Book 2. Chapter 4: Rifts

Book 2. Chapter 4: Rifts

Jake sat in Berris backpack facing backwards, watching in awe as the girls tail undulated rapidly back and forth, propelling them forward at a prodigious pace. Jake had learned from watching that parts of her armor covered the underside of the tail, and while most of it was less smooth than snake scales, for example, some of it was made to be even smoother. Some areas were also made to provide traction, and Berri effectively slid on the smooth parts and grabbed with the rough parts to propel her forward.

It was mesmerizing for Jake to watch as she overcame obstacles and used each section of her tail effectively. Jake thought her ability to use different sections of her tail and not get her armor caught on things was nothing short of a major accomplishment.

In the past, Jake had worn baggy shirts or pants and got them caught on door handles and knocked things over in his house, but Berri here was like a giant coatrack of things jutting out of her armor and not touching anything not meant to be. Her proprioception must be supernatural, Jake realized.

Youre really amazing, Berri.

Berri blushed at Jakes genuine praise, feeling Jakes emotions through their bond. She laughed, I had to practice a lot! I didnt want to hurt any of the children with my armor

Their trip was mostly uneventful until they got close; them taking a break for lunch about halfway to their destination. The ride with Berri, Jake had to admit, was quite comfortable. While her snake tail undulated quite rapidly and moved them both quite fast, her upper body was quite stable. In a way, it was a little unnerving Jake felt the ride was less bumpy than riding a car or motorcycle, and probably at a similar pace, even through the forest. Between her monstrous strength, divine reinforcement, and Jakes stamina regeneration, she was way faster than she had any business being.

Her upper body was raised, and it was almost like it was stabilized, like how you could hold a chicken and the head stay positioned in one place as you moved the body. At the same time, she was like how a duck floated over water showing no effort, but their feet were kicking furiously under the water; her tail undulating furiously behind her as her humanoid body floated forward rapidly showing no effort, along with Jake. Jake was also surprised at how little sound she made, and how easily she went over all terrain.

Jake could easily face himself either way in the basket, sitting or standing, and he realized he had room for more people in it, but Ophelia and Fhesiah flew in the sky watching for threats. Maybe it wasnt so bad?

Jake could feel Berris emotions, and she had a feeling of satisfaction with a smile on her face. She said, I enjoyed having you so close, Milord. It felt like I was really serving you, and the stamina regeneration spell made it feel like I could travel forever. It feels fantastic to have the wind in my face now that I can remove my mask out of combat. I imagined that instead of the backpack, it was you hugging me. I dont mind you riding my back at all, Milord.Updated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m

You hear that Jake? She enjoyed you riding her in front of us, and she wants you to mount up and ride her once again. So shameless, that snake.

Jake still couldnt help but be embarrassed at her needling, but perhaps the benefits outweighed the shaming that the demoness was doing.

As they got close to their destination, they ended up passing other adventurers and fighting some patrols of orcs. While there were intelligent orcs in the multiverse, these were of the dungeon spawn variety. They would not speak with them, and they would give no quarter. The flying women both took them out from afar, defeating the small patrols with ease. Jake guessed the orcs were at best level 11 or 12.

Eventually, they arrived at a village that housed a few hundred people. The protection was a wooden stake fence that was already damaged in several areas. Outside, there was already a gathering of Adventurers.

Jake had already talked with the girls and had decided that this would be a dry run. While the game he had played also had a sort of rift mechanic in it as well, and he already read and learned what he could expect from these threats, he wanted to see how others led the assault and if there was anything to be learned. For at least one time, unless nobody competent was leading, he would act as a regular adventurer and not a Champion of Hestia.

Once he learned what to expect, he would likely lead many of these minor raids to close rifts all over the world, wherever it was they decided to go. Jake could tell his party's ability to travel far surpassed other parties, as he found that many that had arrived had left hours earlier, and only just arrived as well. Some had ridden in on horses or similar creatures, but Berri was somehow a cut way above that.

There was a man dressed like a roman legionnaire, who looked to be in charge. Jake thought he looked strong for a human, and had a crew style military cut of hair, holding his helmet in one of his arms. He looked like he was born in the military.

