Chapter 73 (1/2)
The rain made the night an extremely long one. Wave after wave of monsters streamed towards the village. The mage battalion held the road, but the efficacy of their magic was greatly reduced by the damp, resulting in more and more of the reserve squads to be called there to reinforce them.
Donny held the freshly raised southern defensive line. Weeks of fighting at the front constantly had worked great changes in this teenager, accelerating his growth into manhood.
Meanwhile, Donnyton’s scouting teams roved through the forest, ambushing and retreating, constantly thinning out the numbers of approaching enemies as much as they could. But it never seemed to be enough, and as the night stretched onward they began to tire, tiny mistakes turning into fatalities.
The healing division worked as fast as they could, but they had a limited supply of mana potion, which swiftly reached dangerous levels. Non-fatal or debilitating wounds were wrapped up but not healed all the way. Health could regenerate on its own quickly enough, even if structural damage to the body would not without the aid of spells.
It was likely the bloodiest night in Donnyton’s history. While Dozer and Decklan, and their squads, rested, several Tier I Raid Bosses were able to set up shop and multiply, adding to the constant flow of monsters.
In their absence, and the absence of the Ghosthound, several individuals set themselves apart in terms of bravery and skill. Of those people, there were two that changed the course of the night: Lyra and Annie.
When the Northern fortress, the most heavily fortified, and the location of the heaviest fighting, was breached by a rare, fire belching iguana, the defenders paled. Monsters leapt forward, squirming to get into the hole. But from nowhere, she appeared, her typical grey hood pulled over her head.
Dozens of silent birds glided forward, and for the next 5 minutes, the only thing that made it through the breached wall was a thin misting of blood.
During that time, another squad hurried over, plugging the gap and stabilizing the defenses.
Meanwhile, Annie stood atop the watchtower on the road, firing arrows like a machine gun. The production focused people began to dread her glare, because it could only mean one thing; she needed more arrows.
They thought about complaining, but almost unerringly, the arrows that Annie shot would take a monster in the throat, or eye, or heart, stopping them dead.
Although her own stats weren’t high, she invested heavily in Strength and Control, giving her arrows quite the punch.
And just like that, dawn came. With a heavy expression, Regina received the preliminary report. 80 dead, and most of that Classers. Still…
Those that survived were changed. The predictable monster hordes of the first week had been stressful, but they were predictable. The following month had been filled with training, with those hordes in mind.
Only now were they exposed to true strife, the true horror of war. Not just actual level, but their skill levels had sharply risen across the board, allowing them to invest in their paths, which further increased their strength.
Grim faced, they watch Dozer and Decklan’s squads punch their way out, heading out for their respective targets. The monsters would be repaid in blood for what Donnyton had suffered that night.
****
Randidly worked as a cook, in the aftermath of the concert, after escorting an exhausted Tessa home and asking a barely lucid Cassie to look for two people named Ace and Sydney. It seemed that almost everyone who had watched the concert felt sluggish, so business owners were desperate for help, even allowing someone fresh off the street like Randidly to assist.
They had set up food stands around the city and lowered the food prices, to catch the dregs from the concert, and it worked like a charm; apparently being subtly influenced by a songstress was very draining.
After 15 minutes, Randidly had gained the cooking skill and understood basically what to do; he was making fried street noodles. Another half hour had passed and he had already reached Lvl 3 in Cooking, as he pumped out noodle dish after noodle dish.
Seeing Randidly’s crazy speed and consistency, the overseer for this block moved Randidly to a large grill, where he fried eggs, meats, potatoes, and pastries.
This activity was much more demanding, because each item had its own perfect cooking time, and with the volume of orders, Randidly might have 30 things on the grill in front of him, that needed adjustments at specific points.
The manager’s mouth dropped to the floor as he watched Randidly’s hands blur, both seeming to act independently of the other, keeping the entire kitchen running smoothly, the food even tasting better than it had in a long time, even though their usual cook had his Cooking skill at Lvl 9.
Furtively glancing around, the manager told his subordinates to get Randidly’s information so he could be invited back to a permanent position, then hurried away, confident that this location would be fine in his absence.
At around 5 in the morning, even the most hardcore celebrants had drifted away, and the shops closed down, the business owners packing up, their eyes swimming in all the currency they had gathered.
Randidly, now with a Lvl 10 Cooking skill, had promised to report for work as a chef later, but could only shrug when the workers inquired where he lived. After all, he wasn’t about to tell them about Donnyton, and it seemed slightly rude to use Tessa’s address. The more they pressed, the more hesitant Randidly became, until he finally just took his payment and fled.
Still, he likely would return to work at a restaurant. Cooking was a surprisingly enjoyable experience. It had also helped level Haste and Empower 1 level each, as he worked on his control of those skills.