Chapter 302: Chapter 302
Blood monitored their army as the alliance forces besieged the enemy fortress, hundreds of warriors guarding against the many ranged attacks of the snakes and insectoids mixed with beasts. The additional monstrous humanoids had appeared after they breached the first wall, seemingly followers of Dreadbeast.
The fortress was actually rather epic in size and resembled the various stepped pyramids. Each wall sat several stories high up the mountain, high enough that without flight, most wouldn’t be able to jump even deep into the second Tier. Only the stronger warriors, like the Valor users or people capable of flight, would be able to jump or climb up the wall safely while a rain of attacks stormed down on them.
And there wasn’t a center path or stairs to climb. This keep required that they climb each perilous wall, even as the snakes, golems, and chimeral people fired attacks down at them. If not for their guardian turtle, they’d have deadly giant rocks being dropped onto them as well. They had tried an avalanch-like attack once, and Garona expertly caught the errant rocks with what was much like an earthen telekinesis and kept them from crushing anyone.
The Roman legionnaires formed their shield wall at the front, using powerfully crafted shields and armor made by Jake, Ophelia, and Hearthtribe. Their inscribed runes enhanced their phalanx protection, blocking the storm of attacks without issue. The cultivators from Love and Justice launched fire and ice attacks over the wall, targeting the swarm of snakes and beastly insects.
And Bloodberri’s Twilight Monarch aura was largely what kept losses down to a minimum. The Twilight Monarch aura easily covered over half of their frontline forces, making them sturdier against the enemy’s blows.
Avalara, Fhesiah, and Bree all stood near, launching attacks against the enemies periodically and conserving their strength for the battle to come. Bree and Avalara had finally gotten better at hitting the baseballs and other spherical objects, making them ready for the next phase.
Arrows from talismancers and archers were fired upward, hiding behind their Roman protection. A few Valor users clad themselves along with the more martial cultivators, periodically rushing up the walls to cut down enemies and attempting to reach and close the portals.
Much like during the Life’s Haven assault, there were portals that spawned enemies periodically. To make progress in conquering the fortress, they had to clear enemies out and close them–and keep the portals clear, or they would be reopened.
Fhesiah noted, “Tartarus sure loves its trap defenses. If you lose or flee here, all your efforts are erased.”
It was an annoying tug of war, made extra difficult thanks to the Aspect of Dreadbeast and by the infuriating rules of the fortress. The fortress prevented Avalara from Sublimating jungle with its strange barrier, and the monster kept spawning more golems and frustratingly using them to retake lost portals.
Blood idly wondered if this was why they wanted Garona–with her taken under their influence, the fortress would have been even more challenging to conquer, if not outright impossible without Jake’s help.
Her fortifications worked within this fortress, and in time, she might have been able to make it grow and become even more challenging, as well as rain more attacks down on them. That, or the Dreadbeast would have gained even more power by consuming her, perhaps.
A barrier around the upper levels had formed, preventing the alliance from retaliating and taking the fight to these enemies. Even if Tanda or the flying beastkin were here, they couldn’t go up there to take them out. Otherwise, Avalara and Bree would have gladly led the charge up the keep to slay the annoying creature, even with the Aspect of Apophis lurking underground.
Blood noted, “Looks like it’s about time for us to push into the next ring. We’ve closed more than half the portals in this one.”
Bree snorted, using vines to toss her superball up and down. “‘Bout time, we should get some payback, right? I’m ready now.” She hovered her superball over to Fhesiah, and with a grin, she infused the demonic rune with her draconic flames. They wanted this to be as explosive as possible, and she was infusing her efforts into the pile of them.
Ava giggled, preparing to swing her giant tree club as a bat as well, her vines similarly able to grab and toss the superballs into the air. “Hehe, me too! Let’s get that worm.”
Berri nodded, then turned back to Garona, who was safely in the middle of the formation, protected by her many troll worshippers. They helped too, by building up earthen protections and infusing mana into Garona’s Mana Font.
“Okay. Garona, do it!”
