Bonded Summoner-Chapter 16BS7 - : The Might of the Celts

The main enemy defeated, they worked to claim the shrines. The Bloodwrought had three small groups farming them as they finished defeating the main forces, but they actually started to flee to the Outpost. From what Jake could see in the distance, monsters would spawn periodically, and they weren’t exactly pushovers–at least, without his Aura’s help.

Each monster spawned was at the level of a mini or sub-boss, more than capable of killing a warrior if they were unprepared. Several would spawn based on the number of defenders at the shrine every few minutes, and they certainly didn’t go down easily. A well-balanced party would take a similar amount of time to actually finish one off.

The spawns were rather varied, from humanoid monsters like the death knight they had faced, to large elementals or beasts with unique properties.

It seemed each one of these dropped a single resource when killed in the form of a blue orb, and these were what needed to be collected and returned to the Outpost.

The army needed some time to recover, but reinforcements from the Alliance Outpost arrived to take on the shrines. Placing fifty warriors at each Shrine was the maximum, but more warriors could wait in the wings, outside of the shrine’s radius, for when others ferried the resources back to base.

Sending Ophelia, Fhesiah and Tanda riding Valora, they rounded the enemy’s base to find the other two enemy shrines. What they found was two decent-sized armies farming them, at about forty warriors each. A warrior was sent back to base carrying the resources, and Tanda had sniped one such person heading there, stealing their efforts by picking up the glimmering blue orb from the ground.

Jake was still riding Bloodberri, and he joined the center resource shrine to aid in farming the resources rapidly. He noted, “The way I see it, in this Battleground it’s just as important to deny them resources as it is to gather our own.”

Blood nodded. “It certainly seems that way. It might be a good idea to play the match a little conservatively, until our Outpost is repaired, though.”

Since Fhesiah reminded them about the Greater Rifts on Highlands and what happened, that helped Jake understand what the Champion’s plan likely was. The truth was, the enemy had already been defeated despite superior numbers, and this was a lot like the first Greater Rift in that respect.

Even if his people were weakened by farming the resource shrines, Jake doubted they could be overcome by the enemy army. Hearthtribe had superior mobility, so it wasn’t as though the enemy could play some game where they roamed and stole resources–Jake’s team were the ones who would do that.

That meant the enemy was going to have to try to cheat to have any chance at victory, and sacrifice was definitely on the table as well.

Ophelia probed the enemy’s Outpost while covered in a flaming barrier, and found it had defenses similar yet different from their own. A barrier-like dome persisted around the open air of their fort, and a type of magical siege equipment launched bone spines at them covered in dangerous blood as they neared, like they were shot out of a ballista.

While the attacks were not overly powerful, it would seriously tax their energy if they stayed in range of the equipment. And the defenses covered nearly half of the resource collector’s approach, making it relatively safe for them to capture resources there–at least, much safer than the central locations, which were much further away.

The three girls became a nuisance to those two groups, and slowly picked them apart, even as they attempted to retreat back to the Outpost. For them to clear out a few dozen enemies with ranged and movement superiority was not a difficult challenge. Meanwhile, Hearthtribe claimed the three center Outposts, and began farming the resources.

They found that a person could only hold a maximum of six resources before they were unable to pick any more up. The center shrines not only spawned more enemies, but at the centermost shrine the monsters also granted two resources instead of one.

Now that Jake understood how the mechanics worked, winning this event for the beastkin was trivial. Even from a severe handicap, the higher mobility avian or wing suit wearing beastkin could easily make this battle far more challenging for the enemy, by flying around and attacking resource gatherers and stealing their gains. A living hell, really.

Mobility was king in this battle, and perhaps stealth could be effective as a tool too. But their enemy was lacking in both, it appeared.

Instead, Hearthtribe outclassed the Bloodwrought, so this battle was as good as won, Champion or not. Whatever the Champion might be able to accomplish on his own, it could only win a single battle. It could not win the Battleground, in Jake’s eyes.

To Jake, that meant one thing. It meant that they were going to go for their Outpost. And since all their preparations and tricks seemed to go for weakening it as a target, he thought this was obvious.

Over the course of the next hour, Hearthtribe dominated nearly all of the resource shrines, gathering the maximum number of resources possible. So Jake sent Ira to hunt down where the enemy might be. Only Ophelia, Tanda, and Fhesiah farmed the resource shrines at the enemy’s base after clearing out those enemies. It didn’t take too long for them to hit ten resources each and need to head back to the Outpost to collect, however.

