Chapter 160: Guardians of Ghost Reef (Patreon)

The Sapphire Armada continued their bombardment of Ghost Reef through the night. The Armada tried to keep the pressure on the fort even as the number of their battleships diminished. The blockade started to fall apart with the smaller ships parading toward the furthest island to discharge the troops they carried. Both forces were conserving their strength in anticipation of a major engagement. Even though Shane and Gideon wished to keep Coop in reserve, along with the hidden group of phantoms, Coop remained on the walls. He felt like he had been absent long enough.

Coop finally began contributing to the defense with high arcing spear throws, joining some of the coordinated attacks with his own version of the devastating meteors, but as the night went on, the fighting slowed. The Sapphire Armada had nearly finished gathering their forces on the other end of the island chain, and as they did, they fully abandoned the blockade of the fortress. Only the battleships remained, but even the siege ships’ numbers had been cut in half thanks to the coordinated strikes launched by Ghost Reef’s defenders.

Jones had been in charge of the northern wall’s defense, leading the most devastating attacks with his own powerful spells. As the siege evolved, he rotated along the walls and Coop added his firepower to the old caretaker's tactics. The additional damage provided by the ethereal spears resulted in a few more defeated battleships, but Jones was clearly pushing himself to his own limits.

“Take it easy old man.” Elder Olani continually advised as Jones prepared yet another cascade of spells with a long countdown from ten to help with the timing of variable abilities with different velocities and cast times. She had been supporting Jones with her own runic spells as the old caretaker applied his lifepool in empowering his bloodstone meteors to the absolute maximum that his stats would allow.

“I am only going as far as necessary.” Jones argued stubbornly as he braced himself against the ramparts, weakened from another meteor. He was wielding the Unique tier weapon that Coop had commissioned from Garod. “I’d have to be fully incapacitated to let anyone else chip away at the fortress without retaliating.”

“You’ll put yourself into another coma if you don’t take enough breaks.” Olani pointed out. The fact that Jones utilized his health pool as fuel for his spells meant that he was under a different type of strain than most other casters. During the siege, dealing with mana had resulted in exhaustion for the casters, both mental and physical. Jones was going even further, repeatedly putting himself on the verge of death to cast his spells with the maximum potency that his body would allow. The strain was magnified by the expense.

The arguments between the pair went round and round while Coop listened in, waiting for his spear to crash into a shield before he resummoned the ethereal weapon for another throw. Coop had to insist on the old man taking a short break when he first started throwing his spears, but Jones was back at it after a quick meal. Inspecting Jones, it was clear that the man had already taken on quite a bit of responsibility.

[Bloodstone Human (Level 54)]

[Bronarch Mountain Adept (Intelligence)]

[Chosen of Collegia Universal]

[Stone, Blood (Cursed)]

Jones was catching up with some of the other residents who had been able to gather experience during the entire siege. At the very least, the old man would already match up favorably with most of their potential adversaries. Coop was impressed and moderately perturbed by the fervor his friend displayed in the settlement’s defense. It was a bit more intense than the steady defiance Coop had cultivated, but it was getting the job done. Coop hadn’t expected the scholarly caretaker to become quite so bloodthirsty.

As for his gear, the master smith had delivered exactly what Coop had hoped for when it came to the Unique weapon that was crafted for Jones. It was a solid black cane with a three-pillar brass handle. The black walking stick portion had small veins of blood red marbling that reminded Coop of rare ore veins embedded deep into volcanic rock. They subtly pulsed with energy and really glowed when Jones channeled through the weapon. From what Coop understood, the Unique Cane added additional multipliers to Jones’s already multiplied spells. Stacking multipliers turned his already enhanced spells into truly potent strikes. The combination of Jones’s evolution and an exceptionally powerful item had created yet another powerhouse in Ghost Reef.

Jones had been quick to point out that Coop owed Garod 500,000 basic credits for the commission’s completion. Coop was going to try and negotiate some sort of repeat customer discount as he planned for more projects. The blacksmith could at least grant him some kind of rewards card if Coop was going to keep providing Unique materials. If possible, Coop would provide the entire fort with Unique gear.

