Soul of the Warrior

Chapter 54: It's Darkest Before

Chapter 54: It's Darkest Before

Reivyn looked out at the fields covered completely in moving skeletal abominations. In the distance, he counted fifteen Dullahans calmly walking with their heads tucked under their arms, and behind them, he counted five of the giant demons. They were truly monstrous, standing what appeared to be 40 to 50 feet tall. It was difficult to gauge their exact size because of how far away they were, but they towered over everything else. Revenants filled the entire space, and then some, around the larger creatures.

I don't see any Spectres at all. Based on how the Dullahans are moving fluidly, they are obviously possessed, but there has to be a limit to how many Spectres can combine and possess one entity. I don't know if three is the maximum or not. Maybe there weren't as many Spectres on the third floor as I imagined. I did only see the one in the room with the hundreds of mining Revenants.

The undead army didn't pause to evaluate the situation in front of them, nor did they charge recklessly ahead. They simply marched, as if reaching their destination was inevitable, so why alter their speed?

"Load the canisters!" Knight-Lieutenant Brand's voice echoed over the battlements. The soldiers loaded enclosed cauldrons, built to fly through the air better in an elongated shape, into the scorpions. They were filled with tar, and the Mages imbued the entire thing with pure mana as they were set.

"Launch!" The order came and the scorpions fired their payload into the distance, having a much further range than simple bows or crossbows. The canisters sailed through the air before crashing into the ground amongst the Revenants, breaking apart and discharging the mana-imbued tar that had filled them across large swathes of the ground.

"Fire Spell, ready!" The Adjutant called forth all Mages with an affinity for fire, Larissa also stepped forward and began preparing a Fire Bolt Spell. The fancy, more expensive Fire Blast or Inferno Spells weren't necessary, so she opted for the cheaper spell. It would cost a lot of mana to empower it enough to launch the Spell far enough to hit the tar, so cutting mana costs somewhere else was more important.

"Cast!" Knight-Lieutenant Brand ordered.

Different commands are necessary to give so each individual acting out the commands know when and what to do properly. Launch is the command for the scorpions, Loose is the command for the archers, and Cast is the command for the Casters, Reivyn noted.

The Spells were empowered across the line and fired into the distance. The myriad of Fire Bolt Spells made contact with the tar, and magically imbued fire erupted among the Revenants.

All of the Revenants caught in the initial blast were destroyed outright in the explosion, leaving even hardly any dust in its wake. The rest of the Revenants continued to march forward through the fire, the ones in the center mostly falling apart before making it through, but the ones on the edges were just severely damaged.

Every little bit will help.

"Adjust the range! Shift right two degrees!" More commands for the scorpions came forth. The crew manning the siege weapons had one person rotate a gear to lower the elevation, and another person simultaneously rotated a different gear that moved the horizontal plane slightly to the right without having to adjust the base.

"Load the canisters! Launch!"

The troops were acting out their orders that continued to come in an orderly fashion followed by Mages taking turns launching Fire Bolts spells and rotating out to conserve mana. The battlefield quickly became a scorching inferno as more and more canisters were launched and subsequently fired.

The pure mana that is imbued fully into the canisters includes the tar within and seems to be affected by the properties of the tar. I can see that the fires are burning longer and hotter than one would expect, and all of the fire is magical in nature due to the mana infusing the tar and being lit by a spell, Reivyn nodded his head at the tactic.

Since the mana being imbued into the canisters affects the tar inside, I wonder... Reivyn reached down and pulled a couple of arrows out and tried to imbue them both as one entity while he held them both in his hand. It didn't take, and he had to do each one individually. He then set the arrows aside and touched the quiver directly, pumping his mana into it.

Imbuing the quiver filled with arrows itself took considerably more mana than doing so to an arrow, but once he pulled an arrow out, he smiled.

It works. The cost, while more than an arrow, is actually less overall when considering just how many arrows get imbued all at once like this. Every arrow that he pulled out was imbued with magic. Reivyn emptied the quiver of all of the arrows and replaced them with fresh ones. He frowned as they didn't acquire the effect even though the quiver was technically still imbued.

