PW Chapter 282: Entering the City (Patreon)

Astrid swallowed painfully as she hurried forward. Just as she had shown, she had a ranged attack that was worth using right now, and she wasn’t going to hold herself back from using it if the situation called for it. Her sling made a constant buzzing noise at her side as she twirled it at her side.

As part of the team looking to take care of the enemies’ highest tiers, Astrid didn’t concern herself with the dozen people she could see across the plain. Instead, she simply watched them as they reacted to the sudden reveal of an enemy army. Most of the posted scouts turned and sprinted through the exit into the surface behind them, but one vanished in a pulse of light.

“Mine,” Philip growled. As soon as he said it, he held his shield directly upward and somehow pulled the Rogue out of nowhere.

“Report! Full strength!” the enemy screamed to the two people who remained inside of the Dungeon proper. He started to try to give more information, but Eve twisted her left hand and somehow pulled the air from his lungs before he could say anything. His face, what little Astrid could see, seemed to flare up in fear, but he started to disappear again.

Surrounded by eighteen people of at least comparable strength to himself, though, he had no chance of escape. Frankly, it turned Astrid’s stomach to see the way that the Duchess’s soldiers turned deadly force on the mostly helpless man. In half a second, blades and spells had reduced the man to a corpse without delay or hesitation. Astrid forced herself to breathe through her mouth as the body was left behind.

“That’s for Sarixton,” Charles spat. That was the name of a city to the west, and going off the looks of hatred discoloring other faces, evidently this man had had no small part in something that had happened there. Some of Astrid’s discomfort bled away like that, but still she could only focus on what was coming.

“I’ll lead the path through the passage,” Philip said. “Any short-term defensive buffs, put them on me now. Follow after in three seconds.”

Half a dozen hands stretched out towards him as he shouldered his shield and stepped through the shimmering distinction between the Dungeon and the outer world. Even knowing the bombardment he was facing on the other side, Astrid couldn’t help but be amazed at how there was no indication of what was happening on the other side. Behind her, the army had caught up, and only the Duchess’s forces remained inside of the Dungeon.

“No time to waste,” Charles said, raising his sword over his head again. “Charge!”

He followed his own command as he rushed through to go to Philip’s support. Astrid did the same as every aura the Duchess’s army could use at the same time washed over her. Then, she felt the twisting in her gut as she stepped out of the Dungeon. In front of her stood Philip, his large shield planted in the ground and a massive golden bubble around them. Hundreds of attacks in the form of arrows, spells, rocks, boiling oil, and more thundered against the defensive Skill. It continued to hold strong.

“Five seconds!”

The Armored Knight’s warning brought all of the soldiers pressing together as tightly as they could to make sure that all thousand could benefit from his Skill. Just in time, he lifted his shield and threw it up into the air. As he did so, every attack that had struck the bubble flew back to the people who had made them. Astrid had the briefest moment to take in the sight of where they were as the Marchioness’s defenders were blown back.

They stood in the center of a heavily fortified square, maybe two hundred meters on each side. The stone walls that surrounded them on every side were at least ten meters tall and made of solid sheets of stone. On top of the walls were palisades, and behind them hunched hundreds of soldiers. The surface of the walls glowed with hundreds of enchantments, and though Philip’s Skill had returned every attack, none seemed to have done more than scare the enemy.

“Charge for that gate!” Charles commanded, the words cutting through the shouts of battle. Somehow, Astrid felt her attention be forced towards the gate, and Charles led the charge beside Philip. A dozen more attacks fell on the tightly pressed group of soldiers, most of them deflected, but many still finding their target. Eve, in the center of the formation, focused on dispelling and deflecting most of the spells that came towards the army, but a barrage of shots that Astrid recognized landed heavily.

“The Sniper!” Astrid called out. Behind her, she saw an armored woman go down with an arrow piercing through her throat and head. More arrows continued falling, many finding their target, even as the strongest members of the attacking force tried to hold them off. Several of her allies fell, either crippled or dead, and several of their companions turned towards the fallen.

“Move faster!” Eve screamed, forcing their attention forward. “The enemy casters still aren’t in position. If we’re still in here when they’re going, we’re all dead! Move!”

Astrid’s chest twisted as they left behind a dozen bodies before they’d been able to do anything, but she was swept along by the momentum of the charge. Charles swept down his sword once again, a glowing beam of light extending from the weapon and smashing into the heavily fortified gate.

