Just as Astrid waved off Benedict's concern, three more arrows screamed into existence. Something about that first one had kept it from making any sound at all until after she'd been struck, but Muti, activating Executioner's Presence to increase her Alacrity by 200%, flashed forward and flicked her swords through two of the arrows. She grunted in effort, the weight of the attacks pushing her arms back, but smiled as she did so. The final arrow, Felix stepped forward and pulled into his shield with a pulse of mana. The ammunition punched all the way through the shield, the bodkin tip and five centimeters of the shaft poking through.
"All defenses up," Astrid said, as she could finally breathe easy. Benedict finished healing her chest as Isaiah planted his staff for a split second before yanking it out of the ground. Roots burst from the ground and slithered up Astrid's body in unison with the movement. She struggled to her feet as the plants gave her greater strength. Isaiah's thorns covered the rest of the party as well, as he also conjured up a thick half-dome of roots and vines. Several more arrows flew towards the dome, the first ones being repelled by his defenses. Then, fire started exploding with every shot, burning away the thorny wall in large swaths.
"We need to know what's going on in the city," Astrid said, looking at Muti. The Executioner already knew what her role was, and at once, she started teleporting through shadows up the mountainside. The arrows stopped smashing into Isaiah's defenses, and instead fell like rain across the entire mountain as Muti didn't stay anywhere long enough to be hit. Once, an arrow predicted perfectly where she was going to be, but she managed to disappear fast enough to keep from being pincushioned.
From there, threads of shadow spread like roots up the mountainside as Muti spent plenty of mana to create distractions. In response, the arrows became explosive, sending shards of stone like shrapnel in every direction, flying through the air as fast as the arrows themselves.
"Where are they?" Astrid growled, trying to peek through the thorn barrier.
"Three kilometers due north," Isaiah immediately answered, pointing. "I know who this is. At least, who this Archer is, even if I don't know their face. They're a sharpshooter called the Sniper, mid-Adamantium tier. One of the weaker Adamantium-tier combatants that the Marchioness has at her disposal. Even so, nobody's gotten a good look at them, because their effective range is recorded as at least five kilometers and they do not remain in one place after being approached."
Benedict wasn't the only one who cursed at that news, but the arrow rain on the mountain stopped as Muti's shadow breached the wall. In truth, Astrid only barely saw Muti's path up once she was more than a dozen meters away. The fact that this Sniper was able to make such precise determinations of where Muti was and might appear from so far away, then shoot an arrow fast and far enough to do something about it was amazing. And this was one of the weakest people the enemy had to bring to battle?
"We don't need to worry about them being able to do much more damage in a single hit than they already have," Isaiah "comforted." "According to every other engagement with the Sniper, their focus is on being able to stay really far away and land accurate shots. Unless they get you in the head, Astrid and Felix, you should survive a hit, even the mana-strengthened ones. Skandr, Benedict, don't get hit."
"That's the plan," Skandr grunted as the arrows started landing on the dome once again. Now, instead of just flame, those same explosive arrows started falling. The thorns were blown apart, and the wet, heavy smell of ripped vegetation filled the air. More thorns and roots started to crawl out of the ground to reinforce the barrier, but Isaiah shrugged as he looked at the Wanderers.
"This is much more mana intensive for me than it will be for them. Plus, we don't know what kind of support they'll be sending towards us. We need to move."
"We're not ready to move towards the enemy yet," Astrid grunted. "We weren't prepared to have to deal with them engaging so quickly. If you're sure they can't hit harder than this, then drop your extra defenses and we'll enter the city. Felix, you and me, we're guarding. Use your gauntlets on your shield and you should be fine."
"I'm protecting everybody," he grunted. "My Fortitude is plenty high enough to keep me alive even without it."
"Sounds good," Astrid said, pulling Skandr next to her, under the cover of her shield. She pushed enough mana into the metal to have it spread to cover Skandr's entire body, and glanced at Benedict. He took his flute back out, started playing, and nodded as he hunched close to Felix.
"One second," Isaiah said as his eyes rolled back. Then, his shoulders visibly swelled against his clothes, and he grew at least five centimeters as thorns climbed up his legs to wrap around both of his forearms several times. "Let's go."
The Wanderers started sprinting up the slope, just after where Muti had gone. As the vines drooped back to the ground behind them, the arrows resumed screaming towards them uninterrupted. It sounded like rainfall on a roof, the arrows fell so quickly, but blessedly, Felix was spending plenty of mana to make sure that his burst Skill was active. Then, with even more mana, his shield was pulling the majority of the projectiles towards himself.
