Healer Arc 2 -- Chapter 36

Chapter 36

“You knew this was coming.  I still don’t understand what’s going on with you, or even who you really are, but I’ve seen what you can do.  I—we—trust you to do what needs to be done to keep the city safe.”

As he stood up on the high walls of Teglir, along with thousands of other Combat Classes over Level 50 and Adventurers ranging from Level 15 to a few that he saw topping Level 90, Thaden looked off into the distance, trying to catch a glimpse of the monster army that was on its way.  Unfortunately, despite the relatively flat land to the north of the city, he couldn’t see even a small hint of what was approaching.

But he could feel the System energy building to a crescendo.

He didn’t mention what he felt, though, because no one else seemed to sense it.  Or, more accurately, they didn’t sense any System energy building up around them.

Turning toward Flarenia, he nodded at her words, having been subjected to similar affirmations of their belief in him from each member of his Party.  Each and every one of them still seemed to be affected by his Befriend Spirit spell, to the point where it was beginning to become slightly creepy.  It was as if he had permanently brainwashed them so that they couldn’t help but like and believe in him no matter what, which wasn’t what he had intended or even considered could happen after he’d used the spell on them to save their lives.  He appreciated the friendship, as he hadn’t had many friends both in his former life on Earth or even on Tarth, but this was heavily leaning toward the artificial – and he didn’t care for it. 

To think, I actually preferred the twins treating me like crap and second-guessing my every action.

“They’re getting closer, aren’t they?” Blinky asked, staring out past the extensive farm fields surrounding the northern portion of the city.  “I can sense the wave of hostility coming from the Persistent Adversary building up.  I’ve never felt anything like this before.” 

Thaden again nodded, this time absently, as the Grome repeated the same thing that he’d heard said multiple times from a myriad of different sources ever since they climbed the stone stairs leading up to the top of the walls along with thousands of others.  Everyone he heard talking about sensing the army of monsters mentioned it being the Persistent Adversary that was sending the dangerous forces, as if they had no doubt of its origin. 

Thaden, though, knew better.  While it wasn’t the same System energy he’d inadvertently unleashed during his Class Evolution, it was still similar enough that he had no doubt that it still came from the System.  It was like the difference between jelly and jam; both of them – at least in some way – originated from fruit, and though they were prepared differently, they came from the same source.  Energy that came from the Adversary, from what he’d experienced on Tarth, was completely different; using the same analogy, if System energy was jelly or jam, then Adversarial energy was peanut butter.  They complemented each other in a sandwich, but there was absolutely no way anyone would confuse one for the other. 

Yet, that seemed to be the case with the defenders on the wall.  Despite what Thaden clearly could identify as System energy was coming toward them, the only source of that energy he heard was “Adversary”; not a single mention of the System was heard even once.  It was yet another mystery that he intended to solve one day, as he’d noticed quite a few discrepancies between what the Contenders were told about the Assimilation System and the Persistent Adversary on Tarth and what appeared to be a version of the truth.  There was more going on between the two of them than anyone seemed to know, and one day he was going to get to the bottom of it. 

That day wasn’t today, however, as he needed to survive what was coming.  And trying to tell a bunch of people preparing to defending a massive city that they were potentially fighting against the same System that they revered like some sort of god, and not the Persistent Adversary, didn’t seem like it would be a smart thing to do.  At best, they would ignore him; at worst, they might find it appropriate to “deal” with the non-believer among them before he could infect anyone else with his sacrilegious affirmations.

Glancing around at those same people, he could see a veritable sea of different races, all of them showing varying degrees of confidence and nervousness, clutching their weapons with shaky hands, adjusting their armor or magical clothing, or simply affecting a bored expression as they waited for battle to commence.  Where he and his Party were located was right near the middle of the northern wall, which stretched for miles in each direction, the width of the wall itself wide enough to allow up to 10 people to form up one after another from one side to the other.  The knee-high wall in front of them all was the only thing preventing them from falling off, though the drop was only 30 feet and wouldn’t necessarily hurt most of the people up on top if they did fall off.  When he’d first seen the city, the walls had seemed so high and impregnable that he couldn’t imagine much getting through them; now that he was on top, they didn’t seem so impressive – especially given what he knew about what had destroyed Felith.

As Thaden turned back to the land stretching out ahead of the city, he began to hear some murmurs coming from some of those on the wall.  It only took him a moment to make out that the sharpest-eyed of them, likely Scout Classes, were finally able to see something in the distance.  As he squinted against the bright light of the sun beating down on them, he thought he could make out a small blotch of something at the furthest distance he could see, when a sudden message startled him.

Bat’la’hera would like to incorporate your Party into the Raid Party she is leading. 

