Hack, Slash & Burn 2: A LitRPG Fantasy, page 14
Calder couldn’t just remain in the fray and keep battering these bastards, not when he wasn’t able to take them out fast enough for his Killstreaks to keep coming. He needed to change tactics.
He needed to take out those damned healers.
I suppose I was getting annoyed at how easy this was.
Calder pushed the enemies backward. They were all so damned tall, these orcs, that he couldn’t see over their heads to where the healers must be. He did notice that the arrows and spells were now coming from somewhere above him and to the sides—the enemy’s ranged fighters must be up in the guard towers.
He had to imagine that’s where many of the healers would be too.
Calder quickly glanced up at the guard tower on the left. The sight of a white robe confirmed his suspicions. He was fortunate to find his mana reserve was half full, and Dream Step had long since reached the end of its cooldown.
He wasn’t sure how many enemies were up in that tower, but there must be at least a dozen. Enough for a Killstreak. And ranged fighters would be far easier to kill than Warriors. Less Stamina. No heavy armour.
Calder Dream Stepped straight up to the tower, activating Eviscerate on the first white-robed Cleric he saw. He didn’t bother scanning the orcs up here. He didn’t want to take a moment away from his assault.
He became a butcher once more, his sword a cleaver, slicing through the orcs as though they were nothing but meat on a chopping board. There was something barbaric about it, and he couldn’t help but wonder how someone who could perform such a thing could be considered an Avatar of Light.
Calder roared.
The orcs fell.
A Killstreak came.
White light enveloped him as Yesna threw one of her heals his way.
Once he had cleared the guard tower of orcs, he leapt to the other one just as he had early. Only this time, halfway there, an arrow slammed into his side. A Knockdown Arrow the likes of which he had never felt before. Strong Stance was no longer active—it had worn off sometime during the fight. But it wouldn’t have done any good, considering his feet weren’t on the ground.
The force of the arrow sent him flying straight over the wall, tumbling to slam into the ground.
Chapter 14
Calder landed in the dirt outside the settlement. His health felt as though it was down to half.
How could that be possible? He had just received a Killstreak and a heal from Yesna. He would have been at, or near, full health when he had made that leap. He got to his feet as quickly as he could. Yesna. She would be trapped, alone, on the other side of that gate. He wasn’t sure how the Sacred Barrier spell of hers worked. Wasn’t sure if she would be able to get away from enemies if they surrounded her.
It might make her invulnerable, but that didn’t mean she could push past them. Besides, it could wear off at any moment if he wasn’t in the middle of killing enemies.
Calder gritted his teeth, sprinting back to the large double doors. Arrows streamed down at him from the second guard tower. He threw up his shield to block them, worried one of them might be as strong as the one he had just felt, but they were far inferior.
Which he was very glad for.
The doors were closing. The bastard orcs were trying to lock him out, and once they did, they wouldn’t have any trouble taking down Yesna. He tried to Dream Step to the other side.
Dream Step has a cooldown period of 55 seconds. It can be used again in 10 seconds.
Had it really only been forty-five seconds since he had last used the spell? How could that have been possible? He had slain a dozen orcs, leapt off a tower, and been thrown over a wall in that time!
Ten seconds isn’t very long. Sacred Barrier will remain active. So should Berserk, for that matter, assuming he could get another Killstreak—and fast. He reached the door just as it slammed shut. He hit the wood with his sword, leaving a massive slash in it, but doing nothing to push it open. The door thudded as the wooden slats were thrown back on, barring his way.
“Yesna!” he yelled.
He took a step back, eyeing that second guard tower, and tried Dream Step again.
Dream Step has a cooldown period of 55 seconds. It can be used again in 5 seconds.
Come on, you bastard! He pointed his sword at one of the Mage’s up in the tower and was about to cast Lightning Bolt on it—he so rarely used his secondary class’s skills as ranged attacks—when he realised doing so was likely to eat his mana reserve too much. He needed enough to make the Dream Step.
Two more seconds.
Calder let out a battle cry. He tossed his sword through the air, using Power Throw—a spell he didn’t often take advantage of. The sword turned end over end as it headed straight for the orc mage he had pointed at a moment ago. As it slammed straight into the orc’s chest, the beast’s eyes widening in shock, Dream Step finally met the end of its cooldown.
Teleporting straight in front of the orc, Calder tore his sword out of its chest and slashed at the orc nearest it. His health was still low. Too damned low. He tried to search his peripheral vision for the archer that had hit him with that massively strong attack, but the orcs were too numerous down on the ground. What he did see was Yesna, a glowing white barrier surrounding her—and at least a hundred orcs.
They locked gazes. The priestess’s eyes were wide with fear. She threw a heal his way—as Clerics moved through the levels, apparently they developed a sense for how wounded those in their party were, so she would have known that his health had dipped to below half after that arrow strike had launched him over the wall.
Calder slashed his way through the archers and casters in the guard tower, making quick work of them as he had before, trying to keep them as a barrier between him and whatever archer had hit him with that arrow. From its trajectory, it must have come from the ground.
