Chapter 261: Day 537 – War Of Attrition

Chapter 261: Day 537 – War Of Attrition

I was standing at the outer wall near the rubble of the East gate. There had been talk about sending out teams to engage in hit and run, but with the Ritualist’s command and control ability, it was viewed as a death sentence if people didn’t have the Body or a skill to run away. That just left me.

Naran, I could really use your help here, I thought as the City Shield disappeared. Color rushed back into my vision. The horde of monsters and the super worm stirred. I began to stretch as I watched the approaching horde. I had an Air Burst already saved up and was topped off on energy. I noted the number of flying hybrids had greatly decreased.

Looking at the super worm, I considered how I would kill the monster. I saw rough brown scales where the previous ones had been destroyed. A possible weak spot, but one not easily targeted without getting in close. The last time the Ritualist was distracted from the Astrologer’s attack. Now I would be the Ritualist’s focus of attention.

Acid Shot. The super worm was in front, but I aimed high and above it as it approached the pile of rubble. A beam of energy lanced out and sniped my attack. That was impressive. More energy beams shot upwards forcing me back from the edge of the wall.

The super worm cleared the pile of rubble that used to be the East gate and began moving forward. The horde of hybrids crested as well. Radiant Beams began to lance down the road. While their range was quite long, they were impossible to aim after a quarter to half a mile. But a clearly defined street with hybrids on a mound of rubble at the end. Well that was a shooting range.

After two Radiant Beams the super worm rose up and intercepted the next attack. They then shut off. I still hadn’t spotted the Ritualist’s box. He was hiding somewhere annoying most likely. I went over to the middle part of the wall with the rubble and hybrids below me.

Acid Shot x10. I got about 15 hybrids if I had to guess and wounded another 7 to 10 more. I quickly retreated as the hybrids with beam attacks were forced to spread out to target me, but it wasn’t simple or easy. Acid Shot x3.

Nice try with the flying monsters, but they were useless. I could fight at the level of a low level 4 if I had to guess. That meant the Ritualist only had three options to get me. The first was overwhelming numbers, which would not be possible with my mobility and being on top of the wall. Even if he circled around, I could easily retreat into the city with Air Burst and his monsters wouldn’t be able to keep up.

His second option was his super worm. But it was land bound and the city’s unique terrain offered a lot of elevation for me to maneuver around with. The last option was the Ritualist himself, but that would be a huge risk on his part, even he was using level 4 crystals. It would be his last resort.

All this meant, was that I needed to maximize by energy usage and wear away at his horde of monsters slowly but surely. The ground shook as the super worm slammed back into the ground. The moment that happened, two Radiant Beams flew over it and hit more monsters pouring into the city.

I noted the monsters quickly spreading out into the city to avoid being targeted by concentrated attacks. The Ritualist was really upping his actions per minute, or APM, with whatever abilities those level 4 crystals had given him.L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøv€l--B1n.

There was nothing left outside the city. The Ritualist was moving all his forces into Purgatory. This was it, the final battle of our war. That was the big problem with my build, it was too generalist, and I couldn’t break out of a melee that easily.

I could win one on one, but there was too great a risk of getting dogpiled. Naran could have easily cleaved through a crowd of monsters and then escaped. He might lose his sword, but that was easily replaced, and he could keep going. I was constrained by my energy stats, Spirit and Regeneration.

“Yes, he consolidated his smaller groups into larger groups based on your actions and is probing our defenses. Our attrition is high and we can no longer restore people. We suspect there might be a night attack,” Clarissa said.

“Where is our dear General?” I asked.

“On the front lines at the moment ensuring all sections of the wall are rotated and covered. This is important since this has become a siege. Looking at things, the Ritualist has about 700 hybrids left,” Clarissa explained. I had been hoping that number was lower. The fact it remained that high was concerning.

“And our side?” I asked. If I hadn’t had to use Air Burst and could take the fights one at a time, then I would have whittled the Ritualist’s forces down much more.

“Half the soldiers, and a third of the militia are combat capable. Half of those numbers are wounded and unable to fight or fight in a reduced capacity, not enough to be worth putting on the walls,” Clarissa answered heavily, her mask broken. I nodded at that. It was rough, but we had to endure.

“No movement form the super worm?” I asked.

“You can see for yourself. It is a fair distance from the East inner wall. But it is clearly waiting for something. Probably night, when our vision is hampered, and the Ritualist can rush monsters forward in the chaos. Maybe dawn right before the City Shield timer hits a day,” Clarissa said, and I frowned. She was getting nervous and wanted to pull the trigger on her trump cards.

“If you need to, then act, but until then we need to hold for as long as possible. Think I should wait on the East portion of the inner wall?” I asked. I was exhausted after an entire day of relentless fighting and ambushing.

“Up to you. But we expect a large push tonight. Once the bells ring, that will be the alarm for a major attack. The worst part is the Ritualist might attempt a feint attack to exhaust us,” Clarissa said while staring intently at the holographic map.

“I am thinking tomorrow morning, we deploy all your trump cards on the super worm,” I replied.

“That could work, but it is a big risk. We only get one chance, and the Ritualist is going to act before that for sure. I don’t understand why he is just engaging at standoff range,” Clarissa replied.

“I am too tired to think. I am going to the East inner wall to rest for the night,” I told Clarissa. This way if for some reason she needed to get a hold of me, she had a shot of succeeding. But all our plans were supposed to be paced off of me acting independently. To harry the Ritualist. Trying to coordinate too much would slow me down from where I would do the most good. That was problem with being the top combatant, I had to earn my paycheck.

“Got it. I will be here or at the City Shield once the Ritualist makes his move. Trying to figure out exactly what he will do,” Clarissa explained while rotating the map around and zooming in on certain portions. I would leave her to it. I needed to rest and get ready for the upcoming battle after a long day of killing hybrids.