Adam flew up towards the wall, but he had to grab the ledge as his leap couldn’t bring him high enough. He pulled himself up and rolled to the side, just as a crossbow bolt plinked along the stone.

  The knowledge that a second hit was fatal sat at the forefront of his mind as he charged for the shadowy sniper. Even if he could consume his second potion, it wouldn’t heal him enough to survive being hit again.

  Like the knight he’d slain at the northern breach, this one was two metres tall and imposing. Sinister shadows covered him like a veil and, instead of plate armour, he wore wrapped cloth that obscured his rotten skin. From his hood billowed black smoke as though his eyes were on fire.

  “Cooldowns on my Relics!?” Adam demanded.

  The knight casually reloaded a stake into his massive cross-shaped crossbow.

  [38 seconds remaining for Blood Mage Choker.]

  So the glove and ring are ready, but my defence Relic isn’t…

  Shit.

  When only eight metres separated them, the knight fired again.

  Woosh!

  Adam clumsily raised his shield while trying to dodge the bolt. The wall was no more than two metres wide and only the side facing away from the city had a simple parapet, so diving out of the way would send him off the edge and potentially kill him.

  The bolt hit the side of his shield and pushed his arm aside forcefully, making him stumble a step towards the edge. The impact left a bump on the front of the shield, which warped part of the edge. Even though it hadn’t hit him or done direct damage, his left elbow felt as though it’d been sprained.

  With a roar, he lunged towards the knight. But he was much nimbler than the previous one and easily backstepped out of the way of Adam’s thrusting attack, while swinging his massive crossbow like a club.

  Somehow, Adam managed to catch the strike on his shield and parry it, putting the knight off-balance and disorienting him for 2.5 seconds.

  Adam didn’t show any mercy and repeatedly stabbed the forlorn bastard, triggering the Fiendbarb again-and-again. After the fifth strike, the internal crystallisation had ruined the knight’s body to the point that it broke under its own weight and tumbled off the wall in pieces.

  Thank God for this Relic…

  Down below near the breach, the four remaining Elphin warriors turned the tide and laid waste to the incapacitated soldiers, who’d been rendered immobile by the loss of their leader.

  Adam breathed a sigh of relief. “Let me know when I can consume my other potion,” he told Shitbox, as it unfolded into an upgrade podium.

  [Understood.]

  He finally had time to inspect his shoulder wound. Although the potion had knitted his skin and flesh back to normal, black veins spread out around the area. He immediately thought of the strange effect the soldiers’ attacks had on the Elphin.

  But I feel fine. Although it still hurts…

  < Choose your Upgrade >

  As he walked over to where Shitbox had unfolded itself, he saw something on the other side of the wall about forty metres away near the treeline. It was a little wood-and-stone hut, which looked similar in construction to the Elphin towers. It had been taken over by five soldiers and there was a black chest behind them.

  Suddenly an explosion from the west drew his attention. A second later came another explosion from north-west. Both were on the direct opposite side of the city and he couldn’t see either of the new breaches thanks to the many towers in the way.

  Two at once this time…

  He’d almost thought that the setup of the Stage was very similar to the Wave-based ones, but it was clear that this wouldn’t be the case.

  I doubt I can get there in time, but I should be able to intercept them before they reach the ritual site. Maybe I can go find the Relic by the great tree’s roots on the way.

  He looked back at the hut and the black chest. He really wanted whatever was inside.

  I have enough time, he told himself.

  Adam quickly picked an upgrade.

  < < Upgrades Available > >

  < Spear Damage (Uncommon) — Increases spear damage by 10% >

  < Shield Parry (Common) — Successful parry disorients for 0.5 seconds >

  < Health (Uncommon) — Increases health by 2 >

  < < Upgrade Selected > >

  < Shield Parry (Common) >

  Disorient beats damage, even though it’s only half a second extra duration.

  Adam eyed the seven metre drop down to the other side of the wall.

  “Shitbox, do my Spring Boots eliminate fall damage?”

  [No.]

  Must’ve been part of the ability then. Damn.

  Just as he was about to cautiously scale down the outside of the wall, two Elphin archers dropped from the nearby web of walkways between the towers and came up next to him.

  “Good timing,” he said. “Help me down, would you?”

  One of the Elphin, a tall man with a scar running down the side of his neck, nodded and helped Adam down, while bracing himself against the parapet.

  As he let go of his hand, Adam dropped the last four metres, though the impact was mostly dispersed by the mossy ground and his boots.

