All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 236: Naptime is Over

Arthur bent his knees as he landed on the hard-packed ground in between the walls. Before him, the four demons carrying the battle ram paused, earthen faces expressionless. He took half a second to draw in a breath and center himself before charging forward. But in that half second, his mind flitted through a thousand different details. He considered the hundreds of people on the wall behind him. He went through his skills and picked out the ones that he would need. With a commander-based class, he didn't have nearly as many direct combat skills as a soldier would. But then, those rarely ever got to his level.

Instead, he had a few things that would actually serve him rather well in this situation. A few of the leadership variants he'd picked up allowed him to pull strength from those he led, and more so when he was defending them as their champion. It was a very infrequently used skill, as he did little direct fighting anymore. But if this wasn't the perfect time to use it, then he was a cat.

He activated the skill, drew in a breath, and felt the support of his entire army swell through him as they watched. As he used that moment to propel himself forward, he scattered a bit of demon's bane that Bee had given him as a precaution on his blade.

As Arthur moved, he felt his two guards drop onto the ground behind him. He trusted them not to engage but rather just watch his back and make sure nothing extraneous happened or interfered. They would also make sure he had a clear path back through the wall when he was done. The demons were hesitant to drop their ram, but once he got close, they decided that he was enough of a threat that they had to stop their advance and deal with him first.

As one, they released their hold, and the massive log slammed into the ground. The impact sent vibrations through the paving stones underneath his feet, even 30 feet away. It didn't slow him down or even send him off balance as he charged forward. He hefted his sword and held it at the ready, imbuing it with his very first skill: Decisive Strike.

It was the skill with a surprisingly large cooldown, especially considering he'd earned it at level one skill. But it had served him well. Sometimes, the first strike was the most important. Sometimes, he saved it later for the fight. But having a weapon that could deal damage to almost any opponent with one hit was nearly always tide-turning for him. It wouldn't guarantee an instant kill, but it would help bypass any resistances and hit with more force and a certain magical emphasis that wasn't normally found in melee classes.

So when the "stone golem" raised its hand to block his blow, Arthur slashed it right through its arm and into its body. A huge chunk of earth sloughed to the ground in a dusty mass. It wouldn't kill an earth demon. Very few things could kill an earth demon outright, but it did neutralize a good large percentage of its mass. The demon's bane did help, though.

The best way, in his experience, to kill golems or earth demons or anything elemental was to target its weaknesses. A water-based attack would be excellent here, for example. But he was no mage, so the next best option was to separate them from their power until they were weak enough that they couldn't do any harm.

His blade bit deep into his opponent's chest, and as soon as he felt the blow's momentum slow, he twisted it and slashed it down, coming down the center of the demon and cutting out a huge chunk of its side and one of its legs. It fell into magically inert material.

The demon collapsed and started to reform, but Arthur was already moving past it and cutting at the next. The demons showed no hint of wariness or self-preservation as he carved through them, nimbly dancing through the group. Men behind him empowered Arthur to move faster than the earth demons could ever hope to keep up with.

He was probably stronger than them by nearly 20 levels, so without their inherent strengths and his inability to directly counter them, they would already have fallen. But his increased physical abilities made this fight little more than a waiting game as he ducked and dodged around the heavy blows that were far too slow to touch him and carved off piece after piece of sandy earth.

Arthur's only concern was his opponents being able to regain the material that he cut away, but even then, he did have a skill that could help with that. It was another one of his rarer skills, the one he had gotten at level ten. In combination with Decisive Strike, it had made him a formidable opponent in his younger years, if not quite top-tier. It was a nullification skill that could dampen the use of magic in his presence. It was easily overwhelmed by something more powerful than him, which is why combatants like Bee and Void and even the wraith could be so much trouble for him. But it had also been able to weaken the wraith's attacks in critical moments.

Despite all its shortcomings, it was great at suppressing things near or below his level. This had helped immensely to level the playing field as he could remove the truly broken abilities some got early. It hadn't taken him long to learn that he could focus it and use up all of its potential at once. But he didn't need to do that now; he barely had to apply the effect here to stop the earth demons from reforming.

