Weapons of Mass Destruction

After Hela escapes, the attacks stop as well, though I think the real reason has more to do with Morwag’s arrival rather than the velnar’s retreat. Morwag charges toward the source of the attacks, letting the projectiles crash harmlessly against his body or turning them into colorful mist before they reach him.

Weslin, seemingly unfazed by the long dagger still lodged in his torso, studies the ring he took before tucking it away into his pocket and tossing the severed finger behind him.

Just in case I burn the finger, which earns me a raised eyebrow.

“You ok?” I ask, pointing at the dagger.

“Pulling it out feels risky. Whatever it does can wait until I’m back at the branch, with Doc there to hold me down. Until then, the pain is bearable.” As he speaks, the red glow slowly fades from his eyes.

I nod and decide to respect his decision.

When the attacks finally stop, work resumes, and the outpost nears ignition. Only around a week remains.

The rest of the day is uneventful with no more surprise attacks, even though Morwag still seems to be having fun somewhere in the distance.

When we reach the city at nightfall, Weslin goes straight to the basement and signals for the healer on duty.

I watch him descend the stairs, steady despite the weakness clearly creeping in.

The next day, we barely return to the outpost when the long-range bombardment starts up again. I pick up the defense, mindful of my reserves. I track the projectiles and activate the barriers only where needed. It is a riskier option, but it’s also much more mana-efficient. It just requires fast channeling, good tracking, and enough processing. And unfortunately for the assholes attacking us, I have all of that.

The black orb is already floating next to me, and I send it into the trajectory of the stronger mana attacks. So far, it’s been easy to call the orb back and control it, but the more mana it gathers, the harder it becomes.

If there is an attack based on fragments or primordial energy, I manifest a more powerful segment of a barrier to clash against it.

In some ways, it’s actually kind of fun. Sometimes they just send a few strong attacks at a time. Other times, they try bombarding us with a volley of weaker ones from every direction. And they keep trying to be sneaky about it, too, throwing in traps, disruptions, and other bullshit.

So far, I’ve come to recognize the mana signatures of around five people, three more with primordial energy based attacks, and two more using fragments. Over time, I learn these signatures and connect them to their attacks, slowly learning the tendencies of each user.

For example, there’s this one bastard I am sure has the Regeneration upgrade for mana. He or she prefers weaker attacks but creates a lot of them, usually trying to change their direction at the last moment to counter my strategy of activating only the necessary barrier segments.

Another one with Potency likes to compress their projectiles as much as possible and shoot them straight ahead, leaving a trail of mana behind it. The idea is likely to make the projectile move faster than my black orb can devour it or outstrip my reaction speed. These attacks usually come in the middle of the heaviest bombardments, too.

I had hoped some of them would be at the level of Tess’s railgun-like projectiles or my lances, yet none seem to have quite that level of piercing power. Even though I would be in trouble if they did, I still hoped for it. It’s the sort of thing I’ll need to overcome sooner or later.

This particular group of ten always runs when Morwag stops by the outpost. For a while, they tried attacking even with him here, but after a few minutes, he got pissed off at the bombardment and charged them. So they disappear, clearly having some kind of teleportation they can use to escape.

I even thought about charging them myself, but every so often, they split into two or three groups to attack from different sides, so it would leave the outpost exposed if I attacked at the wrong time.

Lately, they’ve even learned to stop their attacks when Morwag passes, since they know it annoys him and makes him charge. Instead, they wait for him to leave before resuming the bombardment.

And of course, I constantly expect Hela to appear and strike, and something tells me Weslin would appreciate the rematch. Maybe he wants to chomp on more of her fingers.

A day ago, we heard that more guild members were attacked near several outposts, and a few were even killed. The demon members of the group were found with their chests cut open, their Demon hearts missing.

Currently, the Primordial Knights have stopped recruitment for now, trying to prevent spies from slipping in. Some newer members are being examined, too, after suspicions of information leaks.

The outpost in Black Tower is the safe zone where we have the biggest guild branch, but there are several others nearly as large.

Morwag is clearly being hunted and targeted, or they’ve at least been trying to hunt him down. So far, there have been three major attacks on him, always led by Hela and backed by multiple powerful A-ranks. They’ve tried poisoning him, ambushing him with a suppression field. They tried to lure him into a warren of confined tunnels somewhere deep underground. Assassins, strikes from the shadows, attempts to wear him down with swarms of lesser attacks before moving in for the kill.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

The only outcome is that Morwag appears to be enjoying himself. Sometimes he joins us just to talk for ten minutes straight about the latest “fun” attack they’ve made against him.

Just his presence here shifts some of the pressure off us. The question is whether they’re targeting him because he is the strongest member here, or because they want his heart.

