Town Builder - 94 - King Kong or Donkey Kong

Chapter 94: King Kong or Donkey Kong?

We all watched as the aped army assembled on the field. “Named boss. That is bad news, mate.” Mad Dog grunted. “Well, I am calling him Big Al. Albert sounds much too formal before a first date.” he tried for humor at our plight.

The named boss was a city boss rank, which meant it was expected to require 64 players of an equivalent level to take him down. I had just over five thousand players with an average level of twelve. The news didn’t get any better. Malcum was facing a much smaller army, and their general was at least a more manageable level, one hundred and five. With the defenses and players there, the battle should eventually be won, but we weren’t going to be able to call on them for help.

That atmosphere was tense as no one wanted to rush out and take on the ape army alone, but it was giving them time to assemble after exiting the Incursion portal. “Suggestions?” I asked my assembled group.

Titus, the level 143 gnome hospitaller/paladin, grunted, “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.” Big Al roared and threw a man-sized rock at lightning speed. It crashed into a cluster of players at the edge of town, killing most of them. They would respawn, but it was clear the general would be a problem. “I can keep him distracted for a while, but you must handle the chafe.” Titus leaped off the wall and sprinted out to engage without waiting for orders. Damn it, he better not get himself killed!

Blood Crisis had even more bad news, “The defense chat is suggesting a retreat. I doubt most will, but after a few bad goes at the army and seeing the futility—I don’t know.”

“We can pull the NPC reserves from Goatyah and Plainsrider and hope the other guilds are not planning an attack this Incursion,” I offered my best thoughts. In my mind, Phoenix’s Rest and the scaling dungeon were more important than the elite mounts and future skyships.

Mad Dog reluctantly nodded but was busy trying to direct units of our guild to the flank of the army. The war mammoth riders beating the drums provided the infantry with an armor and strength bonus, so they needed to be dealt with first. So far, the only positive of this incursion was that the enemy was terrible at strategy, as they did not react to us circling to the flank.

I made a decision to help somewhere I could make a difference. “I am headed back to Malcum to see if I can hasten our victory there. All I am doing here is a buff to the defending NPCs, but the players outnumber the NPCs fifty to one. And Titus is too far away to get my aura buff.”

“We will hold down the fort, mate,” Mad Dog muttered as he managed his screens, directing players and managing the NPCs. He would rather be in one of the attacking teams, but he would be more effective in managing the attack.

Before heading to the portal stone, I watched Titus weave through the army like a slippery eel to reach Big Al. The gnome looked tiny compared to the fifty-foot ape-man. The monstrous ape didn’t even acknowledge him as he prepared to throw another boulder. Titus’ oversized sword came down on the giant’s foot, and he surprisingly howled in pain. Titus must have used a special attack on the behemoth ape. The boulder he had been about to hurl instead crashed into the spot where Titus stood.

Or I should say where he once stood. Titus was now behind Big Al, swinging his blade into the other foot’s ankle. It connected, but not with the same effect. Big Al snapped his foot back, and Titus went flying, tumbling in the dirt. I felt relieved since he had only lost about 5% of his health, and he immediately healed himself as he got to his feet, returning to full health. There was something called combat healing fatigue for NPCs and monsters. Every time they healed to full health, they wouldn’t quite return to their maximum. It could be as little as 0.01% each time, but it gave players a chance against powerful foes with healing. Some players even exploited the loophole to expedite reducing an opponent’s health by healing them to full themselves.

“Little guy is a cockroach,” Silent Scream said. “I might have one or two spells that might slow the big ape.”

“Go,” Mad Dog waved him off. “You too, Tallis! Go win the battle in Malcum and get us help here before the army destroys the dungeon gates!” 

I turned and looked at the twin dungeon gates built at immense expense. Damn, was this the admin’s doing? Sending an impossible army to destroy my stranglehold on the Crypt of the Phoenix King? Even in the two short days, it had been open to players, we had made thousands of gold in taxes from exiting dungeon delvers. At this point, I wouldn’t put it past them. I raced to the portal and returned to Malcum.

