[Beastborne: Tower of Blight] (Book 6) Chapter 16

“New plan,” Hal said, rising to his feet and giving a wink to Kow. “Whether the Tower is aware of our numbers and is actively trying to throw everything it has at us or not, the current strategy of rolling in and fighting everything isn’t working.”

There was some grumbling by the dwarves at that.

Nobody had died, and any severe injury was wiped out with a timely use of a potion. However, they had limited supplies of potions and the mounting stacks of Blight would only increase their injuries going forward.

Protracted battles were increasingly difficult without sufficient healing to meet the demand. Noth’s style of recovery was more effective during combat, but even that couldn’t keep up with what the Tower dished out. Her healing slime was more suited to poisons and slower forms of healing on the scale of hours and days.

“We’ve done a great job so far,” Hal assured them. “But this next part requires a bit more strategy. We’re going to reorganize our parties once more, only this time we’re not going for a well-rounded approach.”

That got a few confused looks, but Hal felt confident about this new tactic. Instead of making sure every group had as close to the “holy trinity” of tank, damage dealer, and healer as possible, Hal split people up into what he considered strike forces in his mind.

One party, under the watchful eye of Angram, would be the stealthiest and swiftest movers of the entire alliance. Their goal would be to scout ahead, look for potential paths, and avoid as much conflict as possible.

Where conflict was not possible to avoid, they would come up with the best ambush locations so the battle could be a complete rout if not total devastation.

Another group would be the shield, made up of the sturdiest warriors with the least Blight stacks. Hal had to take that affliction into account, which unfortunately meant quite a few people–Durvin himself included–were no longer eligible for the group.

Bardan led them. The old dwarf was canny and had managed to avoid the worst of the attacks when Durvin’s party had appeared in this section of the Tower.

Hal shifted a few of his own people over to that party, including Ashera, because they needed all the defensive oriented Classes they could get. There was one member of the Alliance that Hal was surprised by.

A karak, heavily armored and covered in not just one shield, but five. One per wing, with another across its backside, then two per leg. Nobody had wanted to put him into the frontline initially. Now, the karak wouldn’t say no for an answer.

Karaks were generally regarded as incredible, nigh priceless mounts that were as intelligent as people. Most didn’t take to combat. Instead, this one had managed to acquire a battle Class.

That left Hal’s group, which was focused primarily on himself, Orrittam, and Noth as the primary attackers. Their job was simple: kill anything that wasn’t an ally.

It was Hal’s job to make sure monsters died as fast as possible. Bardan’s party would provide cover for Hal, while Angram’s party scouted out the best routes and places for ambushes.

No plan was perfect, but it was as good as Hal could manage, given the constraints he was under. His main goal was to get through the Tower’s first floor and find a way out. He was certain Kow was right. They would need to clear the floor first before they would be let out.

Hal remembered that door with the three sigils when they had arrived. Likely, they needed to collect each of those sigils to open the door. Hopefully, that meant there was an elevator or something beyond that.

Can’t bank on it though, Hal thought.

The walls cracked with an ear-splitting sound and corridors bathed in malicious purple light spread out in three different directions.

“Well, that’s not suspicious at all,” Hal said. “Obviously, we’re not taking the bait.”

With those new pathways opened, Hal counted a total of seven different paths out of the room. Angram looked at him with an unspoken question. Hal nodded, and the Ranger gathered up his group and slipped down one of the other hallways.

It was hard waiting for their return, but Hal reminded himself that his Stealth Skill was a pitiful Level 8. Even with all of his essences helping him, he would be a burden on their group.

Elora had gone with Angram, with Komachi to help buff the group composed of mostly Rangers–as well as a karak and Lurklox–they were the fastest and most silent of their members.

“I don’t like waiting around,” Durvin complained.

“Nobody does,” Hal told him. “But we can’t keep fighting everything we run across. Sooner or later we’re going to get too many Blight stacks, or somebody is going to get seriously injured and we’ll be overwhelmed.”

