Unchosen Champion

[000:00:11]

Each of the last 10 seconds were accompanied by an unnatural beep that echoed across Ghost Reef. Every time the number counted down an alternate tone rang out. Coop watched as the timer hit zero and a loud buzzing announced the start of the event. The silence that followed was thick with everyone’s anticipation.

Coop was waiting on the southern wall of the fort, watching for a frontal assault along with the majority of the residents. People had spread out along the walls, but the greatest concentration was near the front gate, where Coop had gone. The phantoms were spread more evenly, as they were split into divisions with further subgroups that were manning the cannons all the way around the fort, depending on their compatibility.

The southern wall was the only portion of the fortress that was connected to dry ground, though it still had the moat separating it from the rest of the island. The rest of the fortress was surrounded by the ocean. Historically, the fort had faced sieges by sea, but Coop was, perhaps overly optimistically, hoping they wouldn’t need to withstand a naval blockade. He trusted Kayla and her pirate crews, but they weren’t particularly numerous nor were they at full strength yet.

After a few more seconds of silence, someone shouted a warning to look at the beach. The shallow waters along the west beach started to churn, frothing white until mechanical leg joints started breaching the surface. Coop watched the beach as Ancient Defenders charged out of the ocean and rushed onto the dunes on the other side of the island.

At first he was relieved, Ancient Defenders weren’t that scary, but his relief faded when the monsters just kept barreling out of the surf. This wasn’t a simple raid. Countless monsters surged out of the ocean. The Defenders climbed over each other and moved with an aggression that exceeded even the elites that had attacked the fort before.

Monsters were sprinting out of the water without any shouts or roars, just the stomping of their pointed legs piercing into the packed sand, the grinding of metal joints, and clanging of the collisions between individuals. The industrial metallic sounds didn’t belong on the tropical island, but they drowned out the breeze and waves completely.

A shrill screech followed by five clear chirps drew Coop’s attention to the scrubland, where thousands more Ancient Defenders were swarming across the flat land, having arrived from the other more distant beach. The monsters were climbing out of the water from the beaches on both sides of the lighthouse. The mangrove forest’s thick vegetation and deep muck was too much of a barrier for them to breach at least, and they ignored the rocky corner where the lighthouse was perched.

The tidal waves of monsters would converge in front of the main entrance of the fortress, just like the residents hoped, but even the ideal situation was demoralizing. The speed that they trampled over each other and the island meant that they had maybe ten minutes before the walls would be under attack. Ancient Defenders weren’t particularly fast as they were built for defense as the name implied.

Messengers ran along the walls, spreading the news to those who weren’t witnessing the wave of monsters wash over the island. Bells were ringing from both of the southern corners of the fort and the Tempest fleet responded with their own chiming signals. Coop wasn’t privy to the codes that had already developed, but he was impressed by their ability to communicate in real time.

The tide of monsters was temporarily halted on the edge of the dunes and the scrubland, in one narrow section, as multiple intersecting blades of wind cleaved through the mass, carving a gap in the frontline. Several more wind blades destroyed more monsters as they attempted to fill the space. A bubble formed where the monsters were absent. It was quickly surrounded, but remained empty with the help of repeated wind blades. From the distance, it looked like a sandy stone amid a flowing river of metal legs.

The action was enough for Coop to get moving. He rolled his shoulders, laughing to release his own tension, and summoned his ethereal armor, spear, and shield.

Coop didn’t think any of his residents should still be afraid of Ancient Defenders; he certainly shouldn’t be. It was just the build up of anticipation, and the monster numbers, that had frozen their nerves.

Camila raised her eyebrows at him, wondering about his laughter, but Charlie still looked nervous. “Hold this for a sec.” Coop handed his shield to Camila, who seemed more receptive in the moment.

“What?” Camila started, but instead of explaining, he just held her arms up the way he wanted her to hold it, then he smiled at the girls before he took a running start and threw his spear further than he ever had before.

