The Path of Ascension

The two of them ran the rest of their way back, and Matt noticed there was a great deal of bustle for both sides. It seemed that everyone was rushing to make up for lost time, compared to the slight lull that had happened before the auction.

It could also be the rulers pushing each side to earn more points. They have to both be desperate to win the staff and gauntlet. I can’t say I blame them. Those items seem incredible, and they weren’t even made for me.

Matt and Conor burst into their suite of rooms and saw that everyone else was already getting ready. Liz threw Matt his under armor clothes, which he slipped on, and he slung his bag over his shoulders in a swift moment.

Conor took longer with his full metal plate armor, but his teammates helped to expedite the process. In five minutes, they were on their way down to the teleporter room, only to find a mass of people milling around the entrance.

The door opened, and a woman’s voice called out, “Quill’s team, you’re up."

There was a shout from a small group, then a shoving as they made their way forward.

The same voice shouted out again, “If your scheduled time isn't in the next hour or less, go away. Come back then. The teleporter is busy, so we won't be doing early jumps.”

“Fuck!” Annie looked ready to fight at the realization.

Liz shrugged and offered, “Want to go back to our room for the next two hours or so?”

Emily kicked at the ground and added her two cents. “Or we stand around like these guys. I guess the three-hour time slot was an actual time to leave, and not a suggestion.”

Matt felt dumb as they trooped back to their room. He knew it wasn’t true, but he felt like everyone they passed was watching them. It was just in his head, but he felt foolish for their rushing.

They all sat awkwardly around their common room for a while. before Liz threw on a random show for them to watch. Conor was the only one who removed any of his armor, only his chest plate. It was, as Matt knew from his training at the orphanage, the most uncomfortable portion of plate armor to wear for a long period of time.

It was the first time Matt truly understood the phrase, ‘hurry up and wait’ from all the war movies he had seen. They were rushed to get ready for combat, then expected to wait around for their time slot.

Two excruciating hours later, they backpacked Aster and headed down at a more sedated pace, just to wait in line now that their teleport time was closer.

They still had to wait another forty five minutes for their exact time slot. From their observations, it was obvious that the in-planet teleporter only worked every five minutes, severely limiting the number of teams able to go out.

“Team Bucket? Your turn.”

There was a noticeable air of confusion at the team name, and as Liz kicked at the dirt, she sheepishly mumbled, “I thought it was funny. Sorry.”

Now that Matt knew what it was, he started laughing. It was funny. He liked the bucket of skills they had and how ridiculous it was.

They moved forward and through the crowd to reach the door and entered the same teleporter room they used last time.

A woman walked beside them and hastily barked at them, “The objective is to tie down the medium fort and keep the defenders from leaving. If you can take the fort, do so, and you will be doubly rewarded. More information is in the AI packet.” She took a single breath before she asked, “Questions?”

None of them said anything, and they were then guided to the circle of runes that would teleport them to the nearest city.

They arrived in a flash, and were hurried out of the city center by a uniformed official. They quickly jogged to the entrance of the city before boarding their various flying devices and taking to the air.

Matt was reviewing what he knew of the medium forts, and comparing it to what his AI had on file about them. They were larger than the forts they had charged previously, and usually protected a strategic asset, whereas the smaller forts acted like a fence to guard the more valuable areas.

The medium forts were wider and covered a larger area with both their physical walls and their protective formations. According to the information survey, there was a simulated, high-value ore vein slightly to the west of the fort. It was in the perfect position to provide the occupying faction control over the area, and an opportunity to collect points.

The fort itself was 50% larger than any they had encountered in the war thus far, with an interior tower two stories higher.

Overall, he thought they could take the fort if it was staffed by the usual number of guards. They just needed to draw the defenders out, and let Annie use her invisibility to sneak in and start wreaking havoc. She could even just open the gates for them. Ideally, they would be able to lure at least a small number of defenders to protect the simulated mine. According to the rules set down, any simulated resource had to be protected in order to keep generating points, as any real one would.

The reward for taking a medium fort was listed at 5,000 points, and Matt was eager to collect. Taking it as a solo team, Matt expected even more when it was all said and done. That didn’t even take into account the number of defenders they would be killing, or the additional rewards from the Kingdom.

