Chapter 191

Chapter 191

Matt stood at the front of the Fae army and watched as the Spring city walls were flooded with defenders.

Tens of thousands of Fae rushed to the citys defense, but most were privates and sergeants, which meant they might as well not even be there. What did catch Matts attention was the several well equipped Fae that could only be the lieutenants of Spring. Those would be much more stalwart opponents,, but ultimately, not a problem.

Thankfully he didn't see, or rather feel, anyone with the nascent Intent which would signify a general in their midst.

With their increased production, they had a massive advantage, and their attack came as a surprise to the Spring court.

Even with a week to prepare, they were caught flatfooted.

Oh, they had built defensive structures, and he could see what looked like ballistae, catapults, and even a few mana cannons lining the wall, but they were clearly rush jobs.

He assumed that the mana cannons were made by the delvers that were interspersed with the Fae on the walls.

They would be the true defenders of the city.

Each and every one of them would be strong and well-trained if they had reached Minkallas fourth floor this early in the cycle. Yes, this floor was a dam, but still, they were barely at the thirteenth-week mark for the current cycle.

A lot of teams would still be on the first or second floors, judging by historical data. Anyone already on the fourth floor so early on was guaranteed to be both strong and incredibly determined to delve as deep into Minkalla as possible.

Matt noticed the older faces and changed his opinion slightly.

He forgot to consider the old and desperate Tier 14s who had rushed to the fourth floor before anyone else, just to ensure that they would have enough Genesis Energy to create their Concept. They wouldnt have slowed down to try and collect anything in the previous floors, which meant they could progress much faster by comparison.

But he didnt make the mistake of considering any of his opponents as weak. Even if they were run of the mill Tier 14s, each of them would still have combat prowess to put them roughly on par with his team. They simply had the cultivation advantage to make up for their generally weaker combat abilities.

Even still, some of the old delvers amongst springs ranks could be monsters in their own right. With a thousand years of practice and training, even a coward could become quite the formidable opponent.

Things were moving along, but the advance was generally slow as the Winter Fae crept forward to surround the city, which left the delvers standing around.

Matt was amused that the self appointed leadership had gathered around him, where he was constantly casting [Hail] to create more ice elementals, which then immediately rushed the city walls.

Others might consider it a waste, but it wasnt like he was going to run out of mana anytime soon.

They mostly stood there in silence until the Fae general came up, and Bethany asked, So what do we call you? We cant just call you Fae General.

The Fae general gave her a blank look. I am the first of Winters generals, yet have done nothing. I have not yet earned a name.

Bethany looked to the others before offering, May we call you Primus then?

The general, or rather Primus, nodded silently.

Young Mistress Diamond Lotus hardly hesitated for the man to respond before she asked, What is your plan then, General Primus?

Primus looked at Matt and nodded. It is up to the Titled One. That is their purpose, and the Princess has already declined to give her input.

Matt smiled under his mask as all eight representatives looked at him with gazes that ranged from happy to angry.

Bradley and Tiffany, as representatives of his own Power and an ally respectively, looked pleased. But the Sects' representative, Young Mistress Diamond Lotus, looked like she just swallowed a bug, and her expression was actually more muted than the Federation representative Dexter, who spat on the ground before speaking.

I will not be following any plan he comes up with, and neither will my people. He had a self-righteous expression on his face as the Sects, and Republican representatives backed him up.

Matt shrugged one shoulder, acting nonchalant, but prepared to cast [Cracked Phantom Armor] at the slightest provocation.

If you dont want any of the Genesis Energy we're going to earn, that's more than fine with me. Just stay out of our way.

While they didnt say anything, Matt could see them all give up on their position as their rigid postures slipped.

William, the representative of the Corporations, played peacemaker. What is your plan? Have you ever led an army or, more practically, a siege?

Matt rolled his eyes at that. The question was anything but simple. William was fishing for information about who Matt was, and to see if anyone in his databases matched what he said.

So he ignored the comment and asked everyone, The plan is still to turn on Fall after this, right?

At the eight representatives nods, he cracked his neck. Then we cant have this siege take long. Matt repeated himself as he thought out loud. We need to take the city quickly. General Primus, how long will it take your men to surround the city?