When the last orc fell, he hadn’t received another Killstreak. He felt himself slow. There had been another dozen orcs atop this damned guard tower, and now they all lay dead before him.
Why hadn’t he received the streak?
Berserk has worn off. He gritted his teeth. It wouldn’t be too long until it reached its cooldown, would it? He checked the spell’s cooldown, something he hadn’t done in a while.
Berserk has a cooldown period of 5 minutes. It can be used again in 4 minutes and 50 seconds.
Gods. Its cooldown was five minutes? Five minutes was too damned long, especially for a fight like this! Fortunately, though he hadn’t been able to keep Berserk alive, Sacred Barrier didn’t take nearly as many kills, meaning Yesna would be safe.
Maybe we should get out of here. He could vault down to Yesna and Portal them out of here. Though he couldn’t see the other side of the wall from where he stood, he could do what he had done with Peter. The next time his Dream Step ended its cooldown, which was perhaps thirty seconds away, he could teleport up to the battlements and make a portal for Yesna to get through.
It wouldn’t take them long to regain their strength. He took two steps back from the wall and sheathed his sword. Activating Charge, which he had kept in reserve in case Berserk ever wore off, he yanked a health potion out of his pouch of holding. He downed the potion as he sprinted to the wall and vaulted over it down to the ground.
His mana pool regenerated. Not all the way, but close enough. He landed on the ground beside Yesna, creating another small crater where he fell. He was glad to find whatever archer had attacked him before hadn’t struck him when he jumped.
Yesna greeted him with a nod. She was sending her own attacks at the enemies, but she didn’t deal near as much damage as Calder did, as her damage-dealing class was only her secondary one. Still, her Magic attribute helped, and her spells packed a fair punch. She had managed to take down a few of the orcs that surrounded her, but it looked as though it was slow going, and only possible if the Clerics were distracted.
Though Calder had taken out a few of the Clerics, he knew there were more in the settlement that he couldn’t see.
The mass of fighters surged toward him. He took his place beside Yesna. “I’m going to get you out of here! Berserk’s worn off, and these bastards are getting more powerful!”
“You’re damned right they’re getting more powerful! What the hell hit you before?” The Cleric sent a Lightning Bolt at an Orc Swordmage in front of her. The shock of the attack was enough to send it to its knees.
Calder finished it off with a swift Eviscerate. “I don’t know, that’s why we need to leave!”
Another ear-splitting roar sounded. This was just as loud as the one from earlier. The orcs surrounding them quietened and began to break ranks. They were… making a path for something.
Someone.
Calder saw the new orc tower over the others. He swallowed. When he had observed the settlement from atop the hill, he hadn’t seen anything like this. Where was this big bastard hiding?
The orc was twenty feet tall—the same height as an Orc Dominator. But this orc wasn’t a warrior. It was an archer. The archer that had struck him. It held a massive bow, one more beautiful and ferocious than Calder had ever seen. It looked to be made from the bones of a massive beast. Its armour was made from leather, much like Peter’s armour, though it had a cowl of furs around its shoulders.
Calder scanned it.
Orc Mana Archer
Level 100
Classification: Bowmage
Attributes
Strength: 80
Agility: 125
Magic: 150
Stamina: 70
Perception: 80
Orc Mana Archer? Calder had encountered Bowmage’s before—Rangers with their secondary class as Mage—but they had never been called Mana Archers. Calder had faced many high-level enemies during the attack on Berring. This bastard shouldn’t pose much of a threat.
Should it?
Level 100. It wasn’t even as strong as the Quake Mammoths he had fought. Then again, he had needed to use a portal to take down the Quake Mammoths, damaging them from their fall, and he’d had Peter’s damage-dealing abilities to back him up. Yesna was strong, but she was primarily a healer not a fighter.
And its Agility was awfully high, not to mention its Magic Attribute—which was even higher, something Calder hadn’t expected. The attribute numbers he saw didn’t take into account the boosts it would receive from the Minor Enchanted Stone, either. And looking at the armour the Orc Mana Archer wore, Calder was sure it would have many slots filled that he couldn’t see, improving its stats even more—an advantage Beast Elementals lacked.
Who knows what its actual stats are. Momentarily, Calder wondered if his ability to scan would improve. He wished he could see its actual stats, with all the effects in place.
“What the hell is that thing?” Yesna breathed.
“The reason we should get out of here,” Calder said. Dream Step was back in action now, and he had enough mana to execute his plan. “I’ll get us out of here.” Calder glanced up at the battlements. He was about to Dream Step up there when Yesna shouted.
“Watch out!”
The Bowmage nocked and loosed an arrow straight at him. It was fast. Too fast. It hit him before he had managed to cast Dream Step. All he saw was the arrow, glowing purple, as it hit him.
Except… it didn’t even deal any damage. He only felt a slight jolt. After the last attack that had hit him from this archer, he had expected—
Text flashed across his vision.
Orc Mana Archer has hit you with Null Arrow. Your ability to use mana has been suspended for 5 minutes.
Calder cursed. The orc lowered its bow. It bared its teeth in a twisted smile. The rest of the orcs around it still weren’t attacking, seemingly waiting for the other orc’s signal. Calder took the chance to relay the notification’s information to Yesna.
