Chapter 335: Wave

The Leonard watched in silence as Kael continued. Brokk’s Hammer could not provide materials from nothing, so wherever pieces were missing entirely, Kael had to improvise. He pulled metal from the remains of an unusable railing and used the hammer to reshape it into replacement brackets. He then removed a length of reinforced wood from a collapsed ammunition rack, cut it down, and fitted it into the fractured firing arm.

The work was not effortless. Repairing Yenna’s armor had been comparatively simple because the item had still possessed all its important parts. Brokk’s Hammer had only needed to remind those parts of their proper form.

The ballista was closer to a corpse that had been left in the rain for several decades.

Still, it could be restored.

Kael hammered a replacement pin into the tension mechanism, then struck the side of the frame one final time. The ballista trembled as its firing arms pulled into alignment. Its gears turned for the first time in what might have been centuries, while the rotating platform ground against the stone, shed a layer of rust, and slowly corrected its position.

A system notification appeared before Kael.

[Ancient Ballista has been restored.]

[The restored defensive relic has recognized Kael Ardent as its controller.]

The ballista settled into place and unfolded its heavy arms. A massive bolt materialized along the firing rail, its metal tip angled toward the plain beyond the fortress.

The burly man let out a low laugh. "You actually fixed it."

Kael ran one hand over the restored frame. "Looks like it."

The two women visibly relaxed.

The Leonard did not.

His face had gone stiff as he looked from the ballista toward the inner city, where his five defensive weapons remained clustered around the crystal.

"You’re ruining everything," he said.

Kael turned toward him. "Is that so."

"The first wave is meant to fund the later defenses. If you steal kills from the inner turrets, they won’t earn enough currency."

"Then I suppose your flawless strategy is going to have to survive some competition."

"You don’t understand the floor."

"And you understood it well enough to leave out a disqualification condition."

"That was an oversight."

"Convenient."

The Leonard’s hand tightened around the weapon hanging at his side. Kael had already turned toward the next damaged ballista when metal scraped free of a sheath behind him.

The spear-wielding woman’s eyes widened. "What are you doing?"

The Leonard crossed the distance to the restored ballista and swung his weapon toward its firing mechanism. His blade struck the wooden frame, sending a sharp metallic clang across the wall.

The weapon bounced away.

The restored ballista did not so much as tremble. The Leonard staggered from the recoil, shock crossing his face, but before he could attack again, dozens of weapons shifted around them.

The fortress soldiers stationed along the battlements had turned toward him. Spears lowered, crossbows rose, and several armored men stepped away from their positions. Their expressions remained cold beneath their open-faced helmets. They had witnessed the entire exchange.

The nearest officer pointed his sword at the Leonard’s chest. "We will not tolerate attacks against the bastion’s defensive systems."

The Leonard froze. "It was a mistake."

"You drew your weapon."

"I was testing it."

"You were warned."

A notification appeared before every climber.

[Warning! Sabotaging the fortress’s defensive structures will be treated as an act of hostility toward the bastion.]

[Fortress soldiers will protect operational defensive relics from deliberate damage.]

[Climbers responsible for restoring defensive relics will receive the protection of the fortress while performing repairs.]

Kael slowly looked from the notification toward the soldiers, then glanced at the Leonard.

"That’s useful."

The Leonard’s face darkened. "You think this is funny?"

"A little."

The officer kept his sword raised until the Leonard finally sheathed his weapon and backed away from the ballista. Only then did the soldiers return to their positions.

Kael picked up Brokk’s Hammer. "You might want to head toward the city center. Wouldn’t want someone to interfere with your efficient strategy."

The Leonard glared at him but did not respond. There was nothing else he could do. He could not attack Kael without violating the floor’s rules, nor could he damage the repaired defenses without turning the fortress soldiers against him. All he could do was watch as Kael walked toward the next ruined weapon.

The work began in earnest.

They had slightly less than six hours before the first wave, and Kael used nearly all of them.

The first ballista had taken the longest. Once he understood how its ancient mechanisms fitted together, the next repairs became easier. Many of the weapons shared similar designs, and several of their missing components could be replaced with material salvaged from structures too damaged to restore within the available time.

Brokk’s Hammer did most of the impossible work. Kael handled everything else.

He dismantled ruined platforms, removed usable gears from collapsed ballistae, and cut lengths of metal from old ammunition carts. The burly climber began helping without being asked, carrying the heavier components from one section of the wall to another. The spear-wielding woman searched the nearby towers for intact mechanisms, while the staff user organized the fortress workers and had them bring replacement wood, rope, and metal.

Even the local soldiers joined in. Once they realized Kael could restore the ancient relics, they opened several locked storage rooms along the battlements. Inside were piles of old bolts, cannon ammunition, spare gears, and construction materials that had been abandoned when the weapons fell into ruin.

The fortress had possessed almost everything needed to repair its defenses. It had simply lacked someone capable of doing it in time.

Kael moved from weapon to weapon, Brokk’s Hammer rising and falling as rust scattered across the stone and broken mechanisms came alive. One ballista turned toward the open plains, followed shortly by another.

A cannon’s split barrel sealed beneath repeated strikes, its warped metal smoothing into a dark, reinforced cylinder. Another cannon required an entirely new wheel assembly, which Kael shaped from the remains of a collapsed wagon.

The timer continued falling.

[The First Wave will invade in 4 hours 12 minutes.]

Kael restored the sixth weapon.

[The First Wave will invade in 3 hours 01 minutes.]

The tenth ancient relic came online.

By then, sweat ran beneath Kael’s helmet, and the constant use of Brokk’s Hammer had left both arms aching. His internal energy remained mostly untouched, but the physical labor itself was punishing.

He did not stop.

