“Well, it wasn’t designed to look pretty,” Patryn said as they gathered around the finished prototype.

  The weapon looked like its parts had come from a junkyard, perhaps polished a little, then put together to create some mess of parts. The barrel was made of steel, and for now, enhanced with simple outside-carved veins and a mass rune. Vivi intended to make an inside-carved version with stronger metals later, but with the time-restraint, they hired an experienced runesmith, named Martyn, to quickly figure something out for the steel barrel.

  The rest of the parts—the stretch ropes, the lever, and the pulley mechanism to stretch the ropes, were all attached with simple solutions that the designers came up with—creating a janky-looking, probably dangerous, device. There were no covers or other exterior pieces to make the device look more appealing. Little iron sights poked out for aiming, and the launcher had handles at the bottom; ones that could also attach to an aiming pole if needed.

  A hole had been added to the tube at the part where the missile rested to deliver the momentum-enhancing ether through. That was probably the safest method, as simply loading the missile would be dangerous if it was given Civar’s string of runes beforehand.

  “What matters is that it should work,” Freyven said. “It still can’t aim downwards, or the missile will fall out—probably with dangerous speeds if it’s enhanced—but ignoring the caveats, it’s ready to be tested.”

  Freyven’s eyelids looked like they wanted to fall shut. His sentences had gotten more detailed to excessive levels as the nights went on. That was one way of growing tired, Vivi figured.

  Freyven pulled the stretch ropes back. Then he pulled the lever, slinging the ropes without a missile inside. A little snap sounded from inside. “Let’s test it with a dun missile first,” he said.

  They moved to the testing warehouse, where they set up the protective glass. The barrel of the weapon slid through the hole in the glass, and they prepared to launch. They added in one of the simpler missiles, created by another hired runesmith. Patryn applied lubricant to its surface, as well as inside the barrel, for a smoother launch.

  They aimed, and shot.

  Without any ether enhancing speed and reducing weight, the red mithril missile flung weakly from the barrel, flying ten feet before clinging against the ground.

  “That’s about what the calculations expected,” Freyven said. “The launch from the barrel was smooth. That’s the important thing.”

  “Looks like we’re ready for real tests, then,” Patryn said. “What time is it?”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Vivi said. “We need to test it right away for results, and relay the details to those who continue working. One team should sleep now, while the other goes for a test run. Then we’ll let the other team test it as well so everyone sees how it behaves.”

  “Sure, works,” Freyven said. “Let’s head out, then.”

  “Ahem,” a voice suddenly said. Lucius popped out of Vivi’s core. “Aren’t we forgetting something?”

  His sudden appearance made the others pause. People had seen Lucius by now, but with him silent most of the time, they easily forgot his presence.

  “Names!” Lucius said. “We have created a magnificent weapon! What is this thing called?”

  “It’s a prototype,” Freyven said. He looked like he wanted to sigh, but held it in.

  “It has to be the slingshot launcher,” Patryn said. “Simple and effective. Further iterations may receive fancier names. Ah, and Civar, you had a name for your string of runes, correct?”

  “The scientific name will definitely be the impetus string,” Civar said. “Referring specifically to all momentum increasing strings of runes with the goal of enhancing the firepower of a weapon. But to make things simple, just call it the enhancement string. That term can be used for any rune string that has the goal of enhancing something.”

  Lucius pouted at them, not at all impressed by the name choices, but he stayed silent.

  “Did we have a better solution for applying the enhancement string?” Vivi asked.

  “We’re using your ether roots for now,” Freyven said. “Martyn is creating another similar design in case yours breaks, and we’re looking at solutions to make something smaller, and more efficient.”

  “Alright, alright, let’s just get to testing,” Lucius said, as if he wasn’t the one who caused the tangent.

  ***

  Early morning awaited outside. The ballista operators, as well as a chunk of the foundry workers who helped create their weapon, totaling around forty people, headed toward the city gates. They moved the slingshot launcher and the enhancement string carefully with a handcart.

  The highways leading out of the city were busy with both carriages and foot traffic, mostly impatient merchants, but even a few richer carriages were stuck at intersections. Complaints and shouts filled the streets, so much so that the small convoy had trouble making it to the city walls. With Vivi clad in her dress and leading the way, however, the streets cleared, and they were let through, even if they occasionally had to wait for people to step out of the way.

  Another commotion awaited at the gates themselves—at the northern side-exit, that was usually devoid of people. Vivi’s ethereal senses flared a warning, coming from outside the city gates.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  The small portcullis was shut with two guards and one of the Luminary’s Lights stationed before it. A merchant carriage had its path blocked, the ride accompanied by a guard with a runesword. A mercenary, it seemed. The merchant himself was on his foot, shouting at the guards.

  “So we’re supposed to just stay here?” he complained. “This must be a joke! Let us through. I believe we know the risks of the desert well enough.”

  “The city is in lockdown due to storm season,” the guard said. “The roads are not safe.”

  “Ludicrous!” the merchant said. “Utterly insane. Is Shivenar so weak they can’t handle their storms anymore? We can handle a few stray monsters, just open the—”

  A loud crash from outside paused his words. The merchant blinked, then tried to see past the guard, through the square openings in the portcullis.

  The guard was serious, Vivi thought. She sensed something off. A lot of ether awaited outside. Not a full storm, but it felt like a fight was ongoing.

  Concerned, Vivi walked up to the Luminary’s Light. The man recognized her immediately, his posture shifting. He lowered his head.

  “I’d like to be let through with the ballistics team,” Vivi said. “We are testing a weapon. Everyone behind me is maxed out. I can protect them.”

  “Of course,” the Light said. Then he called a little louder, “Open the gates for Vivian Runeblessed and her convoy!”

