Unchosen Champion

The tenth wave deviated from the pattern.

Coop and the Eater of Worlds remained at the forefront of the battlefield for the duration of the ninth wave, each defeating tens of thousands of the Brutal Piercers before they reached the fort. They fought day and night. Coop allowed his Fog of War domain to shrink slightly after the Carriers stopped spawning, reducing the pressure on his mana and letting him keep the smaller domain active indefinitely after running out of mana potions. Not even a single invader made it through his side.

Coop was wholly impressed with the wild pig’s stamina. He had believed that the Revenant class was uniquely situated for extended fights, especially when combined with his Reaper ‘on kill’ regeneration making his sustain unmatched. The pig’s class represented a counterpart to Coop’s. The Eater of Worlds was unstoppable as long as he kept eating, and in a battle with effectively unlimited enemies, the pig could consume on demand. Coop could have set a watch to the Brutal Piercers being levitated into the air and getting crunched down.

When the tenth wave timer came and went, everyone waited for the next monsters to attack. As the minutes went by, the expectation from the defenders grew until it was palpable, but no new monsters made themselves known. Like the previous 25 hours, they continued to deal with the Brutal Piercers by themselves. Scouts frantically searched the perimeter of the fort for stealth monsters, combed the underground, and kept a close eye on the skies above, just in case, but nothing was found. It took one of the pirate ships braving the current wave and checking the same vector as the Piercers to discover the next monster.

They had appeared from the same direction as the ninth wave, on the second island of the chain, but instead of directly attacking as a stream of enemies while the wave spawned them in, like all the others, they appeared to have arrived as one large platoon. It wasn’t a flood of monsters, the tenth wave was a singular force.

The pirates hadn’t been able to identify them, but from the descriptions that spread among the defenders, they sounded coordinated and organized as if they would be facing a real army instead of an unruly horde driven by simple aggression. They were sure it would be a completely different type of enemy compared to the previous waves. Coop was anxiously waiting for them to join the Piercers.

They didn’t come. The Brutal Piercers fought alone for two full days after the Rabid Carriers ceased spawning. They still managed to decimate the western half of the southern fort wall, using their crowns like battering rams in suicidal leaping attacks across the moat that collapsed large sections of the stone walls. The fort had already been weakened by so many previous waves, it couldn’t withstand the heightened assault from the stronger monsters, even after emergency repairs had been hastily applied. The Piercers even forced their way partway into the courtyard. Three new breaches appeared in the wall, adding to the one on the eastern half, but the monsters had been held off through the coordination of phantoms and melee fighters securing the weak points and using the new breaches as chokes.

After the last Brutal Piercer was defeated Coop inspected the pig, interested in his progress.

[Gluttonous Wild Pig (Level 73)]

[Eater of Worlds (Body)]

[Chosen of the Shepherds of the Lost]

The pig had gained an incredible 13 levels in one wave. Coop was left in awe as the beast moseyed across the battlefield until he waded into the ocean. The pig shrank back to his normal, small building size, as he went. He swam through the moat, back toward his wallow on the west side of the fort’s channel without much more than a glance at the other defenders.

Coop himself had gained half a dozen levels from the highest level wave yet. He was now a ridiculous level 82 Revenant and level 88 Scavenger. For Coop, every level was a source of excitement, piling on the stats and multiplying them through his passives as he became a monster himself, so he was especially happy to have gained so much from just one wave.

Coop slowly swiveled to suspiciously gaze across the battlefield, anxiously tapping the butt of his spear into the sand, making a small packed area near his feet. The beach, dunes, and scrubland were a mess of craters and scorch marks. Streaks of melted sand, fissures in the ground, and blast cones pockmarked the island. It was devastating.

The paths that he had worked hard to maintain were erased by churned ground and the fort was in even worse shape. The partially repaired moat had caved-in edges and debris floating on the surface or piled inside in scattered heaps, and was punctuated by the destroyed wooden bridge. The red glow from the sunlight filtering through the mana dome made the scene seem critical, like a video game’s low health warning. Coop felt like he needed to start cleaning up to heal the island, but they were all still waiting for the next wave.

He didn’t know what to do with himself. He started picking his way back to the fort, circumventing the largest trenches with a winding path. He’d catch up with Shane and find out what the field commander would have him do next. It was the first real lull in fighting in 19 days and it made Coop uncomfortable.

