"Cassi!" I hollered, jogging up the newly installed stone staircase heading up the settlement wall. We decided to defend the Pylon we'd taken from the Lily, The Baur clan to feel out this area's beast's power level. Soldiers manning massive fiery cannons lined the wall, along with multiple new unmanned ones equipped with rows of missiles at their face.
"What's up, Tom?" Cassi asked, dismissing a soldier she was speaking with holding a clipboard.
"Korbin said I'm with you for this Pylon defense, but I have no clue what you're doing." I said, looking around.
"Really? He's got me on the bench unless something powerful enough to merit my skills comes through." Cassi explained, sending a surge of anger coursing through my veins.
"Great, so we're doing nothing again." I said, throwing my hands in the air.
"Isn't that a good thing? Killing a bunch of weak monsters can't be all that fruitful. Besides, our soldiers will get a chance to level more, which is never a bad thing for us." Cassi pointed out.
"Maybe, it doesn't mean it's not boring as hell." I replied, staring longingly into the jungle surrounding us. My eyes wandered around the mess of plant life outside our walls.
"Does he have any plans to deal with all this fucking greenery?" I asked, waving my hand out at the tall tree, vine and foliage infested jungle. Frankly, I can't see any of our cannons getting a clean shot around them.
"I heard him mention a few traps that were particularly new here, as well as these new bad-boys." Cassi said, slapping the unmanned missile launcher, glistening a radiant orange hue.
"What are these things? I don't see any controls on it." I asked, assuming it's automated but hoping for a deeper explanation from fewer words.
"Apparently they have a programmable targeting system based on species. Korbin made a point to tell me they had another surprise, and that I'd have to wait and see." Cassi answered, rolling her eyes at each mention of Korbin. Glancing over the wall, these same turrets decorated the settlement's potter walls, as well as a few long-barreled turrets built into the lower section of the walls.
"What about those?" I asked, pointing them out to Cassi.
"Oh yeah, those are straight-up flamethrowers." Cassi replied plainly. I chuckled at their simplicity having followed the new missile launchers' lengthy description. Glancing along the top of the wall, I spotted Phoebe and Korbin discussing something standing above the settlement gate. Behind them followed a few towering hooded giants holding books against their chest, who I assumed were recruits from the Tytos Giants.
Glancing below, Steve and Becky stood alongside Derrick, Lonni and Barry in front of the settlement entrance. Above them soared Hadens undead Gryphon, flying in circles above the settlement. At their backs stood a squad of 10 giants of differing clans adorning shields, the original 15 Water Druid soldiers at the ready behind them. The rest of our forces either stood guard just inside the settlement, or along the walls.
"2 MINUTES!" Korbin bellowed into the settlement, the few soldiers out of formation hastening their paces.
"How much do you want to bet I won't leave this spot?" I said, taking in the sheer quantity of Korbin's new missile turrets and powerful allies alike. Now knowing he set traps along the outside of the settlement only deepened my suspicions that these ever so daunting Pylon defenses may have finally gotten reasonably manageable.
"Look, we have had a lot of success with Korbin back thus far, however we've never defended a pylon in such tightly packed spaces. This jungle has branches higher than our walls, and it's not unreasonable to assume every defense will always grow more difficult." Cassi replied, a hint of worry in her tone.
"That's…not a bad point. The only thing I can say is that Korbin's at the wheel here. He DEFINITELY isn't perfect, but I like my odds under his leadership better than against." I admitted reluctantly. As much as I know without a shadow of a doubt there'll be a day I beat him in a fight, that didn't mean I held a candle to his tactical mind. Nor did I particularly care to, at least not anymore than I'd absolutely need in order to win myself.
"Unfortunately that's a better argument than it ought to be. I'd say just be ready all the same, for your own sanity's sake at least." Cassi replied, turning her gaze back out toward the eerily quiet jungle surrounding us.
