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CH 56: Numbers Advantage
🕑 Added 2024-12-16 15:00:00 +0000 UTCGunpowder burned in Reid's nostrils. Bowstrings twanged. Explosions and screeches sounded out from the advancing groups of salamanders, as Sanctuary's 200 outer wall defenders lashed out at the 602 advancing beasts with as many arrows, grenades, magic attacks, spears, and bullets as they could. Any thoughts they may have had about preserving ammunition were entirely gone. They shouted encouragement to one another in mental preparation for the coming horde.
The medics were retreating off to a secondary "staging area" that was really just three pickups with their tailgates open and one van. The noncombatants were more of a liability on the wall than they would be a help. The only one still on the wooden battlement was Danny. He'd been instructed that his priority was to keep Reid as close to 100% as possible throughout the fight. No one was crazy enough to think that other defenders would have as much of an effect on the battle as Reid.
Walt was still convinced the salamanders had held off their attacks so far because of Reid - and was hopeful that keeping him up and in the center would continue to deter the salamanders away from the 'weak point' of Sanctuary's gate.
Reid wasn't so convinced of that possibility anymore. He still didn't understand the thought that might've been behind the recent attacks, but the salamanders weren't avoiding Reid now. Two of their advancing groups were walking forward on opposite sides of the dirt path that led up to the front gate - and both elites kept their eyes and focus on Reid. They stalked along, only the tops of their heads visible behind the wall of flesh in front of them. They advanced, slowly.
Reid knew the larger salamanders could run faster that the little ones. He'd seen how quickly they could move during his fights with them. But again, they were showing some basic tactics by keeping the strongest forces at the rear. And the small salamanders could move faster than they were currently advancing. Reid just couldn't figure out why they were all sticking to such a slow pace.
Reid hurled rocks and grenades. He killed some, but couldn't get anywhere close to hurting the level 10s nor the elites. Whenever a small salamander was killed by his blow - or the work of another defender, new enemies pulled forward in the group to keep a solid mass at the front of the pack. The same thing was happening out to the sides. Three groups advanced on the right side of the wall, and two to the left.
Danny kept shifting his focus over to Marysa and the teenage archers. The man had let some of himself - his real self - slip out during Reid's healing. It was a kind of adamant and true concern and caring, and it wasn't hard to tell that he was weighing whether he should ignore orders and focus on keeping the kids alive. The teens shot off their arrows - and some of the poorer archers fired guns. Reid wanted Danny to help them, too. It was the right thing. But the decisions they were all saddled with didn't just end at what felt right - they were a question of Sanctuary's fate. If the gate fell because Danny focused on the wrong defenders, they could lose part of their qualitative edge and potentially lose Danny himself.
Doing the right thing really is a luxury. Reid hated how every time his words came back to him, he agreed with them just a little bit more.
The advancing groups shifted. The two groups on opposite sides of the dirt path converged and surged forward at a dead sprint. They would get to the wall before any of the others.
To the left, the two groups shifted and ran towards the middle of the defenders - right where squads 4, 5, and 6 were weakened from previous attacks. Two of the groups on the right aimed for the far end of their defensive line - where Sanctuary's ranged defenses were arguably the weakest. The final group on the right pushed straight in for squad 14 and 15. Each group had shifted to a weakened, or weak location. Reid didn't like it - he knew the probing attacks must have had a reason behind them, and it felt like he was seeing that now. But he didn't have time to help the other squads - the two groups focused on Reid would arrive soon enough.
Even at their sprinting speed, it was difficult for Reid to see the elites behind the other salamanders. They were simply a mass of red backs and white bellies that shielded the members behind them. Dead and wounded alike were trampled underneath the advance every time a defender took one down. Reid threw more projectiles until they were nearly on the wall itself.
It was fairly obvious they were trying to get the more powerful beasts to the wall. The elites would be able to climb more quickly once they reached it, and posed a larger threat to Sanctuary's defenders. But neither Reid nor anyone else was having luck putting damage to the well-defended beasts. Which is why Reid had come up with a simple solution.
If the weak salamanders were out front, he just needed to get behind them. And really, who would expect a counter-attack?
The front of the merged group reached the base of the wall and started to climb, even as the rest of the groups were less than halfway to Sanctuary's wooden walls. Defenders engaged with fierce determination. They held nothing back, and neither did Reid. He took a few steps back from the outer edge of the wall, and gripped Requiem tight in his left hand - still unarmored after the earlier loss of his gauntlet. Reid had ensured his mace was repaired by pushing more energy into it, but hadn't given himself time to regrow the armor. Reid pulled on his strengthening skill and worked the rage-filled power through his body and down into his legs. Wood cracked under his foot as he sprinted forward with explosive force. He planted a final step on the lip of the wall, and kicked off as hard as he could.
Reid could never be mistaken for graceful - but he was strong, and he was durable. Reid hurtled through the air as his momentum took him out and nearly over the group at Sanctuary's gate. He fell just behind the elites - and tumbled before he regained his footing. He cycled the strengthening back to a full-body enhancement and turned.
Reid immediately set himself into a lunge at the closest elite. The speed and audacity of his actions left the thing unprepared for Reid's attack, and it was still facing away from him. Requiem slammed through the back of its throat and out the other side. Reid pulled back on his weapon to go for another strike, but the salamander's jaw got hooked on the bottom of the flanges and Reid ended up pulling the thing's head back down to him instead. The elite slammed down into the ground - close enough for Reid to see the folds of skin under its eyes. He lashed out with the spiked gauntlet on his right hand and buried his arm up to the bicep in the thing's eye socket.