  The portcullis grinded open. The merchant was silent now, retreating to his carriage with a nervous look. Vivi and the ballistics team moved past, the foundry workers and scientists sneaking hesitantly with them.

  A light sizzle of ether filled the air. The air felt ominous, heavy with ambient ether, as if she was in a dungeon. Vivi turned her head toward the direction.

  Beacons of wisps rose high to the air half a mile or so in the distance. Collectible wisps of dead monsters. More monsters were attracted to the spot, as if drawn in by a taunt.

  Squinting, Vivi spotted three people. The Luminary, Tsarvan, and a member from Anthony’s hunting group. Willbard, the bulky man. The man sat and meditated in the middle of the desert, wisps oozing out of him. It seemed he had some sort of skill active that attracted monsters, while Coshi and Anthony slashed with Vivi’s runeswords.

  The monsters they faced were not ether sticks, or simple ghouls, crafted to be easy. These monsters were wild, true hazards of nature.

  There was a gigantic raven walking with two legs with beaks full of serrated teeth, hard enough to withstand Darkness Slasher’s shockwave. It pushed through Coshi’s ranged attack, thrusting its beak from three times Coshi’s height.

  The Luminary blocked with Blossom. Vivi’s sword withstood, and the raven’s attack rebounded. Coshi countered, first with a ranged slash—which sent the beast into a state of disarray—and followed with a heavy overhead swing with Blossom. The sharpness runes strengthened by flow sliced right through, cutting the beak into two.

  Before she could finish the raven, a walking cactus shot a barrage of spines at her. Coshi dashed and avoided, having no armor or skills to defend. The spines hit Willbard’s coating of ether, sticking out of his skin, until Tsarvan assassinated the cactus.

  The worst monster by far was a gigantic insect, armored by a wretched rotting carapace. The insect was like a roach and a crab combined, standing tall with an imposing posture akin to the fang tanker, but taller, and much more concentrated with ether. Red wisps welled inside cracks in its carapace, and a cloud extruded from within, probably poisonous. It charged Willbard at the speed of a surgehound.

  “A shell roach!” Lucius said. “Enhanced with poison. That one is annoying.”

  Willbard was forced to stand, abandoning their position. The three ran, slashing at any monster they came across, and the shell roach slowly followed.

  The three retreated while the shell roach followed. It looked like a tank monster with hefty defence, and a poisonous aura. It ran faster than a human, but with some ether, the three could easily outrun it, spinning it around in circles as it chased.

  Due to the poison, it would have to be killed with ranged attacks. But with its hefty carapace and imposing size, it couldn’t be killed with arrows. A runesword would need to land directly on its head for it to die.

  None of the monsters had huge auras. The ravens had an aura of fifty thousand ether—a fraction of the boss monsters that the ether storms spawned. The most intimidating monster was the shell roach with an aura of just under a million ether.

  Not much compared to the golems. But it was still a calamity level boss. If it reached the walls, its claws would probably rip through, and it would poison everyone inside. Outside-carved swords wouldn’t be able to pierce its carapace.

  “Arm the slingshot!” Vivi ordered. “Use the good missile!”

  Then she ran to the nearest man; one of Coshi’s Lights standing by the walls, watching for any monsters that may have slipped from the elite fighters. Archers stood atop the battlements alongside a few ballistas, ethereal arrows ready. A small battalion stood on the ground by Shivenar’s main gate.

  “What’s happening?” Vivi asked the Light. “A surge?”

  “Stray monsters,” he said with relative calmness, though kept his eyes sharply on the fights ahead. “The two nearest storms have broken. The fifth level is going to turn into a wasteland of monsters. With a rogue storm break, the spawned monsters wander off aimlessly, until they sense ether. Shivenar has loads.”

  Vivi paused, realization hitting. “So from now on… monsters will keep attacking. We failed to deal with the storms as they broke. So now we have to defend.”

  “We can try,” the man said, eyeing the fight as if watching an impending disaster. “Until a solution for evacuation is found. Those are small prey. We are merely buying time before true horrors show up.”

  Vivi watched alongside him. Suddenly, she started to understand why Coshi wanted to evacuate the city. Thirty three storms of monsters like those? What would that raven look like with a million ether instead of fifty thousand. What about true boss monsters, spawned with the same amount of ether as the giant golems?

  She spotted something in the distance. A ball of ether in the air, near the facets. It looked almost like a cloud. A thick, red thunder cloud. She squinted. It grew larger, and its ethereal presence was getting closer.

  It was moving closer.

  The cloud, Vivi realized, was not a cloud at all. It was a raven, hideous like the ones below, but this one had wings, flying rapidly toward Shivenar’s walls, loaded with far more ether than the simple ground raven.

  Chaos sounded behind Vivi, atop the battlements. Archers aimed their bows. The ballistas cranked as they took aim.

  An order came. “Fire!”

  The missiles were released, and two outside-carved ballistic missiles shot at the raven. One flew slightly astray, missing. The second was aimed dead at its head.

  The raven opened its beak, and bit, crunching the missile in half as if it were a twig.

  Vivi gritted her teeth. “Patryn!” she shouted, running to him.

  The ballistics team was balancing the ether roots of the enhancement string. The final root was just now delivering ether to the missile itself.

  Vivi ran over. She picked up the weapon, added ether through all the remaining runes, and pointed its barrel up at the raven, now only half a mile from the wall itself. Arrows flew across the air in a panic, colliding weakly against the monster’s thick fur.

  Vivi released the lever.

  The missile flung forth; the recoil of the weapon pushed at Vivi’s shoulder, and an explosion echoed from the facets above.

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