Chapter 24: Beast Wave 2

He looked at the timer. The Beast Wave would start in two hours. He walked to the forge and sharpened his axe, then moved the animals into the fortress. By the time he was finished, there was less than an hour remaining.

The evening turned darker than a normal summer's night. The bright red Blood Moon lit up the evening sky, he could landscape clearly but he felt cold. There was a cold chill in the air. Thaddeus stared at the moon, he couldn't take his eyes away. It was both beautiful and mysterious. He only likes away when red mist began spreading through the forest and slowly floated throughout the prairie.

He quickly climbed up the stairs and looked out over the battlements. From this height, he could see his entire territory. He swiveled his head East towards the forest, South to the river, and West to the prairie and mountains. He didn't know what animals to expect, and how many would be in each wave. But he knew even if he had to die a thousand times, he'd protect what's his.

With sword and shield out, he was ready as he'd ever been. He sent a quick prayer to Demeter watching the beast wave timer click down to zero.

He looked out and saw…nothing. What was going on, where was the wave of massive cougars or wolves? Nothing was attacking. He felt disappointed.

"Below, sir," Alfred called.

He looked down and saw mounds of dirt moving toward him. Burrowing animals were the first wave of attack. That would make it difficult to kill them. When they got close to the fortress they burrowed out from the ground.

He quickly analyzed them and saw they were Level 20 Steel-Teeth Prairie Dogs. The beasts were quick, small, no bigger than a foot, and looked like big squirrels with two sharp teeth.

Thaddeus jumped off the battlements and crushed a Prairie Dog to death. He looked, and sure enough, he lost 200 HP from the jump. But it looked cool and was something he secretly wanted to do for a long time.

On the ground, he chopped his way through the first wave of 50 Prairie Dogs as they tried to bite his legs. Thanks to Demeter's blessing of triple healing to residents and animals, he healed as fast. But that didn't stop it from hurting like hell when it ripped through his leg.

They were quick and burrowed underground when they were injured. The was hard to kill them. Slowly, he was able to kill 20 to 30 when their attack pattern changed. Instead of swarming him, they burrowed underground and surprised and attacked him. But before he could kill them, they'd disappear underground.

He activated his skill Surveyor and closed his eyes. He could sense the ground below him. He could see the little buggers moving around and there was one behind getting ready to attack. When it burrowed out from the ground Thaddeus cleaved and chopped it to death. He could now fight back, that was a good feeling. It wasn't long until he killed, he killed the rest, and that's when the Prairie Dog Boss stuck its head above ground and angrily stared at him.

He analyzed the boss and saw it was Level 25 Prairie Dog Boss. The boss was twice as fast as the ones below and its teeth were longer and thicker. Thaddeus swung his axe, but the boss dodged and bit off his foot.

"Fuck, that hurt!" Thaddeus yelled as blood spurted out from his ankle. He checked his most recent notification.

System Message:

You lose 478 damage. You are under a bleed effect, you lose 30 HP for the next 5 minutes.

Using Surveyor, he dodged the boss's next attack and used cleaved at the boss' head above ground. He heard a "cling" as the boss blocked the swing with his teeth and the boss went back underground.

When the boss reappeared a second later somewhere else, Thaddeus spun, and activated Bash, slamming his shield into the back of the boss's head, and cleaving him. He continued to chop at the boss until he woke up. Thaddeus repeated the same attack and on the third time, he finally managed to kill the boss.

System Message:

First Wave Completed. Time: 26 minutes and 37 seconds. Global Rank 236. Settlement Rank: 25. Time Until Next Wave: 5 minutes.

Thaddeus drank a healing potion and watched as his foot reappeared. He walked to where his foot and boot were bitten off. He looked inside the boot and saw his old foot. He picked up the bloody stump and buried it.

Then he went back inside to rest and prepared for the third wave. Five minutes later he heard a familiar howl. He looked outside and saw a pack of seven coyotes. It was the same pack he found when he arrived and the same pack he saw in the forest.