After the resurrection arrived, the lights above the shrine pulsing, over one hundred and eighty-six resources had been collected, to the enemy’s thirty-two. It had taken them over thirty minutes to defeat the enemy forces, and the resurrection happened at the one-hour mark, separate from their deaths.

Even if they continued to own all the points and collect the resources, they would only reach a bit over half of the way with the enemy’s next respawn, Jake imagined. They would need another respawn, and perhaps another, in order to cement their victory.

Even with the folks he left behind focusing on repairs, they had only brought the Node up to a little over sixty percent after an hour. It would take until well beyond after the Battleground to bring it to full health, and so far, only the siege equipment was close to coming back online. The protective barrier would take a little more time, and may just barely be restored before the Battleground ended.

When the enemy respawned, as Jake expected, they did not come out right away. The dome-like magical barrier did not allow them to see inside the base at all, other than vague silhouettes around the siege equipment and similar thanks to his Umbral Gaze.

Ira and Fhesiah were both on the lookout, and Jake used his Umbral Gaze to watch the surrounding area as well. He watched the Alliance Outpost with the Arcane Eye he had left behind, and didn’t really see anything amiss.

However, Ira finally spotted the enemy, so Jake used Reverse Summon to Ira to take a look.

What he learned was alarming, but not all that surprising. There was a massive creature burrowing toward the Outpost, a tunneling worm of some kind. The plan was clearly to erupt from underneath.

Followed by more monsters within the giant tunnel it was creating. Jake could see them through the ground with his Umbral Gaze, and it had taken quite the circuitous path to arrive where it was. It was moving almost as fast as most of the treants could run, and must have been moving in this direction from the very beginning of the match.

There was a dangerous entity within the underground army of monsters. It was definitely a boss-level enemy that was digging the path, and the worm was over double the width and length of a semi truck.

In the middle of the enemy forces, Jake could see a density in the mana or aura that could only be a Champion.

[Champion of Loviatar Detected. Defeat for Reward.]

Tartarus was cheating big time here, and likely the only way it could skirt the rules like this was that these things were in fact in motion before the Battleground even began. This meant that every time before a match, Hearthtribe would need to be very thorough about ensuring the floor was as clear as possible, and to continue this level of vigilance throughout.

They had done this already, but had no idea the trees could pose a real threat. He was unsure what the Outpost would allow them to build to provide protection underneath, but he was certain they would be working towards it as soon as possible.

So now Jake had the issue of deciding how to handle this threat. The monsters were moving through the earth quickly, and it appeared in thanks to having a special mastery over it. The giant worm carved through the earth like it wasn’t even there, creating a path that even the largest tainted beastkin could fit through.

He definitely didn’t want to wait until they burst through the ground and damaged the Node, but fighting underground in the enemy’s home turf was also not great. Not only that, but creating some form of earthen fissure to reach the underground cave in the first place might be exhausting for him to accomplish. Thankfully, he still had a bit of time to come to a decision–they had caught it early enough.

Fhesiah said, [If that’s not bad enough, the enemy has started to move on this side too.]

“What’s happening?”

[They think they’re being crafty, tunneling and sneaking out of a cave underneath their Outpost. Their goal is to appear some ways away to the North, likely to either join the tunneling enemy, or to accomplish a pincer attack on our Outpost.]

So their plan involved two tunnels. Ira nudged Jake, and sent him a mental image. It could transport him down into the cave, allowing for a surprise attack. If he needed to escape, Ira was confident in bringing him out. For Jake, this was plenty good enough. He had been worried about bringing up the rear of the tunnel, that they would be discovered and the enemy could fight him to the utmost in its home turf. But with a surprise attack, that was good enough for him.

Jake said, “Alright, get ready to hit them hard.”

After a mental confirmation, Jake started to shift his Resonance State. Thanks to their Hearthian Bonds, and their single-minded focus to defeat the enemy, entering the state of the Family was not too difficult. It took him and the girls a moment to find harmony with Tanda being the guide, but it wasn’t more than ten seconds.

Previously, he had to find resonance with each one at a time, but now, their ability to find harmony and resonance it only took a little longer than his other states. It would break quickly when he used it this way, and finding resonance one at a time was clearly better, but for a single surprise attack, this should be enough.

His Hearthian Presence covered them, providing a boost to all of their attributes, despite them not being near. If he was fighting near Hearthtribe, they would all receive a lesser version of his Divine Reinforcement, in addition to the Aura’s usual effects.

Starting to compress the flames of his Hearth and drawing them from each of the girls, he prepared his Heroic Scorching Ray with a significant amount of hearth mana, like he did during the final battle of the Dungeon Raid. Each of his girls started preparing runes within their Hearths, readying to launch their own attacks.

