MM - Chapter 240 - ESCALATIONS

Torune of CronGate

- Central Silvergate Highlands, ZionLine -

A harsh bark of laughter shattered Torune’s Stealth. He made no effort to conceal himself again, even if his class allowed him to do so. The sight of Alaric’s pitifully small force charging into the jaws of a meticulously prepared trap was too perfect to resist. The emotions he’d been bottling up since the auction refused to be restrained any longer. His amusement only mounted as Astra’s forces at the mouth of the passes began erecting useless, flimsy defenses. They were preparing for a siege they would never live to see.

An old proverb surfaced in Torune’s thoughts. 

If you set a trap for others, you will get caught in it yourself. 

The irony of Alaric’s failure was exquisite. The dolt had sealed the entire zone, thinking he was caging his enemies. In reality, he had only locked the door to his own tomb.

Arrayed in the ranks around Torune, hidden by their own Stealth, were a staggering fifty Vaaterran mercenaries. They were the fruits of his aggressive bidding at the auction; possibly the only good thing to come out of the entire night. When the Desolate Broker had listed the Mercenary Vouchers, Torune spared no expense to acquire as many as possible. He failed to secure them all, but the few he had were more than sufficient to grind Alaric and his aspirations into dust.

Since the summoned mercenaries matched the level of the summoner, the Halnugen had been more than happy to oblige him. Each of the fifty warriors was level forty-three, a combined force whose attributes and raw power dwarfed Astra’s hired swords. With each step Alaric took, Torune’s predatory grin widened. He tasted the final moments of the hunt on the air as he had so many times before.

His enemies drew the first blood. But that was fine. They had no idea what was in store for them.

The vanguards clashed without any true resistance on CronGate’s part. The drifters of Astra Infernum, flying ever lower, maintained a healthy lead over the ground assault. Their bombing run carved a direct path toward Torune’s position, and every one of his guilders caught in their wake was summarily frozen by the surprisingly numerous Snap Grenades. The follow-up of overwhelming physical might turned the front ranks into a gallery of shattered statues.

In mere seconds, Alaric’s forces cut deep into Torune’s lines. There was no pity in his heart for the dead. Their loss was a trivial price. On Earth, they were merely class one nobodies and class two disciples, hardly worthy of a passing thought, let alone grief. Their purpose was to expend the enemies’ resources, to serve as chaff that would bog down and distract. Even their lost gear would be reclaimed shortly after the battle, and to earn it back, those same fodder would be put to work.

No, there was no loss in their deaths.

CronGate’s real troops—one hundred class four experts—were spread in a wide semicircle, well hidden within the ranks of the disciples. As Alaric drove deeper, the net closed. Soon, the whelp would be completely encircled, cut off, and ripe for the slaughter. That is, if he even survived long enough to face the truly valuable weapons Torune had prepared and distributed to those experts.

With an overt lowering of his hand, the hounds were unleashed. Fifty Vaaterran mercenaries charged forward, a wave of disciplined death meant to intercept and obliterate Alaric’s vanguard. Simultaneously, he nodded to the captain of Rising Endlessly’s detachment. With a single typed command, two hundred of Damian’s elite experts materialized. Their avatars logged in from where they left—high above the battlefield. Their targets were the pesky flyers. In moments, Astra Infernum’s air force would be nothing more than loot to be plucked from the blood-soaked soil.

Raine KongRu

- Central Silvergate Highlands, ZionLine -

A thousand gold was deducted from Raine’s account balance when he activated Lockdown. It was a small price to pay for the harvest he was about to reap. The trickiest part had been getting all his enemies into a single zone. Now that they were, there was no longer any reason to hold back.

Raine was in lockstep with Varak’s elites, and together, they carved a gruesome path through CronGate’s lines. His enemies might not be able to see over the heads of their fellow guilders, but they could certainly catch the frozen bits of bodies thrown sky-high with every overwhelming strike. The meat-grinder coming for them was something straight from a nightmare. The fact that so many remained in Stealth was proof of their fear. 

How were they, the rank and file, supposed to fight back against what was coming for them?

