Chapter 51: 36: Banter – Part 2

Manasong

We spend a long while waiting. When lunch time comes we share lights snacks to keep the hunger away but not slow us down with a full belly.

I see water mages orderly cast [Filling Waters] into buckets, then every mage passes by and takes a drink. Since this spell is free extra mana regeneration then there's no reason not to use it.

A few wind and fire elementals appear around the other towers and the wall, our tower is certainly filled with elementals in comparison. I see small ethereal beings once in a while, the [(Element) Spirit] spells are seemingly rarer than elementals.

Thankfully Horvath's and Silvane's group had their own Blessing mage cast spells on them so I only had to apply the buffs to the girls.

Slowly a huge wooden platform comes towards the south gate. On top of it we can see multiple structures: four domes at each corner, possibly where the magic tools that keep it afloat are located; at the center is a house-like structure where multiple people can be seen coming and leaving it, the command center; in front of it a the border there's the biggest ballista that I have ever seen, the Dragon's Bane.

It's made entirely out of glossy brown metal, darksteel, an alloy of steel with emellanat that allows it to hold enchantments. Golden lines run through it and I see the glint of multiple, head-sized magic crystals at the base. It floats perfectly still while a man effortlessly spins it around and tests all the mechanisms. Bolts as thick as a person and as long as a bus are organized horizontally in a wooden belt.

"There's grandpa," Lyle says. He points to the 5 people standing beside the ballista. Lord Alaraste, his wife Giana, Haaran, Vanea, and finally Werner Rizek.

While it's impressive that Lord Alaraste is level 102, Werner has some impressive stats.

I see the 4 members of Great Destiny appear out of the central structure of the platform, they stand behind the Lord.

The huge platform passes us and hovers over the south gate, to the happiness of the guards posted below it. No arrows will reach them while the platform is there.

A few minutes later Alissa narrows her eyes while looking at the forest.

"They have arrived," she says.

Captain Entoli hears Alissa and stirs up the bored soldiers. Slowly the entire battlefield seems to get ready.

Suddenly the sky is darkened by hundreds and hundreds of arrows that are lobbed towards us.

"ATTACK! GET TO COVER!" Bellows Captain Entoli.

We run towards our static cover and unfold the wooden boards, they are slanted and give us enough cover to sustain a frontal attack or one from the skies.

The arrows fall on the wood and a few crude bone tips pierce through the planks. The thuds of the arrows continue for a few long seconds until they pepper and finally stop.

Complete silence on the battlefield as we tentatively peek out from our cover.

"Seems clear!" A soldier yells.

"That was a taunt!" The Captain yells.

"KIII KIK BAKAWK!" Comes a chant out of the forest. "KII KIK BWKAWK"

The harpies chant their war cry a few more times then grow silent.

"Lord Alaraste!" Booms a male voice deep from the forest, the tell-tale signs of vocal magical enhancement are present. "I have come for your head!" The voice is strained and seems about to crack at any moment.

"You have said that the last time!" Alaraste answers, amused. His voice is also magically enhanced.

"This time I bring a surprise!"

"Is it babies?" Alarastes asks in an aloof tone.

"What!?" The Cooka-bleh voice's cracks.

"Babies, baby harpies. There is a new dish called 'hot wings' spreading through Rabanara," he says and pulls a bucket of Buffalo wings from his [Item Box], "The main ingredient is baby harpies, their wings and thighs specifically, but there's not enough baby harpies in town, we are in dire need of more of your babies," Alaraste says and takes a bite out of a thigh.

The harpy war cry starts to grow in volume again as they become more agitated.

"You, filthy, cannibals! Don't you have shame to eat a being so similar to you!?" Cooka-meh yells in an increasingly higher pitched tone.

"You are a monster, we eat monsters," Alaraste answers flatly.

"You dare eat MY CHILDREN!?" The voice booms so loud my ears hurt. The chanting grows louder.

"Oh please, Cookachickadoodoolee," Alaraste says the tongue-twister with ease and throws the bucket away, "we all know how limp you are, the harpies are your minions, not your lovers."

"My, name, is, KOTICK O'DOLEE!" The voice cracks again. "Your own grandfather named me this way. Show some respect!"

"Actually, that's the name of the adventurer whom you first met, he didn't give you a name so grandfather called you 'Kotick's monster' or 'O'Dolee's monster'. I'm sorry, but you don't really have a name, until I named you, that is."

An awkward silence lingers in the air for a few seconds.