He turned around while his spear flew and looked at the anxious expressions of the rest of the residents. Arthur looked grim, Shane was anxious in a way that reminded Coop of when he first asked to stay in Ghost Reef, Camila was confusedly gripping his ethereal shield, and Charlie seemed to be getting more afraid by the second. They were watching him, not sure what he was doing, since they thought the monsters were still too far away for his spear to reach.

His spear landed among the Ancient Defenders, exceeding expectations, with a burst of sand. It stuck out of the ground among the Defenders like a ghostly pylon. The distance would have easily crushed any javelin throw world records and his spear wasn’t specifically designed to be thrown. Coop thought he would be able to cross the entire island with two good throws as he activated his skill.

He mistjumped to his spear and landed with a roll in the small crater the missile had formed. Before he did anything, he inspected the monsters to see what crazy variant they were that caused them to behave so differently from the ones he was used to.

[Enraged Defender (Level 30)]

[(Strength)]

[Minion of the Primal Constructs]

“Still Defenders.” he acknowledged, figuring that was fine, as he engaged.

He quickly discovered that the Enraged Defenders were nearly the same as Ancient Defenders, except they were abnormally aggressive, and were slower to actually defend themselves, contrary to their identity: more Enraged than Defender. They rarely lifted a leg to try to block, preferring to attack, even if it meant death. They were larger than normal and their coloration was also tinged with a lot more red, but everything was, thanks to the territory bubble still covered in glowing red energy stretching across the sky from horizon to horizon.

Coop had expected to draw the monsters' attention when he jumped into the crowd, but he only had a fraction of them actually stop to fight him. They were more interested in reaching the civilization shard, so only the ones that he physically impeded actually stopped to attack. Among the thousands, he could only claim the attention of dozens at a time.

It was their loss, as their inattentiveness yielded the initiative to his powerful attacks. He rarely needed more than one blow to defeat a monster he was so familiar with, and they died quickly, whether they attempted a guard or not.

He took a low stance, putting himself closer to eye level with the monsters that were barely taller than his stomach. He kept his spear perfectly parallel with the ground as he thrust it forward, maximizing its reach while targeting the unblinking red eyes. The monsters were surging toward him at a constant pace, and he didn’t want to end up underneath a stampede. He gripped his spear with two hands when he spun to protect his flanks, keeping the spearhead firmly extended, cutting legs and clipping the bodies of monsters in his way. He plowed against the surge, lunging strike after lunging strike.

The monster’s attacks were almost exclusively their most dangerous double pronged leaping skill that had nearly killed him once, back when he was level four. If they hit him now, he doubted he would take any physical damage at all, even if these monsters were higher level than the regular Defenders. He didn’t let them hit him anyway, slightly worried about being put off balance and ending up trampled. Their overwhelming numbers were the primary threat Coop was taking seriously. He let his dodges take him forward even while most of their attacks were met with a counterattack of his own.

He battled his way through the tide, losing count of how many monsters he defeated with precise thrusts, powerful lunging stabs, and sweeping cleaves. When they attacked him, they leapt through the air with surprising agility, but he was faster and they only turned themselves into wide open targets for his superior range as they flew.

He stayed in control, refusing his desire to break his stance and go wild, thanks to his experience fighting massive groups of Zombies, Trackers, and Excavators. At any second, he had a dozen targets within range of a killing blow, but he prioritized the ones attempting to attack him, or the ones that were otherwise hampering his way forward.

It was the most aggressive defensive posture he had ever found himself in, but he was effectively wading through the monsters as they climbed on top of each other to try and reach the front of the push. He wouldn’t be surprised if they were inflicting casualties on themselves through friendly fire from their spiked legs.

After a few minutes that felt like ages, he finally reached his destination, finding a cleared open space, just as he expected.

