Bonded Summoner

Book 4. Chapter 13: The War Continues

Jake awoke to a very feathery, soft, embrace. Both of his feathered women surrounded him, their bodies clinging onto him. He enjoyed it for a moment, as the girls all began to stir. Though, Fhesiah was already awake, reading through the Yin-Yang technique and committing it to memory.

She held some kind of crystal which held information somehow that she was transcribing the details to, as she floated in the air above their bed.

Jake went and made all the girls breakfast, which included some auril boar bacon, and an omelet with sliced ham over toast. The girls all enjoyed it, before they did some light magic practice before the meeting.

He had a lot of things to work on for improvement. He learned from the big battle and the choice of Ophelia, that he needed to rethink his [Runebound] technique. Jake still had to enchant his and the girl’s hearths.

Soon, he would have to practice…whatever it was that was going to be the result of using the array on the Yin Yang technique, as well as practice Fhesiah’s version with her. He couldn’t help but be excited at this, sure that it would be a magical experience in more ways than one.

Then, he would also need to practice the [Fusion Ascension] technique. He would need to practice with each of the girls, in order to summon the special creatures.

Before the battle at the HQ, it was starting to feel like he was stuck, or unable to advance. These new things had added a path for him to push his other skills towards the peak of the Tier. Runebound had advanced as a result of understanding it better after the Wrath issue, as well.

Hopefully, after meeting with the Eternum later, they could provide a means for them to advance their crafts as well. Getting access to rare Tier 1 materials had moved them through the early ranks of Tier 1 rapidly, but as they got near the peak, things got slower for them once again. Earning [Sub-skills] or more about how to advance themselves would allow them to move forward.

The Hart family arrived a little early, many of the Eternum already waiting. Valtor and Amara were there, along with Zorina and Mysticus, the divination tool and mystical abacus respectively. Morwen and Bedwyr were early, as well. Bloodberri went immediately to go talk with Rhia, and Fhesiah went to have a chat with the witch broom. Ophelia and Tanda went to go view the conquest table together.

Valtor and Morwen were talking, and Jake thought Valtor appeared to be a bit nervous. His posture was slunk down as opposed to the confident, almost flamboyant one he saw yesterday, and Amara’s book-body was even closed.

Jake said, “Good morning, Morwen, Bedwyr. Hello Valtor and Amara, is something the matter?”

Morwen appeared to smile underneath her veil. “Greetings, Chief. I’ve reassured Valtor there shall be no problems, but he’s a little afraid of my kind, my class. I do feel like if not for the Framework, I would have a fair amount of control over some weaker Eternum. This is a worrisome, as the enemy undead such as necromancers could take control of them, if they are strong enough. We certainly don’t want any Eternum present when an HQ is attacked.”

Jake frowned. “We’ll need to take some precautions for that, then. Did the preparations go well, Valtor?”

Valtor nodded his armored head. “We were able to gather enough information that I feel we’ve got what should be an accurate picture. I wish we could have been here sooner, for we could have prioritized different things. I’ll talk about this during the briefing, but you and the beastkin have done an excellent job: with the resources and information available to you.”

Jake nodded. He knew on some levels they were beginners at fighting this war. His party was an elite one, but there might have been more that they could have accomplished if there were other Battlegroups roaming around, or they were able to more intelligently direct the avian beastkin to accomplish more than just recruitment.

His party had needed to build up the beastkin from scratch, to get them to the point that they would matter at all in the war. Jake did not want to rely on adventurers arriving and making progress when they returned. He wanted the Adventurers to reduce his party’s workload, but he didn’t want to rely on them.

Yiming and Longwei were next to arrive, with their wives. Yiming was startled when he saw the floating armor and other implements, but otherwise resumed his stride. Longwei just laughed, and their wives took in the room with interest.

Yiming strode up to Jake. “Greetings, Lord Jake. I take it this is the new [Head Administrator]? I haven’t seen this manner of people, they are like the undead such as Bedwyr, but also not.”

Jake nodded, and gave them some information on their origins.

“Very interesting. They should be valuable allies, indeed. The frontier is young, and those with experience at our tier are uncommon.”