Current Raid Party Members: 312/400

Accept? Y/N

Whipping his head around, it only took seeing the unique, 6-armed, blue-skinned Heliothrope from the Local Legion approximately 50 feet away from his location on the wall to identify the rest of the Legion around him.  He locked eyes with the Aelveen Mage who was staring at him with daggers in her eyes, and before he could react more than to notice her, she and the rest of her Party were already moving toward him.

Thaden had nowhere to really run to, as the wall was packed like a New York subway during the morning commute, though the people seemed to part around the high-Level Legion Party as they passed through them.   He momentarily thought about jumping off the wall entirely, but he deduced that this was exactly what they were probably hoping he would do; at the moment, he was among the defenders on the wall, and it was unlikely that they would try to kill him with so many witnesses.  Plus, they would be deliberately reducing the city’s defenses by killing him, which wouldn’t go over well with the city or those who ran it.  If he ran, though, he would be seen as running from his responsibilities as a Coalition member of high Rank, and killing him as he ran could be constituted as a just action.

Instead, he just stood there as the Local Legion Party approached. 

“There you are, Thaden.  You left before we could finish our little conversation,” the female Aelveen stated with an even voice as she came to a stop approximately 5 feet away from him.  “That was quite rude of you to leave in such a way,” she continued, as if daring him start throwing around accusations and protests.

Thaden didn’t rise to the bait.  “I happen to believe that our conversation was quite over.  It didn’t end exactly the way I hoped it would, but I did what I had to do to make sure I was here on time to defend the city.  Delaying my departure would only have complicated matters.”

“I see.”  Bat’la’hera smiled, before adding, “It seems as though you were correct about your assumption.”  She deliberately looked away, peering off into the distance where he was sure the first ranks of the monster army could be seen.  “In the interests of our mutual protection, I would advise joining my Raid Party, as it will be much easier to coordinate our defenses – and the defenses of the city.”  She looked back into his eyes, as if daring him to refuse in front of everyone watching their confrontation.

He knew that there was no way he was getting out of it without making everyone suspicious of him; with the Local Legion being the highest-Level Party he could see along the walls, it would be stupid not to join up with them in a Raid Party.  “Before I join, I have one question and potentially one condition.”

She smiled, as if knowing he would do as she asked.  He could only assume she was doing this so that she could easily find him after the battle was over – if they succeeded, of course.  “Sure, go ahead.  Ask away.”

“What is your Emboldened Leadership Competency at?  If it isn’t higher than mine, then it would be best if you make me the Raid Party leader.”

The Aelveen’s smile dropped away instantly at his question.  “You have Emboldened Leadership?  That… isn’t possible.  If you’re telling the truth, show me.”

“Sorry, no can do.  It’s a quirk of my situation that I cannot share any of my screens.  By the way, my Emboldened Leadership Competency is at 1,239; is yours higher?  Or… do you even have it?” he asked, doing his best to keep a smirk off his face.

She stared at him for a few seconds with a blank expression on her face, before her eyes narrowed for a moment.  A second later, he received another message that overrode his previous one. 

Bat’la’hera would like to incorporate your Party into a Raid Party, making you the Raid Party leader. 

Current Raid Party Members: 312/400

Accept? Y/N

Thaden didn’t gloat or even smile, even if he privately felt like celebrating, as he accepted the prompt.  Almost immediately, he felt his awareness of his Party expand to incorporate the majority of the people around him on the wall near him.  It seemed as though the Local Legion hadn’t been particularly concerned on who they invited to the Raid Party, only that they were in direct proximity to Thaden.  They all looked toward him as they received a message that leadership had transferred to him, which gained him more attention that he probably should’ve thought about beforehand, but the damage was already done.

With a thought, he turned off the Silent Voyeur Advancement from the Emboldened Leadership Competency, which he’d had permanently activated to hide Perceived Levels (and therefore any bonuses to stats).  This wasn’t the time to worry about that, however, as he saw Perceived Levels of every Raid Party member pop up on their nametags, showing a slightly higher Level than before.  For instance, when he glanced at Blinky, he could see that his Perceived Level was 12 Levels higher than his original Level.

Blinky {Densartis Faction}

Grome

Level 34 (Perceived Level: 46)

On Tarth, because of the Visible Charisma Advancement, the Perceived Level of everyone around him was a flat 30% higher than their actual Level; since he hadn’t picked that Advancement again, the Perceived Level was a bit more variable.  In general, most appeared to have a Perceived Level that was 30% to 40% higher than their actual Level.