The largest catch of the assault would be at least one Tier 7 guarding the fort. If they were lucky, there might even be two or three. It was how the Kingdom was deploying them, and their intelligence report suggested that the Queendom was doing the same. Still, it wasn’t anything they couldn’t handle, which was why Matt started briefing his team about his idea as they flew.

***

Matt lay behind a short bush atop the hill overlooking the simulated mining site. It was about two miles away from the target fortress, and the Queendom had created a small wooden wall around the simulated mine. He peered through the sparse underbrush, and watched as people stood around the building next to the hole that was the mine.

There was a guard station in the small wooded palisade that the defenders had erected so they wouldn’t be out in the open.

Matt breathed slowly and deeply as he kept watch.

Their plan was laid out. They just were waiting for the signal.

“I’m in place.”

With that message from Annie, he slithered back down the hill, and with Conor’s help, pushed the boulder they had prepared beforehand. They got it right under the crest of the hill, and set their feet before looking at each other around the backside of the massive rock.

“Ready?” Matt grunted out the question. Even with [Mages Retreat] active, this rock was still just over 3 feet tall, almost halving Matt’s six and a half foot frame. On top of that, it was made from Tier 4 material. While the boulder’s lighter than it would be if it was of a higher Tier, it’s still incredibly heavy.

Conor didn’t respond verbally, and just started to shove, and Matt quickly joined him. They grunted as they struggled forward, and slowly, the two-and-a-half-ton boulder crested the hill and began rolling on its own.

The pair of front liners watched the boulder pick up speed as it started racing towards the bottom of the ravine, heading straight for the wooden wall.

Breathing heavily, Matt summoned his blade and started sprinting after the bouncing boulder with Conor right behind him. They screamed with what little breath they had left as they raced forward, futilely trying to catch up to the careening boulder as its multi-ton weight bounced around.

The rock had been their answer to the wooden walls that they didn’t know how to get around, but as Matt watched it bounce down the slope and build up speed, he worried that it would actually kill someone. The rock was now hurtling through the air at a frantic pace.

They struggled to keep from tripping as they ran down the steep hill, but Matt managed to see the rock obliterate the wooden wall. It passed through as if the barrier had never existed. Wooden splinters flew everywhere, and the rock flew through the building and out the other side of the wall. It continued to roll and skip up the far slope before it lost most of its momentum.

Matt cursed their luck and choice of rock as Liz sent a message. “What the fuck was that!?”

“We did the boulder plan.”

“Ascenders balls, that was a shit ton more than we wanted!”

Matt and Conor rushed the fort and started to fight the defenders who were still standing. Of the nine that were in the base, five met them with weapons drawn. The two of them limped out with clear injuries and fought at their worst, while the others had escaped the improvised missile.

During their planning phase, Emily mentioned that if they instantly wiped out the mine’s defenders, the rest would just hole up in the fort and not risk sending more people to an ambush.

That was why it was just the two of them attacking the mining base. They wanted to appear to be part of a foolhardy attack by rogue elements hoping to earn some easy points.

Liz, Emily, and Aster were waiting in a bush situated along the most likely path that the defenders’ reinforcements would come through. In the end, it all depended on Matt and Conor’s acting skills.

Through the shouting and clanging of weapons, Matt heard the orders being shouted, “Hold them down and don’t let them deeper in!”

“Hold the entrance!”

Someone else shouted, “For Ingrid! She got blasted by those bastards’ boulder. Give them no escape!”

Matt parried a blow and returned with what he hoped would come off as a lucky thrust through the defenses of the spear wielder.

They screamed and were suddenly gone as if they were never there.

He caught sight of Conor downing his opponent, and pushed forward enough for them both to get surrounded individually. Matt was trying to seem overeager after downing one of the defenders, hoping to draw more attention to himself.

Finally, the message they were waiting for arrived. “Ten people on the move. I slipped in while they went out.”

Matt grinned and burst forward with his full strength, as he felt Conor’s [Demon Zone] activate. He grabbed the Tier 5’s sword with his armored hand and thrust his longsword through their weaker chest armor. As he withdrew the blade, they vanished, and he lunged at his other attacker, taking their mace attack on his exposed head.