A shout echoed from behind them, and somebody seemed to be rushing towards where they had been bunkered down. As the Wanderers entered the open expanse, though, the sounds of approaching danger died away. Astrid dared to glance back and saw someone wearing dark armor and holding a spear. They turned on their heel and rushed away, perhaps faster than Astrid could go at her fastest, though the comparison would be close.
It took only a few seconds of stone-shattering sprinting to reach the summit, where, as they'd seen from below, undulating, pulsating verdant life lashed out at everything nearby. When the Wanderers drew close, though, the plants seemed to know that friendlies were approaching and split, giving them all an avenue to jump over the walls and into the city itself.
There, screamed orders filled the air as the tumult of battle washed over them. The Wanderers had scaled a nearly sheer mountain face to get here, where none of the enemy had dared to expose themselves so openly, so no battle raged here. Even so, soldiers moved like a swarm of ants, rushing everywhere at the same time.
"When are reinforcements appearing?" someone ran up, demanding as he saw newcomers.
"We are the reinforcements for the highest-level enemies," Astrid said. "The rest of the Duchess's army should be here in… half a day?"
"That's too long," he shook his head. "We've been holding on for half an hour, and I think we have about that long again before the enemy overwhelms us somewhere. You all had better be able to do more than it looks like you can."
"Where's Greely?" Astrid countered, looking around as she ignored the doubt. "Our party member came through just before us, where did she go?"
"Center of the city, near the Dungeon branch fortification," he answered, stepping out of her way. "Also, welcome. I hope you're everything we need."
Astrid didn't argue with that, turning and sprinting through the city as they all called out for everybody to get out of the way. Most people couldn't react in time, but that didn't really matter. The Wanderers could. They raced through the city, and in less than a minute, they stood before a strange sight.
A thick stump sat in the center of the plaza, vast, pulsating roots emanating from the seat of power. And Astrid called it a seat of power for an obvious reason. Greely sat in the center of the stump, vines twirling around him, and then into the stump itself. Mana constantly pulsed around him, coming from the ground, into him, and then into the roots. Evidently, he was holding the entire battle line back, with the assistance of soldiers who ringed the city.
"Hello again," he said, opening his eyes for the barest second as Muti rushed out of a nearby alley and rejoined the Wanderers. She quickly muttered that she'd been trying to go back when she realized that the party had come in as well. "I hear you're here to help."
"I guess you could say that," Astrid replied. "With Isaiah, yourself, and Pauline, us five are supposed to be taking care of the final Adamantium tier."
"That's what Muti said. And you all are aware that he'll be fighting against people at least 50 levels higher than you?"
"Of course. Now, what do we know about our enemies?"
Greely's face twisted for a moment before he continued. "The Sniper, which I hear you familiar yourself with. Then, there's Gregor, who was about to attack you all when you came up the slopes. I could feel his mana there, and it is well that you fled. He's something like what Aleksandr is, though less defensive and instead focusing on being a finisher. Other than being very good with his spear, he has an aura that feeds off of the blood shed in his vicinity. He is absolutely the most dangerous of our enemies here today."
"Not the Wanderers' target, then," Astrid nodded.
"No. I suspect you would not be able to do more than distract him for a short while," Greely agreed. "Misha is the general of this army. She has a good tactical mind, and, of course, plenty of auras. She, along with the Sniper, are one of the two targets I would suggest that you five attempt to face. She's a fair hand in direct battle, but has always been in a leader Class. Her attributes are more well-rounded than Gregor's, so while she'll be more resistant to any underhanded tricks you might bring to battle, she also won't be able to kill any of you outright. Most likely, at least."
"That's three," Astrid raised her eyebrows. "According to Isana, there's a fourth here as well."
"Which is where Pauline currently is," Greeley answered. "I remember that you all met the Templar brothers, Leo and Johannes. The members of the Silver Wind?"
"They were Warpriests," Astrid narrowed her eyes. "But yes, I remember them. Frontliner healer hybrids."
"They've evolved, and they're Templars now," Greely said. "Anyways. Giselle is similar to them, in that she is a front-line supporter. Just like them, she has a few Skills that can deal extra damage, but largely, she can heal and keep herself going on the front lines. She and Misha are working together to keep the Marchioness's front lines pressing hard against us. While they do that, the Sniper is offering covering fire and picking off the strongest people he can see, and Gregor is pushing on every vulnerability to try to get to me. We were in a balancing situation for now, and it's continuing to move in the direction of our enemies.
