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Chapter 149 - The last day
🕑 Added 2020-12-02 13:00:03 +0000 UTC~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rampage Quest
Wendigo's Assault - Hazelpond
Three Wendigos are mixed with the monsters that are attacking the city. If left unchecked, the monsters can become strong enough to destroy the entire town. Kill them to ensure the success of the Rampage's defense.
The amount of damage you inflict on the wendigos will determine your reward.
Rewards
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Hera kept staring at the notification. Why had the wendigos appeared? Was that going to be a regular occurrence now?
"Hera, please come with me. Cassandra, you too. The rest of the team, get ready to leave. The clouds turned red. We are on the last day of the Rampage."
The team members hurried to get ready, Blue and Alex just followed their lead, but Hera and Cass were only allowed to change into casual clothes before heading out.
"We just got reports that a similar quest appeared in Brinefront. Since you are the only one who ever fought a Wendigo here, we need you to give us all a briefing on what to expect," the clerk spoke as they walked through the hall.
"Wait, what do you mean?" Hera stopped walking.
The clerk moved back and grabbed Hera's arm, pulling her toward the conference room, "We don't have time for stage fright. Let's go."
"No, wait. Why me?" Hera asked.
"I've just told you. You are the only one with first-hand knowledge of fighting those things. We don't have time to read through all the reports to figure out how to fight them."
"Wait," Hera gasped.
"We don't have time to wait. We need the intel now!" the clerk kept pulling Hera's arm.
"I'm not the only one who fought those things," as Hera said those words, the man who was pulling her arm finally stopped.
"What? Who else fought them?"
"Helena was in the Qeeroni Wilds. She spent a week fighting those things," Hera explained, pulling her arm away.
"Why isn't she fighting then?" the clerk asked.
"We have no time to discuss that. She was in one of the rooms that you guys are using. Call her to the meeting. She will have much better intel," Hera huffed.
The clerk scoffed and called someone on his tablet, asking to bring Helena to the conference room. Hera walked inside the room and saw 50 people spread around in the tight area. There was a small podium on the other end of the room with a large screen behind it. She was guided towards the front, and they placed her behind the stand.
"Quiet, everyone. Hera is here, and she will tell us what she can about the wendigos," another clerk said and gesture for Hera to start.
She felt her heart thumping and her hands starting to sweat. She always hated to do presentations in front of a crowd. She tried to push through and remember what she knew about the monsters.
"Hum... Hi, everyone. I'm Hera and Hum... The wendigos are strong and quick. Hum... They get stronger if they.., hum, eat other things..."
"We don't have time to listen to a greenhorn. This is the middle of the last day, and that kid won't give us anything important. All we need to know is that they can be killed," A man with a large black coat said.
"He's right. Let's not waste time here," another man wearing heavy armor got up and moved towards the entrance.
"Now, hold on. Please, everyone, we need to be careful with those things," the clerks tried to stop the group from leaving.
"If they want to leave and to be eaten alive, let them. We are the ones who will need to fix their mistakes," Helena said as she walked into the room.
"Who are you to say we are making a mistake?" the man in a long coat asked.
"I'm someone who survived one week in the Queeroni Wilds after those things appeared. If you want to live and not make your team die with you, sit down and listen," Helena didn't even look at him. She just walked towards Hera, "Take a deep breath, sweetie, you can have a panic attack later."
Hera nodded as Helena took the podium. The mage explained the wendigo's behavior. Unlike how they appeared after the wall break, they were a scavenging species. Unless in a group large enough to overwhelm their enemies, they would run around looking for bodies they could eat and grow their strength before attacking someone on their own. They all started as pure white creatures with some blood-red markings, but even their skin could shift as they ate.
The wendigos could go through three types of evolution. The minor one would make them stall for two seconds and assimilate whatever power they got. Those mostly were basic characteristics, like increased senses or increasing their strength. The medium one would make them stop for 5 seconds to a minute, but it wasn't instant. They could control when that change would start. Those could give them more skills and make minor physical changes. The last one was when they would have a significant difference in their abilities and physical form. However, to change like that, they needed from one hour to a few days, and they would create a pupa like a shell before changing. They would be very vulnerable during that time, but the cocoon is several times tougher than the creature itself.
"Remember, the most dangerous part of those creatures are the abilities they consume. Since we won't know what to expect, everyone needs to be ready for everything. After that, the biggest issue is their strength, even a Wendigo that devoured only agility based creatures will be incredibly strong," Helena finished explaining.
"I disagree," Hera said.
The entire room looked at her.
"I mean. I don't think strength is the second biggest issue. The one I fought was smart. Too smart. It waited for me to sleep before attacking and took advantage of another monster's attack to catch me off guard," Hera explained.
"That's not new. Many monsters would do the same," the man in heavy armor said.
"Just stay quiet and let someone with experience talk, girl," the one with a long coat snickered.