The sound of marching caused Coop to catch his breath as he stopped and spun around. It seemed like the tenth wave was starting after all, the raiders had just been waiting until the previous wave completed. Coop wasn’t sure if that was considerate of them, but he would have accepted a real break if it was offered.

The monsters had formed an orderly line with multiple rows, displaying their superior organization compared to the previous waves, even if it seemed like an outmoded battle tactic on modern Earth. At a glance, Coop suspected that they outnumbered the residents of Ghost Reef, like every other wave, but this was the closest the numbers had ever been to even. Coop estimated that there were no more than 10,000 of the approaching enemies.

These were the most humanoid of any invader Coop had seen, even more than the gorilla-like Piercers and ghoulish Rippers. Coop thought they looked like creepy, unfinished seven foot tall mannequins. They had two legs, a normally proportioned torso, two arms that melted into weapons rather than hands, and an oversized diamond shaped head that could have been mistaken for a helmet if it wasn’t embedded all the way down to the glowing red solar plexus. They all exhibited a single red light in the center of their chests, but they had no other features on their dull gray skin; it was like they had walked out of a mold and hadn’t been given the details that would make them seem life-like, nor were they given any sort of gear other than what was molded onto them.

The Primal Constructs marched upright at a slow and steady pace with the front line presenting a protective column of heavy looking heater shields. The shielded monsters’ other arms ended in a sharp spear point from the elbow down which they brandished over the top of the shields. Behind them was a set of unshielded soldiers with both arms ending in sword blades, also starting at the elbow, that rested on their shoulders, jutting above the crowd like banners. Next, was a row with arms that ended with cannon-sized barrels that made Coop assume projectiles would be fired. Then, there was a set that seemed to have a staff grafted to one hand and a chakram-like shield attached to the other, and finally, the back row was unique in that it had no arms at all.

Coop recognized a classic party composition among the enemies: a tank, melee and ranged dps, a caster, and some kind of armless support. He doubted these were monsters from somewhere in Ghost Reef’s territory. They were far too civilized to be the same invaders as Defenders or Kites. He inspected one of each row.

[Elite Ruin Construct (Level 75)]

[(Strength)]

[Manifestation of the Primal Constructs]

[Elite Bane Construct (Level 75)]

[(Strength)]

[Manifestation of the Primal Constructs]

[Elite Spite Construct (Level 75)]

[(Agility)]

[Manifestation of the Primal Constructs]

[Elite Scourge Construct (Level 75)]

[(Intelligence)]

[Manifestation of the Primal Constructs]

[Elite Ancient Construct (Level 75)]

[(Acumen)]

[Manifestation of the Primal Constructs]

Coop knew he shouldn’t expect fairness, but he didn’t think the highest level enemies should also be elites. Maybe the concession to the system was the limited number of monsters in the wave. The monster army was an oppressive force that had Coop wiping sweat from his brow before the fight even started. He was accustomed to fighting monsters, not armies.

While Coop was taking note that these were manifestations, like Field Bosses, and not minions, he heard Rear Admiral Gideon shout “Fire!” from the fort. The remaining cannons on the wall fired in unison. As the thunderous volley echoed across the battlefield and the dangerous projectiles were propelled toward the coordinated invaders, more than a thousand giant spherical barriers sprang into existence. Each of the Ancient Constructs, the armless enemies Coop guessed to be support, had sprung into action and a shield similar to Shane’s channeled domes appeared from their diamond shaped heads.

When the cannon shots met the shields they zapped out of existence with a quick sizzle and a small puff of mana smoke. An uncertain silence collected on the island as the protective barriers flickered and disappeared after just a few more seconds. The Ancient Constructs jerked their upper bodies around, gesticulating excitedly even without arms.

The defenders on the wall were muted after such an ineffective first strike. The cannons had been a powerful weapon, even against the Field Bosses, and they had been only getting more effective as the siege went on. To see them be rendered useless was a blow to their morale if nothing else.

Coop jogged forward, breaking the moment of tension with a spear throw, just like the very first wave. This time he threw his spear with deadly intent rather than for travel. The ethereal weapon flew straight across the dunes with enough force to lift loose sand in its wake, leaving a straight trail from Coop to the Ruin Construct in the center of the alien’s basic formation.

