Book 4. Chapter 34: Epilogue

Book 4. Chapter 34: Epilogue

Ophelia blocked the large tunneling wurm with her floating shield, as she chopped powerfully with her halberds axe into the creature, decapitating it. Its body continued to writhe in its death throes, but she continued on to the next target.

Bloodberri spun her tail in a dangerous weave of death as she swayed side to side, smashing into one wurm with her maul, as her tail cut into others attempting to latch on their star-like mouths onto her armor.

Tanda fired her bow next to Jake, targeting giant hornets and ants with tangling thornwood vines. The battlefield was hectic, and she took to reducing the enemies' mobility to keep them from being surrounded.

She had created a thick, tall ring of vines with a space cut out of it, that Jake and her operated out of. It limited both the ant and hornets approach, many opting to come into the somewhat small opening to attack Jake and her rather than coming from any direction.

Fhesiah danced outside the ring of vines with her fan, her waves of flames covering the horde of ants. Her dragon claw reaped the foes too fast and aggressive to wait for her flames to kill them, but she danced out of the way of dozens as her flames burned them down. She drew in the flames from those killed, only to send them out once more.

Bree the Heroic Boar stomped over the creatures near Jake, her flaming vines twisting and grabbing onto any creature that made it through the gap Tanda had left open. Bree grabbed hornets right out of the air, or spewed flames in front of her to destroy large waves of ants.

Jake shivered thinking how many lives this massive army had reaped. Dozens of small Rifts had gone unchallenged for far too long, spewing out these creatures for days or weeks until they reached a critical mass. Three or four of them had been pushed to become larger rifts, and bosses spawned to lead the lesser creatures to take out everything in the surrounding area.

When the storms ended, they left Lifes Haven. After less than a day of travel, they arrived East to where they saw the largest cluster of Rifts. There, they found much devastation. Two large cities the size of Cascadia were destroyed, but Jake was hopeful of people managing to flee.

There were few signs of conflict within the citys walls, and no corpses of the insects or the beastkin. He supposed insects would be likely to consume the remains of either, but he believed the people had warning.

The creatures were all capable of tunneling, except for the hornets, but those clearly spawned above ground. Jake could see how they would be mobile on Highlands, though they were not overly strong on their own.

Jake completed his Summon, the Garuda appearing in motes of light. Its large wing blade immediately cleaved four ants in two with a horizontal swing, and it blurred through the battlefield as it made short work of the level 20 creatures. Bree left their protective barrier, moving to join the unique creature on its assault.

He had summoned it a few times over the last few days, and he was satisfied with its effectiveness. It took more mana than the mere reserves the girls took, but Jake had a hard time being more efficient with his mana to defeat or defend against enemies, other than his Aura powering his girls or his army.

The big expenditure from having the creature out, was its cyclonic slash that it did. It took a fair percentage of Jakes mana each time it did it, and he would have a hard time allowing it to accomplish what it did when fighting the death dragon; it would drain him completely dry to use the three attacks in quick succession.

Unlike the Heroic Beasts, it had no problems being called for anything. Ophelia had dueled the creature many times at this point now, and Jake was quite happy for it. It pushed her to new heights, facing a foe that was just as mobile as her in many ways.

Its reach was longer than hers, the creature taking a form about the size of Bloodberri, so she had difficulty besting it.

The creature was at least as fast as Ophelia, cutting through creatures rapidly. Its wing-blade cleaved through creatures with ease, using wind to enhance its swings. Each swing took some mana from Jake, but he could keep up with the effect. Bree stomped alongside the creature, slicing through enemies and blowing out flames.

It even gathered Jakes Heavenly Aura around its blade, somehow managing to send flames in waves. A lesser attack, it dealt with the horde of enemies efficiently.

Ophelia sent out a wave of flames with [Consecration], an echo of the attack coming out of Jake as well, covering dozens of the wurms and insect creatures even outside Jake and Tandas barrier of vines.

Ophelias shield filled with her [Hearth of Hestia] inside blocked the massive Elite Hornet that dove at her, as Bloodberri slammed into the Elite Wurms mouth with her [Maul of Hestia-Echidna].

Its jaws shattered and a large portion of its head went missing as light and dark were sent out in waves, then Bloodberri wrapped her snake body around the wurm. She crushed and shredded the creatures body at the same time, her armor, and strength cutting through the creatures flesh.Updated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m

Ophelia cut through the Elite Hornets wing, sending it careening toward the ground. She dove with her lance head covered in auril and infused with her powerful runes, piercing deep into the large creatures skull. It shook in its death throes, the boss monster dead.

