Bonded Summoner

Jake and Bloodberri looked on at the large city that they would be assaulting in just a few hours. While Kenwodi was currently surrounded by palisades and fences with a stone wall underway, this one was already made of stone.

Similar to how the orcs changed the map when they assaulted different areas in their conquest, it appeared the outsiders could change even the city when they took it.

There was a large portcullis for a gate with a gatehouse, and the walls were tall enough for ranged attackers to stand and attack from up top. Residing in the city: skeletons.

It appeared there was some kind of undead army inside, and the walls were filled with archers. Jake liked his party’s odds, but wondered about how the beastkin people would fare against them.

Dave was somewhere with them, having tagged along through their portal. He had been helping Fhesiah in Kenwodi, bringing the various reptile beastkin traditions, the shamanic profession’s knowledge with him.

Fhesiah had told Jake that the awakening serum being effective was thanks to Dave, and he had taken to being an alchemist under the Framework quite rapidly.

He had come along for the assault despite himself not being very effective in combat, wanting to serve his goddess in any way he could. For a beastkin, his body was somewhat slow, and his manifestation was not good in combat, for the most part.

Jake had enchanted a decent short bone spear for him, and his odd slumped forward posture used this to a decent effect with over the shoulder thrusts. When Dave filled it with his auril, it would become completely invisible, along with him.

Jake had a hard time sensing the guy. Usually, he was behind Fhesiah, looking at the ground or elsewhere, unwilling to gaze on her divine visage, he said.

Tanda had gone to meet up with her flock for its final flight to this location, but she was now in Jake’s party in truth.

Jake had been surprised to learn that the bone javelins and arrows could store auril just long enough to often harm auril beasts. Why it was different from the trees the beastkin carved their weapons out of he didn’t know, but perhaps something about it made it hold the energy a bit longer, like the dew the healers used. If Jake had to guess, it was something in the bone marrow held the charge longer.

Thanks to this, Jake had the many bones made into arrows and javelins, spending a significant amount of time enchanting them to improve their efficacy for low effort.

Not only that, but several [Auril Manifestations] of the reptile beastkin aided their range attacks. Many of the snake beastkin could add a venomous auril to their attacks even from range, which they used to take down their prey. In the end, this was not actual venom; it did not ruin the food, as the auril would eventually disperse.

Since it wasn’t actually venom but much closer to some form of magic made of their life force and will, Jake had some expectation for it potentially working even against the undead.

Ophelia sounded in his mind, [It looks like the enemy even has catapults. I think these should be mine and Fhesiah’s targets for when the siege starts, as I don’t like the looks of what they would fire. There are some green, sludge-like rocks stored near them.]

Jake agreed. Overall, this was looking like it would be quite the challenge. The sheer number of skeletons in this city was daunting, being filled with more than the skeletons of the Necromancer that they had faced. There were not only on the ground, but also up on top of various buildings.

But fortified and defended in a city, instead of in the open field. Jake saw magic shimmering around the city when viewing it through [Arcane Eye], and thought there were magical defenses that would help protect their enemies.

He wasn’t sure what he was looking at, but he didn’t think it was actually a magical barrier, but something else. There was a dome around the city, and Jake didn’t dare to try to trigger or test it before their assault. It almost looked like the dome that was what triggered the [Challenge] around Rifts or what he saw at the [Fortress Assault], but he knew it was different.

Fhesiah landed next to him. “I agree, husband. It feels a bit like some sort of dampening field, but it’s peculiar. I think it will let their attacks out unimpeded, but our attacks will be reduced or diverted in some way. Still, I think Ophelia and I can probably pass through it, unless something changes when the fight starts.”

Jake had found that the sort of lift or elevator that went up and down a cliff face leading up to the plateau. It was meant to be powered by animals or perhaps stronger awakened, but it was destroyed, presumably by the outsiders.

Jake was able to work with Ophelia where he conjured the stone, and she used a spell rod of her own to merge and smoothen the materials to the cliff-face itself as they went to create ramps up the cliff-face.

Fhesiah had more or less made it so that awakening was a near sure thing now. The beastkin could eat Auril Beast meat, and take Auril supplements made by her for a few days. Then, finally, take what she considered an awakening pill once their density within their bodies was close to the major threshold where they would awaken, if they hadn’t already.