They approached Jakes party as they got near, and he spoke, Greetings, I am Antonius of the [Sons of Rome] guild. Youre here to help with the rift, I take it? What are your classes and levels?

Jake had inspected Antonius with his [Arcane Eye], and while he looked strong in his non-magical sight, he was not impressed with his magical one. While there was no identify or scan type spell available for non-scouting classes that could tell someones level, Jake thought he could get an accurate measurement using this summon and comparing their magical energy, even melee classes would use mana to a certain extent, or have enchanted equipment. There were a few among the crowd that had a decent level of magical power and otherwise, but Antonius and his equipment seemed little to write home about. Still, hed humor the guy.

Jake motioned to each member as he brought them up. Yes, were here to help with closing this rift. Im Jake, a level 10 Summoner. Ophelia is a 10 Valkyrie, Fhesiah a 10 Cultivator, and Berri here is a 12 Priestess. By the third member the man already looked disinterested, Jake guessed due to his level.

Antonius had a patronizing look on his face and said, Rifts are very dangerous, you shouldnt be out here at only level 10. A few of you can at least heal, yes? If not, Id recommend you take on incursions until your level is more appropriate. Even with just healing, that makes me a bit worried about your safety.

Fhesiah bristled at this, but Jake mentally communicated with her. Depending on the mans answer he would either take out his staff and use his status of [Knight] or go along with his leadership. They could always feign compliance and then change things up as the rift progressed, after all. We all can heal in combat except for Fhesiah here. How many Rift closures have you personally led and been a part of?

This meant that a good portion of his talent was most likely his [Mana Core], or Ophelia really short-changed herself while she was growing up, though, his bond had some sort of strengthening effect to improve their talent. Jake did know that in general valkyries were better at using mana than humans, so perhaps his exceeding even that showed that he was talented, at least for a human.

At any rate, Antonius at least apologized for his rudeness, perhaps just following a little bit of mob mentality and a misunderstanding originally, but Jakes [Presence] shocked him out of it. He would give him one more chance and one more chance only before he took over this run against the [Rift].

Jake said, We do, but were not here to argue about each others skill levels, are we? Were here to unite against the outsiders and protect this village. Antonius can confirm we dont even have any rings, if youre so concerned about us increasing the difficulty. Antonius, I believe you were about to discuss our plan of action?

Thats right, I can clearly see you dont have any rings on you, I do apologize for that...Now that everyone is here, we can talk about our assault on the rift. If you look at your synchronized maps, to the north

Antonius explained their plan of attack. They would split into 3 groups and clear three known areas where the orcs congregated after their emergence from the portal, and then they would meet up and assault the rift proper. Attacking the rift without clearing these groups could result in a failure, as the units would pincer them. They didnt preemptively clear these groups while waiting, because often it would not take long for them to re-emerge from the portal and be reinforced, resulting in them needing to fight once more.

Jakes group was teamed up with two other groups of five. They headed to their destination, Jake once again rode on Berris backpack, and their other groups rode on horseback. When they arrived, they found it to be a war camp of orcs. There were about forty of them, and they were of various types.

They had minor fortifications around the camp that more or less matched the village they had been to; it was a palisade type fence; the tops sharpened into points to prevent mounts from charging or otherwise assaulting it. There were eight archers up in a large watchtower, and the unit of Orcs was clearly aware of their presence as they approached.

Jakes partys task was simple. Protect and heal the others while they assault the Orc camp. It was demeaning to the girls, but it would give Jake and the others a front-row seat at how other people in the multiverse fought. They looked to have mostly balanced groups but did in fact only have one healer to spread across the two groups, if not for Jakes group. They each had two shield-wielding types for a total of four, and one archer. The last classes were mage types, and some of them began casting.

They didnt use system casting, but some form of chant-based casting. It took almost as long as Jake used to take to cast his [Mana Bolt] at level 1, but once they were done chanting, they launched respectable, equal-sized firebolts and shards of ice at the watchtower.

