Blacksmith vs. the System 293

The second volley of cannons targeted the approaching ascended, a hundred simultaneous roars exploding, the new powder’s smoke lost in the spreading frost from the shells. The shells bounded away, leaving a glittering, icy aftermath, but I doubted the enemy ascended had the ability to appreciate the sight, spreading to avoid damage.

They split far more effectively than I had expected. A perfect grid, maintaining the perfect distance to limit the damage without losing the support of their allies. They were much better than the previous team that attacked us.

White plumes of frost bloomed around them, but they started to run toward the base rather than turning back.

They were confident. Luckily, I was already here. While the lack of regeneration from the dungeon was a bit of a problem, it was compensated for by the new mana containers. I could use my regeneration as necessary.

The cannons reloaded while Eleanor moved toward the outskirts of the base, her blade drawn, glowing with mana, looking like she was ready to hold against the enemy alone. Her confidence implied that, in such a battle, she believed that she had a chance.

Luckily, there was no need for such deadly grandstanding. Logan moved forward to join her at the front, creating a two-person bulwark against the upcoming disaster.

Terry moved behind them, standing diagonally, four of the new ascended behind him. He immediately started barking orders, and five of them collaborated to grow a tree. Rebecca joined them soon after, running hurriedly from the depths of the base, further selling the story that we were not ready for the enemy action. Her arrival meant that the tree started to grow even faster.

Spencer stood behind, but it was not fear that kept him back. Supported by a team of his own, he was already building a central node for the first ward, fulfilling the view of the others.

Rosie stayed at the base, still ordering cannons. The only one missing from the crowd was Jessica, but it wasn’t due to absence. With my expanded senses, I could feel her presence underground, ready to burst out like a deadly blade when the time arrived.

She was shaping up to be a deadly assassin.

The enemy ascended continued to cover the distance, their speed allowing them to cover the distance in merely a minute even with all the interference from the focused rain of shells, a ward appearing above them to take the blunt of the damage.

Their ward didn’t keep them safe. The addition of decay shells pattering their path meant that their equipment had already started to corrode. Rosie’s reasoning was clear. Either force them to wade through the corrosive aura, or extend their path.

Even going full speed, they weren’t able to block before some more ascended joined them. Including my students, the count barely reached twenty, which looked a difficult challenge against the fifty. I wanted to join, but I respected Rosie’s choice.

“Careful on the line. Contact in ten seconds,” Terry called, his voice surprisingly even, though his taking command surprised me a bit. I expected Rosie or Eleanor to take the lead. It seemed his leadership was even more accepted than I expected. I had always been hopeful about him, but his progress had surpassed my greatest hopes.

Good.

Terry started casting, supported by the other ascended farmers, but something caught me flat-footed. The enemy ascended reacted by dispersing, their movement perfectly lockstep, even more in sync than their previous attempt.

It was not normal, and I was not the only one to notice it.

“They have a Charisma user! Be careful!” Rosie suddenly shouted, but even as she did so, she raised her left hand, her fingers curled in a preset pattern. It was a message to me, asking me to still stay back.

I decided to respect her choice, ignoring my decision to intervene. One thing was clear. Even if the enemy was using Charisma, they couldn’t deal with our people instantly.

While the rest of our forces shuffled, Eleanor moved. Her blade alight with mana, she split from the formation to dash at the center of the enemy. It was a surprising strategy. With the formation of the enemy spread wide, she had the ability to cut through the center to target the Charisma user, but that would let the enemy collapse around her.

She waded into the left edge of the enemy formation like a wave, dodging the enemy as she pushed forward. It was a bad strategy … or at least, that was what I thought at first. Five of the enemy ascended collapsed around her, pinning her in place.

That was when the cannons let out another salvo, targeting Eleanor. At the same time, her blade glowed tightly, and she swung her sword to the sky, the blade destroying the ward, which was much weaker from inside.

The frost exploded around her, damaging her attackers. The infusing frost energy temporarily slowed them down even with their protective aura, but Eleanor was unaffected. Her armor, I realized. Someone had adjusted it to add some heavy protection against the cold.

In their temporary shock, the ascended paused for a moment, allowing Eleanor to decapitate one, and slip out, targeting the leader once again.

The enemy tried to adjust their formation, but Logan was quick to arrive, his attacks, empowered by the tree created earlier, enough to add chaos to the line. The spells from Spencer and Terry, one set Intelligence-based while others relying on Wisdom, rained from the sky, focusing on manipulating the battlefield rather than directly targeting.

However, even as the battlefield got covered with vines, shrubbery, and other impediments, the enemy reacted perfectly, splitting to deal with the approach. No wonder Charisma, rare as it was, valued so much. It was truly a game changer in the battlefield.

There was one great disadvantage as well, one that would soon come to play, I believed. The placement of the Charisma user was obvious, right at the center, protected by four warriors carrying shields, facing the battlefield. Once Eleanor got closer, they had to respond to her presence, leaving the back of their leader unprotected.

Something that Rosie hadn’t missed. The moment that happened, she gave a signal, and something exploded underground, shaking the world slightly.

Jessica burst out of the ground at that moment, behind the enemy formation. The surrounding shrubbery allowed her to use her class ability. She sneaked forward, her dagger already drawn, easily sneaking through the battlefield.

Ordinarily, her approach should have been noticed, but a big drawback of Charisma soon turned apparent. The Charisma user was focusing somewhere else, and so did the rest of his squad. If their leader had noticed Jessica’s approach, things might have been different, but she had arrived behind him, and hooked her arm around his body, her dagger digging into his eye.

At that moment, the enemy force froze in an instant, then broke into disarray. Eleanor used the opportunity to dodge the bodyguards and finish the job before turning her blade toward the disorganized enemy, who were stumbling like they had just woken up from a dream.

They recovered in less than fifteen seconds, but in a melee battle that was already an eternity, they had already lost most of their numbers, the remaining ones trying to escape. They turned and started running away, each choosing a different direction.

Not a bad strategy, but before they could finish their escape, Maria appeared on the horizon and added her devastating spells to the mixture, which marked the end of the battle.

It was surprising just how far they had come in such a short time, once again proving that the System gave humanity a way to handle the disaster. We were stopped only by our own greed.

“Maybe we can even win against the void creatures in the future,” I muttered hopefully. That was not something I wanted to waste my time on. Instead, I decided to use my arrival as an advantage, and delved into the dungeon after sending a signal to Rosie.

This dungeon was a touch different, mostly an empty plain, with occasional tiny rivers that seemed not strong enough to breathe life back to the land, filled mostly with birds that looked like overgrown sparrows using wind attacks.

Without sabotage from the enemy, the dungeon was not at the edge of collapse, but it was still dealing with the corruption. All I needed was to go to the lowest floor, deal with the accumulated bosses, and connect with the dungeon.

This time, it was a slow, delicate process that lasted almost two days, but I handled it without falling unconscious or falling into dreams.

With that, the first two stages of our grand plan were completed.

All that remained was the third one.

Establishing a port.

One that could handle the endless monster attacks from the sea.