Longwei looked at Valtor with excitement, commenting to himself and his sworn brother, “I wonder how sturdy their armor really is. When your body is armor, you have to be pretty strong, too?”

Yiming chuckled. “I get the feeling our ally there is more of a scholar than a fighter, my friend. Still, I can tell he is quite sturdy.”

Rookard, Seamus, and Vesuvius were the last to arrive, together.

Seamus said, “Little Tanda! I see you are well rested. And you, Ophelia, isn’t it? I definitely know I want to fight you. I must learn your secret. You were on death’s door yesterday, but now so full of life! Rookard here told me how powerful you were, standing up to the Death Knight. Amazing!”

Ophelia gave a proud smile, but it was Tanda that responded, her tail wagging in pride. “She really was amazing! The healing is thanks to their Refuge. They have a magic hearth from the goddess, that restores them. That, and Jake’s delicious food!”

Seamus stared at Jake, his large lion face impassive. “I have to try it! Clan Hart, you are quite strong, I can feel it in my heart. It sings a song of glory and righteousness, I look forward to joining you on the field of battle!”

Rookard nodded. “Clan Hart is strong, and Hearthtribe is growing, my friend. A tribe that will span all of Highlands, we’ll push the enemy back.”

Valtor said, “It looks like everyone is here. Let us begin shortly, please gather around the Conquest Table.”

The group of them gathered around, everyone looking on at the conquest table in interest. It was currently quite zoomed out, seeing Highlands as a whole.

As Jake compared Highlands to North America in his mind, he decided Kenwodi and Life’s Haven were located somewhere around Colorado and Utah, but Harmony Peaks was located in the North, around where the border to Canada would be.

There was a path of Alliance Nodes now east and west going North, but the east and west coasts were mostly empty of nodes, only currently having a narrow path of them originating from Kenwodi. It did appear that a node did already arrive at both coasts.

For now, the map was blanketed in many dots of red, the enemy conquest. Blue was concentrated heavily near where rifts had been cleared in what would be the Midwest, and then where population centers were on the coasts. Near the coasts was much red, and dots all over the continent. Even the far south and north had quite a bit growing.

Valtor said, “Let’s rewind this, so we can understand the full picture here. Let’s talk about the landing.”

The conquest started near Harmony Peaks, where the betrayers were located, along with positioning itself against Life’s Haven, the primary HQ, and the two coasts. There were other landing spots, but these immediately stood out as high effort locations in Jake’s mind, with the number of Rifts and size of them.

“I have worked with Zorina and Mysticus to determine some of these Rift’s placements, based on conquest progress loss in those areas. It’d be impossible to tell right away without scouting, as some of these areas haven’t had initiated to scout them. However, conquest progress does occur or show on the conquest table over time, even without initiated scouting. It’s clear that these four areas are what Tartarus considered the highest priority targets.”

The four areas were the areas near Life’s Haven, Harmony Peaks, and the two coasts. The enemy’s conquest then continued on the coasts, and in many areas across all what would be states. Dots where Rifts of various sizes appeared had slowly become large swathes of color over time. The time moved forward by almost a week by this time.

Valtor continued, “I can tell, by the speed of conquest growth, that the enemy is using a conquest multiplier, such as the undead using blight. There are other methods that cause terrain to be transformed and thus conquest to be enhanced, such as fire or ice creatures spreading their domain, but based on reports it appears this is the most likely. This way, the enemy doesn’t even need to fight the independent inhabitants, as their land is slowly transformed.”

Amara added, “This is significant because it sort of locked Tartarus in to using them. It can take on a strategy like using a certain type of creature more than others, and that reduces the cost of their usage. If they want a Rift of different creatures, they would need to pay more to deviate from this.

Yiming nodded. “This way, the inhabitants will die even if they are in hiding, eventually. Insidious.”

A majority of the rifts were certainly appearing more near Life’s Haven and Kenwodi. The Adventurer’s progress of defeating various rifts near were shown. But for each one they defeated, nearly two were spawning.

