Chapter 252: War of Adaptation

The enemy force only had a few cultists, being mostly made up of constructs and the converted. The hadn’t even engaged Jason’s team before being thrown into confusion as Belinda used her Unexpected Allies spell. The team were masked in illusions that made them appear as members of the enemy force. Illusionary doubles of their true form appeared as allies and enemies alike were switch-teleported around the area by Belinda’s spell.

The enemy constructs were unthinking automatons and the converted former clergy weren’t much better. Neither handled the confusing shift in the battlefield well. When the team attacked them under the disguise of illusion, they retaliated against what appeared to be members of their own force.

The illusionary disguises weren’t very good and most of the team was easy to pick out. Humphrey, for example, had taken the form of one of the blank-faced converted, but was still wielding his huge dragon sword. The mindless enemy, however, was easily deceived. Once they though their own forces were attacking them, things got very messy, very fast.

The cultists commanding the forces worked to get things back under control as their forces started fighting one another. It helped that the illusions did not last long and their enemies once again became clear. Jason and his team had used that window of confusion to maximum effect.

The team was well-practised in handling the chaos of Belinda’s power and had used the moment of confusion to set themselves up for the fight against an enemy in disarray. The priority was getting the team’s backline out of harm’s way, Sophie and Humphrey immediately moving to clear paths for Clive and Neil to escape the fray. Belinda activated her Counterfeit Champion power, equipped some hefty equipment and started extracting herself.

After the random switch-teleport by Belinda, Jason had found himself in the midst of constructs. They ranged from larger than him to much larger than him, in a myriad of monstrous forms. Rather than wasting the precious moments of enemy confusion looking for more fleshy opponents, he drew his sword and put his recent training into practise. Shade’s bodies spread out between them, giving Jason plenty of flexibility for shadow teleports and he made the most of them. He moved amongst the constructs like a ghost, his sword dancing to make rapid-fire hits in staccato rhythm.

With the aid of Sophie and Humphrey, Clive and Neil extricated themselves from the scrum, heading for the reliable presence of Onslow, who had been unconvincingly disguised as one of the larger constructs. Neil’s Burst Shield proved especially effective in getting them clear.

Ability: [Burst Shield] (Shield)

Special ability (healing, recovery)Cost: Moderate mana.Cooldown: 20 seconds.Current rank: Bronze 3 (87%).Effect (Iron): Create a short-lived shield that negates an incoming attack and explodes out, knocking-back nearby enemies and inflicting concussive damage. High-damage attacks of silver-rank or higher may not be entirely negated.Effect (Bronze): Inflicts [Vibrant Echo] on anyone damaged by the blast.

[Vibrant Echo] (affliction, damage-over-time, magic): Inflicts ongoing resonating-force damage.

The enemy started getting back into order, the converted pooling into one group and the constructs into another, with the few ordinary cultists at the back. Sophie moved against the concentration of converted, the blank-faced former clergy all fighting back in eerily identical manner. They had the same strength, the same speed, the same technique, all used in the same way. They fought with the same, emotionless expression.

The converted were fast and skilled, moving in a manner that was rigid, yet swift and efficient. They didn’t have weapons but their bones were hard as steel, their knuckles, knees and elbows making effective bludgeons. They used those weapons startlingly well for clergy, all fighting with the same expertise and identical technique.

The converted had the technique of a someone who had learned it from a skill book without ever attempting to make those techniques their own. The skill was undoubtedly present but they fought without creativity or initiative. They were slaves to the patterns, with neither innovation nor imagination on display. It did not take long for Sophie to see through the patterns and start exploiting them.

If they weren’t up against Sophie, the efficient, robotic movements of the converted might have seemed like a precision machine. Instead, they came across as the crude prototype of her finished product. Even compared to their programmed, uniform efficiency, Sophie was faster, cleaner and even more economical of motion. Every motion was smooth, not so much as a gesture wasted as every action flowed into the next. She danced through her opponents as if the whole fight had been choreographed but she was the only one who knew.

Sophie moved swiftly, holding the attention of as many of the converted as she could while they attempted to overrun her. What they lacked in imagination they made for in sheer numbers. Their fortitude, and regenerative power meant that she couldn’t take any of them out completely, forced to perpetually hold them off as they kept coming in a relentless tide.

Even with her skill, Sophie could not have handled the numbers without support. Clive and Neil threw spells on her, with Neil’s Burst Shield spell regularly clearing space and buying her critical breathing room.

Having seen Neil and Clive regroup at the rear and join up with Belinda, Humphrey went for the cultists commanding the force. There were only three bronze-rankers, mediocre cultists that were no match for Humphrey even three on one. They were sent staggering by his fire breath before quickly falling to his sword.

Ability: [Fire Breath] (Dragon)

Special attackCost: Very high mana.Cooldown: 50 seconds.Current rank: Bronze 3 (65%).Effect (Iron): Breath a stream of fire that last several seconds.Effect (Bronze): Anyone damaged by the flames suffers ongoing fire damage.

