The Path of Ascension 3: A LitRPG Adventure

12

Liz checked her watch and said, “We were told that we wouldn’t be deployed until tomorrow, but I’d like to get some light sparring and team tactics training in tonight. Nothing crazy, since we don’t have a healer. But enough so that when we get started, we don’t have to fight together blindly.”

No one disagreed, so they went to find a training room, and saw that mostly everyone had the exact same idea. All of the training rooms they came across were already occupied.

The Golem Battalion had been nearly fully staffed with the arrival of the Pathers. It didn’t escape anyone’s notice that there were no teams consisting of cultivators on the Path and kingdom cultivators together. They were always in separate groups.

They stood around for nearly ten minutes, until Conor asked, “Does anyone know how the challenge areas work?”

Liz caught on faster than Matt and called out, “Brilliant! I challenge you three to a duel.”

Matt laughed as their AIs asked for confirmation. When they accepted, they got a notice that a platform would be sent to their location shortly and showed a four-minute timer.

Annie looked at the other man and nodded. “Good thinking. I wouldn’t have thought of it on my own.”

Conor looked unperturbed. “Saw it in a movie, so I can’t take the credit.”

They milled around, and to the shock of the other teams nearby, boarded the platform when it descended. They got a marshy swamp area; Matt felt bad for anyone who didn’t have a skill to keep out murky water and foul stenches.

The teams who were huddled around the front entrance of the kingdom’s building put two and two together as they watched the group of six. As their platform rose, Matt was able to see four more platforms moving in their direction.

Summoning his sword, he began moving forward, only to stop when a hovering woman appeared to ask, “What’s the challenge for, and what win conditions do you want?”

Matt quickly said, “We’ll be using the platform for round-based three vs. three with team swapping and breaks.”

The woman shrugged and vanished while echoing, “Well, let me know when you all are done.”

Almost as an afterthought, she added, “Do you care if people can see or watch in?”

Liz quickly added, “We would like our privacy, please. From all but you, of course.”

The edge of the area seemed to shimmer in the air like a heat haze. Seeing that they were protected, Liz withdrew her spear and said, “Well, let’s test each other out some, shall we?

Matt readied his blade. They had a war to prepare for.

4

Matt flew in formation with his team to their objective. It was a fort, a part of a larger chain of fortifications protecting a mountain chain. They had been called upon at 4 AM their time, but the sun was shining high in the sky where they had teleported to on the planet.

Their side had captured three of the neutral and newly made cities, for a total of five on their side. The other two were under the control of the queendom. Their cities were being flooded with personnel who would staff and defend the city, since the kingdom used them as teleportation platforms.

It was incredibly expensive to do the intra-city teleports, but the kingdom still sent their strike forces through as fast as they could load them onto the platforms.

Their team had been called up not long after they went to bed for the night. Thankfully, as Tier 6s, their need for sleep was lessened compared to the unawakened.

Their advanced scouts had noticed that the queendom was mobilizing forces to these forts. From their mission brief, the kingdom was assuming that the enemy troops were trying to create a c***k in the outer layer of the city’s defenses. It seemed that they were trying to claim a foothold, so that future operations could be initiated from the base in order to break through the defensive layers. Defending this forward base from the queendom was the kingdom’s war AI’s decision. They weren’t entirely sure why this singular base was being targeted, but their trajectory didn’t leave much room for debate.

According to Juni, they needed to move quickly, so they were out on their various flying devices only minutes after being roused from their sleep.

They would need to hold the fort until reinforcements could arrive and take over.

Matt didn’t understand why the queendom was trying to take the base without the surrounding area being controlled. Still, from the limited information he had about the ongoing war, it was mostly a game of sending out small token forces to gather control of as much territory as possible.

There were points given to each side depending on the amount of territory they held. The territory’s worth was determined by the value of available rifts and natural resources like metals in the controlled area. Both sides were overextended to cover as much land as possible, while also contending with teleportation costs and traditional travel times.

The queendom hadn’t advanced very far past capturing the city neighboring the one they had arrived in, but they did have to gather their forces from their own territory after all. Their interplanetary teleporters were constantly active to help consolidate their strength. The lack of initial push from the queendom meant that they had less than a quarter of the planet’s area under their nominal control to start. The kingdom could have pushed their initial advantage, but it was considered a waste of resources to try and contend with the queendom over the territory directly around their cities.

The attack that Matt’s team was intercepting was just part of a larger offensive on the part of the queendom. As an opening move, he felt it was a little lackluster, but he didn’t know what their greater plan was.

Even if they took this fort, it was surrounded by other controlled territories, and they had no teleporter to get reinforcements through.

In the end, Matt decided that it didn’t matter. They just had to sit on the fort and defend it while earning war contribution points.

They would earn ten apiece for taking and holding the fort, along with an additional point for each hour they held it. It wasn’t a large amount, but it was better than nothing, like the team’s current point total.

Matt glanced at the map that was overlaid on his vision, and spoke to the team over voice coms. “We’re two miles out. I’m going to scout ahead.”

His flying sword was the fastest of the group’s devices, so he moved ahead through the air and performed a large loop around the fortress. The landscape mainly consisted of scrubland that gave little cover, but he kept half a mile above the ground just in case of a hidden ambush. The sky was clear, which protected him from surprise attacks from above.

Seeing nothing of note, he pushed an all-clear message to his team. He landed in the three-story fort and started to inspect it for any hidden enemies.

He didn’t run into any opposition as he cleared empty floor after empty floor. The forts that the army built were barebone stone fortifications and were clearly meant to be filled out later by whichever force took them over.

On the bottom floor, Matt found the item that he was looking for. With a quick scan of the room, he walked over to the head-sized crystal and started to pump mana into it. A few seconds and 1,000 mana later, he pulled his armored hand off the crystal as the base’s systems came online. The fort’s preliminary shielding and anti-flight formations activated a moment later.

It only took a heartbeat for Matt to get a ping asking if he wanted to claim the base for the kingdom. As he walked to the door, he mentally selected yes and stepped back into the light.

His team landed in the clearing around the fort, and he saw Conor step off his flying carpet. He moved to check the fortification’s doors while his carpet rolled itself up and flew into his bag.

Liz and Emily started to climb the tower stairs to get in a position where their ranged attacks would be the most optimal. Annie pulled out a chair and sat behind the parapet, looking out into the open land around them.

Conor was moving to the opposite wall to do the same, so Matt went back inside. After deactivating his armor, he started to get a good charge on the mana reserve built into the fort.