Wish upon the Stars chapter 135

Ten. Ten G ranked goblins riding giant wolves, and backed by a much  larger force of goblins on foot, all glaring at me like they wanted to  tear me apart. Normally ten G ranked cannon fodder monsters wouldn't  scare me, especially not with my team around, but those wolves had BIG  teeth. Something about the fur and the smell and the glaring hate in  their eyes made them much scarier than the Bone Wyvern, which while huge  had just been a big fuck off skeleton.

Making sure to  keep my voice even and casual and my eyes locked on the wolves, I  addressed Chester. "So...any chance you got followed back to camp last  time you were out? Because these guys seem like they might have been  planning this for a little while." I'd gotten back to my feet and was  slowly backing away, hoping Chester got the hint and did the same. He  did, and the two of us retreated calmly and rationally as fast as we  fucking could back towards the fire pit and our respective teams.

Unfortunately  we got about three steps before the wolves decided they weren't open to  the idea of a retreat. Given stealth was now out the window I just  bellowed. "Chester, hold tight, I'll be back! Guys! Monsters!" I didn't  have a chance to say anything else because the wolves went from a charge  to a full on lunge and I had to compensate. Hoping Chester was going to  be ok I used Leaf on the Wind and shoved off heading for the nearest  tree that looked too tall to climb. With the power in my legs and the  decreased gravity I touched down gently on the branch to overlook what  was about to be a battle.

My warning had been enough time  for Cark to spring into action, and the pyrokinetic had conjured a huge  wall of blue flame that was holding back the tide of goblins and  preventing them from getting to our people and the Raiders both. It  looked like keeping the wall stable and up was straining him though.  Down in the necropolis he didn't keep his constructs together for such a  long time, mostly just using them to maneuver attacks to hit multiple  enemies.

I wasn't sure if he could hold the wall long  term. The walls he left behind is in the tunnels had only lasted a  minute or two after we got past them. They hadn't needed to last longer  than that because we'd been moving fast enough that they got left far  behind with that much of a lead. Not to mention this was a huge open  area. The heat from the flames was rising like heat always did, which  meant the power was dissipating. He would need to pump more energy into  the blaze to keep it going plus cover much more space to protect  everyone.

I looked back to check on Chester. I'd bolted to  safety without him because I wanted to get the lay of the land but I  wasn't going to leave him down there. I couldn't stretch Leaf on the  Wind to him because he didn't know me well enough to trust the skill  when it spread to him, so my options were strictly of the attack variety  here. When I looked down at him though I was surprised to see he didn't  need any help after all. I'd been preparing to use my mistwalking to  cover the battlefield and slip him out into the woods with Seek Hidden,  but the big man was standing his ground.

The G ranker with  the red mohawk was standing in a boxing stance, and behind him was a  huge behemoth of solid rock sticking out of the ground. The construct of  stone was only visible from the waist up, but aside from being  featureless it heavily resembled Chester in form and shape. The  construct had it's huge stone fists up and as the wolves came in at it  was flicking out blurringly fast jabs in a staccato rhythm, knocking  them away from the shadowboxing form of Chester, whose movements the  construct was mimicking exactly.

I called down to the big  man. "Hey, you alright? I was setting up to extract you with stealthier  methods, but it looks like you're holding up ok!" The goblins noticed my  yelling but since I was behind the line made by the construct it was  basically irrelevant to the situation. Chester was laying down a blanket  of blindingly fast punches into the air in front of him, seemingly  unconcerned with anything happening and barely even breathing hard  despite the insane speed he was working with.

He chuckled,  calling back. "No worries, I saw you getting ready to jump back in and I  heard what you said. I'm not quite in as good a position as I look  though!" I wasn't sure what he meant by that until I took a closer look.  Despite the literal rain of powerful blows, the goblins weren't  actually dying when the construct hit them. As it made contact I was  able to tell that the thing was made of hard packed dirt NOT stone. The  Skill or ability he was using might be G ranked, but the earth here  wasn't and even propelled by his power it wasn't enough to get the job  done when spread over such an incredibly large area.

That  was less than ideal. I wondered about his ability, could he make it  smaller to make it stronger but he went big to cover more distance? The  arms of the construct were big enough that their range created a  protective bubble around the man as he danced through his boxing forms.  It was absurdly potent as a defense even if it apparently lacked the  kick to finish off the goblins in its current form. The damage seemed to  be so diffuse it wasn't even killing the H rankers, but the G ranked  goblins weren't actually any heavier, so the huge earth fists were still  sending them and their mounts flying.

