Book 2. Chapter 5: Orc Commander’s Rift

Book 2. Chapter 5: Orc Commander’s Rift

Jake was surprised to learn that the previous war camp sort of spawned given enough time after a rift opened. In a flash of light like him adding onto his refuge, orcs that emerged would arrive at predefined locations and create fortifications. Not all Rifts worked this way, but often when the creatures emerging were of the intelligent sort, this was often the case.

They were now at the rendezvous point, and the other two teams arrived. Jake had learned that his two groups were in fact the lower levels among the force and those with the least amount of experience, but he was not very impressed. He had also learned that chant-based casting was the more prominent of the denizens of this world, rather than being something most common in the multiverse.

Jake did somewhat see the appeal of chant-based casting. It had a longer casting time, but the efficiency was high even with their low amount of mana control. It also produced the same result every time for their skill levels, so there was a power in uniformity as well. It was also much easier for casters to form a sort of ritual, where a group of mages could generate one empowered attack; other casting types had this capability, but required much more preparation and much higher skill levels among those involved.

Even Framework-based casting needed [Mana Control] to be at the peak of the advanced stage to be able to learn the skill [Formation Casting]. Jake would need to learn what it took to create this type of effect using runes, as their group already had three casters that could use runes in his party, and Jake would do what he could to help Berri become the fourth.

The [Sons of Rome] guild did look to be better equipped, and they did carry themselves much better than the other groups. They were just at the limit of the level range of the [Rift] to not cause the encounters difficulty to be increased overly much. With their leadership, this team had a good chance of defeating it without many losses, from what Jake could tell.

[Cmon Jake, dont be mad and ignore me. It wasnt that bad, nobody got hurt, and its not like they would want that Orc watchtower standing. You should have seen Berris face. It was hilarious! She was so proud of what she did! Its not my fault they didnt even let me entertain myself with fighting.]

Jake just shook his head, but he cracked a smile. It was like he was herding cats; he had a 104-year-old child, and yet another giant and dangerous child. Thankfully, he also had

The valkyrie interrupted his thoughts about her, Do you think that big guy over there would duel me? He looks like he might be strong. I think he might be a half-ogre?

Just as he thought he could count on her to be his rock that couldnt possibly cause trouble for him, she once again proved to him that there was only one place that he could count on his girls to behave as he hoped and expected. The battlefield. Well, the bedroom too, he realized.

Antonius was now directing them on their assault to close the [Rift]. Once they entered a predefined radius based on its size, the [Challenge] would trigger based on those entering it. Creatures would spawn if they werent already there, and often in waves, they would face enemies until they defeated them all. Sometimes there would be a boss, and other times there would just be many enemies. Either way, they just had to kill everything that came out of the rift, or face those that were already present when they began the challenge.

Jake had summoned his trusty badgerdillo once again, and he had the [Arcane Eye] out watching everything. Their battlegroup of over thirty people entered the rifts area, and after a few seconds the large, purple, glimmering portal turned red. His [Menu] lit up a notification.

Orc Commanders Rift

Levels 12-16

Wave 1/3

A contingent of orcs spawned behind the portal. It looked like red lightning struck from the other side of the portal, and the lightning left the force of orcs in its wake on the ground beneath the portal itself. There were forty orcs, and they were arranged in units. There were casters, archers, and many of the orcs were wielding two-handed weapons or a combination of axe and shield.

The enemies advanced, and the [Sons of Rome] led their own formation along with many others. It felt like Jake was watching a battle from a strategy game, only this was real life for Jake. He couldnt help but feel excited about this.

Jake guessed that in the greater multiverse, there would be all sorts of classes or types of abilities that could render regular armies or creatures ineffective, from people that might be spirits like Fhesiah was previously, to classes that could fill the area with poison as a sort of scorched earth tactic. It made sense that the outsiders would have some mechanism to handle these types of scenarios without just sucking it up and taking a loss, such as spawning with anti-spirit weaponry in the first example, and gas masks or similar in the second one.

