Chapter 148: Third Trial Begins
Kalli immediately issued quests.
{Charge the defence turrets} Nightmare Difficulty. Keep a laser defence turret charged for 12 hours.
{Hold the wall} Nightmare Difficulty. Prevent the outer wall of Fort Marimgar from being breached for 12 hours.
{Hero of Marimgar} Nightmare Difficulty. Score 1,000 or more kills in the next 12 hours.
Then, she ran to her office, knowing that there would be a fresh influx of heroes in need.
"Coordinator, do you have enough points to front us weapons? We need the good stuff," Sanchez asked.
"Give me ten seconds to check the new options. We might have something that’s more effective. I also need to see what’s out there."
Kalli brought up the camera feeds from the automated laser turrets and immediately regretted every life decision that had led her to this point.
"I don’t even know what to call those things. Larger cousins of the Flatfoot Hunters, maybe? They’re bipedal and scaly, with fish heads. But we need to get someone to the turrets before they run out of charge. They might not be able to jump the wall, but it’s not going to take them long to figure out how to get over if they can reach it."
Kalli searched the weapons section of her store for anything that might be new and improved, compared to what she had been selling.
Only to find that there really wasn’t much, except in the rare grade weapons category.
{Pulse Rifle} Rare Grade. Fires a three pulse burst of Ionized Plasma. Low output, high rate of fire. 15 damage per pulse. 90 pulses per charge, 10 mana to recharge, 10 second reloading time.
"How do you feel about the spray and pray method? I’ve got these." Kalli offered.
They were much less expensive to reload, and a three pulse burst did the same damage as a single shot from a Rare Grade Laser Rifle.
If you hit with all three pulses.
"Slow to recharge, so it’s a backup weapon today. But I’ll take it. How expensive is it?"
Kalli frowned. "It’s a rare grade rifle, 25 points. Which is actually affordable, considering that the Laser Rifles are the same price at Rare Grade." And that was after she had cut the cost of weapons by half.
"I’ll have the points by the end of the day."
"Got it. Who’s next?"
"Keep the pulse rifles coming if you have the points to front us. The reduced mana cost will keep us going for a while, and we will send runners to get cases of ammunition.
Actually, I’ll take a case now," Rip, the combat medic of the special forces team, insisted.
"Alright, here you go. Have fun. Do you need bandages?"
"I’ve got five cases of them for now. I’ll send someone to get more if we run out."
The rest of the team was next, and they followed Esmeralda to the wall so that she could set her undead against the tide of attackers in an effort to keep the main gates clear.
Ironically, having the river rerouted near the wall of the keep wasn’t helping them at all today.
They were facing Fishmen of some sort, and they were just charging through the water, unbothered by the fact that they were running along the river bottom.
Fortunately for the wooden gate, the skeletons felt the same way about it. Once they reached the outer wall, the Necromancer got right to work recharging the turrets at the gate, while she sent her whole pack of undead out to fight.
The Swineherds, the skeletons, even her Crocolisk was sent to engage the enemy as she topped off the mana storage of the nearby laser turrets, which were already nearly dry from their incessant pummelling of the attacking force.
"We’re going to have to put more people on the turrets, or we’re not going to be able to keep up with them," she realized.
The lasers would fire every second, so they needed at least one mana per second.
Which was more than most of them could regenerate, even the mages with their regeneration orbs would struggle.
"Warriors, take a turret! Until the enemy begins their breaching action, that’s your duty. Let the mages and rangers deal the damage, you keep the turrets charged, unless you’re a rifle specialist," Niall shouted, rallying the troops, who passed the message down the line.
While the warriors didn’t have a large mana pool, they did have some mana regeneration, and the lasers had much better range than their skills.
All around the base, the defenders were setting up to protect the fort as the oversized Flatfoot creatures surrounded them, shouting strange war cries and occasionally hurling spears at them.
The warriors quickly learned that it was best to defend the turrets with their shield so that the enemy couldn’t target them, but not many of the creatures were getting close enough to attack yet.
Mostly, it was just where the river was right next to the wall, as the lasers weren’t targeting the ones that approached from along the river bottom.
The sensors could clearly see them, but the defensive algorithm had mistaken them for fish, which were not a threat while they were in the river. So, it didn’t shoot at them until they left it.
That was an oversight on Kalli’s part.
However, that didn’t mean that the mages couldn’t attack them, and even a few lightning mages were enough to deal devastating damage to creatures trying to hide in a body of water.
Kalli continued to sell Pulse Rifles, ammunition cases, and various supplies to the defenders. But her attention was split between them, the camera feed from the turrets, and the radio signals she was getting from the fleet.
They were currently under attack by sea monsters, and holding their own.
But the terms of the trial specified that they were rewarded for holding territory.
They could try to chase all the monsters out of this portion of the sea, between Marimgar and Lilania Island. That should make this their territory, but did they want to claim a stretch of open ocean as theirs for future trials?
Wouldn’t it be better to work out a deal with Marimgar to defend a larger area around their town site?
If they could clear the area of monsters, they could even start farming.
But then, another thought. What if they returned to Kalka? The ships were fast enough that they could do it, and then they could start trying to rebuild in their own homeland.
However, all the heroes and most of the civilians near the coast had been removed by the various fleets.
So, if they chose that route, they would be reclaiming an empty territory that was already claimed by the other world.