“You can see that while there are Rifts all over Highlands, most of those in these other areas are smaller. The cost to start conquest in these more remote locations has a larger investment, unless they use much smaller rifts, such as those that just spawn weaker creatures over time. While the larger rifts only take a week to pop out something like the Necromancer, it takes time for these smaller ones to grow to that level, and instead release small squads of enemies. Mobility is a factor in the war, but Tartarus still decided to pay the price to start its attack in these many areas early. It did this because it knew it could play both the short and the long game at the same time, not losing many, if any, of these Rifts at all.”

Jake’s eyebrows rose in surprise. It had felt like it had rushed to try to end the game quickly, but it was certainly hedging its bets.

The table progressed forward, reaching the two-week mark. At this point, the underground Rift had become massive, along with several near Life’s Haven and Kenwodi becoming significant. Rookard looked on at the one near his tribe with anger.

“It appears this was the major turning point. It invested extremely heavily near this ‘Harmony Peaks.’ Just from our calculations, an enemy Champion arrived. The cost must have been absolutely massive, likely requiring heavy amounts of sacrifice; an empowered ritual. That’s the only way Mysticus could determine it possible. Even knowing that there are Beast Avatars here, and the world being alive, it’s hard to picture that the south invasion and north attack combined would be possible otherwise.”

A few days progressed, and a large army gathered near Life’s Haven. “Mysticus found some additional investment here. A little over 2 weeks into the assault, Tartarus changed its motive. It stopped spawning additional rifts on the coasts and across the continent, and focused here. It wanted to score major blows, and it wanted to do it at that time.”

Jake reasoned that this was when they won the [Fortress Assault]. Life’s Haven along with Nature’s Crossroad were assaulted nearly simultaneously a few days later, Life’s Haven repelling the attack. Nature’s Crossroads was lost, and a week later the assault continued against Life’s Haven, being lost about a week before Jake’s arrival.

The Northern rift shrunk as time passed further. Valtor added, “It appears the defeat of the Champion had reduced the rift. His need to withdraw from the field of battle, along with him drawing upon more sacrifice, lead to the Rift to require time to begin spawning more enemies once again.”

Wildheart city was attacked and lost only barely, the Rifts building to continue the assault against Kenwodi.

The Necromancer was defeated at Kenwodi by Jake, and then there was another shift.

“Here, you can see Tartarus somewhat shift to the long game once more. It spawned several larger rifts on the coasts within its own territory, rather than trying to extend or gain much new area. It is focused on these coasts, along with the rivers and lakes. Tartarus put up a defense against Jake’s party, but we can see that you stomped them out with ease. Really, your mobility is extremely impressive. There were even some powerful Rifts here, but they were rolled through like everything else. I would expect an experienced Battlegroup looking at the results, the idea that at most three combatants accomplished most of this is very curious.”

Jake and his girls looked on with pride as they saw their work reflected on the table. Fifty rifts were taken out as quickly as they could be spawned in the area around and between Kenwodi and Life’s Haven, and even Tanda’s flock won back various territory, adding Alliance Nodes across a large portion of the continent.

The attack was defeated up north, then Life’s Haven was taken back.

Amara said, “This is an amazing accomplishment. The distance between these two points mark major investment from Tartarus’ part. Unfortunately, while these were major victories, it appeared Tartarus invested heavily elsewhere. It knew it had a large chance to lose, so it had paid to advance the coasts.”

Valtor nodded. “By Mysticus’ calculations, and some additional divinations from Zorina, we believe that there is a near certainty that Tartarus is planning on using an advanced challenge. A [Greater Rift] should spawn in the next month or two.”

Jake groaned. Jake and his party were somewhat familiar, having read about the more advanced challenges, such as the [Fortress Assault]. Yiming and Morwen both gasped, as the beastkin Chieftains just looked on in confusion.

It was Yiming who responded, “I see some of our allies are not familiar with this. [Greater Rift]’s are like dungeon entrances, though not exactly the same. Inside lies a special challenge, that must be completed in order to close it. But the problem with a [Greater Rift] is that if left unchecked, it will often spawn something much stronger than a simple boss monster. It could spawn something above our Tier. Even if that monster is defeated, the [Greater Rift] will not be closed, unlike a regular Rift.”

Ophelia frowned. “How can it progress the war so rapidly here like this? Ariminum has been at war for years, never once spawning a challenge such as this.”

