Essence Wave Book 2 Chapter 33

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

Enjoy!

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

Two hours later, Aly jogged out of the trees. “We’ve only got about fifty meters left,” she said. “The Daemons have rebuilt their barricades across the river. They’re still only manned by Grunts and Imps, but there are nearly a hundred of them milling about. The Corruption has spread to the other side of the bridge, though.”

“That’s not good,” Colin said. “We’ll have to clear a spot if we want to set up our fallback position there.”

“Attacking the Corruption with Mana Skills works,” David said. He turned to Josiah. “Do we want to lead with the ballista trucks or save them for a surprise?”

“Probably better to save them,” Josiah answered, looking over the line of people behind them. “Volleys of Mana Darts should make some progress. The Earth Mages will be on backup.”

“Then the Vanguards will do what we do best,” David said with a grin. “Break open the enemy lines.”

They moved forward, being doubly careful with the trees and keeping noise down, until they finally cleared the last row and were able to get out onto the remains of Highway 285. They’d turned from the planned route to come out where the road had turned slightly, giving a screen of trees. David shook his head at the massive forest that had formed over the last two weeks where there used to just be farms and plains.

He could hear the Daemons, growls and hisses echoing down the corridor of trees that formed on either side of the road. “I wonder why none of the trees are pushing through the cracked concrete,” Craig said quietly, leading ten more Vanguards up to where David stood looking up the road.

“The Essence Wave seems like it designated the roads we already had as, well, roads,” David whispered. “The concrete is breaking apart, but nothing is growing up through the cracks. Steve mentioned that putting in a System road along the human one was easier. Is everyone ready?”

A series of nods and thumbs up answered him, no one wanting to make too much noise. “Good,” David grinned. “Form a wedge centered on me. I’m going to smash through their barricades. Once I’ve made a whole, you all expand it. Colin and the other Berserkers will be right behind to exploit the opening. If we have to, we’ll form a shield line with Jennifer’s Defenders. Well, those of us with shields.” He nodded to two young women who both carried naginata, a large polearm with a sword blade on the end.

They smiled back at him, and the younger of the two sisters said, “We’ll be right behind to stab the bad guys.”

Quiet laughs answered her declaration. David looked back to Colin, who gave him a nod. “Let’s go,” he said, turning and starting to jog down the road. The others formed a vee on him, with the naginata sisters on either end. David formed and extended his shield, channeling nearly a thousand Mana into it. The final size was a wedge as wide as he was tall, the point a meter in front of him.

The road turned enough that he was able to see the Daemons. The barricades were thicker than before, whole logs cut from the forest to either side of the road. They were only fifty meters away. David moved into a Sprint, though he didn’t move as fast as he could. The others wouldn't have been able to keep up, otherwise.

Screams of alarm came from the Grunts, and a cloud of Imps leapt into the sky. Balls of Fire, Ice, and Earth Mana formed in front of the Imps. “Brace and push through!” David bellowed, Inciting Speech activating to improve everyone’s regenerations.

The Imps attacks fell upon them, draining Mana, Energy, and Hit Points, but it wasn’t enough to stop their charge. Over David’s head, he noticed Mana Bolts, arrows, and the blasts that Tiffany’s rifle made, slapping Imps from the sky. The Imps retaliation went behind him, heading towards the Berzerkers following the Vanguards.

Ten meters from the barricade, David grinned ferally, then slammed Energy and Mana into Vanguard’s Charge. He exploded forward, the concrete under his feet powdering under the massive force he shoved into it. The Grunts had thought they had a few more seconds, with several still hefting the clubs and mauls that they were armed with when his shield hit the middle log. The wedge cut partway into it, then the wave of Energy that his Skill shot out ripped the tree trunk in half and sent each piece spinning through the Daemon lines.

Grunts were crushed and bowled over. The ones in front that survived David’s initial attack were staggered and unable to muster a defense when Craig, Elijah, and the others smashed into them on either side of David. He moved forward, his sword flicking out to silence a pitifully mewling Grunt that was missing its legs.

A shadow covered him for a second, so David looked up to see Colin Leaping over his head then falling on the Daemons like a meteor. The detonation that accompanied his halberd slamming into the ground threw a dozen Grunts away from him, then bolts of electricity shot out of his weapon to strike six more Grunts and an Imp that was flying too close.

“Mana Darts at the Corruption,” Josiah yelled, and five hundred Darts plunged over the fighters taking apart the Daemons. Tiny splotches of the disgusting ground cover turned bright green, though the Corruption immediately tried to absorb that area again. Another sheet of Darts proved the effort futile.