The Queendom fighter was too weak to damage him through [Cracked Phantom Armor], and Matt pounded them in the face with the pommel of his weapon, breaking their nose as he transitioned to a thrust towards the leader.

In three moves, three more people vanished as they were taken away by the army watchers. Matt smiled, pleased that the plan was going so well.

Conor was standing over a few spots of blood, and he saw the man return his grin from under his helm.

“Let’s go help the mages.”

Conor scoffed at Matt’s suggestion. “They don’t need our help. I bet they’re already done with the reinforcements.”

Matt shrugged; his fellow melee fighter was probably right, but they still hurried to their teammates’ AI reported locations.

They were only halfway there when they received the message that they were expecting. “Reinforcements dealt with.”

When they met up with the mages, they moved to the edge of the fort's line of sight as a group of five.

Matt was the combat leader, so he sent a message to Annie. “Annie, what’s your situation?”

“Sitting over the gate. There are five people here, and they’re debating what to do, since their links to the others all vanished. I can take them, but it will be noisy.”

Matt thought it over and had his AI run the simulations.

“Go for it. Take them out, and we’ll rush the gate at the same time. We can batter it down if we have to, but the defensive shielding will slow us down. If you can get the door open, we can back you up.”

After a long pause, they received a message. “I’ll move on your order. I’m ready whenever.”

“You’ll hear us.”

Matt looked to his teammates and explained his plan. “Conor and I in the front, blocking the archers. Stay close, and we rush them as fast as we can.”

Emily cursed quietly. “I hate these anti-flying device formations. It would be a lot easier if we could attack from above.”

“It would be, but stay low and behind us.”

Matt returned his longsword to his ring, and after digging into his spatial bag, withdrew the shield that he had used during his time as a frontliner storming the golem fortress. Conor was already in position, and they started out onto the cleared field surrounding the main fort at a steady lope.

They were a quarter of the way across the mile of cleared area when the arrows started to rain down on them. At first, it was the occasional plink of metal on metal, but as they reached the halfway point, it was like a torrent as the defenders tried to force them back.

A blast of fire impacted his shield, but Matt pushed through it and kept in line with Conor. They were nearly at the fort when a glowing blue arrow punched straight through Matt’s shield. It was stopped by [Cracked Phantom Armor], but his AI calculated that whatever skill the archer used would punch through if he gave the archer a clear shot.

It wasn’t as strong as Tara’s Tier 3 Talent that pierced armor, but it was strong enough to be an issue.

All at once, the rain-like sound of arrows disappeared, and they were under the entrance of a tunnel that was covered in arrow slits. The large wooden door was slightly ajar, and as they reached it, they could hear fighting from the inside.

Matt dropped his shield and ripped the door open as Conor rushed through with his shield and shortsword raised.

Emily was the next through, with Liz right on her heels and with Aster in her backpack looking over the blood mage's shoulders.

Matt resummoned his longsword and joined the others, only to see a floor covered in blood and Annie looking as if she had just fought Liz. His AI told him that she only had a single, light cut on her hip, which meant that it was her enemy's blood that covered the entranceway. He didn’t know how many people she had fought, but he was thoroughly impressed with her results.

Liz took a moment to gather the blood, and moved to the entrance that led into the clear area between the fortress walls and the fort itself.

“I’ll go out in golem form and move right.”

“Remember to watch out for the archer with an armour piercing skill. They’ll punch right through your golem. Use your [Blood Shield].”

“Will that block her?”

Matt waited for his AI to run the calculations before replying, “No, but it’ll make it nonlethal.”

“Got it. I’ll go out spell heavy and try to take out the remaining defenders on the wall.”

Liz exploded out of the little cover they had to a peppering of arrows and a [Fireball].

Matt and Conor gave Emily cover as they left the tunnel through the wall. To his surprise, Matt found most of the Queendoms guards already retreating back into the fort itself. Liz had seen that as well, and engaged the retreating archers. Aster was in the golem with her, and was sending shards of ice to anyone trying to flank Liz’s blood golem. Matt noticed that the pair was attracting attention from two Queendom archers on top of the fortress roof.

Matt cast [Hail] on them, and as the near-solid wall of ice fell, it forced the archers to retreat. The remaining defenders raced to join the mass of people trying to all fit through the small entrance at the base of the fortress. Annie had already reactivated her Talent in the chaos to see if she could sneak into the building.

