Book 5: Chapter 47

A queue had formed around his kitchen, and volunteers served them food as Aaron worked tirelessly to cook various meats that filled the entire settlement with a delicious odour.

Aaron smiled as he looked over at the literal mound of cooked food. He was still busy dishing out more, but what he had would already last quite a while.

As he cooked, it almost felt like he got more thanks for his food than fighting sometimes. Although that wasn't really true, it felt like it as people collected their food and said thanks before retreating to indulge in it.

It wasn’t just the thanks that made him happy to be cooking. A big part of it was the metric fuck ton of undead they had to kill their way through. And because of the barriers protecting the constructs and the obelisks, if Aaron had been out there fighting to take them down himself, he’d have to destroy the undead along the way. And that would no doubt cause a great toll on his experience, leveling, and potentially future evolutions.

On the other hand, all those undead were a great experience for the weaker defenders. There was a snowball effect to the post-integration world. It was hard for most people to get ahead. If they weren’t strong enough to wander out into the world, it often meant they were stuck huddling around defensive structures, falling further behind their world’s progenitors.

But here, lined up on walls firing down upon waves of undead as they mindlessly threw themselves against their defenses, those same people who had fallen behind could catch up.

If not for Aaron, the weaker defenders would have had to hide behind the barrier and chug potions just to keep their strength. But his soul-mending food gave them the energy to spend hours at a time on the wall fighting and getting stronger.

Ironically, they had twisted Darius’ plan against him, and now it was working as a catalyst to help push their people to greater heights.

After all, if the undead had an undeniable advantage with their endless charging and willingness to throw their corrupted lives away, then the living had an advantage by not being static. Unlike their undead enemies, they were all growing, and not just getting stronger, but adapting to the undead fighting styles and strategies.

Where a couple dozen defenders might be required to fight back a regiment of undead only hours prior, they had quickly adapted, and the same battles were being fought with only a few.

Their teamwork was growing, too. Troops from Dober, for example, might have had experience working together as scouts, or raiding parties against beasts and stragglers left over after cleansing of obelisks. But they hadn’t fought with Desert Pythons, or even those who had come with Lance and Emmy, let alone the recent arrivals from the World Alliance. But that was quickly changing.

However, the very fact that the situation seemed to be in their favor, and shifting more so as time went on, made Aaron sit on edge. He doubted Darius had come this far, and invested this much, to attack them, just to sit back while his enemy sharpened their blades against his minions. There could be no doubt that he was planning something.

But without knowing what that was, countering it wasn’t easy. So, until then, Aaron figured their current strategy was working quite well. He could conserve his strength, save himself from tainting future Class evolutions, and help the others get stronger all at the same time.

If Darius had a plan, Aaron would deal with it when he played his cards.

Not only that, but he was getting stronger himself. As he focused on cooking, pushing the limits of his mana anchors and cycling more energy into the foods to boost their soul-mending properties, he could feel them expanding.

He was getting close now, he could feel it, and he didn’t even need a notification to remind him. However, it had been a while since he had checked the progress of his anchors, and he decided to bring up the full list and go over everything as he felt another expansion in understanding.

You have gained insight into a possible upgrade path for Mana Anchors. Current discovered upgrade paths:

Streamlined Mana Anchors 30% → 35%

Partitioned Mana Anchors 80% → 90%

Reverse Mana Anchors (40%)

Elemental Shift (Void) 15% → 20%

Expanded Mana Anchors 30% → 35%

Imbuing Mana Anchors 40% → 45%

Detached Mana Anchors (25%)

Combined Mana Anchors (35%)

Focused Mana Anchors 45% → 55%

Diffusive Mana Anchors 10% → 20%

Aaron couldn’t help smiling. His progress surprised even himself. He felt how powerful his anchors had become, and he was getting extremely close to completing his partitioned anchors, as he had wanted to.

