Essence Wave Book 2 Chapter 36

*** AUTHOR’S NOTE ***

Post 2 today

*** AUTHOR’S NOTE ***

“They downgraded what they are upgrading the portal into, but that means they can finish faster,” David said to a hurriedly called senior leadership meeting. “I don’t know if we can even reach the Daemon building in time.”

“Not with everyone here,” Aly said. “But the four of us could.”

“We don’t know what you’ll find there,” Josiah said. “And letting them get a portal would do less damage than losing the four of you.”

“We’ve got to try,” David said.

“How long does your statistic stealing Skill last?” Colin asked.

“Maybe up to ten minutes now,” David said. “It’ll take us that long to get there.”

“Not if you take everyone’s stats,” Colin said. “If you could get one to each from all of us here, that’d put you over a thousand. Nothing could stand against you.”

“I’d kill myself attempting to,” David said. “The four of us, together, we will defeat the enemy and free the people.” He turned to Josiah. “Get everyone moving as fast as you can. If we don’t stop the portal formation, we can instead just shut it down soon thereafter. It’ll be harder, but we are strong enough.”

“Will do,” Josiah said. “Spend your Essence before leaving. I’ll coordinate getting you all of the remaining grenades and portable shields.”

“Godspeed,” Alexander said.

Everyone else left the four of them to plan. “Check your Essence amounts,” David said. “We might be able to level to ten before this forlorn hope.”

“We’ll be fine,” Aly said. “Even if it ends up too much for us, we are probably faster than any of the enemies.”

David smiled at her, then opened his Status. “Seriously!” he exclaimed. “I’m like sixty Essence away from leveling.”

“Wow, that sucks. Of course, I’m a couple of hundred away. Looks like level nine will be enough,” Colin said.

“Spend it all anyway,” Aly said. “A bunch of stats will help out.”

“I’m going to drop them all in Strength,” David said. “Or at least sixteen of them. See if I can get an Energy core evolution too. I don’t have enough for Agility, and all of the bonuses for Runic Defender went to Strength and Wisdom, so it has something to do with the Core Inscription Skill. Speaking of, didn’t you get an evolution yet, Colin, since you put more into physical stats than I did?”

“My base Strength is ninety-nine, and my base Agility ninety-eight,” Colin laughed, “though my base Constitution is one hundred forty-seven.”

“Dang dude,” David said, shaking his head and chuckling, “that’s insane.”

“How about you drop your Essence first?” Colin asked. “That way I can see if there is an evolution for Strength and Con, or if its Agility and Con.”

“Sure,” David nodded.

“Maybe there’s a different type of evolution available for getting Nerve and Presence over a hundred,” Liz said. “My Presence is there, and my Nerve is ninety-four.”

“Worth a shot,” Aly said. “I’m going to hit a hundred Constitution, and have a hundred thirty-seven Agility, so Colin, I can tell you about Agility and Constitution.”

David nodded, then opened his status and put three thousand six hundred Essence into Strength, bringing the base value to one hundred even. Immediately, a notification forced itself into his vision.

Congratulations! Your Strength and Constitution have both reached one hundred points! This is an alternate evolution path! Prepare for an Energy core evolution!

David clutched his chest as fire burned through it, but this was easier to deal with. Aly cried out, dropping to her knees. Liz gestured, and both of them were hit by streams of green-tinted Mana. After a minute, David stood straighter, “Okay, ow,” he said. “It worked and counted as an evolution, but the notification mentioned it being an alternate path.”

“Same with mine,” Aly said. “I think the main evolution is probably Strength and Agility then. My Energy feels smoother but denser.”

David reached his mental hands into his Energy core, “Mine is significantly denser, but that also made it harder to direct. It’ll still work, but it might make Skills take a fraction of a second longer to trigger. Not sure I like that. Last three points into Agility it is.” He checked, “Nope, didn’t help. Well, I’ll have to make sure I account for that in the fight to come.”

“My Con is already too high for the standard path,” Colin said. “I’m going Strength first, it’ll let me hit harder.” A few seconds later, he was grimacing.

Liz healed him, then opened her Status. Essence seemed to swirl around her, then into her. After a bit, her hair seemed glossier, her freckles were muted somehow, and her grin even more infectious than normal. “There is an evolution there,” she said. “Makes both Nerve and Presence more effective.” Her words pulled at them.

“I’ll say,” Colin said. “You look more captivating than ever.”

She smiled at her husband, “Thank you.”