Arthur kept the remains of the earth demons magically inert and slowly whittled them down till they were each smaller than him. At that point, he stopped even trying to avoid their blows, instead turning them with his blade to meet them with a strike. The collisions destroyed them even as they tried to attack him. Then he started throwing in things like kicks that would shatter through the thin wall of sand the demons protected themselves with, and soon, they were nothing more than little mice-sized piles of sand scuttling around his feet.

This is when his guards truly proved useful. They dashed forward with what looked to be tightly woven bags. Arthur had no idea where they'd found such things, but he was grateful. They scooped up the demons in these bags and tied them shut. Arthur could see the things struggling futilely, but they were so weak that they couldn't do more than slowly cut their way through the bags with their sand. It wasn't a long-term solution, but someone in the castle would be able to handle them. Maybe Bee would be awake and functional by now. If not, Maranda should surely be able to bind them long enough for Bee or Void to take care of them.

The men on the wall erupted in cheers and shouts, which quickly devolved into insults being flung at the enemy. Arthur let them go for a few minutes as he caught his breath and studied the enemy. They hadn't yet made a move, but something didn't sit right with him.

Arthur raised his hand and pointed at the log, and a few moments later, several arrows, soaked in pitch and on flame, streaked forward to set it aflame. Arthur didn't imagine this would stop the enemy for long, but it would certainly take time to find and prepare another ram. The next time they tried, they would have to bring more forces with them, and that would slow them down as well as give the defenders targets. Turning, he stalked back through the gates and made his way back to the command tent. There's still a lot more work to be done.

---

Bee felt sensation slowly return to her body as she woke up. It didn't at all feel like waking up from a good night's sleep, but rather more like jumping into an ice-cold river in reverse. There was an initial shock as her mind started up again, and then slowly, the numbness of her limbs faded. What had happened?

The last several moments that she could recall were fuzzy. Some magical attack from the enemy had forced her to exert herself and expend a lot more effort than she had wanted to.

She tried to open her eyes, but the lids wouldn't respond at first. So, instead, she tried twitching her fingers and toes. Nothing. Was she paralyzed? No, sensation was still running through her limbs. It just hadn't reached much farther than the center of her chest.

She focused on her breathing and feeling the world around her. Mostly, her magic-based skills still functioned, but she could feel that if she pushed them at all, it would simply slow her recovery. She didn't have enough in her to put forth the effort. But her passive senses were just fine. She could feel the faith of Void all around her with no apparent effort. Good. It seemed that her people still lived.

The vast, vast majority of Void's faithful were localized in the castle and pulled back towards what she felt to be the second wall. But she felt new strands of faith coming from very far north, strangely. She wondered if Void had been up to anything over there. She also felt some more towards the city of Caleb and the neighboring province. Slowly, those were spreading and strengthening, but they felt different. As though they weren't quite the same as the ones within the Church of the Cleansing Void.

It was as if she was giving red apples to those she talked to, and whatever was spreading the faith towards the east and west was giving out yellow apples. Not necessarily wrong, but different. Up to the north were more like green apples. It's very interesting that she could tell something like denomination with her skill.

Suddenly, she felt her energy hit some kind of recovery threshold. Her Repair and Improved Repair skills kicked in, and her body quickly mended. Unfortunately, they quickly left her feeling exhausted once more as their effects cut off, but her body felt whole again. The brief kick of recovery left her wanting nothing more than to lay back and sleep/ She could sense with Improved Pathing that the best way out of her room was to get out of her bed, walk down the hall, and then descend a few flights of stairs. That would bring her right back to the fight. But she wasn't ready.

Even as she opened her eyes and took in the stone ceiling above her, she felt that she needed a good meal and a few more hours of rest before she could really do anything strenuous. That didn't stop her from forcing herself to her feet and quickly getting dressed, though. She almost stumbled as she left the door, but a force of will kept her upright as her energy slowly recovered. With a bit of effort, she made her way towards the kitchens and found them in full swing. Loaves of bread and fresh rations were constantly being piled up and then immediately whisked out to go towards the soldiers on the walls.

When the head of the kitchen, Mary's second, saw her, she was immediately ushered to a table. A massive plate of eggs and cured meats, toasted to a nice crispiness, were placed in front of her an instant later. Bee barely even tasted it as she scarfed it down, but the meal did wonders. Even her recovery skills began to kick in once more and remain in use. Regaining her feet, Bee made her way down and out of the castle, ready to go see where she could be of use.