Valtor sighed. “The reason is two-fold. One, the people in this room. That we have this many Champions and potential Champions, allows Tartarus much more leeway to crank up the difficulty. The second, is how successful it has been at killing the uninitiated. A world like Ariminum has few if any ever being killed, the cities built and organized for defense, requiring significant investment on Tartarus part. The conquest is almost entirely decided by a tug of war game, of it killing Adventurers that respawn only.”

Valtor waved his hand across the map, showing dozens upon dozens of rifts, large and small, across the continent. “Each rift here likely represents hundreds or thousands dying. It accelerates the progress significantly. One uninitiated killed of equal level is worth nearly ten times the amount, as they are not protected by the Framework.”

Tanda’s breath caught in her throat, and the three Chieftains gripped the tables in anger. Jake’s and his girls were all filled with emotion as well, thinking about all the beastkin people that have died.

Valtor continued, “I’m sorry to be the bringer of such sorrowful news. That most are level zero helps, but each life or soul it claims counts. This is why you can see that all people must consider joining the Framework, to protect their people and lands. Moving on, it is clear that the moment Jake’s party arrived, it began building up for the larger challenge. Still, I think it could not account for how rapidly you were able to take Life’s Haven, Jake. This was a big win, and you all should be proud. I think I have an explanation for even that, however.”

The table zoomed out, and now showed a larger hologram above the table. Jake was familiar with what they were now looking at – it was the multiverse. They were now looking at the Yggdrasil.

They were zoomed in on just one small branch, the little leaves or worlds looked like bubbles. Being honest, Jake thought it looked a lot like flower of broccoli, the smaller stems joining larger ones.

Jake saw Earth, and where he took the path to their leisure world, and then headed towards Ariminum, then eventually to Highlands. Several worlds were highlighted in red showing contested, for the most part, those that were on the edges of the flower. Fringe worlds were purple, and on the complete outer edges.

“This is our sector. Here, you’ll see Highlands.” The camera zoomed in some more, focusing on it. There was just one pathway heading to it, but from there, the branch or stem became thick, with many paths heading off. It zoomed out a bit, and many paths were highlighted toward other red worlds, some of which had become black. They were much larger worlds than Highlands.

“Now, we have had some enemy champions in the sector show up, on the few Tier 2 worlds, and few Tier 3 worlds in the sector. If we look at how long it would take for a Champion to arrive from these points…”

Timed counters appeared on many worlds, showing the time. One was at very close to three weeks, but the others were after.

“I think it very possible that a Champion just barely could not arrive in time to stop your party, or, they chose not to, knowing one Champion alone might not be enough. Then, we have two more that could arrive at any time, potentially. This is not even including Champions that might be coming from outside the Sector, as it could take a lot longer, but could have taken some foresight.”

Ophelia was a little alarmed, “You mean they’d have had to use predictions to send them early? Why not a Chosen, too?”

Valtor said, “That’s right, they’d have needed to use divinations or more to understand they needed to bring more resources from another Sector. Regarding Chosen, frontier sectors do not have Chosen Heroes appear in them for regular war, other than the lower Tier gods. They are chess pieces at the level where their movement causes all gods on both sides to react, as their defeat makes significant changes to the landscape at higher levels, a god becoming weaker and his own Sector to become at risk. Usually, Chosen Heroes only appears on Tier 4 or higher worlds, often on the God’s Sanctums themselves. The idea that a Chosen would risk themselves for a mere Tier 1 world is quite unlikely. Even a Tier 2 world has only happened a handful of times in all history, and for worlds that Tartarus or the Alliance considered a lynch pin for the Sector.”

Ophelia said, “So, they can only send Champions at us? That’s good news, for us. We can deal with Champions. Also, the number of Champions sighted seems slight, the fact that we’ve already defeated six in total seems significant.”

Yiming chuckled. “That’s an understatement, Valkyrie Ophelia. Less than a hundred Champions in total have died in this Sector at all Tiers. This is a major accomplishment!”

Longwei gave a proud smile. “Of course, Lord Guan Yu and his brothers account for nearly half of those that fell on the enemy’s side. Clan Hart is strong, but they’ll need to work hard to catch up to our Lord!”

