Chapter 10-322: Bringing the Hammer (1/2)

Sending out word for muscle didn’t take much. /tellepathy is good at that. From there, it was just going out and fetching them.

It wasn’t that I didn’t think I could take these people, it was that I couldn’t corral them if they dispersed. The Buddhists had naturally all tried to stay together, because they were much stronger when they did. Daoists, not so much.

At the same time, there were a lot of people eager for this fight. The more powerful Dragon-wielders, Tomb Clansmen happy to take on strong undead, vengeful Chinese, and more than a few Powered who needed to see how strong some of these enemies were.

Oh, and some people who wanted some entertainment, too.

It took me about ten minutes. Those I contacted couldn’t wait to join me in an active final Shroud-clearing, especially against undead Cultivators. If they could get to one of my Lived-Lines quick, that made things even simpler as I zipped around fetching them.

The whole crew of Traveling Knights was here, along with a half-dozen Heavenbound and others who’d been aiding them constantly. Azaia and Legion came in, the former intending to work as support, and I even picked up a trio of Indian Dragon-users who happened to be available and could get to one of my Lived-Line locations, namely a converted Vivic Shrine nearby.

I even brought the Angelos and Windgraf Mochtal, who happily reunited with Commander Haru’Ara, the genie getting a lot of attention for his big blueness, while the deva affected his Halo, but nothing else eye-catching, save for his shining Mace. Mochtal had a zweihander he was finessing about proudly, and a fine suit of genie-sized armor on, too, making him look like an otherworldly knight.

Powerful spirits I had for allies, yes...

I greeted Sir Peller, Father Bower, and Helix with happy armclasps as we met again, and did the same with the Aruan Shooters, and was introduced to those they’d had me bring along. The Mick came in, Sama had me fetch fully half a dozen Blakhamars for the fun, Shvaughn/Windwise was greeted enthusiastically by all the local Warlocks, and we were ready to go.

Helix was an instant hit among the Chinese, who recognized him instantly from the videos. He accepted their recognition and laughter with knowing grace and humility, promptly making a dozen friends and teasing their own tales of stupidity and learning bitter lessons out of them, groaning along with everyone else. The call-sign of Helix’s biggest fans was “Hold My Beer!”, called out with the gusto of knowing it was a stupid thing to do, and doing it anyways, knowing there was gonna be a price for it.

Still, both Sama and Briggs were there, and things got orderly with great speed.

Briggs was the one to address them all.

“Men and women of China, you’ve fought long and hard, and you’ve got much longer fights ahead of you. You can feel pride at what you’ve done, but I am going to demand that you not let your pride control what you are about to do.

“This is a powerful and dangerous foe ahead of you, and we have brought in help to kill them because you need the help, not because we do not believe in you. These are people who have also fought the undead and ground them down, and done so longer than you have. Some of them have also fought Cultivators and Spirit Beasts, and know what they are getting into.

“You need their help, now and today. In a month, perhaps two, I would say you would not NEED their help... but you would WANT it, because your enemies don’t deserve any mercy from you, and overkill on them is the best kind of killing!

“Also remember that our ultimate enemy is still waiting, still has to die, and in the end, it is going to take everybody to deal with them. This is a small prelude to what we are going to be involved in on that last fight.”

“We are going to be fighting a lot of Seven and higher undead Cultivators.” Quiet murmurs at that confirmation. “In addition, we are going to be fighting Congregants, who, even if they have no power, still hit like bricks and take it like boulders.

“We have the healers to keep you going, if you don’t die. We have the power to take on their toughest, and Lady Traveler is here to see that the big fellow there doesn’t have the chance to unload on us... plus, we are going to give a nasty, nasty surprise to it when it finds its undead minions are actually weaker against us!”

Short, hard laughs greeted his words.

“Alright, get in initial formation, remember your teamwork, and we will get through this.” Endure swept in a flowing arc of vivus, falling mistily to the ground as he pointed at the black star in the distance that was the Outsider brought in for this fight. “And remember when those Clergy go up, I better see some crystal Weapons coming out of that!”

Hoots and calls of acknowledgement arose from everyone. The Clergy were the toughest of the base undead, and so would be left to the strongest of them to deal with... those who weren’t fighting Cultivators directly.

A lot of Dispels and Ward Walls were getting ready to get through the ranged attacks of the undead ahead of us, but we had two very highly developed Forsaken here, who were going to be giving those flying, Qi-wielding spellflingers a bit of a surprise...

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The big guy seemed to be waiting for us. His Shroudzone was down to a measly four miles across, barely covering the inner city, even with the elites that he was stuck with.

I was on the Old Steed, naturally very attention-getting, and the Chained Buffs on the leaders was also going to help them soak up a lot of punishment. Right now my Pool was lower than it had been in a very long time from handing out Buffs, but they were all very appreciated, without a doubt. I could probably have popped away and recharged it in a random Shardzone, but I didn’t want the Outsider to make a move while I wasn’t there, even with Commander Haru’Ara around.

I expected the whole early part of the fight to be me shutting down the big guy, who was probably not going to like it... but there was nothing he could do about. He was going to watch his idiot minions die, and then he was going to bite it. He couldn’t flee past the edge of his Deadzone, which had now retracted mightily, barely five miles, and when the sun rose, he’d just get sent back here despite anything he did.

The idiots who had brought him here, and who he had elected to respond to in the hopes of gaining more power via massive amounts of Death, had suckered him into a trap from which there was no escape.