"What?" the Cooka-thing asks in a faint voice.

"I thought you knew that. Did you seriously not know the name of the adventurer that found you? The one you loved so much?"

"I wasn't... I couldn't, I couldn't understand! I wasn't aware of the world during that time!" Cooka-ugh's voice breaks down and he seems to be crying.

"Please, keep your mental breakdown to yourself," Alaraste says on a tired tone. "Now, you said you had a surprise for us, so, is it babies?"

"Filthy, HUMANOOOOIDS!"

Oh the humanity.

The harpies chant again, louder and louder. Arrows fly again.

"TAKE COVER!" The Captain bellows.

This barrage only lasts a second.

"INCOMING!" A soldier warns.

I look out from behind my cover and now see a dark cloud of harpies approaching, fast.

"Gih." Gify pops out of existence, he's not necessary so he's just going to rest. See ya later.

Currently the cover boards can cover 3 people comfortably, so we spread like this: me, Alissa, and Nononya on a board to the left; Roxanne, Hana, and Aoi to the right; Ciel, Lina, and Lyle to the middle and behind; Horvath and a knight to the back-left; Helena and a knight to the back-right.

My MP increased by 320 (now 1170) and my "Magic Power" increased by 145 (now 440). [Increased Growth] could be actually helpful.

Alissa's MP increased by 230 (now 575) and her "Magic Power" increased by 155 (now 270).

Roxanne's MP increased by 640 (now 1910) and her "Magic Power" increased by 390 (now 690). She really didn't slack on her mana training this time.

Hana's MP increased by 190 (now 515) and her "Magic Power" increased by 100 (now 205). A few points in [Mana Overuse Resistance] helped a lot on Hana's training.

Ciel's MP increased by 295 (now 1180) and her "Magic Power" increased by 130 (now 400). Me and Ciel are now matched in power, though I have a bigger spell repertoire right now.

Lina's MP increased by 230 (now 670) and her "Magic Power" increased by 110 (now 275). I gave [Throw] to Lina with 4 points, now she can finally use the javelins we bought.

My skills and the girls are like this:

The first wave of harpies falls to our fusillade. Every ballista, every mage, every archer, and a good amount of warriors are all firing at the exposed harpies. Only a few manage to reach the wall before being disrupted by the wind elementals, turning into easy targets.

Ervin Krampus, the demon race mage from Great Destiny, has his [Fire Spirit] throw fast [Fire Arrows] like it's a machine-gun with tracer rounds.

Another volley of arrows and before the arrows hit the second wave is already approaching. The harpy archers are trying to catch us exposed while we deal with the suicidal wave of harpies.

A harpy approaches our tower and gets an arrow to the eye by Alissa.

"'Blinding Arrows' indeed, hahah," Nononya laughs nervously.

"She's just getting started," I say with a grin and tap her shoulder.

Nononya is wearing some really fine scale armor, likely gifted by Silvane. She uses a short spear and a small kite shield, her martial skills are just enough to qualify her as a shield for Alissa but nothing more. She knows enough [Wind Magic] to keep harpies busy while me and Alissa finish them off.

Another arrow volley falls on us and this time the suicidal harpies are getting numerous.

A harpy dives towards us and gets impaled by Lina's javelin. The harpy flies backwards and falls down inside the town while screeching.

Aoi fires a fast fireball into the wing of a harpy and she crashes on the floor of our tower, she immediately gets decapitated.

"TAKE COVER!" The Captain reminds us just as another volley hits.

The few remaining harpies fall to their own arrows. Another wave is already closing by. The harpies are good with their timing.

"[Discharge]!" Lyle yells and a good amount of harpies fall from the skies, plenty fall in our tower and get butchered.

"COVER!' The Captain yells again and we hide.

The harpy archers start coming closer and the angle the arrows fall from start to reduce.

The next wave of harpies has leather armor and clawed gloves on their bird feet. They survive our barrage and multiple start to get close.

Who did they kill to get that armor?

"[Discharge]!" Horvath yells and a huge area is covered in sparks of lightning. A clearing opens as every harpy falls down, stunned.

A harpy falls down near me and I slash her throat, she gargles and writhes on the ground. She tries to fly away but an elemental disrupts her flight and a fire elemental explodes her head with a well placed [Fireball].

I retreat to our cover with Alissa behind me and another volley hits us.