There was shouting, and they turned to try and stop Matt and Conor’s charge as Emily cycled through sending [Water Bullet]s and [Bolt]s at the mass of people.

Every time the lance of lightning illuminated the inner courtyard, someone was teleported out. Matt wished they had more time for Emily to absorb the two skills she had, as it would take her from a two times damage multiplier to an eight times multiplier. If she was killing a person with each shot now, he marveled at what she could do when she got the extra effect. [Bolt] could chain if it had enough damage left after impact, or if there was a large amount of metal near the target. The mission had just come too soon; she had only received her [Cracked Mana Bolt] this morning.

They slammed into the mass of people who had the door shut on them, and Matt and Conor started hacking down at the Queendom fighters with large, heavy blows. Blood flew, and flesh was rent with each attack.

The screams in front of Matt were overpowered by screams coming from his left where Liz had gone to rout the archers and other ranged defenders causing Matt to glance over quickly.

***

Otto looked on in horror as the red monster ran out of the gate's guardhouse. He didn't know what it was until Lesley loosed a glowing blue arrow at the monster which caused him to do the same.

Her arrow sunk deep into it’s shoulder while his skittered off as if the monster was made from stone. He made a mental note to adjust his shots as if this was an armored target.

Otto prided himself on being the second best archer in their group but the lack of an archery skill was showing its flaws now.

“Aim for her head. It's sticking out of the thing's chest.”

As Lesley said that Otto noticed the discrepancy and loosed his own arrow at the pale face surrounded by living blood.

He had to force down his bile as the monster cut through the other archers. He knew them, spent time with them, cared for them. Otto watched them get cut to pieces.

As he withdrew and notched another arrow he was mesmerized at Harvie’s leg flying through the air and spewing blood before it all vanished. Or the flesh did. The blood was pulled into the monster as it looked up at them overhead.

With the rain of ice keeping Lesley and him pinned to one side they had the perfect view of the monster as it ran at them.

Otto repressed the twinge of fear as the golem of blood reached the base of the fort where it met the outer walls walkway. It was the second floor out of five and while they were on the roof the monster was unable to reach them.

His elation halted as the monster seemed to stick to the wall as what seemed to be frozen blood latched on and it started to climb up. The first steps were halting and it slid down twice but as he and Lesley launched arrow after arrow on the thick shoulders of the monster it grew nearer and nearer.

“We need to run!” His voice cracked which caused him to repeat the statement again only to see Lesley ignoring him.

After five useless arrow’s, the monster had reached the halfway point of climbing the wall and he repeated himself for Lesley to nod and turn towards the front of the fortress.

They had gotten a single step each, Otto froze along with Lesley as the sight sunk in.

They were trapped.

The ice skill which they had avoided by moving back was still producing at a prodigious rate and had accumulated a foot-deep pile of ice that grew each moment as more fell. The problem was it was covering the front half of the fort's roof. Where the trap door was.

“Fuck!” Their exclamations were said nearly in unison.

Otto withdrew another arrow but fumbled it as he leaned over to launch his arrow.

The monster was only a foot beneath them.

Yellow eyes met his.

He stumbled back but that was the only thing that saved him from a whip of blood that cracked the air with its passage. The snap was so high pitched it hurt his ears and then it was too late.

The monster was on the roof.

Lesley had retreated and loossed her [Charged Shot] skill enhanced arrow. His Tier 6 team leader's shot was deadly and at this range she couldn't miss and the skill made sure it couldn't be blocked.

Until today.

The arrow was deflected off a flat plane of blood and ice causing the shot to careen off to the side of the woman's head. He saw a wince as two tenderals of blood lashed out and Lesley twisted to avoid them.

He, still on his back, scooted away and notched another arrow before his legs stopped working.

Otto looked down to see why he wasn't moving to find his legs were gone and then the pain hit.

He screamed.

Through the pain he tried to lose the arrow but found a bird claw descending towards his face.

Otto’s last sight was of Lesley being impaled from behind as the ice on the roof rose up and a rain of blood like bullets killed his friend.

Suddenly the pain stopped and he was momentarily disoriented in a wave of purple then laying in a hospital bed with a view of Lesley’s hole filled body and glassy eyes staring back at him from one bed over.