It was a good thing Jake learned this fact, and it once again showed how important it was for Jake to master as many spells as possible, and keep as many answers in his [Storage Bracelet]. Jake wondered if his being present in future rifts would increase the likelihood of creatures that wouldnt fall prey to [Field of Frost]. However, this counter to Jakes spell was not without cost for the outsiders. While the second wave had even better equipment than the first, this wave had worse, aside from the Orc Commander.

The [Orc Commander] roared, and the army of orcs was enveloped in red energy. They moved with greater fervor, moving faster and they bulged up and became stronger. Even the commander himself became bigger. Jake was surprised when Berri started casting a spell.

Jake was a little frustrated with what he learned about Berris spells. She had [Dark Magic], but Jake couldnt learn very much about it from her, at the level of detail he was used to. She was very much a natural type of spellcaster that did not learn through studying as Jake did. Her spells were driven by her feelings about how her magic worked, and Jake supposed it did match her monstrous nature. She didnt have a list of spells to give him, but there was a spell that made enemies weak that Jake guessed would be a logical choice for her to cast now.

She completed her casting, and a dark, purplish aura spread out from the middle of the enemy formation. The bulging orcs definitely lost some of their bulk, from what Jake could clearly see. The [Sons of Rome] and the rest of the battlegroup started working on killing the orcs, and they prepared for the approaching [Orc Commander]. Fhesiah and Berri were cutting through the enemy flanks, and Fhesiah activated her Warg Cloak. It enveloped the battlegroup, giving them a red energy of their own.

Jake used this leeway to cast a few Runic Spears of Ice against the orcs, and Ophelia cast a few [Spear of Hestia] attacks at the [Orc Commander] that was in the rear of their formation, and they caused the orc no small amount of harm as they pierced their armor and hurt them with their flames, but the damage appeared to be mitigated by their red aura.

The battlegroup mages were casting spells of their own, raining death on the orcs and even the orc commander. Their spells were mostly ineffective against the large humanoid, but the commander grunted and got pushed back at the effort, giving them a little more time to finish off the orcs and focus on the commander. The commander was getting near the battlegroups formation, but Berri was getting near to the commander, as well. She wanted to take this enemy on, for some reason.

Her tail shredded or tossed orcs left and right, and she smashed orcs aside with her mace with ease. Jake couldnt help but feel that his initial thoughts about this woman were correct, that she was very much a weapon of war. That the [Dark Lamia] would keep her around despite her so-called curse was proof of her worth. Fhesiah was doing her fair share of work, weaving in and out of the enemy formation and cutting orcs. Shortly they would have nothing left to deal with but the [Orc Commander] himself.

The [Orc Commander] met with the melee defenders, but they activated a shield skill. Jake guessed it was a skill called [Phalanx], that he had seen in the game. Each defender with the skill would add to the amount of defense, and it allowed a group of coordinated and prepared defenders to defend against much larger creatures without being flung away or their shields mangled into uselessness in a single attack. The large orcs massive club met with their shields, but they were barely pushed back, the six of them gathered in formation.

The last regular orc had died, and Berri began wrapping her tail around the large orc, engrossed with attacking the front of the battle group's formation as he was. He was large, but he was not larger than her. As her tail wrapped around them, they tried to fight the tail off but were rebuffed and pierced by several of the blades lining her tail, until she had even their arms bound.

Berris body then glowed with heavenly might, and she raised her mace and smashed it into the orcs head crushing its skull, using her [Mace of Hestia] ability. Healing energy hit the battlegroup, and everyone gasped in awe. The enemy that they were prepared to have a difficult challenge against, was defeated so easily by her.

Rift Closed.

Party Contribution: A

Contribution Points: 343

Berri lowered the lifeless corpse of the [Orc Commander] to the ground, releasing them from her stranglehold. They had to unhook various blades and spikes that had entered the orcs skin and get them dislodged from his body and armor, but eventually, she picked up the large mace the giant orc was carrying from the ground. To Jake, it reminded him of a giant caveman club, only made of metal. It had metal studs all over it, but otherwise was somewhat smooth.

I killed the little green guy, so I can keep his stuff, right?