Essence Wave Chapter 7

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

So, a post on Wednesday! Yay. There is a good chance that I will not get enough done to have two posts next week, though I'll try. We had a super bad windstorm today that took down two of my trees and did some other damage that needs addressing. This is on top of having contractors working in my house until 1930 Monday and Tuesday, delaying everything, so I didn't get as much writing done so far this week that I wanted. 

Enjoy!

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

The group Hiked down the switchbacks to the secondary wall surrounding the base of the plateau that was the center of Hope’s Refuge, and most of it for now. They continued across the small prairie to the remnants of Highway 285. “Something about this new world doesn’t like asphalt,” Colin joked. The road, not in the best of shape anyway due to Colorado winters, was starting to split apart in many areas. Chalk Creek Drive was worse. It looked like, rather than the week or so it’d been since the apocalypse, it’d been a hundred years of neglect. Cracks and broken chunks of road were all that was left, and various weeds were shooting up out of it.

“Nature is reclaiming what we took from her,” Summer said. “Essence is strengthening everything, not just people.”

“True,” David said. “Be wary, we don’t know if it has mutated any animals and made them bloodthirsty.”

“Uh, it definitely has,” Abby said, “but it also made them smarter. They won’t attack us, we’re too big of a group.”

“Thanks,” he said. They continued to Hike, and David worked on guiding the Energy in his body like he’d been shown, enhancing each footfall and stripping away any tiny bit of lactic acid that formed as they walked.

After a kilometer, the road abruptly ended. “Aly, should you scout ahead?” he asked his wife.

She looked pensively at the forest, then nodded. “Yeah. We’ll try to find and take out the Lurkers if we can, otherwise we’ll meet where the road reforms. It’s still another kilometer from that point to the fishery.”

“Stay safe,” he said.

Aly nodded, then waved Abby to follow her. David followed them with his eyes, at least until they moved near the closest tree. With a shimmer, they vanished. After a few seconds, he caught a tiny glimpse of movement. Wow, that is some Skill, he thought. He waited a minute, letting everyone take a quick breather, before commanding them to move again.

Two kilometers of forest passed slowly, with David looking every which way to spot any animals or Daemons. Once, he saw a massive elk, probably at least five meters tall, but it only snorted at them and walked away. He used Scholar’s Vision on it, and found out that the Forest Elk was level five and had a Strength comparable to his own. Do not mess with elk, truer now than ever before, he thought. Additionally, he caught a few glimpses of wolves, but they left quickly, realizing that David’s pack was too tough a nut for them to crack.

Finally, the trees thinned slightly, and they emerged back onto Chalk Creek Drive. Ahead of them, the road was in much better shape. Whatever metaphysical means that had stretched the world had stretched the pavement too. Abby met them at the edge of the road. “We found four Lurkers, and took them out,” she said. “But not the other eight. Miss Aly is hunting around the Corruption now, and gave me a meeting location.”

“Lead on,” David said. Abby turned and jogged off, and David lamented the loss of her childhood. Only twelve and hunting cat tentacle horror things, he thought with a frown. They Ran, and David continued his work on Energy flows while keeping an eye on their surroundings. The difficulty of managing what he’d been taught with only half his mind made the Skill feel like it was stretching, and the infinitesimal improvements to efficiency and capability let him know that the Skill would level soon, if it hadn’t already.

They left the road a hundred meters from where the road to the fishery split north from Chalk Creek Drive. The plains of the area had been replaced with a thick forest, and the buildings near the road were gone. She led them through the trees for a short distance before she signaled everyone to crouch and move silently. They crept forward until she stopped behind a line of bushes and undergrowth.

Aly ghosted out from behind a tree and leaned in close to David. “I found another two Lurkers, but that leaves six lurking around,” she said, faking a grin at her pun. He rolled his eyes, and she continued. “Just past this brush is the beginning of a clearing. The Corruption is another five meters past it, and has recovered almost the entirety of its spread from before. I was able to trigger the destruction message, though, and it is only a couple million, instead of billion, so we can do it. The center has a portal, but it isn’t open. A half-dozen new Gremlins have popped up, though, out of the slime pond under the portal. I counted fifty three Gremlins and thirty four Grunts. There is still only the one Alpha. He is currently in the center of the Corruption, just outside the pond.”