The tiny brown creature that stood in the center heaved its white spotted chest, breathing heavily and bobbing its head in agitation as it remained on top of its burrow in total defiance of the Enraged Defenders. It flapped its wings once to leap a few feet into the air and swiped its talons, generating a rapid series of blades that cut down Defenders that violated the domain of the owl by rushing through the clearing. It directed a hiss that sounded like a rattlesnake at the Enraged Defenders, catching Coop off guard with the sound. Coop quickly inspected the little guy.

[Burrowing Owl (Level 48)]

[Windripper (Agility)]

[Chosen of the Birds of Prey]

[Athene (Raptor)]

The owl landed and turned to stare at Coop with bright yellow eyes underneath a furrowed brow, realizing Coop had also entered his domain.

“Take cover in the fort, little bro.” Coop said, gesturing with his thumb over his shoulder. Coop stepped forward, beyond the burrow, and started fighting the Defenders in front of the owl, giving it a breather.

The monsters came from the front and both sides, but none of them turned around once they moved beyond the owl's domain. Coop settled into a familiar stance, using his spear more like his glaive as he fought monsters in a wide arc in front of him, just like fighting the Primal Trackers, or countering the Endless Empire’s party tactics. He held his ground rather than pressing forward, relying entirely on his Agility to avoid taking any hits while his ridiculous Strength let even his short jabs deal devastating blows.

Ten tiny owls hopped out of the tunnel, one at a time, and flew into the air. They each glided well above the fray. A series of wind blades halted the fighting for another moment, and the Chosen owl chirped again, angling its head at Coop.

“Don’t worry about me. I can leave when you're ready.” Coop glanced down at the owl. “I can carry stuff if you need.” The owl looked up in response, spreading its wings, it hopped into the air. Coop took that as him being ready to go.

The owl launched two more blades before it flapped further into the air, joining the others in circling the cleared area around the burrow. Coop wanted to test his Fog of War ability, but decided to wait for another chance, and mistjumped back to his shield.

The world froze and the colors bled out until everything was black and white, Coop was dragged past thousands of Enraged Defenders that looked like they were running in ultra slow motion, until he reappeared on the fort wall. It was his longest mistjump ever, and he felt like he spent minutes gliding through the monochrome world even if it was only seconds. He actually had a bout of dizziness just like his first times experimenting with mistjumping, making him stumble slightly.

His sudden appearance surprised Camila, who was still holding his shield with both hands. The shock combined with his minor stumble pulled her forward along with his shield, so that she fell into his chest with both hands and a gasp.

The chuckles from the gathered residents continued when Captain Kayla slapped one hand on Coop’s shoulders and another on Camila’s. “Wow! That was perfect! There’s no way I could top that. Isn’t that right, Sharkbait?” Sharkbait grunted from behind the pirate queen as she nudged him. Coop thought her first mate was disagreeing.

“What are you doing here?” Coop asked Kayla once Camila regained her balance. When he mistjumped into the monsters, the pirate ships were still circling the fort.

“We took a defensive posture around the shard when the attack came over land.” She pointed to the Eye of the Storm where it loomed in the canal, to the west of the civilization shard along with Windchaser on the east. “Nice timing too, I wouldn’t want to miss you taking a page out of my book and doing something so spectacular to settle the atmosphere.”

Arthur harrumphed from nearby. “You know the Champion by now, that was completely unchoreographed.”

“I know, but I still hope he’ll let me hold the shield next time!” Kayla laughed as she pressed her arms against her torso. Sharkbait grunted again, and Kayla responded like he was actually speaking. “Oh, come off it, I’m just helping lighten the mood. You felt the unease, it was thick enough to cut with a knife, until he dove in, headfirst.”

“Whatever he did, it was wildly effective.” Marcus agreed as he crested the last of the fort’s stairs. He stopped and rested his hands on his knees, gasping for air, before he continued. “The clerk finally calmed down when the residents started to relax.” Marcus announced between breaths, he had apparently run across the courtyard. “What happened anyway?” He asked, looking up.

