Chapter 70

With the gigantic reptile dead, it was clean-up time. The crafters descended like a plague of locusts, trying to see what they could grab. Feeling sheepish about losing his spear mid battle Tom clambered up onto the dead monstrosity and grabbed his spear. It didn’t move. Even when he tried to wrench it to the size, he couldn’t shift it.

Internally, Tom cursed. Getting a weapon stuck like this was one of the most embarrassing things you could do. Unless it was a killing blow, that was the only time this would have been acceptable and even then only barely.

Lightning Spears flashed into existence a single spear that rocketed down the side of his own one. There was a sizzle followed by a promising crack.

Tentatively, he tested it. The shaft wobbled. With a sigh of relief, he worked it left and right until he could pull it out with a wet sucking sound and a spurt of blood that did not reach his feet.

Spear in hand, he started around and noticed how everyone was smiling. They had killed it together with no losses. That meant group experience and a strengthening of the team. They were all being buoyed by a rising tide of hope.

Tom quickly checked the battle results in his system room.

Declabog Lizard slain by raid group.

Contribution to kill 8.3%

Personal experience awarded 3,918

The smaller lizard had been worth less than the larger one and even though Tom’s contribution percentage had increased his overall experience had dropped.

“Any other injuries?” Michael yelled.

A couple of hands went up, but it was clear there weren’t any concerning ones amongst them and more important no prone bodies back where the fight had started.

“We’ll get you all fixed,” Michael promised. “Great teamwork.”

There were scattered cheers.

Michael laughed at that. “We can celebrate later,” Michael shouted, switching to boss mode. “Everyone back to work.”

Boos greeted that comment, but everyone was already moving in large numbers, smiling. Having fought three major enemies since leaving the plains no one was taking this area lightly. No one would risk partying before they had stronger fortifications in place.

With a series of good natured curses, everyone went back to their previous tasks, including Tom. Now that he was out of the plains he was treated as a normal fighter and with no enemies present his job was to be a grunt worker. The stones were heavy and his muscles complained. Stone after stone got moved. The wall increased to over head height and Tom found his job changing to exclusively shifting the stones from the base to the top.

“Ferrets incoming.”

Tom placed the latest block down while he scanned the ground below him. It had been an hour since they had fought the last lizard and his mana was recovered. He could see the ferrets approaching. They were rushing forward, but luckily they were behaving like they were stealthed and it was slowing them down.

Tom, as always was hyperaware of the battlefield. He knew where everyone near him was and the layout. The fortifications were not ready for these giant ferrets, they had too many holes in them, including the spot where he was working. With a frown he returned the rock he had just placed into his storage, returning the ten metre long section to being flat. The main issue to making their stand here was how narrow the ledge at the top of the wall currently was. Tom remembered how fast the bastard things were. Fighting in such a tight space would be difficult and he needed more agility to do it effectively else he risked mis-stepping and falling off the wall.

Tom ducked into his system room.

“Buy as many lightning tank class levels as possible.”

Two levels purchased

There was no time to check the new attributes points but from Fate Agility he knew those two levels were four agility which should help his balance somewhat.

“They’re attacking south, east and west.”

The fort that they were building was not huge. Each wall was around thirty metres long. In most places, the wooden stakes had been placed, creating extra fortification with the only material gap being right where Tom stood, but he knew there were other spots the creatures could squeeze through.

Tom looked at the enemy. They were slinking forward still acting like they were invisible. Over eighty of them were heading for his wall and if they were attacking from three directions, that meant this attack was as large as the first one, with the only change being that they had fortifications this time. Tom trusted it would make a difference. The extra barrier to restrict their free movement plus the specific prior fighting experience no matter how slight against the ferrets should let them get through this uninjured.

People were running. He looked left and right and frowned. His area of the wall was getting reinforced with ten others melee fighters. There was barely any elbow room between them, but Tom understood the logic. The ferrets were skinny, and he had seen how they moved. If they had a more comfortable spacing in the gap, it was likely they would get through. This way, they would have a chance of repelling them before they got established on top of the wall.

