Chapter 60: Book 1: Chapter 23 (Part 2 of 6)

“…New plan, into the school,” I bellowed and enforced the order with my will.

All four of us stopped in our tracks and ran over to the school building. It honestly did look more like a community centre than a school, but there couldn’t have been too many children on the island, especially during the off-season.

The door was padlocked, but I jammed an ice dagger conjured on the fly into the lock and after a few seconds the accumulated cold damage made the metal brittle enough to smash. We could have broken a window or forced the doors, but I didn’t know if that would make things easier for the incoming shoal of fish demons.

With the lock broken I tried the door handle.

You are not a resident of St. James Township or an eligible entrant. This is your only warning. Any repeated attempt to gain access to the building will result in the application of security measures.

“Jackson, open the doors,” I told the green-clad sorcerer and stepped back out of the way.

Jackson quirked his eyebrows in confusion but hopped up the handful of steps to the door. As I had a second, I analysed the school.

Beaver Island Community School

Owner: St. James Township Access: St James Township residents and under 18’s. Mana Enabled Security: Level 5 Protection field Durability: 10,000/10,000

 

The door opened smoothly for Jackson, and he stepped in holding the door open for us. Apparently, this was enough of an ‘invite’ and we rushed through with alacrity, closing the door behind us.

I noticed the door had a turn-lock that didn’t need a key from the inside. “Jackson, lock the door.”.

The lock clicked and less than a second later the first wave of Lesser Fomorians poured into the car park we had just vacated.

Lesser Fomorians x264
Grade: T Level:  1 (36 at 2)
HP: 200	Value: Low
Threat: Exceptionally High	900 XP each
Lesser Fomorian’s are a kind of sea demon, but not limited to saltwater. They have a Mana based ability which allows them to leave water for a period of up to 24 hours. When they return to the water the ability can’t be used again for 2 + number of hours out of the water. If they leave the water without activating the ability they will begin to suffocate, incurring Hit Point damage.

 

They were bald humanoids the same height as a human with large, dark, fish-like eyes. A few slits on the sides of their throat suggested they had gills and their skin was a pasty white. Their fingers and toes were webbed, and they were nude but seemingly lacked any external genitals which was a blessing. They were armed with a variety of harpoons and spears made from large, spiny, fish bones.

No ranged weapons, unless you counted the harpoons, which should at least make running from them a little easier if we had to. I may have relished the challenge, but I didn’t want to lose Shana.

I didn’t want Jackson to die either, but for obvious reasons, Shana’s welfare took precedence. Anastasia would be fine provided I was, which actually gave me an idea depending on what happened next.

Over the next ten seconds or so more of the shoal of over two hundred filled the car park and surrounded the building. A few of them got within a few feet of the building and then backed off. For the time being, it looked like they weren’t going to try and overwhelm the protection field.

That was when the Greater Fomorian waded through his smaller brethren.

Greater Fomorian
Grade: J Level:  2
HP: 2,000	Value: Low
Threat: Impossible	5,320 XP
Greater Fomorian’s are a kind of sea demon, but not limited to saltwater. They have a Mana based ability which allows them to leave water for a period of up to 24 hours. When they return to the water the ability can’t be used again for 2 + number of hours out of the water. If they leave the water without activating the ability they will begin to suffocate, incurring Hit Point damage.

 

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The Greater Fomorian was nine feet tall and twice the width of the smaller versions. He had the same pallid, pasty, skin and wielded a huge fucking harpoon that had to be twenty feet in length with jagged coral making the barbed tip.

I stepped up to the door and stared the fucker down.

Subconsciously I acknowledged Quixbix advising me that the beasts’ threat from my analysis was based on having the shoal of other Fomorians with him and not an individual assessment.

This was the moment of truth: would they storm our stronghold or withdraw for a prolonged siege.