They both allocated the rest of their Essence after reaching the evolutions. I’ve got a while before I can get Agility, Nerve, and Presence over a hundred, David thought. Probably take at least two more levels, depending on Ways. Runner might help a bit then. We’ll see what ten brings. Five was a big bonus, so ten should be as well.

“Everyone ready?” David asked. The jovial, inquisitive atmosphere vanished, their ability to focus magnified several times higher than before the Essence Wave. He turned and led the others to Josiah. “We’re ready.”

“Good,” Josiah said. “Five Inscribed Shields, twenty four fragmentation grenades, and four plasma grenades.” The described items appeared on a small folding table he’d found somewhere.

“David, take all the plasma grenades,” Aly said. “You’re definitely going to end up in single combat with the big bad. Here’s a super surprise.”

“Fine,” David said. “But I doubt it’ll be that easy.”

“Liz gets two of the shields,” Colin said. “Protect the healer.”

“Aly gets two as well,” David said. “I don’t need one.”

“We should split the other grenades equally at least,” Aly said.

“No, three each, and Aly takes the rest,” Liz said, a wicked grin forming on her face. “Your ability to sneak is unparalleled. Sneak in, lay a dozen grenades and rush out once you pull all their pins.”

Josiah nodded. “I have one detonator that can connect to five grenades and trigger them from twenty meters.”

“Excellent,” Aly said, putting her fingers together like Mr. Burns from the Simpson.

David laughed, then looked at his friends, the closest people to him for years now. “Are you sure?” He asked.

“You’re going, so I’m going,” Aly said simply.

“We get to be big damn heroes,” Colin said. “Getting there in just the nick of time.”

“Let’s roll,” David said. They turned and Ran, Energy flowing as he then activated Sprint, the others seamlessly keeping up with him. The Corruption they ran across tried to interfere, tiny hooks and grasping claws reaching for them, but they ripped through them without effort.

“There,” Aly said, pointing to where a few buildings were still standing, only a few hundred meters from the massive black edifice that was the Daemon castle in the middle of the former town of Buena Vista. It was almost five kilometers away, and there were a dozen other buildings before there.

David darted for the nearest one, covering the eight hundred meters to it in only thirty seconds. “Stealth from here, or Sneak, or whatever you have,” David said. “We’re not counting on it, but anything is helpful.”

A few nods, and Aly ran out in front, shimmering and vanishing in his view. He activated Sneak, and started to move. He couldn’t Sprint, nor really Run, but Hiking let him move faster than expected. Combined with the massive amount of stats he had, his power walking speed was enough to cover the five kilometers in only half an hour.

They zig-zagged through the town, ducking behind and through run down and sagging houses before continuing on, hoping that the breaks in line-of-sight would help them get to the walls without being spotted. David couldn’t see anyone on the walls, but he doubted there was no one on guard.

Their careful but quick movements brought them to the nearest building, thirty meters or so from the walls, without any alarm visible or audible to them. “Hold here,” Aly said softly. “I’m going to scout the walls.”

David nodded, then whispered. “I love you. Always have, always will. Together, we can take on the world.” A brief shiver passed through them both, Inciting Speech sending a buff to both of them.

She leaned in and kissed him, then vanished into Stealth. They waited impatiently, worried that something would happen. Only a minute later, she appeared in front of them again. “Two Lurkers and a Grunt Alpha are on the wall,” she said. “I can take out the Lurkers, but someone else will have to get the Alpha. It’s closer to us, about there.” she pointed up and to the right.

“I’m the second fastest,” David said. “While Colin’s Agility is higher, Vanguard’s Charge gets me there faster than Berserker’s Leap.”

“My Sneak is higher than both of yours,” Liz said. “We need this done quietly. So you boys sit back and wait for the women to handle things.”

David laughed softly, then nodded, “Sure, we’ll, uh, wait here for our sandwiches.”

Aly slapped him on the back of the head, then turned and nodded to Liz. Aly vanished, while Liz just became harder to see, like her form was hazy, rather than the near complete invisibility of Aly’s Stealth Skill.

Colin paced for the next two minutes, looking at the edge of the building with trepidation. Finally, Liz scurried around the corner. “Come on, I’m sure it won’t be long before the missing Daemons are noticed.”

David and Colin rushed after her. The wall in front of them was five meters tall. With a judicious application of Strengthen David leapt to the top. Inside the walls there was only one massive building, easily twenty meters square. There were no Daemons inside the walls. “Aly’s scouting the inside,” Liz said.

“Let’s go,” David gestured, and they slid to the ground. The large open space made him nervous, and he sank into Sneak, a field of Energy flowing over his body to distort his form. He made it nearly halfway across the ten-meter wide courtyard before the doors slammed open.