Jakes powerful Summons cut through the numerous ants, fighting toward a giant Ant Queen. Its massive body would spawn more ants by the moment, thankfully, the creatures forming in motes of light as if summoned.

It appeared its pace was ramped up by being in combat, likely only spawning a few per hour outside of it. Otherwise, it wouldnt take long until a valley was filled with ants. There were many here, but it was more reasonable than what would be present from a dozen spawned per minute.

Fhesiah dragged her large amount of flames across the battlefield, dipping into her reserves heavily. Bree blew a large gout of flames into it, adding onto the attack. Fhesiah drew up a large orb of flame, combining it from the many dying creatures, and raised it into the air. Jakes Garuda swung its wing blade behind it, sending a large cyclonic strike into her flame.

Flames combined into the cyclone, widening it and empowering the flames with the wind. It became more like a horizontal fiery tornado, and it raged through the mass of ants and crashed into the Ant Queen, shredding and burning it and everything leading up to it to cinders.

Tandas vines had been lit aflame by Jakes consecration echo, and she used her new skill, [Plant Control], to unravel and roll her vines into the many enemies. She lost control as the vines died, but had been able to capture and kill many ants. She fired her bow in rapid succession, targeting the stragglers as they approached her and Jakes fortified location.

The bosses killed, the insects and remaining wurms went into disarray. Jake and his girls along with the Garuda cleared out the hundreds of enemies, and Jake and Ophelia finally reached level 23 as a result. Once completed, he allowed the Garuda to disperse into motes of light, keeping the creature out too taxing.

[Spell Learned: Reverse Summon]



[Transport self to nearby Summons, distance limited by bond strength. Has no distance limit for Hearth-bonded Summons, but time and mana cost increases over distance.]

Ophelia cheered, bounding into Jake. This changes everything! Well easily be able to make two efforts now. Fhesiah, Tanda and I can travel in one direction, and you can travel with Bloodberri and Ira in the other. We can hit Rifts with four out of five of us, like we were doing before without Fhesiah.

The mobility problem for Clan Hart was now solved. Jakes party would now be able to fight all day long, crushing Rifts faster than they could be formed. He could even send girls home to the HQ easily using his Refuge portal, making it easy for them to defend Cascadia, Lifes Haven and Harmony Peaks if it came down to it.

Unlike [Call Summon], the spell was much slower. He could sort-of use it in combat, but it wasnt an emergency movement spell. Perhaps with Iras assistance it could be sped up, but he doubted using it for anything other than traversing a large portion of the battlefield.

But summoning the creature was not a waste, as it would join their next fight, at least. He went ahead and summoned the hound. Appearing in motes of light, the noble hound appeared.

Jake now had a strange connection to the hound, he could tell much more easily now that she was here. It was bizarre, as he could tell that this entity was in fact different from Bree in some way, yet connected.

He stared at her for a long moment, trying to get a feel for the creature. He hadnt named it yet due to the haste in which it was originally summonedto help with stopping the Nagas river attack in Lifes Haven.

The hound somehow knew the situation, and Jake could tell that if he tried his feat again, things probably wouldnt go too well. She wouldnt want to clean up the monster corpses.

Groaning, he almost thought that this was a waste, but then he realized something as he searched her feelings.

You dont want to clean up the mess, since you didnt make itor didnt enjoy the battle. So how about Youll get to take part of the next one. He supposed that was kind of fair? Summoning an ancient being to merely clean up a mess someone else made would feel like he didnt respect them.

She sniffed, and shook her head. It appeared his offer was not good enough. He thought for a moment, then smiled.

He pulled out a rack of ribs of cooked Heroic Boar. Already glazed in sauce, the meat was dripping in vitality and life energiesand even mana. Jake had captured the essence of the creature and enhanced it using various auril herbs and spices, and even used a fruit much like blueberries from Highlands to create it. These pork ribs with his special glaze were absolutely delicious.

Tandas mouth watered, and she looked on in envyif Ophelia was here, she just might fight the Hound for it. Jake smiled. Later, my mate. So how about it, Isolyn? Help us clean up, and you can enjoy this now.

Jake resorted to bribing. He wasnt sure what the result would be, but he could see the hound was sniffing the air, more than interested. She didnt salivate or drool, but her ears were more at attention and her tails movements were almost more like a cats.

