Chapter 342: Plan

The spear wielder rested the base of her weapon against the stone.

"What do you have in mind?"

"First things first, we always save some of our currency."

The burly man frowned. "Why? I thought we needed to keep upgrading our defenses."

"That’s the obvious strategy."

Kael opened the defensive interface and glanced at the available structures.

More ballista upgrades.

Cannon improvements.

New turrets.

Traps.

Barricades.

Reinforcements.

Every option encouraged them to spend everything they earned as quickly as possible.

"That’s the problem," he continued. "It sounds reasonable to keep upgrading, but when has this Tower ever been direct and honest?"

The mage gave a tired laugh.

"It hasn’t."

"I have a feeling it will throw a curveball at us," Kael said. "Something that requires currency immediately. Maybe a special enemy appears on one side. Maybe a gate collapses and we need to move our defenses. Maybe the Tower unlocks a structure we can’t afford because we spent everything improving weapons that are already in the wrong place."

The spear wielder looked toward the broad walls.

"How much should we save?"

"A third of everything we earn."

"That’s a lot," the burly man said.

"It’s enough to matter without paralyzing us. We still spend the other two-thirds on upgrades, ammunition, repairs, or new defenses. The reserve stays untouched unless something goes wrong."

The mage considered it.

"How do we keep track of a third when the points are constantly increasing?"

"We start with each ten thousand," Kael replied. "When you reach ten thousand currency, save three. When you reach twenty thousand, the reserve should be six. Thirty thousand, nine. Keep it simple."

The burly man looked at him. "You think we’re going to earn that much?"

Kael glanced toward the horizon.

"I have a feeling we’ll earn much more."

"That means a lot of enemies," the spear wielder said.

"Without a doubt."

The answer did not reassure anyone.

Kael had seen the prices in the upgrade interface. The third cannon transformation alone cost eight thousand. Higher stages remained hidden behind it. If the Tower expected climbers to purchase structures that expensive, it also expected the later waves to provide enough enemies to generate that currency.

The number of monsters required for that was unpleasant to consider.

The mage rose from the ammunition crate.

"What is the plan if one of the gates fails?"

Kael pointed toward the city.

Four wide roads led from the outer gates toward the central keep. They had been built to allow soldiers, wagons, and supplies to move quickly through the fortress, but they could also become channels for an invading army.

"You see those streets?"

The others followed his hand.

"There’s enough space to build a couple of turrets inside each one," Kael said. "Not as many as the Leonard put around the center. Just enough to create a second defensive line."

"Reserve turrets," the mage said.

"Exactly. We don’t build them now because they won’t contribute while the walls stand. But if a gate breaks, the climber controlling that section can immediately spend part of their saved currency to block the road."

"And the gate?" the spear wielder asked.

"I’ll try to repair it."

The burly man stared at him.

"While monsters are coming through?"

"Yes."

"That sounds dangerous."

"It’s worse than that," Kael said. "I need both hands to use the hammer properly. If I’m repairing a gate while an army is rushing through it, someone has to cover me."

The mage nodded.

"Whoever loses their gate protects you while you work."

"That’s the idea."

The spear wielder looked toward Kael’s northern section.

"What happens if your gate falls?"

She pointed toward the basic turrets the Leonard had placed in front of Kael’s defenses.

"After all, that motherfucker put ballistae in front of you, redhead." She paused. "Sorry. I still don’t know your name."

"Redhead is fine."

The burly man looked at Kael’s helmet. "You could also tell us."

"I could."

The spear wielder waited.

Kael did not continue.

She sighed. "Fine. Redhead."

"Yes, my gate will be problematic," Kael admitted. "But you saw how I solved the obstruction earlier."

The burly man’s grin widened.

"That giant explosion?"

Kael glanced toward the distant hill, where the remaining fire had dwindled into a red glow.

"That was sick."

"I can only do it a couple of times," Kael said. "So I can’t rely on it."

One shot had consumed nearly two-thirds of his internal energy.