As Jones wielded the cane, he used it as a focus for his spells, raising it into the air as his meteors formed. One of the features of his new weapon allowed him to remotely conjure the bloodstone projectiles. In order to attack the battleships, he was actually creating the huge stones high up in the sky and letting them fall. The result was the uncanny scene of a red hot meteor crashing through the atmosphere, dragging the smoke and clouds down with it before it smashed into the pyramid shields that protected the enemy ships. The red rocks exploded into boulder sized ejecta that splashed into the neighboring shields like an avalanche of solid blood-red glowing stone.

Elder Olani finally got her wish for Jones to take an actual extended break when Charlie parked herself in the center of the fort and shut down the siege completely. At first it only seemed like the wind was slightly picking up, with choppy waves forming around the reef, but the simple breeze wasn’t content to remain muted. The gradual agitation of the calm weather was merely a precursor to what was coming. As the weather formation built right before their eyes, the residents of Ghost Reef wisely took precautions. The breeze became winds and culminated with gusts blasted across the shallows. Eventually, the true face of Charlie’s storm appeared, creating a ring of whipping winds that dragged the shrapnel from airbursts and turned them into something akin to horizontally flying hail.

The battleships were forced to endure a mandatory ceasefire as they battened down the hatches and braced themselves against sustained hurricane strength winds. More than one of the damaged ships ended up having minor leaks exacerbated by the force of the wind and waves, and if they couldn’t flee out to sea, found themselves swamped against the reef or sinking into the depths beyond. The Aeromancer drove the remaining battleships away as the night waned, giving the fort some proper relief and allowing the settlement’s mana to be fully recovered by the mana siphons.

When there was only a hint that dawn would be arriving, the scouts notified them that the gathering troops on the other end of the island chain were beginning to move. The Sapphire Armada had set fire to their own ships as they were emptied. Jones was the one to indicate that burning the ships was the ultimate commitment to their conquest. They cut off their own retreat.

“There’s only one way this ends.” Jones concluded, looking at Coop seriously.

Inside the fort, the defensive posture shifted in anticipation of a closer battle with the off-duty fighters reinforcing the southern wall and casters seizing the opportunity to recharge their firepower. Coop joined the reserve phantoms along with the Guard Captain and prepared to cross Rock Key to strike at their enemies before they reached the fort.

Coop stood alone at the main gate for a moment while waiting for the lingering winds to completely die down. Once it was suitably calm all across the island, a tidal wave of fog climbed from the moat and spread along the dunes, ominously drifting southward.

—

Paola had gone from manager of 20 staff at a churrascaria to manager of a 200 person platoon in the Sapphire Armada. While others had languished with the arrival of mana, she had moved up in the world.

“From the front of the house to the tip of the spear.” She smirked to herself as she led her soldiers through an unmaintained coconut palm grove. The strange storm had only lasted half the night, but it had been miserable. The sand blasted them as they arranged their platoons with a grating persistence that drove them to get this over with. The storm was a nightmare that added hours to their preparations, but they were still making their move near the planned time. The Wind Buffet affliction they had all received wouldn’t fall off for hours more, but the siege for Ghost Reef had already gone on for too long. It was high time they crushed the tiny but dogged resistance. The ships that their alien sponsors had promised would be decisive had been a disappointment, but their plans hadn’t been so limited as to rely on a single strategy to do all the heavy lifting.

Her platoon crunched through the dried fronds that covered the ground, and the troops occasionally tripped over loose coconuts, but they hadn’t met any real resistance besides the weather and a few too many Primal Constructs. Thousands of Sapphire Armada soldiers were at her back, making up the rest of the company, and tens of thousands more formed the army, but her platoon led the way. The defenders of Ghost Reef seemed too scared to leave the walls of their fortress, with good reason. They would be outnumbered hundreds of times if their intel was correct, and Ghost Reef’s defenses had proven themselves to be extraordinarily robust, providing an equalizer her leaders hadn’t anticipated.

The Armada’s original plan was a simple naval bombardment. Pound their fortress to dust with unmatched firepower and defeat the residents from a range that would be unanswerable, then sweep through with their troops to claim the rubble. However, Ghost Reef had answered with a robust resistance. The tiny island settlement had even more range and firepower than their fleet, but there wasn’t anything the defenders could do about being outnumbered.

