CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR: MOUSE TRAP

Gabriel got back together with his squad and received the bad news that they had lost three of their members. Gabriel didn’t allow the squad to focus on the loss, as the sounds of the battle between the Imperium soldiers and the [Hell Hounds] was still raging. It could be seen from where they stood, that no new [Hell Hounds] were appearing to add to the tide and Sergeant Titus’s shrewd eyes, quickly picked up on this fact. He began shouting the news to the fatigued soldiers, to lift their morale and bring out the last of their waning strength. While his squad members had all focused on the battle, Gabriel quickly bent down to the remains of the [Death Knight] and activated loot all. ‘No way am I splitting the loot from this bad boy with the Imperium’, Gabriel thought to himself, while glancing over at his own troops, who were all, conveniently looking in every direction but at their squad leader. Gabriel shared a small smile to himself and also pretended like what he did, didn’t happen.

“Come on guys, let’s give them a hand, anyone with injuries make sure to drink a health potion now or use some of the bandages. No point being conservative. I have a feeling that we are not far from the end of this raid.” Gabriel ordered, as they rushed over to the defensive square.

With the extra help of Gabriel and his squad attacking the [Hell Hounds] from behind, the battle was quickly concluded. Gabriel coated his spear in flames and swept through the hounds, hoping to get as many kills as possible to increase his EXP gain and Raid contribution. With the past experience of fighting all manner of creatures, Gabriel punctured the [Hell Hounds] vital points within one to two strikes. With a loud, heavy grunt accompanied by an earth trembling smack, Sergeant Titus finished off the last of the [Hell Hounds], by popping its skull like a watermelon. Silence soon surrounded the area, besides the groan of the injured and the heavy pants in exhaustion.

The tired soldiers cast trembling eyes around and finally noticing the lack of enemies, they began to release the tension, that was the only thing holding them up. Majority, quickly took a knee, with drooped weapons or fell on their backs in complete exhaustion. Fighting the continuous flowing waves of [Hell Hounds] was taxing, not only to their physical strength, but their mental strength too. It felt to the rookie soldiers, that every time one ferocious beast was killed another just took its place, with no show of stopping, an almost endless cycle. Many of the younger soldiers shed a couple of tears at the unlucky soldiers who perished during the battle, some unlucky soldiers were even pulled to the back of the wave of [Hell Hounds] and torn to pieces. Leaving a macabre display of body parts sprayed around. Gabriel arrived in front of Sergeant Titus and got another firm shoulder slap in appreciation; after reporting what happened on their side of the battle.

“Alright everyone, we are running out of daylight and we don’t want to be trying to siege the manor at night. We have been delayed enough. Everyone takes five and then I won’t everyone in position to head towards the manor, also...” Sergeant Titus informed the tired and weary soldiers before stopping his sentence mid-way as he was looking for something. “Ah, [Maximus]! I want you to inspect the ballistae and get half of them ready with the grappling bolts to prepare for scaling the wall. The others should be prepared to take down any guards upon the walls, I haven’t seen any of [Baroness Mengrel]’s three retainers or her personal soldiers. I imagine they are all guarding the ugly bitch in her manor.” Sergeant Titus ordered, the neat and clean looking [Maximus].

As [Maximus] had joined the artillery division, he was far from the front-lines during both battles of the campaign and looked as fresh as a daisy. Earning a couple of reproachful looks from some of the battered soldiers around him. What the front-line soldiers didn’t witness though, was [Maximus]’s almost scarily accurate aim with the ballistae he personally manned. Sergeant Titus did though, as the battle they were just occupied in was a very disadvantageous one for the ballistae and ranged fighters in general, the ground they were forced to make a stand in was perfectly flat, leaving no higher ground to station the ballista to be able to fire over the heads of the soldiers. The type of enemy they were battling also made it hard. [Hell Hounds] although vicious and almost berserk like in their attacks, still held the nimble and slight bodies of a four legged animal. Allowing them to dodge many projectiles with their movements and speed. [Maximus] however managed to fire a ballista in the split second a gap opened up from a soldier being brought down by the beasts. With a javelin bolt slamming into the mass of Hounds, the shield wall was able to quickly reestablish. The majority of the rookie soldiers didn’t notice this in the heat of the battle and the bolts shot from the ballista moved so fast and penetrated quite deep within the flood of beast before anyone could take proper notice.