The Fae didnt even blink as he answered, Two hours for a rudimentary fortification. A day and a half for something more defensible.

Matt looked to the representatives, who all saw the immediate problem. That was going to take far, far too long.

Hearing that, Matt had a better understanding of why this floor usually took so long to have a decisive victor.

The delvers wouldnt be so willing to throw their lives into the breaches, and would let the Fae do the heavy lifting.

It was the safe option, but not the right play in this situation.

Matt looked back to the eight. I suggest we start bombarding the walls in two hours when the first defensive line is up. Let's also get the crafters to start work on our own cannons.

He was about to say something else when a star came thundering down onto them.

***

Ronald stood with the other delvers and watched in horror as the army of Winter stood outside their gates.

It had been less than a month inside this floor, and they were already on the offensive.

That would have normally indicated that they were both bold and blind to the greater situation, but all of them could feel the monster standing outside their gates.

The whispers of the Fae around them told them the nature of the monstrous pressure standing outside the gates, spewing out ice elementals like a broken sink.

A General.

How Winter created a general, they had no idea, but everyone agreed that they needed to kill it immediately.

Thankfully, they had the perfect answer.

Tobias wasnt on any of the Path of Ascensions equivalents, but the Monster Collective man was a mage of noted renown despite that.

His signature attack was summoning a handful of plasma and throwing it at someone, like a souped-up [Fireball].

It was a cracked skill, not that anyone knew which skill it had originally been. But that hardly mattered. It was incredibly dangerous, even if it came with a multi-day cooldown.

They had intended to save the man as a surprise to take down one of the other cities, but now, they needed to kill the general no matter the cost.

His nascent Intent was like a wet blanket covering their mouths, slowly smothering them.

As Tobias charged up his attack, Ronald was forced to cover his face with a hand, as closing his eyes wasnt enough to block out the piercing light.

The attack flew out, and Ronald watched its flight with his spiritual sense.

Tobias' aim was true, and as the general stood there unmoving, Ronalds hopes grew.

As the attack landed, he clenched his fist in celebration, but it was too soon.

The Winter general raised his hand, and an enormous icy barrier appeared to completely bock the attack. Even as the plasma lingered on the shield like glue, it didnt seem to melt the shield at all.

As Tobias dropped to the ground, panting, everyone else looked on in horror as the scorched ground was slowly covered in snow and more ice elementals started to spawn.

They were so screwed.

***

Matt cursed as the fire spell burnt along his shielding. He had been forced to use two [Mana Barrier] talismans to block enough of the initial attack for [Bulwark] to survive it.

He would have rather run, like the other representatives had, but Primus had stayed right where he had been standing the whole time, which forced Matts hand. He could only hope that the representatives running had put enough distance between them that they didnt feel him pull out and use his talismans. While that didnt instantly reveal that he was Quill, he hadnt decided if he wanted to draw attention to his real identity quite yet.

That first attack provoked an immediate reaction from their side, and spell after spell lashed out.

Unlike the last time he was in a siege, even the basic [Fireball]s covered the mile plus distance between the attackers and the defenders walls.

But that was where the differences ended.

Waves of spells lanced out, immediately turning the ground between the factions into a cratered wasteland. The value in prepared defenses immediately showed itself, as the Winter delvers often had to hide behind their Fae when the hastily built barricades were breached.

On the other hand, Springs walls held firm, though a few particularly strong spells managed to leave marks on the weathered stone. When anyone attempted to aim above the walls and hit the people in the city, Matt saw flashes of mana as a formation unwove the spells mid-flight, and physical projectiles were sniped out of the air at a terrifying speed or the attacks were just blocked by a city wide shield.

Matt had expected that, but it was still annoying, as it meant they would have to drain or break through the defensive formations.

Unlike when he was Tier 6, he had a much better understanding of formations, enchanting, and using both sciences to build fortifications.

If this was a simple city, they might have a small reserve of mana stones to feed the enchantments, or a rechargeable mana battery that they could draw on if the city was expected to handle a siege.

Aster, who had taken to the Winter boons, appeared out of the ever growing snow banks and attacked the woman.