Taking a deep breath and drawing in the void energy within his lungs, he transferred some of it to Ira. The two transferred down into the tunnel, in the middle of the monsters and a ways behind the enemy Champion.

He then used Call Summon, bringing in all of the girls, and his two permanent summons. The Loviatar Champion seemed to sense something was up, and began calling upon their Divine, from what Jake could feel as Divine Energy began to gather around their opponent.

It was an immense amount of malevolence. But if Jake had to compare maximums, he thought it was about half of what he could now muster, which he found interesting. Perhaps, he had really gotten ahead in this area compared to the norm among Champions after the Enforcer fight.

The monsters near them started to respond to his party’s sudden presence by charging at them with open maws. Ophelia countered them by sending out a wave of vajrafire energy with Consecration, bathing the enemies around them in flames and lightning, shocking and stalling their responses.

Jake was molding all the flames together and compressing them, the disparate energy types. He moved in his Divine Energy, saying a small prayer. “Hestia, please help my family’s flames burn brightly.” As the Divine Energy moved and wrapped around his flames, he could feel Hestia’s smiling presence guide it all into a spiraling rainbow of flames.

He let out his breath of void energy, covering his condensed orb of flames as he transferred it to his staff, and infused it with his will, his Dao of Family.

The numerous colors became a solid, golden flame, and then it reached critical mass. Jake had only used about five percent of his Divine Energy, so his attack had built rapidly. This attack was only a little shy of the entire amount of mana and Divine Energy of the special attack he had made when he arrived on Highlands, where he wiped out all of his girls and himself–and tens of thousands of skeletons with a fiery rain of the heavens. In contrast, he had done this in but a mere instant.

Whatever the enemy Champion was doing, it wasn’t ready for what Jake had in store for it yet.

The Heroic Scorching Ray blasted outward, targeting the Loviatar Champion and what lay behind it–the giant worm. Even as the beam passed above many of the creatures, they were set aflame and started melting as the whole tunnel was covered in a gold and prismatic, blinding light. The monsters in the way of the beam attack, the ray of fiery light pierced through them almost like they were not even there.

Dozens of monsters were pierced or set on fire in a line, screeches or wails of pain echoing throughout the large tunnel as the beam passed through. The sound from the blast was once again like a jet engine, and the amount of fire and heat let out was immense as even the walls themselves began to melt.

Jake had managed to throw even more mana and Divine Energy in this time than the first time he had used it, despite not using much of his total since he had grown. It was in part thanks to being in the Second Tier and drawing from his wives’ immense stores, and infusing his dao into it. The beam of prismatic, golden light was far more powerful than it was during the Dungeon Raid.

The Loviatar Champion was struck, and the malevolent buildup to summon its divine was working to counter it, the beam stopping in its path momentarily.

This was when his wives released their prepared spells.

Fhesiah released her Dragon’s Breath, the apparition of a giant dragon’s head appearing over the army, and releasing a powerful breath of flames at the enemy Champion and engulfing them all.

Bloodberri released their spears of black and white flames that swirled around Jake’s beam and crashed into the enemy’s buildup, the spears of holy flames exploding and engulfing the area. Ophelia released a similar buildup of vajrafire flames, hers in the form of an orb that lightning lashed out at enemies as it passed through toward the target.

And Tanda launched a deadly arrow from her bow which was enhanced by her runic spell, a deathly empowerment and acceleration of the arrow. Meanwhile, Avalara released her flames of conflict from her chest, and Bree rushed at the enemies behind their arrival.

The arrow from Tanda’s bow pierced through the malevolent energy and crashed into the enemy Champion as Avalara’s own wave of flames washed over it, and a manifestation of a wolf took a large bite of the centipede.

The malevolent energy was finally erased, and Jake’s Scorching Ray pierced through the enemy Champion. The beam continued to strike the worm in the rear and pierced deeply into the monster, just as the energy ran out.

The worm let out a reverberating roar, that shook the entire tunnel as its tail end began to thrash.

Looking over at the enemy, the Champion was truly on their last legs. Jake had been able to see a sort of silhouette of their aura with his Umbral Gaze even through the ground, but hadn’t been clear about what he was looking at exactly.

It was some kind of centipede-centaur person, the humanoid placed on top of where the insect’s head would be. It was covered in strange robes and had bug-like eyes, and had been holding an ominous staff in their hands.

Jake’s beam had pierced right through the chest of their humanoid body, and their centipede-like body curled in on itself as what remained of the girl’s attacks all washed over what was left of the enemy. Using his Umbral Gaze, he had targeted the core which was present in their body with his beam.