"The wendigo could tell the difference between an attack and a feint, and it matched my footsteps so I wouldn't hear it following me," Hera stared at the man with the long coat, "Does that count as experience?"
"Hera was able to kill one of them. I only ran. Thanks to my magic, I was able to conceal my hideout from the Wendigos. My information is based on watching those who walked by. Not first-hand combat. We would do well to follow Hera's advice. And what she saws does make sense. I’m talking from the perspective of someone under leveled for the area. The strength I saw can be just my own bias," Helena said.
"Did the wendigo showed any abilities that the monsters in this room didn't have?" a voice came from the speakers. Only now, Hera noticed the cameras set up on the back. They were transmitting the meeting to Brinefront since a similar quest appeared for the people there.
"No, not really, at least. It was more muscular than any monster here, but that could be just the accumulation of strength from several kills," Hera replied after considering it for a moment.
"Do you have any suggestions?" the man in heavy armor asked.
There was a long pause. Hera's mind went into overdrive, trying to come up with a plan, "Yeah. We need to be careful with the corpses. We, I mean our team, fought while using the monsters' bodies as barricades, and we killed many before they would even reach the traps. If we leave them like this, the wendigo's will have a feast without us even seeing them. As bad as it sounds, we should let the normal monsters get closer so we can stop them from eating, and we absolutely can't let them eat the pangolins. If they do, we won't know the type of skill the Wendigos will have since the pangolins have random abilities. I'm not sure what to do with the monsters that are not from the Rampage and with the pile of bodies. Do they still vanish after one hour?"
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[All In] effects deactivated, the cooldown will now start
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"Yeah, but the wave won't stop," Cass said.
The group inside the conference room thanked the two who spoke about the wendigos and started to discuss strategies. Cass approached Hera, who discretely waved the notification away, "Go eat and change into your gear. We are heading to point H in half an hour.”
Hera nodded and left the room, followed by Helena. The two walked in silence for a moment, leaving the noise of the conference room behind.
"Lena, thanks for the help back there. I don't know what... Are you ok?" Helena was trembling, and she kept looking around.
"No... just.. be safe ok sweetie?" her voice cracked several times during that small sentence.
Hera hugged Helena, "I will, and I promise that not a single monster is going to get close to you, ok?"
Helena nodded, "I know, it's just.."
"Hard. I can tell. Stay inside the guild, and if we end up having to leave, I'm the one taking you to the doorway. I promise nothing will hurt you," Hera didn't let go of the hug for a while. It was Helena who broke the embrace.
"I'm ok, eat. You need to get ready for the fight," Helena kissed Hera's cheek and walked away. She was going to keep herself busy until everything was over.
Hera watched her friend walk away. She wanted to be with her at this time, but it would be for nothing. Even if she were able to comfort Helena, she would still be scared. The best way to help her was to kill the Wendigos as fast as possible.
She rushed to get ready and eat before leaving the guild. Looking to the sky, Hera could see the ominous red clouds covering the entire roof of the cave from the moment she stepped outside. It was the middle of the afternoon, and the light of the sun that lit the clouds gave the entire area an eerie crimson glow.
40 minutes after leaving the guild, Hera and the team arrived at the point H, the road by the ocean that led outside the city. Since it was the last day of the Rampage, all the teams would fight together. However, the team that came after them had just returned and had to rest before coming back. After all, they were already fighting for 8 hours. The team protecting the entrance was fighting alone for close to one hour and would need to take a break soon.
Hera was surprised when she saw the other team fighting. They were all working together against the monsters. The wave was much larger, as well. Just at a glance, Hera could count about twenty monsters engaged in the front line, and at least double that coming from the bog.
This team had only one mage and one healer, but four archers aside from the vanguard. The ones in the melee were hard to identify, and aside from the healer, she could only tell what they were using to attack, not their roles. Still, the twelve people either worked together for a long time or were experts at teamwork.
"Jessica, we are here. Wanna switch now?" Cass yelled as her team approached.
"We'll stay until the bodies disappear. Hera is in your team, right?" the woman who was creating barriers on her team asked without looking away from the fight.
"Yep, she's right here. She's the blonde with the purple full body armor," Cass said, winking at Hera.
"We are following your idea. We stopped focusing on the ones coming from the trees and only kill them after they pass through the traps. The ones in the walls keep an eye out for the Wendigos or any monster behaving in a way it shouldn't. If you think about anything else, let us know," Jess created two barriers and slowed a monster while talking.
"Will do," Hera said as they jumped into the fight.
The set up that both teams used was similar. There was the vanguard in front, blocking and distracting the monsters, a line of damage dealers responsible for killing the creatures. The healers stayed in front of the entrance and the ones capable of long-range attacks on the ramparts.
Hera looked around the area. The monsters kept coming without stopping, and even with both teams fighting, they still were outnumbered. She helped clean up the ones that had passed the traps and looked towards the treeline, only to see another thirty creatures coming from the swamp at once.
