Chapter 237: It’s Not About Killing Monsters (2/2)

Humphrey hoped for a similar result as he rolled again. When it stopped, a glowing symbol rose up from the die; another of the new symbols. Humphrey had gone over them with Clive after finding out about the new sides and knew this one meant double. He had been hoping that meant it doubled the number of summons it called up. Even unenhanced by the die, ten of his bone soldiers would be of critical value against the numbers they were expecting.

After falling to a stop, the die rolled itself again, the symbol for bird rising up to float next to the one for double. Then the die rolled for a third time, stopping on cat. The three symbols merged to form a new symbol, one that Humphrey didn’t know. Then his summons began to appear.

There were five, the normal number for his summoning power at bronze rank. They had the hind legs and body of oversized lions, and the wings and head of a giant eagle. Their front legs were also those of an eagle, ending in powerful talons.

“Griffins,” Humphrey said in a half-whisper. He had seen them as a child, while travelling with his mother. Sailing on a ship near the coast, they had spotted the griffins come soaring majestically off the top of a cliff. They had swooped down, snatching sharks right out of the water before winging away with them.

It had been young Humphrey’s first encounter with a magical beast that was natural, rather than a monster. Such creatures were rare in the low-magic Greenstone region where he was born and raised. It had left griffins with a special place in his heart and he was entranced as his summons took their form. These were all white, the colour of dragon bone, and wearing armoured barding suited to their forms.

“Humphrey,” Sophie called out. “Eyes up.”

Humphrey stirred from his unexpected, nostalgic reverie and realised that the sounds of the approaching monsters had grown from a few individuals crashing through the jungle into what sounded like a wave. Like water crashing onto a rocky shore, the violent sounds of monsters tearing through the undergrowth came washing over them.

Humphrey touched one of the griffins.

“Swoop, grab and drop,” he instructed them and they took to the air. He then leapt lightly onto the platform, where Neil and his golem had already clambered up. Most of the team were gathered with their familiars and summons, the exception being Humphrey and Jason. Jason had taken Colin and Shade with him, leaving Gordon behind. Humphrey was present, but his griffon’s were winging overhead as Clive’s floating tortoise watched their majestic swooping forlornly.

Humphrey had sent Stash, in his domineering hydra form, back behind the platform. The monsters would largely try and swarm them from the front, which is where their main defensive strength was positioned. It was inevitable, though, that the platform would become surrounded. Stash would be their main line of defence from that approach.

Clive and Neil both started casting spells on their teammates. Humphrey grew half his height again from Neil’s first offering.

Ability: [Giant’s Might] (Growth)

Spell (boon).Cost: High mana.Cooldown: 10 minutes.Current rank: Bronze 0 (04%).Effect (iron): Target ally and their equipment grow larger, gaining an enhanced [Power] attribute.Effect (bronze): Ally also gains resistance to physical damage and high-momentum effects.

Clive’s first spell affected the whole team on the platform, including their summons and familiars. Jason, Shade,  Colin and the Griffons who were out of range were not so blessed. The ability created rings of glowing runes that floated around everyone.

Ability: [Rune Mantle] (Rune)

Spell (boon, this ability has variable subtypes, contingent on effect).Cost: Low mana.Cooldown: 10 seconds.Current rank: Bronze 0 (02%).Effect (iron): Bestow a ring of random runes around an ally. Each rune is associated with a specific effect that affects the ally or an enemy. Attacks against the ally trigger the destruction of a random rune, causing its effect to occur.Effect (bronze): Increasing the cost to moderate mana allows the rune mantle to be bestowed on all nearby allies.

Clive’s second spell likewise affected the whole team, making them glow gold-red for a moment before fading.

Ability: [Mantle of Retribution] (Karmic)

Spell (boon, retributive).Cost: Low mana.Cooldown: 10 seconds.Current rank: Bronze 0 (01%).Effect (iron): Inflicts retributive impact damage on anyone who attacks the target ally.Effect (bronze): Increasing the cost to moderate mana allows the mantle of retribution to be bestowed on all nearby allies.

While the spells were being cast, the monsters grew louder and louder, yet there were no roars or shrieks. They were silent, save for the commotion of their passage through the jungle as they flattened everything in their path.

Finally they appeared in front of the team, erupting out of the jungle. As unnerving as the fact that they weren’t issuing any noises was the way the disparate group moved as one. Normally, such a wild collection of monsters would be more eager to fight each other than they would adventurers..

As the creatures reached the platform, they finally started to make noise, all in harmony. It was an alien, sonorous cry, filled with hunger.

“Throw your heaviest attacks to blunt the first wave, then conserve mana,” Humphrey called out, as if the team hadn’t gone over and over the plans for the battle.

Clive had already made his big mana expenditure on his row of ritual circles. They were lined up like the barrel of a gun and he fired a bolt from his staff through the first. The bolt froze, as if caught in an invisible hand, and the mana Clive had put into the circle was fed into the bolt until the circle collapsed. The bolt shot forward again, stopping and draining mana from each circle until it was a huge globe of force that made the air around the team vibrate.

While the bolt was going through its stop-start passage, the rest of the team opened up. Belinda used her force tether power to gather a large cluster of the shoulder-to shoulder monsters and then open her reaper pit power underneath. The tether exploded and the rest of their health would be eaten away by the pit. Only a few of the tough bronze-rankers would eventually escape when the pit’s duration came to an end.

Clive’s bolt finished its passage, having consumed all the ritual circles. It landed amongst the monsters like military ordinance, throwing up a huge cloud of dirt and dust, along with a low boom that rammed into their eardrums. The cloud obscured most of the monsters from their sight, while gobbets of wet jungle earth and wet former monster rained down on the team. They didn’t have time to pay it any mind, as what they could see of the monsters showed that they hadn’t slowed down.

“What the hell was that?” Jason asked through voice chat.

“Sorry,” Clive said. “I didn’t realise the effect would be that big.”

“Just watch where you’re aiming that thing!”