The Champion scattered into motes of light moments later, and Jake could tell they had finished them off.

It seemed that they were summoning their Divine. Jake and his family’s attacks were enough to stop them from accomplishing it–their own surprise attack had been successful.

Bloodberri hit a super baseball in the worm’s direction, and the girls all began to fan out. With the state of the family, each were emboldened further than usual. They hacked through the monsters as they worked their way over to the worm with their Hearthblades. The monster had curved through the earth and looped back in on themselves, and was now headed their way.

So they doubled it up. A second wave of their runic attacks were sent out, more arrows, baseballs and this time Bloodberri’s twilight eclipse. Avalara and Bree handled the rear, removing the large number of enemies that were still charging toward them with raging vine whips and dangerous claws and tree mace.

The attacks washed over the numerous monsters within the tunnel, and struck the large worm. It groaned, but continued its approach until Jake’s normal Scorching Ray and Fhesiah’s second Dragon’s Breath Demonic Runic Spell blasted over the monster. It was slowed as it was torn apart by the golden flames, and the worm wailed in agony.

Tanda’s arrow pierced deeply into the monster, spreading her deathly avenging flames into it. Thanks to the massive amounts of deaths on the battlefield, this had charged her nethril energy significantly and now shredded the monster from within.

The worm continued to thrash and shake the cave as it stormed toward them, and it reminded Jake of a flaming train coming down the tunnel at them. Avalara and Bree had already cut a path through the enemies behind them, so they retreated as they continued launching more attacks at the worm and spreading more flames.

With a fighting retreat, the creature eventually came to a stop with a pained wail, its life expiring. It became motes of light and a huge amount of loot in their Storage Rings from the Auto-Loot skill, and so the family turned onto the large monster swarm the Avalara and Bree were fighting through.

The rest of the enemies were trivial, the family cutting through them with their Hearthblades. After a while, they finished off the final enemy, and the tunnel was clear. Jake sent Ira to check on the Dreadbeast Champion, but he had a hunch on what was going to happen next.

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Fhesiah snorted. “The worm seemed tougher than the Champion, thanks to our surprise attack. I can’t help but feel a little disappointed again, though. They were really that weak?”

Blood frowned. “I don’t want to sound arrogant, but could it be that we’re just strong?”

Bree chuckled. “Oh yes, I do believe that’s the case for your level and Tier. However, these opponents were just second Tier trash limited to your lower level. It’s common for Tartarus to send probing attacks like this. I think the enemy was in fact testing you, and trying to get a sneaky win in, besides. Giving up two sparks from weak Champions just to see how strong you are now is not a heavy price to pay, as most of the decent Divine have over a hundred Tier 2 Champions carrying out their will and horrible plots.”

Blood nodded. “I see. And if they were lucky, they could have had a significant win by wiping out all our Outposts and erupting on our world with a Monster Tide. If not for our preparations and our people’s skill, our strength might not have mattered.”

There was a bit more to it than just monsters slaying natives of the world. These types of kills would not only empower Tartarus, but would bring them closer to the next Contested event. On top of that, Jake had learned that each Monster Tide meant that some of the world’s Energy Rating would be consumed, its potential lowered as well. It was like giving Tartarus a light snack of your world, like an Adventurer dying during a Trial. They certainly didn’t want to allow that to happen to Avalara.

They followed the tunnel out, eventually arriving topside. Ira had already confirmed that the Dreadbeast Champion had stopped his approach via the tunnels, retreating back into their Outpost with their forces.

Not only that, the enemy started filling the holes back in somehow. Jake was tempted to follow the tunnels and assault the Outpost instead, but it appeared they once again had special preparations. It seemed their magical siege protection somehow attacked those underground, the bloody spears piercing the earth like it wasn’t even there, and the underground path getting filled with tainted blood. This felt a bit unfair to Jake, but he hoped that maybe they could accomplish something like this in time, too.

Part of the Outpost system’s difficulty was that not all constructions were available right away, even if you had enough resources. As they had followed more branching paths and explored the dungeon, more items were unlocked and available for construction. And to make any new advantages meant they would have to invest in many outposts, typically.

Fhesiah sighed. “So we play the waiting game, huh?”

They set out to farm the resources, and the enemy only made a token effort at their own resource camps. After Ophelia, Tanda, and Fhesiah swooped around to pick them off, they had backed off once again to hide within the Outpost.

Jake said, “Looks like they’re going to go for one big push then, huh. If not for their strength, I’m not so sure if I’d want our army to even join the battle.”