“Don’t stop,” he commanded. The gate still looked to be holding together, but he braced his shield, which glowed heavily with mana as he threw himself at the gate. The two hundred meter wall exploded into shrapnel at his charge. Half of the wall simply ceased to exist, so far as Astrid could tell, and the defenders on top of the wall flew through the air. Their anguished screams tormented her as the wall came down and dust billowed in every direction. Even so, she could see well enough to view five heavily armored enemies standing on the other side. The explosion of stone didn’t seem to have bothered them at all, and no words were exchanged as the highest-tier people on both sides threw themselves at each other.

“Those’re the Marchioness’s Knights. They’re too durable for you,” Eve said as she sent bolts of lightning arcing through the air to smash into the enemy frontliners from every angle. “Find that Sniper bastard, if you can.”

“Muti?” Astrid asked.

“He’s close. Within the bounds of the city. Half a kilometer away?”

“Where?”

“I’ll guide you.”

Astrid turned back towards Eve, who nodded. “Even more important than him is any caster you might be able to find. They won’t be any closer than he is, but taking them out will be the best thing you can do. It might take them a while to overcome our defenses once they’re going, but if they can, everybody’s dead.”

“No pressure,” Astrid laughed involuntarily.

“Lots of pressure. Go succeed.”

Eve just stepped hard with her right leg, sending a jagged wall of stone towards one of the frontliners. It pierced through their foot as they were locked in combat with Charles. The battle line there continuously shifted as the lower-tier members of the army spread off to deal with their own objectives. Wherever the enemy’s other high-tier soldiers were, Astrid had no idea, but at the very least, Muti had an idea of where the Sniper was.

“Go,” Astrid commanded, and the Wanderers sprinted by her side. Muti saved her mana, simply sprinting along as she sliced into any unfortunate who came near. At least, anybody who was wearing armor. Twice, somebody wearing ordinary workman’s clothes seemed to stumble out of the wreckage of a workshop or home, and the party left them alone.

“He’s moving,” Muti growled. Astrid didn’t need to ask who she was talking about and simply shrugged.

“Go slow him down, however you can. Now.”

Before Muti could go, Skandr’s enchantment book flicked through his hands, and he ripped a page free before throwing it at the Executioner. Wind and lightning encompassed her body as she melted into the shadows.

“That should get her fast enough to catch him.” Skandr nodded. “We can only hope that she—”

An arrow pierced his throat and knocked him to the ground before he could finish the thought. Thinking quickly, Astrid grabbed his body and spun him around the corner. As she began to use a charge of Regeneration, he shook his head and pulled out a potion, pouring it over his neck. Astrid, following his command for now, broke the head of the arrow out from where it protruded in the back of his neck. Then, she pulled the shaft free as Skandr poured the potion down his throat and started chewing on a fruit of regeneration from Vera.

“No… heal… here,” he struggled to say. “Need… charges… fight.”

Astrid couldn’t bring herself to fully disagree with what he was saying. She couldn’t use one of her four charges right now, when she wasn’t hurt. Right now, he could probably survive for a little while without it.

“I’ll take care of him,” Benedict snapped. “Go! If she’s alone against him, she’s dead. Go.”

Astrid screamed curses as she stepped forward and started sprinting towards where Muti was guiding them. Maybe a hundred meters away, she could see flashes of mist and shadow that betrayed where Muti was actively fighting. By the sound of explosive attacks, she was holding on, but needed backup. With a thought, Astrid stowed the enchanted piece of ammunition for her sling and drew her hammer.

“Inbound!” Astrid said, jumping into the air and sighting where the fight was occurring. A cloud of mist below billowed below her in the remains of a home. Inside the wreckage, Astrid could only see flashes of attacks as Muti tied down the Sniper. At her warning, Muti disengaged as Astrid’s Meteoric Descent fell towards the building.

A second figure decisively ran away, escaping the center of Astrid’s attack, but he wasn’t able to fully escape with so little heads-up. His legs shuddered on the ground as Astrid inadvertently destroyed the plumbing underground. The ground where she stood collapsed down three meters as she threw herself towards the Sniper.

He was a nondescript man, wearing a cowl and dark leather armor. The bow he carried, though, was two meters tall and thick. It seemed to be made of some sort of metal, and he’d evidently been fighting Muti off with it during the fight. Seeing Astrid, he immediately drew and fired three times. The first arrow struck her shield, as did the second and third. Only the first was stopped by her equipment, though. The others pierced easily through and instead lodged in her chest. Neither exploded, so evidently there was some limitation Astrid was unaware of. That didn’t matter right now.

With a scream, Astrid designated her hammer as the meteor and the man as the crater. She rushed forward, the aura from her burst Skill keeping him from running as fast as he would like. He started to shoot towards her again, but Muti appeared from the shadows and drew her blades against the back of the Sniper’s knees.

As Astrid got close, he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Her Meteoric Smite missed uselessly, and Astrid glared at her surroundings. She tried to find where he’d gone, but couldn’t see anything.