Jake did his best to watch this casting with his [Arcane Eye], but also with his new magical senses. When Mana control reached the first Tier, it now allowed him to feel magic to a greater extent. While [Arcane Eye] was superior in range, it was still interesting to sense it. This is what Ophelia or Berri had to rely on, in terms of being able to feel enemy casters and what they were trying to accomplish. As the men chanted their spells, mana built up. Much like his runic phrases, once the chanting or runes were completed, the mana took on another shape and feeling, before being shot off. Jake felt like even without his [Arcane Eye], he would have a good idea of what was happening, after feeling enough spells being cast.

One directly struck and blew one of the orcs out of the tower and harmed the others nearby, but the other two missed direct hits and instead struck within the tower, lighting it aflame or spreading frost and harming the orcs shooting out of it. The orcs started firing arrows high from within the camp, and the warrior types of the battlegroup formed a shield wall to protect their own casters. The battlegroups archers returned fire and killed off the other orcs in the tower, and they began moving forward while protected by the shield wall.

Fhesiah walked in behind Ophelia and Jake did similarly, and Berri just walked through the arrows pinging off her thick armor. Between Jakes [Divine Reinforcement], her own [Armor of Faith], and her thick, enchanted plated armor, anything but a direct shot from a high-powered bow, perhaps enhanced by magic or a special skill was no danger to her. Shots aimed high would not hit straight on enough to provide enough penetrating power against this undulating tank.

It was once they entered the camp that the fighting got quite hectic. Jake cast [Cure Wounds] spell continuously in an effort to get it to Advanced, being stuck at level 4 like it was. Ophelia focused on runic barriers, and Berri just watched over the battle impassively.

In Jakes mind, he felt like he knew what she was thinking without being able to hear her thoughts: that she could take out this entire encampment by herself. Just why were these people trying so hard? Why dont they just smash the little green men with their mace? Fhesiah was acting like she was just on a stroll behind Jake and Ophelias shield wall, and was bored. She now had her fan out as she walked.

Emboldened by Jake and Ophelias support, the two parties were able to work through defeating all of the orcs. While the orcs were much tougher than the Gnolls Jake and Ophelia originally fought, it didnt feel like it was by that much, and yet most of those involved in the melee were not much better than she was at that time.

The battlegroup had to use superior tactics to defeat each orc in melee, as one on one they would not do very well, and they were outnumbered. The mages also looked a bit tired after firing six or seven firebolts or ice shard spells each, and these spells were not enough to kill an orc outright, at least when they were not flung out of a tower to fall to their deaths.

Jake was quite glad for this foray. He really would have severely overestimated the battlegroups capabilities, though he knew these two groups were weaker than some of the others. Apparently, this camp was one of the smaller ones, and their party was more numerous.

One of the party leaders addressed everyone, That was some good work, everyone. We should have fifteen minutes to rest up before heading to the rendezvous point. Jake saw the mages take out some drinks that were laced with mana to help restore their reserves over time. They were not exactly mana potions but would have a much slower-acting and longer-lasting effect.

Jake had such things but had almost never felt a need to use them. His mana regeneration was already absurd as it was, and despite how large his mana pool was, it only took less than an hour to get full from empty. At the same time, the dungeons they faced were usually of the travel to a single powerful encounter type, where they would either easily regenerate all his mana between fights, or he would need a mana potion instead. His ruminations were interrupted by Fhesiah closing her fan with a snap, Hey Berri, come here. Her thoughts were closed off, and he thought she might be up to no good.

Jake got up from where he was sitting to try to stop whatever it was that she was about to do, but some guy with a few others approached him and started to talk to him. Jake, was it? I wanted to say that were sorry for how we acted. Its clear that you and your party are quite strong; you really covered for us all with the amount of healing and shields you and the valkyrie put out. We might have even had deaths if-

His speech was interrupted by a large crash, followed by the giant watchtower creaking and tilting, slowly falling over where it made another loud crash. Thankfully it fell in another direction from where everyone was congregated. Jake could hear Berri taunting the demoness, See, Fhesiah! I told you I could knock it down in one blow. Did Jake really doubt I could do it?