“Amazing, as always Aly,” he said, then turned to the others. “Alright, we move in one minute. Take the time to charge up your best long range attack. Everyone, pick a Grunt and pummel it. Aly, Liz, Colin, and I will take out the leader.”

A series of nods let him know that they understood, and then he put his actions where his words were. He summoned a Mana Bolt, and felt the Mana as it moved from his core through his channels to his hand. He noticed that it formed a more physical looking bolt, like something you’d see on a crossbow, rather than the vaguely arrow-shaped blob it had been before. The shaft was the normal blue-white of unaspected Mana, while the tip was the silver of Metal. I wonder if I could use Earth Mana too? Eh, not really the time to experiment with that. Multiple Usage, however, needs a workout, he thought, summoning a second.

The Mana flow was larger, but well within reason. He’d never tried summoning more than two before, but he decided to keep going. A third formed above his right hand, and this time the strain was significant. A quick check of his Status let him know that the three together took almost eleven hundred Mana, much much more than just one would. Not sure that’s worth it. Definitely not making a fourth, I’ll run out of Mana before the fight even starts, he thought. Of course, as a massive opening strike, this should be good.

“Now,” he commanded in a low voice, then leapt through the bush in front of him. He landed in a clearing of dirt and the sickly red-green nauseating color of Corruption. The slime pond near the center was a mucus green. The Alpha Grunt, now nearly three meters tall and level eight, was surrounded by six Grunts and facing away from him. David’s right hand flew up, pointing at the Daemon that attacked his town, and released all three Mana Bolts at it. A crack sounded as they broke the sound barrier, outpacing the noise of their arrival enough that the Alpha was unable to respond before it was pummeled.

Just after his Bolt’s struck the Daemon, two blue-white orbs landed on either side of it and detonated. The smaller Grunts were thrown away from their leader, who was blown backwards and down. The explosions savaged it, but also knocked it out of the way of a brilliant Fire Bolt that lanced into one of its minions instead of piercing its head. Dozens more Bolts, Grenades, and other attacks flowed out from around him, smashing apart the target Grunts.

Six massive balls of Fire Mana landed in the center of a mass of Gremlins, all directed by Addi, and in only a second the number of anklebiters had been reduced by two-thirds. David formed another Bolt, then threw it at a charging Grunt before summoning his sword and shield. The practice before they left let him use a small amount of Earth Mana to strengthen his shield before he stepped forward.

More ranged attacks rang out from behind him, but the Grunts were doing something to resist, now that they weren’t so surprised. They rallied, the Alpha standing back up and barking in the guttural language of the Daemons. It was bleeding and only using one arm as it gesticulated wildly. The remaining thirty or so Grunts formed a mob that sprinted towards the humans. They looked all the world like a troop of malformed gorillas mixed with toads and the horrifying chitin of a centipede.

David looked to the others, “Half a meter from the edge of the Corruption Vanguards. Defender, watch the back so the Lurkers don’t sneak up on the squishies.” His gaze flicked to the Beasts, ten meters away and approaching quickly. The target spot was six meters ahead, just enough to get to a full Sprint. “Vanguards, charge!” He activated his Vanguard’s Charge Skill, instantly blurring forward as the Momentum Essence upgrades brought him to his full speed faster than anyone else could match.

The foremost Grunt beat him to his target location by the barest fraction of a second, and regretted it for the tiny amount of time it had left in its miserable life. David’s shield ran into it, and then his Skill transferred all of the momentum of his movement into the Grunt as a wave of Energy flowed out of the shield. The Daemon disintegrated into a splatter of gore while every nearby one was knocked backward and sideways. A second alter, three more blasts of force erupted to either side of him, shattering the united front the Daemons had tried to make.

The Vanguards laid into the stumbling Daemons, taking advantage of the chaos to remove three from the fight permanently and injure several more. The next line of the Grunt mass tripped over their downed companions, but still arrived to pound on David’s shield. His sword swept upwards, scoring the things chest but not cutting through. He focused on using a Power Attack, stabbing straight through its heart.