He overheard someone saying they got overwhelmed and cursing followed but his eyes were locked on Lesley.

Her mouth moved and she tried to say something to him but it was lost in all the other screaming.

Otto reached out to help her but she was swarmed by people in healer's robes and suddenly he was surrounded as well.

“It's ok now.” An older man stood over with only his eyes visible from his sanitary clothing.

His eyes were a kind brown that spoke of the soft soil of his family's backyard. It felt so far away and so long ago that he had seen it last.

Otto felt everything going cold and wondered if he was going to die.

The healer said something but he missed it.

What does a dead man need words for?

He didn't die. The pain receded not long after and he looked down to see his legs were now attached and the healers gone. He wiggled his toes and found everything still worked.

A nurse, a tired looking man, reached out with a hand and said something he missed.

Otto focused on the man's uncovered mouth and finally pieced together what he was trying to say.

“Come with me. We have a nice peaceful place to stay.”

He was led to a comforting room that looked like a garden mixed with a petting zoo.

At his guide's instance he was sitting by a tree where a curious rabbit wandered over to him and then climbed into his lap.

He idly stroked the soft fur as the events replayed themselves over and over. Blood and pain.

Otto pulled himself out of his thoughts and looked around. A few people in healer's robes moved from person to person but he was confused at their purpose as some stopped to talk and others moved on. It didn't take long for him to realize that they were checking up to the people who were breaking down and talking to those that needed it.

He refused to be one of them.

His pride won out until he remembered the taloned foot descending onto his face. If the watcher had been any slower…

He swallowed hard and focused on the soft fur in his lap until Lesley was led in and he noticed her clothes were replaced with a white set he hadn't noticed himself wearing either. Everyone was but he had somehow missed the change of clothes. He didn't know why he was focusing on that but he was unable to take his mind off the incongruity.

That was until Lesley saw him and burst into tears. His strong resolute team leader slumped to the ground in front of him and wept into the soft grass.

Otto couldn't hold it in any longer and did the same as he watched her. Great wracking sobs tearing out of him.

He didn't know who moved first but they were embracing, they weren't close friends but they had grown close over the last month of war preparation and then the week of standing guard. As her second in command over the archers they spent a lot of time together.

In the end it just felt good to be held and that just caused the emotions to pour out faster until both of them were finally drained.

***

Matt brought his sword around and cut into a hip. Most of the defenders, who were locked out of the fort by one of their faster comrades, were Tier 5 and unable to stand up to a group of Pathers a Tier higher than them. A few of them were Tier 6, but they fared no better, as Matt ignored their attacks that simply bounced off [Cracked Phantom Armor]. He used the openings from their failed attacks to finish them off.

After a minute of frantic fighting they were standing alone, only left with the sound of blame being passed around inside of the fortress.

Matt smiled when he heard the shouting. Two of the people who made it in blamed the other for closing the door too early, and the other insisted that they saved them by shutting the door early. It had been them or the people outside, after all.

Stopping [Hail], Matt began charging his blade with mana, and as it reached 1000 mana, he brought the glowing blade around on the door. He released [Mana Charge] onto the wood and metal just before impact.

The door cracked and splintered at the loud explosion, but held. The fortress had a reinforcement enhancement that allowed it to resist more damage, but thankfully, the shielding formation was only on the outer wall to prevent ranged attacks. The inner fort had to make due with the simpler rune.

As he readied a second attack, Annie messaged them, “Got a line to the second floor.”

Matt paused for a heartbeat and said, “Conor go with her. Emily and I will keep their attention down here.”

Half a minute later, he slammed another [Mana Charge] into the door, causing another loud explosion.

He unleashed three more attacks before a hole appeared at the top of the door, and a [Fireball] greeted him. With his reflexes perfected beyond the norm for Tier 6, Matt was able to duck the attack, and Emily returned the spell with one of her own.

The [Bolt] caused a scream that indicated someone else was out of the battle.

He checked everyone’s overlays and found that Emily, Liz, and Aster were all at around half mana. It would cause them to start rationing their spells. Conor was the one who surprised him during his check. The man had mentioned that his Tier 3 Talent let him sustain mana, and he was currently sitting at around seventy five percent. His AI made a note that he was able to hold the mana hungry [Demon Zone] for so long, which meant that his Talent gave him back quite a bit of mana.

