Chapter 232 - Defending the Holy City

Nate stood atop the stony hill, Kiri by his side. In the far distance, among the clouds, a faux battle between titans was waged on repeat. The colossal black dragon beat a wing and two of its flying opponents were blown away, partially shielded by a massive opalescent barrier. It was the third time Nate had seen that particular attack play out.

“Well, that decides it. It’s literally just playing on repeat. It’s weird,” Nate commented.

“Right?” replied Kiri. “This is a weird Dungeon. Well, if it wants to show us something I suppose we should get started.”

Nate simply grunted his agreement, taking a step forward as he crossed into the next ‘zone’. 

Dungeon Challenge: Take Command! (Defender)

Nate nodded as the notification appeared. He hadn’t been certain if their choice to side with the Defenders or the Invaders would carry over. Now that question was answered and it was clear they would be on the Calikex’s side as defenders for the remaining seven Dungeon Challenges. His eyes flicked to the next notification.

Dungeon Challenge: Take Command! (Defender)
The forces of The Eternium continue their invasion of Halureth. The Calikex rally to defend their home and to save what they can. Take command of the Calikex forces and any additional combatants to protect the non-combatants as they attempt to flee the battlefield. Hold off the invading forces for five hours.

As Nate finished reading the notification he felt space warp around himself and appeared on top of wooden ramparts. Kiri was beside him still, with Frick hovering between them. Behind them stretched a city built into the forest itself. Towering trees were sculpted into multi-level homes, with volcanic stone pyramids raised in the gaps between the many trees. Nate had to appreciate the aesthetics of merging more modern construction methods with the clearly molded tree homes. The city was also multi-layered as there were bridges between the trees, creating walkways above the smooth, stone floor of the city. 

Having seen the way the Calikex had fought, using totemic styles of Classes, he had thought they would live in smaller communities, closer with the land, but the city that sprawled before them could have housed hundreds of thousands. Maybe more, he acknowledged. Among those houses and streets, the Calikex gathered, their red, striped skin shining under the sun as above them the faux battle between Divinities continued to rage. 

With them upon the ramparts was an army, fully armed. Most of the Calikex wore little armour, seeming to favour sleeveless robes that ended around the knees. Some wore strips of leather or animal fur as decorations. Others had feathers in their hair. A bare few had what looked like gauntlets made of carapace. The interesting part was that none wore more than one decoration or piece of armour that came from an animal. Given the totemic nature of their abilities, he suspected they were identifying their totems. They were also armed, some carrying bows almost as tall as they were, while others wore long, curved daggers or large obsidian capped clubs. The least represented were those wielding obsidian axes or carrying obsidian-tipped spears.

Taking in the city and army had only cost Nate a few seconds, which was apparently long enough for a new notification to appear before him.

Please select Commander. Nathaniel Weber or Kiri Beaufoy?

Kiri didn’t give him a chance to ask.

“Don’t look at me. I’m going to be out there,” she waved her hand in the direction of the forest, which stood a few hundred metres distant with what looked like farming land between them.

Nate nodded, mentally selecting himself which caused a new notification to appear. 

Commander Nathaniel Weber selected. Hold off the invading forces for five hours. The Calikex will follow all commands given. Challenge begins in five minutes.

At the same time as the notification, four Calikex came to stand beside him, all bowing at the waist as they spoke in English. 

“Orders, Commander?”

He knew it was English because Kiri had looked confused when they spoke, recognising some of the sounds from the few words he had taught her. Nate mentally focused and then spoke in Etruan.

“Do you understand me?”

“Of course, Commander,” responded the Calikex wearing what looked like Dark Ligan fur across his shoulders. The man's Etruan was perfect which solved the problem for Nate. The Dungeon was using his own understanding of language to let him communicate with the natives, or these projections of them at least. At this point he was convinced this Dungeon wasn’t using real people or monsters, which was a first.

“Identify yourselves for me,” Nate commanded.

“Hal’Kahn, of the Disciples of the Dark King,” answered the short, Ligan furred Calikex.

“Ki’Jaskia, of the Heavenly Sky Wardens,” said a tall woman with feathers in her hair.

“Bal’Mon, Keepers of the Deep,” intoned the smallest among them, a woman who wore black and yellow chitin bracers on each arm.