Even if Second Wind or recovery methods allowed him to fire again, repeated use would be dangerous. He did not yet know how much energy the cannon could endure, whether channeling other runes would cost more, or whether the golem metal would eventually fail after repairing itself too many times.

It was a weapon for emergencies.

Not something he could fire continuously into every wave.

"That’s unfortunate," the burly man said. "Still good to have."

He looked toward the central keep.

"You think the Leonard will survive the next wave?"

"He doesn’t have much choice but to fight beyond the gates again," Kael replied. "Even with his ballistae blocking mine, he won’t generate enough contribution from them."

The cheap turrets sat too close to the outer edge of the wall. They had no elevated platforms, reinforced frames, or improved loading mechanisms. The first volley of sling stones or any proper siege projectile would tear them apart.

"They’ll be destroyed quickly," Kael continued. "Then my weapons get their firing lines back."

The mage looked toward the obstructing structures.

"I only hope he doesn’t build more."

"If he places enough of them, it’ll become very annoying," the spear wielder agreed.

"It’s fine," Kael said. "I can use them as barriers to protect mine."

The others turned toward him.

Kael pointed toward the low wooden frames.

"If the enemies start firing at the wall, his turrets take the first hits. My crews can stand behind them until they’re destroyed."

The burly man laughed.

"So he paid to build shields for you."

"Very considerate of him."

A system notification appeared.

[The Second Wave will begin in 5 minutes.]

The humor faded.

Kael looked toward the timer.

"Are we all set?"

The mage checked the crystal fixed into the top of her staff.

"As much as we can be."

The spear wielder rolled her injured shoulder, tested the edge of her weapon, and nodded.

The burly man lifted his massive sword.

"Best of luck, everyone."

They separated.

The fortress had changed during the night.

Broken sections of stone had been patched. Ammunition racks stood filled beside every ballista. The gates had been repaired, the wounded removed from the front lines, and fresh soldiers had replaced those too exhausted to continue.

His two tower ballistae rose over the Leonard’s obstructing defenses, their multiple bows aimed toward the horizon. The remaining ballistae had poorer firing lines, but could still attack across limited angles. The ordinary cannon waited near the gatehouse.

Beside it stood Kael’s creation.

The dark golem cannon looked almost crude compared to the ancient fortress weapons. Its metal was uneven in places, and the reinforcing rings did not match the rest of the frame perfectly. Red traces from Fire and Heft had faded from its surface, leaving the barrel black and silent.

Kael placed one hand against it.

A faint red line appeared beneath his palm but he withdrew before the matrix could spread.

Not yet.

[The Second Wave will begin in 1 minute.]

A weak gray light spread along the horizon, revealing the battlefield left behind by the hobgoblins. Thousands of bodies still covered the plain. Some had been dragged away during the night, but most remained where they had fallen, piled beneath the walls or scattered across the open ground.

Movement appeared beyond them.

At first, Kael mistook the distant shapes for another line of hobgoblins.

Then he noticed their size.

Smaller.

Much smaller.

Kael recognized their hunched bodies, long ears, crude weapons, and mismatched scraps of armor. They were the kind of monsters most climbers encountered early in the Tower of Trials. Individually, they were far weaker than the Mutated Hobgoblins from the first wave.

Then more appeared behind them.

And more.

The line widened across the horizon.

It continued spreading until Kael could no longer see where the army began or ended.

Goblins covered the distant hills, filled the valleys between them, and poured across the plain in a living tide.

There were not thousands.

There were hundreds of thousands.

The scale made the hobgoblin army look like a scouting party.

Every section of the horizon darkened beneath bodies. Crude spears, short bows, axes, slings, and rusted blades rose above the masses. Their shrill voices blended into a sound far different from the deep roars of the first wave.

The hobgoblins had been noisy.

This was deafening.

Kael stared at the endless army advancing toward the fortress.

His currency reserve suddenly felt like a very good idea.

[The Second Wave has begun.]