"Alfred, if I kill mobs outside the forest, in my territory, do they respawn?" Thaddeus asked.

"That is correct, sir," he replied.

Thaddeus was thrilled. That meant this pack of coyotes would die today and never respawn. After he killed these coyotes, he planned to loot their den.

Thaddeus stepped outside the fortress door and bashed the nearest coyote. Two strikes late it died. The coyotes were incensed by the quick attack. As a pack, they all jumped to claw his face. He swung and cleaved a second coyote in half midair. The other five coyotes landed on him, one clawed his face and raked his claws across his cheek. But before the coyote could get away, Thaddeus slammed his axe into the back of the coyote's head killing it. He bashed two more coyotes stunning them before he killed them.

The last three coyotes surrounded him, their eyes were red with bloodlust. Two coyotes came from his side and another from behind. He swung his axe and shield in a different direction. One coyote hit his shield, another hit his axe, and the third bit the same leg as his new foot.

The coyote that hit his axe died and he cleaved the coyote who bit his leg. Looking at his HP dropping he could tell he was back under a bleeding effect. He quickly killed the last coyote and went back inside the fortress to rest. Sitting on the stairs that led to battlement, he checked the rankings.

System Message:

Second Wave Completed. Time: 10 minutes and 57 seconds. Global Rank 196. Settlement Rank: 10. Time Until Next Wave: 5 minutes.

Thaddeus rested and watched his HP crawl back up to full. When the timer returned to zero, he heard a different howl.

He walked up the stairs and looked over the battlements. He saw 26, Level 30 to 35 Timberwolves running in a straight line out of the forest to the fortress. He knew fighting them alone meant death. Just to be sure checked his last level-up notification:

System Message

Congratulations you reach Level 24. +5 Stat Points

He watched as the wolves waited for him to come out. When they realized he wasn't coming, they started to attack the fortress.

"Sir, the fortress is under attack!" Alfred warned.

Thaddeus ignored him and looked at the wolves ferociously clawing at the fortress. Their blood-red eyes looked at him murderously. He debated what to do when he realized something. All the wolves were scratching at the fort, their hind legs dug into the ground so they could law the wall.

"Sir, the fortress has dropped a 1-point in durability," Alfred warned.

"[Erosion]," Thaddeus cast, as the ground around the fortress, disappeared along with the wolves. Thaddeus MP for the third time today reached zero.

System Message:

Third Wave Completed. Time: 5 minutes and 42 seconds. Global Rank 122. Settlement Rank: 5. Time Until Final Wave: 5 minutes

Five minutes later, Thaddeus heard a loud howl. He watched as a majestic Timberwolf walked out of the forest. He was over 6 feet tall. Thaddeus tried to analyze it but instead, he received a system message:

System Message: Your Analyze Skill is not the sufficient

"Sir, I detect mana coming from the wolf," Alfred said.

"Mana! You mean that wolf can cast spells!" Thaddeus said in shock.

"Yes, it's preparing an attack spell now. might I advise you to duck and cover your ears," Alfred suggested.

Thaddeus ducked down below the wall and covered his ears, just before the wolf let out a monstrous bark. A tornado force of wind slammed against the fortress shaking it. Even with his hands over his ears he still was affected by the spell.

System Message:

You lose 98 damage. Your eardrums have burst. Due to the Wolf Boss' attack, you have lost the ability to hear for 1 minute.

Thaddeus stood up. He didn't plan to give up just because he was outmatched. He activated Growl and taunted the boss and summon Dhruvah.

The enraged Wolf boss ran like the wind and slammed into the fortress like a battering ram. He slammed against the walls again and again shook the entire fortress, and sent pieces of stone crumbling down. He only stopped again when he saw Dhruvah approaching.

"Sir, can you hear me? The fortress is under attack! Its durability is dropping quickly! And Dhruvah is under the effect of the blood moon."