At one point, he had considered seeing what would happen if he got all of them up to the maximum, but decided against it. According to Ernest, it would automatically finalize whatever hit 100% first, so unless he somehow managed to time it perfectly, there was no way to get all of them there. On top of that, even if it was possible, it would take too long. At his current pace, without major breakthroughs, he wouldn’t finish for a year, and he didn’t have a year to waste with Darius knocking on the world core’s door.

However, that didn’t mean all that time discovering them and leveling them up was a waste. In fact, he was fairly certain that was exactly what Yendal had wanted him to do. Find them all, get a feel for how to use them, then finalize Partitioned, as she recommended. And he was pretty sure he knew how that would turn out, and he was very excited.

Of course, raising their percentages a bit more would still be ideal, but Aaron didn’t want to take any chances against Darius, so he had hoped to fully unlock his anchors first. But now, looking back at them, he realized that might not be possible. The showdown felt like it was nearing, but as long as he had a moment to push himself, he would try to get over the line before that came.

The chapter is available on the NovelPhoenix site where the author publishes it; this page took the text without consent.

Just as he was thinking that, applause sounded beyond the walls as another wave was destroyed. It felt like they were crushing the undead waves faster than before.

Maybe I need to relax a little. It sounds like they are doing perfectly fine. I should try and enjoy the initiative while we have it.

He heard someone coming into his kitchen and turned.

“So much activity in here,” the old man said, dodging a couple of his assistants as they got food to the masses. “It is one hell of an operation you got going in here.”

“Councillor Lark? What brings you in here?”

“Ohoh, I need a reason to come see the great Aaron Dober in action? You know, I’d heard about your kitchen. I wish I could have come and visited earlier. But you know how it is. I have been running ragged with all my council obligations.”

“I can imagine. Well, this is it. Anything I can help with?” Aaron said without breaking concentration on the meats he was cooking up.

“Help me? Ha! Always got spare energy, do you? If anything, I should be asking how I can help you.”

“I’m good, mate. Unless you got a few bags of onions, and fresh bread for me to grill up with these homemade soul snags of mine.”

“Bread and onions? Hmm, I could check. I wish you’d asked sooner. We might have some amongst the supplies we brought, but not in large quantities. If we’d known–”

“It’s fine, mate. No worries. I wasn’t being all that serious.”

“Ha, so playfully cavalier as usual. But Aaron, as much as I like a good chat, I’ll be honest. I didn’t just drop by for the banter. I love what you’ve done here. The aid you provide is truly priceless. Our defenders are fighting brilliantly, and it’s all thanks to the meat you’re providing them. But sitting here in defense has its limitations. That is why we have called up a meeting with our commanders.”

“Oh? What do you need?”

“It’d be best if we talk in the company of everyone. It won’t take long. Definitely not long enough for the troops to finish off all this meat you've stocked up.”

“Alright then. Why not? You want to head off now?”

“If you wouldn’t mind.”

Kirill and Bucky were there alongside the counselors gathered in the command tent. They looked like they were trying their best to maintain respectful relations. Aaron knew they were sick and tired of dealing with the bureaucrats, but everyone understood that it was best to avoid tensions, at least for now.

“Councilor Lark has some very interesting information. I hope you all pay close attention,” the prune-lipped councilwoman said.

“Here we go,” Kirill muttered under his breath.

“I’m glad I have everyone’s attention, and I thank you all for coming here on such short notice. Now, look here. This is what our scouts have discovered,” Lark said, pointing a stick he held to a large map. “While we are managing quite well in defense, we think we should take advantage of this opportunity. Furthermore, we know how. We have discovered a means to deal our enemy a great blow. While scanning energy signals, we discovered that when we concentrate fire against the barriers around the constructs, they weaken at their rear.”

As Lark spoke, they showed some graphs that seemed to show weak spots behind the barriers.

“Our plan is quite simple. We think that if we had a decent chunk of our troops fire right here at once, it would draw enough of the barrier’s power to weaken the rear enough for someone like yourself to blast through, and take the thing out.”

