I only saw the mantises for a split second before they all launched themselves into the air, diving toward us fast enough that even with my currently enhanced senses, I had no chance at dodging. One of them latched onto my back and raked their razor-sharp claws deep into my flesh. I scread in pain as I switched to my life orb and triggered regeneration while simultaneously slamming my skull backward into what turned out to be an incredibly hard exoskeleton. The shock to my head added to the growing desperation of my situation. Luckily for , I had a flying mallet that hadn’t been grabbed by a mantis because right now, I was in no condition to focus on my own defense.
The loud cracking sound as Corey made its own first contact with the mantis, accompanied by the loosening of its death grip on , told that it hadn’t taken the blow well. I flipped my aether orb on as I spun to attack, only to watch it blink out of existence. I hoped that ant it had been removed from the match due to a death blow and not under its own ability. There were only three of the mantises left, one of which was on the ground wrestling with Rabyn as he stabbed it, and Glorp stomped on its limbs, so it was more like there were two. I focused on the one Elody had just knocked off of the twins, launching it skyward while Cecile’s hoe cracked through another exoskeleton. In monts, none of the mantises remained. They’d been considerably stronger than any of the other squads we’d encountered so far, and I wasn’t sure how well I’d have fared without my life orb.
“Rabyn, take one of these,” Cecile said, passing what looked like a bandaid made of mana to the orc. Rabyn grabbed it with a nod and slapped it on the large cut across his forehead. I was glad to see that Cecile had started working on his own life orb with their new gauntlet. That ant at least three of us were capable of healing magic now.
“Co on, we need to keep up our montum!” Rabyn yelled as he resud his run without waiting to see if we would follow. Every one of us did, of course, which only led to a growing worry deep in my stomach of just what we would have to do with Rabyn one day. Decisions like this were yet another reason I truly didn’t want to be an emperor.
We found our first target already under attack as a group of dwarfs, orcs, and so kind of wolves were defending their flag against an assault by so sort of giants. If the defenders were a single squad, and it seed likely that they were, that ant none had left their flag yet, whereas there were only five of the giants. Just as I targeted the center of the giants with a gravity reversal, I spotted Elicec let loose with his own lightning assault on the defenders. The giants crashed back to the ground a few seconds later, one of them managing to bounce onto several of the defending squad mbers. Half of the defenders vanished, but only two of the giants did, and now all their attention looked to be focused on us.
Rabyn loosed a flurry of knives at our remaining foes. Connie’s song seed to shift, and while the sa horrible shrillness continued, it now felt oddly protective. I understood what that change had done as soon as the first giant bounced off an invisible wall, a wall that was still letting knives through it from our side. That was a handy ability.
“Carefully studying the ground the defenders stood upon, the paladin of knowledge was able to determine the perfect spot to guide Cecile, the paladin of agriculture’s axe,” Elody said as Cecile’s hoe transford into sothing any lumberjack would’ve been proud to hold. Even the handle had elongated, allowing Cecile to take a swing from a distance, cutting through a tree in a single blow, felling it directly onto the collective of defenders, leaving only two giants still fighting.
“Two of us get to win this match. How about you take their flag, tell us which light is yours, and we continue on our way?” Elicec yelled at the giants. It wasn’t the worst idea. They’d draw attention while we searched for whatever remained of the mantis squad and the final one.
“Deal!” one of the giants roared pointing at the light furthest away in our clockwise plan as the other grabbed the flag. Without graduation, they both trundled off back into the forest, quickly vanishing into the deep foliage. I spotted Rabyn nodding his approval at Elicec again, and realized I was smiling as well, very much glad to see him co more into his own. Then we were off on another run, the forests blurring by yet again, and I couldn't help but wish we had ti to enjoy a nice camping trip.
This ti, Elicec threw his hand up first, signaling us all to a halt. I noticed he had a light blue glow around his eyes. Was that a new ability, too? All these changes were actually making look forward a bit to l’s planned training regin. I was pretty sure I’d regret that desire long before it was over, though. “I’m not sure what species they are, but there are eight of them guarding a flag,” Elicec said.
“That answers the question of what faction the flowermantoids were with. Those are high webweavers, and this is the Jeweled Silk Trading Conglorate. I almost regret letting the giants go now,” Rabyn said as I moved in for a slightly closer look. They resembled sothing like the very hungry caterpillar co to life and were actively spinning so sort of webbing around their flag.
