Chapter 36: A complicated battlefield

Chapter 36: A complicated battlefield

Nathan scanned the area. They were to the side of a tall outcrop of pale reddish rock that crowned the hill, with the view down the slope blocked by a fold in the rocky landscape. He talked through the premise for his idea. The constructs are in eight groups, doing a search of the place where we fought the group of scouts. If we stay here then theyll find us in the next half hour.

He waved his hand dismissively. It doesnt really matter if they attack immediately or pull back, as long as we can hold against that smaller group. What happens after is that the rest of the groups reform and hit us at once. They might hit us sequentially, but that would be awful tactics and might let us defeat them in detail.

The Heirs were nodding. Everything hed said made sense, and so Nathan continued. So theyre going to attack us here, in this terrain, most likely in one overwhelming wave. And we need to survive and kill as many as we can.

This time the round of nods were slower, less confident. Stella gestured impatiently for him to get on with it.

So he did, with a smirk. We can still run, and maybe we should. But we might be able to take them all out here, if Stella can figure out a specific insight of Lightning I have for her, and we can protect her until the primary attack arrives. What do we say?

Stella started dancing in place, the picture of excitement. Yes! Lets do it.

Khachi looked around, considering. By the teachings of Jolba, we should flee. We have killed the problem and bought its respite.

Aarl and Sarah shot each other a series of complex looks. Aarl was the one to speak. If this works, then well level from it, and be better able to survive against the next Giantsrest ambush. Or the next dungeon. And well save whatever Adventurers might die against that swarm. He directed his attention to Nathan, Will it work?

"We have a little bit of space. If this doesnt pan out, there will still be time to run or hide."

Stella continued to prance a bit. Khachi, stop smothering my fire.

The [Divine Justicar] shook his canine head. Kia said that we would burn our own path. I just hoped it would be a wiser one. But now weve managed to drip blood in the eyes of an Old Gemore construct army, and intend to fight it. He sighed, resigned. Speak your aim, Nathan.

With Khachis agreement, Nathan hurriedly spun to Stella, reviewing the concept he meant to teach her. When you first learned about electricity, you used force shields to contain and conduct the mana. Ive seen you playing around with the interaction between lightning and force. How well do you understand that?

Stellas grin didnt waver. Lightning mana cant go through a force shield. It will follow it though, if I set the other potential on the other side, then the electricity will flow along the surface. Ive been wondering if I can make force-blades that carry a lightning charge. But the edge is slippery, the voltage gets lost there. Ive been working on that with magnetic mana, but it doesnt work well with a moving force construct.

Nodding, Nathan thought about that. Great. What limits the size of spell you can cast is how quickly you can channel mana, right? The thing preventing you from destroying that entire army with lightning is that you cant cast quickly enough? Youve got an absolutely stupid amount of mana with all of the crystals from the last Dungeon.

Stellas brows knit, trying to follow where he was going. I can only channel enough mana for a lightning bolt every few seconds, and it takes even longer if Im also casting shields to protect us from the constructs spells. If were fighting a ton of constructs then Im going to need to focus primarily on defense. Then the mage smiled with satisfaction. But yes, my mana supply is blasphemous.

So if you channel all of the mana out ahead of time, its ready to go?

Stella shook her head. I cant control it for long. None of my spells are that stable. A spell thats meant to explode gets harder and harder to control as you put more mana into it.

But what if its a spell designed to be stable, so the mana is external but ready to be repurposed? Nathan wasnt quite in full socratic dialogue mode, because he genuinely didnt know if his idea would pan out yet.

She cant spend a lot of time practicing, not for what I have in mind.

Her response was a bit disappointed. You cant really change the spell weave once you cast it. You should know that - weve talked enough about magic. I suppose if its raw power it can be guided by another spell, but I cant put the stored mana into a complex spell. It would be crude, a waste of power.

Nathan nodded. I think crude targeting is ok, so long as you can protect the Heirs. What I want to explain is something called a capacitor - I think it will let you store a ton of electricity mana, ready to be unleashed. And force mana seems like the perfect way to store it.

The red haired mages eyes darted around as she raced ahead of his line of thought. Youre saying that I can channel lightning mana into a stationary force-shield, then use it later. It might work, but Id need a huge shield. I cant cast force too far away from me yet. It would leak a lot around the edges - so Id need to spend a lot of focus holding it together. Is that all a capacitor is?

Shaking his head, Nathan explained in greater detail. Not quite. You understand you have two areas of charge, and theres a potential across the shield, and that potential is where you store the energy of the mana.

