Chapter 162: Buying Time
The time that had been bought for the city of Marimgar was destined not to be anywhere near enough.
Exactly two hours after the ship landed, at just past eight in the morning, a System Message came in.
{Wave Cleared, bonus recorded. New Wave in 5 minutes.}
"Fleet Admiral, do you see what we see?" Kalli asked over the radio.
"Indeed, Coordinator. We’re getting the message. Our fleet has decided to stay and assist the Marimgar base through the third trial, and it appears that our destinies are linked. However, we are still not in as good of shape as we had hoped for."
Kalli nodded, though he couldn’t see it.
"Keep your ships on the ground, don’t burn excess energy, just keep your light defensive lasers active. They should be equal to or better than the ones we have around the walls, enough to keep the monsters from getting close enough to hack through the legs of your landing gear."
"That shouldn’t be an issue. The shields run off the main power grid, and the Swineherd Demons don’t do enough damage that they can get through even if they surround the whole ship.
Unfortunately, we cannot extend them far enough to block for the whole town, or we would relocate all of our Arks inside Marimgar to fortify the whole keep."
Kalli considered the options.
"If you would like to move the smaller Arks inside the city walls, that would make life easier on them. I’m sure that their power grids aren’t as robust as the ones on the larger Arks, and they’re not so large that they would take up the entire open space.
I saw the logs of your meeting."
The Fleet Admiral sighed. That woman was going to drive him to drinking. Could she not simply mind her business, and not snoop into their actions?
But he would admit that it saved him some headaches. Those ships were the ones that had wanted to flee. So, if they could move them into relative safety, it would encourage them to remain here and not cause trouble.
That was all that he could ask for out of them at this point.
But it would also give the Marimgar defence force a few more heroes for their lines, as long as they were willing to come out of their ships and work for their points.
Hopefully that wouldn’t be an issue.
The heroes from the fleet were not cowards, they were willing to fight. The Fleet Commander was certain that they were only thinking of the big picture when they considered leaving with the Arks.
"I will propose it to them. The smallest ships will move into Marimgar, if they agree, and they can provide additional firepower should anything breach the walls," the Fleet Admiral agreed.
That was a win for everyone, as the Captains of the smaller ships soon decided.
They needed time to recover, and the heroes had fortifications with laser turrets on them. So, as soon as their engines would allow, they moved into the compound, and sent their heroes out to meet with the heroes of Marimgar.
There wasn’t much time to talk, they only had a few minutes before the next wave would start, but the situation was quickly explained to the new arrivals by Temple and his group.
"Head to Coordinator Kalli. She will get you set up with gear for the fight, and you can turn in any quests that you completed for rewards. Do that first before making requests for items, as the store can’t extend credit, and she will be footing the bill herself."
The heroes nodded, "we have been working the guns, so we have some quests complete. The main ships will have more, but they’re remaining outside for now."
"That’s fine, we will deal with that later. For now, we’re going to need you all along the walls. Our heroes have been fighting for eight hours straight, with only a short break, and they could use some fresh forces.
The turrets will help at the start, but they won’t keep the enemy off us forever."
The heroes didn’t hesitate, and went straight for the hall of heroes, while trying not to let the design of the city distract them. It was more of a village than anything, with only the handful of towers plus the sprawling building that was the Marimgar Academy, plus a few greenhouses.
But they were clearly advanced by the System, and the place looked much less desperate and apocalyptic than they had expected, given their experience with other survivor groups.
"Heroes, welcome to my hall. How can I help you today? The basics? Or do you have quests to turn in?"
"Both, I suppose." one of the warriors responded.
Kalli smiled. "Got it. Come to the counter and get your rewards first, then I will provide you with your gear. Just tell me your class and specialty."
The warrior approached, and received three Rare Grade quest completions for his work on the guns. They opened to reveal three accessories, no main gear parts, which was a bit of a disappointment to Kalli.
She was hoping to see something specialized.
"Class and specialty?"
"Warrior, and rifles, I suppose? I was infantry before this."
"Rifles it is. One pulse rifle for low mana cost firepower, and I see that you’ve already got your own rifles, so I will provide an extra case of ammunition.
Plus the standard light armoured bodysuit, and that’s you sorted out. Normally I would charge for the items now, as the system demands, but I will let you use the points for skills, and pay after the constant attacks are over.
You’ll get more points.
Next."
Hero after hero approached, and Kalli found that while a large portion were from the same infantry unit, and rifle specialized warriors, this group actually had far more healers than expected.
Perhaps because they had medical training in the army? But either way, a full third of their force were clerics.
That would take a lot of strain off the front lines, where they were working with one for every ten other classes, plus a few extra healers for smaller groups.
"Spread the healers around the walls, keep one of your people with them for support, and that should be good to go. There are food deliveries every hour to the walls. Don’t turn them down if you’re even a bit hungry.
The tuber soup provides a huge amount of energy and helps with recovery.
I wouldn’t call it a magical potion, but it is made from an advanced plant that came from this new world."
"Got it. Thank you, Coordinator. This gear will serve us well."