“They’ve been fighting one another, plenty of opponents, all of them strong. Whoever survives becomes the strongest and the fact that their own meat is considered Legendary is an over-the-top hack to increase their strength in the shortest time possible,” Anna said.
“Damn.” Dave shook his head. What the hell kind of enemy would we be dealing with if the DCA didn’t clear out those high-leveled creatures and weaken them from the very beginning?
They came to a clearing, well away from the Demon Horde.
“Rest, meditate, get some water and food into you.” Deia sat down against a tree.
Dave checked with his Touch of the Land to make sure that there was nothing near them. He took a seat beside Deia and opened his character sheet.
Fifteen into Intelligence, sixteen for Agility—couldn’t just leave it at two hundred and ninety-nine. These Demons are stronger than they look and we’re not going to be resting very long—ten for Endurance and Strength.
Dave checked over his new stats.
Character Sheet
Name:
David Grahslagg
Gender:
Male
Level:
46
Class:
Dwarven Master Smith, Friend of the Grey God, Bleeder, Librarian, Aleph Engineer, Weapons Master
Race:
Human/Dwarf
Alignment:
Chaotic Neutral
Unspent points: 415
Health:
18,800
Regen:
6.34 /s
Mana:
4,430
Regen:
15.75 /s
Stamina:
2,580
Regen:
15.00 /s
Vitality:
188
Endurance:
317
Intelligence:
443
Willpower:
315
Strength:
258
Agility:
300
Dave worked to adjust to his new strength and power.
“All right, five more minutes and we’ll hit them again,” Deia said.
***
Malkur and Alkao looked at their interfaces, checking and re-checking the reports from their scouts. Their faces reflected the disbelief of the numbers they saw.
Alkao dismissed his interface and looked out over his keep’s walls and at the forest beyond. The progress of the Demon Horde was marked with destruction wrought upon them by the Stone Raiders.
“I never knew that people could become so powerful,” Malkur said.
“We are the strongest of the people in Devil’s Crater, but they are the strongest of all the Players who visit Emerilia. Don’t let their levels deceive you. They’re much stronger than they appear,” Alkao said.
“They’re tearing the forest apart, killing hundreds to thousands of the Demon Horde with every attack! How much stronger could they appear?” Malkur asked.
“They’re sitting back, regenerating their lost Mana and Stamina before rushing back in. So far, none of them have been killed. When they join the Demons in real battle, side by side with one another, I have a feeling that this will look but like a mere sparring match,” Alkao said.
“How is that even possible? To become so strong in such a small amount of time? What trials did they go through?” Malkur said out loud as darkness seemed to explode out of an area. Rain formed from the sky, turning to ice shards that shone in the late afternoon light.
“It gives us something to strive for, someone to beat. With enough training and work, we can become as powerful as the Stone Raiders.” Alkao looked to Malkur.
“Sounds like a hell of a lot of work.”
“When has anything we’ve done been easy, dear brother?”
Malkur laughed. “The hottest fires make the finest weapons.”
Alkao looked to Malkur with a curious look on his face.
“One of the crafters I was talking to about blacksmithing, too, used it. It kind of stuck,” Malkur said.
“Wise words to live by,” Alkao agreed, once again looking toward the forests as ruin walked among it. “They will reach the walls in darkness. We’ll make sure to give them a welcome that they deserve,” Alkao said.
“There is a contingent of Dwarves with odd Weapons of War who have come through the portal and are making their way to the keep!” a Demon communications officer said.
“They’re mine!” Lucy said from inside the keep.
“Well, let them up here—help them if you can,” Alkao said.
“Bit trusting?” Malkur asked, making sure no one was listening to them.
“I was once shown how making friends instead of enemies is always a wise choice. I’ve seen some of the Dwarven Machines of War. If they’re here, they don’t need to get much closer than Unity to strike at us. I also trust in Lucy and the Stone Raiders. We will fight many enemies before our time is done, but hopefully we will stand among many more allies,” Alkao said.
“You’ve grown up, brother.” Malkur smiled, proud of his older brother.
“Well, I had some rather blunt lessons that taught me much more than I thought it would.” Alkao smiled.
“’Bout damned time.” Malkur laughed.
A pillar of light tore through the forest. Pillars of stone burst out of the tree tops and threw trees away, revealing the mass of Demons still charging for Alkao’s keep.
“We have much work to do and not much time in which to do it.” Alkao became serious, his smile fading away.
“That we do,” Malkur agreed.
Chapter 6: Sleepless Night
“Party Four, I want you to link up with Parties Thirty-Seven and Fifty-One. There’s a big group of the Demon Horde looking like they’re organizing themselves. I want you to make sure that they don’t have the time for it. Sending you a waypoint now,” Lucy said.
