The Obelisk granted buffs to whomever controlled it, and could take many forms. Some would be entire home bases, like this one, but they could also come in the form of a simple object that baptized whatever area the user chose as a central point of power. While they didn’t know it, established towns and cities used the same type of magic, facilitated by the System. What they had just learned was that once explicit enemies of the Obelisk’s owner entered the zone of its power, that owner would immediately be notified of the intrusion. This dark information strangled any hope of a surprise attack in the crib.
The only option available to them was a direct assault.
“So… this is it, then?” Aurora asked, just as much to herself as to the others. “If we win this… then the nightmare will finally be over?”
“Nightmare’s far from over,” Gideon answered, “but this part of it might be, at least. If that refuge actually exists and we can get to it, then the nightmare might be over.”
“It exists.” Arthur said with certainty. During his many discussions with his Accord partner, he’d heard him confirm its existence more than once. The others, conditioned at this point to know Arthur had access to hidden information, didn’t challenge his assertion.
“Nothing’s gonna get done by sitting around and talking about it,” Ema announced. “let’s get on with it! Nothing will change if we don’t at least try!”
“As right as Ms. Ema might be,” Sherman interjected, “that doesn’t mean you should confront this recklessly. Stay careful, even if a stealthy approach isn’t an option.” His shoulders sagged slightly. “I know that I can’t help you, so I’ll keep watch over the others until you all get back. And do make sure you all come back.” Arthur smiled at his old teacher.
“Thank you, sir. I won’t let anything happen to these three.” Sherman cracked a half smile through his unkempt beard. “Don’t call me ‘sir’. Now go, all of you. We’ll be waiting for you.”
Sherman watched them leave for the fight of their lives, his face serious. “We’re all depending on you now. Keep them safe… Arthur.”
By the time they reached the faux building, it was dark. Though the stars and moon were brighter than ever, the sky was blocked out by angry clouds, threatening a downpour. As they crossed an invisible threshold, all the monsters surrounding the building turned to them, almost as one.
“Shit… here we go…” Gideon said, taking out his weapons.
“Remember, everyone,” Arthur said, conjuring his armor and taking his shield from his Vault. “Our objective is the Raid Commander in the building. We need to get inside, find them, and put them down! If we do that, their numbers are meaningless!” Arthur risked breaking his sight away from the horde of monsters to look at his party. Aurora was already in the air, her face stoic and emotionless as lightning crackled through her fingers. Gideon was looking seriously at the monster horde, his perpetual look of only paying half attention completely missing as he held his weapons at the ready. Ema was looking back at him with an understanding and brave smile, eyes determined.
“I know there are a lot of them, but I know we can do this. Remember, people are depending on us. Remember the people waiting for us on the other side, and no matter what happens, I want you all to know that those people will remember themselves, that you were the ones to stand.” He turned back to the horde. “Now… let’s get this over with.”
“Nice one,” Ema snarked from behind him, tapping his armored shoulder lightly. “I told you that you were a speech-giving type.”
“Sod off.” Arthur said. Though they couldn’t see it from under his helm, they could hear the smile in his voice-modified words.
The monsters charged.
Gideon was a person who preferred to talk his problems out. His family had forced his mind through a sieve of political training, preparing him for the day he’d run for mayor. Such a dream was not his own, but his parent’s, though it still instilled an albeit slight appreciation for tact. From a young age, they’d tried hammering him to be the person they wanted him to be. Despite their prolific efforts, however, he remained resistant. He hardly ever payed attention, a habit that ended up bleeding into everything else and becoming a core character trait. He missed his tutoring sessions on purpose and even sabotaged his teachers occasionally. His parents attempted to control everything about his life, from his friends to his experiences. The last straw was… her.
When the System came, he hadn’t known what to think. This, without a doubt, would be a definitive cut from his controlling family. He couldn’t help but feel good about that, but all the death in exchange was a bitter bargain.
Gideon ran directly behind Arthur as he made a shield charge that bowled enemies out of the way.
Method 4: Charge with your shield out front. High chance to stagger any enemy struck. You are much harder to stop during this attack. Deals high blunt damage but requires a running start.
Witnessing the attack first hand was a humbling experience. He’d seen it from a distance a while ago, but it was even more impressive from up close. Every monster he crashed into flew like toys, regardless of their stature. Treeants, giant wolves, and goblins were blasted about like a game of pool, with Arthur as the cue ball. When his charge ended, they were at least halfway through the horde on the way to the non-building. The Obelisk glowed with an almost palpable sinister intention as Gideon activated several skills upon the eve of his charge.