The defenses spreading across the walls transformed the atmosphere of the fortress. Citizens who had previously hurried through the streets with their heads lowered began looking upward. Soldiers carried ammunition with renewed urgency, while engineers and workers rushed between towers to test gears and load mechanisms that had remained dead for years.

Hope was a dangerous thing. Kael knew that better than most.

But it made people work faster.

[The First Wave will invade in 1 hour 34 minutes.]

Fifteen defenses had been restored.

The Leonard stood alone near the inner edge of the wall, watching the work with an expression that had soured further with every successful repair. His five turrets remained positioned around the crystal, far from the outer defenses and entirely useless until the city had already been breached.

Kael repaired another cannon, then another ballista. By the time less than half an hour remained, twenty ancient defensive relics stood operational across the fortress walls.

Ballistae had been positioned along the widest approaches, while cannons overlooked the gates and the fields surrounding them. Their firing arcs crossed, ensuring there were few safe routes toward the city.

Kael finally lowered Brokk’s Hammer. His shoulders burned, and his gauntlets were covered in wood dust, oil, and rust, but the walls were no longer defenseless.

The three climbers who had helped him looked along the line of restored weapons.

The burly man gave a satisfied nod. "Twenty."

"Close enough," Kael said.

The staff-wielding woman glanced at the controls beside the nearest ballista. "They all belong to you."

Kael checked the system interface.

She was right.

Every restored relic recognized him as its controller. Any kills earned by those weapons would count toward his contribution. If he used them all, he could dominate the first wave without personally stepping beyond the wall.

The three climbers realized the same thing, and their relief began to fade. None of them accused him, but frustration settled over their faces. They had helped gather materials and carry parts, yet Kael had performed the repairs. He was under no obligation to share control.

The Leonard smiled faintly from a distance, perhaps expecting Kael to prove no different from him.

Kael opened the defensive interface. He selected five of the restored relics and transferred their control to the burly climber.

The man blinked when the notification appeared before him.

Kael assigned another five to the staff user, then five more to the spear-wielding woman. He kept the remaining five for himself.

The Leonard received none.

The woman with the staff stared at the new control window. "You gave us the turrets."

"Five each," Kael said. "That should help with the required contribution."

The burly man looked from his assigned cannons toward Kael. "You could’ve kept all twenty."

"I could have."

"You would’ve gotten nearly all the contribution."

"Probably."

The spear user frowned. "Then why help us?"

Kael stored Brokk’s Hammer and flexed his sore fingers. "We’re all people who want to survive."

He looked over the inner city. The inhabitants had begun retreating toward the deeper shelters. Parents carried frightened children, soldiers embraced their families before climbing the walls, and workers continued loading ammunition despite the faint tremors beginning to pass through the distant ground.

"I’d rather not have the highest contribution if my conscience won’t let me sleep well at night," Kael continued. "Too many nightmares are already doing the opposite."

The three climbers fell quiet. The staff user looked toward the Leonard, whose expression had grown increasingly bitter.

"Thank you," she said.

The burly man nodded. "Once the floor is over, you can have my rewards."

"Mine too," the spear user added.

Kael shook his head. "Don’t worry about it."

"You repaired everything."

"And you helped."

"Not nearly as much."

"You can repay me by making sure your side of the wall doesn’t collapse."

The burly man laughed. "That I can do."

They separated, each climber heading toward the section containing their assigned relics. The fortress soldiers guided them through the controls, explaining how to aim the weapons and how the system-assisted mechanisms would reload after each shot.

Kael took the northern wall. The burly man claimed the gatehouse, while the two women moved toward the eastern and western stretches of the fortress.

The Leonard descended into the city and headed toward his concentrated defenses around the crystal. He did not look back.

Kael stood beside one of his restored ballistae and watched the final minutes disappear.

[The First Wave will invade in 10 minutes.]

The walls became still. Soldiers stood shoulder to shoulder along the battlements, their shields resting against the stone. Archers checked their strings, while mages gathered atop the towers and prepared spells, their staffs glowing faintly beneath the darkening sky.

The people below had mostly vanished into shelters. Only military units and workers remained in the streets.

[The First Wave will invade in 5 minutes.]

A vibration passed through the wall, and Kael felt it through his boots. At first, it was faint enough to mistake for the movement of machinery. Then it came again, longer and deeper.

The open plains surrounding the fortress began to tremble. Dust rose along the horizon, and a dark line appeared beneath the bruised sky.

Kael narrowed his eyes as the line grew thicker and individual shapes emerged from it.

Large shapes.

[The First Wave will invade in 1 minute.]

The rumbling became a roar as hundreds of creatures charged across the plain.

They were enormous humanoids covered in dark green and gray skin, each one taller than the soldiers stationed upon the wall. Heavy muscles strained beneath crude armor made from animal hide, iron scraps, and bone. Most carried clubs fashioned from entire tree trunks, their surfaces reinforced with metal bands and jagged spikes.

Kael recognized them immediately. He was no stranger to these monsters.

Hobgoblins.

These were not the smaller creatures one would expect to find among ordinary monster packs. They looked like the Mutated Hobgoblin that had served as the boss of the second floor...the creature Kael had killed in four seconds.

Except there was not one of them now.

There were hundreds.

Hundreds upon hundreds of second-floor boss monsters raced toward the fortress with their clubs raised, their howls blending with the thunder of their feet.

Kael placed one hand against the ballista’s controls. The ancient weapon responded immediately, rotating toward the approaching army. Its firing arms pulled back, and the enormous bolt locked into place.

Across the fortress, nineteen other restored relics did the same. Cannons lowered, ballistae turned, and upon each section of the wall, one of the climbers stood ready.

The system timer reached its end.

[The First Wave has begun.]

The hobgoblins roared.

The fortress answered.