Roxanne is calmly firing small [Ice Lance]s and collecting kills. The harpies are charging towards her, making them an easy target to her fast projectiles. Aoi is on her shoulder happily firing fireballs on the enemies coming from behind Roxanne's line of sight. The harpies are afraid of charging towards Hana, her ferocious smile and threatening posture makes her inapproachable by most harpies.

A harpy dives on each side of us.

Nononya keeps hers busy, threatening her with her spear while Alissa starts to fill the harpy with arrows.

I cast a chantless [Lightning Bolt] into a harpy and she nearly splatters on the ground. Now that her claws are below my chest the harpy is an easy target. I slash at her and she protects herself with her wings, causing one to be severed.

She tries to take flight again but a wind elemental disrupts her flight. Grounded and confused, she gets a deep slash from me across her chest. The harpy waddles backwards and receives an arrow through the eye.

"COVER!" The Captain yells.

"S-suicidal, ehehe," Nononya laughs but her eyes are open wide.

"They have no coordination so this is all they can do," I say as another enemy salvo falls.

"We'll be fine," Alissa says and points forward as another wave is about to reach us.

The lionfolk Grosnok from Great Destiny swings his scythe and cuts in two multiple harpies with every [Wind Blade] leaving his artifact. The Wind mages are bunching up the harpies for Grosnok to butcher.

A harpy dives past me, she's wearing gloves on her feet which makes her claws as long as a knife. She scratches my shield and breaks a scale or two. As she stops in the air for a moment so she can turn around, I cast an [Earth Bullet] and hit her right in the ribs.

She's forced down on the ground by a wind elemental and Horvath's knight finishes her off.

Ciel and Lina are doing well keeping the harpies away from Lyle while he chants a spell with a manic smile. His father has an even more insane smile.

Ciel is doing short work of the harpies, she can easily chop off the wings of the harpies at a distance with either spell or glaive, then it's just a matter of slashing a throat. Lina lacks the follow up to finish off the harpies she manages to stab, but when an elemental disrupts their flight then Lina chops their wings and crushes their skulls with ease.

"[Discharge]!" Lyle releases his spells and more harpies fall to the ground. Hana and Lina butcher the vulnerable enemies

I stab a harpy repeatedly on the neck and face as she tries to crawl away. A harpy tries to dive me while I'm busy but I jump backwards and glide to safety with [Telekinesis].

Horvath's [Electric Spirit] fires a bolt into the harpy and she stiffens up. Now she's too late to try to find cover and gets peppered by friendly-fire.

The harpy archers get close enough that they are firing directly at us, which also means that they are in our range.

"NAHAHAH! [Dead End]!" Werner Rizek's laugh is oozing evil and sadism.

The archer harpies slow and stop in the air, having difficulty to move. Even their arrows that were already in flight stop. The level 60 [Electric Magic] spell makes everyone's "path" stop, forcing them to slow down or stop, the inverse of [Rush].

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The archer harpies get shredded as they are basically immobile in the air. The mage harpies have some difficulty dispelling Werner's spell due to his inhuman power.  

"ABOVE! LANCERS!" The Captain yells.

From above the archers comes a unit of harpies in thick padded leather armor. They hold with their claws a long lance pointing downwards.

Helena's [Water Spirit] spits high-speed droplets of water that enter the eyes of the harpies and make them blind.

Everyone casts high-damage spells towards the harpies and their charge gets blunted. It's annoyingly difficult to hold back and chant when I have been casting chantless for so long.

Lina casts an [Earth Bullet] and a harpy gets her lance destroyed. She veers off course and falls near us.

"MAGES!" The Captain yells.

The lancer harpy gets up and tries to crawl towards our cover. A kick in the face and a painful one between her naked legs and she's sent away with a shriek. Alissa looks at me with a frown.

Our cover that looks more like a pincushion loses chunks of wood as [Wind Blade]s and [Fireball]s hit it, there's also feathers of Needler harpies being thrown. The lancer harpy starts burning from friendly-fire as multiple [Fireball]s hits her all over her body. Alissa finishes her off with an arrow.

"Dear Gods," Nononya says, staring at the burning harpy.

"Nono! Incoming!" Alissa warns and fires another arrow.

An area spell starts being cast right on our cover and I interrupt it.

The mage harpies retreat and get ready to make another bombing pass at us. Their numbers are already greatly reduced, they won't last long.

More harpies, now with thicker armor, dive towards us.

Nononya skewers one harpy and her spear gets stuck. I cast an [Earth Bullet] on the harpy and knock it out, allowing Nononya to pull out the spear. I immediately turn around and slash at a harpy that's getting disrupted.