[Arms of the Colossus]: Two sets of ethereal arms float behind you. These arms can hold items and weapons of any type up to a certain weight limit based on your weight tolerance. These arms can access your Vault.
[Orbital Belt]: Stones orbit around you, striking enemies near you. Stones can be shot out for lesser damage.
- [North]: Longer uptime, longer cooldown. Slower, but stronger.
- [South]: Shorter uptime, shorter cooldown. Faster, but weaker.
[Force Pull]: Turn yourself into an event horizon, pulling enemies to you or pushing them away.
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- [North]: Constantly pull enemies toward you, within a certain range. Enemies who fight against the pull take continuous damage. {Interchangeable}
- [South]: Constantly push enemies away from you, within a certain range. Enemies who fight against the push take continuous damage. {Interchangeable}
Gideon had never activated all of these skills at once before, as he was concerned with the mana usage. He has neither of this other friend’s high intelligence, meaning his mana pool was limited. Now that he was under Arthur’s True Heart of Devotion as well as Ema’s Mana Cushion, however, he was no longer afraid of going all out.
His Orbital Belt skill was useful for both keeping enemies at a distance and peppering them with damage while they were up close. As their current goal was the Commander inside of the Obelisk, he opted to activate his Force Pull in its South polarity. It wouldn’t stop every monster that attempted to accost them, but it would accost them in return with continuous damage over time as they pushed into it. Stones lifted from the very Earth, surrounding him before shooting out to further hurt and harry the monsters charging into his surrounding aura.
Arthur, for his part, used one of his favorite skills once he finished charging.
[Challenging Moxie]: Expend a stack of [Audacity] to inflict [Enraged] on all enemies within 10 meters of you. Gain a stack of [Audacity] for every enemy inflicted with [Enraged].
The monsters they were currently facing were just that, basic monsters. That meant that the victims of the Enraged debuff were many and plentiful, as Arthur gained more Audacity stacks than he ever had before upon using the skill. Multitudes of monsters’ eyes became burning coals of blood red malice as they screamed and fought even harder against Gideon’s Force Pull to get to Arthur.
The successful infliction of even one enemy with Enraged activated several parts of Arthur’s skill set. As the dozens upon dozens of monsters were afflicted, the individual facets of his build snapped and locked together, turning like cogs and starting an engine of ass kicking.
[Enraged]: Inflicts a debuff that increases damage taken. Enemies who are [Enraged] are more inclined to attack you, and take continuous and mounting damage when attacking anyone who isn’t the one who inflicted them with [Enraged] while [Enraged]. Enemies with sufficient willpower may resist [Enraged].
[Coordination]: Expend 3 stacks of [Audacity] to grant all allies within your party increased damage against enemies with the [Enraged] debuff. Expend 5 stacks of [Audacity] to grant you and your allies within your party [Coordinated Assault] if at least one enemy on the battlefield is inflicted with [Enraged].
[Intricacies of Exaltation]: Changes bonuses gained from [Audacity] stacks to a small bonus to VIT, DEF, and damage reduction. Allies within party deal greater damage to enemies with the [Enraged] debuff.
Your [True Heart of Devotion] galvanizes the souls of those around you. All party members gain a 50% boost to STR, DEX and INT. All party members gain enhanced base mana and stamina. All party members gain enhanced base damage.
A particular abuser of these buffs was Aurora Diné. As a magic dealer whose style was to dish out a single, charged burst of explosive damage, she could essentially cheat the system. The damage enhancement to Enraged foes that was the centerpiece of Arthur’s abilities worked for her in such a way that the damage boost applied to anyone she struck with her spell. As long as one was afflicted on the battlefield, she would gain this baseline boost to her power.
Aurora was mainly a single target focused damage dealer. Her Lightning Bolt was her most powerful skill in her repertoire, and by a wide margin. Though she was built for hurting one thing very badly very eventually, that didn’t mean that she didn’t have access to AOE type attack skills.
[Lightning Weave]: Shoot multiple streams of lightning through enemies. Chargable skill. Lightning chains through the enemies, with the more enemies struck, the more damage and [Static] stack gain. If expended stacks of [Static] equal 5 or more, enemies have a 50% chance to also be struck with a half power [Lightning Bolt] for additional mana if under the sky.