He triggered his Summon Lightning Elemental ability and immediately directed it to the boundary just above the lesser elemental. The titles hopped into action to lower the cost and increase the probability of the contract being accepted. A pin hole was opened, and he sent the offer through. It was a rich one. One minute of protection and a host of guaranteed mana.

Numerous elementals jumped at the offer.

His mind touched the various personalities.

Clever and Blood thirsty. That was an excellent combination of what he had planned. They made the agreement and with a crackle of energy an elemental appeared next to him. It glowed with energy.

The first ferret wave of ferrets was charging towards them using the spikes that radiated outwards to stop the bigger lizards as stepping stones to reach them.

Kill ferrets, he screamed out in his head. Even as his metal boot lashed out at the first ferret to leap up the wall. Then his spear thrust forward catching another one in the neck.

The ferret he kicked attempted to bite the toe of his boot. There was a screech of teeth on metal, but Tom for extra power had already flared Lightning Steps as his boot connected. It felt like he was a kicking something twice as heavily as usual courtesy of his skill. The teeth failed to find purchase, and physics conspired against it. Teeth broke, the head snapped back and then it flew backward a good two metres off the wall and plunged toward the ground.

Probably dead.

Below him, lightning burst from enemy to enemy. Rolling over their small skulls, concentrating for a moment on top of each of their heads and then when it moved out it left smoking eye sockets. The pressure of charging ferrets vanished. Absently, Tom skewered a single one that flew at him. Without a wave coming at him, it required little more than pointing the spear in the right spot and flaring power strike to ensure the tip pierced the creature’s skin.

Kill these, then spread out around the walls. The order went out, and Tom looked inwards down at the defended space.

The inside of the fort was mostly bare, as the outer fortifications had gotten the priority. Flat ground where groups of crafters had been busily working on their projects on the flattened earth. Of course, they had dropped their work tools and gathered their weapons and stood in combat teams ready to be attacked. They looked prepared and dangerous, but Tom knew better. By earth standards, they were probably beyond competent, but they had chosen the crafting pathway. Yes, they possessed technical fighting skills to defend themselves with, but Tom doubted that would cross a fifty percent gap in rank that these monsters had over them. His eyes spotted ferrets dropping into the open area.

The fortifications had been breached.

Ferrets were swarming over a section of wall. They had found a small gap in the woodwork that Michael, or whoever was coordinating the troops had thought sealed.

“Protect the crafters,” Tom yelled, banishing his spear to his soul storage. He needed to go fast and knowing that he was going to regret it Tom jumped down.

As he flew, Tom seriously regretted having delayed the purchase of acrobatics. Unfortunately, there was just too much stuff to get. One of acrobatics early benefits was making small falls safer. Instead of relying on a magical skill to aid him, he focused on technique. Relaxing his muscles and then tucking and rolling when he hit.

The force of the impact was jarring, but without the uneven ground to sabotage him he mostly stuck the landing. Instantly he was on his feet with his spear appearing in his hands just as a ferret launched itself at him.

The magic strength of a power strike infused his spear, and he intercepted the flying monster and ripped out its throat, then pushed further to alter its trajectory till it flew over his head.

Tom did not regret it, but the elemental had gotten all of his mana, so he had no magic to help. Tom forwent his usual tactic of rushing forward to engage the monster and instead waited for reinforcements to reach him. Without a magic safety net, he needed to be careful. There were no second lives and these things had claws that would shred his leather armour. Two ferrets, probably spotting the bright blood of their companions on his spear, shifted to target him. They immediately split to flank him.

His spear vanished, and he did a cartwheel sideways to prevent from being caught between them. When he sprung to his feet, the closest ferret launched itself. He wondered if it had noticed the lack of weapon and sought to take advantage of the lapse. If it did, then it had made a mistake. The spear materialised out of storage aligned with the ferret. Tom continued to step backwards while bracing the weapon. The blue of his power strike sharpened the tip, and the animal slammed into the spear.