Although Josh was the overall ground commander, right now he was in the middle of a fight and looking out over his own party. Therefore, command went to Lucy as she coordinated the Stone Raiders. They didn’t need much guidance, just when multiple parties needed to coordinate for a specific attack or to separate back into individual parties.
“How are the Dwarves looking?” Lucy asked Jerome, one of her aides.
“They’re almost ready. It looks like they’ve brought some kind of Dwarven artillery, though it appears to be a prototype or something. I’ve never seen anything as portable; plus, they appear to be made of some unique materials.” Jerome shook his head.
“They’re twenty feet long. I don’t know how ‘portable’ they are, though. I do hope that they are effective.”
In the distant sky, lances of Light suddenly appeared and crashed into the forest below. This stood out because, as night arrived, the kaleidoscope of powers died down. Instead, Dark powers came to the fore.
Lucy checked her interface; the force was under heavy attack. They’d become too complacent and attacked too deep within the Demon Horde, allowing them to overrun them. Three were badly injured, one dead and two with minor injuries.
“Well, at least she knew how to make her death count.” Lucy shook her head. The spear attack had been powerful, but it had been all of the mage’s power, descending right on her position to save her friends.
“Tell Jules that we’ve got more wounded coming in. Also, I’m going to need more Demons to pick them up and bring them back,” Lucy said.
The aides in the command room immediately initiated their interfaces to forward the orders on.
Lucy noticed Kim’s party as it hit the edge of the Demons. Her destruction staff’s purple-green energy easily cut through a swath of trees as they did Demons. As soon as the attack had started, it finished with her party running away.
In comparison, Dwayne’s party was more like bulls. His party was a group of tanks with only two mages to provide support. They crushed anything in their path, using their shields and swords before they, t
oo, disappeared into the night.
Unfortunately, not all guild members were as lucky. Within the dark, the Demons’ natural night vision gave them the advantage against most of the Stone Raiders. They’d also started getting smarter. Having eaten their own dead, they had increased in power even as they marched on. None of them had attempted to try to make a camp. It was as if some force pushed them on as they marched through the forest.
“Lezar and Efri’s brigades are bedding down for the night so that they’re ready for tomorrow,” Alkao said as soon as he entered the command center.
“Good; I believe that we’ll see the Demon Horde early in the morning. It would be best that we get them engaged with the keep. We’ll soften them up with our surprises. Then, with the rested forces of Devil’s Crater Army, we smash them against the walls,” Lucy said, with an evil grin.
“Good, simple, easy, and hard to screw it up. Sounds like a plan. What do you need from me?”
“I need Demons to move wounded and supplies to and from my Stone Raiders,” Lucy said.
“Done.” Alkao looked to one of his aides, who bowed before walking off to pass word.
At that moment, Party Zero’s entrance onto the battlefield could be seen by all. Fire erupted into the night with a massive explosion as a small replica of a Dragon made out of flames appeared, followed shortly by shockwaves throughout the area.
Lightning ripped through the skies, backlighting the Dragon as it cast flames from its mouth and burned everything surrounding it.
Lucy stood, amazed, as her arcane sight picked up the sheer energies that couldn’t be seen from such a distance. The area around Party Zero looked like a maelstrom of arcane energies.
“Make sure that someone puts Xer on. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long night.” Lucy looked away from the scene of destruction and back to her interface.
***
Dave’s war hammer slammed down on the Demon in front of him, meeting their face and crushing them to the ground.
“Pull back!” Deia yelled.
Dave conjured a wall of spikes around the melee fighters and right through the Demons, enabling Gurren, Lox, Steve, and Anna to turn and run with Dave and the rest.
Dave’s Touch of the Land was always active, enabling him to continuously scan for any Demons following them and detect any traps in front of their path.
The party came to a stop after five minutes of running.
“Dave?” Deia asked.
“We’re good; doesn’t look like anything is trying to follow us.” Dave leaned his back against a tree and dropped into a sitting position. He was tired and even with a full Mana bar, he felt mentally drained.
“Everyone, we’ll take fifteen.” Deia slid down next to Dave.
Slowly, the morning was creeping up. Sunrise came earlier in the north.
No one talked, silently eating their food and drinking their water as they readied themselves for the next fight.
Dave checked his notifications.
Quest: Weapons Master Level 2
Kill one hundred enemies with every weapon type.
One handed and shield 100/100
Two handed 100/100
Dual wielding 100/100
Archery 100/100
Rewards: Unlock Level 3 Quest
Increase to stats
You have gained a Class Level: Weapons Master
Status:
Level 2
Effects:
+40 Vitality
+20 Endurance
+30 Strength
+30 Agility
Quest: Weapons Master Level 3
Complete the Quest: Survival of the Fittest
Rewards: Unlock Level 4 Quest
Increase to stats
Level 146
You have reached level 146; you have 500 stat points to use.