Garona groaned as the earth mana she stored in the area around her surged. Large ramps quickly formed, building a path for their forces to push forward rapidly. And if it was only that, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but an earthen barrier formed at the top of the ramp, creating a powerful protective shelter for their forces. The arrows and poison spit landed on it ineffectually, allowing their people to get in place.
The Valor users, making a coordinated effort, rushed forward and closed the last portals on the second level nearly all at once, allowing the rest to rush in and finish the last of the enemies off. Some golems were spotted trying to close a separate portal, but they hadn’t made it in time. In all, they wanted this sudden conquest to be a shock to the enemy.
The barrier above the third wall disappeared, which meant it was now worm-hunting season. The monster was hugged around the keep, its lower body depositing the earth mana golems on the next level. The truth was, only the bottom half was even visible at all, the rest hiding within its annoying barrier.
Blood smirked at the several superballs that held Fhesiah’s fiery mana, with an explosive rune charged as she hovered the construct into the air. Berri swung their bat into it with a crack, launching the spherical object directly at the enemy Aspect of Dreadbeast. It crashed into the monster-spawning creature near its midsection at a high speed, causing the monster to screech as the explosion struck and set it aflame. It scrambled to climb and drag its lower body up, but the sphere contained more than explosive runes–it also contained a special adhesive within made by Fhesiah.
Berri shouted triumphantly, “Take that, you nasty worm!”
Two more cracks followed, spheres launched by both Avalara with her giant tree mace and Bree’s heavy tail–the two had gotten plenty of practice over the last hour. Both struck the monster as well, the two cheering as their baseballs exploded heavily and damaged the monster.
Of course, the three didn’t let up right away, launching several more. They continued their barrage, finally wounding the monster’s lower half significantly. Meanwhile, Fhesiah had raised her hand above her head; a giant orb of flame formed through a significant amount of buildup. It echoed the truths of her dao, and she launched it up at the monster, the giant sun of flames eventually crashing into it and nearly shredding it in half at the center.
The stone cracked and dislodged the creature enough that it roared as it fled, its odd, segmented body climbing further up the mountain and hiding behind the final wall, which looked to be a courtyard area.
Berri waved their fist at it. “Yeah, that’s right! Get out of here, ya jerk!”
Fhesiah noted from behind her, “I can’t see through the barrier now, but I noticed that the burns had really wrecked its internal organs. If it can still lay eggs and make earthen golems in this state, I’d be shocked.”
Bree chuckled. “Hopefully it will have to heal up instead of spawning more. We got it pretty good; I know I wouldn’t be able to take that much punishment unscathed. It was pretty dumb to just sit there.”
Ava chuckled. “Probably thought we couldn’t hit it meaningfully from this far. It’s a good thing we made it count.”
The army moved in and settled on the second level, the barrier having moved up another layer. Garona made her way up, and they brought their trump card: the giant spherical rocks from before. Her troll followers and Clan Hart helped her roll them up, Garona helping with her terrakinesis she had.
The family joined the troops once more, striking more superballs and earthen spheres given by Garona.
Fhesiah had gone back to working on her tokens, nearly having most of them unwoven and rewoven. She suddenly looked up from her work. “Looks like I got a hit from the tokens. Cassius and Avaron are set to hit us with his men when we enter the next level. It seems that is the best time because something else more annoying is going to spawn for us to deal with.” Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩·𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢·𝔫𝔢𝔱
Blood frowned. “I don’t like the sound of that. Thankfully, we’re ready for a few surprises with our own.”
Whatever the case was, the monster did not spawn any more golems to retake lost portals. The alliance army fought like a well-oiled machine and invaded the next wall and floor of the keep, closing the portals without taking much risk. This was an endurance battle, and they did not want to push too quickly.
And eventually, some more reinforcements arrived for their alliance. Some Ravenwolf from around the earth continent arrived. While there weren’t many comparatively, two Battlegroups of forty showed up after their Rift activities. When that happened, things began to move even more swiftly in their assault.
Their ability to join in on the upper-level assaults and benefit from Avalara’s auril, since she couldn’t establish her jungle or swamp, made them even more devastating. Their endless barrage added to that of the talismancers and other archers tearing away at the numerous spitting snakes. The additional druids granted protections against the enemy’s archery, and Garona kept increasing their shelter.
