Augmented Aspects: Chapter 123 Setting the Stage (Patreon)

Chapter 123

Setting the Stage

(Mallory)

We were losing. Even with an extra month to prepare for the onslaught that was coming, we were just caught off guard by the sheer number of monsters. Last time, it was estimated that there was a ten to one ratio of monsters to people. Given that most of the people on the ground at the time were civilians meant to support our efforts, the few soldiers that we had were quickly overrun by the sheer numbers present. Even then we were close, so close to succeeding.

At the time I had wanted to argue with the developers or whomever that we had succeeded. Especially when Cass managed to bring everyone back alive. Yet, I held my breath, especially as we were given a second chance. Better still we had an extra thirty days to prepare for what was to come.

This time we prepared for double or even triple the number of monsters to people coming. Last time if there were ten monsters for every person, then this time we prepared for thirty.

I even thought Cass was a little crazy for her giant trench slip-n-slide idea. Where we would slowly build up the ground and cause the creatures to climb up an ever-increasing hill of dirt and mud. Yet, I was wrong.

Within an hour, the other units all reported the same thing, and had to be evacuated. Our aerial units that had been ready to deploy, instead dropped down and began evacuating people out of areas that were quickly overrun.

With nothing left to do, we had everyone pile up on the final staging area where the last one hundred would stand.

This of course meant that the animals that had been set to spawn elsewhere began spawning right up in our area.

I of course was on the front lines, but even after slicing through hundreds, if not thousands of monsters I too was getting tired.

“We need to pull back.” Bracca, my guard shouted at me, and he was right. We were getting surrounded. Not that we had charged forward, rather we were getting surrounded as we had held the line, while others inevitably fell back due to fatigue.

Nodding, I agreed. “Pull back.”

We still had six hours of this, and there was no end in sight, as more and more monsters kept appearing off on the distances, coming from cracks in the ground that our aerial spotters marked as potential caches or dungeon spawn points to be investigated in the future.

In my mind, I was already planning on coming up with evacuation plans. For as great as the experience, I gained here was, it was nothing compared to the people who would die here. Even if Cass could get to them in time, she was needed to keep the rain going. The rain that was giving us a slight advantage on being completely overrun.

Everything looked lost, until she happened.

Seeing so many people gathered in one space, I knew that Cass would eventually need to get away. I wasn’t nearly as sensitive as she was to the energy of others and being that close to people also bothered me. Thus, it was no surprise to see her take to the skies and try to get away from others. She was in her standard form, her spooky levitation spell, along with her seraphim wings.

Seeing her there in the air, far above everyone, I knew she of all people would survive this, and with her alive we could all get called back to life, if we just waited. That was my thought, as I knew she would not let herself rest until she did just think, until she brought everyone back to life.

Then she moved her hands in the air, and I could almost feel a chill as I saw her third eye open. Then the world as I knew it changed.

That moment, not the moment that she took flight, but the moment that her third eye opened and flashed her resolve to change the course of battle. That was the time we would all call The First Miracle.

As soon as she was done moving, a burst of power surged out of her, interacting with the enchanted pillars that she insisted on having set up everywhere. Honestly, I had half a mind to object, but she worked so hard on them, and they were quite elegant that I couldn’t deny her. They were sort of like modern streetlights but didn’t light up. At least, they didn’t light up before, not until she came.

With her nearby, she made sure the lights from those pillars glowed brightly. Then she made the glow suddenly become more intense.

Thunderclap.

Almost immediately, the sky itself seemed to react to her sudden change. For a moment it felt like there was a struggle of wills, then Cass with her glowing third eye forced the very heavens themselves to bow down and submit to her will, just as the mighty black dragon of death had in that Blighted tree.

Warm rain.

The rain that had been coming down constantly suddenly changed in intensity.

Thrum.

Suddenly the drops of rain that had been falling all along grew warm. It was a warmth that was hard to explain, as it was a warmth that cut straight to the bone and made you feel alive. Only after a second could I realize what was happening, as I could feel and see my internal energy increasing from the suddenly infused water.

“My stamina, it is increasing.” Bracca said, as he looked at his hands in disbelief.

“Mine too.” I said, then realizing we were half way up the hill, I decided to turn around. “Let’s make a stand here, so we can let the others fall back and regroup at the top of the hill.”

“I’m with you.” Playton said, turning around to fight by my side.

“Me too.”

“Me as well.”

With that we turned as one and began holding the line. Though there was a difference that was easily noted, as the Blighted creatures that were normally slow, now seemed to move even slower.

At first Bracca and the others were confused by this, as it was almost comical to dive under the strikes of the enemies.

“Don’t just stand there, use this to your advantage.” I shouted, as I summoned forth my scythe and easily sliced through four monsters at once.

“The new rain is making it so we can easily cut down the monsters faster than previously.”