Blood replied, “I can see why Hestia wanted us to allow our people to grow. They are no burden, but valuable assets. If we were not here, they’d have likely handled this event. It is only because of our influence that they are being challenged.”

If the enemy powered up upon eating corpses and blood, then fighting with their army would give them more food. However, Jake had faith in his people’s capabilities. With even odds, his people would crush the enemies, and even if the Bloodbeast Champion was empowered, his people would have a way of taking him down.

They kept their mana high as their people farmed the resource shrines, and when it reached the one-hour mark, they watched and waited. When the gate opened, the enemy army marched out, their veins and tainted hearts pulsing.

The Alliance armies pulled off the resource points in the center, angling to meet the enemy force in front of the central point. They farmed a bit over four hundred resources in the hour, bringing them to a bit over six hundred. Odds were, they would still need to fight one more time after this one. But seeing them stomp out, Jake knew this was more or less the final confrontation.

Ophelia noted, “They look bigger and more dangerous. Covered in blood.”

As the army continued its approach, the number was certainly fewer than the original five hundred, at nearly half the original number. Not only that, but the Dreadbeast Champion looked much larger. Yet no silhouettes remained inside the enemy base, and none headed out the back to claim the two shrines. This was an all or nothing assault, that they hoped to take the Alliance Outpost, Jake imagined.

Berri wrinkled her face. “Oh, gross. He ate the other…thing too.”

The Dreadbeast Champion had become much like the Abomination, in that there was now a massive mound of flesh in the back of his body, and now was trailed by a long centipede tail. In addition to the tainted blood, a malevolent energy of the evil divine pulsed through him. He had eaten the second Champion as part of his ritual, and now had a significant amount of power within him.

The T-rex humanoid was huge now, to where Avalara would almost look small next to him, at nearly double the height and likely more than triple the volume thanks to his bulging back of tainted flesh.

Most likely, he had consumed numerous of his people, and tainted blood had been scattered across the hundreds of remaining warriors. Perhaps, they had also joined him in consumption, devouring and mutating all the while.

Avalara roared, preparing her Sublimation. Tanda joined her, opening a large portal to Highlands. Only this time, it wasn’t Highlands jungle that spread out.

It was a lake.

Water propagated across the forest floor, and the many nymphs and reptile beastkin began adding to and controlling the auril-infused water. The numerous clergy of Brigid used their blessing abilities on the water, and the many druids inserted fertilized seeds, increasing its effectiveness and preparing their attack.

Meanwhile, the many clergy prepared their own magic circles, readying a massive assault. With the seventy elites in the Battlefield Skirmish, there weren’t many of each type of Celtic clergy, and each individual’s efforts were not substantial.

However, in their army of five-hundred, there were numerous clergy of each type, allowing them to work together to achieve larger, more substantial results. Knowing he wanted to aid their casting, Jake had found resonance with his Sage, Fhesiah. His presence had washed over the many clergy and all the beastkin, improving their wisdom and the power of their spellcasting significantly.

The numerous shamans and witch doctors on the enemy’s side had also bulked up with dangerous energies, and they added their protections and buffs to the already-enlarged tainted beastkin.

Jake had the thought before that he believed in his people, and this was very true. But he also had faith in something else.

The might of the Celts.

The large pool of water was sent out in a giant wave, and the enemy seemingly could do nothing but let it crash into and wash over them. The purifying waters of spring burned away their tainted blood, causing their gross flesh to begin to melt away.

With Rampant Growth and spring fertility, the plants from the seeds delivered with the waters grew and wrapped around the enemies of life, piercing their flesh. The shamans and witch doctors tried to drain the life away from the plants with their spells, but the purifying waters protected them from their efforts.

The enemy wasn’t the only one who could learn and evolve.

The Dreadbeast Champion tried to bring up a wall of earth to block off the wave of water with a roar, but the tide was too high and strong, and overcame the barrier. He was harmed as water washed over him, and a pond of several feet deep water formed underneath the enemy army. A mire of angry plants and vines grew to tear at the tainted beastkin as they waded slowly through the high waters, all while it burned their flesh and washed away their tainted blood.

Summoned auril creatures joined the battle, attacking the tainted beastkin as they struggled to fend off the magic, and a rain of javelins and arrows began to fall down on them.

Next were the druids and priests of Lugh, bringing on a powerful summer storm with Nadessa leading the spells. The clouds spread out rapidly as several magic circles completed, and lightning began to rain down on the enemy.

