The Empires Rise

"What happened, Drake?" Draemish comes running over.

"We screwed up; we didn't decrease the difficulty; we only increased the amount of monsters that the settlement is receiving." I start to panic.

"Calm down, Drake, it isn't as bad as you think. Once we get everyone to level 3, we don't have to worry about the difficulty overshadowing us. Then, we can focus on getting more people to level 4. We need to take things slow." She tries calming me down.

It does help a little, but I won't get over the point of us needing more people. "Why don't we summon the rest of the specific summons? We can get more fighters and spread out more, but not be too thin. Currently, we are at least one person per 30 meters. That is way too much space for one person to cover."

Again, she has sound logic behind her. "Can we summon some more people from a different world?" Shadow asks.

"Will they listen?" Draemish asks.

Stopping to think about it, he shakes his head. "Probably not, like you were when you heard I was a shifter. It is probably for the best..." He trails off.

I look at Vranjaya, "Would anyone from your world be easy to handle and immediately incorporate into a fight?"

She also shakes her head, "They would lisssten to sssomeone who hasss more experienssse. I am ssstill young in the eyesss of the people."

I hand over the rest of the scrolls to Draemish, and she uses them immediately. Unlike last time, she summons three hunters and two more warriors. The hunters come from the Shadow Corp., while the warriors are all from the Claw Corp.

With the additional five people added to the roster, the average level has only increased to 1.92. Six more people leveled up after the last wave, meaning the total levels in the settlement have reached 68.

I hope the next wave doesn't have too many surprises.

- Fifth Wave starting in 5 seconds -

I'm hurrying up to the battlements to see the start of the wave. Once it spawns, I'm shocked.

Sitting in front of us is a large goblin, and he is sitting on top of a rat larger than any I have seen before.

"Great, they have a commander now..." Draemish sardonically.

"Is that a good thing?" I ask.

"It can be. Goblins are known for their flightly behavior, and when they have a commander, if they can be killed quickly, they scatter. I don't think this will be one of those situations, though. Either way, we must kill him; it will make the other goblins less coordinated. The good news is there aren't any imps in this wave."

Looking around, I can agree with Draemish. "Should we send people to look to ensure there aren't any?"

"It wouldn't hurt. Let's get Rhenriqi to go. She will be faster than any of us." With the discussion over, she calls Rhenriqi and tells her the plan. She nods and then heads out immediately.

"Let's take this guy down." She encourages.

"Any plan? Or are we just shooting what comes in range right now?" I ask.

"We should target the leading edge of the goblins. We might be able to get more to impale themselves if they rush in and don't know what is in front of them." Shadow offers.

"That is better than nothing." I agree. We should have the mages fire their spells to help weed out the weaker ones. It will help them get spell experience and total experience."

"There is no disssagreement from me," Vranjaya whoops in excitement. I can empathize with her. It has been boring watching the waves come but doing nothing to help.

"Pass the word, and let's get this show on the road!"

Not long after, word gets out that the goblins are in bow range again. Adding three additional bows increases our throughput a bit more. This wave starts like any other, but then the commander screeches, and a red aura envelops all of them. They approach the walls faster, with potential additional effects that are a mystery now.

The hunters keep firing, and the mages join in once they are within spell range; more shots are missing again due to the increased movement speed. It isn't long before rats, and their riders try jumping over the moat in some areas to fall short, while others go around the spikes as best they can while sustaining minimal damage.

A dozen rats, some with their riders still on and some without, have started attacking the walls. The walls' durability isn't decreasing fast, but they are doing more damage than previously. I watch the bar closely as I cast Nature's Grasp below.

I peek my head over the parapet and cast my spell. It is placed in a cluster of rats and riders. The rats need to lunge for their attacks, and their bellies are so close to the ground that they start to take even more damage.

It isn't long before the first rat falls. This one's rider tries to jump to safety but fails, landing face-first in my spells area.

He starts to struggle to get up but isn't able to before an arcane shot hits him square in the back.

"Sssorry, Drake, that one isss mine," Vranjaya says.

The hunters stop focusing on the rats near the walls and try to pick off the last few at the range.

The goblin commander, in a rage, spurs his rat forward. Once he gets into range for the hunters, they all focus on him. Leaving the smaller targets for the mages to handle.

Several arrows impact the rat, but it keeps running forward without losing momentum. It is moving at double the speed of the other rats. In no time, it is at the edge of the pit. It leaps, fails to reach the other side, and instead impales its back leg on one of the spikes. Not long after that, one of the mages hits the goblin on its back.

It takes the brunt of the hit, sways, but ultimately remains on its mount. A couple more volleys of arrows have not made the much slower rat a pin cushion. The commander pushes the rat to get closer to the walls. Once only a few meters away, I watch as it stands on the rat's back.

"Look out, the commander will jump onto the wall!" I shout. "Where is a warrior?"

It takes several seconds for others to realize what is happening, and then the commander jumps.

He jumps from the back and lands gracefully on the battlements in one smooth motion.

I am not far from where the goblin landed, but someone else is closer to him.

Vranjaya, not missing a beat, turns and casts an arcane shot at him, but he quickly dodges to the side and charges at her.

I quickly cast my shield spell on her while looking around. Several of the hunters are shooting to finish off the dire rat, and one warrior is rushing to Vranjaya's aid.

Sergent Markward races from behind her.

The commander attacks Vranjaya and hits my shield. Cracks appear on the shield. I know it wasn't meant to take a lot of damage, but I didn't expect that it almost shatters completely after one hit.

I cast Barkskin on Markward. Then, I cast Smite onto the commander. It staggers from the damage, and while in that state, Markward gets around Vranjaya and bashes the commander into the settlement from the battlements.

Not being able to get its feet under it, the commander takes a more daring approach. It follows through in getting bashed and tries to hold onto Markward's shield, probably in hopes that it will take its enemy with it.

Catching onto what the commander wants to do, Markward allows the goblin to grab hold of his shield, but as he finishes his swing out over the side, he lets go of his shield, sending the goblin and shield down below.

"Finish that commander!" I call to all those who are listening.

Immediately after, arrows and arcane shots rain down on him. After two barrages and falling from the battlements, the goblin commander perishes.

With no more enemies alive on the battlefield, a notification appears.

- Fifth Wave Cleared

Calculating Experience...

Contribution 6 Kills. 25 Experience granted.

Sixth Wave Starting in 5 minutes -

"That was close," I say to Markward.

"I would have to agree with you," He responds.

"Vranjaya, are you alright?" I ask.

"I am doing fi-" She stops talking and then starts to feign being wounded.

"Is she doing alright?" Muiress whispers in my ear.

I look at him, "She says that she is f-"

"Oh, Muiress, I have been wounded. Would you please come and look?" She starts her act.

"I am not going over there," He whispers even more quietly. "I just wanted to know if I was going to have to deal with her looking at me and trying to get my bow to 'shoot'; she keeps giving it weird looks."

Not wanting to get in the middle, I make a terrible excuse, "Would you look at that? It seems I should go and talk with my family; they seem to be in a rough spot." With that, I scamper off.