Reivyn pumped his mana into the quiver once again, but this time it required a lot less mana. The next arrow he pulled out was successfully imbued.

So it doesn't affect the arrows after the fact, but the mana sink of the quiver itself is removed, and it moves the mana more efficiently through itself to imbue the next set.

Reivyn looked up and down the line, and he saw that the archers weren't doing anything even though the Revenants were entering their range. They had been told to wait and fire at the demons and Dullahans because they weren't inherently immune to mundane attacks, they were just a bit resistant to them.

"Sir!" Reivyn shouted to the Knight-Lieutenant to get his attention. "Imbuing the quivers works the same way as the canisters. If we imbue them, the archers can damage the Revenants, too! Each new batch of arrows has to be imbued after being placed in the quiver."

"None-Fire Casters, imbue the quivers of the archers near you!" The Adjutant didn't hesitate and issued a new order to take advantage of the discovery. I'm certain I'm not the first person to discover this, but this place has probably never had to consider such an issue before, and the Magic Academy graduates probably don't have classes on siege warfare.

"Archers, ready!" Once the quivers along the line were imbued, Brand had the large portion of troops that didn't have anything to do currently engage in the battle. The other operations continued as he added the troops to the mix.

"Loose!" Arrows rained down on the Revenants. Most of the arrows passed through empty space between the bones, or hit arm or leg bones and did some minor damage to the health of the Revenants. Some arrows, though, pierced into skulls directly and snuffed out the orb that powered the skeletons.

Arrows aren't the greatest choice, but there's not much more we can do in this situation. At least it has some effect.

Reivyn added his own arrows to the mix. He quickly ran through the arrows that he had imbued from his quiver, and he moved on to a new one to replace it. The administrative soldiers were busy refilling quivers. Teilon and Kimberly had taken it upon themselves to fulfill the role, as well, so he didn't have to worry about running out of arrows.

Reivyn moved to imbue the new batch of arrows, but he hesitated for a second as a thought struck him. He looked back and forth between his bow and his arrows. So many other things have worked in ways that they're not specifically designed for, I wonder...

Reivyn activated his Flame Blade Skill with his bow as the target. He knocked an arrow, and he was pleased to see that it took on the characteristics of the Flame Blade Spell without any additional input from himself, and he fired it into the mass of Revenants.

Calculating...

Flame Blade Skill has been altered to Flame Weapon

Reivyn casually inspected the System Notification that popped up. I got tunnel vision on the fact that I was using a sword for the most part in the Dungeon, and I ignored that my Skill affects every weapon equally. Reivyn clenched his fist, and he activated the Skill once again with his hand as the target. His fist erupted in fire, and the flames and heat didn't bother him at all. I am the weapon. Heh, nice.

Reivyn's little experiment only took a couple of seconds, and he got back to launching his flaming arrows into the advancing Revenants. Reivyn noted that the damage done to them was more than just piercing damage, as the fires spread and continued to burn from where the arrows pierced into bones. As the Revenants got closer and closer, Reivyn also activated his Aim Skill, and he exclusively aimed to hit Revenants in the skull.

The undead army continued its advance, and despite the large amount of damage the defenders had managed to inflict on their foes, the numbers were just too great, and the field still appeared to be filled with a never-ending tide of Revenants from the wall to the edge of the fields. And the Revenants were still coming.

There are way more than we had even feared possible. This is going to be ugly, Reivyn frowned. There must be even more Revenants on the third floor than I thought, or there might even be a fourth floor that we didn't know about.

A huge surge of mana distracted Reivyn for a moment, and he looked over to see Knight-Captain Reifold, who had been silent and waiting up until this point, surrounded in a halo of golden light. The mana created a whirlpool around him as he sucked in more and more mana from the environment as well as fueling it from within himself, and the light from the halo became almost blinding.