The smell of burnt hair lingered in the air as fire explosions and lightning strikes outside the city cooked the Ape Incursion Army. I raced to the wall to stand with Galana and Bella. Tanguin was with the majority of our army in Phoenix’s Rest. Galana looked relieved on seeing me and I nodded to the giantkin.

I surveyed the field. The general here was much shorter than Big Al, standing between thirty and forty feet. He was also a better general because he was directing his forces to keep his mammoths protected. While Big Al fought like a brute, this ape used his head. 

Bella was frustrated. Galana explained that the lightning mage bunny girl hadn’t been able to target the mammoths since the orangutan mages had planted lightning rods on the battlefield, nullifying her attempted strikes. That was new and an artifact I would like to copy in the future. 

I surveyed the field for weaknesses. “Target the gorilla warriors on the perimeter!” I yelled over the noise of explosions and shouts. Bella switched to one of the gorillas battling four players off to the left. The lightning bolt descended in a flash, superheated the soldier, and he exploded. He must have been outside the range of their buffs.

“Excellent! Can’t heal that!” someone yelled from the walls below us. That was another problem with the orange-furred mage support; they had healing spells.

“We’re going to have to do this the hard way,” Black Beauty said, climbing up to join us. She had been in Goatyah in case a guild attacked and was redirected here to help. She looked over the field and pointed. “Grind up those gorilla infantry first. They’ll be tough with their buffs and healing support, but once they fall, the mages can be overwhelmed on that flank. We need to keep up pressure on the opposite flank as well, or they will be able to pull forces from there.” Relieved to have someone with experience, I issued the orders.

As we worked to send orders to the players who were part of the defense, the majority of the Silver Linings Playbook’s outer members attempted to break through where Black Beauty had indicated. Bella assisted until she ran out of mana and needed to rest. How was my powerful defender a four-foot-tall white bunny girl?

It was a slow grind—too slow. Back in Phoenix’s Rest, low-level players were abandoning the fight as it seemed helpless, and they were only rushing the field to die with nothing to show for it. Titus was annoying Big Al but was not making progress on reducing his health, as his defense was too strong to do any significant damage. It was even more nerve-wracking that Goatyah and Plainsrider were virtually undefended now. Only NPCs that spawned from my buildings could not leave the towns remained.

Almost two hours into the fight in Malcum, the ape army’s flank finally collapsed, giving a tide of players access to the orangutan mages. Surprisingly, the general started to pull back to consolidate his forces. This act was going to draw out the fight. 

Someone yelled, “The lightning rods have been knocked over!” He was right. The lightning rods had been left behind in the retreat and trampled.

I turned to find Bella. She was rising but looking exhausted from using so much magic. “Can you?” I asked hopefully.

“Six or seven…” she said, making her way to the merlon on the wall overlooking the battlefield. There were only twelve mammoths with riders; none had fallen yet in the bloody battle. I crossed my fingers as the sky darkened with magically summoned clouds, and a thick blue bolt of energy descended on the nearest mammoth. The rider beating the drum was thrown off, and the drum exploded in a pyrotechnic display.

Six of her following seven strikes either destroyed the drum, dislodged the rider, or killed the rider outright. With the loss of the buffs, the gorilla-men infantry became more vulnerable to the players. I accessed my interface and unleashed the NPCs I had, recognizing the opportunity. “Good idea!” Black Beauty said as she worked her interfaces like Mad Dog did in Phoenix’s Rest.

I usually wanted to keep my NPCs within the walls of Malcum and attack only from there, as they were irreplaceable if they died. However, I already knew I had lost NPCs in Phoenix’s Rest and would lose more unless we finished this quickly and moved to support the battle there. The released heavy orc cavalry thundered across the ground as fifty-five giantkin, led by two angelkin captains, charged behind them. Black Beauty was already directing additional healing support from the guild toward the NPCs. 