Jake could tell that she liked her new name, a twist on the name of Isolde. He had learned it meant ice ruler, or beautiful. Isolyn put her paw in front of her as if to offer for a shakean acceptance of the deal. He was happy to give the large paw a shake.

To his surprise, he could tell Isolyn wanted him to heat it up for her. He created a flame, quickly warming the meat to what he considered the appropriate temperature.

She grabbed the meat with her vines, taking a bite of the offering. Finding it acceptable, she then quickly chewed through the offering; bone and all. Licking her face of any extra sauce, he could tell she was more than pleased with her meal.

Vines grew out from her more rapidly, and she began dragging the corpses together for use of the Looting skill. Jake sighed, it would only save them a little bit of time, being able to sit and rest while using Looting. When objects were close enough and with their skill having increased, they could spend more energy to loot them.

It didnt cost much mana, but it did add up. Jake had to recover from the fight and prepare for the next one anyway.

Fhesiah, Blood and Berri dutifully triggered their skill on the many corpses, Jake and Tanda following suit. They killed hundreds of the creatures, and each one was worth hundreds, to the low thousands of T1 Credits.

They worked through their chore, maintaining their resources for when they got called. After having worked through over half of the corpses, Jake felt alarm over their bond, Ira picking up some fleeing beastkin.

It was more than just a few. Ophelia confirmed that thousands were crossing the mountains, climbing the mountain with children to head both away and to Lakemere from different areas. People were both heading towards and fleeing the city in question, perhaps not knowing the situation.

They were extremely lucky that Jake and his party wiped out this large army, as the hornets likely would have attacked them in short order.

While Jake and his party could help these people, it was important for them to reach Lakemere, so Ophelia continued as they finished their cleanup.

Tanda said, It looks like its a good thing Mysticus picked this way, huh? Between East and West, East had the most good fortune.

Jake shook his head. It was a close thing. Its more that West was too chaotic. By heading to Lakemere, it was clear the outcome was good. We just have to trust that Morwen and Yiming are making out well to the West. The divinations and calculations seemed to show us heading here first was best. Whether its a timing thing or some sort of butterfly effect thing is anyones guess.

Fhesiah was still processing some of her kill energy, her too reaching level 23.

She said, Divinations can be like that. The enemy may be making predictions too. They can move as a result of our movement, picking a course of action as a result of ours. Tartarus is a complicated enemy, and the best we can do is never show weakness, and hit them with overwhelming strength.

Blood and Berri smiled, as Berri tapped the haft of her maul against her palm repeatedly, a motion that Jake didnt think normal for such a large weapon. I can do it! Ill smash them all! Only 30% until the Raid and we make babies!

Tanda laughed. Is that all? With Berri that energetic, I bet well have Tartarus beat in no time.

Jake felt a bit of alarm at that, the time now feeling a little too near. As much as he thought he was ready to be a parent, he still worried. Being a Champion was hard enough already. Still, looking at Berris eager smile, he would just have to push down his worry. There was no way he wasnt going to make her happy.

Fhesiah wrapped her armored body around Jake. Aw, husband, do not worry. With four, five mommies, depending on how you look at it, being a dad will be a breeze. If its too much work, we can always get some servants. Its unfortunate Rhia wouldnt make a good nanny.

Berri said, She might! When shes full from living on Highlands, accidents are difficult to happen, their control over eating the living much higher. Then, she could wear some baseball er, soft gloves!

Blood sighed. She definitely just imagined Rhia wearing baseball mitts carrying our daughter first, by the way. Still, I doubt our children will be nearly as fragile and as much work as a human child, Milord. A Dark Lamia child could win against a human adult from Earth shortly after birth. Echidna said her race would be even more powerful.

Jake wasnt sure how to feel about that, and that detail seemed to increase his feelings of worry instead. However, his thoughts were interrupted by Ophelia arriving at Lakemere.

[It looks like Lakemere is actually under siege, several undead Necromancers leading a fairly large army. It should be no problem for us, but we should hurry. It looks like many are in need of resurrection.]

Jake prepared his [Reverse Summon] spell to quickly join Ophelia. The fight on Highlands was entering the final stages. They had various paths of advancement remaining, and they would push the invaders off of this world after clearing the two Greater Rifts and the Raid.

Highlands would be forever changed, and Hearthtribe would be borne as a powerful fighting force that would shock the Sector.