Well, the others can think about that anyway. Talon, the Branch leader, and some of the others have already been discussing it extensively as they gather more information. Somehow, it’s amusing how Talon snuck his way into our leadership. But I guess there just aren’t many people here who like to deal with that kind of stuff. A big portion of the Primordial Knights are demons, and demons are not exactly diplomatic or patient enough for that sort of thing.

I cut off my thoughts as another barrage of attacks rises. This time, I dig deeper into my reserves, connecting to the array and covering the entire outpost in a translucent pale blue barrier.

Its surface wobbles and ripples from the impacts as dozens of projectiles smash against it. Up above, a green cloud forms, and soon a green rain starts falling, droplets gliding along my barrier and corroding it in the process. More clouds gather, the rain intensifies, and the other attacks light up the area in colorful flashes.

“Need help with that crap? It’s some kind of weird fragment, but I can cut it off with my void,” Weslin says next to me.

“No need. Keep watching for Hela.” I answer as I focus on the attack. In some way, it is pretty to watch that green cloud, and rain fall against my barrier in a constant attempt to melt a path through it.

Ten minutes later, he asks again, ‘Why aren’t you getting rid of it? You could have, you know.'”

I nod. “I could, but it’s fascinating to watch. Probably not all that old or strong of a fragment, but I have to keep modifying my barrier, and that thing keeps evolving to counter it. I’m using it for training. Also, it is connected to someone five miles away, so I’m carefully tracking the connection.”

“Why?”

“That dumbass has been keeping it in place for feedback so he can modify the clouds and the weird rain. But where there’s a way in, there’s a way back. Sure, there are a few safeties in place, but I think I can do it.”

At this point, my Mana Wavelength Iris is at its limit. It takes ten minutes longer, but I manage. By then, it had already been half an hour since I started gathering a mix of thermal and kinetic energy inside an orb shielded from any prying eyes.

One of my Ley Lines is also reaching out in that direction. This one is made to be single use, as undetectable as possible, even compared to the obscurity of the normal ones. It will break apart when I send the orb through, unable to handle the load with how thin I made it, but it’ll be good enough for a single strike.

In a few more seconds, everything falls into place. The frequencies align, the orb is ready, and the dumbass is attacking again, his concentration slipping in the process.

My mana flares up along with my [Eclipse]. My control rises like the moon obscuring the sun, overshadowing and taking over as I match the frequencies.

The orb disappears, and I cut off the connection so they can’t just send it back. Another pulse from me shoots toward the clouds, disrupting their base and causing them to start breaking apart.

I count the following seconds.

Three.

Two.

One.

No kill notification, disappointingly.

So I channel my mana, making it roar through my body and spill outside. There is so much of it that my unique arcane passive strengthens from the sheer amount. A tricolored orb forms in front of me, as big as my fist.

Then I send it to the mark I left hidden inside the first orb I sent through. A tiny core no bigger than a grain of rice, yet still serving as a [Tether].

This time, there is an explosion a few miles in the distance, but it bursts in one direction only, which means they likely redirected it or defended only the side they were on instead of containing it fully.

Quite competent, aren’t they?

I send another tricolored orb, and this time, a bigger explosion rocks the area. Though this time, I’ve also sent one of my mana constructs along with it: another rice-sized sliver designed to track the closest mana signature. I give it a few seconds. A low-frequency signal pulses back from there as the tiny orb spends its allocated mana and triggers, which means someone tried to remove it after it successfully latched on.

Yet another of my orbs teleports through.

[You have defeated Ward Enforcer – lvl 364]

[You have defeated Ember Conjuror – lvl 366]

[You have defeated Line Breaker – lvl 341]

[Lvl 346 > Lvl 347]

I gather more mana and quickly send another orb. This time, it explodes properly, with nothing blocking it. The mana construct placed there does not latch onto anyone, even as I wait a full minute. The conclusion is simple: they ran away.

“Got three,” I tell Weslin.

“I can see you want to check things out.”

“Weslin, maybe their cowardly friends ran and left the bodies and items behind.”

“As if they would’ve left anything intact.”

“I guess,” I say, disappointed.

For a moment, I try to examine my feelings, to see how I feel about killing real people, not just natives from the tutorial. I find no regret, no disgust with myself. It is simple, kill or be killed, and it was them who started this oh so eagerly. I feel no regret for ending people like that.

When Talon moves in closer, I redirect my attention to him. From his expression, I already know it’s not good news.

“I got a message from the branch leader. Morwag destroyed a branch location belonging to one of the smaller mercenary guilds in the city. He killed three dozen of them and damaged a good sized chunk of a street. One of the servants to the master of Black Tower got super angry and threatened him, saying he would be jailed and exiled from the city at nightfall.”

“That’s like threatening him with a good time,” Weslin mumbles. “Anything else?”

Talon nods, serious. “Both Nyssa and Lyraen have left the 5th floor and entered the 4th. Everyone’s shitting themselves.”