Off to her right, a group leveled up after defeating yet another Ancient Piercer, lighting up the palm grove. The islands were full of vicious monsters to the point that she hoped the Champion and the advisors were reconsidering their plan of fully relocating their capital. Sure, as they conquered the seas, an island made sense to be their faction’s headquarters, but their current city, Neptune’s Bridge, was already well established. The fact that it could be attacked over land wasn’t as significant a flaw as the Champion made it out to be. Really, the worst part was that they had their own powerful Constructs nearby, trapping them within their walls, but this place was obviously no different. She believed they were overreacting when it came to the threat that the Primal Constructs presented to their north and once they claimed the southern settlement they wouldn’t need to worry so much about their backs. Ghost Reef would be better as an outpost, in her view. She would be sure to express her perspective after they claimed the civilization shard. She may not have been afforded the entire picture as a simple troop manager, but she could still share her opinion.

When she escaped the treeline, the eastern sky was subtly illuminated by the impending dawn. The additional light revealed an uncanny fog that completely blanketed the largest island in the chain. She paused and held a hand up for her platoon to halt, a gesture that was repeated as each individual received the message. They stood all along the shore, examining the mists for any signs of danger, but all they perceived was a lackadaisical drift as it gradually spilled across the shallow water that separated the two islands.

“Weird that the storm didn’t blow away the fog.” Scout Silva observed. “Seems unnatural.”

Paola agreed with a nod. There was plenty of unnatural weather going around on this island. “Can you sense anything inside?”

Her scout continued to peer into the fog for several moments before slowly shaking his head, slightly disappointed. “Nothing.”

“Manager Paola, what’s the hold up?” An impatient voice called out from behind, not bothering to stay quiet enough to avoid being overheard. The other platoons were right on their heels and they were more than eager to claim victory in their first major campaign.

“Have a look, Manager Kang.” She responded flatly, unhappy with the consistently rude colleague.

He stepped through the treeline, standing at her side before he frowned. “Some morning fog after a storm blew through?” He was quick to scoff, gesturing for his own platoon to take the lead. “You shouldn’t have volunteered if you didn’t have the heart to lead the way.” He admonished her. He was still upset that he hadn’t been awarded a higher rank from the start.

As his troops bypassed her own, he pointed at the tip of the lighthouse off to their left, barely visible above the tall sheet of fog. “It’s not like we’ll get lost.”

She shuddered at her attention being forced on the lighthouse. They didn’t dare get near it. After the first battleship that tried to attack the lighthouse was annihilated they were ordered to steer clear. Many had witnessed the result of the assault and the description had spread through the entire Armada. First a series of ghostly wings wrapped the tower, protecting it from the Sapphire Artillery with spectral feathers, then the night itself formed a vaguely cat-shaped shadow that stomped the offending ship into the depths. The shields didn’t even explode, the enormous ship and its entire crew were just gone, swallowed by the abyss. They expected the lighthouse to be some kind of dungeon that was protected by the system itself, in other words, it was something they would only explore after conquering the island.

“We’ll take it from here, Manager Paola.” Kang declared. He left her on the shore, marching into the water and approaching the fog, following his platoon.

Paola watched as Kang and his 200 troops waded into the thigh high water and gradually transformed into silhouettes as the fog accepted them. Nothing happened. Manager Kang disappeared along with the rest. She gestured for her own platoon to follow. The fog wasn’t that dense, it just seemed to cover a large area that made it look thicker from the outside.

She splashed into the warm tropical water, but froze when she was only ankle deep. She watched the water ahead as a concentrated cloud of crimson drifted in the current. As it was swept away, it diffused through the water in a swirl of color that quickly disappeared like a drop of food coloring in a bathtub.

“Wait!” She halted her platoon for a second time. “Manager Kang?” She called into the fog, but the sound dampening of the shifting mist became apparent. She felt like she was shouting into a pillow. She tried one more time, louder. There was no response. She looked back and realized that the entire Sapphire Armada had gathered on the shore behind, extending into the palm grove as far as she could see in the dim light. The flames and black smoke of their burning transport ships lingered in the distance, the credit for the sacrificial ships would be granted by their faction construction yard for free rebuilds and the less committed wouldn’t be tempted to turn back, but now she was the one feeling like having an out would have been nice.

“I still don’t detect anything in the fog at all, not even Manager Kang’s platoon.” Her scout informed her.