As they struck deeper, Raine did not miss the fresh cluster of two hundred drifters that appeared high in the sky, well above the elevation of his own forces. They were, after all, expected. It was the same tactic Damian’s guild used to kill Celeste, and a strategy so common in the future that its absence would have been the surprise. To Raine, leaving forces logged out near a known battlefield was a classic, if predictable, maneuver.

There was no need to waste time with the specifics of a plan they had already discussed. Raine's dancing eyes were tracked by his interface, forming a simple message in the officer chat. “Blue skies.”

There was no time to read their confirmations. The enemy mercenaries Lunged and Charged, streaking left and right through the hail of grenades. The few who failed to avoid entirely simply jumped, soaring through the air to circumvent the flat AOE attacks.

[Vaaterran Mercenary: Level 43 (HP 6,200/6,200)]

[Highest Attribute: Potency 680]

[Average Attribute Score: 650]

Powerful explosions rocked the landscape as they met Astra’s charge head-on, clashing against Varak’s forces. Five had remained behind in the passes, leaving the vanguard slightly outnumbered. Lustrous steel screamed in a cacophony of brutal impacts. It was a maelstrom of flashing blades, concussive spellcraft, and the guttural roars of warriors locked in mortal combat.

Torune’s mercenaries struck in a disorganized wave, each Warrior, Brawler, and Defender a bastion of individual might with attributes far above the surrounding soldiers. Soldiers who were summarily blown to bits by the released shockwaves from that first deadly clash. The level fifties were ganged up on three to one, falling to their knees or retreating several paces as multiple potent skills were unleashed in unison.

Yet, Varak’s elites held fast, though their charge was finally stopped cold. “Phalanx!” His bellowed command skill cut through the chaos, a rallying cry of pure authority. The armor and shields of his front-line Defenders shimmered as their Defense ratcheted higher. The command buffs didn’t stop. “Spearhead! Battering Ram! Acceleration!” 

Raine keenly felt each buff wash over him, his stats soaring euphorically.

[Attack Power: +12.5% (+250)]

[Defense: +12.5% (+182)]

[Potency: +12.5% (+91)]

[Finesse: +12.5% (+88)]

[Acuity: +12.5% (+66)]

[Physique: +12.5% (+107)]

The initial charge of Torune’s mercs broke like water on rocks, their momentum stolen without achieving a single kill. Weapons blurred, and invisible lines were drawn as the only melee that mattered unfolded into a dozen shockwave-inducing brawls. Yet, where others would see only chaos, Raine saw the truth. 

The summoned mercenaries were a disjointed mob, lacking a true leader. Meanwhile, Varak’s soldiers were a cohesive, breathing organism of war. Axes and swords rained down on his shield wall, their force stolen by superior attributes. In the same moment, devastating counter-attacks from the level fifties were unleashed.

A 2nd-tier caster snapped his fingers, and an intricate pattern of Elemental Power unfolded into a dazzling sigil above his head. A blue bolt of arcing current lit the battlefield like a fresh sun. It slammed into an enemy Brawler, the tier one class having no way to resist. The incredible energy contained in the bolt tore through his back, leaving a gaping hole. Unhindered by the flesh it rent, the Chain Lightning leaped with crackling fury to the next closest mercenary, and the next, and the next, arcing through their clustered ranks and leaving a trail of cored, smoking bodies.

Two of Torune's Warriors, their Potency immense, managed to batter a shield aside, creating a breach. Before they could exploit it, a 2nd-tier Bleak Reaper flowed into the gap. His daggers were streaks of crimson darkness that sliced through armor and muscle alike, leaving not bleeding cuts, but black holes that sucked out the innards of his prey. The breach was sealed before it truly opened.

Varak’s greatshield deflected a two-handed Power Cleave that sent sparks flying, the impact barely shifting his stance. A brutal Shield Bash sent his attacker stumbling back into his allies. Arm raised high, Varak’s glowing axe swelled in size, looming tall over the battlefield before coming down in a gargantuan explosion that instantly cracked the mercenaries’ momentum wide open. 

Raine Lunged into the billowing cloud of dust, inverse flames sucking at the light and obscuring his figure. He swapped weapons, and a hefty, brutish thing lacking all manner of elegance appeared in his grip. There was no more perfect weapon in his arsenal to properly display the difference between him and his enemies.

