The Path of Ascension 3: A LitRPG Adventure

15

They all removed their flying devices from their spatial bags and took to the sky without much more talking. They inspected the other unoccupied forts for nearly two hours, and found nothing. The only other kingdom occupied fort in the chain had been attacked, but after wounding two of the defenders, the queendom’s troops retreated without trying to take the now lightly defended fort.

Together, the six of them hovered in the air high in the sparse cloud cover, where they were unable to be observed or easily ambushed.

Matt’s AI had noted a slight discrepancy in the fort’s coverage. It wasn’t obvious, as the fort’s anti-flying formations weren’t active, but the designed overlap had a small gap in it. The space coincided with a valley that was closed off from a landslide on one end. If the formations could pass through rock, they would be covered, but their effects were reduced with physical matter obstructing the Path. Thus, the debris from the landside created a slight gap.

The gap would be obvious when the formations were up and running, but since they were still shut off, none of them would have noticed the discrepancy. It was the best place for a party of ambush troops to be hiding. They had flown past it in a test, but they had seen no evidence of human presence or signs of a hidden base.

Emily said over their voice channel, “The logic checks out. This is a good location for a hidden base, but they don’t seem to have one set up.” Her sister tried to interject, but was punched in the shoulder for her trouble. “And no, I don’t think it’s a good idea for my sister to scout by herself. We’d be so far away that she would have zero back-up.”

Conor nodded along with everything the twin said and added his own two cents. “I think we report in, and strike at the area hard and fast. We should tear the place apart. Either we find an enemy and fight them, or we find nothing. We can always retreat if they have a numbers advantage, and if we find nothing, we won’t lose anything but some time.”

Matt liked the man’s idea, but from how Liz c****d her hip in the air, she didn’t agree. As Liz expanded on the ways that it could backfire, he ran the scenario with his AI.

Their impromptu team was strong for their Tier, and the other three had all run Tier 7 rifts easily enough at Tier 6. Unless the base was chocked full of Tier 7s, they should be fine. If the queendom was doing the same thing as the kingdom, they would have broken open their vaults and given each Tier 7 a full kit of weapons and armor at their Tier, with a single Tier 8 item for attack or offense, depending on the person.

While those on the Path of Ascension were unable to partake of the free gear, they all hit above their Tier, so they should be able to handle a kitted out Tier 7 fighter. They would only have problems if they encountered someone who hit above their Tier and was also well equipped. If they fought someone on the level of the princess, they would be distinctly at a disadvantage. There was no rule that said all of the powerful fighters had to be on the Path.

“I think we can do it. The risk is minimal.” Seeing that Liz had stopped talking, Matt took his chance to interject. “There is a risk. But it’s unlikely that the queendom would send a massive commitment for a small base like this. At worst, we’ll face an average Tier 7 overseeing a group of Tier 6s. It’s not impossible for us to fight and beat a squad of that caliber.”

“There’s still a chance that this is a larger play by the queendom. They don’t have as much territory and they aren’t as spread out, so they have more wiggle room to send out stronger forces. We could very well fight a full team strong Tier 7s. I don’t think it’s worth it if we die now. There’s a lot of free points to gather in the first few weeks.”

Matt didn’t really have a counterargument for that. It was risky, but it wasn’t guaranteed that they wouldn’t run into a situation larger than they could handle.

Matt could overrule her if he wanted to, but he didn’t want to do anything that drastic. They had already decided that he was in command of any combat operations. His AI was simply able to process more information than hers at any time, which let him plan fights better. Liz took charge of their interactions with the kingdom and was the official leader.

He looked at her armored form and shrugged, throwing the ball into her court.

Finally, Liz said, “Let’s do it, but we have to be careful. We’ll fly over first. Then we can go in at a hover. The anti-flying formations aren’t active; they don’t even reach here anyway. So we should be fine to make a quick getaway, if need be.”

With that, they dropped like rocks with the power of their flying devices. Matt kept with his team as they made an arc into the valley.

They did as Liz said and did a slow and careful search of the valley. Finding nothing once again, they moved to search closer to the ground.

They almost finished their sweep when Aster noticed something. Matt only got a warning through their bond, as his fox sent a message to everyone else in their chat.

“Smell human.”

They all went on alert, and Annie flew behind a tree. With a thud, she vanished into the sparse trees.

Liz looked over her shoulder and asked, “Where’s the scent strongest?”

Aster sniffed around and led them to a tree that looked like any other in the area. At least, that was what Matt thought until he looked closer. The surrounding trees were in the early signs of spring with small buds of green, whereas this one looked to be in the full bloom of summer.

Matt called out at the same time that a hatch in the side of the tree opened with a ringing sound of metal on metal.

Conor dropped to the ground, which kept him from tumbling like the rest of them did when an anti-flight formation activated. Matt landed with a thud, but rolled with the impact and joined Conor in holding the entrance.

The man’s [Demon Zone] was a red haze that encompassed the entrance.

Matt mentally ran through the skill description of [Demon Zone]: 5 MPS base cost. A portion of all damage dealt while in the area of effect would reflect back to the damage dealer as physical damage. There was a percent chance for any damage dealt in the area to affect all occupants. No designation of friend or foe. The user would take fifty percent damage from all reflected damage. The skill couldn’t be recast for two hours, and channeling time didn’t count toward cooldown.

The skill was slamming energy blows against Matt’s [Cracked Phantom Armor] as he countered an attack from a woman. She escaped the tree and moved around Conor to flank the two of them.

Matt smiled as what felt like a hammer blow landed on his leg. His armor completely absorbed the damage, but the woman’s posture crumpled as the unexpected reflection hit everyone in the zone.

Not willing to let the opportunity go, Matt stabbed forward and took the woman in her lightly armored gut with a thrust. As he withdrew his sword, she was suddenly gone.

Pivoting, Matt moved right beside Conor to help hold the entrance. As much as he hated to admit it, his new melee teammate was a better fighter with more weapons than Matt. He was more skilled with a longsword, but the man was a miracle worker when he used any one-handed weapon with his shield.

Whether it was a mace, a short sword, or anything in between, the man struck with lightning-fast blows. Each had a chance to strike everyone in the aura. The light blows weren’t meant to cause any real damage, just to disorientate. Any time [Demon Zone] reflected someone’s attack to the queendom’s fighters, Conor used [Momentum Strike] to finish off the nearest opponent during the moment of disorientation.

When they sparred, Matt had only been able to hold his own, but without battering the man down with spell cast after spell cast, he had been forced to call it a draw. Unless they were willing to go all out, there was no clear winner in their fights.

It made them an amazing frontline duo. Matt wasn’t bothered by the light reflected attacks with [Cracked Phantom Armor], and Conor had never encountered someone who could effectively guard his side with his skill active.