SockySake

  Damian was trying to right himself to get back in the action, but he felt a forceful push from above. Frey had a stern hand on his shoulder, keeping him from rising.

  "You're staying right here with me... Your crazy actions almost got you killed. You were supposed to teleport away." Her voice was an octave deeper and very commanding.

  Ah! Guess I didn't look cool. I messed up. Best not to say anything...

  Frey raised her staff and shot out a fire beam at a flying wraith that made it past Higgins's shield wall. She didn't wobble this time from her rapid mana use.

  'Gulp'

  "Ah... How about we get a bit closer to the action? We're not that much help from back here."

  Frey's grip on his shoulder tightened.

  "We can get Alex to dump her storage of earth and rocks behind the front line. Some other person with remote earth affinity can shape it into a tower..."

  Frey's grip stayed clenched on his shoulder.

  "Sounds like a good idea to me. Come on, Frey, we can't finish this weakly. Got to finish strong!" Alex backed Damian up and even patted him on the back.

  "That's assuming that this is going to be finished once we clear those wraiths." Frey chided.

  "Um... I think I'd like to fight more." Donna came for support. She wore a determined look.

  That reminds me... It's been chaotic, but I don't think I've seen a wraith mimic Isaac's powers yet.

  'sigh' Frey let out a breath.

  "Ok, but we're putting those towers up further back. I don't want us to get wiped out if another tier 6 decides to make an entrance."

  Ah, she didn't see the behemoth at the castle. Should I say something now or—

  Fergus spoke up, "We should have the towers off to the sides. If an exceptionally rge wraith fires something into the Spire, we'd be less likely to take the direct hit. I also don't think we should leave the tower until we see the Valkyrie."

  Then that settles things...

  Damian and his group had to pass by the ape wraith on their way to the front lines. It was still corporeal and faced down into the dungeon stone. Damian wouldn't be getting his sword back without someone flipping the creature over.

  He had also left the one-handed hammer back where his team was. It was fairly heavy, without a grip, and would slow him down. He'd have to make do with the dagger. His old trusty sword, for the st couple of months, had been left out by the wall.

  Now almost weaponless, he realized that he should have handed it off to Donna.

  Before they could fully pass by the giant wraith, another giant ran up to it. Alex was down near its feet, slowly pulling out the spike she used to disable its leg.

  Guess you can't be picky when your supply of weaponry is limited.

  "You did great, everyone." Damian pointed out that they all did something spectacur by sying the beast.

  Frey's grip on her staff seemed to tighten. Fire came to life around her legs, and she started to rise into the air. She then sent volleys of fireballs over the front-line shielders, lessening their burden.

  Shit, I said something wrong again!

  Before he could become too worried about Frey's outbursts, he felt a pat on the back. It was Fergus.

  "Well done. You were pretty cool back there... But I do think you cut it too close. Next time, we run." Fergus started to walk ahead, not letting Damian get a look at his face. He had a smirk subtly curling at the corner of his mouth.

  Before Damian could say anything, he was smacked in the back and stumbled forward a bit. This time it was Alex. "You couldn't have done it without me. Remember that." She said while wearing a cocky smile.

  Is that her version of a compliment?

  Prepared for another friendly assault, Damian looked back. He had caught Donna red-handed with her hand raised high, ready to pat him on the back. She froze for a moment and then completed the action.

  "Good job," was all that she squeaked out. Her eyes were focused on the battle ahead of them. They weren't done yet.

  Following where Donna was looking, Damian could see that Higgins and her guard had formed a half oval around the entrance. There were significantly fewer people to hold the wall, so there was barely a second line of defenders with shields.

  Ms. Sanderson was creating floating ptforms for archers and spell casters to stand on, but she could be doing better things with her mana once we got some raised towers made with Alex's earth.

  Alex practically hopped forward and patted a familiar face on the shoulder. It was the guy Damian had picked up earlier that day from the burning healing center. She was practically dragging the young man away from the front lines, although it didn't seem like he was compining.

  Off to the side of the shield oval, Alex began dumping her supply of rocks and earth. Some were big boulders half the size of the woman. She would usually set them out before a dungeon battle and kick them toward a bigger enemy.

  The smaller rocks were often summoned mid-air while she was swinging her sword sideways. When she smacked them, they'd fly off in an uncontrolled volley, not ideal for their current circumstances.

  The everyday dirt was just filler. Sometimes she'd prep an area and, with a stomp, would summon it into a spike. During winter camping, she'd summon it to create a yer over the snow.

  Recently, she has been trying to turn the rger boulders into crude chairs, but the oafish woman hasn't shown much precision in her work. They always ended up looking vaguely like seats, and they would have been just as well off sitting on the pin boulders.

  But given everything she's showcased with the skill, it surprisingly turned what was essentially a bag of rocks into quite a valuable tool for the party.

  She could work as a road paver if she ever retires. Damian thought cheekily.

  The tower was coming along quickly. It was a crude thing, with no way to climb up—just a raised ptform. But Ms. Sanderson approved of it. One of the hovering ptforms moved, carrying the people standing on it to their new tower.

  It looked like a successful match to Damian. The new tower owners kept firing away at the horde below.

  Alex was coaxing the earth shaper to build another tower. Hmm, how much earth has she been holding? Damian didn't know the Amazonian woman's full capacity. They had never tested it. But given the usual ws of storage spaces, it had to be a lot.

  A lot turned out to be 12 towers worth of earth. Plus, the woman kept some of the boulders and rocks for herself just in case. Damian and his party were now stationed on top of the tower that was furthest to the left of the archway.

  If the monstrosity at the castle could fire something at the Spire, they would be the most protected there by the Spire's indestructible stones.

  Frey had stopped flying, choosing to stand on the tower with everyone else. Alex was still flinging and recalling javelins every now and again with Fergus's aid.

  Although they were rapidly deteriorating, they now had to crash into the dungeon stone rather than the soft earth outside. She was angling her throws at a shallower angle than before to help slow the wear.

  Donna was still rapidly firing off water shots while chugging potions. Things were manageable as they were going. Ms. Sanderson was able to aid in the battle much more now that she didn't have to levitate numerous adventurers.

  I think everything is going to be alright. Traitorous words once again rang in Damian's mind. It seemed that he wouldn't learn his lesson of taunting fate.

  As everyone was firing off their spells, some unknown force seemed to pull at the projectiles, dragging them in a new direction. A turtle-like figure entered through the Spire's archway. It had a beak-like face that looked pin and ordinary on any species of turtle. The wraith walked upright on two legs and sported a rge shell on its back.

  As it walked forward, it held up a rge, transparent shield that seemed to draw all projectiles toward it. The shield was awfully familiar to Damian and his group. It was almost a one-to-one match with Isaac's, just many times rger.

  The wraith's action had stalled the momentum of the makeshift army for a moment, but in the next moment, all of the projectiles nded on the shield.

  It blew up. It blew up spectacurly.

  There was nothing left of the wraith, its final moments marked by sparing all the other nearby wraiths for mere seconds. Seconds that wouldn't change the fates of any of the wraiths that were barreling toward the small army.

  But in a previous life, those mere moments had saved their lives, and on numerous occasions, and especially today, a mere second of reprieve had saved Damian's, Frey's, Alex's, Fergus's, and Donna's lives.

  Tears were falling from their eyes. They could finally feel the true weight of Isaac's life choices in this moment.

  SockySake