“Rin’Gong, of the Coiling Ascendants,” answered the last attendant, this one whip-thin and wearing two daggers on his hips with green scaled grips.

Nate nodded, “Tell me the capabilities of your people.”

“The Disciples of the Dark King strike with the strength and fury of the jungle. We are the strongest and most numerous in the Holy City, which we have held for twenty generations,” stated Hal’Kahn arrogantly.

“The Keepers of the Deep do not bow,” growled Bal’Mon, shooting a frown at Hal’Kahn. “We are like the earth itself. Inexorable. A rolling tide that cannot be stopped.”

Hal’Kahn snorted in response but said nothing, brushing at his Dark Ligan fur as though he were above such petty insults, despite clearly being the one to start them.

“The Heavenly Sky Wardens are few, but we rule the sky beneath the clouds. My people will defend the Holy City to their last breath. None shall cross the walls while we can still fly,” hissed Ki’Jaskia vehemently.

Nate turned to the final Calikex.

Rin’Gong spread his hands, “The Coiling Ascendants have answered the call. We will do what is necessary to protect the Holy City. We should not be placed near others, lest they fall victim to our venoms. We stand with the Holy City, but alone, as it has ever been.”

Nate went over their statements. There was clearly a sense of pride and competitiveness between the various factions. Paths? He didn’t know what to call them. But beneath that veneer they had effectively told him the core of what each faction was capable of. The Disciples of the Dark King were his shock troops. The strongest single combatants, as none had actually contradicted Hal’Kahn’s assertion. The Keepers of the Deep were his defensive forces. The Heavenly Sky Wardens were his aerial forces and would likely be forced into the role of making sure none of their enemies got over the ramparts. Thankfully the ramparts were at least thirty metres tall, which meant very few should simply be able to jump over, but few were not none and he expected the forces of The Eternium to have those capable of flight as well. Finally, the Coiling Ascendants were almost certainly based around area of effects related to poisons, hence the request to not be used near the others. 

Then there were Nate’s own forces. He had well over a hundred Legendary-tier materials ready. They were small pieces, each only as long as a finger and a little wider. The size would impact how long they would last, which was simply a factor that he couldn’t get around given the timeframe he had to work with. A material could only absorb a finite amount of mana after all, and once turned into a Construct it would consume itself. With less material to consume their lifespans were shorter. His bonuses to duration for his Conceptual Automated Existence Skill offset that to an extent, but even with his Embodiment doubling his Stats that still meant that he was effectively turning their duration from one minute to four minutes. If he had a piece of material as large as himself he was confident it could last for four to five hours, but it would also take longer to create. That said, he wasn’t particularly concerned. He definitely wanted quantity over quality for this kind of scenario.

“How many of you are there?” Nate asked the Calikex.

It was Rin’Gong who answered, the slippery looking Calikex smirking slightly as he gazed at the other three Calikex Leaders, “Five hundred of Disciples of the Dark King, two hundred of the Heavenly Sky Wardens, three hundred Keepers of the Deep and fifty Coiled Ascendants.”

A little over a thousand, plus whatever Nate used from his own supplies, and of course, Kiri and Frick.

“Split yourselves into groups of fifty. The Heavenly Sky Wardens are to focus on defense and prevent anyone from flying over the wall, as well as clean up any breaches if they occur. The Keepers of the Deep are to hold the wall until we have a better idea of what we are facing. The Disciples of the Dark King are our most numerous combatants so I want them split. Six teams of fifty are to support the Keepers of the Deep. The remaining two hundred are to wait in reserve. As for the Coiled Ascendants,” Nate glanced at Rin’Gong. “I want your forces here with me.”

“As you will, Commander,” replied Hal’Kahn, mirrored by the others as they left to commit to his orders. Nate watched them go and couldn’t help but notice the change whenever he gave orders. When he did, they revealed bits of their personalities, but outside of that acted like automatons. Even Rin’Gong, who had only moved a few metres away before putting a green carved whistle to his lips, seemed more rigid now that he was outside of Nate’s presence.

“What about us, Boss?” asked Frick.

“Yeah, what about us Commander,” teased Kiri.

Nate rolled his eyes and reminded himself this was just a Dungeon Challenge. It wasn’t real. He didn’t know what it was exactly, but it definitely wasn’t real. Not with the fake battle in the sky continuing, halfway through its current cycle.

