Chapter 69: Horde
"Now then...Noor and Sunny...you're up next." Steve commanded as his gaze shifted toward the Apollo Familia base. "Let's mow them down."
"About time." Sunny gruffed as he unequipped his armour and pulled out his hoe. "This lot will fall easier than the last."
"But we've got to give them a warm greeting first." Noor said as she unequipped her armour and pulled on a witch's cloak.
She then floated off of Godzilla's head right as he blasted another stream of atomic fire towards the fort and scattered the Freya Familia. The sea front castle looked awful, as there was no longer any sort of defensive measure to it now. And because the fort was right beside a corner of the barrier, anybody of the Freya Familia who may have wanted to escape would find that there would be no place to go but either towards Godzilla or go further inland to where the Ishtar Familia had already been isolated.
The plan was working splendidly, and had all gone without a hitch.
As Noor floated in the air, purple mists of magic began to spill out of her hands as her cloak flapped around in the air and great gusts of wind began to generate around her. Steve prompted Ari to hold Godzilla back from firing anymore atomic blasts as what would come next would involve all contesting Familia.
Noor slipped out some certain spawn eggs given to her by Steve and they began to orbit around her as they started to absorb the magic mists pouring from her. Sunny lowered his hoe and pulled out other objects from his own inventory as he jumped off the titan's head. He fell for about ten seconds, the winds rushing past him yet somehow not throwing off his cap, miraculously. As Godzilla put a leg forward, Sunny tilted the tip of his hoe a little so it would start scraping down the scales.
Sparks flew off of the contact but it provided Sunny an opportunity to get ready as he fast approached the water. When he was about a few metres above the surface, he leapt off and landed on the waves being created by Godzilla's thundering footsteps. His legs began to blur as the law of physics was kicked in the ass, and he began sprinting across the water surface towards the shore.
Orario watched with amazement as he pulled off this miracle and when he finally reached dry earth, he continued to sprint as he dropped what looked to them like cages, though they did not seem to have any doors. At different points of the beach he dotted these things and out what seemed as the last one down, Godzilla made it to the shore and his footsteps made the earth shake as cascades of water ran down his legs.
Sensing hard and stable footing as opposed to the squishy mud of the lake's bed, Godzilla let out another terrifying roar that reverberated throughout the heavens. Even people back in the city could hear it loud and clear.
Noor seemed to finish charging up the spawn eggs with whatever magic she was using as now they looked like magical meteors emitting bright energy. She fired off one each of these eggs into the cages dotted along the beach, and the spawners came alive with fire and magic.
Movement off to the side caught Steve's eye and he looked over to the fort to see the Freya Familia start pouring out of the damaged parts of the base. As he saw them coming out, he looked up a little to the top wall and made straight eye contact with Ottar. Though he was not certain if Ottar could see him as clearly as he could see the Boaz, he received Freya's captain's intentions sure enough.
They'd decided to try and move against the Ptah Familia...which meant that there was a high chance of them moving their flag. But now was not the right time and Steve did not want that happening just yet. They would be dealt with entirely in due course. From his inventory, he pulled out a block of netherite, the weight of which being a whopping 77 tonnes approximately, which he easily held in his one arm.
With a great heave, he hurled it towards the fort with such force, the block travelled that short distance at speeds which made its edges glow red hot. To the perspective of the Freya Familia, they could not see the block, just a blast of giant air pressure hurtling their way before it collided with the ground in front of the first adventurer. The landscape shook with the impact like an asteroid had hit, and it terraformed the area.
Ever been up close to a tsunami?
Well replace all the water with earth and dirt, and you get to see what was dragging those poor unfortunate adventurers along with it, accompanied by a sharp blast wave that erupted the moment the block hit the ground. The closest adventurer was about level 4, and therefore he already had a great level of durability compared to a normal person. But as soon as the block hit the ground about 20 yards away from him, the blast wave first hit him in the gut and made him bend over so sharply that he felt something crack or perhaps even burst.
Then came the tsunami of dirt that smashed into his face with such force, the parts of the skin on his face which was drawn tight up against the skull (like the cheekbones, the jaw and the forehead) was ripped away and he didn't even have time to scream as the tidal wave of soil tore through the area, leaving behind what seemed to be a miniature ravine with depth that could kill a normal person if they fell in.