An hour passed in that way, with just the four of us managing to hold the line and take down monster after monster. Finally, after a clear lull in the movement of the monsters was seen, as a wedge of falling bodies drifted down the muddy hillside and took out a slow-moving group of monsters, we took a second to relax.

“How much longer do you think she can last?” Bracca asked, then looking over his shoulder he looked to the woman that was clearly the cause of our suddenly being able to hold the line.

“Cass, knowing her, she will not give up until she dead, or we’ve succeeded.” I said, smiling confidently at the floating angel.

“Where did you find her again? And how had no one heard of her before?” Denberg asked.

With that I smiled. “She was just a level 22 Healer when I first met her. Now look at her, all grown up and showing off her talents before the world.”

There was a moment, as everyone took one last second to stare at her. She had been making subtle changes constantly to the spell she was casting. That much was apparent as like clockwork, she would open her third eye up once every five minutes, then she would exact a change to the spell she was casting. These were subtle changes, and most of the time it wasn’t clear exactly what she was changing if anything to the spell, but she was constantly working on improving her spell form and craft.

“You sure can pick them, commander.” Bracca said.

With that Mallory tilted her head to the side then answered truthfully. “I wish I was the one that had scouted her. But sadly no, my real-life granddaughter is the one who scouted her, due to her ability to read smutty stories of all things.”

“Smutty stories?”

“Oh, I think I might have said too much.” Mallory began, then turning back to the monsters that were now almost within attack range, she said, “look alive, the monsters are increasing in their base levels now.”

***

“Here it comes.” Jhonny said, as he looked skyward at the floating pixy? Faerie? Elf? That was above them. The one who was clearly causing the rains to continue their torrential downpour.

“Here what comes?” Dyllon asked, looking down and seeing that the monsters that had been on a relentless pace to easily overrun their base had slowed down to first half speed, then a quarter speed. Now it looked like the monsters might not make it up to them at all, at this rate.

“She’s going to do it.”

“Whose going to do what?”

“The Doctor, she is going to do it again.”

“Do what again?”

“I don’t know, she has just had her third eye open for a really long time this time. That means she is about to do something major.”

“Are you saying you know magic?”

“No, clearly I know nothing of magic, if she is able to float easily and do all of this. But what I do know is the look of determination.”

“Look of determination, are you serious?”

“Look, that right there that focus, that is the look of determination. She’s going to do it this time.”

“Do what?”

Hearing that Jhonny could only shrug his shoulders at the question, as he honestly had no clue what the floating angel of magic could do, or what she was thinking. But every fiber in his body told him that something great was about to happen. He never had magic perse, he had been one of the hundreds of people who had been cursed to want but never be able to use magic. But that didn’t mean he hadn’t learned to feel magic, as he at first did everything he could to learn about magic in the hopes that just being exposed to magic would be enough.

Then he had a dream where he finally awoke his magical potential. That was the same day that the guild invite went out, asking for people to volunteer to be slated as one of the reserve 100 soldiers. These were people who would stand with the Doctor, a master magician who was said to have had not one, but two doctorates of magic given by the world. Hearing that, he knew he had to join, just to be near her.

In his mind he was certain that his dream of unlocking his magic and being offered the chance to stand by the side of the Doctor, were linked.

Then he saw the impossible. He saw five lower tier mages suddenly be improved by just being touched by this enigmatic doctor.

Now he had seen her moving her fingers in the way mad geniuses would, while calculating complex equations. The fact that she could easily cast spells without need of chanting or gestures was apparent as she had managed to take down Arch Sky Mage Belton without uttering a single word.

Yet, to see her move her fingers in such deft manners showed that she was truly a peerless genius. Then finally she nodded to herself, and her third eye closed. Seeing the closing of the third eye, Jhonny could only look on in awe for what would happen next.

He was not sad that he stared up and saw her finally cast the next stage of her spell.

WHOOOSH!

A burst of energy was released forcing everyone who had just been staring about to crash and collide into each other.

Splash, splat.

People crashed into each other who then fell into the muddy ground. Jhonny too felt his own feet give out under him, but he managed to maintain his balance for a moment, that is until Dyllon crashed into him causing them both to crash to the ground.

Still Jhonny never looked away, despite how staring up at that moment felt like staring up into the sun during a solar eclipse, for in that moment he could see mana. He could see and feel the motes of energy burning brightly in the world around him as he could feel the shape and energy of mana being burned brightly into his retinas, and it was beautiful. Beautiful and painful, but so worth it.

***

(Mallory)

There was an explosion of energy off to the side. Out of reflex more than anything, I swung my scythe once slicing through the nearby monster. Then I turned to the sight of the sound and saw nothing.