The next blow of his sword blew away enough of the door for him to see that the defenders had stacked tables and chairs over the entrance. This time, Matt charged a [Mana Slash] that he used to cut through the debris. Its penetrating power was stronger, while [Mana Charge] had more blunt damage.

Another scream came from inside the fort, and after charging his sword once again, Matt jumped through the now broken down door. He was immediately met by another [Fireball] to the face. It washed over [Cracked Phantom Armor], but wasn’t able to break through, only straining his control over the skill. From the feedback his skill gave him, he guessed that the mage was a peak Tier 6, or weak Tier 7.

He landed with a skid, as the floor was slick with something, and he tumbled across the room as another wash of flame hit him. The oil he slipped in caught fire with him, but its slower damage was far easier for [Cracked Phantom Armor] to handle. The flames from the oil were nothing compared to the skills that ate through the mana flowing through [Cracked Phantom Armor]’s structure.

He stood, and with the fire blocking his vision, relied on his spiritual sense to find his nearest enemy. His AI indicated that it was the mage who had lit him on fire, so he decided to return their gift and tackled them into the still burning oil. With a thought, he created spikes on his armored fists.

It took three blows for the person under him to vanish, and Matt was quickly running low on air. His armor would block the flame, but the fire was burning all of the oxygen around his face, and his already taxed muscles were growing desperate for air. If he had known this would happen, he would have taken their underwater breathing broach. He could have used it to expand his breath-holding abilities.

Drawing from his rechargeable mana stone for a full mana pool, he quickly cast [Create Water] over his head before his active skills drained him down to one percent of his maximum mana. There, his regeneration could handle the costs of his core skills that were constantly running.

With the fire extinguished, Matt let the water skill run, as the mana cost to continue was nothing to him. The first breath was sweet as his armor filtered out the smoke, and he finally saw a burnt-out bottom floor of the fortress.

Matt went to move up the stairs, only to get messages from Liz and Annie in almost unison, causing him to pause.

“Top floor is clear.”

“Conor and I cleared the middle floor.”

Matt sent back, “Bottom floor burnt out but clear. That leaves a floor between each of us.” He thought for a second before asking, “Anyone kill the Tier 7?”

At the chorus of no’s, he said, “Annie and Liz, clear the floor between you two. Emily and I will clear the floor between you and us. I expect Tier 7 to be between the top floor and the middle one.”

Emily was now in the room, with a wet cloth wrapped over her mouth and nose.

She private messaged him, “The fuck are you made out of? I saw you burning.”

Out loud he responded, “My armor is great for low damage over a long time. What it can’t handle are single big hits.”

She nodded at that and turned to the stairs leading to the second floor.

“Ready?”

Matt didn’t verbally respond, he just moved forward after finding his blade along the far wall. The staircase ran along the outer wall, and they rushed up the stairs and to the door, only to find it unlocked and unbarred. He burst through and found not a single person inside. From the fighting he could hear from above, he assumed that Liz, Conor, and Annie were fighting the remaining defenders.

He and Emily ran up the stairs, but the fighting was already over when they arrived. Their team was simply standing around, while the floor was covered in blood and debris.

Matt went over to Liz and Aster and asked, “What happened?”

As he approached them under the pretense of scratching his bond, he activated his Concept, but Liz grabbed his wrist and privately messaged him.

“No. Don’t do that. It’s too obvious right now.”

He did as she asked. She was right, the others could see her mana pool’s percentage, and if it rapidly filled, it would be far too obvious. He sighed as Liz explained what she and Aster had gotten up to.

“Aster and I fought our way along the wall, then climbed to the roof where we could fight the other two archers. Good call on the shield skill. The archer was on the roof and got a good, skill enhanced shot off, but with my Concept reinforcing the spell it blocked the arrow. After that, I cleared the roof, then Annie, Conor, and I fought nearly a dozen people in this room. The Tier 7 was a melee fighter, so it wasn’t that bad. I just flooded the area of the room he was in.”

He looked to Annie and Conor to hear about their floor.

“We had a few people in the middle floor, since it had a door leading to the wall, but nothing crazy. Easy enough that there’s nothing to report.”