Luckily,  I had something that would help. I stepped off the branch, letting  gravity take hold and haul me downward, but landing softly on the  densely packed forest earth as leaf in the wind resisted the pull,  making the first step a quick and easy one despite the long drop. When I  got down there I turned to bolt over to Chester. "Stall for a minute  longer man, I can help turn this around." With just the two of us on  this side of the firewall we needed to fight smarter, not harder. While  each individual goblin might be less than a threat, there were ten G  rank goblins AND ten wolves of the same level.

I  hurried over to the construct and put both hands on the thing. I closed  my eyes and reached down for DS Mastery, knowing this would seriously  fuck me up but also knowing it was the perfect solution. First I  strained at stone limb, using it to cover the whole golem. Since the  things was made of rock and part of the earth that was less of a stretch  than I'd been expecting. The next two were tougher. Consecration of  Flames and Touch of Tears both washed out of me, and I felt my knees  buckle at the strain.

When  I opened my eyes though, the huge dirt construct had become a hulking  black behemoth of cracked stone with glowing green poison magma surging  through it. I fell back on my ass, letting Chester work as I yelled.  "Got it, go!" With my confirmation the big man unleashed his flurry of  punches again. The poison magma goliath was unleashing a rain of hellish  basalt destruction on the goblins, and unlike before, it was working.  The wolf riders were taking the punches as best they could to shelter  the army but every blow was getting them more and more poisoned.

I  was...kind of in awe. The combo of my earth and fire skills created  magma, and the combination of my poison and fire created acidic poison  flame, but the three of them together was something else. Seeing it all  merge in this giant form was something I couldn't have imagined, and it  was earthshatteringly terrifying to behold. The bastards were slowly  getting whittled away by the flying fists, and everyone nearby was  staring at the combination of my DS Mastery Skill and Chester's ability.

The  magma infused fists were raining down on the goblin army, basically  vaporizing the H rank goblins when they hit. The longer it went on the  more the goblin riders got worn away. My earth skill was reinforcing and  enhancing the already mighty construct, bringing it to a level where  even at its prodigious size it could inflict real casualties on the  goblin forces. The number of wolf riders started to drop as one of them  succumbed the the poison flame, leaving a hole for another few punches  to demolish a dozen more goblins.

The  behemoth was holding them back so effectively Cark even dropped the  fire shield, and the G rankers on my team headed into help with the  fight. Given the wolves and their mobility sending the G rankers in  seemed like a mistake. Olivia stayed behind with both sets of lower  ranking members while the others joined the battle, whooping with joy.  Jessie, the lone exception, stopped to charge me back up with her life  force, and despite still maintaining a small headache, after a few  seconds I was good to get back into the thick of things.

With  the others here to deal with the little ones Chester seemed to have  reigned in his symphony of destruction to a more manageable series of  slaps and grabs, focusing on pinning down the other nine wolf riders and  their mounts, with Cark and Callie pulling off one of each pair to try  to relieve some of the pressure. Since I needed to get some training in  against stronger enemies and these wolf riders were all poisoned I drew  out my cane and dipped on slam the head down on two of the wolves before  leaping clear, drawing them off and leaving Chester with five riders  left and Benny and Jessie supporting.

I  touched down a bit away from the group with the pair of wolf riders on  my tail and got ready to fight. This was my first time using my cane in  battle, which wasn't ideal, but to be fair I'd been training to hit  people with sticks for a few months now so it wasn't really that  different. The main change was the way the new grip changed my options  in terms of striking. While a close fisted grip on the cane worked and  was useful most of the time, the shaft was thin enough to spin between  my fingers which opened up a lot of options given my new fighting style.

I  slipped into my Balam form, getting ready to deal with the two wolves  and the two goblins riding them. I had a feeling this was going to be  infinitely more difficult that taking out a bunch of skeletons, but I  didn't regret getting into this at all. As much of a crutch as I knew it  was, combat helped me center myself and clear my mind. All the  complicated things I thought about when I was free of distraction and in  my own head melted away.

Ever  since I became an Ascendant this had just come naturally to me. I  wasn't great at making plans, I wasn't good at self control, and I  didn't have Celine's head for politics or Callie's drive to learn more  about our world. But I could fight. I could win. Much like wishes combat  was something I could contribute to the group, something I could do to  show I was valuable. I knew that was stupid, but I needed it. Needed to  feel like something other than a walking stat dispenser. Needed to be  good for more than just my ability. But hey, bonus, I was pretty sure  getting lost in a battle frenzy was a great example of living in the  now.