The mana came to a tipping point as the Spell Knight-Captain Reifold was Casting filled to the brim, and after a brief moment, a huge ball of light shot out over the battlefield.

Reivyn watched as the huge ball, the size of a small house, rushed into the center of the field where it exploded. The light turned into countless swords made of golden light, and they smashed down into the horde of undead. Reifold had aimed for a position that included a Dullahan, and even that larger boss monster wasn't able to hold up for more than a couple of seconds like it, and hundreds of Revenants surrounding it were torn to shreds.

Knight-Captain Reifold watched the massacre his Divine Spell wrought upon the undead, and after seeing the devastation, and the fact that most of the Spell was overkill, he nodded to himself and started gathering mana once more.

I wonder how many times he can cast that Spell? From the nonchalant look on his face, he probably has enough to Cast it many times. That will be a huge help. Reivyn mentally heaved a sigh of relief.

Knight-Captain Reifold once more gathered mana to empower his Spell, but he cut it off much shorter than filling it all the way to the bursting point like last time before he released it at another location with a Dullahan. The golden orb was considerably smaller, only the size of a room inside a small house instead of the entire house, and it once more exploded over the undead. It created the same amount of devastation, but there was much less overkill this time.

Knight-Lieutenant Brand continued to issue orders, the soldiers continued to follow them, Reivyn launched his flaming arrows, and the battle continued as the Paladin released another strike. The Revenants reached the bottom of the wall, and Reivyn was dismayed to see that they were able to dig their finger bones directly into the stone to carry themselves up the wall.

More soldiers got involved, and the cauldrons full of tar reappeared. They were imbued with mana just like the canisters, and the tar was dumped on the climbing Revenants to be lit with magical fire shortly after.

Knight-Captain Reifold began gathering mana for a fourth Spell Cast, and Reivyn's Danger Sense exploded. A streak of shadow launched itself from the rear of the undead horde and quickly reached the Knight-Captain, and he was forced to cancel his Spell as he instantly unsheathed his sword to block the attack.

Reivyn watched as the streak revealed itself to be a robed figure with a pitch-black sword. He stood momentarily locked in place as the Knight-Captain successfully parried the sneak attack. Reivyn noted that he couldn't glean any details from the man, as along with the black robes covering his figure, it seemed that shadows oozed off of him and obscured everything else about him. The cowl of his hood seemed to lead into the abyss.

"Can't have you interrupting our little play-time, can we," a raspy voice emerged from the hood as his momentum finally gave out and he backed away into a guard position.

The figure engaged Reifold in melee combat with lightning-quick strikes that Reivyn could barely make out even with his enhanced Perception. The Knight-Captain continued to parry and riposte, but after a short moment, Reivyn felt fear truly begin to creep up his spine for the first time since the battle began.

Knight-Captain Reifold is outmatched.

Another figure appeared to materialize out of the shadows next to Knight-Lieutenant Brand, and he was forced to cut off shouting his commands as he, too, pulled his sword to defend from a sneak attack. The two men weren't far from each other, and a bubble formed around them as they engaged in a fight for their lives and the soldiers backed away from the clearly higher Tier combat.

Reivyn looked further down the line on both sides and saw several more figures materialize and assault the officers that could take charge of the defense. They're disrupting the chain of command!

He noted that a lot of the soldiers weren't paying attention to the overall situation, and they were just following the commands issued to them by the Adjutant. They paused in their work, though, once the commands stopped coming. Reivyn leaned over the edge of the wall and saw that the Revenants were more than halfway up and gaining.

Reivyn looked back over and saw that there were still many cauldrons set up and ready to go, but there wouldn't be enough time to use them all if they kept moving at the previous pace, and definitely not at the current pace of being completely stalled out.

He sucked in a lungful of air and yelled out in a powerful voice, as no other officers had taken charge in the last few seconds. I am technically the Adjutant's Aide, he thought before he issued his first, true military command.