And that wasn’t all. Purifying rain, powerful winds, and beams of sunlight damaged and disoriented the tainted beastkin, their barriers of energy from their shamans weakened further as arrows and javelins empowered by Jake’s flames and bestial manifestations continued to rain down on them. Seamus the lion paladin roared as he became a beacon of light, the beams scattering and piercing into numerous foes, or causing the offensive plants to grow further and empower their ability to harm their tainted enemy. The plants were truly varied, some blooming flowers that released deadly spores, while others grew thick and shredded or restrained the enemies.

The fall magics of Cernunnos were next, and the druids manifested locusts and carrion birds. Hundreds of ravens swarmed and crashed into the many tainted beastkin, infusing deathly energies and removing the tainted blood’s power. Tanda and Avalara switched their Sublimation to a deathly mire, the lake becoming a thick, difficult to traverse mud. New plants resembling death-infused versions began to grow from the mire, and began tearing into the enemy further as the casters and ranged attackers continued their efforts.

Beams of black decay washed over the enemies from the druids and priests of Cernunnos, and the green, twisting vines hardened as they dried out, becoming a dense field of thorns–like a sea of deadly barbed wire.

Many of the tainted beastkin started to expire from the druid and priest’s spells, only a small percentage of them managing to cover themselves in powerful auras and dash ahead rather than being trapped in the Celt’s seasonal onslaught. These were met by the many treants and beastkin who had formed battle lines, as well as Bree and Avalara, the two titans having no issues shouldering the enemy’s charge.

And it wasn’t as though they could cover the entire two-hundred large and powerful enemies with a single area of effect. Some were able to run around the outskirts of the many spells and effects, and dash toward the Alliance army.

The enemies were large and powerful as individuals, but they were few and all were weakened. The Dreadbeast Champion tried to dash ahead through the mire with swift movements and manipulations of the earth, but he was met with one of Bloodberri’s super baseballs and Tanda’s ballista bolt arrow, delaying his charge further.

Despite his empowerment, it seemed he couldn’t stop himself from being sent reeling away from the attacks. He did not seem overly hurt, but he roared with anger and frustration at being unable to advance.

The last were the many clergy of Arawn. Emberborn priestesses, Dryad and Faun druids, and even a few beastkin priests and druids began to release their prepared winter spells. Waves of cold were blown outward, freezing areas of the mire. More death energy was infused into the swamp, which tore away the tainted beastkin’s immense health from their special blood. The call of the underworld was strong, the cycle of life and death coming to its conclusion.

Morwen then finished her magic circle and released her spell, Kingdom of Annwyn. An apparition of the heavenly city rose above them, drawing in the souls of the dead. The souls of Tartarus enemies were flagged for resurrection in this challenge and couldn’t be snatched. However, there were souls around that weren’t: those consumed for power, sacrificed in a ritual to improve their chances of victory.

Those souls were drawn away from the tainted beastkin, causing them to lose some of their strength and advantages from their consumed brethren, which in turn caused them to weaken and expire. Many were then dragged into the depths of the mire, before being frozen in their icy prisons.

Most of the souls arrived in the holy city of Arawn, but others sought vengeance. Brought to their baser instincts, the Bloodwrought had suffered and fought for centuries thanks to the evil gods. Avalara drew them in, her treant body growing in both size and strength, empowered by their vengeance and desire to seek justice.

Even the Dreadbeast Champion lost some of his strength, losing a bit of his bulk as the souls drifted off. He roared in anger, his red eyes filled with hatred as he glared at Jake and Ophelia.

He had been hit by holy water, wrapped in piercing vines, struck with lightning and holy sunlight, attacked with beams of decay and deathly ravens and locusts before cold and vines all attacked him. The T-rex had been attacked by the four seasons of the Celts, and was already weakened drastically.

The enemy had sent a warrior that could evolve, but the beastkin of Highlands and all of Hearthtribe were so varied in their talents and skills that this hardly mattered in the end. One could not evolve to withstand absolutely everything.

Avalara and Bree both stomped toward him, numerous druidic spells of Rampant Growth and faith-based buffs and abilities arriving on them. The two grew further, and Jake layered his own Einherjar buff and Giant’s Growth on them, making them more than large enough to face the weakened Champion.

His bone blades were deadly, but the auril manifestations and flames from Bree and Avalara prevented significant wounds from forming. Ava’s mace struck with a manifestation of a charging mammoth, sending the enemy flying, and Bree slashed deeply with her empowered claws.

The twisted flesh tried to slash and taint Avalara and Bree, but their hearths burned brightly, burning away any malevolence before it could take root. Avalara eventually released her golden flames of conflict, and Bree blasted out her own breath of monstrous flames, covering the monstrous warrior.