“Then you… can’t get us out of here.” Yesna stepped back. She pulled a Portal Stone out from her Pouch of Holding. “Worth a try.”
The orcs simply watched as she tossed the Portal Stone to the ground. Nothing happened—just as Calder had thought. The area, like Berring and Dranador, was protected from normal portals.
Five minutes. Calder cursed again, checking Berserk’s cooldown.
Berserk has a cooldown period of 5 minutes. It can be used again in 3 minutes and 35 seconds.
He would be able to use the spell again before those five minutes were up, but by then… they might already be dead.
“Cal. Sacred Barrier is about to wear off,” Yesna shouted.
Calder blinked. He had been thrown off by the fact that they were no longer being attacked by the orcs surrounding them, and by the shock of not being able to use Dream Step—or any of his mana spells.
He snapped back into action. He wasn’t going to die here, and he certainly wasn’t going to let Yesna die here. Once again, I’ve been a fool. I entered Dranador with Peter when I knew we shouldn’t have, and I took Yesna straight behind enemy lines with no backup, right into the middle of an orc fortification—where they’re the strongest.
When he had made these decisions, they had made complete sense to him. They had never encountered Darktouched with Proximity Scanners or Spirit Constructs, so escaping from Dranador hadn’t seemed like an issue—and, he supposed, it hadn’t been ultimately, as they had gotten away with barely a scratch.
And he had observed this settlement, thinking the orcs in it were weaker than they actually were. Besides, he and Peter had taken down hundreds of orcs plus those three Quake Mammoths. That, however, had been on a larger field of battle, where they had been able to retreat and regenerate if needed. Where there were no enchantments boosting the enemy’s forces.
But this, he had to admit, had been a miscalculation.
He cursed himself for having wanted a damned challenge. He supposed he had gotten exactly what he had wished for.
Chapter 15
Calder surged back into action. Yesna, who still had Sacred Barrier active, stood between him and the Orc Mana Archer, blocking any attacks it sent his way.
Calder had shouted at her when she had first done this, but she had brooked no argument. In her sternest priestess voice, with her harshest glare, she had told him to attend to his own responsibilities, as hers were to keep him alive, and she’d be damned if she didn’t do just that until her dying breath.
So Calder had. Without Berserk, and with the enemies having increased in level, it felt like a whole different fight. Blessedly, there were less Clerics than there had been, thanks to Calder having cleared the two guard towers, but they were definitely still on the field.
Calder’s adrenaline was flagging fast, and every single one of his offensive spells—the ones that didn’t require mana—were on cooldown. The only reason he was still alive was because Yesna never ceased to send him heals. He kept seeing her down more and more mana potions. Keeping him alive must have been taking its toll.
After the day he’d had, gaining several levels, slaying hundreds of orcs, taking down Orc Dominators as though they were nothing… this humbled him. In the muck and the mud, pushing against orc after orc, he couldn’t help but feel like what he had once been, and he realised how arrogant and prideful he had become, basking in the glory of his own power…
What a fool he had been.
But there was no time to wallow in misery and regret. They had been in worse positions than this, hadn’t they? They had faced worst threats, against harder odds.
Though it hadn’t only been Calder and Yesna then—it had been the entire village.
These bastards aren’t going to kill me. They will not be the end of me.
Calder roared in the face of the nearest orc, cutting it down. He had lost count of how many orcs he had killed since his use of his mana had been suspended. Proficiency flooded into him and he was engulfed in a bright white light—this light was not one of Yesna’s heals.
He was gaining a level. Considering all the enemies they had slain, and that Yesna was several levels below him, she must have gained at least two levels by now that he hadn’t noticed.
You have reached level 54!
Your health, mana and adrenaline are now restored in full.
You have 10 attribute points to apply.
Calder gritted his teeth. A level up was exactly what he needed right now. But for some reason it didn’t bring him any joy. As every one of his spells had reached their cooldown when he levelled, he instantly cast Berserk and Charge, then used a Power Strike, cleaving through the nearest orc. It only took one more normal slash to take it down.
The wisest thing to do right now would be to rapidly apply his attribute points. He knew how much of a difference ten attribute points could make in a fight, and they needed all the help they could get. But he had been planning to put those points solely toward his Magic attribute. He still held by his plan of becoming a teleporting Temporal Warrior, flitting around the battlefield. But putting his attribute points into Magic right now seemed utterly pointless as he couldn’t yet use his mana.
That will change. That will change fast.
He took the smartest approach he could think of, thinking through what was most needed in the moment. His Agility was plenty high enough, especially with Berserk back in action, but he wasn’t dealing quite enough damage to these enemies. He was also confident that he would be able to use his spells again soon, so he made a compromise.
He distributed his points.
Strength increased from 101 → 106!
Magic increased from 84 → 91!
In that moment, he felt a boost to his strength. With Berserk active, he had effectively improved his strength by ten, not five, so it made a noticeable difference. He also felt a shift deep within him—his mana reserve deepening.
With renewed energy and confidence, Calder became a butcher once more, cutting down enemy after enemy, using every power in his arsenal.
+9 Killstreak!
