The minutes passed as if time was meaningless, nothing could stop him, everywhere he went the monsters died by the hundreds. He let his emotions flow through his body, giving him increased strength but losing his tactical thinking. The new monsters for this wave were Lich casters, blasting beams of the same magic that animated all of these dead things directly at Eli. It was hard to pay attention to ranged attacks when volcanoes of rage were exploding in his soul, so he took some hits, those hits rotted his flesh but his passive healing and resistance made the damage almost ignorable, almost.
What those hits did accomplish was to draw his attention, and make his fury worse. The liches never made it to his friends, he killed them all, one by one. The trick with liches was that they carried a gem on them that had to be destroyed otherwise they could just keep coming back. Eli crushed every part of them like a monkey holding a club, no thought or tactic, just beating things with his cudgel until they died for good. Even with the liches slowing him down, his murderhobo monster killing spree was effective, not that Eli knew, but his friends were having an easy time of it.
Tara and the others back near the crater were fighting with all their hearts, it's just that the pressure on them was quite a bit less than it had been in previous waves. They were yelling jokes and sarcastic comments at each other while fighting, with Audrey roasting them all, since she had far fewer of the giants to sneak up on and assassinate. The undercurrent of their jokes was nervous energy since they knew that if they were having an easy time then Eli must be killing himself fighting. Tara cleared her area and reached for the connection that she shared with Eli, and it burned her, she couldn't touch it without damaging her soul. She took a deep breath and decided to trust him.
There wasn't anything in particular that made her decide this, it was more of a gut feeling, like he was meant to be buried in combat, that was his place. So she smiled to herself and got back to fighting, swinging her axes and using each of her skills periodically so she could work on leveling them. She yelled for the others to do the same since these were higher level monsters and there were plenty of them, even with it being less than before they could get some good growth out of it. Time was passing but the enemies stayed thin and the wave was getting closer to being over and Tara was doing her best to not panic.
Eli's scrap of sanity was panicking, he didn't have anywhere to put these emotions now that they had run wild for over half an hour. If he managed to force them down with his will, then they would be just below the surface and he would go from calm to furious in an instant with no warning. He could pour them into his will skill and burn them out but that would weaken his soul for sure and he needed to be in top shape for the boss coming up. The best option he could think of would be to shove as much as he could of them safely into an air detonation and just have it go off far away, having the distance bleed much of the power off. The monsters were getting really thin so he needed to do this quickly before he had down time and his rage didn't have a target.
The best idea he could come up with was to aim it at the volcano he had spent so much time at, it really was the only noticeable landmark around. He could make it out from here just barely, so he put a bit of magic into it and flooded the skill with his fury and frustration. The skill ended up taking a third of his magic and emotions to reach the distance, but when it went off, the explosion took two hundred feet off the top of it and shook the ground all the way to where they were. Then, after a strange pause, the volcano erupted with a crack sound so loud it hurt his ears, even at his insane distance from it.
The first thing he noticed was lava being thrown into the air, so he went back to fighting now that he had much more control over himself. Some part of him thought that if he pretended he didn't do it then no one would know it was him. The monsters were almost all clear when the lava turned into a huge plume of ash that billowed into the sky. That made him uneasy since his cloak was distinctive with its ash effects and he has been going by the name Lord Ash this whole time. He was certain that if the wind blew the ash towards this safe zone that he would be blamed for it.
There was nothing he could do about it now, so he headed back to the crater for some rest and recovery in his own home. Just thinking about having a home in the middle of all this system chaos brought a smile to his face and he reveled in that feeling of happiness. While walking back his body began to feel heavy as the adrenaline and rage were dissipating into the air with every breath he exhaled. By the time he reached the crater he could hardly move and Tara had come to his side to help him get to his bed. With everything mopped up; they were all sitting or standing around Eli's bed.
"So, what crazy thing did you do this time that almost killed you?" Stevens asked.
"Well, for once, it wasn't something I did on purpose, and I didn't get hurt much, I'm just exhausted." replied Eli.
"What was up with you, I tried to reach you through our connection and it burnt my soul, it didn't hurt much, it felt more like a warning to stay out." Tara asked with anger and concern on her face.
"Well I started swinging my cudgel in anger, and the anger got away from me. It was like everything that had ever made me angry was happening all at once, I barely kept myself from going insane. You guys were the cause of, and solution to, some of that anger."
"What did we do?" Audrey asked quickly.
"It wasn't that I'm upset with you, it was more like every little thing that was even five percent anger, became all about that five percent. And, don't forget, you all were the solution as well. My desire for you all to be successful is part of what helped me reign it in before it exploded." Eli tried to quickly explain due to Audrey and Bethany's expressions, however, just after he finished talking the ground shook again from the volcano erupting more.
"Can we assume that this volcano erupting has something to do with you, it basically exploded right as we were finishing up?" Bethany asked.
"That is a safe bet, yes." Eli answered sheepishly.
"In summary," Tara started and then cleared her throat, "you killed thousands of powerful undead and you blew up an entire volcano, because you got mad?"