"30 SECONDS!" Korbin called, which was normally when I'd lock in mentally in anticipation for the coming battle. Instead, I strolled across the stone walkway, leaning casually against the wall peering into the jungle. Half a minute later, the jungle came alive. The familiar low rumble of hundreds of beasts charging forward slowly shaking the earth. A sickening medley of uncanny screeches and deep, guttural roars accompanied by a visual wave of clear energy bending the plethora of branches and tangled vines thundered from the forest past the jungle bookends border. The gust nearly blew my cowl back from my head, having to pinch the top to keep it on.
My eyes barely caught a glimpse of a figure swinging from a vine before the mana-emitting automated missile launcher beside Cassi and I fired a stream of glowing red streaks of energy whirring through the air and bending around the trees. A chorus of powerful thumps with bright orange clouds puffing through the brush indicated the initial mana rockets hit their mark. Multiple orange trails flew into the jungle, creating a light show of crossing energies blasting into the jungle floor and trees above.
Finally, the bouncing heads of countless bipedal beasts with incredibly long necks came into view. Their tails and limbs jumping and dashing around the oversized greenery and destroyed giant trees as they charged toward us.
"CANNONS, FIRE!" Korbin commanded, pointing his axe out into the jungle. The familiar whirring of the manned fiery artillery sent a barrage of spiraling fire blasts, igniting the jungle floor. Trees comparable to buildings erupted in fire, the flames dancing up the scattered coils of vines that cluttered the jungle. Whatever beasts running on foot were making very little progress in nearing our settlement, though the distant low gutteral howls growls suddenly boomed from the trees all around me. My hands gripped tightly onto the wall seeing the wave of mana gusting atop the settlement walls. Cassi's feet slid across the stone struggling to keep from blowing away as the wave of deafening energy passed. Cassi's cheeks began leaking blood, in patterns implying she'd suffered dozens of small cuts.
The chest rumbling blast of an unmanned turret's rocket blasting into a branch near the settlement sent a heatwave across my face, forcing me to cover my eyes with my arm. Peering up, seemingly hundreds of colorfully striped ape-like beasts with incredibly swollen throats approached swinging and leaping from vine to branch. A large group of them pushed far ahead of the others, nearing within 40 feet of the wall before an arrow sunk into the leading apes skull. Instantly the entire group disappeared in a bombardment of swirling orange missiles and flaming arrows.
Ground walking beasts below made quick progress after whatever strange type of apes diverted our artillery's defenses, nearly pushing within 60 feet of the settlement. Our squad of captains excluding Cassi, Phoebe and I all stood in their respective fighters' stances in front of the settlement gate below, anticipating one of the beasts would break through the bombardment. Above, arrows and orange missiles ripped through the towering trees and beasts alike in showers of concussive fire. One of the blasts launched one of the apes forward, spinning head over heels high through the air toward the settlement. Its body barely blew within range of my Identity skill as a jet stream of flames blasted into it mid air from the turrets below, falling in multiple pieces before crumbling in a mess of burnt flesh and ash below.
[Siren Howler (Level 12)]
"Oh wow, that was close, huh?" I said sarcastically to Cassi, who continued thoroughly scanning the battlefield. Her eyes lit up turning to the side, which alerted me to locate her source of shock. Above Korbin sat a massive ball of fire, more than doubling Korbin's body. The giant behind him stood holding a hand out pouring energy into the ball of flames, with their books clutched in the other. Looking back down, the strange long limbed beasts below had made further strides pushing closer, now nearing within 40 feet. Suddenly, the floor below the charging army of beasts exploded in a puff of pink dust, creating the same miasma we'd battled through to take this Pylon. The difference was the clouds were far smaller than when the giant jagged toothed plants spat out, though the sheer quantity of mist traps being tripped nearly made up for that.
Korbin's fiery sphere flung into view, flying past the front charging beasts and decimating the center of their charging numbers. The impact created a pop that left me momentarily deaf, which quickly recovered into muffled ringing. Peering over the wall, almost every square inch of the jungle was riddled in burning bodies and flaming plant life. The turrets and flamethrowers ripped through the remaining front pushing beasts, leaving only a considerably larger version finally breaking past the cannons range, and into my Identify skill's.