A third gorilla thing smashed its fists down, knocking his shield off to the side. Before it could capitalize on his opening, a blue-white glowing halberd shot down from the sky to nearly cut it in half. Colin and the other polearm wielders had arrived behind the Vanguards, letting them focus more on defense. Balls of fire, glowing Mana Grenades, arrows, and the occasional sniper shot exploded into the Daemons, while David focused on just staying alive and keeping the Grunts contained. Occasionally, he’d use a Shield Bash, Power Attack, or Vanguard’s Strike to fight back.

The next minute was a frantic scrum of stabbing, grunting, and slashing. (Name)’s shield got grabbed, and he was dragged screaming into the Grunt line. Summer screamed and I saw green-tinged Mana shoot into the wildly struggling man as she tried to heal him while the Grunts beat him senseless. David and the other Vanguards stepped forward, forcing the Grunts back and letting Colin and (name) grab him and pull him back to where Summer frantically tried to save him.

In the gap as they moved forward, David saw the Alpha directing the Grunts and Gremlins swarming around their feet, and a line to him was clear for only a second. “Moving!” He screamed, then activated Vanguard’s Charge, Sprint, and Swordsman’s Step at the same time, dodging one Grunt’s attack and bowling through another before arriving in front of the Alpha.

It met his charge with a glowing punch, its fist surrounded by Energy the same color as the Corruption. The impact resulted in an explosion. Its hand was pulped, but David’s shield formed cracks and his arm screamed in pain. David ignored it, stabbing at the beast but getting blocked.

“I should thank you, human,” the Daemon laughed. “You killing Al’shaz’isagoth has given me the chance to evolve to Lord. I will twist your head from your body but leave you alive so you can see me take your city, giving me my rightful place in the Court!”

“You’re gonna have a bit of trouble doing that without an arm,” David said, fainting a slash at its elbow only to focus on Power Attack and Vanguard’s Strike to redirect his attack to rip through the Alpha’s knee as David dropped to a crouch. “Sike!”

The Daemon screamed as it started to fall, only to slam its fist onto the ground. A field of spikes formed around David, stabbing into his legs and ripping apart his armor. Oh yeah, I have a Skill like that too, he thought while activating Spike Field with a thought. Dozens of stone spears shot out of the ground, but they were only about twenty centimeters tall.

A pillar of stone had formed and pushed the Daemon upright, so David snapped his foot forward into a front kick, tearing it from the spikes holding him in place. He leapt off his other leg, gasping in pain as his wounds were expanded by the motion, and landed on the Daemon. The spikes it landed on shattered, stabbing into its arm and legs. David pushed as much Energy into a Power Attack that he could, and used Vanguard’s Strike to further empower the strike.

The Daemon bellowed, crossing its arms in front of its face. The sword falling towards it glowed the silver of Metal Mana, a small amount pulled into the Skill unconsciously. The Metal Mana’s bonus to cutting along with his enhanced Vanguard’s Strike’s bonus to breaking barriers let the blade slice through both arms, even glowing with Daemonic power, and stab into the creature’s skull.

The few remaining Grunts lost any semblance of cohesion and tried to run, only to be cut down by the ranged attackers. David checked his Status to see what his Hit Points were at. Huh, still got a thousand, but when did my arm break? Oh, yeah, that thing packed quite the punch. Ow, well at least Pain Resistance increased in level from ignoring it. He didn’t look through his notifications yet, rushing back towards the others, shrugging off every attack from the tendrils of Corruption. “Did we lose anyone?” He asked upon reaching Liz.

“No, though it was a close thing with (name),” she said. “Craig managed to intercept one of the two Lurkers that tried to attack us. The other made the mistake of choosing me as a target.” Her smile turned feral for a second. “Just about everyone with a melee weapon took some injury.” She looked at him concernedly.

“Yeah, it’s just a broken arm. I’ll have it healed in a jiffy,” David said.

“What? How’d you break your shield arm?” Aly asked.