Well that wasn’t true. There had been a burst of energy apparently, as everyone that was under Cass had suddenly been forced to the ground. But as for Cass, she just sat there still and unshakable in her need to continue casting the spell she had woven. A spell that she had apparently changed the intensity of, as the sky once again began to rumble with indignation at having been disturbed yet again.

This time, the battle of wills between an amplification arrayed Cass and the gods of the storm clouds was a lot quicker. Either they were getting tired of her constant harassment, or they realized that trying to argue with Cass once she had her mind made up was impossible. Regardless of the reason, the clouds began to change going from a dark black rain cloud, to a divine green and purple color.

This rain, while admittedly colder than the previous rain caused a change to happen in the entire battle that I never thought I’d see in a million years on this world. But yet, again, Cass’s ingenuity knew no bounds it seemed.

Thump, thud, thump.

“What?”

“What happened?” Bracca asked, his words seeming to be echoed by everyone else. As he spoke the rain that had been falling soaked into the monsters that were coming, and this time rather than just slowing them down, Cass finally managed to knock the monsters out once and for all.

“She did it.” I said, looking first at the clearly passed out Blightedcreature at my feet, then back to the floating Cass.

“She did what exactly?”

“She snuck a knockout drug into the rain?” Denberg asked.

Pausing for a moment, I couldn’t come up with a better explanation for what had happened.

“Yeah sure, let’s go with that. She made the rain a knockout drug for Blighted creatures.” I said.

There was a pause as we watched as the newly formed storm cloud spread ever outward, seeming to infect the other nearby clouds, and slow shift them away from the warm rain that had infused their bodies to continue fighting, to this colder rain that made the Blighted monsters seem to pass out almost upon contact.

“What should we do?” Bracca asked.

Seeing the free experience laying at our feet, I shrugged my shoulders and quickly killed the monsters that were right there. “Let’s kill these off, set up a defensive barrier, then go up to see what our little miracle worker is up to.”

With that, everyone went about killing the monsters that were before them. With silent proficiency we killed the monsters, then began pulling them back to form a tall line of bodies that would be hard to climb over, especially with so much mud still pouring down.

Once or twice, I felt my own feet slip from under me. Fortunately, my Strength and Dexterity made it so I didn’t fall on my ass, but the same could not be said for a few of the other elite guards who nearly fell to the ground while carrying the bodies of the dead and slain monsters.

Grabbing them before they fell completely, I hoisted them up, while they somehow managed to drag the body of the monster they were carrying behind them. Once out of the suction like grip of the mud, moving the monster corpses became easier.

“What is that?” Bracca asked, looking at the black blood that seemed to almost smoke and sizzle once it was exposed to the relentless rain.

“That is our miracle worker, making sure this land is clear of the Blight.” I say, not entirely certain, but it seemed to be a good enough excuse.

With that Bracca looked at the black blood that completely hissed and dissolved into the flowing mud. Then back to the floating Cass.

“Time?” Playton asked no one in particular, but it was clear he was heaving from having fought for nearly twelve hours straight.

“Four hours, well a little over four.” Bracca said.

“Well do we stay here and wait? Or can we go up and rest for a bit?” Playton asked me, a note of exhaustion in his voice. I am certain that if I told him we would stay here, he would collapse into the mud and monster parts and just rest while we waited for the monsters to eventually be able to overcome this new rain.

“Let’s go up, we will get something to eat, and try to dry off.” I state.

“Finally.” Playton mutters under his breath as he gets up and sluggishly begins crawling up the rain-soaked hill. Fortunately, this last part has not been so worn down by rain that it is impossible to walk up. It just feels that way.

Of course, being the commander, and being a now Arc Valkyrie Class holder, thanks to a few upgrades made to my core. I sprouted my wings and began flying over Playton, Bracca, and Denberg.

Seeing me fly past, the others just groan in disgust at seeing me easily overtake their position on the hill and then surpass them.

As I fly, I only have one location that I truly want to be. Flying up, I see her in her seemingly clueless antics calculating with her fingers. I am behind her, and out of habit I instinctively try to sneak up behind her, hoping that this time she won’t see me.

“Shh, I’m concentrating.” Cass says, holding out one finger to me. Then once I stay still for a second she once again begins to use that finger to do her mathematical equations in her head.

I honestly have no clue if that is what she is actually doing, but she claimed one time that it was related to math and the way math inherently worked with mana. Regardless, I couldn’t keep up with half of what she said. Still, I did have to say that seeing her float there far above everyone else who was clearly staring up at her, as if she was their savior, was impressive.

I know she hates being in public, I know she hates recognition, but seeing her right here, at the very heart of danger doing her thing, it is clear that, for now, she is right where she belongs.

Now, I just have to make sure that no one else messes up this beautiful gift that we all have been given. A gift who only wants to make life better for everyone and to cure the incurable and save the unsavable.

Honestly, looking at her, she is a tough act to follow. That said, I know I would follow her anywhere.