With their bestowal of Perceived Levels, which was mainly used to help with Level requirements for dungeons (at least on Tarth) and reward distribution, also came an increase in the stats of everyone in his Raid Party.  Because of his Rubbing Off and Lucky in Love Advancements, they also received a boost to their Personality and Fortuity in addition to Physicality, Celerity, and Mentality.  The sudden increase of the assembled Raid Party’s stats had a visible effect as everyone but the Local Legion staggered slightly as they suddenly gained 30% to 40% in all of their stats to go along with the Perceived Level increase.  Confusion reigned among the assembled defenders as it seemed like they were under attack, but it didn’t take long for the first one of them to discover the changes.

“My… my stats!  They’ve changed – and to the better!” a Netherine nearby shouted, and soon enough everyone else had checked out their own stats, exclaiming over the difference. 

“What is this?  Is this from that Competency you mentioned?” Blinky asked, having discovered the changes, as well.  “Why didn’t this affect us before.”

“Yes, it’s from my Competency,” he confirmed.  “And it didn’t affect us before because I wasn’t the leader of the Party.”

Flarenia heard his words and ducked her head, likely remembering how he had made becoming their Party leader a condition of his boast about clearing a dungeon by himself.  She was probably just now learning that he had a good reason for it, not because he wanted to be in charge.  He ignored her, though, as he focused his attention on the Local Legion, and specifically Bat’la’hera. 

“Huh.  I guess you really do have Emboldened Leadership.  I have to admit that I had my doubts, but I was wrong,” the Aelveen admitted.  “What would you have us do?” she then asked, standing up straight, prepared to follow his orders.

He waved toward her.  “I might be the Raid Party leader, but I have no desire to actually lead it.  You’re in charge, and I’m giving you all the same permissions, including inviting more members.  Get us up to 400 to share these buffs with more people, and we’ll be good to go.”

Bat’la’hera’s face twitched in surprise, before she began to act on what he’d told her.  Within the next few seconds, they had shot up to a full 400 members, with hundreds more along the outskirts of the main Raid Party lamenting their inability to join them after hearing about the stat increases.  She then started arranging people in specific positions along the wall for her defensive strategy, and his own Party followed her orders immediately – though only after confirming with him that it was alright.  That Befriend Spirit spell is becoming more and more annoying as time goes by.

Thaden, however, didn’t move from his place.  Instead, he waited for the powerful Mage to arrange everyone else before she stopped next to him, staring at him with such intensity that he thought she was trying to bore a hole through his head to get the answers she sought out of him.

He hadn’t moved from his spot, not because he didn’t want to follow her orders, but because he’d finally had a better glimpse of what was coming.  In the far distance, too far to see them accurately, were dozens of large figures that he expected to be monsters that were quite strong, perhaps stronger than he could harm significantly.  It wasn’t those that he focused on the most, however, as arriving before them was definitely the army of monsters that they’d been warned about.  He didn’t have a good count of how many there were, but he was reminded of the Horde Siege Challenge he’d participated in on Tarth, which was basically protecting a town from what seemed like tens of millions of undead.  While he doubted that there were that many coming for the town, there were enough to blanket the ground, obliterating anything within their path, stretching from as far east as he could see to just as far west.

“You should be in the back with the other Support Classes,” the Aelveen Mage told him when she came up next to him. 

Shaking his head, he Thaden said, “My role in this fight is going to be a little bit different from everyone else’s.”  He pointed at the horde of monsters streaming toward the walls in the distance.  “I’m sure I don’t have to ask if you remember what I can do,” he continued, not looking at her, “but I’m actually much more effective if I have a lot of targets that I can control.  That means that I’ll have to be up front so that I can reach as many as possible.”

Bat’la’hera didn’t say anything for a moment.  “Fine.  If that’s your decision, go for it.”  She began to turn away, likely to move to the spot where she would be stationed, but she stopped herself.  “Just don’t get yourself killed.  I still have a lot of questions for you.”

“I’m sure you do.  I also have a lot of answers that you’re not exactly prepared to hear.  I don’t doubt that at least one of us will end up disappointed.”

Her stare washed over him, one of part-malice and part-annoyance, but he ignored it as she whipped around and walked to where she would be taking part in the battle, not looking at him again. 

As he turned back to watch the incoming horde of monsters approaching, he could feel some of the excitement he remembered feeling when he’d been confronted with outrageous odds back on Tarth. 

Sadia appeared next to him, to the surprise of those standing around him, but when she didn’t do anything but sit next to him in her squirrel form, viewing the incoming army, they quickly ignored her presence.

“Ready for some fun?” he asked, grinning at his companion.

Shaking her head, Sadia huffed with a long sigh, “Only you would consider a horde of monsters threatening an entire city ‘fun’.”

“Hey, I have to get my kicks somewhere, don’t I?  Besides, I have some new spells to try out.”  She didn’t say anything in response, but he could tell that she was equally excited to start tearing through the horde coming their way.