The invaders didn’t think his attack warranted another defensive skill, or didn’t have the reaction speed to respond, leaving it to the front line to deal with. When the spear collided with the heater shield of the first Construct, a blast wave exploded from the point of contact. The heater shield shattered and the Ruin Construct crumpled as it was blasted backwards all the way through the backlines, carried by the spear as it took multiple more monsters with it. In the frontline, three monsters to the left and three to the right were also bowled over, flying through the orderly rows behind them, and leaving chaos in a semicircle radiating from the spear throw’s aftermath.

[You defeated Elite Ruin Construct (Level 75)]

[You defeated Elite Ruin Construct (Level 75)]

[You defeated Elite Bane Construct (Level 75)]

[You defeated Elite Spite Construct (Level 75)]

[You defeated Elite Scourge Construct (Level 75)]

Coop felt a predatory grin crawl onto his face as he definitively confirmed that these monsters weren’t at the level of a Field Boss. Coop was more than a match for the elites himself.

The system often felt inconsistent, but one thing Coop thought it did well was prevent aliens from wielding their ridiculous levels during the assimilation. That was the reason he couldn’t invite Maeve to wipe these waves out after all. Supposedly, it was the reason the entire planet was shielded until the assimilation completed.

But Coop was exceeding the curve, blowing away expectations with his own stats. He imagined some real Primal Constructs back on their home planet trashing their equivalent of a VR helmet as they raged about meeting an overpowered enemy at the very start. He just wished they would give him loot or quest progress at least. He’d have to be satisfied with experience alone.

As Coop activated his mistjump, he heard some relieved cheers from the wall of the fort. His spear had revealed the monsters’ fallibility despite their coordination and counterplay. He felt empowered to punish these Constructs for the hardships they were putting them through.

When Coop stepped out of the mists and returned to the world, he was in the midst of the disrupted Constructs. He executed another Ruin Construct that was missing its shielded arm and was still laying flat on its back. His spear tip shattered the diamond head, then he smashed his shield into the red light of a legless Bane Construct as it struggled to continue. He whirled into the backline, establishing a perimeter for himself. Once he had created a bit of space right in the middle of the enemy army, he cast Fog of War.

10,000 mana worth of mists swept from Coop’s position, propelled forward across the battlefield, swallowing the army and trapping them inside Coop’s personal domain. He’d pressed his ‘I win’ button and immediately started hunting. He was giddy as he believed his power overwhelmed the invaders.

Presence of Mind bombarded him with intel on the enemies movements, but Coop was more prepared for the influx of information having experienced conjuring such a large domain before and immersing himself in more controlled areas for the previous days. Anticipating it didn’t prevent his nosebleed, but it was a small price to pay for field dominance.

However, the greater surprise was the immediate retaliation from the nearest Constructs. He wasn’t prepared for the monsters to retaliate so easily. Coop barely raised his shield in time to block a double strike from one of the dual sword wielding Bane Constructs.

He caught the attack and retaliated with an overhead spear jab that pierced through the Construct’s chest, but was assaulted by a lunging Ruin Construct, stabbing with its spear from above its heater shield. Coop rolled away, moving backwards just in time to avoid what seemed to be enlarged crossbow bolts fired from the arms of a Spite Construct’s arms.

The Constructs weren’t disoriented by his fog at all. Only those nearest to Coop’s initial attack even engaged him. The rest of the army resumed their march forward, passing straight through the Fog of War without so much as a stumble. They reentered the battlefield, mists drifting off their bodies as they reached the edge, ignoring Coop’s attempt to claim the entire wave for himself

Coop took a steadying breath, deeply inhaling the thick mists, and leaving small twisting trails as he exhaled.

“Nothing's ever easy.” He quietly muttered in acceptance.

He redoubled his efforts to eliminate his enemies, lunging into one of the groups with his spear tip aggressively seeking their weak points. Fog of War provided more than just concealment.

He pitched his ethereal shield and it tore through the fog before smashing into one of the armless Constructs. The red light exploded in its chest as the Construct folded in half and joined the mist as mana smoke.