This tsunami smashed into the wall of the fort and completely collapsed the whole thing, mangling the solid iron gate into twisted shapes and piling up a small mountain in the courtyard where several other members were buried under the earthen matter. The top of this new mountain came to stop right underneath the edge of the high wall, where Ottar's feet were, not but a few centimetres away. The Boaz stared at the brutal phenomenon with wide eyes as he blinked, trying to comprehend the scale of what had just happened.
...
Stephen Hewer, from about 3 to 4 miles away, had thrown something with such force that it had ripped through the earth the way the fin of a shark cuts through water. Not only was the action bad enough, the aftermath of it was even worse as the impact had piled up soil in the courtyard so much that not an inch of the stone-paved ground could be seen anymore. The outer wall was completely decimated, the first line of defence being immediately compromised.
And now just beneath his feet was a mountain of steaming dirt and a musky smell filled the air as layers upon layers of buried soil, soil that was perhaps moist because of such proximity to the sea, was now piled up in the courtyard and dozens of adventurers were now buried underneath.
...
The skies rumbled with another thunderclap, and Ottar's gaze was drawn to the clouds above the grasslands where the Ishtar Familia had been trapped. Out of them fell a few dozen more adventurers, although these were clearly not of the Ishtar Familia. No, even from all the way over here, Ottar recognised them as members of his own Familia from the weapons they had and the colours they were wearing.
And these were adventurers that he knew for a fact should have been buried under all the rubble in front of him, or killed by the impact of whatever Steve had thrown. Ottar shifted his gaze over to the giant monster in the distance, where he knew the Ptah Familia to be and then to the pulsating, rippling barrier behind their fort. As much distance there was between the fort and the barrier, Ottar could feel the pressure of great magic slam into his face.
His eyes flickered between the barrier and the adventurers still falling from the sky. He knew what was to become of them, especially when he turned his gaze to the giant diamond sword stuck in the place where the Ishtar Familia's base of operations had previously been. Thanks to his witnessing of what happened to them after they were all supposed to have died, he knew his Familia members up there were doing fine.
He felt a presence behind him, and he did not even need to turn to know who it was.
"Figured it out yet?!" Ottar asked the blonde elf with glasses, who'd walked up to him with a rhomphaia in hand.
"There is powerful magic at play here." Hedin said. "I just checked out that barrier...not even my strongest {Varian Hildr} could damage it. It is strange magic to begin with, nothing like any that I have seen before. It flows in an unusual way...but it's very powerful. I'm not sure using repetitive strikes would put a dent in it."
"Can it be touched?"
"There is nothing to touch." Hedin said as he narrowed his eyes. " The barrier itself cannot be touched but for some reason, my body cannot go beyond it. Any more effort and I may have hurt myself. The only thing that seems to touch it is magic, and it just eats up any spells I use. But I suspect that this barrier does so much more than that." He too looked to where their adventurers had now fallen and mixed amongst the Ishtar Familia in the tall grass.
"The dead." Ottar said as he gripped the wall tightly, the stone bricks cracking. "The people who are supposed to be dead are being kept alive somehow...instant movement perhaps? Or perhaps it is an illusion?"
"It seems pretty real to me." Hedin said. "But to deny death to others altogether...his magic is unfathomable more powerful. And to sustain a barrier as large and expansive as this would take a Mind reserve larger than all the mages of Orario combined and more. Even if we put it down to perhaps all nine of holding it up together, that would still mean each of them has dozens of times more magical power than I do. If a single person is doing it..."
"Then Lady Freya's predictions were right." Ottar stood straight and his eyes zeroed in on the leading figure on Godzilla's snout. "It would have been obvious from the get-go anyway. Considering they have a creature like that serving them."
"Where did this thing even come from? Such a beast would most certainly have been a world quest, or there would have been rumours of it at least. Such a monster cannot just go unseen all its life."
