REALM INVASION

72% ongoing

Entire sections of the realm seemed to explore, ravaged by line and point attacks. In terms of the land itself, the cure was definitely far worse than the sickness. While this was the only method of dealing with vast amounts of enemies, the attacks were indiscriminate, occasionally even threatening the existence of the echoes themselves. So far, none of them had died, but this was just the start of the battle. The difficult part was yet to come. Soon enough, Dallion’s echoes would no longer have the ability to perform such attacks and would have to rely on close combat. Even now, Ariel sat exhausted on the ground at the skill columns while another of Dallion’s echoes was protecting the site from the Star-spawn insects. Meanwhile, Dallion was running as fast as he could towards the lighthouse. He had gambled everything on the chance he’d be able to reestablish the link to the item and get Lux’s help.

You were right about this, Nil, Dallion said to himself while running. Guess I should listen to you more often, eh?

A trio of bladeroaches descended from the sky, flying directly at Dallion. Their actions were sloppy and predictable—something a mid-thirty creature would do. Despite that, they remained a pain to deal with.

Twisting around mid-step, Dallion leapt up, then did a series of slash attacks in the air. The first few strikes were easily deflected by the many blades that composed the flying cockroach. However, in doing so, the creature opened a vulnerability.

Got you, Dallion thought, thrusting the sword forward.

In his mind, he could already see the strike dissolving the creature to smoke, and was already planning how to continue the attack from there. Unfortunately, moments before hitting its target, the tip of his sword was blocked by the blade of another insect.

Working together?

Dallion spun his sword around, forcing the blade up so he could continue with the attack. The bladeroach in question died instantly, but that wasn’t what concerned him. For the creatures to coordinate their actions, they had to have a valid means of communication.

Writing, Dallion thought.

The need to observe the roaches for a bit longer prevented Dallion from killing them on the spot. Instead, he went on the defensive, blocking and evading their attacks, all the time waiting for markers to appear. After ten seconds, it became obvious that wouldn’t occur. However, they were coordinating wasn’t through standard communication. There were no rhythmic sounds, no released pheromones, not even any chance of emotion. The creatures were nothing more than empty husks controlled by something else.

A dozen more creatures joined it, following an intricate strategy aimed at gradually depleting Dallion’s health. Unfortunately for them, even several dozen insects weren’t enough to match his level or all the experience gained from the wilderness. In fact, it was the complete opposite: the more the swarm focused on him, the better it was.

Evading the creatures’ attacks allowed Dallion to build up his guard skills bonus. When it came time for him to go on the offensive, he didn’t hesitate. Killing them off in rapid succession.

TWENTY-TWENTY FIGHTER

(+2 Body, +2 Reaction)

Building up one skill bonus in order to move on to another is always a good strategy. Just be careful not to die while trying out weird combinations.

A blue rectangle appeared, marking Dallion’s achievement. It had been a while since he’d gotten any of those. Unsurprising considering that lately most of his work was in the real world. If it wasn’t for the surprise invasion, Dallion most likely would never have gone through such a sequence. Whatever he needed to capture, he didn’t attack; whatever he wanted to kill, he did so swiftly with minimal defense. Apparently, there was a whole new set of achievement bonuses out there… as long as his realm survived this.

Focusing on his athletic skills, Dallion sprinted on.

It took him several long minutes to reach the lighthouse, several minutes during which the bladeroaches kept on swarming the skill pillars of the realm. Fortunately, none of them had decreased so far. Most of the echoes had gathered on the spot, fighting off the invaders with everything they had. Ariel and another Dallion were playing their lyres, doing the best they could to slow the roaches’ advance. Sadly, even they weren’t going to hold out for long.

“Ready Lux?” Dallion asked as he reached the base of the building. “Time to let you out.”

The lighthouse had gone through a few transformations since it had first been created. Unlike the other guardians in Dallion’s realm, Lux changed his mind quite frequently, treating the appearance of his item like a shirt. In part, it had to do with his fiery personality, but also, he was too easily influenced by anyone and everyone. The first few times he had changed the lighthouse in order to impress Nox and Gleam. Then—when he had leveled up for the first time—he had Gen change it half a dozen times in order to “best reflect” the firebird’s nature. At present, the tower had a more mechanical, almost steam punky appearance, all based on Onda’s advice.

Three sections, each twenty feet high, composed the body of the structure. On top of that was the actual section, which at present had the form of a giant light crystal surrounded by a metal casing. Two things were of particular note: the crystal was completely dark, and also there was no door leading into the tower, as if it were sealed off from the realm.

Music, Dallion thought, focusing on the smooth surface.

It didn’t take long for him to spot the opening. Thanks to his music skills, it looked like a contour in the shape of a door. All that was needed was a way to cut along the lines and push it through. Normally, Nox would easily take care of that. Unfortunately, Nox was sealed off as well.

“Think I should use a like attack on this, Nil?” Dallion asked as he slid his hand on the surface of the lighthouse.

There was no answer.

“Didn’t think so,” Dallion continued. “I guess I’ll have to improvise.” Or better yet, I can do something I’ve been avoiding for over a year.

Dallion split into five instances. Three looked back, ready to react in the case of more creature attacks. Meanwhile, one of the remaining two used a skill that Dallion had told himself that he’d never use: domain invasion.

