Part Ninety-Nine

At the moment, the mercenaries who’d made names for themselves inside the Dungeon were spread amongst the walls, leading the charge against the monsters. Michael’s and Braddock’s groups were on the west side, while Sampson and Edwin were on the east side. And while Tavin was practically soloing the north side, the southern defenders were rallying around a small group of brave fighters.

“Push ‘em back! Keep your shields up, and push!”

“””Hu raah!”””

The wall of mercenaries sporting shields and spears was cutting down any monster foolish enough to approach. With assistance from NPCs, the mercenaries swept down the wall like a flood.

Unlike the other walls, the southern wall had nearly experienced a breech early on in the battle. Several of the Void Images had flooded through, killing mercenaries and NPCs left-and-right. And as the number of defenders had fallen, so had the number of monsters on the wall risen.

The breech had grown to the point where the defenders were only just managing to protect the ever-important staircases. It wasn’t until reinforcements came from the adjacent wall segment, that the tides had turned. Their charge had given the besieged forces the chance to recover and stage a comeback, leading to the current situation.

“Shift to the left! Don’t let those Minotaurs flank us!”

And it was none other than Brad who’d led the charge. His resolve to stand against the monsters, combined with his flame-scarred visage, had inspired the other mercenaries, and driven them to new heights. And acquiring the Commanding Skill didn’t hurt either.

“Spears, up! Shields, thrust!”

“””Hu-raah!”””

With every new command he gave them, more and more vigor seemed to flow into the defenders. This was the effect of the Commanding Skill, which allowed one to imbue their words with mana, empowering those that heard and accepted those commands. Trust between commander and commanded was paramount to using this particular Skill, as even the slightest hesitancy could dispel the power boost.

“They’re beginning to break! Push through!”

But when used properly, it could turn even the most ragtag group into an efficient killing machine. For the moment, it was unlikely that anything would be breaking through here.

***

[Tavin’s POV]

“Hup!”

*Splat! SPLAT! Splat! Splat! Splatsplatsplatsplatsplatsplatsplatsplat! SPLATSPLATSPLATSPLATSPLAT!*

A symphony of disgusting squishing noises rang out, as monster after monster died in a most gruesome way. Tavin was cracking the heads of monsters like balloons. Each time his fist met an unguarded head, another splat! was heard. His reign of terror had run unabated for nearly ten minutes now. Only the occasional C-Rank was able to momentarily slow him down. And he merely had to Mach Punch them into next week.

As for how he’d accomplished this, well, that was due to the brutal combination of Skills he’d developed. A quick look at his Status would easily explain his ability.

Status

Race: Human

Archetype: Warrior

Age: 32

State: Healthy

Titles: Way of the Warrior, Razor's Edge, Brawler, With Extreme Prejudice,

Rank: C

Skills

Normal Skills: Analyze, Survival Instinct, Crushing Aura Rank C, Shatter Rank E, Concuss Rank F,

Special Skills: Mach Punch Rank D, Bloodthirst Rank F

Equipment: Bruiser Gauntlets,

To start with, Tavin’s rise to power began when he acquired Brawler, one of the rare upgradable Titles. By killing one hundred monsters in hand-to-hand combat, you would acquire this Title and a compatible Skill. Or rather, you would get the Ruffian Title, Brawler's base form. By killing another thousand monsters, and then ten thousand, one would eventually reach Brawler. Which is what Tavin had accomplished just earlier, acquiring the third and final Skill he’d get from the Title.

On their own, the three Skills are effective at disabling enemies, but when combined, and then further boosted by With Extreme Prejudice, the effects become positively explosive. Even if a monster managed to survive his attack, it would likely be concussed and have a cracked skull. Death would soon follow.

Of course, there was a major flaw with his fighting style. By using three Skills at once, Tavin was rapidly consuming his mana pool. He’d already reached the dregs of his current pool size, and Mana Exhaustion was sapping his strength and making him sleepy, but his raging battle lust kept him going. At this rate, he’d keep fighting until something broke. Whether it would be him or the monsters was yet to be seen.