“I ain’t say I don’t get it, lad.” The dwarf scuffed his boot on the stones. “But I ain’t fer likin’ it neither.”

Hal nodded. “Duly noted.”

Sooner than Hal would have guessed, the group returned.

“There’s about a dozen different passages that way. Each of them leads to different rooms, some trapped, others filled with monsters, and some were so thick with haze that we couldn’t see through them,” Angram reported. “But unless you want us to check out the other corridors as well, I think we’ve found a way forward with only minimal fighting.”

The Ranger took out a small scrap of parchment and began to sketch. Hal had tried his magical map, but it didn’t work in the Tower. He had hoped it would and they could use it. That plan was quickly dashed early, which was probably for the best.

That would have meant that Hal had to go with the Rangers and while he was exceptionally fast with the right essences, he was anything but stealthy.

The last time I remember using much stealth was when I freed the koblins from that goblin clan, Hal thought, shivering at the memory.

He had been so weak, afraid, and utterly alone that it was a wonder he ever managed to make it out alive.

“There are passages here and here,” Angram said, pointing at the parchment. “If we want to approach this path, we’ll need to circle back and attack this group of monsters. However, I think they’re expecting us to come from this doorway here. It’s the most logical path, and they were clearly waiting for somebody to walk through it. If we can attack them in a pincer from here, and here, we can take them out without much risk.”

Hal could see the route taking shape in his head. “Then we’ll be sure that the monsters won’t somehow follow us down a tunnel and attack us from behind while we’re going through that set of rooms,” Hal said, pointing at the hastily sketched squares.

“That’s my hope,” Angram told him. “Of course, we couldn’t go too far without risking exposing ourselves, but the way I see it, we’ll pass nearly eight rooms or more that we would’ve had to fight. This way we only fight one group of monsters, and on our terms.”

“Do it.”

The next few hours were touch-and-go for the alliance.

True to Angram’s word, they had found a route through and around the monsters, avoiding the worst of them while ambushing those that they would need cleared out in order to protect their rear.

It wasn’t fast or glamorous, but every time they battled the monsters, they came down like a blacksmith’s hammer on them, shattering the groups into splinters that were easily dealt with.

Attributes from Level Ups were apportioned as they delved deeper into the Tower. Gaining the sigils was an easy affair of reaching a particular room with a square tablet containing a glowing sigil upon it.

A claxon call rang out from the room as soon as somebody removed the sigil, but the Rangers had already scouted a path ahead and by the time the room was filled with monsters, the alliance was long gone.

When they returned to the room with the platform of blue swirling light, they had collected 2 sigils and destroyed a good portion of the monsters.

It was only when they were getting the last sigil did things truly go wrong.

Blight stacks were higher than Hal would have liked, with the lowest now at 4 and the highest at 7. He had to regularly shuffle people around from one party to the next, making sure that the injured and most vulnerable were not overly exposed.

Managing a giant alliance rather than a small party was taxing. However, they needed the numbers badly. A single party, even made up of the strongest among them, would have been overwhelmed by now.

Perhaps that was the point.

When Hal grabbed the last sigil, a corkscrew-like thing that wrapped around itself, the exits to the room slammed shut. Blue light filled the room and dozens of monsters teleported in.

It would seem the Tower had learned of their plan. At first, Hal was afraid that their plan had been doomed from the start. That the Tower had teleported in every creature that they skipped or failed to kill, punishing them for not going through room after room in a grueling battle of attrition that nobody could ever win.

But then he did another count and realized he was wrong. There weren’t nearly enough monsters for that. They had to have left hundreds of them behind, and yet there were only a few dozen here.

Still far too many for comfort, considering their fatigue. They were outnumbered at least 3 to 1, but it could have been much worse.

The Bravers Guild was surrounded on all sides by an overwhelming force of monsters.

If ever there was time for a miracle, it was now.