Aurora had been charging her Lightning Weave skill since she began levitating in the air, waiting for Arthur to Enrage as many enemies as he could. Though he’d only used Challenging Moxie a single time, it was enough. As she felt Coordinated Assault lock into place and her power skyrocket, she released the skill into the horde of monsters.
Lightning Weave acted like a shotgun of lightning releasing from her fingers that would spread and bounce to other enemies once at least one bolt hit. Because of this, when fighting multitudes of enemies, it was best for her to spread her fingers like a certain emperor trying to convince a youth to give in to their anger. As they would continue to travel once leaving her fingertips, spreading her fingers even slightly made a big difference in space and coverage.
Electric death spread through the monster horde like a virus that had access to EMP grenades. As she used more than 5 stacks of Static to bolster its power, several half-power Lightning Bolts also peppered the huge group. The result was devastating, though they weren’t through the horde yet.
Ema, Gideon and Arthur stayed close together as they fought their way to the building. Because of Gideon’s Force Pull and Orbital Belt skills, they were given much needed space, although not overly much. Without it, they would have likely already been dog piled as the number difference was simply that huge.
Ema was looking about wildly, granting buffs and debuffs with such pinpoint precision that one could rightly call it supernatural attention to detail. Gideon’s ethereal arms would grapple with a wolf with her strength enhancement buff, then the moment it went to bite him, he would gain a defense buff at maximum power that would rebuff its teeth. The moment its teeth left Gideon’s neck, he would regain a strength buff, flipping the pissed off puppy onto its side. A pair of goblins would aim bows at Aurora, then one would suddenly aim their arrow at their partner instead courtesy of her Seize skill. Lifeguard shields would pop into existence on her party members occasionally, blocking strikes her allies had missed. As usual, Arthur wasn’t in need of much support, so she was able to focus her ministrations on her two friends.
Gideon looked about. They were in a wild melee so every second would matter, but as they had a destination, he would need to keep track of where exactly they were going. They were much closer to the building now, but their progress had begun slowing down. Looking at the building, he saw the reason why as its huge double doors swung open and more monsters flooded out.
“We need to do something about the doors!” Gideon yelled, as his hammer cracked into the face of a goblin. “It’s spitting out more monsters!”
“Aurora!” Ema shrieked, putting a maximum power intelligence and damage dealing buff on her. Her long-time friend understood her intentions perfectly, as a gigantic Lightning Bolt flashed down and towards the door.
The group had previously broached the idea of simply destroying the building. With Arthur and Ema backing up an empowered Aurora, it was certainly within their power, but such was not so simple. Even if they destroyed the building, it would more than likely fail to even incapacitate the Raid Commander. Not only that, but it would also continue to spawn monsters that would now be unfettered by the buildings restrictions. It would turn a from an enclosed space that they would help their fewer numbers into a battle on an open field, giving them a distinct disadvantage. They did, however, conclude that destroying certain parts of the building for strategic advantage could be viable.
A thick streak of lightning blasted into the Obelisk’s door with a deafening crack of noise. A good portion of the front of the building sloughed off, crumbling over the ruined double door that had admitted the monster’s exit. The creatures screeched with rage, and aimed attacks at Aurora anew, even rearing up to throw their weapons at her in fury. Arthur did not permit them such grace.
Skill
[Challenging Moxie]
Activated
As soon as Aurora destroyed the door, Ema had placed a Lifeguard shield on her. As it was a shield that would block more than just a single attack, it protected her from the projectiles already in the air before Arthur’s skill sank its teeth in. The monsters responded predictably, fighting through Gideon’s Force Pull and Orbital Belt to attack Arthur. The result of such a foolish action was just as predictable.
As they finally reached the building, Arthur looked around for an opening.
“That was a good idea, but how are we going to get in now?”
[Stone Grave]: Cause a spot within your area of influence to explode upwards with spiked stone. The larger the area, the longer the cooldown.
A great spear of stone exploded from the ground and impaled the building. The rocky pillar was jagged and sharp, tapering to a point that they couldn’t see as it was obscured by the building it’d just pierced like a Boba Tea. The building with no entrance, that now had a gaping hole with an accompanying rocky walkway.
“Well… that works!” Arthur said, as he and the others ran up and into the heart of enemy territory. Aurora simply floated in.