"Yes"
"This couldn't be more perfect." Bethany said after a sudden realization. "If the volcano lands Ash towards this safe zone, we can claim that 'Lord Ash' did it in anger to show the uncooperative towns he means business."
"But, he did do it in anger, no need to claim anything when it's the truth." said Stevens.
"Ok unless you plan on napping with me, get out, I need to recover before the boss," Eli said while pointing to the door. Tara and Bethany went to their meditation platforms and sat down, closing their eyes.
"Is it ok if I use the middle one?" Audrey asked.
"No, that middle one is the dead center of this crater, I'm pretty sure the magic wouldn't let you," Eli said with a yawn.
"Wouldn't let me?"
"Yeah, I'm imprinted here and that platform is how I connect to make adjustments or feed this place more magic. It might knock you off or blow you up or something." As Eli got those last words out, he fell asleep. All three women were staring at the middle platform like it would strike at any moment. Sighing, Audrey left and went to her own hut and meditated while pouting.
***************
Lord Ghost was angry, he just couldn't figure out how this barbarian, Lord Ash, was doing so well. Every attempt he made to make him look foolish or give him a reason to denounce him and declare this zone his and Ash an enemy of it has been perfectly rebuffed. He sent a distraction and some assassins, the distraction was sent away and the assassins vaporized. He manipulated a group into going down there that would cause Ash to have to kill or risk his life protecting them, and they are protecting them with no casualties.
Ghost had been the oldest son of a certain middle eastern nation's leader and had been groomed to take over for his father since he could talk. Educated at Oxford with advanced degrees in engineering and geo-politics, he thought himself smart enough to play politics with a guy in a mask and fuzzy underwear. His instincts told him to take his time with this, all reports said that he couldn't enter a safe zone so there wasn't any rush, and just outright attempting to kill him could backfire if he or his people survive and sow discord amongst the people. He needed a narrative that made the people want Ash dead as much as he did.
Sitting in his office/throne room, Ghost was removing his gear so that he could relax until the boss wave and his scouts could update him.
"Report!"
"My Lord, it seems that he is more successful at defending the south than last time. One of my scouts tells me that he has made some kind of little town of rough stone and trees, but it hasn't been verified."
"I understand him being successful, anyone with his level of power has to know tactics. The more the system shows us the more we can predict and plan for. But you say he built buildings, are they for his followers?" Ghost asked.
"The buildings seem to be for all of them, the problem is that the scouts report doesn't make sense, he said that the building appeared like system buildings but were outside the safe zone barrier by five-hundred feet or so."
"I knew his magical secrets would be valuable, but that one takes the cake, assessment of his followers?" Ghost asked, changing the subject before his intentions became too clear to anyone involved in scouting in case they got compromised.
"They are doing well, none of them are expert fighters but it seems Ash has been training them team tactics, dynamic fighting and adaptability. He also seems to spend his energy in making sure they get to fight but he thins the numbers greatly so they don't get overrun."
Ghost tapped his fingers on the armrest of his overly large chair in thought. Ash seems to be protective of his people, and is training them in tactics that provide the most benefit while being simple and quick to learn. He could try to get to him through his followers, but without knowing for sure his abilities and weaknesses, it would be best to not antagonize him. As his father used to tell him when they would play-out war scenarios, "Never let an enemy know they are an enemy. It's much easier to deal with someone who thinks you are a friend."
He had been eight when his father told him that which led to many years of not trusting anyone since they could be doing the same thing to him. Thinking about it now, 15 years later, that may have been the true lesson from his father, not to trust anyone. Either way the best option seemed to be to let this play out and only interact with him if he started to encroach on his interests. Killing that Flowers idiot was a simple thing when he came running to him for help after abandoning his city. He bought the story of there being a safe place outside the safe zone where he had sent his important non-fighters for safety. However, everything he had learned from Ash so far was saying that if he would be able to kill him, it would not be an easy thing.
"Keep observing, let me know everything he does."
"Yes my lord."
"Tell the others that we should remove or flip the rest of Flower's followers, I want control of his city 48 hours after this event ends."
"Understood," the minion said and left after bowing.
Ghost had been planning this since day two of the system arriving. He was lucky enough to have some key people that worked for his family with him in the tutorial and they scouted more strong people to join them. He gamed out the best ways to get levels and grow skills quickly and was a lord by the third week, which he assumes is when the system unlocked enough to award that status. Growing his influence, power, and reach in the tutorial, he was all set up when they came to the safe zone. He had 35 people connected to him using the lord system and immediately began his plans.
All of his people were split into 4 sections, each having two servants running it. The sections were, military, intelligence, internal affairs, and assassination. Most were self explanatory and he had good people running them so he just made big picture plans and it was their job to carry them out. So far everything was a success except anything that had to do with Ash, including him losing one of his assassination servants to him. Slowly, he would work out everything so that this Ash would be forced to leave or force his hand and die by his daggers, either way, Ghost will rule this safe zone like his father ruled his kingdom.