“Fifty meters in that direction.”

Muti’s warning sent Astrid and her both sprinting in that direction. The Executioner again dissolved into shadow as Astrid heard quiet cursing from further ahead. Then, three arrows pierced through a building and slammed into her chest. This time, the first exploded within the building before smashing into her. Then, in the gap that remained and before the building could fall, the other two arrows slammed into her chest and exploded there.

Her armor mostly held together, but Astrid tasted blood as it burst from her mouth. She could only barely feel her legs as she unwillingly slumped over and mentally tried to designate Muti and Felix, wherever they were, as the ones to also benefit from her first use of Regeneration.

Astrid’s stomach knit itself back together, and she groaned at a sudden sensation of mana loss. Obviously, she’d gotten at least Muti with the Skill, and she screamed as she fought to her feet. Astrid charged through the same building that had mostly fallen by now and saw where Felix and Muti were tag-teaming the sniper. Felix, having controlled his burst Skill to keep him at two meters tall, had neglected to use his axe. Instead, he was desperately fighting to keep the Sniper in his arms. The Adamantium tier enemy had a dagger in his hand and was punching it repeatedly into Felix’s side as he fought and struggled to get free. Felix, face gritted in agony, didn’t react except to maintain his grasp as Muti sliced where she could. 

Once, the Sniper tried to go for Felix’s face, but Muti appeared and stabbed her own blade into the enemy’s briefly exposed side. She didn’t manage to stab completely into the enemy, but managed to lodge the blade a handful of centimeters between his ribs before he elbowed her in the face and sent her sprawling back.

“I don’t know how long we’ve got until he can teleport away again,” Felix said as Astrid rushed forward. With Felix holding the enemy, she couldn’t swing her hammer without risking bludgeoning him instead. As such, she wrestled in to get her left arm around the Sniper’s neck before starting to hammer the back of his head with her fist. He tried to scream, and Astrid’s rage couldn’t quite dispel her own horror as she started to push Power-aligned mana into her gauntlet.

Her hand fell like hammerblows, and, after five, his wriggling resistance died off. She, despite the bile crawling up her throat, didn’t stop. With one final hit, she punched, bone crunched, and the Sniper was dead.

Horizon-Seeking Sniper slain. 98,000 experience gained, split among party.

“Skandr,” Astrid grunted, standing up and looking at the body in front of her. With a twist in her gut, she decided it wasn’t a good idea to leave the body here and pulled it into her large spatial pouch. The other two followed along with her as she tossed a pair of berries into her mouth and chewed while she hurried towards where they had left Skandr and Benedict. It was only a handful of seconds to get there, and Benedict was actually in the process of getting ready to leave.

“Okay, they’re back,” Benedict said, and Astrid looked at Skandr. His face was pale, but he was still alive. She just nodded and turned to Muti.

“Do you feel any mana?”

She cocked her head to the side for a moment before nodding and pointing. “Two hundred meters.”

Where she pointed would take the party closer to the battle, where screams, explosions, metal clanging, and more filled the air.

“You gotta stay with us, even if you’re not feeling great,” Astrid said to Skandr.

“I’ve got to do something. I’m not being useless.”

All five turned and started running in the direction that Muti directed, but didn’t get far before Skandr shouted for them to stop. Everybody listened, and he took his staff, swept its head along the ground, and thrust it forward. Following the path of the staff, mana twisted into a curtain of lightning that spread and jolted into a series of enchantments that were patterned across the ground.

Skandr didn’t stop, but started casting a spell which went into the ground and started to shake like the ocean. Small ripples at first, before a massive wave crunched through the enchantments and set off a series of mana explosions.

“That should be all,” he said, steadying himself. His face was pale, so he threw a pair of mana berries into his mouth. “They know we’re here.”

Felix decisively took out the bastion potion that Pauline had handed to Astrid before she died. As he did, his presence grew heavier, and he lowered himself behind his shield and charged forward. Before he could get close, a serpent formed, and a flame burst from the building they were going towards, nearly the size of Liora when she transformed into a lindwurm.

“Hurry!” Felix grunted, as the serpent’s fangs smashed into his shield and tried to throw him into the air. Muti disappeared towards the building, trying to kill the caster. A dragon about the size of a horse exploded from the building, also made of fire. It burst and dispelled her shadowy stealth as it tore into her.

Astrid didn’t say anything as she jumped up and channeled Meteoric Descent again. It had been nearly a minute, so she crashed towards the building. She smashed through the roof and into the center of the room, where, to her surprise, two people waited.

“Hello again,” Gregor said as he used his spear to stop her attack. “It seems like enough blood has been shed for me to make my appearance.”