The rain muffled my ears and blocked my Eyes. But the monsters always seemed to know exactly where the Tower was.

  “Miyuki sees the snake hidden in the grass!”

  I saw the white arrow fly out into the rain, and a new sound was added- the whistle that inspired terror in our enemies. The rain, the thunder, the roar of the artillery, and now the omnipresent whistling of Miyuki’s arrows. All pressing down on the howls and roars and now the screams of the monsters.

  Tonight we would be fighting a different sort of battle. We would hit them in our clearing, when we could, but the main battlefield would be at the moat. It felt wrong to take myself out of the moment, but some insidious part of me, the part that kept watching The Spiffing Brit’s videos and running Chokobo racing exploits, never entirely went away.

  Water physics. Now we have water, but how will it play with all this dirt? Will it turn into mud? Will it make puddles? Can monsters drown?

  Carousel was firing her Glass Arrow spell with deceptive casualness. Her staff seemed to sway in the rain, though I had to imagine the big floppy hat was keeping a lot of water off her. Hopefully it wasn’t getting soggy.

  The first monsters came charging through the rain. It was the small, fast ones, rushing towards us in their hundreds. The Mikas waited until they were just about to hit the edge of the moat before starting to shoot. The bolts slammed home, dropping bodies. Creating tripping hazards. Those monsters were moving awfully fast. There was something almost poetic in the arc their tumbling bodies took as they fell.

  I checked out the back window. No bodies falling into the moat, so it was unlikely we had much coming from that direction. Just in case, though-

  “Miyuki, sweep around the back of the Tower. If there are any coming from the rear, try to kill at least two.”

  I didn’t let Carousel cast Final Revel. I had a feeling that the timing on that would be important tonight.

  God, there were a lot of the fast monsters. In games they are usually dogs or wolves or something, and these are about that size. It’s just… the gait is all wrong, the face is all wrong, the shoulders, the sloping back, the fact that it reeks of being a made thing, a chimera… It’s no dog.

  Wallbreakers started filtering through the mix too. “Everyone, avoid shooting the Wallbreakers before they are in the moat.” The bastards were heavy and heavily armored. Gravity did the job perfectly in previous waves, even before we deepened the moat. There was no point in wasting a firing cycle on them. Ah. Wait. “Unless you spot a Murder Baboon riding on one. Miyuki, how does it look out back?”

  “Nothing lurks in the shadows, My Lord!”

  I grunted and kept trying to see through the rain. Level Ten. This wasn’t even the warmup. This was the prelude to the warm up. Fast guys and wallbreakers to open as a noob filter, maybe. A very basic skill/equipment/level check. A good test of fortifications.

  I mean, I’d send out the wallbreakers first, then flood any gaps with the quick and agile fast units and baboons but that’s just me. Maybe a unit of disposable basic monsters come in from the flank just ahead of the fast monsters as a diversion while the first line defenders are still bogged down with the wallbreakers and trying to plug the gap. This way around was… just… stupid. It was stupid. It only made sense if you assumed my Awakened were standing out on the clearing or something. You’d never try it on a moat/wall combo.

  There was nobody running this wave. No… overarching intelligence. It’s scripted. No matter what the BS mechanics are, no matter how blatantly unfair the new monsters are, it’s not a game played against an active intelligence. Sure, maybe they are trying to lure me into being overconfident but… just sending units out to die in the most pointless way possible? Absurd.

  Or horribly cruel, which would actually be completely on-brand for the monsters. God damn it. I gave my cheek a firm slap. It didn’t matter. Whoever the enemy was, why they were sending their monsters in this way, it didn’t matter. I’m not here playing head games. I’m here to kill monsters.

  If the monsters want to commit suicide to speed the process up, well, I can tolerate it.

  There was a snarl of concentrated fire coming from the Mikas. Corporal Mika triggered their ult, but I couldn’t make out why. I strained my eyes, willing myself to see through the rain. Eventually, I saw what the Mikas had. Wallbreakers moving in a block. Far, far too dense a block for their usual movements.

  “Miyuki, Pomoroi, break up that block of Wallbreakers.”

  “Miyuki sees the snake hidden in the grass!”

  “Pomoroi, by Imperial Decree!”

  Miyuki was first by a hair, and I watched her long arrow skewer two Wallbreakers and the baboon hiding between them. The Murder Baboons weren’t brilliant, but they could think tactically. We’d seen hints they could bully the other monsters into helping them before. Then the arrow started to scream and the monsters suddenly turned, flipped over in the mud, and generally made a mess of themselves. I could quickly spot a score of Murder Baboons. “Concentrate on the baboons! Fire. Fire!”

  No explosions in the rain, thank goodness. The mud made the baboons easier to spot. Actually, now that I think about it- I carefully looked around the stocky Wallbreakers. No wonder Miyuki wasn’t having any trouble finding stealthed units in the rain. The rain was messing up their camouflage. Not a lot. But enough.

  I’d make sure it was enough.

  Another block of wallbreakers came crashing in, and were dealt with the same way. I didn’t want to rely on the moat to keep the baboons back. They were entirely too good at climbing, and I’d bet they could find a way to minimize the fall damage they took. A third block arrived and was disposed of.

  “Miyuki, sweep the back of the tower.”

  A fourth block was coming in. It struggled to get close- there was a thicket of screaming arrows in front of them. And I could just barely see more fast units massed behind them.

  “Miyuki sees the snake hidden in the grass!” Her voice was urgent.