"Thank you!" I hear her say as I slash again.

The harpy's bodies are protected but not heir wings, I cut off one wing and wound the other. The harpy shrieks and writhes, trying to jump on me and claw my face. She misses but her blood is splattered all over me.

I kick it down and jab my sword at the back of her head, killing her.

With a glaive on the gut, a harpy is held down by Ciel until Lina comes and opens the harpy's skull with her hammer, spilling the brain matter.

I see Haaran and Alaraste are on a dance of death. They swing their flaming swords and crescents of fire fly out of them. I see that the swords are actually throwing flaming oil. The sword blades are in the shape of flames, completely impractical, they must be artifacts.

Vanea is behind them, freely throwing balls of darkness at the harpies while a knight keeps the harpies away from her. Her mother is beside her, doing the same with her own knight for protection.

Another salvo of magic hits our cover, blowing it in half. I cast [Grow] on it until it returns to its original size. Now there's bark on it, adding a little more protection. Lina casts [Earth Wall] and reinforces her cover. Roxanne pulls out a barricade from her [Item Box].

Silvane moves to another cover to help heal a wounded soldier.

Two harpies decide to focus on me while Alissa is busy. I cast [Discharge] and amp up the power until both fall down on the ground. I quickly stab the throat of one but the other manages to jump on me and latch on my chest armor. Her claws rake on my helmet while I stab her in the gut repeatedly, I eventually pierce through the armor and wreck her internal organs.

Her attack is slowed by my [Wind Armor] but it does nothing for the sharpness of her claws. I get a few scratches on the face and a painful cut on the neck, then the harpy pukes blood on my face and releases me. I quickly cast [Clean] on my eyes and see the harpy with the wounded throat right on top of me, she slams me and I fall backwards.

Nono's spear stabs the chest of the harpy that slammed, the harpy's armor prevents her from getting too wounded. Meanwhile a fire elemental burns the gutted harpy.

Another harpy claws at Nono from her flank, latching on her armor and pushing her to the ground. With a slide from my [Telekinesis] I reach the harpy and slash at her neck, nearly decapitating her. She passes out from sudden loss of blood pressure and slumps over Nono.

"You are now level 23," says the female announcer.

Alissa blinds the harpy with a spear on the chest by using [Ghost Lights] and fires an arrow on its eye.

I pull the harpy's body off Nono and pull her back to cover just as another magic salvo hits. The salvo's strength was greatly reduced, only two spells hit our cover.

I cast [Heal] on Nono and then on myself.

"Eh? Chantless?" Nononya asks, she looks at me with confused eyes and a face full of harpy blood.

"That's the first thing you say?" I snort at her.

"S-sorry, erm, thank you!" She bows lightly.

"Focus," I say and give her a hand chop on the head. Ah, she's so fluffy.

I move out and keep another harpy away while Alissa fires at her.

A harpy impales herself in Hana's spear. The harpy desperately tries to claw Hana but she kicks the harpy away and reverts her [Extend], easily pulling the spear off from the Harpy. Hana follows up with a stab on the throat, she forces the harpy on the ground and stomps on her until the harpy passes out.

A pillars of fire comes out of the forest, something exploded over there. Suddenly I see 3 huge balls of something on fire being lobbed at us from the forest. One veers off course and falls on the empty grassland, the ball breaks apart and burning oil spreads out starting a small fire. The second ball falls right outside the wall on the heads of unlucky soldiers, screams of pain arise and magical water jets immediately start to extinguish the fire. The third ball is slowed by the wind elementals and other mages when it crosses town but eventually it breaks apart and some burning oil falls in the slums, the rest is extinguished while floating in the air.

"Your 'surprise' wasn't really a surprise, Cookachickadoodoolee, pathetic," Alaraste says in a disdainful tone, his voice sweeps the battlefield.

"BAKAWWK! BAKBAK BAKAWWK!" The Cooka-(...) bellows and my ears ring in pain.

Another harpy comes and gets grounded by a wind elemental. Lina's javelin pierces her on the flank and while she's struggling to get up I step on her naked chest and stab her face until she dies.

Lyle stuns a harpy for Lina and she opens another skull with her hammer. Her armor is peppered by spatters of blood, brain, bone chips, and feathers. As a first it seems Hana is the one the least bloodied of the front line.