There was something oxymoronic in the notion that he used this awakened ability to reestablish a link to his own item. Normally, this was used to forcefully enter someone else’s domain and mess up as much as possible. Due to Dallion’s life on Earth, the thought was distasteful to the extreme, viewing it as a sort of mind-hacking. Right now, though, he had no choice.

Realm invasion, Dallion thought as he placed the palm of one instance on the doorway.

It was terrifying how easy it was to enter someone else’s realm. There were no checks, no logical puzzles, or strength requirements. Part of the wall just lost all consistency, becoming a wall of dust that spilled onto the ground. And to think this was a level ten ability? No wonder nobles had their realms filled with echoes. Even with the Moons’ protection, virtually anyone could enter anyone else’s realm. Potentially, the Moons kept an eye to make sure that the people didn’t abuse this strength, but even so, the prospect was alarming to say the least.

REALM INVADER

(+2 Mind)

Sneakiness and subterfuge have their advantages, just be aware that those who live by invasion die by invasion.

Waving away the blue rectangle, Dallion rushed in. Barely had he done so than a ball of blue flame emerged in front of him.

“Dal?” The ball gained form, becoming the firebird Dallion knew it to be. “What happened? You suddenly disappeared, and big bro—”

“No time!” Dallion interrupted. “Be my wings!”

Lux didn’t hesitate, instantly enveloping Dallion. A split second later, Dallion was up in the sky.

Looking at his realm from the air only made things look worse. Half of the area was devastated. The mountains were almost reduced in half, and Dallion’s forge had been completely destroyed. The achievement building had also seen considerable damage, but since it had a purely ceremonial role, there was nothing to worry about.

At least the library is intact, Dallion thought. That meant he could focus his attention on the archways.

“What are those?” Lux asked.

“Invaders. We must stop them before they trash this place.” Dallion tightened his grip on the short sword. “Fly past the arches,” he ordered. “We’re getting those first.”

“Yep! Yep!” The firebird propelled Dallion down and forward.

At Dallion’s current level, an ordinary strike would have been enough to destroy the arches. He, however, wanted to be on the safe side, so used point attacks each time. The constructs exploded to bits, creating large craters beneath them. In the process, a significant number of roaches were also killed, though not nearly enough.

With every invasion link that was destroyed, the invasion progress decreased by anywhere between three and six percent. Once the last of them were gone, though, it was still at twenty-seven percent.

It has to be the insects, Dallion thought. Initially, he thought that breaking the arches would be enough to end the attempt. The lack of rectangles suggested that he still had to deal with the pests already in his realm in order to claim victory.

“Lux, take me to the awakening area!” Dallion shouted.

Both his arms were almost numb. Never before had he done so many attacks of this nature at once. And yet, looking at the situation, it seemed he had barely made a dent in the enemy forces. His echoes weren’t faring too much better, either. Ariel was still alive, but half of the remaining four had been killed by the swarm. The survivors were desperately trying to protect the skill pillars, but that too was proving increasingly difficult. Several roaches had attached to the skill pillars, covering several frames at once. The attack section was the obvious choice, but also the zoology one as well.

Interesting choice. “Lux, get me there!”

In a flash the firebird accelerated then topped with such aggressiveness that Dallion felt like puking. Still, his body trait was high enough to prevent such an outcome.

“Ariel, play slowness!” Dallion slashed at the creatures covering the attack skill pillar.

The melody coming from the white-haired echo changed. A deep slowness filled the air, affecting the invaders as if they had been surrounded by jelly.

Now! Dallion stopped peeling off creatures from his pillars. “Lift me up!” he shouted.

The moment he got above the level of the pillars, he did one final line attack, forming a full circle. The thread of death expanded in all directions. Several rows of bladeroaches broke up in pieces, dissolving almost immediately into smoke.

“Finally,” Dallion whispered, barely able to hold the sword.

Alas, his joy was short-lived. While many of the creatures nearby were killed by his attack, those further away were smart enough to move away just in time. The attack passed by them, crashing into the mountain behind or continuing to the horizon. The end result was that only a fraction of the total amount was killed off.

Even slowed down? Dallion looked at the red rectangle floating in the air.

REALM INVASION

24% ongoing

That wasn’t good at all! He and his echoes had spent all their energy and had only dealt with three quarters of the invading force.

“Free your skills!” Ariel shouted, changing melody once more. “You’ll need them more than anything.”

“Right!” Dallion looked back down. That was the only silver lining. With most of the creatures in the vicinity dead, he’d have no trouble picking off those who were blocking his skills. Once that was done, all Dallion had to do was hold the line and—

Four more archways emerged from the ground. All of them were twice the size of those before, placed in different parts of the realm. Taking them all out was going to be impossible, especially now that Dallion wasn’t sure he could do any more like or point attacks.

REALM INVASION

47% ongoing

The numbers on the rectangle changed again.

“Crap…” he whispered. He had been looking at this all wrong. The rectangle hadn’t been displaying his progress, but that of the invaders. So far, he had managed to save his realm by preventing the invasion from succeeding, but he hadn’t stopped it. All that he’d done was get a slight reprieve.