The moment the shield left Coop’s hand, he was already sweeping his spear across the knees of one of the staff wielding casters, cleaving both of its legs at the knee with an exact strike of his spearhead. When the monster collapsed forward to the ground, he stomped his foot through the diamond head, then he mistjumped to his thrown shield. He was the mist for a brief moment before he stabbed a shielded Ruin Construct through the back, aiming for the red light from behind while the monster attempted to corral him in his previous location with its heater shield raised and pointed arm poised to attack.

They might not have been disoriented by the fog, but Coop could still take the advantage with his speed and movement abilities amplified by Presence of Mind.

The Constructs that remained engaged with Coop attempted to maintain strict parties. They formed a perimeter within the fog, surrounding him with dozens of groups, and trying to pick him apart with ranged attacks, but Coop wasn’t so easy to contain. The combination of complete perception thanks to Presence of Mind and his completely free of cost mistjumps meant that he could pinpoint gaps in their formations and exploit them with inhuman accuracy.

Coop ducked underneath projectiles that were shot from behind, completely immune to his own blindspots. As he weaved toward enemies, raising his shield to deflect bolts instead of avoiding them caused the change in trajectories to catch Constructs by surprise, glancing against the unprepared aliens but dealing too little damage to properly hinder them.

Coop’s projectiles were another story. He threw his spear within centimeters of the edges of shield walls, clipping even the most minimally exposed weak points. He was constantly mistjumping into the ranged attackers, where he tore through their feeble defensive barriers before they could readjust to his teleports. These enemies may not be blind and confused inside his domain, but they were still intruding where Coop held all of the advantages.

Before Coop finished off the Constructs that had lingered in the fog for too long, some of the groups that had pressed forward broke off from their assault on the fort and reinforced Coop’s opponents. They didn’t want him to rejoin his companions. Coop thought that would work out in his and the residents’ favor.

He trusted the residents of Ghost Reef to rise to the occasion after almost three weeks of constant challenges that each should have been beyond what they could reasonably handle. Coop’s role had almost exclusively been to do as much damage to the waves as possible. If the Constructs wanted to feed him more bodies, he’d happily send them back to wherever they came from. In fact, he would demand they send more.

“Bring it, then.” He taunted.

Coop engaged another party, demolishing the armless support with his thrown spear to initiate. He followed with a mistjump that had him appearing with his round shield swinging forward, battering the more fragile caster before it could react. He impaled the melee fighter while it was still turning and threw his shield into the ranged fighter’s unprotected chest while it still took aim.

“Too slow.” He observed.

The shielded fighter thought it had a chance even after the rest of its party dissolved into the mists, charging forward at Coop’s supposedly exposed flank while Coop faced the wrong direction. Coop just pulled his weapon back, crushing the charge with the butt of his spear without even a glance at the attacker. As he turned to the disabled Ruin Construct where it laid underneath its crumpled heater shield, he swapped to his morning star. The satisfying crunch of the spiked head annihilating the injured enemy echoed through the fog, seemingly from all directions.

The Reaper title was recovering his mana at a rate he had never seen before. Even the melee fighters gave him at least 20 mana. The initial expenditure of mana to conjure his Fog of War wasn’t as painful when he didn’t have to wait for his natural regeneration to do the bulk of the recovery.

Coop obliterated three more shielded Ruin Constructs with three arcing swings of his morning star, smashing through their smoothly molded bodies before he swapped to the glaive.

When he exploited his extended range against the dual-wielding Bane Constructs, they attempted to block and close the gap. The power in his glaive’s arcing swing meant that instead of arresting its motion, their blocking arm was ripped off at the shoulder. The wide blade completely cleaved through the Bane Constructs’ bodies, leaving them in two halves as they disappeared.

The ranged Spite Constructs fired their bolts to support the dying melee fighters, but Coop already had his shield out, blocking them, and he responded with his own missile. The spear flew silently through the mists, but the clash of the tip shattering the red light of one monster reverberated throughout the fog. With a teleport, Coop was in melee range of the other ranged attackers and he made their defeats inevitable.

Coop accepted whatever sacrifice the Constructs would give him. It felt like he was scratching at the final advancement of his foundational combat style, where he fully exploited the flexibility of the Revenant class and fluidly utilized all of his proficient weapons from moment to moment.

Eventually, the offerings dried up and Coop exited his domain. The hundred yards between his fog and the moat were complete chaos.