[Crocorythoraptorus Gigantus (Level 13)]
Oh shit, this thing actually seems pretty tough.
The monster in question matched the appearance of its smaller kin that continued being picked off by explosion after explosion from the chin down. Their long legs and arms, all equipped with three incredibly sharp claws. Only the larger one that actually survived through the bombardment had a far longer and threatening looking jaw, dozens of sharp jagged teeth poking out from the side of its long maw. It was like a crocodile got slapped onto a velociraptor, only with way more char wounds than one would imagine.
Based on having seen Becky and Steve consecutively pounce onto the Crocorythoraptorus Gigantus from above and below, this beast had to be somewhere between 14-20 feet tall. Becky had little trouble wrapping herself between its legs after Steve sprayed his Water Breath into the face of the Crocorythoraptorus. Steve slammed his head into the blinded beast's body, tipping over as it failed to move its legs with Becky looped around. Hayden's Gryphon flew just above the downed beast, with Derrick leaping off of its back with his Halberd overhead descending toward the downed Crocorythoraptorus. The runes around his halberd glowed a bright violet before slashing into the beast's ribs in a flash of energy.
The Crocorythoraptorus Gigantus swiped around at Derrick with its claws, who disappeared in a vacuum of violet mana before manifesting a few feet away. The beast twisted its hips back under itself, just about to rise to its feet when Barry's charging cleaver strike slashed across its leg. The beast whined in agony as Barry swung and ripped into the same wound three times before its Flow built up into its neck.
Right as the Crocorythoraptos' neck flexed forward to chomp down on Barry's back, a massive spiked ball slammed into its eye socket. My eyes followed the comically long chain attached to the flail down to Lonni, sprinting past the prone beast's head looping his reeling chain around its wobbling neck. The beast regained its senses, lurching forward again for a bite attack at Derrick only to be yanked back by Lonni's incredible strength. Steve landed on the beast's body, unleashing a flurry of Flow Bites into the Crocorythoraptorus's long neck.
It didn't take long for the monstrous Crocorythoraptorus to stop writhing, its body falling limply as its assumed kin continued being ripped to shreds by our artillery much deeper into the jungle. The red and striped SirenHowlers had nearly run out of trees to climb through to reach our settlement, now joining the smaller Corythoraptorus's in being obliterated by the massive booms unleashing orange fiery clouds.
The guttural baritone roars of burning Siren Howlers ripped through what little surviving trees and vegetation that remained. Their necks would expand so unnaturally wide before they unleashed their powerful screams, looking reminiscent of sapient furry frogs expanding before croaking. After another 8 minutes of unrelenting bombardments, the final beast finally fell, capping off arguably our easiest Pylon defense yet.
"Fuck…that was a massacre." Cassi said, staring over the carnage with her mouth ajar. Not a single beast ever even touched our gate, with only a single boss ever pressing far enough to engage in melee with our squad of Captains. Korbin was already on his way over to Cassi and I as I sat up from leaning against the settlement wall overlooking the battlefield.
"Well, I didn't expect to use any spells but, I'm glad I brought our Enchanter friends here before shipping them off to Elysium. Tom, do you mind escorting Phoebe here and the rest of your squad to the training facility? I need to speak with Cassi." Korbin said, turning his attention to Cass.
"Sure. Should I get them sparring, or are we working out mechanics?" I asked, absolutely itching just to get my legs moving. Especially after having watched everyone else have all the fun, albeit short-lived.
"Mechanics. I have a feeling we're in for a really, really long day ahead of us tomorrow." Korbin said, turning toward the staircase descending from the Pylon wall back into the settlement. Assembling our squad didn't take time, though Hayden voiced his wishes to catch up on rest rather than train. In truth, I wasn't sure if Korbin even wanted Hayden there, since he'd yet to officially invite him to a training session with the team. Him and our serpents elected to rest, while everyone else followed me to the training facility located in the very back of our relatively new Pylon. It was tucked below the massive building serving as the barracks, dipping underground like a parking garage. Korbin's patented esthetic does look out of place given our biome, though I'd be lying to say the golden black streaks didn't add a sense of luxury.