Amara’s pages ruffled, and opened to a diagram after taking attention back to her. On it, were several details. Jake saw a picture of Rifts, a fortress, siege weapons, swarms of giant beasts, glimmering monsters, Champions, and more. He saw something that looked a little alarming. Amara was about to say something, but Jake decided he wanted to know.

Jake asked, “What are those odd ships, that look like squids?”

Amara said, “Those are what show up if you bypass the Framework’s protections and use disallowed technology. It requires conscious effort to accomplish this, as the compulsions would normally prevent you from doing it. Let’s just say that as much as the dwarves and gnomes are confident in their technology, we’ve lost all worlds where they tried their theories. It wasn’t even close.”

Jake was alarmed, but reassured that he would have to intentionally try to break the rules in order for that to happen.

She said, “Back to the Champions. It’s a major success to defeat one, let alone four, and I’m proud to serve those that have. However, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, not all Champions are equal. There are some paladins or priestesses that have progressed themselves so far that they too can defeat one, at these higher Tiers. The earlier they became a Champion and the more sparks they have obtained, the more powerful they can be when they show up, even when brought down to lower Tiers here. Some gods are more powerful than others, and their investment in their Champions are higher. They can even empower them with ritual sacrifice.”

Jake and his girls sort of knew this. In a way, Jake had the potential to match any of these top Champions having started early, but the problem is that it is just that– potential. A Champion of a higher Tier being brought down would be limited to what a soul could withstand in terms of capability, and Jake just wasn’t there yet.

Most likely, Jake had only taken on Champions that were of Tier 2 brought down to Tier 0 or 1, prospective Champions that could have eventually been powerful as they rose in Tier, but they weren’t just yet.

Bedwyr interjected, “[Greed] and [Loviatar] are known to be powerful, but [Eternal Night] and [Apophis] are waning in their power. [Dreadbeast] was a surprise, as all others have investments in this Sector, except for him.”

It surprised Jake to hear that Apophis was somewhat weak. In Egyptian myth he was the ultimate foe, requiring much sacrifice for Ra and his allies to keep in check.

Amara continued, “While Champions are one thing to worry about, there are much more tools Tartarus has at its disposal. Blood detailed how the encounter powered up while you were present, that is another example. It can also invest heavily into a single creature, and if it owns enough territory, it can even invest in its own type of [Mass Migration]: an enemy intelligent race or species showing up with their own autonomy. Then, it can bring advanced weaponry, items, and equipment empowered by the evil gods. They can even invest in the defenses of their holdings, such as this city you retook. I wager the next one will be much more difficult in different ways! From siege equipment to special arrows–”

Tanda started. “Oh! Yeah, the enemy Champion had something like that. Can we get something like that?”

Amara said, “Maybe! The reality is that it requires a lot of effort and knowledge. We do not have all that is necessary, and we’ll need your help. Looking at what you have accomplished already, I think it’s possible! Let’s work together and make special items!”

Valtor continued, “That brings us up to speed on where the war is, and what can potential challenges exist.”

Jake said, “Well, there’s one more thing worth mentioning. The Naga.”

Blood nodded from where Berri was playing over with Rhia once more, playing a four-in-a-row game this time. “There was something going on with them. Like they were being controlled.”

Valtor appeared troubled. “Where do the Naga congregate?”

Tanda said, “The largest tribes of them are at the coasts. They definitely like it where it is warmer, but they can be found just about anywhere there.” She pointed at a few locations. “These locations are well known to have the largest of them. They are somewhat a communal species, and we know they have a sort of hierarchy. But they are monstrous, and they do mostly keep to themselves unless you enter their territory. Normally.”

Valtor, “And some showed up here, this far inland? I do see there are rivers both above and underground. Mysticus! Use this information with the data we’ve collected. Work with Zorina to try to determine where the [Greater Rift] might spawn.”

The odd cage with a map beneath it, with a bell, hovered over the conquest map. The abacus floated next to it, and they both shimmered. Lights of every color lit up on the abacus, as the beads went back and forth. The pendulum swung, and the bell dinged as Zorina moved around the map, causing the abacus to make more calculations. Eventually, the two arrived at an area on the north-east coast.