David threw an Unstable Mana Bolt into an Imp above him, taking out three that had clustered together to make a joint attack. The ball of Fire fell down onto him, but his reformed standard shield absorbed the impact with only a few cracks that quickly sealed themselves. He looked around quickly, but everyone had their sections of the battlefield fully under control. The last few Grunts fell as he watched.

“Move out,” David yelled, running to the bridge. In the distance, he saw the gates of the Daemon fortress open and a line of Legionnaires marched out. They kept coming, probably at least a thousand of them. Over their heads, a swarm of Incubi flew out of the top, but didn’t head towards the group yet. “Incoming, hurry up!”

The Earth Mages group, led by Mason and Duke, hustled behind him. David used Vanguard’s Charge again, sending almost all of his Mana and Energy into the wave that rolled up the Corruption for nearly ten meters. The dots of green almost seemed to enhance his attack as it flowed over them, pushing the Mana out to fill in every bit that had been missed by the massed Dart attacks.

David dropped to a knee, engaging Scholar’s True Focus without dropping into his core cave. It reduced the effectiveness somewhat, but he didn’t want to be unaware of his surroundings right now. He needed his Mana and Energy back, but he could fight while low if necessary.

Mason and Duke stood to either side, the other Earth Mages moving between the Vanguards who also sent out attacks to push back the Corruption. Once there was fifteen meters of space in a semicircle around the base of the bridge, every Earth Mage knelt and put their palms flat on the ground. A wall of stone formed at the edge of the Corruption, leaving only a few centimeters of green outside the rock. It quickly rose to be three meters tall, though crenelations dropped parts of it to only two and a quarter meters or so. A platform formed a meter off the ground for people to stand on.

David jumped up to it, the distance easily within his base abilities, and looked out at the oncoming Daemons. The Corrupted city of Buena Vista was missing most of its buildings, the few that remained looking more like mounds of the disgusting stuff than anything man-made. Farther west, David saw what looked like a castle of black stone, though veins of the off putting red-green color of the Corruption flowed through it. It was easily three times as large as the fort the Daemons had made, or five times Fortification’s size.

“We’ll have to fight there,” Colin said, nodding at the castle.

“Yeah, that’s probably where the portal is being formed,” David answered. “At least we surprised the Daemons. Look, they stopped coming.”

The Daemons were still a kilometer away, but David could see them clearly. There were at least twenty Alphas, five Daemon Lieutenants, and five other Daemons he didn’t recognize, though they were all based upon the Legionnaire template. A bit over a hundred Incubi hovered over the ground troops, and David worried that they would be too much to handle.

“We’ll be fine,” Colin said, noticing his friend was pensive. “We prepared for this.”

David nodded, and then turned to the others. “Today, we fight! While the enemy looks strong, they do not know of our strength, our determination! They may have conquered other worlds, but none like us. Humanity will stand and prevail! Be ready, for they come!” All of the Mana and Energy he’d recharged burst out of him, enfolding all of his people. With a grunt, he looked at Colin. “Shake me when they start marching this way.”

“Sure,” he answered.

David dropped to his butt and closed his eyes, falling into his core cave. “Let’s check my notifications quickly,” he told himself, then brought them up.

Skill improvements:

Mana-Artifact Creation -> Apprentice 11

Hiking -> Beginner 15

Running -> Beginner 11

Unstable Mana Bolt -> Beginner 18

Pain Resistance -> Beginner 20

Vanguard’s Strike -> Apprentice 1

Strengthen -> Beginner 16

Inciting Speech -> Beginner 13

A Lord’s Presence -> Beginner 14

Lead from the Front -> Beginner 5

Combat Reflexes -> Beginner 15

A Leader’s Gift -> Initiate 5

Minor Muscle Efficiency -> Beginner 3

Overcharge -> Initiate 14

“Not bad for two short fights,” he laughed. “Vanguard’s Strike is going to be awesome now that it leveled again. It counts as a Journeyman Skill for armor piercing. Okay, I’ve got eleven hundred Essence. Really, that’s it? Wow, I only got two for each Grunt, and one for the Imps. Crazy, leveling is going to get so much harder. Though I guess the Legionnaires coming will help with that. We’ll all get stronger from defeating them.” He sobered up for a second. “Well, all of us that survive. Damn, okay, spend my Essence to get stronger before the fight. I wanted to save up for a higher level Way, but I don’t think that’s the best idea right now. What Way will give me the best bang for the buck?”

He looked at his list and sorted by only those a thousand or less.