"Soldiers, release all of the waiting cauldrons!" His voice bellowed out, and he was pleased to see that the soldiers didn't hesitate to follow the command. "Fire Mages, standby! All other Mages, begin imbuing weapons and shields! Weapons and Shields! Prepare for breach!"

The Mages hopped to imbuing as many of the weapons and shields of the soldiers and Adventurers around them. The melee combatants that weren't busy with the cauldrons slammed weapons into shields and jumped up and down to pump themselves up.

"Archers, Loose at will! Empty your quivers down the side of the wall! Fire Mages, Cast!"

Reivyn's previous platoon, the second platoon, was the younger troops with lower levels, so they were in the second row with the Adventurers of a bit lower level. The first platoon contained the veterans and higher Tier 2 individuals, and other, more experienced Adventurers were interspersed with them. There were a couple of Adventurers who were already in the low Tier 3's, but they were few and far between.

The Mages finished imbuing the weapons and shields, and Reivyn noticed the time on his System Clock so he would remember when to issue the next order to top the mana up. There wasn't enough time or mana to spare to imbue the full kit of gear, so the defenders would have to make due.

"Mages, focus fire above and over the front lines! We can't risk collateral damage on the troops! Conserve your mana so you can keep the gear topped up on mana!"

Reivyn had assumed command of the situation, and all of the commands that he could think of to keep the soldiers moving were quickly issued. He emptied his quiver and abandoned his bow to pull his sword and shield to wait for the Revenants to finally breach. He took a glance at the situation with the Knight-Captain and Knight-Lieutenant.

The shadowy figure engaging the Paladin mainly used melee attacks, but he interspersed his strikes with blasts of shadowy mana. Reivyn watched as the man leaped back, extending his off hand, and thin bolts speared out from each of his extended fingers. Each one zipped forward at tremendous speed, aiming for a different vital point on Reifold's body. Reifold used his mana imbued sword to parry several of the bolts, and he used his offhand to Cast a bluish mana shield Spell to block the others.

He quickly retaliated with a swing of his sword that contained a version of his previous Spell, and golden, Divine Mana lashed out at the shadowy figure. The man laughed as he dodged the attack and rushed back in at a different angle to engage in more melee combat again.

The robed-man assaulting the Knight-Lieutenant seemed to phase in and out of existence as his body blended with the increasing darkness as the shadows grew denser as time went on. The Adjutant was unable to use mana Skills, so he was unable to affect his opponent when he used the Skill, and he was much more passive in defending against the opponent than his superior officer was. He had to constantly spin about as the enemy shifted all around with his random attacks.

Reivyn couldn't make out how the combat situations were going with the other officers, but he could tell that they were at least holding their own for now.

Reivyn turned his focus back to the edge of the wall, as the first skeletal hand reached up into view, quickly followed by the rest of the Revenant.

"Breach!" Reivyn yelled the warning to the soldiers atop the ramparts. "Just like usual. First rank use sword and shield. Second rank, spears. Focus your piercing strikes on the skulls, and use sweeping strikes to push the Revenants off the walls so they don't overwhelm us!"

Reivyn issued the command and then stepped forward himself, to take a position in the front. He lit his sword with his Fire Weapon Spell, and began laying about, killing the Revenants before they could get settled atop the walls.

All along the lines, the troops engaged in melee combat as the archers continued to release arrows into the horde below. The Mages launched their spells in an attempt to thin out the massive numbers still behind the Revenants finally entering melee combat.

The Revenants were the most powerful foes any of the soldiers had ever faced, and they constantly had to maintain their balance and stances with the assistance of the men behind them as the blows from the Revenants were much more powerful than they were used to. Luckily, panic had not ensued and the troops fought like any other battle.

It wasn't long, though, before the first casualty appeared. A soldier near Reivyn had his shield caught by one of the skeletal enemies, and it used its immense strength to launch the man off the top of the wall into the waiting army below. Reivyn listened to the man scream as he plummeted to his death, the abrupt halt in his voice indicating he had met his fate.