"It's lucky, for now, at least, that Gregor is focused on finding a quick ending by finding a vulnerability to exploit, because if he was with Giselle, he might very well be unstoppable. However, he's only content to let her tie up Pauline for now, because they've had such an overwhelming advantage in the highest-level combatants, which might allow him to take me out. With you all running away from him, he may continue to probe my defenses, but if he returns to Giselle's side, Pauline will have to pull out as fast as possible, though I doubt she will. If she leaves the front lines, everybody will collapse."
"And Pauline is a Knight, right?" Astrid confirmed.
"Yes," Greely confirmed. "She's a mix of a frontliner and a leader."
"Then we might need you to pull away from covering the entire walls and joining us in taking out these highest-level enemies," Astrid said, shrugging, and looking between Isaiah and Greely.
"Yes," he agreed. "My Skills are a good match for tying down Gregor, though I won't be able to kill him. If I can keep him occupied and mostly immobile away from the battlefield, I might be able to offer some support for the rest of you while you're fighting."
"I will do whatever is necessary," Isaiah spoke up. "I believe my Skills are well suited to tying down the Sniper, or to assisting with Giselle."
"We won't be able to do much against her," Astrid shrugged. "She's tough enough I doubt we'll be able to damage her. We might be able to close in on the Sniper, but I'm nervous about separating from the rest of you too much to get to him. Considering how nobody's ever been able to close in on him until now, he's probably fast, fast enough to run away from us, and if we get separated from the rest of you, that's a recipe for disaster."
"I am of the same opinion," he noted. "Misha will be your target, then. However, as you are the only Mithril tiers of our side's elite fighters, you will need to pay greater attention to the soldiers she has at her side."
"Unless she has a full contingent of Mithril tiers, we'll be fine," Astrid grunted, rolling her shoulders.
"If you are so confident, I can only trust in you," Greely said.
Astrid felt her eyelid twitch at that, remembering his opportunity to have warned more people preparatory to the Wandering Trials, and his cowardice in not doing it. Was that an expression of trust?
Now was not the time for such thoughts, so instead, she just nodded once. "Skandr, how much of a visual do you need to start striking accurately at our enemies?"
"Now that I'm Mithril, none. I need to be under the same sky, but I can be otherwise entirely hidden," he smiled.
"Then let's get going," Astrid smiled. "There's plenty of work to be done."
***
Just as that commanding officer whose name Astrid didn't know had said, Purcell's defenders were holding as strong as they could, but they were losing, and quickly. In just those few minutes it took for her and the others to make their plan, already the sounds of battle had grown more desperate, and the screams of agony filled the air in a haunting chorus.
"Remember," Greely said, "they will not allow themselves to be separated. Be prepared for someone to leave their opponent to get a hit in on one of you. Also, do not fight to spare lives. We are not capable of taking prisoners today."
"Obviously," Astrid nodded. "No battlefield is static. Help us out if you can, but we'll hold strong."
"You will," Greeley agreed. "You have done so until now, and you will continue to surpass expectations."
Astrid took a deep breath through her nose, rolling her shoulders before thumping her right fist on her chest a few times. The sound was like that of a drum, the metal of her gauntlets striking like a cymbal against her breastplate.
"Are you ready?" she asked as she turned to Felix and Muti. Benedict stood nearby as well, but he wouldn't be coming over the wall just yet. Felix rolled his shoulders as Muti sank into a predator's crouch.
"It is time," Muti growled as Astrid raised her fist one last time and smashed it into her chest. Astrid imagined she could feel the strike push her heart to a stronger, fiercer rhythm. Then, she looked at Benedict, who started playing his Inspiring Song to strengthen her. Astrid's attributes all swelled by another 60% as Isaiah and Greely both also buffed her. Then, a bolt of red lightning from Skandr struck her from behind, filling her with even more strength as a host of friendly auras pushed her body to its absolute limit and beyond.
"Let's go to war!" Astrid screamed as she crouched low and activated Meteoric descent. She jumped as high as she could, flying fifty meters into the air before she looked down to where she could see Misha. The woman wore a shining set of armor, her helmet having a large, red plume of feathers. The Adamantium tier threw a series of glowing lances at key positions among the defenders, each one exploding and stunning or killing their target. As Astrid rose into the sky, Misha designated Astrid as one of those same targets. Two lances flew towards her as Astrid burned through a huge portion of her mana and stamina.
Astrid screamed towards the ground, her Skill promising that this, her first Adamantium tier enemy, was about to become a crater.