It was thanks to this that over the last week or so, Tanda’s flock and Rookard’s wolves had hit close to an average level of 4 or 5, among those that were coming for the assault. They participated in a few rift closures, and even some incursions while consuming pills.

Continuing to follow this pattern of fighting and consuming the auril beast meat and supplements, the beastkin leveled up rapidly. Jake thought that they were leveling even faster than his first time around, which was both a bad and good thing. Leveling too fast can make one complacent, and not allow you to adapt to your newfound strength.

Fighting in the dungeon helped to humble the warriors, but when they were noticeably getting stronger each day, it was easy to get overconfident.

At the same time, these people had excellent foundations, fighting for a majority of their lives. The problem was mostly from learning to appropriately use ranged attacks and tactics, along with using their, for most, newfound auril.

The reptile beastkin were of a higher average level, of those that arrived for retaking Life’s Haven. Fhesiah scanning them, thought she saw that it wouldn’t be too long before some became auril heroes as well, now that they too were taking her supplements.

The reptile beastkin and Rookard’s pack started to arrive, meeting up with Jake and Bloodberri at the top of a small hill overlooking the keep. It seemed Vesuvius and Rookard were bringing up the rear, to keep people safe in the valley as they began their climb.

Many auril beasts were like the raptors that they fought: opportunists that would have no issue snatching some of their people from behind if they perceived weakness.

Jake had wanted Hearthtribe to come along, but the fact of the matter was, there were few awakened among them. Brock may have been able to come, but even Serena and Bria had only awakened in the last couple of days.

Those that joined Hearthtribe within Kenwodi at first were the younger generation, many further away from awakening than people like Rookard’s wolves or Tanda’s flock. By the time the larger generation of people started joining Jake’s guild in Kenwodi, several days had passed.

Hearthtribe now had thousands of level one and two beastkin, but that was it: level 1 and 2, only.

Brock himself would have been fine, but his mates wouldn’t have been able to come. It was similar for most of Hearthtribe such as Oman and a few of the council, so they would have to push themselves forward and become stronger.

Fhesiah landed next to him, and Jake just wryly smiled at how all the reptile beastkin looked at her with veneration. Many bowed or kneeled in her presence, and she just preened at their praise. Jake heard a number of them whispering, and Fhesiah’s head snapped to them.

“Let me stop you right there. I am not looking for consorts, and only Champion Jake will be selecting any prospective mates. He or I will be the one to approach if we are interested, not you. Make sure the rest of your people do not make this mistake.”

The people looked cowed, but Jake could tell the news was quickly spreading. He saw that both the men and women were disappointed, but he saw they were quick to move on.

He just shook his head at how hedonistic the previous dragons must have been. That at least half of these reptile beastkin were descendants of those that probably mated with them said a lot to him.

“I think this tribe worshiped some smaller land dragon, those don’t have much in the way of standards. They’d probably mate with a hole on a hill if it was the right size.”

Jake was reminded of all the random species of creatures, which were merely some race that had mated and descended from dragons in some way. Even the land dragon was a second or third generation type of dragon, its bloodline quite impure to no longer have wings.

He looked over and saw that Tanda’s flock was on the horizon. It was not the massive flock that arrived to defend Kenwodi, and Jake knew it was primarily the awakened that were arriving, as it was several hundred strong instead of several thousand.

Vesuvius and Rookard arrived, but Vesuvius looked at the flock in worry. Ophelia also rejoined Jake’s party on the hill, their group now complete except Tanda.

Vesuvius said, “The ravenwolf… They will really fight with us by their side?”

Jake clasped the man’s shoulder, having to reach up to the taller lizard man. “They are not here to punish your people. You are not responsible for your ancestor’s crimes against them. That you will spill your blood to help protect them means they will accept you with open arms. This is what I was told by the elders of Kenwodi, and you met Rookard here.”

Rookard chuckled. “When there must be blood, we will fight on the side of those that join the Framework, as they’ve joined the side of life. I was worried about that daughter of yours, but I can see the taint in her decreasing.”

Vesuvius smiled, and he looked over to Fhesiah, and he was tearing up.

“I…am so glad that we have such a benevolent goddess, this time. That we can have our desires to serve the exalted ones, and not be enemies with our brethren. It means a lot to us.”

Dave looked at Fhesiah with fervor. “I was so surprised that our Goddess has such a brilliant mind, to match her beauty and power! The gods in the texts only gave us small nuggets of wisdom, but I have already learned so much.”

