Part One Hundred and Nine

After killing a few hours chatting and doing whatever caught my eye, it was finally time. There was barely an hour until the Dungeon Boss’s attack, and the NPCs were saying that this was the time to strike. And so I found myself waiting at the front gate, along with nearly every mercenary and two thousand NPCs of varying strength.

They sure are taking this seriously, which I guess is definitely a good thing. We’d be fucked if they didn’t.

The NPCs' plan, which I compared to a suicide mission, was almost extremely simple. You see, the monsters were all gathering to the north of the fort, most likely so they could make use of the Boss’s strengthening ability. They’d then swarm from the forest in one giant wave, attempting to brute force their way through our defenses.

However, the Archmage had proposed that we use this against them. He and the other mages would work together again to cast a massive spell in an attempt to kill as many of the monsters as we could. Those assembled here would then rush in to mop up the rest and kill the Boss.

Now there are a few other key points I need to go over real quick. One, the Archmage had warned us that the Dungeon Boss would probably avoid or survive the spell. The monsters weren’t stupid. They could anticipate an attack like this. Heck, he’d even said that this might be an attempt to force us into an open conflict, rather then a siege. This would apparently be a very “Baculth” thing to do.

Second, not all the mercenaries were going on the attack. Only about seven-eighths were actually going, the rest had opted out when they were given the chance. However, they and the fort would probably fall if we failed, so this really would be the final battle.

And finally was our pincer route. The NPCs would be dividing into three groups. Two would head off to the right and left to act as diversions, while the other would join us as we charged up the middle to where the Boss was supposed to be at. Of course, as with any plan, there were so many things that could go wrong here.

“Hey Michael?”

“Yeah Alicia?”

“……No, never mind. Aha, I’m just really tense right now.”

I couldn’t help but agree with her on that. I wasn’t one to really feel nervous often, but this sure was one of those times. In fact, I might even accept it if someone offered me a way out of here.

“Hrm, I wonder if we can use those weird tokens we got here? Would they actually activate in the Dungeon we got them in?”

“Why wouldn’t they? It just says to use ‘em in a Dungeon. Though I think I’ll save mine for now. Keep it around for a “just in case". Though if I have to, I’ll use it. Let’s just wait and see I guess.”

“Hm, good thinking lad. No use using it now and only regretting it later on. Of course, let’s not try to save it and regret that either.”

The man makes a good point. I guess the tokens will end up being on an as-needed basis. Though I’ve seen a few mercenaries already use theirs. Guess they’re more concerned with surviving this fight than the-. Oh, he’s begun.

I could feel the Dungeon’s mana being pulled towards the fort, or rather the central tower. The sheer amount flowing past made the Void Wolf’s spell seem like child's play. Whatever it was, it was on another level.

***

The Archmage, along with fifty of the strongest mages, stood upon the top of the central tower, surrounded by an intricately engraved Array. There were also four large boulders the size of a man’s torso, each just as intricately carved as the Array. What their purpose was wouldn’t go unanswered for long, as all the engravings began to glow with a light composed of mana.

“Archmage, we’re ready.”

“Good. Haaaah, then I’ll begin.”

As the mana within the Array began to glow even brighter, the boulders began to levitate off of the ground, quickly reaching eye-height within mere seconds. There they floated as the Archmage continued gathering and channeling mana.

Next, the Array began to flare with different colors, each one composing a segment centered around a boulder. First maroon, then pink, green, and finally a faded violet. Each color began to bleed into the other sections, until the whole thing was the same murky brown color.

This display was the process of the Archmage converting the mana into several attributes, then distributing them equally among the Array. With those two steps done, there was merely one thing left before the Ritual could be cast.

“Spirits of the sky, guide mine strike true. [Molten Meteor].”

With those words, two things happened in conjunction. The boulders all disappeared, and all the mages collapsed. However, if one looked straight up, they could see four trails of light, gleaming in the distance, but drawing ever so closer by the moment.

***

“What the heck? Was it a dud?”

All that mana had just vanished, disappearing in a flash with no visible effects. I’d expected an inferno or a giant lightning bolt or something to strike the forest. But there was nothing.

And I wasn’t the only one confused either. Nearly all of the mercenaries were beginning to become agitated, though the NPCs remained calm. That led me to believe that the spell had worked, though I still didn’t know what it did. Luckily I caught a glimpse of Kalia nearby, and managed to wave her over. If anyone knew what was going on, it would be her. Or an NPC, but I didn’t see any nearby at the moment.