Sergeant Titus looked at [Maximus] who was walking off to carry out his orders and thought to himself ‘Another promising bud, I think I am starting to truly believe in Primus Pilus plan in inviting more of these travelers into the army, especially with the annual Orc raids coming up.’ Sergeant Titus finished his musings and made his way around the camp, giving reassuring pats and small praises to the soldiers to boost their morale. After a short five minutes of rest and gathering of loot, the Imperium soldiers all got back into a column and walked the last mile to the Mansion walls. Once stepping in front of the walls, Sergeant Titus ordered the soldiers to fan out and prepare themselves for climbing the walls, including making a shield wall in case of long ranges attacks from the manor’s twelve-foot-high wall. The ballistae were placed in range and ready to fire on the walls. Sergeant Titus didn’t give any orders to attack just yet though, as he peered closely at the Manor walls. He looked up and down the length of the walls and couldn’t spot anybody on them. Considering the fact, they had already been on the receiving end of two ambushes, Sergeant Titus was extra cautious, the unmanned walls gave him a bad feeling. The sound of footsteps coming behind the Imperial officer made him turn around. One of the few Mages of the expedition, stood next to Titus and was peering at the walls with an inquisitive look. The Mage looked to be in his middle years with a pointy, oiled salt and pepper beard and small wiry stature, hidden in tight brown robes.

“What is it Apprentice Jidir? Have you noticed something, is it a mana based trap?” Sergeant Titus queried.

The mage had a fairly uncommon but not too rare of a class, called an [Infuser]. They had the skills to power mana based items, and also to drain them of their mana. They also had a special sub skill, that had to do with making magic based defences, such as [Sigil Mines] and [Mana Shields].

“No, I don’t detect any traces of Sigils being used but I think it might be something more annoying for us.” Apprentice Jidir replied, with a frown.

“What could be more annoying then [Sigil Mines], spewing Jupiter knows what at my men?” Sergeant Titus queried back.

In reply to the Sergeant’s question, the [Infuser] conjured the basic spell [Mana Bullet] and shot it at the walls. All the soldiers heard the small sound of the blue bolt shotting out of the mage’s hand before heading towards the wall. They followed the bullet with their eyes and about three feet before coming in contact with the black stones surface of the wall, it slammed into another invisible wall. The impact on the invisible wall, sent multicolored ripples, that looked like when one would drop a rock into the calm surface of a pond. The ripples spread out and revealed to the Imperium soldiers a large round force field that covered the entire manor including all the walls. The shield was revealed for only a moment before turning invisible to the naked eye again.

“Well shit. I guess that little bastard was right and there was going to be an independent [Mana Field] in place. I really hoped the Baroness wasn’t wealthy enough for these kinds of defenses.” Sergeant Titus muttered to himself after seeing the [Mana Field], nobody surrounding the Sergeant knew who he was talking about when he said “little bastard”.

“Well Apprentice Jidir, do you believe you would be able to drain enough of the mana from the [Mana Field] to give us an opening?” Sergeant Titus asked, even though he already knew the most likely answer.

“No, I cannot sorry sir. Considering the size of the field and I can even feel the strength of it, from my spell just now. The field was made by a Master level [Infuser] at the least. I also imagine it runs off several independent mana sources to keep it stocked up. It would take me far too long, not including I would have to have my hands on the field, so I would be wide open to attack. The only way I can currently see, is to exhaust the mana by unleashing attacks upon it continuously but honestly, with the strength and average level of the soldiers we have it will take... two days.” Apprentice Jidir replied after a couple of moments of thought.

“Don’t apologise. That little bastard under Primus Pilus already planned for this and has sent multiple parties of those Travellers to find different entrances into the manor. I also personally sent Sergeant Crassis with a party of travellers to enter through the drains in the lake next to the manor. I will send a Quest update regarding the [Mana Field]. That will be all for now.” Sergeant Titus informed.

After sending the update out, Sergeant Titus ordered for all squad Captains to attend him which also included Gabriel and [Maximus]. Sergeant Titus explained what the [Infuser] said and what the back up plans involving the parties that split off early were doing.

“We will be breaking for two hours now; I want a uniform camp with everyone in defensive positions and a rotating watch. I don’t want to be the victim of another fucking ambush. After two hours if there is no sign from the Field lowering, we can only switch to more brute force methods, I will also send back a request for some higher-level soldiers to break down the field as quick as possible. Doing that however, will eat into our rewards, as the higher-level soldiers will take a large cut. We can only hope that the other teams can find a way in and destroy that field without getting caught.” Sergeant Titus explained.

Gabriel returned to his squad and told them the news, he told the two freshest looking soldiers to take watch first and rotate after twenty minutes. Gabriel sat down a little away from everyone else and with shiny eyes, like a child on Christmas day, he took out the three items he looted off the [Death Knight]. The first item was a ring, it was a dirty white and appeared to be made from bone. It was intricately carved to show multiple skeletal hands all grasping at each other. Gabriel inspected the item and received its information.