She tried to get away using the same spell or Talent she had used to appear, but Susannes [Wind Cutter] was faster, and took her head off.

Liz brought a blue stream of blood down on the back of their attackers. [Disguise Blood] made blood skills harder to control, and effectively limited the amount of blood she could use at any one time, but did allow her to change it from a deep red to a light blue. It obviously wasnt normal water, which would have been clear, but it kept people from figuring out that she was using blood with just a casual glance.

Matt threw himself forward as Aster yipped repeatedly.

At first, it appeared as if it was coming from a different direction every time, but with each yip, the sound seemed to distort and change in both direction and pitch, causing confusion amongst the defenders.

At the same time as they started to lose themselves, Aster ran around and started casting [Ice Spear] at the people most affected.

As the Princess of Frozen Stars, Asters ice had not only gotten much colder from her boon, but she had also gotten a healthy dose of illusion magic at her disposal. It wasnt all-powerful of course, and anyone with a strong enough spirit or strong Concept could resist it.

But those were the ones who Matt focused on.

Matts halberd carried with it some of the strongest armor penetration hed ever seen, strong enough to break [Cracked Phantom Armor] with a tap, but that didnt help him against someone who dodged it. His current opponent was surprisingly nimble for one in such restrictive-looking robes, but then again, hed never understand Sect fashion.

Still, the man made the mistake of trying to grab the halberd, and Matt was happy to give the man a lesson as to why that was a bad idea. A pulse of mana activated the weapons second enchantment, and pitch-dark flames black enough to look two-dimensional quickly spread across the weapons head, along with the mans body.

Even before the void-infused flames could finish immolating the first man, Matt felt a line of fire pierce his chest and come out the other side. Reactivating [Cracked Phantom Armor] and [Flamethrower], he trapped the rapier that was inside him and twisted, disarming his attacker and sending a torrent of mundane flames at the responsible party.

The man dropped his weapon and rolled out of the initial wave of fire, but Matt used [Fire Manipulation] to redirect the stream of energy at the man.

His screams were little comfort as Matt pulled the weapon out his chest. It had only hit a lung, but that was still a dangerous wound in the middle of a fight.

His breaths were coming in short, but he flared [Lesser Regeneration], allowing the wound to begin repairing itself.

Still, he was in the middle of a large scale battle, and was hardly able to give the wounds the true attention they deserved.

He dodged a hail of fist-sized rocks, but took an arrow in the head, with the projectile bouncing off his reinforced [Cracked Phantom Armor].

Flaring his Concept internally, Matt threw his AI at the question of where the archer was.

It went through all the information that his overloaded spiritual sense was taking in, and parsed it into nice and readable bits of information.

As it worked on that, Matt cast a rapid series of [Fireball]s at the man who was charging Aster while she finished the last of the weaker cultivators.

Some surrendered and crawled out of the direct fighting, so they were ignored by both sides.

The human cultivators had already come to an agreement to allow anyone to surrender and keep their lives.

Having garnered the man's attention, Matt watched out for the mage archer as he marveled at fighting someone who didnt have a working AI with a working one of his own.

Normally, the AIs countered each other, but with Minkallas interference, that wasnt the case.

His AI was able to judge and counter each and every one of the man's moves, as it didnt have to second guess what his enemys AI would be telling him to do.

In three moves, Matt blocked the sword thrust, flared his gravity gauntlets, and then drove a spiked fist into and through his opponents armored chest as he was pulled into the blow.

In the meantime, the archer decided to go after Susanne, who sensed the incoming arrow and sliced the projectile in half, even as she tried to make it past the guard of a glaive-wielder.

Fortunately, that loosed arrow was more than enough for Matt to locate the archer.

Throwing himself onto the roofs, Matt broke stone tiles as he pushed off the building and landed on another four houses away.

A cloak dropping into an alley was all that Matt saw of their attacker as he jumped once again.

This time, the roof wasnt strong enough to take his weight and it crumbled, cutting most of his power and giving the archer time to get away.

Dropping his spells, Matt threw most of his mana into his AI to try and figure out where the archer would have gone, but in the end, there were too many possibilities, and he didnt have time to play hide and seek with a rogue.