Loud laughter echoed out, “Such pitiful sneaks,” a voice called out, deep and grating. “Come, present yourselves before my court.”

David looked over at Colin and Liz, nodding jerkily. He dropped Sneak, then walked regally towards the door. Inside, he saw a massive open area, with a line of chained humans on one side of the room. The rear had a set of spiraling stairs headed towards the upper levels of the keep, and a dozen Grunt Lieutenants and two Legates waited on the right. Both the Legates and half the Lieutenants were channeling Essence into a ritual Inscription on the floor.

All of this paled before the spiky arch covered in profane sigils in the center of the room. In front of it, an altar held a weakly struggling young man. His painful mews forced out around the bloody remains of his tongue made David’s heart break. The flat portion of the altar was flanked by two thin, hooded Daemons. Scholar’s Vision gave him only a bit of information.

Name: Incubus Shaman

Level: 9

Description: A leader among Incubi, with stronger magic and knowledge of rituals. Kill on sight.

They weren’t the main cause of his worry, though. Directly behind the altar, obscuring part of the portal arch, was a three meter tall Daemon. It wore thick, black platemail, with pulsing lines of red-green that hurt David’s eyes to look at. The helmet had two horns spiraling upwards, thick enough to block a blade and sharp enough to cut. Its right hand casually rested on a double-bladed war ax. A pair of wings were folded behind it, the tops sticking up over its shoulders the only sign they were there.

Name: Daemon Baron

Level: 12

Description: The evolution of a Daemon Lord, capable of leading and enhancing a legion of Daemons.

“Well, only three? I thought there would be more,” the Daemon Baron said, its voice like listening to gravel grind together.

“Your army was able to stymie mine,” David said. “With your lowered ambitions, I assumed you wanted to speak before putting us irreconcilably on opposite sides.”

“Lowered ambitions?”

“Of course. You were going to make this a Regional Portal, but now it is only going to be a District Portal. Are you truly afraid of us poor, pitiful humans?”

“One, or three, no,” it laughed at him. “Seven hundred would take too long to kill, and you would damage the portal in that time. After I remove you, I will be able to further enhance the portal. It will just take more sacrifices.” Its left hand shot forward and ripped the youth’s throat out.

David flinched forward, glaring at the Daemon. “How about we duel it out, you and me, winner take all?”

His enemy laughed, the hand covered in blood clutching at its stomach, “I have you significantly outnumbered. Why would I risk anything? No, you will simply watch ineffectually while I seal your people’s doom, and my own triumph!”

“At least you separated out the humans for me,” David said, his hands behind his back. WIth a thought, he pulled out all four plasma grenades, activated them, then threw them as hard as he could at the group of Grunt Lieutenants. He’d seen a flicker of Aly, deliberately on her part he was sure, near the portal, so his throws were more to the front. That left the Legates only barely in the range. Set for contact detonation, David made sure to hit the wall, keeping the chained humans as far from the lethal zone as possible.

The Shamans had grabbed another, a teenaged girl this time, who shrieked in agony as the furthest edges of the plasma burned her legs. The Shaman to David’s right bellowed in pain as well, until a stream of black, ugly feeling Mana flowed out of the other one to its fellow leader. Of the dozen Lieutenants, only three were left standing, and only barely so.

The Legates were burned, but only enough to piss them off. “Die scum!” the Baron screamed, its rage enough to make the air distort with its cry. The Daemon leapt over the altar, straight at David.

David met its charge with one of his own, only to be blown backward. The Energy wave of Vanguard’s Charge at least stopped the forward momentum of Daemon, or he’d probably have died immediately. David slammed into the wall behind them, his Hit Points dropping by nearly five hundred after the breaking of his Mana Shield and Mana Artifact Shield.

He reformed the Mana Artifact Shield then blasted forward again. Liz was trading fire with the Shamans, ducking behind the Portable Inscribed Shields and sending Wood Spikes and Vine Whips at them. Colin was duking it out with the injured Legates, having already cut down the injured Lieutenants. They didn’t want to use the fragmentation grenades, in case a few pieces hit and killed the prisoners.

Just before he reached the Baron, a massive explosion shattered the portal, Aly having used the distraction to set up her grenades. The two Portable Inscribed Shields she had were protecting the humans, and Aly herself appeared by leaping onto the back of a Legate, her spear glowing black as Shadow Mana coated it to let her penetrate through armor.

It screamed, then she twisted the blade. The sound coming out of it stopped with a jerk. It collapsed forward.The last Legate dropped, the Shamans killed by Liz after they were injured by the portal detonating. The only Daemon left was the Baron.