Out of the forest comes a huge black mass. A human face full of wrinkles, a very long and conical nose, triangular pointy and sharp teeth, a long feathered neck, a fat and brown huge chicken body. It's flight path is erratic, it's wings flap wildly and without coordination, it's a wonder it's still airborne. This is the Cooka-bitch.

"ALARASTEEE! BAKAWWK!" It bellows again.

"BAKAWK!" The harpies answer.

Suddenly the Dragon's Bane starts silently firing the huge bolts without anyone touching it. The Cooka-rooster has to jerk its entire body to dodge. The fat jiggles with every movement.

Suddenly a bolt enters the flabby belly of the ugly-ass-Cooka and it's sent back into the forest.

"I HATE YOOOoou~..." The Cooka-fat yells one last time and disappears in the Sea of Trees, for now.

"BAKAWK!" The harpies yell again and make one last suicide charge.

"[Discharge]!" Werner yells.

"[Discharge]!" Horvath yells.

"[Discharge]!" Lyle yells.

"[Discharge]!" I yell.

"[Firestorm]!" Roxanne yells.

"[Firestorm]!" Silvane yells.

"[Wind Storm]!" Ciel yells.

The sky is filled with the light of spells as no mage holds back their mana. The harpies lump together and get stunned, falling like rocks. Down on the ground the battle turns into slaughter.

"AHAHAHAH, OHOHOH, HAHAHAH!" Lyle laughs maniacally in the same tone as his parents. "AHAhah... Ooof~..." He slumps over as his mana runs dry and Lina catches him before he falls on the ground.

I jump over to their side and slash at a writhing harpy. I cautiously look around, searching for any harpy that could endanger Lyle.

The sky clears and a considerable amount of harpies retreat back into the Sea.

Their coordination was rather impressive, for monsters. They aren't even the breeder kind, the Little Cooka is only a leader-type.

Down below there's a few sources of fire being contained, adventurers and soldiers running around hunting for harpies and wounded, and priests working around their fortifications, healing the ones in most danger. Outside the wall the fire is already contained and the troops slowly reorganize, focusing on transporting the wounded to the healer's bunkers.

"Recover the wounded and finish your duties, soldiers! Then, celebrate! You deserve it, the town is safe again and we have achieved victory!" Alareste encourages us, his voice has a new reverb to it that brings a smile to my lips.

Our tower had a few wounded but no losses.

Horvath signals to us and we gather, the other noble house and Captain Entoli joins us and removes his helmet.

"No casualties, a perfect battle," the Captain says with a smile, "The elementals were a great help, the harpies were being constantly disrupted."

"Your boy has some talent for [Discharge], Horvath," says a male wereowl noble.

"Both my children do, Sir Rooter," Horvath says with large grin.

"Anyway," Helena says with an eye roll, "this year's fight was certainly a breeze. I would like to thank Helios and Nononya for their help with the elementals."

Silvane casts [Clean] on the blood spatters on Nono's face. She turns to us and says, "I can say that Haaran Anara also sends his appreciation for the help". She smiles at us and continues, "But now I must go down and join the healers."

"Should we go too?" I ask, looking at Ciel and Silvane.

"The temple is prepared to deal with this," Ciel answers.

"You are not prepared to deal with emergency healing, it could cause problems," Silvane says and bows lightly, "but thank you for the offer."

"The battle is done, you are all dismissed," Captain Entoli says to us and his subordinates.

"T-thanks for protecting me, Mr. Ryder," Nononya says and bows deeply, she's blushing lightly.

"My pleasure," I say with a smile.

"It has been a pleasure to fight alongside Helios, until then," Horvath says and turns his Emergency Ring green, a [Gate] opens and he leaves through it.

"Until tomorrow, Wolf," Lyle says and we share a handshake, "It was good fighting with you."

"Likewise," I say.

The wereowl noble silently observes us and then leaves.

Nononya is escorted out of the slums by two guards and Silvane goes to the south gate escorted by another two.  

I turn to the girls and ask, "Right, no problems? No wounds?"

They shake their heads and Alissa pulls out a gnomic [Clean] tool to remove all the harpy blood from my body, then Ciel and Lina get a [Clean] too.

We wait for Aoi to finish eating a harpy's heart and we go home.

Hall of Fame of Patrons.

The patrons who support Rupegia shall have their names sung by the bards for they deserve the glory and honor. Their names are:

Oracle Maximillian Hübner.

Lord Andrew Meyers.

Lord SenilePenile.

Lord Hope.

Lord Samuel Lim.

Manasong

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