As they started moving up to the next stage and finished closing all the portals, the keep shook, and Bloodberri received a buff: Jake took on the state of the Monarch, improving them. Bloodberri was empowered, her Twilight Monarch encompassing even more allies.
The barrier across the entire upper keep area was removed, and now, the snakes and beast insectoids surged down the walls toward them. Numerous golems marched, cascading down the keep’s walls as more arrows rained down toward them.
Those closing the portals were already the vanguard and safe at the front, but most of them fell back, to allow their ranged attackers plenty of time to attack the incoming swarm of snakes and insects. Some took to the air, the beastkin firing their bows and the cultivators launching their magical Qi-based attacks. Their support was on the previous level, and they worked hard to launch their most powerful attacks to thin the herd heading down toward them.
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[Boss balance unchanged due to greater Tartarus presence in fortress and advantaged presence on world.]
Blood narrowed her eyes on the prompt. The Alliance had three Champions and six special entities–children of the Divine, and similar. The idea that Tartarus matched or exceeded theirs was very telling.
They had already defeated two Aspects, and two more had been detected within the fortress. One was within the storm, perhaps two, judging on Sati’s Celestial Perspective. That made a total of six, potentially. And with three of those divine descendants as betrayers, the enemy’s advantage was big.
The idea that the Framework itself saw Tartarus as advantaged without that was a bit worrisome, but Blood was still confident. They had even more help on the way, after all. They only needed to last a few more minutes before such help would arrive.
From within the courtyard, a large creature–a Boss monster–appeared in motes of light that they could barely see over the lip of the wall. The monster instantly sent Garona into an angry rage, roaring and groaning in a way that resembled angry barking, which caused Blood to roll her eyes.
It was like a giant crocodile mixed with a turtle, with floating chunks of earth surrounding its shell. The reason why Garona was so angry? Another turtle was moving in on her turf! And she still remembered a time when crocodiles and similar creatures existed on this world, and she was not a fan.
Each step the monster above took shook the mountain fortress, and Blood was surprised at its overall size and strength. It was competitive with the Aspects, and she understood why. It was meant for a raid-sized Battlegroup to defeat and conquer the fortress. To gain significant loot, experience, and other benefits such as merit for earning potential on ascension in the process–and of course, Conquest progress.
An orb of darkness flew up into the sky, and a veil spread out from above them. It was different from a Framework barrier, a pulsing shroud, or a thin veil of darkness that went outward for what seemed like miles, encompassing the whole fortress and the surrounding areas.
It was similar to what was shown on the Wind Continent on a weaker scale, likely because the eclipse was missing. Thanks to that, Blood thought she understood what it was for. The veil was meant for the betrayers, so that they could defy the Framework’s control in some way and attack their allies.
And sure enough, the betrayers came. On a variety of the native lizard mounts, a force of over three hundred Obsidian Blades charged toward the fortress from behind. They were covered in corruption, with Avaron and Cassius near the lead. Some of the mounts flew, but most raced along the ground, the force largely keeping pace with one another. It wouldn’t be long before the many lizard mounts would start to race up the ramps, so now it was time for them to execute their trap.
Berri shouted. “Garona, do it now! The bad guys are coming!” Garona groaned, shaking its head and continuing to roar at the turtle at the top of the mountain. “No, snake-cousin! I’ll take care of that bad turtle, I promise. Get the bad guys with the rocks we brought.”
Now a little more eager to obey, Garona stomped toward the top of the keep wall. The earth beneath them then began to quake as Garona sent pulses of earth mana into the ground, and into the prepared spheres. The six of them lifted off the ground like they were not the size of a three-story house or mansion each. If they were nothing but rocks, already, they’d be a pretty big deal.
But they were more than that. Half of the rocks grew, while the others vibrated with intensity, the earth mana expanding and altering what was there. Now grown to nearly twice the size, the three hill-sized boulders began to fall, the other’s vibration picking up in intensity.