Protector (0/500), Runner (0/500), Berserker (0/500), Scout (0/500), Mage II (0/500) Shield Beginner (0/1000), Frontliner (0/1000), Shieldwall (0/1000), Metal Mage II (0/1000), Swimmer (0/500)

“Well, Swimmer is out. I guess every five hundred Essence one is out. Well, maybe Mage two will enhance Mana Shield and Mana Bolt? Those might be really helpful. Shield Beginner should enhance my defensive ability, Shieldwall to help everyone around me. Though it might only work with the people who also have Walked that Way. Frontliner might enhance my Lead from the Front, which buffs everyone. Or I could get Runner to see if I could blitz past the enemy and shut down the portal that way? Nah, that won’t work. There’s no way I’d be able to do it by myself. Metal Mage II, enhance my armor again? Probably would give me another Skill, and I already have issues with using all of them. Why is this so hard?”

He took a few deep breaths, pushing down the panic that threatened to overwhelm him. “A good decision now is better than a perfect decision later,” he finally told himself. “Mage II will hopefully improve both offense and defense.” He allocated his Essence before he could talk himself out of it.

The Way only gave him two stats, both to Intelligence. There was no bonus or Skill at the halfway mark. With only one Essence left to insert, he focused, chanting, Buff Mana Skills in general, in his head. With a flick of his finger, the last Essence was inserted.

Congratulations! You have Walked the Way of the Mage twice! All Mana Skills will now be a miniscule percent more efficient and a miniscule percent more powerful.

“Well, that’s what I wanted, and more,” he laughed, relaxing. “Miniscule isn’t a lot, but it’ll add up, especially since almost every Skill I use has a Mana portion. It’s a percentage too, so it’ll keep getting better as I get better. Too bad Mage three is a thousand, five hundred Essence. Wait, shouldn’t it have been a thousand?” He pulled up his Way list, and noticed that a number of changes had occurred.

Protector (0/500), Runner (0/500), Shield Beginner (0/1000), Leader III (0/3000), City Knight (0/3000), Augmented (0/10000), Frontliner (0/1000), Shieldwall (0/1000), Vanguard III (0/1500), Earth Mage III (0/1500), , Metal Mage II (0/1000), Cultivator (0/10000), Swimmer (0/500), Beast Leader (0/1500), Mana Artificer (0/3000), Mage III (0/1500), Balanced (0/2500), Jack of All (0/1000), Spellsword (0/2000), Arcane Knight (0/3500), Knight Templar (0/2000), Runic Defender (0/2000)

“Wow, that’s a bunch of new Ways. Of course, none of them are useful right now. Only a few options for Ways if I want to spend my last five hundred Essence on them, or I could save it for now. Jack of All sounds like a good cheap one to go for early, but we’ll see how much Essence I get from the Legionnaires coming.” David rested for a second, head down on the desk in his mental study, then sat. “Runner or Protector could be useful, but not right now. I think I’m done.”

He brought his consciousness back into the real world, and stood up. “Oh good, I was just about to wake you,” Colin said. “They are marching again.”

David looked out through one of the crenulations on the wall. The Daemons had formed a shield wall, twenty across by fifty long. “Wow, there really are one thousand of them,” David said softly.

“Yeah,” Colin whispered back.

“Have you spent most of your Essence?”

“Yup, just added some points to Constitution. About to hit two hundred all told,” Colin grinned.

“Wow, I’m only at one sixty,” David gave him a questioning look.

“Well, yeah, but I bet my Int and Wisdom are much lower than yours,” Colin responded. “Since I’ve been specializing towards the physical a lot more than you. We can’t all be good at everything.”

David rolled his eyes then turned back to the others. Six wooden platforms, each big enough for three people to stand on comfortably, were erected inside the walled area. The platforms’ base was two meters into the air, with a small ladder to get into them. Inside the closest one, Adi waved at him. He waved back.

“Each platform has two ranged attackers and a defender,” Josiah said, hopping up next to them. “I’m worried about the Incubi. The way they are flying together seems perfect for a combination attack.”

“Good call,’ David said.

“All the snipers are on the bridge, along with the trucks,” Josiah continued, only nodding in appreciation to David’s comment. “We’re as ready as we’re going to be.”

“Only a few minutes before they get here,” David said.

“They are in range of the Ballista now,” Josiah said. “But I want to save them for a surprise. Dylan suggested a box with blankets to hide the crossbows, so they look like storage vehicles right now.”

David and Colin laughed. “I guess we’ll see their reactions,” David said.

The Daemons continued to march towards them, the Corruption rippling around the Legionnaires and seeming to bolster their steps. Once they reached two hundred meters away, they stopped, the lead row’s shields slamming into the ground with a crash.