Some of the fatigue faded away as strength seemed to fill Dave’s body.
“You put in more stats?” Deia asked.
“Nope, just got my level 3 for Weapons Master and I’ve got a level increase to 146.” Dave flicked his interface over to his character sheet.
Character Sheet
Name:
David Grahslagg
Gender:
Male
Level:
46
Class:
Dwarven Master Smith, Friend of the Grey God, Bleeder, Librarian, Aleph Engineer, Weapons Master
Race:
Human/Dwarf
Alignment:
Chaotic Neutral
Unspent points: 500
Health:
20,800
Regen:
6.54 /s
Mana:
4,430
Regen:
15.75 /s
Stamina:
2,730
Regen:
15.75 /s
Vitality:
208
Endurance:
327
Intelligence:
443
Willpower:
315
Strength:
273
Agility:
315
“These Demons are damn good for experience,” Lox grunted.
“What do you have to do to get the next level of your Weapons Master class?” Deia asked.
“Finish the Survival of the Fittest quest.” Dave pulled out a piece of dried meat and rubbed his eyes with his other hand.
“Something the matter?” Deia asked.
“I’m just wondering what other monsters are out there. I took my sweet time before I started leveling up. There must be others who have been grinding their stats and classes this entire time. Some have to be way more min-max than me and could seriously kick my ass. Holding onto not leveling up until it became almost impossible for me to gain stats any other way was one hell of a risk. Though it has definitely paid off—I can’t even handle all of my strength right now. Others have had time to get used to it.” Dave chewed on the dried meat.
Deia waited, sensing that there was more he wanted to say.
“What are Players like at the very end of their life cycle?” Dave looked at her.
“What are they like? Well, I haven’t really gone to the main areas where Players live, though I’ve heard stories. Usually, they live in Ashal. There are abandoned cities all over Ashal but many can be reclaimed. The Players usually take them over, fighting in Ashal and going through the multiple portals to the other realms where the beasts of the nether wait. Sometimes, they even build cities on the other sides of those portals, visiting Emerilia only rarely. At the end of their cycle, their power is incredible. It is something that only champions of the Pantheon could compete with. They can’t compete with a Dragon, but they can best any other creature. Near the end, they become much more nostalgic and wiser. They are less prone to race from quest to quest and more interested in talking to the POE and taking their time. Throughout the cycle, the amount of E-heads increases drastically until the end. At the very end, they usually start giving off gifts to the POE they’ve made friends with and making donations to causes they believe in. Then, they seem to disappear as they log off for the last time, never to be seen again,” Deia said.
Dave drank water, noticing that everyone was paying close attention to their conversation.
“That said, I have never seen such a rapid progression of Players in any of the previous cycles. We might not be the strongest Players, but I don’t doubt that we are the strongest guild. The Golden Sabres, with members over level 300, are even thinking of joining us,” Deia said.
“We’re not the strongest by any means, but through everything we’ve been through, we keep coming out stronger again and again,” Suzy added.
Deia cocked her head to the side and opened up her interface. “We’ve got four more hours until sunrise.”
“Well, might as well make it count.” Steve sharpened his axe.
The rest of the party started to check their gear over, readying themselves for the ne
xt fight.
***
The Dark Lord didn’t look up as Boran-al held his head, looking around in confusion at suddenly being pulled into his lord’s viewing room.
“When the Horde reaches the keep, I will give my blessing to the strongest.” The Dark Lord looked down upon the display of Emerilia beneath his feet. It looked as if he stood among the clouds, looking down on the world.
“Yes, my lord.” Boran-al got over his disorientation quickly and took a knee before his lord in what was the middle of the sky.
“There are more of the traitors’ forces in the forest. Send out our forces and find them.” The Dark Lord didn’t look away from the scene below him as the first rays of sunlight started to catch Devil’s Crater’s highest cliffs and colored the morning clouds red, as if foretelling the battle about to happen.
“My lord, I discovered something interesting when researching what your blessing would do to your Creatures of Power,” Boran-al said.
“Speak,” the Dark Lord commanded.
“It won’t just increase their power like normal beings; instead, it will almost double it.”
Purple fire flickered within the Dark Lord’s hood as he let out a deep and cold laugh, anticipating what was to come.
Chapter 7: The Devil’s Demons
“Move it! We’ve got the Dark Lord’s minions to kill!” Lezar strode through the makeshift camp.
Everywhere, soldiers were checking the little gear they had. The entire brigade, fifty thousand Demons and Beast Kin, moved into their formations. They might look disheveled with only minimal gear, but they were far from the rabble they had been nearly a year ago. They had come so far, it was almost night and day.
This is Our Land (Emerilia Book 5) Page 7