Similar situations occurred up and down the line as soldiers and Adventurers were overpowered and killed by the increasing number of Revenants ascending the wall. The troops knew that there was no retreat from this situation, so they continued to fill the gaps left by the deceased, and the battle continued.

With the interference from those shadowy figures, we don't have enough men. This is a losing battle.

Reivyn looked at his friends who had joined the combat with their own imbued weapons and shields. Melissa and Larissa continued to launch their spells as they kept an eye on their mana to keep the weapons able to ward off the Revenants, and Erik was a bulwark in front of them against the tide of undead.

Reivyn gritted his teeth and quashed any feelings of guilt towards his friends that began to creep up. He had a job to do, and it was not the time to lament their actions or circumstances.

A large ball covered in spikes suddenly appeared, crashing down on a group of soldiers to Reivyn's right, decimating their ranks. Men called out in pain as they were launched aside, but many more were silent as their heads were crushed, dying instantly. The Dullahans had reached the walls, and their spiked chain weapons were easily long enough to engage the defenders before they climbed all the way to the top.

Reivyn looked into the distance and noted that the giant demons would be able to strike at the defenders soon as well, and the fact that he could now see the end of the horde did nothing to diminish the despair that began to fill him.

We have to figure out a way to get the Knight-Captain away from that shadow-cloaked guy. But how?! He's obviously a bit higher level than the Knight-Captain, and he's high Tier 3!

Reivyn wracked his brain for a solution, but he couldn't think of anything other than the dumbest method: simply barging in and hoping he could distract the man long enough to let the Commander launch some more Spells.

I'm going to regret this! Reivyn thought as he shouted to Melissa and Larissa, "Assist me with the shadow guy!"

Reivyn waited a moment for the right opportunity. The man performed his leap back to launch the shadow Spells, and Reivyn activated his Charge Skill with his Flaming Weapon imbued sword out at the man's back.

The man reacted almost instantly as Reivyn closed the distance in mere fractions of a second, but Reivyn was ecstatic to see that it hadn't been fast enough. Reivyn's sword bit into the man's side as he twisted his body about to avoid a strike on his vitals, and Reivyn could hear a snarl of rage come from the dark cowl. Reivyn sensed the mana coming from the sisters, and he leaped back as the man began to swing toward him with his sword.

Reivyn threw up a Mana Shield in front of him and empowered it with extra mana as the mobile Ice Tomb Spell detonated in the man's face, preventing him from exacting his revenge. Knight-Captain Reifold didn't miss the opportunity either, and he stabbed the man in the back with his Divine empowered sword.

The man screamed in rage and pain, and he threw his arms and head back as a huge shadow exploded out of him. The shadow picked Reivyn up and tossed him away, towards the edge of the wall, and even the Knight-Captain was knocked back. Reivyn crashed into the backs of the men defending against the encroaching Revenants, and his momentum was stalled out, preventing him from being launched into the crowd of undead below.

"I'm not playing with you anymore!" A loud, otherworldly voice exploded out of the shadowy figure as he leveled his gaze on the Knight-Captain who was getting back to his feet.

"Then maybe you'll play with me!" Another voice answered him as a towering, hulking man covered from head to toe in heavy plate armor appeared out of nowhere. He backhanded the man with his shield, and the shadowy figure went cartwheeling off of the wall, disappearing from sight in the distance as he faded into the growing darkness.

"Oh, maybe not," the man said as he lifted his hand up to scratch his head. His armored fingers met his helmet, though, and he pulled his hand back in front of his face to look at it in apparent confusion. "He was a lot weaker than he looked."

"Looks like we made it in time," Reivyn heard another man say. He looked over and saw a familiar group: The heavily armored giant man, the lesser armored swordsman, and the rogue and Mage accompanied by a smaller, slimmer person also covered from head to toe in a shimmering robe. They were all decked out with their heads and faces covered with their protective gear, but Reivyn recognized them, aside from the slightly smaller addition, instantly.

It's that group of Adventurers from the Dungeon Town Expedition! He thought. I remember they were really strong. We might have a fighting chance, after all.