Mysticus said, “It is here! Within a hundred miles of this location!”

Valtor was about to say something else, when Zorina chimed again. The pendulum swung all the way to the other side, heading towards the West coast. The two floated over, and began once more. The bell chimed as it circled around the other coast, eventually heading south.

Mysticus said once again. “Here! Within a hundred miles!”

Valtor gestured, and both locations were circled around the map. Then, the other Alliance HQ.

He sighed. “That certainly complicates things. They are not yet spawned, as a challenge such as this will show on the map even without being scouted. This is a difficult challenge! Most worlds would at most have one of these challenges to worry about. That we have two, then enemy Champions, and to already be fighting from behind! This is scary indeed.”josei

Ophelia said, “But these challenges haven’t spawned yet, and we’re arming the beastkin. They are getting good at defending themselves. We just need to retake this other HQ, and work towards clearing out these locations?”

Valtor said, “I don’t see it as everything is lost, make no mistake. But this will be a hard won battle. We can already see since yesterday many large rifts have opened near Nature’s Crossroads. Because of that, Tartarus is going to delay us as much as possible from working to the other side of the continent. This location might even have the enemy Champions, or, they could be located near either [Greater Rift]. It’s impossible for us to track the overall power of the rifts in this area, until we have some eyes on them. We must get scouts in the area immediately.”

Jake groaned. “Winning this HQ felt like a major victory, but two [Greater Rifts], the other HQ, and enemy Champions sounds like the battle has just begun. Tanda’s flock will get the [Alliance Nodes] out, Vesuvius and his people will need to cross the continent underground to find other reptile beastkin.”

Morwen said, “We should be able to aid you, Lord Jake. Each of us bring our own people to make progress against the enemy: Yiming, Seamus, Rookard, Tanda’s people, and Hearthtribe, you shall not be the only ones making progress any longer. The problem is mobility.”

Valtor pointed at the map. “These are both nearly two thousand miles from here, and over three thousand miles apart from each other. Not only that, but we have to safeguard the heart of the world at Harmony Peaks, besides.”

Jake and Ophelia got queasy as they looked at the map. They could arrive at either coast in a day, if they became a rocket once again. Maybe, they could even become a more improved rocket, now that she had her chosen technique. But now with enemy Champions about, was it really safe for them to travel in this way?

Ophelia said, “Is there any way your people can help, Valtor? It sounds like we need to improve the mobility of many of the beastkin, to get our armies to the coasts, while also attacking this city.”

Valtor laughed uproariously. “I thought you’d never ask. Why don’t we just build an airship? My people can build a–”

A chime alarmed from Zorina. “Partially true!”

“Damn it, Zorina! With the Champion’s help, my people…probably can make it happen! With that, we will build a superior means of conveyance, even if not exactly an airship, that will move our forces across the continent in a respectable amount of time!”

He looked over at Zorina, with his flaming ghostly eyes narrowed.

Valtor and Amara then went over their plan, and this included Jake’s purchases with the Epic+ store. It turned out that even Rookard and Vesuvius had received access as part of their contribution, and they had been allotted enough to grab a few of the necessary books and components that Jake’s party could not cover. Thankfully, a lot of the books were dual purposed, aiding Jake and his party on advancing their respective professions.

Jake said, “Thanks, Valtor, Amara. We really appreciate the effort, it’s clear your expertise is shining through here.”

Amara’s pages turned, and scripts lit up. “You’re welcome, Lord Jake. It’s an honor to serve someone who finally appreciates us! Then, we can advance ourselves after all these years. We are happy to fight alongside you, in our own way.”

Berri said from where she was playing with Rhia, “And you can make babies soon, right? Rhia, maybe they’ll make you a brother!”

“I like that! And I’m growing bigger! I want to be as big as Bloodberri!”

Fhesiah added, “Soon, we’ll see new allies, including dryads and treants! It’s going to get quite busy.”

Jake had several paths before him, the war had only just begun. But Jake now had many new allies, working together to achieve the goal of winning back Highlands. There was the mysterious Naga that were a problem, along with the potential betraying reptile beastkin.

Jake and his girls were certainly up to the task, but would they be enough? Once again, he would have to work hard, and rise up to the challenge.