Jake said, “There are other benevolent goddesses out there. I represent the goddess Hestia. Her virtues are the home and the family. Bloodberri here, her goddess is Echidna. She represents motherhood and the struggle of beasts.”

Dave gasped. “You…don’t worship the goddess that’s with you?!”

Fhesiah said, “He’s my mate, he does not serve me; we serve each other. I am not a jealous Goddess, I do not mind if you worship others. But you should choose among those that are on the side of good. I may be strong, and I may control the power to change reality, as my kind is wont to do. But Hestia and Echidna have the power to erase this tiny world with but a mere thought. How could I compare to them? Still. My family and I shall lead your people to success, as promised.”

Vesuvius looked thoughtful and conflicted. He sighed. “We had seen Bloodberri resurrecting people, a feat not even our gods could accomplish. We had really been narrow-minded. We thought our gods unassailable, them so far above us. But there was a bigger mountain. A taller peak. They said they were the strongest, that across worlds they reigned supreme. That the death god was killed should have been proof, but my people clung to our days of happiness, of serving under them.”

Fhesiah chuckled. “Well, my race is not known for its humility. Still, there is a kernel of truth in what they said, as there are in fact dragons that can match Hestia and Echidna. But the ones that ever lived on this world were at the foot of the mountain, so to speak.”

Ophelia added, “I think it’s meant to be, Vesuvius. It was because your people clung to your days of happiness that you are here now to aid your brethren. I think you shouldn’t wallow in the failures of the past, that those alive didn’t cause. Now, you and your people can make things right.”

Tanda’s flock arrived, landing at the top of the hill, along with hundreds of her warriors behind her. Vesuvius stood tall, but Jake could almost feel his anxiety, his auril erratic.

He realized that Tanda represented the ancestor that slayed the god above theirs, even holding the same weapon. Tanda was now stronger than Vesuvius, but looking at them, you certainly wouldn’t think it. Vesuvius was nearly three meters tall, and that was before he used his auril.

Tanda said, “My heart beats in anticipation of our meeting. I am honored to be in your presence. May we find harmony in our dealings.”

Vesuvius looked moved. “Our hearts welcome you. We are humbled and grateful for your presence among us. May the harmony of our hearts guide and protect us all.”

Tanda said, “I am Tanda, Chieftess of the Ravenwolf Tribe.”

Vesuvius responded in greeting, “Well met, Tanda. I am Vesuvius, Chieftain of The Tribe of the Sleeping God.”

Tanda gave Vesuvius a long look, but she smiled. “I am thankful that your people remain, and are here to help in our time of need. That you would join us in our crusade to free our land from the invaders is no small thing.”

Vesuvius looked moved once again. “Yes. My people have hidden, and they have slept long enough. We have sharpened our claws and are ready to fight, to find absolution for our ancestor’s crimes against our brethren. To restore the balance we damaged. To clear the curse of the death god!”

The surrounding reptile beastkin cheered, and while some of Tanda’s flock looked skeptical, Jake thought that overall, they looked on with excited anticipation.

He could tell they desired reconnection to their brethren, and that it was reassuring that such strong warriors would join their cause. He also knew their songs, their voice, would ring true in their own hearts.

Tanda said, “Your people are strong, and your hearts are pure. May our hearts find harmony and restore the balance.”

Jake nodded, “I am happy your people are now reunited. Let’s talk about our strategy for capturing this keep.”

Vesuvius and Tanda nodded. They came up with a plan for the assault, but a lot was contingent upon how effective the barrier or dome surrounding the city was. Jake and his party would probe the barrier, and they would move to one of two plans depending on the results.

He also learned what to expect of the auril heroes and the flock, to better direct and lead situations that they ran into.

Their meeting over, Jake and family took Tanda aside to have their own short reunion, her only having been gone for a couple of hours to pick up her flock.

Jake’s party got ready at the bottom of the hill. To do that, he would summon creatures before they fought, allowing him to regenerate most of his mana for the cost of his summons before they began.

He summoned the stegosaurus, the giant creature appearing in motes of light. He found it to be almost the same size as the original, despite the reduced parameters from his specialization. Jake guessed that since he was a higher level than the creature, it was scaled up to his own.

The mana cost was enormous, nearly half of his unreserved mana. Without having his time to regenerate some of his mana before an encounter, he doubted he would find a use in summoning this large creature. He was happy to see that light pulses of auril beat out from the creature’s heart, increasing its defenses.