Frowning at the suspicious ease with which they were taken down, he surveyed the battlefield, looking for what he was missing. He spotted a number of strange glass eyes, held off the ground on spider legs, watching the fight. When he went after them, they skittered away before he could close the distance. In the jungle confines, there was plenty of space to hide, and though he could sense their magic, he didn’t have time to go digging them out.

“Humphrey,” Jason said through voice chat. “I could use an assist.”

Jason was oddly thriving amongst the constructs. They were large and tough, hulking stone forms in the shape of various, strange monsters. The constructs were milling about like a bunch of people trying to stomp out a scurrying bug, but their intimidating and bulky forms didn’t help them pin down the shadowy figure flittering in their midst. Jason was ever on the move, his sword ringing out on the stone in a rat-a-tat pattern. His sword had built up enough power that chunks of stone were flying off with every strike.

Although Jason’s efforts were going well, that did not make them easy. The biggest problem was the lone silver-rank construct amongst the otherwise bronze-ranker group. It was faster than the others and tough enough that Jason’s sword was yet to pick up enough power to damage it effectively. Unlike Jason himself, his sword did not have the ability to overcome silver-rank resistances.

Although no smarter than the others, it remained a constant threat that Jason had to continuously work around. If he had been fighting it alone he could have handled it, but on top of the others it was pressuring his ability to remain evasive.

The intercession of Humphrey changed that significantly. Like taking a sledgehammer to a condemned building, he laid into it with workmanlike special attacks, breaking it apart in huge chunks.

“You want to go help Sophie and leave this lot to me?” Humphrey asked as the silver-rank construct collapsed.

“I could use the practise,” Jason said. “You go.”

In the midst of the converted, Sophie was ramping up. They had been slowly overwhelming her from the beginning, their numbers and near-indestructibility made it like trying to fight back the tide. Even Sophie’s skill was not enough to go unscathed against so many attackers, but she was realising that taking a few hits was not so bad, as long as she wasn’t staggered and pinned-down. With every hit, her Karmic Warrior ability increased her power, allowing her to hold up all the better.

Humphrey joined in but even his destructive power was hard-pressed to take down the converted. Their flesh wasn’t as tough as the stone constructs, but their bones were harder than metal. It turned out, as Humphrey started tearing them apart with special, that metal was indeed laced through their skeletons in thick wires. Worse, those wires could even snake out to reconnect, pulling dismembered body parts back together as their rapid healing knitted the flesh back into place.

The converted only presented a limited danger individually, but they were too dangerous to ignore and their ability to rapidly recover from what should have been catastrophically lethal injury meant that they just kept coming. Only by entirely pulverising the bulk of their bodies with his special attacks could even Humphrey put an end to them, but he had special attacks to spare.

Without the cultists guiding them, the team entered a mop-up phase as they cleared the battlefield.

“I wouldn’t call this easy, exactly,” Jason said, once they were done, “but did anyone find this suspiciously lacking in challenge?”

“I believe the purpose is to test us,” Shade said. “Rather than any of his more capable people, this group was accompanied by the Builder’s observer constructs.”

“You mean those spider eye things?” Humphrey asked. “I spotted those but couldn’t catch any of them.”

“These things?” Sophie asked, holding one up by the leg. “They seem harmless, so they’re probably just for watching us.”

The main body was an, oversized, crystal eye, around half the size of a fist. Legs came out from the sides like those of a spider, made of a smoky quartz stone. Jason moved closer, peering into it.

“You in there, mate?” Jason asked. “You and I weren’t exactly being honest with one another, the last time we met. You were stalling to try and find me; I was baiting your henchpeople into a trap. I’m not saying I won, but you’re down a silver-ranker and I’m up a nice personal grooming set he had on him. Keeps the beard nice and trim, you know.”

“Jason, what are you doing?” Sophie asked.

“I’m talking to my mate Bill,” Jason said. “Just keep holding up the thing. Sorry about that, Bill. That’s the problem when you lease your slaves. The moment the lease runs out, they get all mouthy.”

“Hey!”

“Shush, you. Anyway, Bill, I’m not completely on board with this whole ‘probing attacks’ scenario. I’ve made a career out of taking on the kind of self-destructive idiots whose bad choices are more of a danger to themselves than I ever was. That’s the kind of enemy that’s in my wheelhouse, so if you could go ahead and make a rash decision that sows the seeds of your own downfall, that’d really help me out.”

“Jason…” Humphrey said.

“Sorry, Bill; they’re playing me off. Got to go, but you keep an eye out. Rumour is that there’s some lunatic super-god running around causing trouble. I’ve heard he’s kind of a prick.”

Sophie shook her head, then swung the observer drone into the ground, shattering the crystal eye.

“Can’t have them following us around,” she said. “We need to catch and destroy them all before we can make ourselves scarce.”