"Why do we not take them by their blindspots?" Another voice said as this time a dark elf came up to them with the lower part of his face covered. "So large a monster does not lay its wits and its conscience on every part of its body. We should charge this abomination, sling hooks into his back and scale onto his spine, that we may take our enemies from behind and slit their throats. And thus correcting the slight upon our Lady's honour!"
"We cannot approach Hogni." Ottar said. "Captain Stephen would know if we were coming, and a surprise attack would take time. That will not work."
"So what should we do?" Hedin asked. "It's clear what they're doing. They're snuffing out the weaklings so they can save us for last. What's infuriating is that they are actually going about it like they have all the time in the world! I guarantee you that when Apollo's fools are swiftly dealt with, he will turn that monster's attention fully on us. We have sustained enough damage from its fiery breath alone." Hedin then turned to the grasslands and watched as the adventurer's gathered there began racing in the direction of the city, though he had a strong feeling that even that would be useless. "But then again, I feel as if that's not their complete plan."
"Then what's the other end?" Ottar asked.
"...if the Apollo Familia's base is razed to the ground, just like that of Ishtar's Familia...then there will be no doubt."
---
Steve loosened his wrist as he observed the damage he'd done to the fort and he cursed. One of the few times he decided to let go just a little and he destroyed more than he intended. Though he did feel just a little less restraint, and the entire castle would have come down.
"I thought we were saving the princesses in their pretty little castle for last." Ari said.
"Piss off." Steve grumbled. "When I go over there, the whole thing won't even be there. No harm in displacing just some of it for now."
"So how are we doing this?" Kai asked. "I call dibs on the little moggy. I hear he's the fastest in the city...the puppy was entertaining while it lasted. Now I suppose I should go for something a bit chippier."
"I want the mage." Efe wriggled her fingers with an evil look on her face. "I'm going to make him cry. Every mage in this city will bow before me and big sister Noor and big brother Zuri."
"I'd like to use the four little imps as target practice." Ari raised her hand.
"You lot will have the leftovers if there are any." Steve said. "I plan to have all eight of those idiots to myself. I'll toy around with the other seven...but Ottar I will have to myself. As I will have the other two captain. I'll break everything down from the root...those are the fights you will not take from me."
"A lot of what you just said could be misconstrued." Zuri said before he gripped his staff tighter. "Come on Steve. These pissants are as weak as they come. Surely you can let us take some of the load off of you."
"Yeah." Ari said. "You're always keeping the best pieces to yourself. It's really not fair."
"Silence." Alex commanded, and all protests immediately died down. "Do as the captain says. We'll keep the rest of their forces at bay, and we let him do as he plans. Nobody shall interfere, do you understand?"
""Yes Alex."" They all said.
...
"Nice. Now that we have that out of the way..." Steve put a hand up to his earpiece. "Sunny. Make your way over to the fool's Familia. See if you can locate the two I told you about...you can have your way with whoever obstructs you. And Noor, it's time to release them. I'll destroy their base when Sunny has gotten the targets out of there."
Down on the ground, Sunny nodded in confirmation. He put away his hoe and pulled out a pickaxe before digging a hole three blocks high. He jumped in and sealed the hole above him before he began tunnelling in the direction of the Apollo Familia's base, in an attempt to avoid what was coming. Though it would pose no significant threat to him, he wanted to not cause any trouble to Noor and her part of the plan.
Noor meanwhile still hovered in the air, waiting for the signal from Steve and she rose both her arms with the palms facing upwards, like she was motioning for something to rise up. And rise up they did as the ground around the spawners erupted, and out of the bubbling holes in the dirt climbed monsters.
Monsters that adventurers both on the battlefield and adventurers in the city immediately recognised. Goblins, kobolds, lizards, butterflies, minotaurs, hellhounds...every monster type from the upper floors barring big ones like wyverns and infant dragons was to be found crawling out of the ground just as they did in the dungeon. Purple mists of magic flowed from the spawner and wrapped around the skulls of these monsters, making them breathe in Noor's influence as she assumed control over them.
Her skill {Imperito}, granted to her by Ptah's Falna. The power to assume complete control over several monsters without having to even subdue them first. Potentially very useful in upcoming endeavours but came with a backlash of burning through her Mind reserves quite fast since she had not learned yet to grow accustomed to the flow of Genkai magic. The only reason why she could maintain it for long periods of time was because she had so much Mind and her Mind reserves were so vast.