“We already took out their scout force, so there isn’t much these can do to win,” Connie said, stopping her singing for the mont.
“I’d rather piss off whatever faction the giants are attached to than the Jeweled Silk Trading Conglorate,” Rabyn replied. Even if it was the better tactical idea, I wasn’t big on going back on the deal we just made. Besides, I doubted these guys were a bigger threat than the one we already had looming.
“If I have to lead a faction, I don’t want it to be one that screws over people we just made good faith deals with, and we already took down half of this squad anyway, so if they’re going to consider us a future problem, we probably already caused that,” I said, putting an end to the debate instantly, leaving a bit unsettled by the lack of further argunts. Leadership made queasy.
“Webweavers it is; for those who haven’t fought them before, we need to burn their webbing to have any chance, not really my specialty. I assu the mages can, though?” Rabyn asked. I swapped over to my fire orb, ready to join in as I nodded in confirmation, drawing another of Rabyn’s odd looks at . Was he picking up on when I changed my orbs? Strange.
“As soon as Dave and I hit them with fire, I want the rest of you to mow them down before they can rebuild any web walls,” Elicec said confidently before starting a countdown. His intent was clear, so the mont he hit one, I launched several fireballs directly into the center of the web while he matched with three lines of fla extending from his fingers. I was a bit jealous of how controlled they seed compared to my blasts. The webs instantly ignited, followed by the sound of odd chittering as the whole base went up in flas. The fire had managed to make a few holes before the defensive webs stopped burning and started sealing themselves again. But it was too late to save them; Rabyn and Elody were both already inside. The chittering died in seconds.
“For better or worse, one target left, let’s go,” Elicec ordered. Connie resud her singing, and we charged towards our last target. We arrived to find that there was only a single guardian of this flag, a massive pile of rock in the shape of a gorilla. Were the other fourteen already searching for more flags? The final light belonging to the giants changed colors suddenly, in what I assud was the signal that they had successfully returned the flag back to their base.
“That’s so insane overconfidence in only leaving a single stoneape guardian, but the Rockister faction was never known for their brains,” Connie said.
“How do we take it down?” I asked.
“Just throw it into the sky,” Elicec answered, smiling. I made no argunt against the idea, instead swapping back to my aether orb and doing just as the young twinog had instructed. It launched into the sky and crashed back to the Earth, disappearing just as it made contact. The scenery vanished into a black void that was quickly replaced by the usual bland hallway as an experience notification popped into view. Guess the giants had taken care of the rest of this squad for us.
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Combatants DefeatedFlowermantoid Grappler Core Grade Cx770,000 ExperienceHigh Webweaver Webwall Smith Core Grade Cx880,000 ExperienceHill Giant Brawler Core Grade Dx210,000 ExperienceCavehound Tracker Core Grade Ex22,000 ExperienceDwarven Rage Drinker Core Grade Ex812,000 ExperienceOrc Berserkers Core Grade Dx525,000 ExperienceStoneape Granite Defender Core Grade Fx1500 ExperienceExperience Gained199,500 PointsArena BonusesSquad Wipedx2600,000,000 ExperienceFloor 3 Cleared4,000,000,000 ExperienceExperience Gained4,600,000,000 PointsMultipliers AppliedNo Armorx1.1No Weaponx1.1Undergradedx10More Undergradedx100Unoccupied Squad Positionsx256Total Experience Gained1,424,957,797,120,000 Points
It had taken three floors, but I had finally gained a level. This was now nearing on my simulator for potential experience totals, but considering the biggest modifier was coming from our unfilled squad, I knew we couldn’t keep that up forever. Not to ntion, the faster we gained levels, the sooner I’d catch my core up with the others, removing those multipliers as well, but the way the floor experience seed to double each ti was promising.
The history of the Jeweled Silk Trading Conglorate is a story of blood and conquest. Initially the conglorate was founded by several of the insectoid species throughout the Spiral, as they felt those without exoskeletons treated them as lower lifeforms. Soon, their faction had holdings in countless worlds as their power grew, and inversely, so didn’t their compassion for insectoid species not already within their conglorate.
Factions, Dynasties, Royalty, and the Holdings by Trig Plunderscan
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