Around half of the Builder’s combat forces had been led in an excursion outside walled fortress. The remainder staying behind with the support personnel. Leading the excursion was the Builder himself, along with Timos and Zato.

Zato looked on with concern as the Builder suddenly stopped. The vessel’s face never showed emotion, so he was startled to see a very human expression of anger cross it.

“Lord Builder?”

“Notebook,” the Builder demanded and Zato took one from his dimensional satchel. The Builder ran a finger over the pages, which stained themselves with text as he did. After filling most of the book, he handed it to Timos.

“Once we return to the fort, have the ritualists create new constructs with these parameters,” the Builder said. “It will be more difficult, but it is hardly a taxing task. There are also changes listed that can be made to the existing constructs. Not as effective as those purpose-built, but an improvement, nonetheless.”

“Of course, Lord Builder. I hesitate to mention it, but the ritualists have pointed out to me in the past that the supply of clockwork cores is almost exhausted.”

“If they wish to complain about my allocation of resources, tell them that they may seek me out directly,” the Builder said.

“I believe that will settle the matter definitely, Lord Builder.”

“Adaptations for the Rejector’s team?” Zato asked.

“Yes,” the Builder said. “Even having some sense of their capabilities, they made surprisingly short work of our forces. They have weaknesses, however, that are ripe for exploitation.”

“They will inevitably give us the chance,” Zato said.

“Yes,” the Builder said. “For the moment, we put them aside. They are a distraction from our true objective.”

The excursion moved to the very centre of the city, not far from the walls of their fort. Circumstances had forced them into erecting the wall on the spot that had arrived, otherwise the Builder would have already led them to the city’s true heart. The crater that had once been the site of the Order of the Reaper’s tower left the Builder unfazed.

“The time has come,” the Builder said, “for the Rejector to see just who he has challenged and to whom this place truly belongs.”

The Builder held out his arms, making a rising gesture. The ground beneath tier feet stated to shake.

“Why would the Builder just throw people away like that?” Neil asked.

The team were back in the cloud house, discussing the fight they just had.

“Because we beat Hendren,” Humphrey said. “He’s assessing us. Looking for weaknesses. He presumably has some means of making his forces stronger. Probably through the constructs, since they can make those.”

“The converted will adapt as well,” Shade said.

“The converted?” Sophie asked. “You mean those weird people with the blank faces that refused to die?”

“Yes,” Shade said. “They are one of the Builder’s signatures.”

“They’re an atrocity,” Clive said. “I could see the magic running through them. Magic carved right onto their bones.”

“I’ve heard of that,” Jason said. “Isn’t that how they permanently suppress someone’s powers? Turn their own skeleton into a suppression collar?”

“Yes,” Clive said. “A practise I don’t particularly approve of, and this is the same thing on a much deeper and more comprehensive scale. There’s nothing of the original person left. They’re just a platform foe the Builder’s power and will.”

“An excellent description,” Shade said. “Those we encountered today were fresh. Over time, they will change, adapt new abilities.”

“Abilities tailored to fight us,” Neil said.

“Yes,” Shade said. “Normally they adapt somewhat randomly, but with the Builder’s vessel present to guide the changes, you can expect them to better equipped to fight us the next time.”

“It was hard enough this time,” Sophie said. “Those things will get stronger?”

“We’ve seen enemies that adapt before,” Humphrey said. “We killed those flesh abominations by the hundreds, in spite of their adaptations. If the Builder wants to adjust to us, we adjust faster. That’s our strength and we’re going to show him that in a war of adaptation, we’re going to win.”

“Easy enough to say,” Neil said.

“We start by picking our roles. Jason did a surprisingly good job against the constructs but they are only going to get stronger.”

“Surprisingly?” Jason asked, his voice filled with exaggerated affront.

“I’m well-suited to the constructs,” Humphrey continued, “so that will be my job. Those converted are tough and heal fast, like the flesh abominations. So, as with the flesh abominations, Jason will be our trump card there. I’m willing to bet they can’t out-heal your afflictions. Sophie will do what she does best, which is judging where she needs to be in the moment and being there.”

“That’s going to be the key,” Jason said. “Even if the Builder can reconfigure his constructs between fights and evolve his creepy thugs, we can adapt in moments.”

“Exactly right,” Humphrey said. “Belinda, you’re our most versatile player, so we’re going to rely on you. Clive, you’re in charge of taking out the big threats, or at least hitting them hard enough to take pause. Neil, you’ll do what you always do. Keep us alive.”

Humphrey looked around the room.

“We’ve been tested, again and again in this place. Every time, we’ve grown stronger. The Builder might think this place belongs to him, but it belongs to us. This is our crucible and it has given us the strength to beat him. We can handle anything he can throw at us, whatever that might be.”

Just as he finished speaking, the ground started to shake violently enough that they could feel it through the soft cushioning of the cloud house.