The giant stones tore through the side of the mountain as they fell, shattering the fortress, prepared earthen protections, and mountain rock alike and adding it to an avalanche. Much of the invading Obsidian Blades were crushed by a mountain falling on them, unable to get out of the way. Some managed to get away from the chain reaction, those with more agile mounts capable of flight.
Then the three vibrating boulders shattered, exploding outward and sending out a storm of deadly shrapnel outward at high speed. The agile flyers that dodged were now caught in the earthen storm, dozens of them struck through barriers and other implements. Few survived, many of them being dismounted from their non-combat mounts and others just torn apart. Because they were betrayers and under the influence of some special contraband item, they did not disperse into motes of light.
Fhesiah had a special task, and had disappeared in her illusion the moment the Obsidian Blades arrived. She was to watch for the Aspect of Apophis and see about stealing from Cassius and Avaron. [Damn. That worked too well. I wanted to nab more of their tokens, but now most of them are scattered under the rubble…ah, some did manage to move out of the way. We may yet get the chance to pick some more up.]
Berri patted Garona’s throat. “Good job, Garona. You did it! Now we’ll make sure you get all the lettuce you want! I bet Tanda will make you something yummy you’ll really like.” It groaned triumphantly for a moment, its eyes narrowed in happiness.
Blood chuckled. “Looks like their pincer failed. Now we mostly have to focus on the enemies ahead of us, and the two failures of leaders.”
Bree laughed as she looked at the scattered Obsidian Blade mercenaries in the distance. They still came, but it was already a pathetic showing. “Those two look pissed! Look at ‘em. It’s like they couldn’t fathom we knew about their betrayal.”
[I wouldn’t speak so soon. The Apophis Aspect is making its move. Its poison seems pretty strong.]
Pulses of earth energy rippled through the mountain from above them, fissures running down the sides of the mountain. From the cracks a deadly purple gas or miasma was released, and it started billowing downward toward them.
Berri hefted the axe over their shoulder. “Looks like Mommy’s going to have to steal the show. Sorry, Ava and Bree. You’re not going to get a good fight, it looks like.”
Bree snorted. “Really? You called yourself ‘Mommy’ in the third person during battle?”
Berri frowned. “Huh? No, I meant your mom–Echidna. It’s time to end this now. Um, you may want to help all our people retreat.”
Avalara and Bree started spreading out their vines, and calling out for everyone to retreat. The trolls following Garona had no issues creating a sled to hop onto, to follow the now leveled steps downward.
The army moved as a well-oiled machine, those unable to move quickly merely grabbing onto Avalara or Bree’s vines, to ride down. The cultivators and beastkin easily just flew away from the danger, and Garona started to travel on a sliding rock with the trolls.
Blood and Berri drew upon their Divine Energy, the energy pooling up in their chest as Berri began her short, slightly less demanding prayer this time. “Echidna! Our people need your aid. Let us show the enemy our might.”
The energy surged inside them, wrapping around their entire body and causing them to grow–and that was not all. Their wings that they used for flight grew outward, becoming the wings of golden hawks that matched the goddess rather than mere equipment. Their holy light and dark core became just a bit more monstrous–the flames swirling more violently.
The growth was extreme, making them larger than they’d ever been–filling Berri with immense joy. She wanted to call upon Echidna every day now.
Their body took on an even heavier air of savagery, as if a divine beast awakened. Divine Essence rushed into their eyes, and suddenly, three presences were inside them instead of two.
Echidna laughed in their minds. [You did it, descendants of mine–a Minor Descent. How lucky for us, and unfortunate for our enemies. Now pay attention here, because I’m going to have to make this quick.]
She said out loud, “Oh, don’t run off just yet, little one–I can use you. Do be a dear and keep that worm from being an annoyance. Hold it in place as best as you can.”
Their body was hundreds of feet long now, and their giant tail reached quickly and suddenly wrapped around Garona, causing the turtle’s eyes to widen as she was placed back higher onto the mountain easily. Quick to obey the goddess, Garona sent pulses of earth energy into the mountain, to wrap around the underground Aspect.
Thanks to seeing through the same eyes of the goddess herself, Blood could actually see the snake in hiding. It was around the center of the mountain, struggling against Garona’s efforts. It was pushing through the stone slowly now…like a worm, actually, as it tried to escape what was likely to become its tomb.