He simply sent a message to Bradley's wife, Jill. The woman was an archer rogue in her own right, and was very, very good at what she did. Rogues were best fought by other rogues, after all, and marking her general location was more than enough for the other half of their team to start their hunt.

Knowing that the woman would soon be too busy to pester his team, Matt threw himself back into the fight.

His AI was telling him that another group of Spring cultivators had joined their brethren against his team.

***

Susanne cut down and sidestepped the [Mana Bolt] flying at her face, using her second copy of her manifestation to block a thrust that was aimed at her back.

Spinning, she flexed her Concept to twist space and extended her blade out a little further than normal, feeling it impact metal and then cut through both armor and flesh.

A spray of red covered the snow spattered streets, only to be trampled by the combatants shuffling feet.

Aster sent a blast of cold, slowing the Spring defenders, and Susanne took advantage of the opening it gave her.

Using [Dash], she slipped through the encirclement she had been forced into and started cutting as she focused her Concept inside her.

Power flooded her body for three seconds, but that was more than enough time for a half dozen critical strikes with her two blades.

She only aimed to kill one man who had already tried to backstab Liz, and instead went for debilitating blows for everyone else.

Favor and Genesis Energy rushed into her from the man who she took in the chest. Even a cultivator couldn't survive without a heart. At least not before Tier 15.

The others all lost a limb, or in one woman's case, two. She would live though. Probably.

Part of their attack was to take as many people alive as possible.

Someone in the Sects had had the idea, and once voiced, it had spread.

Killing the enemies only netted them half the Genesis Energy they had if they were taken alive, and the winners could, on pain of death, force the loser to give up all of their Genesis Energy. Thanks to the pressure gauge rings Minkalla gave out, sparing their enemies lives was the more prudent thing to do.

The idea had even been shouted to and agreed upon by the defenders of Spring.

It was, at least in theory, a way to keep deaths down, but only time would tell if anyone actually kept their word.

Susanne knew that her side had, at least officially, decided to honor the agreement. Not because they were nice, but because it would allow them to avoid desperate enemies fighting to the death if surrender was an option.

Their advantage would only last as long as they were able to quickly push the enemies, and opposing delvers surrendering and living through the ordeal would ensure that they got to advance faster.

Besides, if those who surrendered broke free after they left, who cared? It was a good thing, in some ways. If they retook one of their cities, they would close the gate behind the first wave of people.

As she finished off the final remaining woman, Liz did the same with her [Disguised Blood], while Matt finished braining two mages who had tried to run.

They were about to move on when a message came through their AI, Enemy broke through our lines in the east.

Susanne cursed.

Their prey was getting away.

She was going to run over there, but Aster yipped out, There is enough winter. Get close to me.

Trusting her teammate, Susanne moved to the foxs side and watched as the snow around them started to rush into their group before encasing them in a snowstorm.

It passed just seconds later, but they were outside the city, and she saw what had happened with her own eyes.

At least half a million cultivators had rushed out the east gate, and were in the process of overrunning the defensive lines the Winter Fae had created.

The Fae were fighting valiantly to hold the line, but with that many cultivators who could fight up at least one Tier, they didnt last a heartbeat.

That was, except for the general.

Primus rushed the flank of the mass like a shark sensing blood.

His short sword cut three dozen cultivators in half with the first mundane swing, and his shield exploded another two who tried to attack his offside.

Susanne and the others ran forward, but Aster was clearly exhausted from her transportation, and got in Matts backpack.

With her off the ground, they sped up and cut into the side of the fleeing mass.

Susanne was attacking as much as she could, but before she could get more than a few limbs added to her harvest, she saw Liz explode in a flood of blue blood.

In seconds, she had hundreds of cultivators trapped and was gathering more by the second.

Still, it was a drop in the bucket, with at least half the Spring cultivators fleeing into the forest, after escaping through the gap they created.

Reports of more cultivators escaping through other exits, as well as the wall breaches created during their assault on the city, caused Susanne to curse slightly at the lost Genesis Energy. But seeing the struggling mass of people that Liz brought forward, she smiled.

Their harvest wasn't bad.

Not bad at all.