[Undead Embrace – (Unique) - (Ring) - (Sealed) - Req. Class: Necromancer based. LVL 20.]

Skill [Summon Undead – Ghoul] - Summon the Undead monster [Ghoul] from a corpse LVL 15 or higher. 5% decrease to overall mana costage that you need to sustain Undead-Type summons (Sealed) (Sealed)

Gabriel’s eyes were shining while he looked over the item and a smirk appeared on his face. ‘I bet the future Leonard would wash the streets in money or blood for this item.’ Gabriel put the ring away in his 100 slot inventory that was quickly filling up and looked over the next piece of loot. A menacing looking black shield was in his hands. The front of the shield showed the demonic face of a skull with an open mouth, looking as if it was trying to devour anything that headed towards it. The shield was the same size as Gabriel’s [High-Steel Kite Shield], able to cover his entire torso.

[Demonic Bone Shield - (Rare) - (Medium Shield) - Req. Melee based class. LVL 15]

Armour Value – 110

Special Effects:

Skill [Store] Absorbs 25% of damage from an enemy attack (Physical or Mana based) and stores it to be used once activated. Once stored attack is used, Cooldown – 3 Minutes before you can activate [Store] again.

Gabriel was very happy with the shield and because of the material used to make it, he could unconsciously feel, because of his [Runesmith] profession, that he could place more advance runes on it then the basic ones he knew. The last item was the real treasure out of the three, at least in Gabriel’s eyes, but if looted by others, would look like trash to the current player population in Deliverance Online. Gabriel held in his hand a smooth fist size rock, that had multiple rainbow colored carved patterns all over it. Gabriel’s mouth almost watered at the sight, ‘No way am I this lucky...’ Gabriel paused in thought, as he cast a quick glance to the sky before checking the stones description.

[Greater Waystone - (Rare) (Component)]

Description: A natural formed rock, made from the concentration of high mana density. Used primarily to power Teleportation Waypoints.

Gabriel was excited just looking at the rock, any NPC trading house would pay top dollar for a [Lesser Waystone], he could also earn considerable Reputation Points if he handed one into the ruling party of one of the countries. As they were already a limited resource, however, [Greater Waystones] weren’t only used for powering portals like the lesser ones, but were the key components to make a Waypoint. With the right mana frequencies, like connecting to a radio station, it could connect to the main Waypoints in the capital cities around continent and many other places. The cost of building one wasn't cheap however and privately building a waypoint inside a land owned by a kingdom, without their permission, would bring immediate execution. Gabriel had to make sure when he was ready to build a waypoint, he either had permission from the Imperium or was so well hidden it could never be found by them or anyone else.

After checking out the loot, Gabriel returned to his squad and chatted with the soldiers, getting a more detailed brief on what they had been up to and how their training was, while he explained about his new land at Eagle Peak.

“Hey Chief! Do you think any of those other traveler parties will be able to sneak inside that manor, filled with Thor knows how many enemies and shut down the [Mana Field]?” Rolo asked all of sudden.

Gabriel thought to himself for a moment ‘I don’t know too much about the other player parties. I know the [Templars] and their pretty boy leader are all elites in the gaming world but hmmm... [WolfPack] maybe have a chance but probably even slimmer. Out of everyone the only person I can think, who is lucky enoug, to do it would be Mouse.” Gabriel smiled at the thought of his little brown haired friend.

“Honestly, I am not sure. It would be a difficult thing for anyone. But if I have to give answer, I would say whichever party was the one heading towards the lake has the highest chance. The entrance through the drainage pipes should be pretty clear.” Gabriel replied after some thought.

While Gabriel and the main force of the Imperium army were resting in front of the [Mana Field], a desperate battle was reaching its final moments in the withered forest to the right of the run down village.

The members of the [WolfPack] were fighting off a group of vicious looking demons, that had six appendages, three on either side and at the ends were three sharp claws, half a foot long. Their skin was like that of a tree frog, green and slimy, with a watermelon shaped head and mouth full of razor-sharp teeth that stretched from end to end. The Demons were using the extra leverage and sharp claws, to dig into the trees and spring off, as they quickly caught onto the next tree. They bounced along the forest from tree to tree with great speed, barely anything hindered their path. Two of the demons were chasing down [Phat-Cat], as she ran through the forest looking for one of her party members. [Phat-Cat] looked behind her and could still make out the silhouette of the jumping demons, they were gaining on her fast.