You have defeated Salamander - lvl 19. Bonus Experience Awarded.
Reid shook the excess gore off his arm and freed his mace from the corpse. A few of the level 10s had moved to separate Reid from the other elite. He donned an angry, almost feral grin. Level 10s were strong, but Reid was stronger. They had numbers, but Reid had a weapon with reach. They pounced, and slashed and bit - but Reid matched their strikes.
One swing carved through the midsection of three beasts. Reid spun with his momentum and slammed his mace into another with a blow that sent it flying back into the main group. More tumbled over like bowling pins. A salamander tried to bite down on his arm holding Requiem, but its teeth shattered against his armor. Reid cocked his fist and punched through the thing's skull with his gauntlet. He punched and smashed in the general direction of the second elite, leaving bloody holes in skulls or shattering them entirely. He stomped on heads when blows that didn't kill sent the creatures to the ground, and spun Requiem around himself every time he needed to make more room.
Soon, all the beasts that were able to abandon their task of protecting the 'front' of the group or scaling the wall were dead, and there was nothing separating Reid from the other elite. It screeched and charged him, but Reid knew their game now. He waited for it to swing out with one of its hands, and brought Requiem up to meet its arm. Requiem shattered through it and the severed hand and claws flew sideways and lashed through still-downed and tangled beasts. Reid stepped in before the salamander could retreat and stabbed Requiem through its leg before jumping away from another clawed strike. The beast tottered on its weakened leg before its weight brought it to a knee.
Reid didn't waste the opportunity, and plunged Requiem up into the thing's head.
You have defeated Salamander - lvl 19. Bonus Experience Awarded.
Reid panted heavy. His muscles ached, and he could already tell he'd need some healing time to recover from the continuous use of his strengthening skill.
The death of their second commander sent the two groups into a frenzy - aimed directly at Reid. He met them with fury, violence in both hands, and a feral roar.
He fought on until his entire body was covered in blood. He punched with his knuckle spikes until they snapped off under the strain. He sent Requiem out to bite into salamander brains over, and over, and over again. He did his lethal work, until there were no more enemies standing to challenge him. Only then did Reid allow himself to pause.
He heaved in breaths with his hands on his knees and did his best to keep himself from collapsing. He was bleeding from a dozen cuts on his exposed left arm, and knew he was close to physical exhaustion. He needed to get to Danny, quickly.
The defenders had helped Reid in the fight - though they did more to cripple the beasts than kill them. But that gave Reid more easy kills, and easy gains. Reid gave them a glance.
Experience: 103,949 / 204,800
Level 12: -> 13
Control: 70 -> 75
It was Reid's first level since killing Bertrand, and he was glad to have it, even if he couldn't solidify the power gains right now. Reid forced himself into a half-jog towards the wall, where a ladder was waiting for him.
The gate was mostly clear, and ranged attacks picked off the stragglers trying to climb. On each side though, the other five groups had reached Sanctuary's wall and were in various states of battle.
The defender's resistance couldn't hold back the torrent of beasts that flung themselves into the fray. Small salamanders died in the dozens, but more and more were making it onto the battlements themselves. Warriors and archers fell to tooth and claw - but the worst was yet to come. Limbs flew and blood spilled as the eight foot tall salamanders summited Sanctuary's defenses.
The level 10s used areas troubled by the smaller salamanders to carve out larger areas of control, and soon the beasts had beachheads amidst the defenders. Things grew exponentailly worse. Once one level 10 was over, it made things easier for the next to arrive. With two, a third was nearly guaranteed to make it up alive. And the extra violence from more and more of the level 10s pushed Sanctuary's defenders back enough for more of the level 10s to scale the wall in twos and threes. The other elites stayed back, still - even with the beachheads their groups had started to establish.
They hid behind more of their brethren, almost as if they were afraid to attack. But that couldn't be it. Salamanders weren't afraid to die, nor did they fear or really seem to feel their injuries during a fight. They were aggressive, savage beasts - so... why weren't the elites scaling the walls?
Reid frowned. It was all still just a bit wrong. They were all missing something here - he could feel it. The salamanders had the numbers advantage. They'd always had the advantage, and they were smart enough that they should've realized that early on in the fight. But instead of attacking, they'd spent minutes going through the pageantry of one-on-one fights with Reid. Even after he'd been injured, they hadn't pursued him all the way back to the wall. They knew they could've taken him out then, or at least could have sent their probing attacks his way. But it was only now that they'd pressed the attack. Every test, every attempt had cost them the lives of their army. Even when things were successful, they didn't press their advantages too far.
He put hand over hand on the ladder and climbed, then took Walt's waiting arm to make it over the top. Danny started healing him before he was fully over the wall.
The salamander's intelligence was coming out in all the wrong ways. Like they were both playing the part of the intelligent creature and the dumb beast...
Like they were trying to stall for time.
Reid's neck chilled. They hadn't fully attacked because they neither needed nor wanted to. They were waiting for something - something they now had.
It didn't take long for Reid's mind to flash through the possibilities. It was about the elites. The entire attack was focused around getting the elites up to the walls.
Reid started to shout at Walt, but it was too late.
The Crimson Titan roared.
You have been paralyzed for 0.5 seconds.
Defenders froze. Salamanders Froze.
Across the wall and the battlefield, sound, noise, and motion vanished as everything stilled.
Everything but the elites.
