“The Overlord is in the city,” Thistle whispered.
The Fighter that had attacked his own, tried to shoot another companion, but two other Fighters tackled him.
“The Overlord is in the city,” the same distant voice screamed.
More of the attacking Fighters turned on each other. The Mages behind the confused Fighters tried to intervene, but only succeeded in drawing the attacks on themselves.
Thistle slumped, and Ruwen caught her with his right arm. His Inventory finally emptied of all the previous enemy attacks, so he closed his Void Band, and pulled his arm back through the bars.
Thistle regained her balance and smiled.
“What did you do?” Ruwen asked.
“The lower their Intelligence, the greater the chance they’ll see an Overlord wherever they look. It will only last a few minutes, though. The area is too large.”
Ruwen almost asked Thistle about her essences, and how she constructed her spells, so excited was he to discover this mass hallucination magic. But now wasn’t the time, and he wore the wrong armor. Someday, the Scarecrow would ask.
“We’re through,” Bliz said.
“Make room,” Ruwen said, and all the Workers moved to the sides.
Two Mages stuck their fists into the ground. When they pulled them out, they were encased in rock. They stepped up to the damaged portcullis and smashed it with their rock fists. On the fifth punch the bars moved, and three strikes later, it fell forward.
They’d breached the gate with eleven minutes left on the temple counter.
The gate and portcullis were located at the outer wall, and a twenty-foot tunnel was all that stood between them and the city. Ruwen stepped forward, but the ceiling and walls began to collapse, as the enemy Stone Mages worked to keep them out.
Ruwen channeled Energy into Dash and sprinted forward, his own Stone Mages keeping a path open. The army would arrive shortly, and they needed to have a place to go.
As Ruwen exited the tunnel, eight Fighters with spears tried to skewer him. He moved between their attacks, his focus on the Mages trying to collapse the tunnel. Confused shouts from the battlements meant Thistle’s mind magic still affected some Fighters. Now that Ruwen had actually entered the city, it would increase the confusion, as everyone could see him.
“The west wall is breached,” Ruwen screamed, Hey You making his accent perfect. “Everyone to the west wall!”
A sphere of rock encased Ruwen, as the enemy Stone Mages worked to stop him. He powered his Crazor by adding thirty Energy to the Worker insignia and vaporized the front half of the rock trap.
Jumping out, Ruwen focused the Crazor on an enemy for the first time. The closest Naktos Mage, fifteen feet away, looked surprised that Ruwen had escaped. He aimed the Crazor at the Mage’s neck and the surprised look disappeared, along with the rest of the Mage’s head, as the methane gas sacs exploded.
Memories from Ruwen’s Ascension Day surfaced, and the first Fireball he’d ever cast. It had caused an explosion like this on a Naktos Mage’s assistant in the park near the library. It had horrified Ruwen back then, but now he knew better. This was war, and they were trying to destroy the temple and permanently kill over half a million people. He marveled at the effectiveness of his Crazor, and hoped it was enough to stop them.
With Gold Fortified reflexes, Ruwen flicked his Crazor at the remaining Mages, the explosions occurring so rapidly they sounded like one long echo.
Tunnel secured, Bliz said in Chat. We are inbound. Shed dismissed. Moving to secure gate’s battlements.
Good luck, Bliz, Ruwen responded as he killed the nearest six Fighters.
Bliz would take the breach team and try to secure the battlements over the gate to make it safer for the approaching army. Where Ruwen intended to go, no one could help.
Ruwen swept the Crazor across a row of approaching Fighters, and thirty died at once. The remaining Fighters near the gate fled, and Ruwen ran toward the lake. Whiskers had kept an eye on it, and nothing had come in or out for half an hour.
Arrows and bolts hit Ruwen as he ran, but he didn’t bother returning fire. Hundreds of stuns and roots struck him, but between his high Resistances and the Bracer of Freedom, none did more than make him stumble.
The lake came into view just a hundred feet away. Seeing the area with no temple made his stomach twist. How could this have happened?
A powerful blow from behind triggered the one hundred fifty-point shield on Ruwen’s cloak, throwing him forward. He rolled, his Gold Fortified body and seventy-two levels of Tumbling giving him the skills to regain his feet gracefully, even in scale armor.
Ruwen turned to find three more missiles approaching. He dodged them and looked for his attackers. Three hundred feet away, ten people fired Hardened Instability Rods at him. All of them had the dual Dark Portals except the one in front, who only had one arm. Valora had found him.
Even with so much distance separating them, Ruwen had to concentrate to dodge the rods as the dual Dark Portals gave the missiles immense velocity. Valora fired rods as well, but with just a single Dark Portal, hers were the easiest to dodge.
The ten attackers strode toward Ruwen, firing dozens and dozens of super sped up rods. There were so many, it became impossible to dodge, and he triggered the Shield of the Faithful on his Overseer’s Tunic of Faith.
Ruwen’s Health dropped by one hundred as the tunic extracted its price, and a tower shield of blood appeared in front of him. The Hardened Instability Rods struck the shield, but didn’t penetrate, bouncing off or deflecting to the sides. Each strike damaged the shield by ten, which meant it wouldn’t last long.
The Crazor might have reached the attackers, but at this distance it would take over a second to ignite the methane sacs. He didn’t want to fight