Nathan could tell that Stella was understanding what he was saying. How strong the force is will let you store a more powerful charge before the force shield breaks. But how big it is will let you store more charge. You can maximize the area and minimize the exposed edges by making it a big loop - if you fuse the ends together then you only need to worry about two edges instead of four. Then if you curl it into a big spiral you can pack all of the edges together and all of your exposed edges will be in a smaller area.

Stellas eyes were literally blazing with excitement. Could I make it a sphere, so there are no exposed edges? And if surface area is what determines how much charge can be stored, then I can make it convoluted, give it lots of deep indents to help it store electricity mana!

Mid-tier Lecturing 8 achieved!

Nathan shrugged. You know, I had something closer to a giant cylinder in mind, but an indented sphere would probably work so long as you can get the mana out at the end. Make it as big as you can, so you can unleash it when you need to. Or make multiple, I dont know. You dont have too much time.

He looked around at the terrain. And make it on the otherside of the outcrops - we dont want the constructs to be able to see these things before we use them. Theyll probably attack them if nothing else, and I dont think these lightning-storage-balls will survive very many attacks. All it would take is a single crack for them to explode.

Stella didnt respond, already starting to focus on her magic.

Nathan turned back to the rest of the Heirs. Hed been vaguely assuming theyd be paying attention, but instead there was a low argument going on between Aarl and Sarah. Aarl had pulled out the armor from the Edrani Empire dungeon, laying the metallic robe on the ground.

Nathan caught Aarl slashing his hand. ... need this. Cant always use Stella or Khachi for a shield against magic, and this armor will be able to protect me from what those constructs aim my way.

Sarahs response was just as furious. Or it could kill you. Nathan couldnt tell if it had a curse on it. Our father was clear. You do not use items you dont know.

Aarl gestured at Nathan, then at Khachi, who was watching with concern. But he didnt have these allies. If it is cursed, then Nathan can break the magic before it kills me. And Khachi can heal any wounds. I need this to fight properly. Im supposed to let the enemy break upon me. I cant do that if I need to be behind the shields to fight. And Stella wont be able to shield us this time, shes busy with Nathans surprise.

Sarah looked over to Nathan. Convince him this is a bad idea.

Im actually not sure it is. Its risky, but not that terrible of a risk. And having Aarl able to take a hit - hes much better at this kind of upcoming combat than I am.

Nathan shook his head. I dont think it is cursed. And with me and Khachi here, its less risky than it could be. Im just worried we wont be able to test how good the armor is.

Aarls face didnt lighten - if anything, he looked even more serious than before. Ok. Im doing this. Nathan, Ill tell you all is well every few seconds. If I stop, then get this armor off me.

From his new vantage, Nathan understood why hed been thrown into the air as a dozen strike constructs aimed up at him. He would have been a clay pigeon without [Slow Fall] to jerk himself downwards and out of the path of the first few spikes that flew his way.

Aarl cleaved through two of the larger constructs while they were distracted, but the next few seconds were still a blur of motion as Nathan spent stamina like water to avoid the cascade of metal projectiles fired his way. He jerked himself down again and then held himself in place, before pulling himself diagonally sideways. The scout constructs were also sending volleys of magic his way, and Nathan tried to steer into those, to replenish his Stamina.

Stamina: 2559/3030

Which is still absurdly high.

High-tier Slow Fall 8 achieved!

High-tier Dodging Footwork 3 achieved!

Not a lot of footwork involved there, but definitely some dodging.

Then Nathan was close enough to the ground he could accelerate freely downwards, slamming into one of the armored constructs with Davrar-enhanced momentum. Nathans bones cracked, despite being boosted by skill, rage and Talent. The construct was slammed to the ground below, but the armor held frustratingly firm.

Its three inches of enchanted steel. I'm not strong enough to bash through that. Yet.

Even if the construct's body was in one piece, Nathans attack had clearly broken several of the enchantments that animated it. The war machine staggered drunkenly to its feet before a bullet penetrated the weakened top casing.

Nathan looked around at the surviving constructs, baring his teeth as he surveyed their reduced numbers.

Were winning this. I just hope Khachi and Stella are doing ok. Im a little busy here!

Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Magic Absorption 9

Permanent Talent 2: Perfected Body 3

Talent 3: High-tier Slow Fall 8

Class: Implacable Antimage level 91

Stamina: 2934/3030

Antimages Impassivity

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Implacable Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Improved Antimagic

Strenuous Agility

Hand-to-hand Expertise

Utility skills:

Battle Meditation 3

High-tier Earnestness 8

Mid-tier Sprinting 10

High-tier Spellsense 8

High-tier Notice 3

High-tier Identify 3

High-tier Dodging Footwork 3

High-tier Enhanced Memory 7

Mid-tier Lecturing 8

Mid-tier Tumbling 10