout, the base was defenseless.

  Thankfully, Smoke's respawn timer had ended, and I summoned him. Leaping up into the saddle I shouted to my men who were locked in furious combat. “Hold the line!”

  “Yes, Commander!” shouted the different unit leaders, just as another volley of arrows fell into their ranks.

  To the archer leader I said, “Concentrate your fire on their archers!”

  I looked over the battle.

  My footmen were fully entangled with the grunts, swords and spears slashing and jabbing. Both formations were thinning out, but other than the enemy's extra archery unit, the sides appeared even.

  I had a sinking feeling it wouldn't be enough.

  Base Under Attack!

  The cavalry icon was now within my base's perimeter and moved up against the Keep.

  I had to go. Now.

  With frustration, I put my back to my army and charged southward at full speed. The sound of the ferocious battle fading behind me.

  When I selected the Keep's icon a health meter appeared.

  Keep: 8,200 / 10,000 hit points.

  As I watched in horror, the 8,200 dropped to 7,900. In no time it would be destroyed which I couldn't let happen.

  Never mind holding the banner at the center altar, without the Keep I couldn't create buildings nor hire workers. The game would effectively be over.

  Smoke ran like the wind and in less than a minute we rounded the bend. The Keep was in sight.

  Mounted trolls hit at the base of the Keep with swords. Smoke started to billow from its arrow slits, and the Lookout valiantly fired his bow down at the attackers.

  I took small solace that the cavalry didn't seek out my workers. The worker units were well past the trees, out of view. My gold counter kept steadily rising.

  When Smoke got me within range, I readied my bow and fired.

  A troll screamed and fell to the ground, his horse racing off.

  +5 Battle Points.

  You have gained 200 experience points toward your next level.

  But the other riders did not react, only concentrated on smacking away at the Keep's stone base.

  Keep: 5,500 / 10,000 hit points.

  I fired two more times, and both arrows found their mark. This made the remaining attackers change their focus and nine riders turned to face me.

  This is going to hurt, I thought, switching to my sword. Then I crashed directly into their ranks.

  My first swing sent a head flying away to bounce of the Keep's wall. The next parried a sword thrust by hacking off the owner's arm.

  Parry Skill Increased! Level 6, 21%

  One-on-one these guys were no match for me, but there were too many of them. They used their numbers to crowd me in.

  I felt the tip of a blade slice through my cloak and cut deeply into my right shoulder. Another pierced my left thigh.

  Smoke took a hit against his flank, and in response kicked back with both legs. I felt it connect, and someone screamed, but I was too busy parrying swords to look.

  A rider rammed his own horse into me just as I had stretched out to hit another attacker in the head. My balance was off, and the impact sent me sprawling to the ground.

  I found myself suddenly up against the Keep's wall. Troll's and horses crowded around swinging swords and kicking legs.

  This is bad, I thought, blocking what I could. Too many of their hits were now connecting. Bad, bad, bad.

  Footmen Unit training complete.

  Through the forest of horse legs I saw the new footmen unit assemble next to the barracks building. They looked over at me expectantly.

  “Get your butts over here!” I screamed. A horse had turned in front of me and kicked back. I jumped out of the way as its hoof cracked against the stone wall.

  The new footmen unit joined the fray allowing me to recover and mount Smoke. Annoyed beyond reason, I made sure the remaining riders were each decapitated.

  Within a minute the cavalry unit was eliminated.

  The footmen let out a cheer as I surveyed the damage to the Keep.

  4,800 / 10,000 hit points.

  Cost to repair: 50 wood & 75 stone & 50 gold per 1,000 hit points.

  Wonderful, I thought glumly. Repairing this would cause further delay in, well, everything else.

  As I caught my breath, I assigned one of the worker units from the gold mine to begin repairs on the Keep. They appeared through the trees and smacked the outside of the Keep with hammers.

  It was like watching the cavalry unit attack, but in reverse. The Keep's hit points began to slowly climb up.

  “Commander, what should we do with these?” asked a footman. He held one of the cavalry horses by the bridle. I looked around and saw at least eight or nine more of the animals wandering about.

  “Can you ride them?” I asked.

  “Yes,” the footman said. “If you are willing to pay for the training.” A tile appeared next to the man's head.

  Upgrade this footmen unit to cavalry unit.

  Cost 200 gold. Yes/No?

  My gold counter was at zero and the moment any was added it vanished. I realized that the repair work to the Keep was taking it all.

  I selected No.

  “Going to have to wai
t on the upgrade for a little while guys,” I told the footman. “Until then, corral these horses together and place them in the barracks.”

  The footman saluted and the men set about capturing the horses.

  Well, at least I'd get a cavalry unit out of this mess, I thought.

  Then I noticed a message appear in my combat log, with a bunch of previous ones I hadn't noticed in the heat of battle.

  Footmen Unit Eliminated.

  Oh, shoot. I looked to my map just in time to see the last unit icon of my forces fighting on the plains blink out.

  All three footmen units and the lone archer unit were no longer present on the map.

  My army had been destroyed.

  I cursed. Could this situation possible get any worse?

  You Banner Has Been Taken!

  What?!

  My head snapped around to the altar.

  There, clutching the red banner in her hands was Amara. She must have snuck in under Shadow Form during the fighting.

  Before I could react, she summoned her mount and jumped into the saddle with a single leap. Then she charged off.

  “Eat FILTERED, ya FILTERED!” She screamed.

  By the Gaming Gods.

  Amara had my banner!