“That Alpha had quite a mean punch,” he answered with a shrug, starting to send both Mana and Energy to heal his arm using his new Skill. Wow, this works so well, he thought, feeling the soothing power that flowed through him.

“Anyway, there are six that will have trouble walking, and ten we should avoid allowing to fight if we can,” Liz said.

“Well, they can be the ones to dump Energy and Mana into the Corruption to fix it,” David said. “Uh, how long do we have?”

“Let’s check,” Aly said, moving forward and approaching the Corruption. She quickly got the notification, and shared it with the group.

Warning: Corruption Detected!

Quest Gained - Destroy Corruption

Requirements: 11,559,113 Energy and Mana in 6 hours

“Huh, over eleven million in six hours,” David said. “This is going to be difficult.”

“Really?” Colin asked. “Don’t you make something like five hundred Energy every second?”

“No, every minute,” David said, smiling sheepishly. “Though I could do a bit more with Focus, maybe four times that?”

“So two thousand Energy and Mana a minute,” Colin said. “Yeah, not quite alone, but together we should be able to make it. Especially if any of the level fours we brought leveled.”

“Let’s check,” David said, then turned to the collapsed group. “Anyone here get enough Essence to ding?”

“Ding?” Emily yelled back.

“To level,” David laughed loudly. He checked his Status, and saw he’d only gained six hundred and fifty Essence, even with the massive numbers of Gremlins and Grunts. Blarg, still not enough to even finish a Way, much less level. I wonder why I got so little? Must be level difference starting to rear its ugly head.

Summer raised her hand, “I’ll hit five with this,” she said with a grin.

“Well, go ahead,” David said. “Everyone spend what you got if you have something to spend it on. Otherwise, meditate to full and we’ll begin. Pair off and we’ll take turns putting half our Energy and Mana into the Corruption before switching. Keep watch on your partners to prevent them from being grabbed by the tentacles, and we’ll blitz the Corruption creature that forms. Got it?”

“Oorah,” a chorus yelled back.

“Really?” David laughed. “Josiah’s corrupting everyone!” The group laughed, collapsing to the ground.

“The four of us might not need to pair up,” Aly said. “I saw you coming back, ignoring the Corruption’t tentacles.”

“Better safe than sorry,” David said. “And we still shouldn’t go below half.”

“Of course,” she shook her head at him, then dropped to sit on the ground, falling into her version of Meditation.

David looked out over the group, watching over those who were focused inward as they waited to bring their resources back to full.

After ten minutes, Aly tapped his leg. “I’m close enough that I’ll finish regaining my Mana while you close your eyes and say ohm,” she said, standing up and stretching.

David looked her over, causing her to blush, then pulled her into a hug. “Got it,” he said, dropping to his butt to do the same. He dove into his core cave, and started to Focus, pulling in Mana and Energy from around him. The messages, and Al, called it the Essence Wave, David thought, but we get Mana and Energy. The City has City Essence, which needs both Mana and Energy to make. I wonder if I combine them will I be able to make Essence, or pull it in directly from around us? That could make leveling a breeze. He shook the thoughts out of his head, First things first. Review my Skill usage and squeeze another Skill level or two out of it.

The next subjective hour he spent examining how he used Power Attacks in the fight, and finding tiny tweaks to both his motions and his Energy usage. Some of the improvements applied to both Sprint and Vanguard’s Strike. Finally, his Mana was full, having taken ten minutes longer than his Energy to fill up. Earth’s Unrelenting Motion is already coming in super handy, and it leveled once. All told, four levels to Power Attack, three to Vanguard’s Strike, ooh, one to Vanguard’s Charge, Mana Bolt, Invigorating Shout, and Swordsman’s Step. Two to Shield Bash, Lead From the Front, and Spike Field. My newest Skill went up seven levels, not that I felt like it did much. Leveling from Novice one is pretty easy.

He brought his consciousness back to the real world and saw that everyone was up. “Alright! It’s time to cleanse this Corruption and go home,” he shouted, activating the Invigorating Shout Skill to give everyone all the bonuses he could.