[Club of Forgetfulness: (Lustrous Blue - LVL 35) (Attack Power +140) (Attack Speed -.25) (Health +85) (Potency +55) (Physique +55) (Durability 150/150)]

The first skull he found—backed by a mere 6,000 health—received a solid thunk and promptly caved in. [Critical hit! -17,617]

With all his buffs running, and Varak’s command skills, Raine’s combined Discipline and Attack Power was a staggering 5,086. Weapon masteries and Prominence of the Fool increased his damage by 60%, and the remnant Primal Energy still flowing through his body granted another 30%. The poor Vaaterran’s skull never stood a chance.

Uncanny Acceleration instantly pulled his weapon around so fast it vanished even from Varak’s eyes. The second mercenary’s upper body ceased to exist just before the rest of him popped out of existence. [-37,819]

[Uncanny Acceleration: (Completion - 62% Expert)]

Raine tsked at his low completion rate even as he frontflipped, bringing his club down in a two-handed swing. Before impact, it shone with a blinding light that caused hundreds of onlookers to screech. 

[Debilitating Crush: (Completion - 66% Expert)]

Of the woman he struck, there were no remains. Blinded, not one of her allies saw her death, nor bore witness to the insane damage number that flashed in and out of existence above her. Raine spun to the left, aiming a Rupture in the general direction of the group recovering from Varak’s axe. They, as well, ceased to exist.

[Rupture: (Completion - 67% Expert)]

Raine shifted to a one-handed grip and Lunged into a mercenary’s back. His empty offhand blazed with the Flames of Amanesh before a single strike blossomed into a dozen that left nothing but an empty chestplate clinking to the ground.

[Flurry of One: (Completion - 71% Expert)]

The clash ceased to be a battle; it became a demolition. Even without Raine’s assistance, the mercenaries would have been utterly outclassed. Such was the disparity between 1st and 2nd-tier classes. Even five of Torune’s mercenaries wouldn’t have been able to take Varak down, and he was but one of five. Raine’s elites resumed their forward momentum with a unified roar, tearing apart anything that stood in their way like a raging storm.

An enraged shout that Raine would never fail to recognize thundered across the battlefield. Torune’s voice was raw with frustration, “Now! Do it now!”

Raine snorted. The fool didn’t even use the raid chat. Blunder aside, there were many ways Torune could kill the precious members of his retinue. Senses on high alert, Raine prepared for whatever was thrown their way next.

From all sides, a hundred streaks of white light arced straight through the clustered CronGate and DyingNight guilders: Bone Spears. The single-use item was a staple for sniping commanders precisely because it would continue through as many targets as was required to deliver its payload to the intended victim. A volley of this magnitude was a significant investment, and an actual threat. At least, it would have been had the spears not been thrown by guilders whose attributes were so far beneath Raine’s that it bordered on comical.

There was no need to flood his body and mind with Discipline, but he did so anyway. The volley converged, and many of the forces arrayed against Raine were blown to bits by their own allies’ Bone Spears; the rest watched on in horror. His evasions were so fast that his torso vanished. One moment, Alaric was there, a solid figure of black and crimson, and the next, the spears shot straight through the empty space where his upper body should be. It was clear he was not dead, for his legs remained visible, planted on the ground, stance wide, but everything above was simply gone. Jaws dropped as his visage was replaced by the bloody mess of those behind him.

Another screech tore from Torune’s throat, the first shadows of panic creeping in, “No! Just die already! Use the scroll! The scrolls!”

CronGate’s experts were quick to comply. They combined into groups of ten to activate multiple powerful strategic resources. Dazzling arcane symbols pulsed from the unfurled scroll, swelling in size to summon six hulking monstrosities. The other four groups unleashed a Torrential Blizzard, Firestorm, Ash Armageddon, and Poison Hail, each combining the Elemental Powers of ten casters and magnifying them to new heights.

A veritable hurricane of elemental destruction descended, sweeping aside hundreds of CronGate guilders on its way toward Raine. While he could survive with Unassailable Aegis, his elites would not, and they were crucial to his future plans. Worse, none of these dangerous trump cards were counterable like the Annihilation Ray. 

And behind that wall of elemental death, six massive forms roared, pounding the ground into oblivion as they charged.