  CHAPTER NINE

  Recovering from my shock, I leapt onto Smoke and gave chase.

  Amara's white horse was frighteningly fast, and I hoped Smoke could catch up with it. She headed to the northeast curve of the lower circle. I figured she didn't want to risk running into any potential elements of my now defeated army on the western curve.

  Regardless, her destination was clear: The central platform. There, once the banner was placed and held for five minutes, she would win.

  Grass blurred underneath me, and trees whipped by. My eyes were locked onto her back. Although out of range for the moment, I switched to my bow and summoned a magma arrow. If it killed her before, it could do it again.

  I should have suspected the cavalry attack was meant to cause a distraction while she got close to the banner in Shadow Form.

  Had I kept a footman unit on the altar, this probably wouldn't have happened. But, admittedly, I was having a difficult time managing everything that was going on.

  My newbie-ness to the Battle Field would now cost me the Lost War Banner of Y'godda, and beyond that, mess up my chance at returning it for the quest reward.

  I hated failing at quests. Sure, it happened once in a while. But this time I'd fail because another player took it from me.

  Anger blossomed in my chest, and I kicked at Smoke unnecessarily to close the gap.

  As our chase rounded the curve, an enemy unit appeared. Grunts. Then, behind them, a unit of archers.

  Amara was racing directly toward them.

  I didn't have much time, so I nocked the magma arrow. The speed we were travelling coupled with Smoke's galloping motion messed with my aim, but I only had one chance to take her out.

  I fired.

  The arrow flew right at her. But, instead of striking her in the back and giving me the glorious show of watching her bubble away into a puddle of lava, the arrow zinged past her head.

  Quickly, I summoned a full quiver of normal arrows and shot at her. It would be awhile before I could use another magma arrow, with a twenty minute cooldown.

  One struck her steed in the rump, but the rest missed completely.

  Ahead, the troll grunts broke from their square formation and spread out into a single line, spears at the ready.

  I already knew I wouldn't catch up with her but that didn't cause me to slow down. She had the banner.

  The grunts made a space in the middle of their protective line, and Amara charged through it. Then the archers fired a volley.

  This made me pull up short, yanking hard on Smoke's reins. As I tried to turn us away, I knew I'd screwed up again.

  Arrows fell around me. One pierced my thigh, and two others struck Smoke's side.

  Smoke reared in pain, and I desperately tried to keep control of him.

  The archers brought out new arrows. Behind them was the retreating form of Amara, my red banner flapping wildly in the wind.

  The grunts moved forward at a run and the archers fired, again.

  “Go!” I shouted. Poor Smoke nickered and bucked and I thought I'd be thrown to the ground.

  Thankfully, he let me turn him south and he bolted into a full run.

  Arrows thudded around us.

  After we had run several hundred paces, I stopped and looked back.

  Amara's distant form vanished around the bend, and with it, my hope of catching her.

  What could I do? Soon she would be at the platform.

  My mind raced.

  There was only one thing I could do, even if the outcome would be the same.

  I kicked Smoke into a run. As we headed south, I looked at my poor beleaguered base on the map.

  My one footman unit stood near the Keep. Then I remembered the horses. The cavalry upgrade.

  But my gold was near zero. The repairs to the Keep were still ongoing and sucking up what gold was being actively mined.

  With frustration growing, I pulled the worker unit off the Keep and sent them back to the gold mine.

  The gold level started to rise, but not fast enough for my liking.

  We reached the base, but I continued on past it toward the western curve. The footmen waved. There was no time to do anything here. Not even to stop and heal in the Keep.

  I sent a command to the footmen's leader to upgrade to cavalry once 200 gold had been collected. Then, he was to take his unit directly to the central platform via the western curve.

  In my heart I knew it would not be enough, but since the game was close to ending, I felt like I needed to at least try.

  If I was going to fail, I'd fail while using everything available to me.

  The base passed from view as I rounded the western bend and headed north. I saw past the trees the beam of light in the sky which indicated the location of my banner.

  Had she reached the platform?

  Red Banner Placed. Five minute countdown begins.

  Yup.

  A timer appeared at the top right of my vision and started counting down.

  As I continued north, I passed the location of the battle. There were no bodies or discarded weapons as the game cleaned them up after a short time.

  I almost expected to run into any remaining elements of the troll units, but it appeared whoever survived had been pulled back.

  Approaching the final bend that lead to the middle section and the platform, I felt my heart sink. I'd really messed this whole thing up, right from the beginning.

  Having avoided playing on Battle Fields all these years was now going to cost me. At that moment, I resolved to actively try them after this. If my future questing even had a slight chance of ending up on a Battle Field, I wanted to be ready.

  But first, I had to suffer the agony of defeat.

  A sudden break in the trees to the east made me pull Smoke to a stop who nickered in protest.

  It was the path through the forest. The one that lead to Grax.

  I looked at my Battle Points counter. 1,200. The exact amount required to hire him into my service.

  A smile spread across my face.

  Leaving Smoke at the edge of the trees, I ran through the forest along the path, my heart pounding with excitement.

  When I arrived at the little clearing, Grax was waiting expectantly.

  “You are here to free me?” the ogre rumbled.

  “I free you, and you help me, agreed?” I asked.

  He regarded me for several long, agonizing moments, then nodded his huge head. “If you can afford the price, I am yours to command.”

  Inwardly, I sighed with relief. When I pulled up his information screen it asked if I wished to hire this champion for 1,200 Battle points.

  “Heck, yeah!” I said and selected Yes.

  Champion Unit hired.