He completed his retreat, and that gave him room to pull his weapon clear of the dying animal. It was not an immediate lethal wound, but it would kill it. Tom retreated as even mortally wounded its monstrous nature made it scrabble after him to destroy him.

Blood lust had taken it over, but his single blow had stripped it of its threat. Tom’s eyes switched to his second opponent. It bounded forward and his spear moved to dissuade it. The monster dodged away to avoid the point. Thrust, dodge, parry, over head strike, his feet shifted in familiar patterns as he tried to catch it by surprise. Just like it could not get past his defence Tom found himself unable to pin down the nimble creature.

It was rank eleven and his spear Skill could not close that gap. He played with sending his spear away and then re-summoning it once it made a mistake, but in his peripheral vision he could see that most of the ferrets had been eliminated and so all he needed to do was play for time.

One mana regenerated.

Then again, that was enough so that he didn’t even need to take a risk. Tom abruptly leapt forward a similar attack too many, and it dodged sideways.

Zap.

There was a tiny stutter, and that was sufficient for him to get a glancing blow on its haunches that to a creature the size of the ferret was very close to crippling.

It attacked again but was slower than before, and it was easy to sidestep away from the fight.

Crack

An arrow sprouted in its back. The ferret tried to move, but the arrow was pinning it to the ground. While he kept half an eye on the wounded ferret, Tom spun around to find his next target.

None.

The fight, at least in the inner fortified space was over.

A casual stab executed the one that had been hit with an arrow, and Tom scanned the open space for injuries. A woman was nursing a slashed quad. Another looked like he had lost half a hand. The hand was concerning, but that was only a day of effort as opposed to weeks. They were almost cosmetic issues in the greater scheme of things. No one was dead or badly wounded and over thirty ferrets were dead. From the positioning of reinforcements above him, the battle outside was also finished.

Archers from the wall had killed a scattering of ferrets in the courtyard, but the majority had been taken out by the crafters in hand-to-hand combat. They did not want to kill for the rest of their lives, but no one got into the top million without knowing how to fight and a group of them could cross the ranking difference even if one on one they would struggle. Especially since they were battle hardened. A month with the wasps did not negate more than a decade of fighting for their lives in the DEUS’s trial. No one had gone soft yet.

“We’re not done. If you’re not injured, return to work.” Michael predictably yelled.

Tom chuckled to himself and climbed back up the wall to go again. He shifted to a new section. The wall was two and half metres high now and getting up to place the next brick was taking a significant amount of his improved athleticism.

“Lizard West.”

“Shit,” Tom cursed and checked his mana. His crystal was only half full. Which would be enough, but he hated being forced into fights when he didn’t have all of his resources. The lizard, when he spotted it had a size between the other two with markings similar to the first. Two males and a female or vice versa he guessed.

The group of them used the same tactics. Legen made a successful tank block then Tom blinded it with his Lightning Spears. Afterwards, everyone else swarmed to get the quick kill.

“Everyone back to work,” Thor thundered in a passing parody of Michael.

There was laughter.

“Mock away, mock away,” Michael yelled back. “Just bloody well do your job while you’re doing it.”

There were more chuckles.

Tom returned to constructing the wall. The temporary fortification they were building was impressive. All four walls were now approaching four metres high. The finished sections had wooden platforms on top, widening the room for defenders and spike defence was installed. They were protecting against monsters, not humans, so there were shaped tree trunk sized spikes all over the place. Ones that were set up about human chest height to punish one of the giant lizards if it charged it. Another crown of spikes hung over the top of the wall. Dense points that would stop frenzied ferrets from swarming into the compound.

For a human enemy, what they had set up was a poor design as there were plenty of feet and handholds for humans to climb and a thicket of thorns at the top could be destroyed with a couple of axe swings. It was not the purpose. Their set up was for use against near mindless beasts, but till they reached the lands claimed by sapients that would be their principal enemy.

Tom remembered his time in the personal trial. Ninety-nine percent of the enemy had been stupid, potentially more, and he had often set up similar traps or at least pitfalls and lured more powerful enemies to their death.