  “Thanks!” he called up to the archer. “While you’re at it, could you shoot some arrows at those soldiers over there?”

  Wordlessly, the archer and his companion moved to follow his command.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Wait, am I actually meant to order these guys around? Have I been misunderstanding my role in the defence?

  Adam considered how to utilise his newfound knowledge as he sprinted across the moss outside the city, heading for the nearby hut. Arrows were already harassing the soldiers gathered there and they were leaving the hut and coming towards Adam.

  He charged the blood bolt in his left hand and skidded to a halt just as the soldiers grouped together to engage him. As he fired it off, one of the enemies moved out in front with a sudden burst of speed, catching the projectile right on his chest.

  Fuck! Too close!

  The bolt exploded, sending crystallised fragments everywhere, and Adam’s defence Relic triggered to protect him, creating a pane of blood in front of him.

  Oh shit!

  He dove out of the way as the shield was infected with the Fiendbarb effect and also exploded. Small needles of blood showered the area. For a second he thought he was done for, but then he looked around and saw that he hadn’t been hit, although three of the small fragments were embedded in his boots.

  That could’ve killed me…

  I need to be more careful.

  Movement caught his attention and he looked up to see that two soldiers remained. The other three lay dead on the ground behind them.

  Adam rolled aside just as a sword swung for his head. The blade struck the moss, but the second soldier immediately moved forward and tried to stab him.

  Thwack!

  An arrow slapped into the soldier’s head, striking the top of his helmet with enough force to push him back. Then a second arrow found its way into his eye-socket.

  Adam got to his feet and immediately rammed his spear into the soldier’s exposed neck. With a punch of his shield, his head popped off from his shoulders.

  He waited for the last soldier to attack and then immediately parried the simple swing, before stabbing him twice in his stomach where part of his armour had rusted away. It wasn’t enough to kill the soldier, although his body broke into two and he collapsed to the ground. To finish him off, he nailed him through the slit of his helmet and destroyed his head.

  I’ve gotta hurry.

  Adam went over to the hut, which looked to be some kind of storage for tools that could prune the nearby treeline, such as saws and simple hedge shears. Inside lay a dead Elphin man, whose skin was criss-crossed with black veins from dozens of tainted wounds.

  The tesseract floated over in front of the chest.

  [You have discovered a Relic Chest!]

  [Unlike the chest at the end of a Stage, this chest’s reward options cannot be rerolled.]

  Adam frowned. That’s a shame.

  He reached over to push open the lid. As soon as he touched it, the chest popped open on its own, showering him with golden light. A metallic vambrace appeared, as well as a potion with green liquid, and a human-shaped twig effigy with blue string keeping it together.

  < < Relics Available > >

  < Tainted Bracer (Uncommon) — Fire off a shadowy slash that penetrates armour and inflicts Taint, lowering target’s Stamina regeneration by 40% for 30 seconds. Breaks after use >

  < Small Stamina Potion (Common) — Drink to restore 40% Stamina. Disappears after use >

  < Affliction Ward (Uncommon) — Negate any affliction. Breaks after use >

  Okay, not a fantastic selection…

  The Bracer sounds cool, but it won’t work, since Fiendbarb overrides it with its anti-penetration.

  Guess I’ll pick the Ward.

  < < Relic Selected > >

  < Affliction Ward (Uncommon) >

  The light disappeared from the chest and the human twig effigy appeared attached to Adam’s belt, right next to where he’d fastened his remaining potion.

  He immediately ran back to the wall, aiming for the breach.

  I wonder if the ‘shadowy slash’ of the Tainted Bracer is a hint about what I might face.

  If it penetrates armour, I doubt I can block or parry it.

  Above on the wall, the two archers watched as Adam went through the hole. He paused for a second, looking at the six Elphin warriors guarding the breach.

  “Five of you should head to the opposite side of the city to defend against the invaders there. I think this side is probably safe for now. Also, make sure to only aim for their heads.”

  Surprisingly, all four of the warriors immediately moved to obey his instructions, while one of the archers remained behind. The other archer went over to a tower and scaled the side like a squirrel, before running along the walkways above to get to his destination.

  I should’ve done this from the start…

  Figuring that the Elphin would slow down the enemies, Adam veered off to go towards the large tree. He used his Spring Boots to launch himself forward to cover more ground and made it to the tree after what felt like a minute or so.

  “How long do I have left?” he asked the tesseract, while climbing up onto one of the large roots of the great tree.

  [12 minutes remaining.]

