Death Ascension - Chapter 75

Now that the Dame had returned her will to live, the fight with the queen’s army had officially started.

One hundred seventy-five humans versus two thousand monsters.

One might say this was no different from suicide, but with Finn’s command, the humans had managed to push back the monster tide while Kaede busily convinced the Dame.

Combo spells flashed unceasingly as Finn moved the combat units like they were chess pieces.

‘Ahh… this is fun!’ Finn grinned from ear to ear.

He was extremely satisfied with how the battle was going. He was exhilarated to see the real-time results of the simulations he mulled over for the past week.

To Finn, this war was nothing but an experiment where he formed his hypotheses and constructed his methodology to obtain his desired results.

‘If I move group 1 to the back and put group 4 to the front, it will take at most 45 seconds for them to stack a combo… the delay would be fatal unless we do some diversion.’

‘Ah! Yes… If we do that, we can buy time. Perhaps a minute?’

His brilliant mind ran at full speed, calculating spell casting times to ensure that they deal optimal damage to their adversaries.

However, humans are not machines.

As the fight went on, the members who were both physically and mentally exhausted started to commit grave mistakes.

Finn noted that one group that had been isolated and was attempting to retreat, was swarmed from all sides by the vicious monsters.

“Can’t you draw faster?! We’re about to be overrun!”

“I’m TRYING to! So shut up and let me concentrate!”

As the melee fighters tried to repel monsters, sustaining major injuries in the process, their Almagi succumbed to the mental strain and made a critical error.

“SPARK!!” The electric specialist roared before properly finishing his mana circle.

Before Finn could even think ‘Oh, sh*t’, the yellow mana circle dimmed and exploded right in the face of its caster.

BOOOOM!

A thunderous noise rattled the chamber as their combat unit perished, charred black from the powerful mana rebound.

In an instant, the humans had lost five of their comrades.

Their gruesome appearance and the stench of their burnt flesh planted fear in the hearts of other members while Finn who was oblivious of this fact thought, ‘Five casualties on our side took out approximately a hundred ant soldiers. Not bad… At least their deaths were not in vain. Next!’

He quickly moved on, dismissing the deaths as an inevitable consequence of an Almagi’s incompetence and a sacrifice for the greater good. –This was Finn’s first mistake.

Half an hour into the intensive battle, their side lost two more units, whittling their numbers down to one hundred sixty.

The increasing casualties dropped the member’s morale which later affected their attacks. Their spirited battle cries at the start of the fight soon turned into quiet grunts as their thoughts strayed in an unpleasant direction.

‘I knew it. This fight is hopeless. We should’ve just escaped when we can. F*ck! I don’t wanna die.’ They grumbled as they inconspicuously stepped back and watched the others attack.

Kaede, who fought back-to-back with the Dame, realized the gravity of the situation.

‘ARGHH! Why are they suddenly dropping like flies?! My precious karma points!’ Mikael thought in frustration.

‘Sir, can we do something about this? Like the placebo effect from before?’ Deon worriedly asked.

‘We could… but I don’t think that’s going to help us in this situation. Reckless bravado may only end up killing them faster.’

‘Then, how about using a skill? Wasn’t there a skill that boosts others’ stats? The one that came from my title effect?’

Mikael took a moment to remember which skill that was before beaming enthusiastically,

‘YES! THAT’S IT!! nice idea, kid!’ Giving credit where it is due, Mikael unabashedly praised Deon, ‘How come I never thought about that?’

If only he could physically touch his partner, he would’ve already ruffled Deon’s dark hair for a job well done.

Ever since coming into the colony, the young boy had been growing up wonderfully and Mikael was truly glad that his royal partner was beginning to think on his own.

“What was it called again? Rally?” Kaede murmured as he continued to puncture holes into his enemy’s abdomen.

The system brought up a blue skill window in response to Kaede’s query.

<Obtained Skill: Rally Lvl. 1>

<Description:

Temporarily boosts the member’s strength, endurance, and defense by 15% of their individual stats.

Current Limit:

(1) Only works on Heinken Kingdom citizens.

(2) 100 people.

Skill cost: 15MP per target per minute.>

“Right. Since we can freely use the atmospheric mana, we don’t have to worry about the skill cost. The only problem is the skill limit… How do we know which member is a Heinken citizen?”

Figuring that it was best to just try it out, Kaede activated the skill.

Suddenly, shining red and green orbs appeared above the member’s heads.

Ping!

<System Notification: Tagging option has been unlocked!>

<System Notification:

The ‘Tagging’ option allows the player to differentiate between allies and foes.

The ‘Untagged’ are individuals whom the player regards as foes while the ‘Tagged’ are those regarded as allies and can therefore be selected as skill recipients.

Red tagged- Allies who do not satisfy all skill limit requirements.

Green tagged- Allies who satisfy all skill limit requirements.>

After carefully reading the option description, Kaede immediately searched the chamber for green-tagged members.

Surprisingly, only a hundred and twelve had green tags, which meant that they were the only Heinken kingdom citizens in the group.

‘At least it’s still more than a hundred. Now, the question is, who do we select?’ Mikael pondered.

‘I think we should prioritize the melee fighters, Sir. Since the skill only affects strength, endurance, and defense…’ Deon helpfully answered.

‘Yes. let’s do that, then.’

After which, Kaede proceeded to look for appropriate targets.

Ping!

<Do you wish to select ‘Swordsman Carlo’ as a skill recipient?>

<Yes/No>

“Yes.”

As if to confirm, the green orb above the young swordsman’s head turned blue and a translucent pop-up appeared before Kaede, bearing the words,

<Number of tagged persons: 1/100>

–Chapter end–