“Hey Michael. Uh, what did you want?”

“Uh, the spell? Was it a dud?”

“…I don’t think so. That flash at the end looked like what happens when a spell triggers. Maybe it’s building up or something?”

“Huh. Did you see what happened, Alicia?”

“Sort of. I couldn’t see exactly what he was doing, but I did see that the Archmage and a bunch of mages were all up on the central tower, along with some boulders. The rocks disappeared as he cast the spell though.”

“Boulders? That disappeared?” a vague suspicion had arisen in my mind, one that was only confirmed when I looked up. “That crazy SOB.”

My muttering dragged the others' attention upwards, which then led to them all making similar remarks. It spread outwards from there, and soon every single mercenary was looking upwards, mouths agape in disbelief. The Archmage had promised us a spectacular attack, and he’d more than delivered.

***

Meteor. It’s one of the more prevalent spells in RPGs and light novels. Calling down an enormous chunk of dirt and rock to quite literally crush one's enemies. The spell could almost be called the epitome of power fantasy. However, reality is often cruel. There are numerous issues involving both physics and magical laws that keep the spell from being reality.

For one, the simplest way to cast the spell would be to conjure a large boulder in mid-air via Earth Magic, then allow gravity to do the rest for you. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work in practice, as most mages are unable to conjure the rock high enough for it to gain the velocity required before impact. Anything short of a direct impact would end up being a waste of mana.

Thus the idea quickly became a fantasy, though it didn’t stop people from trying. The next theory to be thrown out was to use Space Magic to teleport a boulder into the air, since teleportation is unrestricted by a Mage's Domain. However, this too had an unexpected flaw, in that the mage could no longer control the trajectory of the Boulder once it was teleported.

Over the years, more and more iterations of the spell would be devised and attempted, all them winding up as failures. But what is the point of history if not to learn from the mistakes of the past? Eventually, a Ritual was devised using Space, Wind, and Physics magics, that would allow a mage to successfully land a Meteor spell upon a designated target.

And eventually, even that was built upon. One enterprising soul discovered that one could embed other spells into the boulders that would be released upon impact, and that their intensity would be boosted by the energy created by said impact. This led to a rise in the variations of Meteor spells, but that’s neither here nor there.

Just seeing a plummeting Meteor isn’t usually enough to tell what Elemental Spell it may carry, as there’s great variation even between spells of the same school. For instance, using the Grudge Magic Spell [Rot] would led to a cloud of Miasma erupting from the impact site, but using the 15th Grade Spell [Death of the Trinity] would led a pillar of death that would consume all organic matter for miles around the impact site.

And so one only needed to look at the name of the Archmage’s Spell to get an idea of what it might do upon landing.

***

*BOOOM, BOOOOOOOOM, BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM, BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

The meteors all struck the ground one after the other with a series of bone-shaking explosions. Plumes of dirt and smoke rose into the sky, and then….. and then, gouts of lava erupted from the impact sites. The forest to the north was ripped apart by the impacts and subsequent eruptions.

Whoa, that was…… fuck, its left me speechless. That was complete and utter devastation, no buts about it. How the heck could the Dungeon Boss have survived that?

The fact that we hadn’t been told that the Dungeon was cleared was a sure sign that the Boss was still alive. It had somehow either avoided the Meteor strikes, or just blocked them. The latter seemed more likely, as it would’ve had plenty of time since they’d probably sensed the spell being cast.

Anyway, seeing a scene straight out of an apocalyptic film caused all the mercenaries to stare blankly at the forest. I doubt any of us had expected to see such a display of pure destruction like that. It wasn’t until we saw the NPCs preparing to sortie that anyone thought to start getting ready. The next few moment were a blur of activity as everyone made sure their last minute preparations were complete.

This is nuts. Completely, utterly nuts. That spell was worse than a missile strike. Warfare is going to become something horrendous in the future, isn’t it?

But despite our hesitancy, the battle still needed to be fought. The screams and howls of monsters were even now beginning to pick up in intensity. If we missed this opportunity, we might not be able to kill the Boss.

And so, once the fort's gate had opened, we set out with barely a word uttered. The final battle had begun.