  “Thought for sure it’d be long—”

  An explosion interrupted him, this one from the south. It wasn’t far from the tree.

  Shit… Do I go towards that or do I try to deal with the two breaches on the western side??

  Maybe I should just stay here until I spot some of the enemies?

  From the roots, he could see the area near the pit within which the Elphin Queen was preparing the ritual. There were a handful of Elphin directly around the area, but none of them were engaging any enemies yet.

  Okay, I think I still have time.

  Adam ran along the overlapping roots, crawling up-and-down while looking for the idol that Ilya had mentioned. Given that everything else he’d said had been true, Adam was sure the Secret would be here.

  Granted, he also said I’d be facing hundreds of enemies. So far it has only been like twenty-five, and I’m halfway done.

  Maybe he was wrong about the Relic chest too. He said there’d just be one and that it was hidden, but the one I found wasn’t hidden at all… So there might be more.

  Since he got the info from the time-looper, it’s possible that some of it was missing or slightly wrong, while the rest was right. After all, he said there’d be three Secrets, but that he only knew about one.

  Adam shook his head. It didn’t matter.

  He spent a little while longer searching for the Secret but still couldn’t find it. He decided to give up for now.

  The area around the pit was still clear, perhaps as a result of him sending reinforcements to the western breaches, so he decided to head south towards the newest threat.

  As he ran around the tree’s thick trunk, he immediately spotted nine soldiers coming towards his position. They weren’t as quick as the Elphin warriors, but they’d still be able to reach the centre of the city within two minutes. Above on the walkways were two archers desperately trying to slow them down.

  Adam charged towards the soldiers.

  Where’s the knight?

  Their leader wasn’t anywhere in sight, which complicated matters.

  I just hope it’s not another ranged bastard.

  With a roar, Adam rammed his spear into the first soldier, striking him right below the clavicle where a gap in his armour exposed his skin. The Fiendbarb’s crystallisation spread far enough to reach the neck and a single bash decapitated him. The next three all came for him at once and he quickly backed away, while blocking their strikes with his shield.

  Adam gasped as his Stamina quickly depleted from the onslaught. With a wide swing of his spear, he created some distance, and even managed to nick one of the soldiers on the forearm, causing his hand to crystallise and break off.

  Shit, I’m running low on Stamina!

  A couple arrows fell from above, one striking a soldier in the neck and the other harmlessly plinking off another’s helmet.

  I’ve gotta be more efficient with my moves.

  But goddamn, blocking is way too draining. Maybe because it’s a parry shield?

  Adam thrust his spear out while taking a step forward, stabbing the soldier with the arrow in his neck and killing him. He waited for the other two to try and strike again, and when one did, he parried his attack, disorienting him.

  The five other soldiers joined their comrades, before he could kill the one he’d parried. Adam was quickly getting surrounded. He swung his spear around himself while trying to think of what to do, but then it hit him.

  He closed his left fist over his thumb, while triggering his Spring Boots to launch himself backwards. The moment he flew back towards the great tree, he fired the blood bolt right into the front of the nearest soldier.

  The explosion that followed was bigger than all the previous ones. Four of the soldiers broke into pieces as they were struck by several fragments and Fiendbarb triggered inside them repeatedly. The other three weren’t left unscathed either and were all disabled in one way or another.

  As Adam landed, his footing slipped and he tumbled onto his back, striking his head on one of the large roots.

  “Ow.”

  He took in the scene of devastation that he’d created with the blood bolt.

  What the hell happened!?

  He was breathing quickly as he got to his feet and knew he needed a break. Fortunately, the archers descended from the walkways to finish off the three remaining and injured soldiers before they could get to Adam.

  Then realisation struck him.

  Spear Dancer’s effect triggered from the Spring Boots accelerating me to 3x speed and apparently the Blood Bolt Ring’s area of effect scales with damage.

  Before Adam could celebrate this accidental discovery, a forlorn knight came charging down the road towards him, flanked by three soldiers.

  Shit!

  The Elphin on the ground looked poised to engage, but Adam quickly yelled at them to return to the walkways. Their ranged attacks were more effective and they’d stay alive longer up there.

  Although he was woozy from running low on Stamina, Adam slowly walked towards the incoming knight and entourage. This one was covered in plate armour like the first knight and wielded a long halberd. He had a beaked close-helm and a blue cloth around his neck like a scarf. A black haze seemed to trail the head of his weapon.

  I don’t see any obvious weak-points in the armour…

  This might be a tough one.

  Adam gritted his teeth and prepared for the worst.