Part Ninety-Five

“Ah, I’m sorry. She left a few minutes ago. I believe she said she was going to take a nap.”

“Tch, figures. Well, thanks anyway.”

I’d tried to do as Braddock asked, but turned up empty. Kalia had already left by the time I got there.

Well, I guess I could go check on her. He did ask me to…….. No, that’s a terrible idea. If she went to go take a nap, then I should leave her be. I’ll just go tell Braddock that, and he can go bother her. Yes, this is a very good plan to avoid having to do anything.

But on the way back, a now-familiar sound alerted me to a massive change in in Dungeon.

*Ka-clunk*

::Dungeon Scenario Update:

Remaining Challengers: 532.

Mid-bosses remaining: 1 of 3.

Monster Army Remaining: 54.2%

The Dungeon Boss will arrive one day after all Mid-bosses and 90% of the Monster Army are killed.

Determining Reinforcements………….Complete.

Two Thousand, One Hundred and Twenty-Eight NPCs will be generated, and added to Fort Aries’s defenses.::

W-what!?

I took off sprinting through the fort, heading straight for where Braddock was waiting. But as I came around a corner and saw the courtyard where the array was at, I skidded to a halt in utter shock. Hundred of NPCs stood in orderly lines, and more were emerging from the flashes of light erupting from the array.

“Well, guess the Archmage came through with those reinforcements, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess he did. Holy cow, there sure are a lot of ‘em. But I feel like, like we’re now drastically outnumbered by the NPCs.”

“Hm, you have a point there. There were already twice as many of them as us, but now? Now there must be close to eight for every one of us. Let’s just hope they don’t turn on us.”

The Commander had arrived on the scene while we talked, and after a short conversation with the more elaborately decorated NPCs, they began to disperse throughout the fort. Most were heading for the barracks, but I saw several follow behind the Archmage.

Ah, those must’ve been more mages. And those must be, must be? Okay, what the heck are they?

The group that caught my eye was wearing a rather strange set of armor. Most NPCs wore the kind of armor you’d expect knights or soldiers from medieval Europe to be wearing. But these, these guys were cloaked in a strange black fabric from head-to-toe, cloth which molded to their forms. Honestly, their get-ups just screamed assassin, so much so that I seriously doubted they actually were.

Human Headhunter

Rank: C

Description: A human soldier specialized in murder and mayhem. Assigned to protect Fort Aries while it is under siege from a Monster Army.

Yep, definitely assassins. I mean, yeah. What was I expecting?

The Headhunters weren’t the only specialized NPCs I saw either. While their numbers were always less than five dozen, there were multiple groups of these elite NPCs present, each one sporting their own special name.

Welp, this seems more and more game-like by the day. It was bad enough that the NPCs could endlessly respawn, but now the System just makes more of them? Please tell me there’s at least rules to when it can do this. Otherwise it could just swarm us with monsters or NPCs and kill us all. Okay, stop it with the bad thoughts.

“So, did you talk to Kalia?”

Braddock snapped me out of it before my thoughts could spiral too deep into the paranoia. And reminded me of why I came back in the first place.

“She apparently went back to her room for a nap. And since I don’t feel comfortable barging in there to check on her….”

“Fine, I’ll go check on her myself. Oh, did you get that thing you needed from the Commander?”

“Yeah, I think so. I haven’t gone to check it directly, but it looks like it’s the right thing. I’d prefer to wait until tonight or later to actually check it though. I don’t want to complicate our upcoming fight.”

“All right.”

Well that’s done. Now, what the hell do I do next? I’ve probably got a few hours until the monsters attack, so what to do until then? Training. That’s about it really. Oh, and I’ve got that ring to check too. Guess there’s more to do than I thought.

***

[Alicia’s POV]

“Haap! [Stun Strike]!”

A burst of sparks struck the dummy in front of her, barely damaging it. That was all right though, as her intent had been to merely learn to aim the spell. She’d need a live target to test its offensive power on later though.

Oh God, I’m thinking like Michael now. Better purge those thoughts before they take root. I don’t want to be a battle junkie.

After she’d learned to cast [Stun Strike], she’d had the idea to come to the training grounds to practice. The wide-open space was perfect for practicing magic. She could even ask one of the NPC mages for advise if she needed it. The only issue would be if Michael came by and saw her casting, but she’d cross that bridge when it came to her. After casting [Stun Strike] three more times, she decided to move onto the next step.

When casting magic, any mage will always run into the same simple but confounding problem: Range. A caster can only cast spells within a certain radius of themselves. This radius is usually referred to as a Mage’s Domain, a space in which their magic is supreme. Battles between mages are often settled when one brings the other into their Domain.

The size of one's Domain was determined by several factors like mana capacity, mana control, whether or not one had an Aura, and a dozen other factors. In general, newbie mages like Alicia or Michael have a Domain of about a yard, give-or-take a bit. An experienced caster like the Archmage would have one dozens to hundreds of times bigger than that. Also, magic that requires a catalyst would have an even shorter Domain, meaning it’s bound to be cast closer to the caster.