“So, you’re going to shoot at the thing, and you want me to flank it from behind and burst through the barrier?” Aaron asked.

“Precisely. If we can break through the barrier, we can take out the construct and its obelisk, and go from there. If the aether barrier remains up afterward, you return to base, and we regroup before taking out the next. If not, then perhaps we’ve already won this war. Either way, if we do this quickly, it shouldn’t compromise our defenses, and at worst, we can take those obelisks one by one. It beats sitting here defending and giving Darius a chance to come up with another plan.”

“Well, I guess I don’t see any reason not to try,” Aaron said.

“Yes, if this works, it would be a great way to turn things around,” Bucky agreed. “Sitting here is making me feel uneasy about it all.”

“Fine. Let’s do it,” Kirill said begrudgingly, though his attitude seemed more pointed toward the council than the plan itself.

The moment the meeting ended, Aaron left to prepare himself. First, he made sure food would keep going without him. There was a big stockpile, but he made sure to leave some instructions for rationing if necessary.

After that, he visited the troops gathering on the wall. There must have been over a hundred, and he knew there would be more assisting from further away.

“Quite the force you’ve gathered here.”

“Yes, we’ll need the firepower,” Councilor Lark said. “Don’t worry, though. As long as the mission is completed quickly, it shouldn’t compromise our defenses elsewhere.”

“Alright, got it. Just give me the signal.”

Lark handed over the reins of the operation to Bucky and Kirill, and disappeared somewhere.

“Alright, soldiers. You know what’s expected of you. Let’s fuck these undead bastards up.”

With a wave of his hand, an array of Skills lit up the sky, shooting outward and exploding across the barrier. From farther away, those with long-range Skills and weapons like Ernest joined the attack, and soon it looked like a literal wall as various colors exploded against the barrier.

That was Aaron’s cue, and he shot off toward it. Even before he reached the construct, he could feel the tremendous power slamming into the barrier. The combined might was truly impressive, even for someone who had seen as much as Aaron.

That’s a lot of firepower.

But he didn’t waste a second thinking about it. In the blink of an eye, he had reached the rear of the barrier, and funneled enormous amounts of energy into his anchors, and slammed his fists into the barrier.

He had taken Lark’s insistence on urgency and speed to heart, and had thrown a massive amount of power into the strikes, and so his brow perked with confusion as it rippled, but held true.

“What the?”

That wasn’t all. Just like before, he could see dozens of undead exploding within the barrier as they gave their lives to keep it powered. The barrage was heavy indeed, but he saw no evidence that the rear of the barrier was any weaker than before.

Whatever strength the barrier had, it seemed linked to the undead fueling it, and there were still hundreds gathered atop the construct gladly giving themselves to it.

“What’s going on? What about Lark’s…”

Aaron’s words caught in his throat, and he got a terrible feeling. He turned, ready to shoot straight back to the settlement when he felt a powerful energy source.

It all happened extraordinarily fast, but still, he was Aaron Dober, and he dodged just in time to avoid a corrupted aether-filled attack from below as a spectral being floated straight up through the ground.

“An ambush?”

But if only that was all. He could survive an ambush. But at that moment, the barrage slamming into the barrier all but stopped, and through the corner of his eye, he spotted flashes of Skills and explosions rippling through the settlement.

He’d been tricked.

Energy swelled up in his feet and ghost wings, but before he could go and assist the defenders, his spectral assassin struck again, corrupted aether pouring out and seeping into his ghost wings.

“Piss off, you bloody bastard!” Aaron huffed as he swung a punch at it, but the creature phased through it.

He could feel that his aether-empowered fist had done damage to the spectre, despite its attempts to avoid it, but that wasn’t the problem. It was using some kind of Skill to hold him down and disable his wings.

Could he break out of it? Probably. But would it be in time to save the Oasis?

“You’re pissing me off!” Aaron roared as he punched it again. If it wasn’t going to let go, then he would blast it to bits.