While the hardened flesh seemingly resisted this, much of it still melted away in the end, leaving mostly blackened bone in the fire’s wake.

The bones of the beast shattered under Ava’s might, and Bree shredded and tore into his body with fiery claws and bites. They traded blows, but even as their vine armor was torn and blood splattered, heals from the druids of Hearthtribe landed on the two titans. Eventually, the Champion’s body collapsed and was scattered into motes of light, the power of his Divine defeated.

With half of the enemy army sacrificed, the Dreadbeast Champion’s Divine Energy consumed, and the other Champion sacrificed, that meant victory was more or less inevitable. The army went back to farming resources after a quick recovery, working toward a thousand resources once more.

The enemy respawned again, but with half the forces because of the previous sacrifice, was unable to accomplish anything meaningful. The Dreadbeast Champion had tried to break away from the army with a few more sacrifices to empower himself once more, but Jake’s party once again met the enemy Champion with Avalara and Bree at the fore.

The T-rex still tried to go for Jake and Ophelia, but was met with nothing but a mace and fiery claw–and deadly baseballs and arrows.

Until the very end, the enemy only learned about Jake’s summons and things that it should already know from the first Tier. Tartarus knew he could teleport thanks to the final battle of the dungeon raid, and he had only recreated his Heroic Scorching Ray as it was before, just with more mana.

In the end, the enemy champions combined with the Bloodwrought were not strong enough to reach Jake and his family’s feet. Hearthtribe was too strong, and his family towered over their weak foes in every way possible.

The Alliance team eventually hit 1,000 resources, and victory was theirs.

[Alliance Victory! Resource Wars Battleground is now a monthly event. Future victories will earn Highlands Energy Rating and personal rewards, and losses will lead to energy lost and loss of access to the floor.]

[Manipulations of the rules have been detected from many Boss-level enemies defeated around the Outpost during Battleground. The number spawned before the event started have far exceeded the allowance. Rewards have been increased for victory.]

[Reward: T2 World Recovered: Torrentia, (Energy Rating: 2.13), Path to next floor opened.]

[Personal Reward: Summoner’s Staff (Epic)]

[Guild Reward: 10,000,000 CP]

It was as Jake suspected. The giant worm and the large number of monsters were probably spawned moments after they had stopped checking the area and entered the first gate. While that was more or less how the dungeon worked, there were still limits to how much it could do, and the sheer number over the last day was far too many.

The rewards were once again substantial, though the staff for Jake was more than a little bit of a let-down. Fhesiah and Ophelia both received another potential improving treasure, while Bloodberri received a special crafting resource and Tanda a necklace that provided a powerful regeneration buff–they would likely pass it to a beastkin or treant.

It was more than a little eerie how the enemy Outpost became motes of light, and two Divine Sparks shot at Jake and Ophelia, arriving in their chests. Because this moment symbolized the two Champion’s true deaths.

A large helping of experience was also awarded, golden lights from the Framework washing over them, and plenty of spiritual energy as well.

The shrines on the floor stayed, but the energies gathering within them went dormant.

The Alliance army roared in victory, and Jake was proud of how far they had truly come. While he didn’t think they could have won against the two Champions without his family’s aid, he knew that they could have gotten very close without the tricks.

The Champions gone, they would have dominated the armies without their help, and he knew that this Battleground would be a tremendous boon over the coming years.

And they had recovered an entire world from the enemy’s clutches. This world would likely be a shell of the original, the eldritch entity having consumed much of the resources on it. While the world was currently Tier 2, it was likely near the peak of it before it got its tentacles on it.

A major benefit was that anyone defending the world was now freed from the void, allowing them to resume their lives. While the Divine could have paid the ransoms for each of the Framework joined people, they hadn’t or wouldn’t do them all. Not only that, but much of them might have become targets for the tokens, just waiting in the void. Because a lot of those waiting would be random people that initiated merely so that they would not die when the world was lost. Takoda and Sunmane both came to mind, as they had initiated at the last minute at Nature’s Crossroads.

In a sense, they had now been rescued. Odds were, these people would be thankful to Jake and his guild, and be looking for how to join the fight once more or contribute to earn back their resurrection payments.

Unfortunately, all the non-Framework joined souls had already been consumed. Without some kind of deal made by the Divine, like was made for Drengrbjord–Ophelia’s home world–this would happen immediately after the world was lost.

In the end, earning the world meant that Highlands would gain some more Energy Rating. Merging the energy from this awarded world was likely the best option, though there was also the option of keeping it or merging the actual geography instead.