“There’s something in there.” She proclaimed, turning back to look closer, though she couldn’t detect anything either. The amount of blood to temporarily stain the ocean meant that Kang’s entire platoon would have been wiped out.

She squeezed her jaw, making a hard decision before she pulled out her bow. “Bows!” She ordered and her entire platoon equipped themselves with their secondary weapons. “Fire!” She shouted and they let a volley of arrows fly deep into the mists. The missiles arced into the fog, but once again, nothing happened.

Paola felt like a fool in front of the rest of the platoons, but she didn’t dare rush into the fog. She had been on enough caravans to recognize what was potentially dangerous. It was the level of caution that had allowed her to survive when monsters tried to ambush them in the untamed areas between Neptune’s Bridge and Empress City.

Other managers with ranged secondaries joined her and contributed their own volleys. 5,000 troops launched arrows into the mists from the edge of the island. The fog simply absorbed the arrows, there were no shouts of pain or any other feedback that would indicate they struck true. The other managers quickly discouraged her hesitance after not perceiving any results. They didn’t want to waste their arrows on ghosts before they even reached the fortress.

“There’s nothing in there, Manager Paola. You’re letting fear cloud your senses.” Another manager scolded her. “We should move in.”

“Let’s all go at once.” She suggested, preferring to rely on safety in numbers even if it meant sacrificing some of her glory. Between the initial platoons, they would already outnumber the population of Ghost Reef’s fighters by ten times.

“As you wish.” The other platoon managers agreed, happy to increase their share of credit.

The managers ordered a slow march forward, with primary weapons ready. The rest of the troops continued to stream through the palm grove in a parade that stretched across multiple islands.

“Are you sure about letting them join us?” Scout Silva asked from her side. He was obviously disappointed that they wouldn’t lead the way after all. They were joined by a dozen platoons. “It’s probably just some fog covering the channel. Manager Kang might already be engaging the wall, laughing at us for wasting arrows on the beach.”

“You don’t get a bad feeling from those mists?” She asked, bewildered that she was the only one feeling so suspicious.

His facial expression was an admission that he was definitely uncomfortable, but it wasn’t enough to discourage him from contributing to their victory. “Ghost Reef lives up to its name, but now is the time to be bold.”

She knew he was right, and she felt more confident now that they were safely among thousands of other soldiers. Her hesitance had let 10,000 soldiers from the rest of the company join her platoon’s rear, but that still put them far in the frontline. Maybe they wouldn’t be the tip, but they were still in the head of the spear. She encouraged her platoon to march forward.

The fog welcomed them with silence. Looking backwards, she could already see that they were deep inside the mists, but nothing had happened so much as their senses were diminished. The forms of the palms had already disappeared, leaving them in a world of gray from their waists up. The fog was thicker than she predicted once she found herself in its midst.

They worked their way through the water as it became uncomfortably deep, slowing their progress down until they were bunched up with those ahead. She finally spotted an enemy when it was far too late. An assassin dressed in black from head to toe, including a full helmet and dual matching swords, blades charcoal gray and outlined with pitch black, already dripping with blood, beheaded Scout Silva before he could register that he was under attack. Silva had the highest level of aura based perception in her entire platoon and he had been taken while completely unaware.

Paola didn’t blink, but the assassin vanished into the mists with only the subtle sound of air displacing and turbulence in the fog as it refilled the absence. She stumbled backwards with a tinge of aquamarine remaining in her eyes as she had briefly witnessed the light catch some highlights on the enemy’s armor. Silva’s body splashed into the water and she realized the rest of the platoon was meeting a similar fate. They were being slaughtered by what must have been a hundred, no, a thousand enemies. The other platoons had already met their doom, running into a meat grinder that easily defeated thousands before she had even realized they were under attack. Blinded and deafened by the fog, they were being cut down by teleporting executioners.

The warning she meant to shout never came as a suit of armor eschewed the subtlety of the assassinations, splashing forward and towering over her at nine feet tall, making the waist deep water seem barely knee deep instead. The suit itself seemed to be filled with fog and it announced its intention with a tinny, metallic, but bassy voice.

“Threat Analysis: Minimal. Neutralization: In Progress.” A heavy spiked flail smashed into her before she could raise her own blade in defense.