“Do what you want, Kiri. I’ll let you know if I need you to change it up but I figure you want to be in the thick of it to improve your Skills. Same for you Frick. Go goblin-mode.”

The pair of battle maniacs both nodded, pleased with Nate’s ‘orders.’ The countdown till the Challenge started didn’t take much longer and as it finished, enemies started stepping out from the trees in the distance. Just like the first Dungeon Challenge, the enemies were an assortment of humanoids, with only ten appearing so far. They all wore armour, coloured in what Nate was beginning to think represented their elemental Classes, based on his Conceptual Sight of the Runic Artist. Dancing Flaming Blades and Wind Piercing Archers  alongside Flowing Water Guardians and Solid Earthen Juggernauts. Then, as though a red flag had been waved, they charged the walls launching elemental attacks ahead of them.

Nate waited, trying to understand the Challenge as Kiri and Frick both vanished. Then his Familiar and best friend were among the enemies. Frick took on his preferred form as a gigantic, blue goblin. His hammer fist punted an Earth-based Dwarf back into the jungle before a backhand slapped away a wave of water from a rapier wielding elfin enemy. If Frick was a blunt instrument, then Kiri was a scalpel, carving through their enemies with exacting precision. She was clearly attempting to level her Skills as he saw multiple Echoes used. The Dancing Flaming Blade dodged two of Kiri’s Tethered arms, before darting in to attack her probably thinking she was exposed. Instead, shadows appeared, looking like additional Tethered arms that slashed down in the exact same place as the first attacks. The first was deflected by the Flaming Blade but the second carved through the warrior’s red armour, leaving them open for Kiri’s follow up as she vanished, appearing behind the Flaming Blade and skewering them in the back with two daggers. Then Kiri was on the move again.

The two Wind Piercing Archers took shots at Kiri and Nate could sense how the Concept of Wind was being used to reduce the drag on the arrows as they rocketed towards his sister. Kiri vanished again, teleporting slightly forward to appear between the two archers. The archers tried to take to the air, skating on bursts of wind. But not quickly enough. Kiri’s Tethered Arms extended their range as she went from wielding twelve to wielding only four. The extended arms could cover up to four metres and that was enough to slam two of the Mythic daggers into each of the archers before dragging them back to the ground, where Kiri could pounce on them, ending them both in the span of five seconds. 

Nate could feel the processed mana being shared equally between Kiri and himself. Though it was clear it was far less than he would’ve expected to receive from enemies of this level. Perhaps a limitation of the Dungeon not using real people, he thought.

Nate continued to watch, conserving his mana as he determined how dangerous the enemies were and how the rest of the Challenge would unfold. In less than a minute Kiri and Frick had defeated all ten of the enemy combatants. He judged the resources they used and thought that Kiri had probably used five percent of her Soul Energy. Frick had used a similar amount of Nate’s mana but it was offset to an extent by Nate constantly draining mana gems. With his rising Mana Absorption Stat it was getting easier to maintain a full Mana Reserve. Just in case he set up a few mana gathering arrays within one hundred metres of him, teleporting them into position and filling them with empty or partially full mana gems.

At exactly five minutes after the first combatants appeared, another ten walked out of the jungle and Nate finally understood the details of the Challenge. It was a wave challenge. They had to hold out for five hours. That was what the Dungeon notification had said. If he was a betting man, he would guess that the wave size would increase as the timer progressed. So he needed to manage their resources efficiently, else they’d tire out too soon and then fail. A smile crept onto his face. Wasn’t this just the perfect kind of situation for him?

Creating a Sound Rune he made his voice carry over the clearing.

“Come back Kiri, Frick. Hal’Kahn, take a team of fifty and deal with these enemies.”

As the Disciples of the Dark King took to the field Kiri and Frick joined Nate on the ramparts.

“What’s up?” Kiri asked.

“It’s a wave Challenge,” Nate explained. “They’ll likely get bigger, but either way they’re probably going to keep coming at five minute intervals… I think. And, while they’re nice and small, I want to use them to test the capabilities of the Calikex. I’ll sub you in on every second wave for now, so you have time to regenerate some of your Soul Energy in between waves.”

He turned to look at Frick, “As for you…”

Frick grinned up at him, “Rune cannons?”

“Rune cannons,” Nate agreed.