Hundreds of years from now, this world could recover and become something more substantial and perhaps more beneficial, but Jake really had to balance short and long-term gains. Pushing their world closer to the third Tier was paramount right now, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to merge Avalara with the dungeon’s leftovers in terms of merging the geography.

With the Battleground won, the family could finally relax. The Gate they fought the skirmish in had opened to the next floor, and was now ready to be explored.

Jake’s party had gained a fair amount of experience for the event. While they had started both battles at level 35, most of them had increased to level 36. It appeared they had gotten around half of a level from the sheer number of monsters and bosses their small but powerful party had killed, and then the bonus for winning both events was substantial as well. Fhesiah didn’t gain a whole lot, as she was already level 39 and killing lower level enemies than herself.

He understood what Hestia had mentioned. If the War Trial was full of special events like these, then the levels would come rapidly. It was far more important to have their skills and foundations at their best rather than just farming levels. He likened it to people being power leveled or buying powerful characters. Would it matter at all if someone was higher level, if they had no skill at using their spells and abilities, let alone knew how to develop themselves further?

“Our people have truly come far. With nothing more than my Aura and a light touch from us and my summons, defeating the two Champions and their army wasn’t out of their reach.”

Fhesiah said, “It’d have gotten messy without your Presence, but I think a single Champion wasn’t impossible for them. They really outclassed the enemy.”

Blood beamed with pride. “Yes, Hearthtribe is truly on another level. And while this was a good percentage of our elites, we do have some standouts that weren’t present. Timone and Dahlia’s Ravenwolves and our Warrior Brotherhood allies were not here. Once Nessa joins us, she has quite a few Nords and cultivators that excel too.”

Berri said, “That was kind of fun, I got to hit lots of baseballs! Are we going to head to the next floor to explore now?”

Ophelia looked at the gate. “The gate is calling me, but I do think it’s a good idea to make a quick…or perhaps not so quick, stop first.”

Of course, Blood knew what Ophelia was getting at. “Hm, but it hasn’t even quite been a day yet? Are you sure we don’t want to spend a little more time away, to ensure the kids don’t get unrealistic expectations for next time? We finished in a single day this time, but what about tomorrow, or the day after that? We are about to explore a brand-new floor this time, it could take us days to find the Safe Zone, if the floor is large.”

Tanda looked at Blood with puppy-girl eyes, her eyes glistening and somehow growing larger in her sight. Ophelia tried to copy this, but it just didn’t seem to have the same effect. Feeling the girl’s emotions, they all felt the same way. They wanted to go see their kids, while they had the chance. And if Berri could actually give Blood puppy-snake-girl eyes, she’d be giving them right now, too. Instead, she did it with her feelings.

Blood sighed. “I…wanna go see them too, of course, it’s just… If we baby them too much… it will be more painful for all of us when we’re gone for longer. This is for their sake as much as ours.”

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Fhesiah chuckled. “I think it’s fine. Our kids are smart enough to understand if we just tell them that. Only the treants are not quite at that place yet, and they are around their mommy at all times and sleeping the rest, so it’s fine.”

After making sure everything was fine at the Outpost and congratulating and thanking their people about their victory and their efforts, they created a portal home. Arriving in their portal room, they instantly swapped to their home clothes, and tracked where the rest of the family was through the Menu.

The kids were just getting ready for bed, but they were also building a large pillow fort in their nest area. It seemed they were all planning on sleeping even closer together than usual, and it definitely warmed Jake’s heart to see such wide smiles on their faces as they played and kept themselves busy.

Even more so as their smiles all widened even further, their heads snapping in their direction as their parents’ presences washed over them.

“It’s mommies and dad! They’re back!”

“Yay! Mommy!”

“Daddy!”

They all got mobbed and swarmed by their children, laughter filling the air. Aiko and her brother nuzzled Fhesiah and Jake, chirping all the while.

Clara said to Ophelia, “What happened, Mommy? You won already?”

Lia laughed. “You got it. We won, and we had to come see you all.”

Nora was hugging her mother Tanda, and both of their wings were fluttering. “We knew you’d be back fast! But we were a little down since you were all gone. It was Big Sis Rena’s idea to make the pillow fort.”

Rena and Nyxa looked proud, and Blood and Berri hugged and thanked them for watching their younger sisters so well while they were gone. The two were excellent big sisters, and that definitely deserved a reward.

The parents joined their kids in the pillow fort construction, making one that was truly epic with multiple floors, mixed in with furniture and mattresses. Then they had a little fun with some hide and seek through the cavernous fort, and an epic pillow fight. They slept together with their children, holding them in their arms and in a giant snake-bird-fox pile.