Jake smiled at the creature. He had the Heroic beasts to summon, but thought that this larger, lumbering creature would be better for setting the pace of their assault. That he could always have this summon available to him felt special, and that a creature died to allow him to do this made the weight of the creature stronger in his mind.

“I think I will call you… Bill. Bill the stegosaurus.”

Ophelia laughed. “Why does that seem like a joke for some reason? Still, Bill does look trustworthy.”

Tanda said, “This auril beast is very strange. His song doesn’t appear to be attached to the world. Still, it definitely sounds like a calm beast from our forests, his song content but muted somehow.”

He drank mana water along with the girls, their energy siphons quickly refilling him, and he cast a humanoid summon, a Kobold Acolyte. Jake didn’t think the acolyte was nearly special enough to be worthy of giving a name.

From what Jake could tell, this was the same type of creature that participated in the fortress assault, included as one of his so-called starters. This creature did not cost him nearly as much mana, but it was still dubious for him to cast this unless it somehow gave him an advantage, or he could replenish that mana before a battle.

It could cast a barrier and provide some minor healing, and this was mainly what he had in mind for the creature to accomplish. He had it climb up onto the stegosaurus, and Jake added divine reinforcement to the two. With that, the stegosaurus grew even further, surprising Jake.

With Jake’s buff, the two creatures should be quite respectable in what they can accomplish.

Jake climbed up next to the kobold acolyte, and the larger creature began lumbering forward.

Berri slithered next to the large stegosaurus, looking up at Jake. “Jake, Bill’s kind of slow. You sure you don’t want to ride on a much faster mount? One much better, more beautiful, cuter? … Please?” She looked at him with upturned eyes, and filled with worry.

Jake laughed. “You need to be able to move much quicker without being worried about me, it’s better for me to be here for now. I might need you to be more mobile, while I stay in the center of the formation to supply my [Aura of Heavenly Flames]. This way, it covers and protects the most people, as well as enhances their attacks. I’m not replacing you, this is just for this assault for now. Keep your basket on, if I need to retreat I will call you, okay?”

He shook his head. Jake knew that the only reason she was insistent was because he was riding on something else. She was long since used to the idea that he often didn’t ride on her back during combat, but here he was, riding on the lumbering creature, instead.

Berri still looked a little hurt, but said cheerfully, “Okay! I’ll just follow for now.”

Ophelia and Fhesiah both floated slowly behind the lumbering creature, and Jake looked on at the keep, as they slowly moved closer and closer. There were hundreds of skeletal archers on the wall, and many on the ground that could shoot over the wall, from what Ophelia and Fhesiah learned from scouting.

Based on what was going to happen when they started their assault in earnest, they would decide on whether they were going for the door or not.

If the barrier kept flyers out, it would also keep the beastkin from being able to climb over the walls. Really, if it didn’t keep people out, then Jake saw no reason to destroy the gate door at all.

The beastkin would have no troubles climbing the keep wall at all, even if it was about the same height as the [Fortress Assault], at about five stories high. In addition, the avian beastkin would have no problem merely flying over it.

This was a city wall instead of a keep wall, though. Once inside, they would have to fight through the city and reach what appeared to be a massive tower in the center. It had an ominous red gem that appeared to be floating in the air above the tower.

The goal was for them to reclaim the giant tower, taking back the Alliance HQ. This would in fact earn them a large amount of conquest progress all at once, and is one of the main reasons Tartarus was so far ahead at the moment.

On such a small world with only three of them, this HQ had been worth at least ten percent of the conquest bar for the war effort on its own. Though, this included the slaughtering of the many beastkin people that defended it, perhaps, hundreds of thousands.

Jake wasn’t sure they would earn all of that back or not, but it was clear that this would be a major win once they took it. He had the creature approaching the gate at an angle, allowing the diamond shaped bone slabs to protect Jake from where he sat down atop the large creature.

His aura easily protected him against the odd attack that made it around the protection, it was like Jake had his own crenelations riding on the creature.

Arrows started to rain down onto the lumbering creature, his Aura of heavenly flames blocking many of the attacks. The attacks that made it through mostly bounced off the creature, or some stuck in only a centimeter or two deep.

As auril pulsed through the creature, many of them were pushed out, the cuts starting to heal on their own. He was happy that the creature was so resilient to these types of attacks.

