Novel Full Chapter 62: Spear Line
Chapter 62: Spear Line
They were met with a vicious barrage of magic, and then a double row of spears, as the warriors behind the shield line stacked up to block the advance.
One row of spears thrust forward, and was slashed out of the way. But the other was planted into the dirt, shattering against their armour. But many of the spears punched right through the plate, and one of the armoured elites fell backward with an arrow through the visor of his helmet.
The next fell as a bullet punched clean through his helmet, and then another dropped with its throat slit by Niall’s blades.
The Rogues had left the encirclement to attack from the flank, a hit-and-run manoeuvre to draw the pressure away from the shield wall. It was working fantastically, and when the mages next spells hit, only three of the armoured beasts were standing.
Behind the main battle, the blinded giant gurgled helplessly as Kalli punched multiple holes in its thick neck with her new rifle, and then Sergeant Sanchez finished it off with a volley of Lasrifle shots to the side of the head. The Giant collapsed, and Kalli gave it one last shot to the chest for good luck, then turned her attention to the main battle.
They didn’t need any more guidance, there were only a few more of the armoured fighters left now.
As the battle fell silent, Kalli saw one last group of figures moving in the distance. At first, she trained her rifle on them, and then realized what it was.
"Don’t shoot, that’s Esmeralda and her skeletons. She must be here for the quest completion and supplies."
The others lowered their weapons, and the Necromancer approached without her guards, looking more than a little awkward. Kalli came down from the wall to greet her, knowing that the reclusive student likely didn’t want to be here any longer than she had to.
"Esmeralda, welcome. Did you have quests to turn in?"
The Necromancer nodded silently and held out her hand for Kalli to shake.
"I have a bunch of them now. Turns out, you can keep doing the daily without turning in yesterday’s," she whispered.
"Good to know. Did you need supplies or anything?"
Esmeralda looked at the mystery boxes floating in front of her, and hurried to claim them, so she knew what she was short on.
"I need potatoes and cat food."
"I have magical potatoes, that you’ll need fewer of to keep you from going hungry. They’re twice the price, but last more than twice as long."
"I will take those. Better cat food too, if you have it."
Kalli checked, then shook her head. "For some reason, cat food is in the general supplies section, and I haven’t upgraded that yet. I can give you a recipe to make it from boar meat?"
The Necromancer shook her head. "No, I’ll take the regular. The salmon flavour if you can, that’s her favourite."
"Three points total."
They made the trade for a large sack of potatoes, and a large case of cat food that a skeleton hurried over to collect.
"Is your location still safe? The monsters were out in heavy numbers today."
Esmeralda nodded. "I upgraded many of my undead today. The pig men make great zombies, very strong. I’ve got twenty of them now."
"Alright, I won’t try to keep you here by force, I just want to make sure you’re safe."
Esmeralda gave her a gentle smile, then turned and left with her horde of undead.
"She’s an odd one, that kid," one of the newly arrived students noted. "She saved us when our shelter was being overrun, killed all sorts of the pig men, and a small army of rat demons. Then refused to take us in and told us to come here to you for shelter."
"Well, the Academy is a good secure location."
"No, I mean you in particular. In her words, ’the one named Kalli will take you in at the Academy and ensure you get rewards to keep you alive’. Then she refused to talk any more and chased us away with her skeletons."
"Well, she wasn’t wrong. It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Kalli, and I am a Coordinator Class student at the Academy. I am the completion point for most quests in the area, so when you complete them, it will inform you to come to me to get your rewards."
She shook the man’s hand, and a pair of boxes appeared in front of him.
"Those are Mystery Boxes, the usual reward for quests. Go ahead and open them."
{Mage Staff of Fireball} Uncommon Grade. Allows use of the [Fireball] spell for 5 mana per casting.
{Robes of Spell Power} Uncommon Grade. 10 armour. Increases spell power by 2 points.
"Well, now you have decent clothes, and a magical staff. I certainly hope that you’re a mage, or you just got hosed."
The man smiled. "I am. Hakim is my name, third year student before this all started."
"Everyone else, come forward and claim your prizes. I don’t know if there is a special quest for the invasion force, but there were two for the rat demons and pig men. Everyone should have completed the quests if they remembered to get into their groups as instructed."
There was some laughter, but everyone had remembered that part.
They had also managed to defend the invasion with only minor injuries, thanks to the concentrated healing of their fellow heroes. That was a huge win for everyone, and a victory for their sense of teamwork.
Getting the heroes all working smoothly together, and not just in small teams that they were comfortable with, would pay off in the long term, Kalli was certain.
But for now, it was paying off in pure experience.
There was much celebration among the students as many reached level three, and most of the new arrivals reached level two.
Even the bards had been pulled into other groups with senior students, so they didn’t miss out on the kill quest completions. Hopefully, that would be close to enough to get them past the danger point, so they wouldn’t lose their abilities when the timer was up.