***

[Jansen’s POV]

Tch, what the hell did he do to him?

Jansen was shocked by the transformation the timid-seeming boy had undergone. He was now blindly rushing into battle, stabbing every monster he saw with his spear. And considering the way he seemed to be killing them in one blow, he’d gotten massively stronger because of it.

Is this the effect of his Unique Skill? I knew I made people feel extreme rage, but I didn’t know it could be that intense. Hrm, makes me glad that Flames of Vengeance consumes my emotions. It might make me an “emotionless, unfeeling murder machine" as Sampson put it, but it effectively renders me immune to effects like this one.

Jansen scoffed to himself as he remembered the particular conversation where Sampson said that to him. It had been shortly after he brought him his proposal, and they were still working through the details. Someone had brought up how it seemed like Braddock was attempting to reign in the traitors in his group, prompting Sampson to ask him how he felt about it. And he replied with…

“So what? Should I feel anything in particular?”

Which of course left to the aforementioned moniker. It was obviously his own fault, and he knew it, which is why he didn’t complain about it too much. He honestly couldn’t bring himself to care. To him, the comradery they had shared was already a distant memory.

***

[Alicia’s POV]

“Michael, I’m out of arrows. You wouldn’t happen to have any, would you?”

“Out of-? Seriously!? You’re out, out?”

“Out, out. Depleted. Drained. Out of stock.”

“Damn. Uh, no, I don’t have any. I probably would’ve given ‘em to you if I’d gotten any at any point anyway.”

“True that. I just had to make sure. Well, now what?”

The fighting had begun stagnating. Once we’d finally managed to clear the monsters off the walls, the battle had gone entirely in our favor. Monsters had been killed in droves, and a few of the Golem ramps had been destroyed by the NPC mages, further limiting their options.

“Well, unless you want to go cut your arrows out of some corpses, I say we take a break. I’m pooped.”

She’d done that before of course, it was hard not to. Removing an arrow without damaging it was a tricky task, one that had taken her a few tries to get right. However, she hadn’t needed to do that here. Since the Dungeon absorbed all corpses within it, the arrows would naturally be absorbed too, only to be redistributed later on. She honestly had had more arrows going into this fight then she’d had at the start of the Dungeon.

“I don’t know Michael. I feel like you could do more, you know?”

“Bah! Bah, I say! I mean look, the fight’s almost over. I won’t be doing much even if I go back down there to help. We’re about to win this, and you know-.”

“””””AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"""""

The two of us went dead silent as the howls of wolves could be heard from all directions, accompanied by extreme fluctuations in the fort's mana. Clearly, the battle was not over.

“Uh, um. …This isn’t my fault?”

“It so is, you living jinx.”

“Gah!”

***

The time had come. It had lain in wait, probing the humans’ defenses for weaknesses. It had prepared as well as it could, ironing out every flaw in its plan. It had even made extensive use of its magical repertoire, bringing the full might of its power to bear. And now, now it would all pay off.

“””””AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"""""

Its howl was quickly taken up by its remaining brethren, echoing all across the humans’ vile nest. This was a call, a call to action. A call for retribution, for domination, for violence.

All over the walls, dozens of locations began to glow with a dark, eerie light. These were the spots where its Void Images, carried in by the Howitzers, had died. It had ordered them to die in evenly spaced distances along the walls, so as to facilitate its next move.

With a deep, emphatic growl, the Void Wolf began casting its strongest and greatest spell. It would be left with little mana after this, but that was fine. After all, its trap had already sprung shut.

If viewed from above, the lights ringing the fort would make a perfect circle once connected together. Circles were an important shape in magic. They represented an ideal, a perfect image that may only be realized through effort. But more than that, they also functioned as circuits.

A perfect circle made of magic could only mean one thing. A spell was being cast. Specifically, the Void Magic Ritual [Void Cage]. And much like any good cage, there would be no escape once it had shut.