The charge of NPCs energized the players, who had only defended the city for the rewards. It was easy to see that the enemy was going to fold, and we were going to win. The question was whether I should cut off their retreat. The giant ape was clearly pulling his forces back toward the portal to escape now. He would have incredible loot, but it would cost my NPCs their lives to hold the line in front of the portal.

“Black Beauty, can you issue orders for the players to block the portal?” I asked over the distant roar of battle.

“I can try. Maybe you can post some quests for the players?” She said as she worked.

I accessed my menus and began generating quests for the players. Most of the rewards were substantial amounts of gold, as my experience pool for quest rewards was constantly depleted. It was a slow response on the field, as some player factions accepted the reward offer and tried to position themselves between the returning ape army and the portal. So far, the large ape had not attacked even once, but now, seeing his escape route cut off, he leaped into action—literally. 

He jumped over a hundred feet into the air and landed among the players, punting an unfortunate mage back over Malcum’s wall. Clearly, he was trying to buy time for his forces to retreat, but they were not a clever army and moved to defend their general. I could see the frustration on the massive gorilla’s face as players surrounded him. He could still retreat himself, abandoning the remnants of his forces, but instead, he just went into a rage, succumbing to the futility of his position.

It took more than an hour to whittle the army down and overwhelm the general. He had been surrounded by a hundred different players when his health reached zero, and no one was sure who had taken the loot as dozens of players scattered to loot the rest of the battlefield. I was more concerned about getting to the portal and getting back to Phoenix’s Rest. Black Beauty was going to remain behind with a hundred outer members, Galana, and her NPC city guard. Everyone else was being sent to the portal.

Some clever players had taken to running there on foot as it might be quicker than waiting for the portal, which could only had space for ten people at a time. As lord of Malcum, I, of course, cut to the front of the line. When I arrived in Phoenix’s rest it was a battlefield. The gorillas were fighting players in small groups among the buildings. Many of the structures in the dungeon town were noticeably damaged. There was a lot of chaos, and Mad Dog had abandoned trying to manage the defense. He was currently with a team trying to get to one of the mammoth riders. 

As groups of ten players arrived at the portal, they flowed into the city for support. I looked for the most critical fight—Titus and Big Al. The David and Goliath pair were still outside the city in a game of cat and mouse. Titus’s health was below half on my interface, while Big Al’s was still nearly full. I don’t think we had the players to take down the general this time.

Mad Dog interrupted my pessimistic outlook with a voice message through the defense chat channel. “Tallis, there are three mammoths left! If we take them all down, we will be able to whittle away Big Al’s health!”

To encourage the players, I posted massive two thousand gold rewards for the final blow on the mammoth riders. It worked as guilds of players organized and rushed the field to swarm them with little regard to surviving. Just one of their members needed to be the one who struck the final blow.

Mad Dog had been right. After the last mammoth fell, Big Al’s health started to decline very slowly. Silent Scream, who had been debuffing the general the entire time, shouted through the chat, “He has three weaknesses: groin, back of the neck, and eyes. All deal bonus damage.” That was all Mad Dog needed as we attacked the juggernaut. There were fewer than five hundred gorilla soldiers and orangutan mages left.

When only Big Al was left, the inevitable happened—he ran. Thankfully, he didn’t run into the portal, so I would get some sort of bonus from the victory. The players were already swarming the battlefield and city for loot.

I bought up my interface to see how much damage had been done to Phoenix’s Rest. Every building had taken damage that would take tens of thousands of gold to repair—except these were my buildings. They would repair themselves at the rate of 1% per day until fully restored. 

Mad Dog joined me and I thought he was going to apologize for being wrong, “That was bloody epic, mate. Can’t wait till the next one!” The wolfkin was serious but also ribbing me. I didn’t think we could handle another fight like that. We needed better defenses in Phoenix’s Rest. Maybe some ballista towers and a wall. The problem was the resources to build those would take from other projects. 

I checked my messages and started laughing. Mad Dog looked like he had been expecting this. “How many levels did you get?” He asked nonchalantly.

“I’m level 42!”

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