The Greater Fomorian returned my stare and then opened its wide mouth revealing rows of thin spine-like teeth. He looked just like a deep-sea Anglerfish and let loose with an almighty gargled roar.

But they didn’t attack.

The Greater Fomorian spat some foul muck onto the road, bark-gurgled some orders to the rest and then sat its ass on the ground with a fishy sneer in my direction.

Half of the smaller versions followed his directions and took off towards the bay. The rest spread out around the building, though a quick analysis for a second time revealed there were still more than a hundred of them as well as the big one to contend with.

The threat level dropped from Impossible to merely Near Impossible, things were looking up.

I turned to the rest of my team as we stood in the entrance hall of the school.

“Looks like they aren’t willing to try and break through the protection field,” I told them.

“What level is it?” Jackson asked me.

“Five,” I told him. “Why?”

“Shana filled me in that they are T-grade mobs with two hundred Hit Points, right. Let me see,” he muttered, and his eyes went distant, reading through some of the help files.

<I could tell you what he is looking for> Quixbix grumped.

I ignored the imp and waited for Jackson to finish his own calculations.

“As I thought, they are strong enough to break through, but the entire shoal would take fifty to ninety percent feedback damage if they did so. It makes sense that they are waiting until the field comes down” he said after a moment.

“Wait, why is the field going to come down?” I asked in alarm.

Jackson pushed his lens-less specs back up his nose. “The school’s protection field is derived from it being part of the St. James Township. Suppressing the podium as they have will destroy the settlement so to speak, at least in terms of the Framework recognising it as a settlement. After that, the field goes poof. I assumed Quixbix told you this before you ordered us to come in here.”

“Quix, what the fuck have you done?” I barked angrily at the imp.

<Cool your heels, Torin> my imp snarked. <I’m as at risk as you these days. I wouldn’t have suggested this if it wasn’t the best idea.>

“Explain,” was all I managed to respond with to his grossly inappropriate laidback attitude.

<Boy wonder is right; the field will fail if the settlement is eradicated. However, when you approached the suppressed podium, you interrupted that process and forced it to start over. And during that moment, the podium activated, and I was able to interface with it, so I know exactly how long we have, which the Fomorians do not> Quixbix replied.

“Uh-huh,” I mumbled, unsure where he was going with this.

<You forgot I could interface with podiums didn’t you> the imp sighed.

“Kind of, I blame it on you not being able to tell us where it was earlier,” I admitted.

<Podiums for settlements where all the residents are dead or have been left, go inactive. I can’t find what I can’t connect to> he explained.

“Fine, how long do we have until the settlement is eradicated and the field drops,” I said.

<Twenty-eight hours> Quixbix told me. <Which is almost the maximum of thirty. Plus, having interfaced with the podium briefly I know the Fomorians originally started the process ten hours ago, shortly after you channelled the Shattered Goddess. That means even if the Greater Fomorian just came from the bay, he would need to return to the water before the timer expires. The big lug has no way of knowing the timer has restarted and will likely assume the field will drop before he is forced to return.>

After Quixbix finished Anastasia yelled out “Uuuhh, those fucking scaly fish cunts are crawling all over me.”

We all looked at her in surprise.

“Well, the ship me, that is. I can feel them and their horrid mucous covered fish-feet, and it is fucking disgusting,” she shuddered.

“They can’t get below deck, can they?” I asked, though I suspected Anastasia would be a bit more alarmed if they could.

“Not easily,” Anastasia assured us. “The ship is in lockdown. The substance it’s made of is very tough and it self-repairs as long as there is Dungeon Mana available to feed the regeneration. So far, they seem to be content crawling over the ship getting their foul slime everywhere.”

“Good,” I said. “That they can’t get in not that they are sliming you,” I clarified when Anastasia glowered at me.

“Seeing as we have some time, I have been thinking things over and have a plan, or I should say a series of plans. Ana, you’re not going to like the part you get to play,” I grinned at the temperamental minx.

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