As for why all this was important, well it was because Alicia had stumbled onto a slight problem. Simply put, [Stun Strike], and probably [Spark Burst] as well, had a very limited range. While projectile spells would shoot away from their caster, at least until they fizzled out, Alicia had found that she couldn’t even hit a target with [Stun Strike] if they were too far away. She of course wasn’t aware of the issue of Domains, but had nonetheless rationalized that something similar must be happening. And she’d long already had a possible solution.

Okay, Kalia said my best bet was to set the spell up at the same time that I’m trying to use Imbuement. I’m probably going to fail a few dozen times, but if this works. It’ll give me a whole new avenue of attack methods.

While a single arrow to the vitals was usually enough to kill weaker monsters, she’d noticed that some could momentarily survive those lethal wounds. And as the monsters got stronger, the chances of them surviving supposedly lethal attacks would only go up. Which was why she was trying to find new ways to boost the damage she could do with a single arrow. Getting Imbuement was a godsend, as it gave her access to all kinds of interesting ways to attack. Her Grenade Arrows had already come in handy several times, which was reason enough to continue training the Skill.

If she could combine Imbuement with Lightning Magic, then she’d eventually be able launch arrows that would generate lightning bolts upon impact. There was little chance of most organic monsters surviving an attack like that, though she was still a long ways from doing it. First she had to actually Imbue a spell, only then would she be able to test her theory.

I’ll do it, whatever it takes.

***

Aries Signet Ring

Rank: Unknown

Effect: Unknown

Description: A strange ring awarded by the NPCs in charge of Fort Aries. While the ring contains traces of magic, there is nothing that helps to identify what they may do.

“GAAAAAAH! WHYYYYYYYY!? I don’t need another freaking ring that I don’t know what it does! Gaaah! You’re doing this to me on purpose, aren’t you System!? Well fuck you too! I don’t need this crap! I’ve got enough shit to deal with without you adding inane mysteries to the fucking mess!”

After calming down from my impromptu rant at the System, I looked the ring over again. Despite what I said, I actually found the little sheep's face engraved on it to be rather cute, though not enough to overcome my intense rage. Braddock had shown me the pendant he got, and I’d gotten so excited by its effects. Despite only being the second-place prize, they were incredibly helpful. Maybe not so much to me, since I hadn’t had any problems with Finnél’s weird psychic attacks, but you never know.

Mrrrrrrr, stupid ring not meeting my expectations. Now I want to go beat something up. Well, I guess I’ll have plenty of that soon.

*VAAAAAROOOO. VAAAAROOOO.*

Or now. Now works too.

***

Outside the Dungeon……

Two hours had passed since two hundred people had suddenly emerged from the Dungeon, and things were still chaotic. Despite appearances, very few had actually believed that the mercenaries would succeed. After all, the Ethiopian soldiers had had military-grade weapons when they went in, and what did the mercenaries have? Swords and shields, that’s what. Weapons that had been nearly obsolete since before the American Revolution.

And yet, over two hundred people had returned, with promises that many more had remained within the Dungeon. To say there was some shock was an understatement.

Arranging for accommodations for two hundred people was not a fast endeavor, and it was made all the more difficult by the fact that this had come about so suddenly. Or rather, the efforts were stalled in an attempt to gather certain personnel, ones who could possibly talk the mercenaries into enlisting in the Ethiopian National Defense Force. Because after all, anyone who could survive a Dungeon that killed three hundred fully-trained soldiers was bound to be useful in the future.

Meanwhile, Forzerenth was doing what he did best. Using his genteel charms to disarm the mercenaries and open them up. While he may have been cooperating with the Ethiopian government, he had his own objectives here, ones he put ahead of theirs. So ensuring that he got first pick of the exceptional individuals inside the Dungeon was paramount to his agenda.

And after several dozen interviews, he learned of four groups of note. The first one had apparently collapsed after several members had died, but what he managed to learn about the survivors made him covet them even more. Especially this healer. Modern medicine had its limits, and magic that could heal severe wounds in minutes sounded absolutely profitable.

The second was one led by a man named Sampson, and they seemed like they’d be either the easiest or hardest to use. Based off of what Forzerenth heard of him, he suspected that this Sampson may have been trying to build some sort of mercenary organization in the closing days of the Dungeon. Whether or not he succeeded would determine whether he’d deal with the man. Though he was already devising schemes he could use the man for.

But not even Forzerenth knew what to make of the third group. Most of the people he talked to seemed to be too scared of the group's leader to really explain who he was. Something about how he’d killed one of the Dungeon’s Mid-bosses on his own. He didn’t really understand just how impressive that was since he hadn’t ever fought in a Dungeon, but he could tell that it had at least left an impression on the other mercenaries. And sometimes, that’s all you need.

And finally, there was this Finnél character. Obviously he wouldn’t be recruiting his group since they were dead, but the fact that Finnél had been from another world had become common knowledge in the fort, knowledge that Forzerenth now had. And as always, the money-minded man's mind was whirling with schemes.

It looked like he had plenty to keep him busy, at least until the Dungeon was actually finished.