Berri said, “Hmph. These weak attacks cannot find purchase on my armor, or my skin. Why are you so proud of this ugly, stupid, slow lizard? Bill, you’re lame.”

Jake could feel Blood admonishing her for her outburst, and he laughed and shook his head. Still, it was about time for them to start their first tests on this barrier, so he would have to ignore it for now.

Ophelia wore a quiver filled with javelins of the reptile beastkin, borrowing them for this test, and she blurred through the air, her shield floating in front of her.

Jake readied his barrier, but she was also prepared for an unexpected onslaught of her own. She threw a javelin at one of the archers, and she missed entirely.

Jake had been watching with his arcane eye, and he thought he had an idea of what was happening, but he prompted her to continue. She launched three more, and only one landed, killing her proposed target.

It appeared that the barrier shifted the trajectory of incoming projectiles, often causing them to go higher than originally intended, but it varied. This made it quite difficult to hit the archers, hidden behind their crenelations of the wall as they were besides.

Ophelia sent, [I tried to compensate for the second and third, and still only one landed square on. I suppose it’s time for the next test.]

She then cast a smaller runic spear of fire, and a spear of Hestia and sent them at two different places on the battlements. As far as he could tell, both landed square on.

[I do think the runic spear was diverted somewhat, but it wasn’t significant. Maybe the auril infused throws of the javelins and arrows will be fine?]

Tanda took to the air with her bow, and she shot a few attacks through. The auril infused arrows shifted slightly, but Jake thought they were more than effective enough to ignore the strange barrier.

Ophelia added, [Now for the last test.]

Jake did his best to prepare for whatever happened next, his arcane eye trained on both the barrier and the ominous red orb at the top of the tower. She rammed her shield into the barrier first, pushing and flying through. As far as Jake could tell, she only slowed down slightly.

But as soon as she crossed the threshold, the massive orb atop the tower charged, then fired what appeared to be a laser. She infused her shield with her Hearth of Hestia, and it added a barrier in front of it.

The beam struck nearly instantly after charging, and her barrier held. But another beam came shortly after the first, and then another. She tried to dodge with her superior speed, but it was futile to dodge as attacks came at nearly the speed of light a few seconds after the initial charging to fire after detection, Jake guessed. Eventually, he just used [Call Summon] on Ophelia, bringing both her and her shield back to his side.

Ophelia said, “Based on how much it ate into my sacrificial barrier, it would probably cut down the avian beastkin left and right. We will really have to go through the door.”

Jake pondered on this new information, looking at everything in his arcane eye that he could see. He didn’t feel like this was a balanced mechanism at all, the beam perhaps firing an unlimited amount, and a high power output.

They could try a massive spell to take it out? This barrier encompassed the entire city, and as he was looking, he thought he realized something about how the city was shaped, and the path his army would take through it, once they went through the gate.

There were armies to fight through, and there was a path spiraling through the city. Towers that had catapults on them were pointing on the path, along with skeletal archers and mages.

Fhesiah snorted. “Really? You think it’s like a tower defense game, husband? This is just ridiculous, fighting the enemy as if playing a game.”

Ophelia added, “I think I can see it now, Jake. Using this information, I can kind of see what you mean. After entering this gate, a larger building kind of blocks off the direction the beam tower can hit us from, or we won't be within what might be a detection shield? If we destroy that or some mechanism inside, then an overlapping barrier might be removed to provide us some level of freedom inside the city, without being targeted by the death beam. It looks like there are four special buildings with the last adjacent to the tower, one for each quadrant?”

Fhesiah sighed. “Still, how tedious. That path is more or less a spiral heading through the city, making us fight for miles.”

Blood tsked. “I hate playing to the enemy’s plans. That they created a challenge where we have to play to their tune makes me a little angry.”

Jake nodded in affirmation, this was the only way he felt the challenge could be balanced. He thought he saw energies heading from the special buildings to the tower, likely powering a barrier or otherwise for the beam tower as well. So if they tried to form up some massive attack to take the beam tower out earlier, it would likely be futile.

Still, Jake looked over the city with a critical eye. He knew that Tartarus liked to make things even worse, by cheating where it could. He would have to have his party on the lookout for how it could possibly make this challenge nearly unbeatable, and make preparations.

Still, they were getting close to the gate. It was time to bust it down, and start this assault on the enemy HQ in earnest. As always, he had siege equipment in unique shapes.