Matt nodded. “Liz, report in for us while Annie gets her hip looked at. Conor and I will go repair what defenses we can. I think we’ll be told to hold this location, so let’s prepare for that.”

Emily was already looking at her sister’s wound, and he and Conor moved to the bottom floor, while Liz and Aster moved to the roof to message someone back at headquarters.

Matt couldn’t wipe the grin off his face. They had only been expected to harass the fort, but they had managed to take it.

As he and Conor boarded the gatehouse back up, they discovered that the door was cracked and didn't sit right in its frame. Neither of them knew how it happened. They could only speculate that it was when Annie managed to get the door open for them. Breaking the door wouldn’t have been a bad move for the defenders if it kept them out.

After that was taken care of to the best of their ability, Matt left Conor to go charge the base’s mana stone located on the second floor. It still had half a charge, but he topped it off with his own mana. Meanwhile, he drained a single mana stone to spread some dust around the crystal, and hide the fact he filled the fort's power reserves himself. It was some plausible deniability, at least.

Liz messaged everyone while he was standing around the fort’s mana stone. “They want us to hold the fort. They didn’t expect us to take it and are scrambling to get us reinforcements.”

“Did they have an estimated time?”

“Three hours at the earliest.”

That wasn’t that bad, and Matt moved back outside to join Conor and watch their surroundings.

While keeping watch, he checked his messages from the army AI, and smiled at the points he had earned.

Team Merits.

Forty Alliance of Allied Queens Tier 5s killed. 1 point each.

Eleven Alliance of Allied Queens Tier 6s killed. 5 points each.

One Alliance of Allied Queens Tier 7 killed. 25 points.

Mining site captured. 500 points.

Medium fort captured. 5000 points. Two times normal points are awarded for solo team capture. 10,000 points.

Items and equipment looted but returned. 624 points.

Personal Merits.

Nineteen Alliance of Allied Queens Tier 5s killed. 1 point each.

Seven Alliance of Allied Queens Tier 6s killed. 5 points each.

Medium fort captured. 5000 points.

Matt couldn’t remove the grin from his face. He had earned 16,298 points, just from this mission. He had little doubt that the Kingdom would also reward them for their surprisingly successful operation.

The fact that they got double the expected points from taking the fort made him want to dance on the walls as he kept watch. Getting rewarded for taking the fort as a team and as a personal merit was interesting, but it was enough to make him start planning the next mission.

If they repeated this feat a few more times, they would have more than enough points to get the Tier 14 skills they wanted, along with some of the top tier items in the price range of hundreds of thousands of points.

He spoke to Conor as they passed each other on their opposite paths of walking the wall.

“We made out like bandits on this one.”

Conor grinned and fist-bumped Matt as he passed. “We need to see if we can do this again. I could use the points.”

Matt laughed at him and called out over his shoulder, “Great minds think alike. I can’t resist the lure of these points.”

The six of them watched the fort for four hours with the expectation that their reinforcements would arrive soon. They had been told it was taking longer, but they were already an hour late.

None of them minded the extra wait. It was free points, after all.

Liz, on the top of the fort with Emily, called out, “I see something.”

Matt looked where she was pointing, but it wasn’t from the southeast as he expected. No, it was from the north. Queendom territory.

“How many?”

“I can’t tell. I only got a glimpse. They were flying low.”

Matt thought hard. “Call it in and ask about the state of our reinforcements.”

A moment later, Liz said, “We are commanded to hold. Reinforcements are fifteen minutes out.”

Matt nodded. It seemed like a reasonable call. The approaching enemies would take time to get here, and he doubted they would engage immediately, allowing their reinforcements to scare them off. He doubted that either side was sending more than the fifty people who usually held a medium fort.

They would just need to defend the fort for a short while.

He and Conor moved to the front gate to see the approaching attackers. There were nearly one hundred people. Far more than he expected, but with the defender's advantage, he expected that they could hold them off until their reinforcements arrived.

There was a special irony about defending the fort they just took over, but he tightened his grip on his blade and watched as the group of Queendom fighters advanced.

He looked to Conor as he stood next to him and said, “You know what the Queendom defenders did?”

“Yeah?” Conor didn’t look away but sounded confused as he replied.

“Yeah, we’re gonna take that, and do the opposite.”