Behind the closely following demons were the signs of a battle. Broken trees, smashed rocks, scorched earth, blood and bodies parts were strewn around everywhere. There were also piles of Demon corpses bundled together, into what looked like a makeshift barrier. In the middle was the tall and tattered form of Sergeant Crassis, as she brandished her fiery whip in one hand and sent out balls of fire in the other. There was no small number of fires around her, and she appeared to be lost in the flames at that moment. With every whipcrack, the body of a pouncing demon was split in two, earning an almost hysterical laughter that was filled with mad glee to burst forth from Sergeant Crassis’s lips.

[Phat-Cat] who was running away from the Sergeant’s direction, shuddered at the sight of the mad but valiant woman before facing forwards and running with all her might. ‘That crazy bitch. If she didn’t start setting everything on fire, we could have stayed together and wouldn’t have gotten split up like this! [T] and [Rex] are basically joined at the hip and have a weird brother radar, I'm sure they have already found each other. The only one that truly worries me is Mouse, where could he have gone? I didn’t get to see in which direction he ran. This forest is so dark and Mouse hates the dark.’ [Phat-Cat] worried to herself, as her eyes darted around searching for any sign of her companions.

The sound of the pursuing demons claws ripping into wood, told [Phat-Cat] that they were only moments away from reaching her. [Phat-Cat] checked her status screen and smiled in relief. She had been running from these demons, not because she was afraid but because she ran out mana completely and as a LVL 17 Mage, she didn’t have the quickest regen rate. She promised herself that after this battle, she would master some close combat weapons, that were appropriate for mages, for just this occasion. [Phat-Cat] began to chant while she ran, once her spell was almost complete, she turned around to face the demons and stood straight. The image of a frightened, fleeing woman was gone, in its place was the strong determination of a woman. Ready to bring down the pain on her stalkers. Both Demons pounced from their perches in the trees, their claws leading the way.

“Taste my lightning you ugly bastards!” [Phat-Cat] roared.

With raised hands, [Phat-Cat] shot out her charged lightning spell, the bolt slammed into the leading Demon, sending its skin to peel off like banana, as the electricity burnt it from the inside out, the lightning then jumped from the leading Demon to the one next to it. Sending that demon into the same fried state. Both demons charred corpses slammed into the ground only a foot away from [Phat-Cat]. After looting the corpses of the two demons, [Phat-Cat] heard the sounds of approaching foot steps and prepared to run again, as her mana was depleted to 0 once again.

“[Phat-Cat] wait! It’s us.” [Tex] called out, as he and [T] appeared from a cluster of trees.

The two brothers had green demon iccor all over their armour, both looked exhausted as they trudged up to [Phat-Cat].

“Oh, thank Jesus! How are you guys? I think we got all the ambushing Demons and Witches. Did you see where Mouse went?” [Phat-Cat] asked the two brothers.

“Nah, I saw him head off in the direction off the lake after that crazy bithc started to light everything on fire. It was the same way those few fleeing Witches were headed, I think.” [T] replied.

“Well, I am sure he is fine, you know how lucky Mouse is. The little bugger probably tripped over a treasure chest as he fled and is busy rummaging through that. Come let’s go back to Sergeant Crassis.” [Rex] replied.

While the three were headed back to where Sergeant Crassis was, they all received a system notification regarding the [Mana Field] which was also accompanied by a timer that was counting down to two hours before quest failure.

“Shit, looks like we better hurry. I hope we don’t have to look for Mouse for too long.” [Phat-Cat] said as all three took off at a jog.

In a part of the forest near the lake that bordered [Baroness Mengrel]’s manor. Mouse was walking between two trees as he mumbled to himself.

“Where am I? I think I ran to far, but it was so dark and every time I stopped it looked like a demon was right behind me, just waiting to pounce from the darkness.” Mouse complained as he shivered in fear.

After walking for another five minutes, Mouse could see more light coming through the dense cropping of trees, he could also make out the outline of a beautiful blue body of water. With a large grin, Mouse started running towards the water and passed to the edge of the forest, as he passed between two trees, he felt his foot catch onto something, that snapped after a little pressure. Mouse stopped in his tracks and looked down, a thin rope was tied to the trees and lead up one tree, a pulley system begun to spin as large rock counter weight dropped from the crown of the trees. A net hidden underneath the fallen leaves and dead sticks sprung up under Mouse, sending him catapulting into the air. The net was pulled tight, leaving Mouse very little room to move. He tried to struggle but soon stopped when two boil coated Witches came out behind the trees.

“Looks like we caught ourselves a Mouse! We will take him to the cells and get Sister Krisas to work her magic and torture this worm for information on the upcoming Imperium bastards.” One Witch said while sneering at the dangling Mouse.

“Oh, no... And everyone says I’m lucky.” Mouse lamented, as the two Witches let him down and secured Mouse with magically enhanced ropes.

Both Witches cackled madly, as they dragged the bundled-up Mouse off towards the Manor.