It was why Efe was on standby, ready to share any Mind with her if it just so happened to run out while Sunny was on his mission. One should also note that Efe's Mind reserves were mental as Steve saw for himself when he decided to check her at one point. The amount of Mind she had rivalled his own, and he suspected that if he were level 7, his would have been much lower than hers.
But coming back to Noor, so deep was her connection to the monsters that everything they could see was what she was able to see. And through them, she could give her instructions and even make them do specific things. It was like a hive mind, where the monsters were her brood and she was the queen. Her eyes glowed the same colour as her magic as hundreds of different perspectives bombarded her brain which through the help of the skill and the complimenting magic, the name of which she had not yet revealed, was now able to process without frying.
She gestured in three different directions. One herd of monsters containing the more powerful ones began making their way over to the Freya Familia's base to hold them off a little longer, while another herd made its way to the grasslands to bother the Ishtar Familia and the small contingent of Freya Familia members there. But a notable portion made their way over to the storehouse where Apollo's children were encamped. Before long, arrows started to fly over the walls and out of the window of the storehouse towards the monsters.
Some of them began scaling the walls and adventurers above used long ranged weapons to stab down and impale them. Other monsters dug their way under the walls and jumped the unsuspecting adventurers within. That prompted the ones on the walls to turn for a second in their majority because they'd been taken by surprise. But that was all that was needed for the monsters on the walls to distract them and make their way in.
While a furious clash ensued, a block of the ground in the storage area was removed and out of the revealed hole jumped Sunny with a pic-axe in his hand. Brushing a bit of dirt off of his clothes, he sent his pick-axe into his hot bar and equipped his hoe. An adventurer who'd been running around the corner to join the fight nearly bumped into him. They stared at him open mouthed before putting a hand in the hilt of their sword and opening their mouths to shout and warn the others.
But Sunny put a quick end to that by butting them in the face with the end of his hoe. They flew back and the back of their skull crunched against the wall, leaving a blood splatter as they slumped to the ground conscious. A few seconds went by before what looked like confetti burst out of the body which then disappeared, and Sunny heard the same thunderclap again coming from the direction of the grasslands.
'So that's the respawning the boss weaved into that barrier.' Sunny smiled in thought. 'Nice'
He then took out two pieces of paper and sighed to himself as he observed the faces drawn on it.
"Of all the people to send to look for these two, why me? I'm so bad with faces..."
---
As Sunny looked for the targets and Noor engaged their enemy through the monsters she was controlling, a tiny commotion at the barrier behind Godzilla caught his attention. Excusing himself for a moment from the observation, he floated over to the barrier and angle himself in a way which he knew Godzilla's dorsal plated would hide the view.
Upon focusing his attention, he saw on the other side of the barrier that there was an tiny little blue, sprite-like creature with tiny wings squeaking for his attention.
"My Allays!" He exclaimed before he used {Tongue of the Laws} to open a hole and let it through. "Did you find it?"
The Allay nodded before it turned and waved its arms at something outside the barrier. About a few seconds later, a bunch more allays floated in through the opening carrying a very large object which Steve understood would have been a bit awkward to carry alone for them.
It was a large greatsword, black-ish sort of grey with some very obvious weathering, and with very clear signs of wear and tear on it as it was chipped and the blade itself had scars of its own. The cross-guard was quite basic but the blade itself was wide and long, not too dissimilar to Guts' blade from Berserk. Wrapped around the hilt was a piece of red cloth bearing a crest coloured gold...a crest of lightning bolts.
"Perfect." Steve said. "Three days you guys have been at this and your timing couldn't be more impeccable! You are all definitely getting rewarded later." He said as he rubbed a hand over the heads of each. Red spots appeared on their cheeks at his touch.
Taking the weapon from them, he gazed out over to the fort, towards a certain someone. He'd come to this War Game just for the sheer fun of it but he'd also had one objective. And now that he had the key...nothing could get in he way of his plans. Now, all was inevitable.
HE was inevitable.
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