Kayla put her arm around Marcus and pulled him away, “Let me tell you all about it! Our Champion was sensational!” She started. Sharkbait left Coop with a nod to follow the captain as she started rumors about Coop’s solitary offensive.

Coop watched as the circling owls reached the fort, staying up high. They circled the fort until a larger owl headed to the western section of the northern half, where sand had accumulated on the top of the walls. One last owl raced over the closing tide of monsters and flew directly toward Coop and his companions.

The burrowing owl landed directly in front of Coop and stood at its full height of 10 inches before it chirped.

“No worries, dude.” Coop responded. The owl chirped again, then turned away, hopped four times until it reached the edge of the wall, and leapt off the ramparts. The owl skimmed the ground back toward the Enraged Defenders until it pulled up and launched eight of the largest wind blades Coop had seen so far, carving massive tracks through scores of the monsters. The owl flashed with the light of a level, causing cheers to erupt from the fort walls, where phantoms and residents were still watching. The owl circled back to where the other owls had descended and joined them, away from the fray.

Coop was impressed at the owl’s showmanship, and was taking mental notes when he was gently interrupted. “Um.” Charlie started, pushing her hood back and swiping her bangs out of her eyes, while getting Coop’s attention. “Can you talk to animals now?” She asked, looking at him with wide eyes, full of wonder.

He hated to disappoint her, but he couldn’t lie. “Well, no, I was just guessing what he wanted.”

“Oh.” Charlie looked away, toward the approaching monsters. “Still… that was really cool.” The invaders were well in range of the cannons by now, but none had been fired. Coop wondered why. “I guess it’s my turn.” Charlie announced like she had no choice. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her nervousness, then stepped toward the edge of the ramparts.

She started by pointing one of her fingers in the air and rotating it, then started waving her arms like she was conducting a very slow symphony.

“Where’d Shane go?” Coop asked Arthur as wind gathered along the dunes and made whitecaps in the shallow waters. Shane was meant to be their field commander after all.

Arthur pointed to the other side of the main gate in response. Shane was arranging the residents in small groups, lined up in threes, with each trio separated from the next. The small groups were evenly spaced along the entire length of the southern wall. They were all equipped with brand new equipment and either bows or small daggers. Even with the limited time, they were able to equip all of the residents with weapons. It was the phantoms that were more limited, but the forges were working overtime to catch up. Shane seemed to have already developed some kind of strategy that took into account the settlement’s level of preparedness.

“What should I do?” Coop pondered out loud.

“I believe Shane will have you spearhead the defense of the wooden bridge.” Arthur responded as he placed both hands behind his back.

“Shouldn’t we just destroy it?” Coop thought it would be too difficult to defend and didn’t want the Defenders to use it. Balor could make them another one afterwards.

“He wants to preserve its integrity in the event that we wish to counter attack. The moat will trap those of us that can’t teleport, which is to say just about everyone that isn’t you or a phantom.”

That made sense to Coop. “What about the cannons?”

“The cannon teams are applying their mana toward stockpiling ammunition. These Defenders are merely the beginning and we don’t know their full numbers yet.”

Coop was once again glad he had taken the opportunity to delegate responsibilities whenever he could. He remembered Maeve telling him about the type of person that normally ended up as the Champion of a settlement. Coop believed they’d either have to be nuts to desire all of the responsibilities or be wicked enough to disregard them.

Charlie seemed to be reaching a crescendo as a series of thin tornadoes formed in a row some distance from the fort, among the Enraged Defenders. They quickly expanded into five massive pillars of wind across the island, thickening every second as they lifted loose sand all the way into the sky. Interestingly, each one appeared to be spinning with the opposite rotation of its neighbors, as if they were feeding each other to make them last longer. Charlie finally let them go, and before she even stepped away from the wall, she leveled up. She turned around, looking tired, but not completely spent, and walked back toward Coop, Camila, and Arthur. Halfway back to them, she leveled up again. Others along the wall also started to receive levels, despite just waiting in ready positions.

