The Empires Rise

Draemish takes the first scroll and tears off the wax seal. The scroll flies into the air, and a black portal appears.

A zombie steps out of the portal, holding a sword and shield. Once his eyes fall onto Draemish, they immediately snap to attention.

"Private Hardegin at your service, General Void."

"Good, this is what I hoped for." Draemish gives an approving nod. "What division are you from?”

"Reporting, I am from the 5th Platoon of the Peacekeeping Division."

"Wonderful. Move aside now, and I will inform you of your job soon."

"As you command, General."

She turns to me, "What is the average level now?"

"The settlement average level is 2.03 currently."

"We need to summon a couple more to lower that number. Do you mind?" She asks the group.

"As long as they are like Hardegin, we have no issues with you summoning more of your people." Shadow responds.

I hand her four more scrolls, and they open, one after another. Out from these portals are three more zombies and a giant four-meter-tall Arachnea.

The three zombies step to the side with Hardegin after saluting Draemish. I don't catch their names as I focus on the prominent being before me.

With a sigh from Draemish, I hear her acknowledge the Arachnea. "It is good to see you again, but I wished it was at a better time, Rhenriqi."

They clasp hands, "What can you tell me, old friend?" She asks in a sultry tone.

"What have you received so far?"

"Oh, just that we are in a new world, and there is an attack on the settlement we have been brought to." She looks at me and flutters her eyes. "And who might this tasty snack be?"

I shiver like I am being eyed as prey. Thinking about it, I could technically be prey for this being. "I-I-I," I start.

"This is Drake," Draemish cuts in. "We don't have time for you to toy with this boy. Also, he is so young, not even in his second decade."

"But you know how I like them, Drae," She licks her lips at me. "Plus, he seems strong from the mana emanating from him."

"At the cost of Laxreal."

Her eyes light up at his name: "Lax is here!" She does not fully tune into the words before looking frantic at the mention of Laxreal's name. "How is my hair? Is my makeup okay?"

Looking at her fidgeting like a school girl at a school dance, hoping for her crush to ask for a dance.

"He has passed sadly," Draemish says.

She erupts into fury hearing about it, "What do you mean? Who killed my Lax-Lax?"

Draemish points to me while pulling me behind her. "Drake did, but by complete accident. While finalizing his mana veins, something went awry. The short version is that demons were messing with his mind, and he accidentally attacked Laxreal with one of his spells, instantly killing him."

The fury in Rhenriqi's eyes bore into me. "Is this true, young man?"

"Yes," I say quietly, not wanting to draw any more of her ire.

We are interrupted from further discussion by a notification.

- Fourth Wave starting in 5 Seconds -

"Rhen, we will talk about this more later. Drake, what is the average level of the settlers now?" Draemish quickly asks.

- Average Level of Settlers: 1.9, Difficulty... -

"I don't read further," since I have the necessary information.

"Ok, Rhen, this is the perfect time for you; we need more archers, and you can move quickly. Can you please move along the walls and pick off those stragglers of the edges?"

"Yes," she responds, "At least I have something to kill to burn off my anger at hearing my Lax-Lax is dead. Those demons are going to pay one day."

With that, she skitters away. "Drake, she will be helpful, but she has a hang-up on Laxreal. I am sure you noticed. Before he died and became the Laxreal you know today, he was originally a human and had a spider companion. I am sure you can think of what happened after that."

I nod, "She is his old companion. Did he remember her after he turned into a skeleton?"

"No, sadly, his memories were wiped out. She has been doing all she can to help him recover those memories. She is going to be furious for a while, I would recommend letting me handle her."

"That sounds like the best idea," I agree with her.

The wave has started, and everyone is joining the battlements again. I look at the enemies of this wave. There are more goblins on rats, and some imps are mixed in. "Aim for the Imps first. We can't let them fire their spells."

The order is passed along down the line. Like the first three waves, the hunters fire their bows, or the warriors borrow bows to fire. I feel something is off about this wave. The enemies are perishing as fast as the previous waves, not because of how many enemies there are.

The imps fall quickly under the hunters' targeted fire, which allows the goblins and mounts to approach more intact. Several of the rats start to scratch the walls. A durability bar appears above the scratched sections.

- Wooden Pallisades Level 3: Durability 498/500 -

Barely any durability is being taken away. The mages should start casting spells at the attackers, but Shadow beats me to the punch before my words get out. "Mages, hold your fire. Your mana is important. Grab a bow from one of the hunters or a warrior if they no longer need it."

I sigh. I want to cast some spells. His way is better in the long run, though.

"Don't we have to worry about arrows running out?" I ask since I haven't noticed a need for replenishment.

"We thought we would have to worry about that, but during the extermination mission the other day, our hunters learned something important. The arrows replenish themselves after every combat."

I think of the wording he just said, "Every combat, does that mean every time we stop and get experience after a battle."

"Yes," He smiles at me.

"So that means we are getting replenished after every wave?"

"Correct. No need to save arrows since they just come back."

"Cool, that saves a lot of headaches. When there are more enemies, we must be careful not to eat through the arrows before we have a solid battle plan."

"That is one of the reasons I think the mages should fire bows, too. Then, they don't have to use their mana, and they could level up and get more mana instead."

I agree with him, "Alright, those hunters that hit level 3 should hand off their bows then to mages. We might not be the best shots, but anything helps, right?"

"Yes," He sighs before handing me his bow.

"You are at level 3?" I ask.

"Yes, I was hoping you wouldn't catch on. I was still getting good experiences from the monsters."

"That's great," I acknowledge, then catch his wording again. "You were still getting good experience from the monsters of this wave?"

"Yeah."

I think about the quest, not remembering what I saw. I check one more time.

- Average Level of Settlers: 1.9, Difficulty Remaining at Level 3 -

The blood drains from my face before I look back at the monsters attacking. There is only one left. "I think we miscalculated," I whisper.

After saying that, the monster died.

"Oh, how so?" He says with a smile, not realizing the issue.

"DRAEMISH, WE SCREWED UP," I shout to get her attention.

- Fourth Wave Cleared

Calculating Experience...

Contribution 0 Kills. No Experience granted.

Fifth Wave Starting in 1 minute -