It took Korbin and Cassi quite some time to rendezvous back with the rest of us, giving me plenty to evaluate our factions' strongest fighters' respective forms. To my pleasant surprise, Phoebe had made major strides in her offensive capabilities. Her strikes form had tightened up, increasing her overall speed considerably. Lonni too,displayed significant improvement in minimizing wasted movements, with an incredible intuition for the Flow in his flail. Barry, on the other hand, appeared to be behind just about everyone else in terms of technical skill. To his credit, that nasty burn he suffered fighting that Wyvern from the island left him bedridden for nearly a week. His tenacity for combat alone should help him catch up, being one of few to smile when they get knocked down.
"Wow, Tom's actually got you guys working? I'm impressed." Korbin said from the training facility entranceway. Cassi followed behind wearing a similar smirk to his.
"Give Tom credit, he damn near jumped off the wall watching that Pylon defense. The fact they aren't in another sparring tournament genuinely surprises me." Cassi replied, strolling past me toward a practice dummy. The facility wasn't quite up to snuff with a few of our more advanced settlements, having typical built in wooden stands rather than sentient regenerating ones. Korbin stepped beside me, crossing his arms as he surveyed our trainees.
"Is it weird, sharing rank with people who are for all intents and purposes your pupils?" Korbin asked, leaning into my ear to keep his voice down. I smiled, having never looked at it that way.
"Not necessarily. Cassi might be the exception, but I'm not ignorant to my weaknesses." I replied, earning a raised eyebrow from Korbin.
"Well, hard to miss when you have so many but, do share what you think they are." Korbin said, lightly smacking my shoulder.
"Patience. I have an undying urge to get stronger, it's no secret. Whether it's from insecurity, or a certainty of self doesn't really matter if I can't control myself." I replied. Korbin's eyes narrowed, his joking demeanor slowly straightening.
"Sounds to me like control is the problem, not necessarily just patience? After all, you didn't feel rushed during our last spar." Korbin said. My eyebrows furrowed, realizing he was right.
"Yeah…I lost because of grappling bullshit." I finally exclaimed, recalling the shirt grab into a headlock he pulled. I had to activate my boost skill just to escape.
"No, you lost because you forgot about using clothes, something I find so incredibly difficult to understand given the nature of your twinblade." Korbin replied, more than likely referencing my chains.
"Yeah, I suppose they work similarly; borrowing Flow and whatnot. Cassi and I are supposed to train in jiu jitsu during our training sessions, in hopes I can get a better feel for its application." I said, glancing over to check in on Cass. She stood throwing a simple 1-2 punch combo very slowly, no doubt trying to get a feel for her Flow.
"I take it in exchange you'll be giving her some pointers about Flow?" Korbin so expertly surmised.
"Duh, nothing's free here." I replied. Korbin chuckled again, shaking his head.
"Never was."
Korbin and I observed their training for the next 30 or so minutes, adding our inputs and answering questions as they came up throughout their practice. Cassi spent the majority of her time honing combos tirelessly, only taking breaks to ask me questions about Flow's behavior throwing different strikes. It was oddly nostalgic seeing someone else consuming themselves in their training, something I'd spent over a year doing even before the integration. Especially a student as fast a learner as Cassi.
Once everyone except Cassi began slowing down, Korbin called it a day early for our squad. Before dismissing everyone however, he made a point to provide us an eerily ambiguous warning for tomorrow's agenda.
"Before everyone heads home, there's something potentially important I must share with you, though it must not leave this room." Korbin said, glancing around at us circling his announcement. Everyone nodded, a few letting out a grumbled "okay", or "sure".
"According to some rather reputable sources, we're supposedly in for some sort of surprise tomorrow. Be on your guard, and don't leave the settlement without informing two others of us explicitly when and where you're going. Do I make myself clear?" Korbin asked in an unfittingly considerate tone. Everyone nodded affirmingly once again.
"Good, because if you go missing on your own accord, it's your job to come home. Dismissed."