“Do they count for the quests?” Coop wondered as the light of her second level faded, but Charlie shook her head in the negative. Coop watched Charlie’s tornadoes lift dozens of the monsters into the air and either tore them apart or turned them into massive projectiles that landed among their comrades like spiked boulders. Coop checked his own notifications.

[You defeated Enraged Defender (Level 30)]

[+15 Basic Credits]

[+1 Rage Core (Rare)]

[Congratulations! Your profession has leveled up!]

Coop didn’t get any new quests either. It must just have been the difference in levels that prevented him from snagging any levels as quickly as Charlie and the others had. It was terrific news that it seemed like anyone participating would get some experience. He had to give the factions credit for claiming the settlement events would be good for levels. It seemed like they would be right about that at least. He checked the global individual leaderboards.

Siege Event Individual Scores:

Charlie Seraphin - 376

Burrowing Owl - 280

Coop - 171

Derek Anderson - 125

Elder Olani - 125

-

The list wasn’t even fully populated yet, but Coop watched as Charlie, Derek, and Olani’s scores climbed. It seemed like the scores were unrelated to the experience gained, and reflected participation instead, but how the heck was Derek and Olani gathering points?

“Where’s Derek?”

“He’s playing his buff songs in the Tavern, he made sure to buff me and Charlie right before we left. Called it his battle ballad.” Camila responded, refraining from rolling her eyes, even if the tone of her voice made it clear she wanted to.

Coop thought it was pretty cool that buffs counted for score contribution, but he also realized they might have a problem. These leaderboards were global. It was essentially broadcasting their settlement’s roster to anyone that looked. How long would it be until other settlements started appearing on the list to give them some camouflage? Ghost Reef might just dominate the entire thing if the others didn’t start soon.

There wasn’t anything they could do about that, and Coop wasn’t about to let some backliners get ahead of him. He wanted to get back into the fight.

He looked at Camila with a gleam in his eye. “Should we get this show on the road?”

“After you.” Camila responded in kind.

“I’ll race you.” He offered, throwing his spear even while he spoke. It flew toward the sand in front of the wooden bridge, near the copse of trees that marked the intersection of trails.

Camila scoffed, and Coop activated his mistjump. The world grayed and he was pulled back outside of the fort. As the color returned he found Camila, hands on her hips, at the start of the familiar lighthouse trail where it connected to the wooden bridge. She was certainly fast, but being faster than his mist was a bit much.

“Sup, Boss.” Tiny greeted him. All three Cleary Brothers were lined up on the edge of the bridge. Behind them were a dozen more residents with hundreds of phantoms lined up through the gate, guarding the chokepoint. Most faces were unfamiliar, but he recognized a few. Mikey B stood with the Dragon Knight, comparing shields, and Marcus had joined the gate defenders with a short rod, dripping with liquid gold from its head that seemed to evaporate in the air before it touched the ground.

Coop turned back to the monsters. “We got a plan?” He wondered.

Buck slammed his fists together with a metallic clang. Bands of metal manifested from his knuckles, spreading layer after layer with more clangs, up his hands, arms, and across his body, legs, and even his face, until he was fully armored in telescopic metal. “Hold the bridge. Retreat through the gate if overwhelmed.” He stoically announced.

The younger Cleary brothers repeated the fist clanging, knocking their knuckles and joining Buck in his armored state. Coop threw his spear into the nearing monsters, killing multiple with the simple action, then summoned his ethereal glaive.

A thousand arrows momentarily blacked out the sky as the ranged defenders on the wall started their attacks. Then fireballs, waterbolts, and lightning cascaded above them, turning the shade into a kaleidoscope of colors.

Coop raised his glaive above his head, then slammed it down into the lead monster of the first wave. The battle began in earnest.