A pulse of divine darkness washed over the entire mountain, seeping through and wrapping around their targets, even near the top. A second pulse of divine light washed over the mountain next, and began twining upward. The two energies exploded as they collided, and began swirling around one another as they mostly kept away. Much like the Yin and Yang symbol, the two energies found an equilibrium, with only some explosions of golden energy erupting as they continued to roll and slosh around the mountain like waves.
Echidna raised their body into the air, their stores of energy shoved into a special cocktail as their snake body spiraled upward. Auril, nethril, divine light, and divine dark, and the flames of their family merged, creating a black-golden energy that filled their entire body. Blood could feel the incredible spiritual weight flowing through them as their upper body and their snake tail’s muscles were taut, a spring ready to erupt.
The energy entered her axe, the chimera roaring as it received the black and gold energy. Swinging downward with divine might, a wave of pure savage destruction echoed from her axe, the physical axe eventually striking the ground in what felt like an instant.
The mountain was cleaved in two, and an explosion of black-golden light erupted as a hole in the void was torn asunder, with the sound of a thundercrack. Reality shattered like glass all around them, and both Blood and Berri were happy to know that Garona had been placed near the base of the mountain behind them with their massive tail.
Nearly everyone had evacuated away in that short time from the frontal arc’s destruction, the explosion localized to the center and upper reaches of the mountain fortress. The enemies not torn apart by the massive explosion or shredded in half by the giant swing were being sucked up into the void, or crushed by the dense energies.
The turtle crocodile boss was destroyed in motes of light at some point, and all of the portals were closed. The entire mountain quaked as it collapsed in on itself, the earth trembling as the immense amounts of stone shifted and cracked.
The Fortress Assault victory prompt flashed before them, but Blood was a bit alarmed–they did not receive a Divine Spark! She could see that the annoying Dreadbeast Aspect had cocooned itself with some ridiculous pupa, and the snake, while cut in half and torn to shreds, was still breathing, barely surviving deep inside the ruins of the mountain fortress.
Echidna chuckled. “Worry not. We almost got three enemies in one swing. But why work harder than we need to? It’s just in time.”
A pillar of flame descended from the sky, like the finger of a god–flames from the moon arriving. It pressed down into the center of the mountain, melting rock and burrowing deep into the collapsed stone.
Originally it was an attack that the enemy might have weakened with barriers and defensive techniques, and could have weakened and burned away the Aspect of Dreadbeast, the fortress boss, and many of the followers. It would have made it easy enough to seal the deal after that, only having the Aspect of Apophis left.
Of course, Blood knew that the flames were coming, but she didn’t stop Berri for a simple reason–it wouldn’t have arrived quite at the right time, and those three annoying enemies might have managed something dangerous.
Because the rock was already shattered, it pierced deeply, eventually burning and destroying the two near-death Aspects with intense heat and Sati’s Pure Heart Flame. Two Divine Sparks shot out and arrived in Bloodberri’s chest, faith energy rushing into the many participants nearby.
In all, Blood felt like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop, a little worried that the fight was so easy.
Echidna chuckled at Blood’s thoughts. [I can’t speak of everything, but your enemy focused on finding a way to win without a fight. Should it be that big of a surprise that the enemy wasn’t that good when you overcame their plots and fought them in one?]
“I…guess not. It’s just after that Enforcer and that ambush…”
[It got its wrist slapped pretty hard the previous time, and now played within the rules enough. Now I must go. It was good to see all my descendants doing so well, and Bree, I hope you and your mate can knock some sense into your sisters, and that we’ll all see each other soon. Those betrayers…well, it looks like your mate is taking care of them, but I do hope he’s careful. A cornered animal is the most dangerous kind.]
Bree gave a mental hello and goodbye, before Echidna’s presence and divinity left them, and Bloodberri shrunk down. Jake had ridden the flame down to the world, but he had used Reverse Summon and Ira to send himself closer to the two betrayers.
A dome had formed around them, and the three were fighting it out. Whatever means they created forced the rest to watch on from afar, unable to interfere.