  “I KNEW IT WAS COMING! Othai, take your unit to the back wall. Rakkim, you go too.” I rushed over to see what we were up against.

  Standard monsters? Their hulking forms came charging out of the rain. I tried to count misshapen noses and came to roughly thirty. Rakkim opened up. The steady Crack of her carbine reassured me as I watched the bloody holes open on the monsters. She couldn’t one-shot them yet, but a steady diet of weapons upgrades and stone tapes had clearly improved her damage output.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  I’d take two-shotting a basic monster. For now.

  The monsters weren’t moving right. Too slow, too low to the ground. I didn’t see anything, but the Baboons had used basic monsters as mounts before. It wouldn’t shock me if they were clinging to the bellies of the beasts as a way to block incoming fire.

  The monsters ran right up to the edge of the moat, but before I could wish them a good flight, they stopped sharp. The monsters stood on their hind feet, and grabbed something I couldn’t see from their chests. They stretched their arms back, and threw whatever it was towards us.

  Rakkim picked one out of the air. There was a brilliant explosion.

  “Exploding Baboons, they are throwing exploding baboons!”

  The monster’s aim wasn’t great, or maybe they were trying to bombard the wall before trying to wedge the Baboons through the gap between wall and roof. Either way, we would be in for a bad time if we let them throw to their heart’s content.

  “Rakkim, aim for the Baboons that are either still on the monster, or in their hands!”

  “Yes Sir!”

  I couldn’t see how much damage they were doing. I had to believe it wasn’t much, at worst cracking my stone or concrete exterior. Dirt was excellent at dispersing shockwaves. But then, the Baboons were great climbers…

  Rakkim caught a Baboon on the side of a monster. One shot was enough to blow the horrible thing up. This had the happy effect of triggering the other Baboons clinging to the monster, creating a beautiful chain reaction. It even managed to set off an about to be flung Baboon on the next monster over, creating another gorey cascade. Alas, the rest were too scattered for the chain to continue, but I was damn pleased with bagging so many with a single round.

  “Outstanding Rakim! Keep it up!”

  “Yes SIR!”

  I could see a thin grin on her face. She was enjoying this. I checked back on the front line, to see how it was going. No surprise- they had slowed down their attacks momentarily. No, wait!

  “Miyuki sees the snake hidden in the grass!” Her long arrow streaked out, briefly skewering a monster. I say briefly, because it exploded into a shocking fireball a half-second later.

  “Gimmick number one.” I repeated the orders I gave to Rakkim to Mika and the others at the front. “Carousel, stay on Glass Arrow unless more than ten of them make it to the edge of the moat. If you see a big block of them in range, use Final Revel.”

  Pomoroi looked right at home. She only got to fire about once every thirty seconds, but each cannonball ripped through monster formations and left a string of secondary explosions in their wake. The two of them tore up the battlefield together, while Radz focused on the threats further out in the woods.

  I have a bunch of new Six Stars, and I haven’t checked their character sheets. I don’t know what I need to advance the relationships there. Hell, I don’t even know where to find things I can give to Versai. They don’t seem to pop up in the shops. Is there still a shop I haven’t unlocked yet?

  The stray thought intruded, and I felt the tug of distraction. I shook it off and locked in. Then grinned. The ‘good night’s sleep’ was clearly helping.

  Speaking of, Versai was pacing the battlements, keeping a sharp eye out for infiltrators. I had Othai doing the same thing on the rear, and Miyuki was circling around. It wasn’t perfect. Versai and Othai had pretty limited detection ranges. Beat not having them at all, though, so I didn’t whine.

  One of the monsters looked up and I swear it saw me. I’m sure I saw a flash of recognition in it’s bestial eyes. With a sudden burst of speed, it lurched forward and launched its explosive payload up at my balcony.

  The monsters can break down doors. They can attack inside the Tower. Why couldn’t they come through the balcony? I could feel my blood congeal. It was such an obvious gap in our defenses! Did I think that just because my Awakened couldn’t attack from here, the enemy couldn’t attack through here? I stepped back, ready to stab with my knife and praying I didn’t lose a limb!

  The Baboon rose up, up, closer… then fell back down, exploding against the ground. I collapsed on the railing. I was, in fact, quite high up. I don’t know how high, but I want to say at least a hundred feet up. Five stories or so, figure twenty feet per story, at least a hundred feet up. Plus they were on the other side of a wide moat, a wall, the space between the wall and the Tower, and to cap it off, they were throwing a murderous Baboon the size of a small child.

  Monstrously strong, but they weren’t that strong. Even Pythagoras couldn’t help them beat that hypotenuse.

  “Trying to kill me with a goddamn Fastball Special, you are dreaming.” I sneered in a very not-scared way, and internally swore that, screw the aesthetics, I was installing metal grates over the balconies tonight.

  “Kind of amazing actually.” I said, watching the explosions rip across the field. “I’ve been expecting flying units or ranged units for ages now. And true to their brand identity, the Monsters have found the most upsetting way to combine both.”

  I paused, then rapped my knuckles against my head. “Yes, that was a dumb thing to say. Of course they can find more upsetting ways to do both those things. They have that can-do attitude.”

  Another wave of Baboon flingers were coming in from the front and back, supported by solid columns of Armored Monsters. I wondered what they were playing at, until I saw one of Pommoroi’s cannon balls rip open the formation with a long string of explosions. Ammo carriers. They were using the Armored Monsters as Ammo carriers, and if the normal monsters died, the Armored variants could throw the Baboons too.

  Still on the first gimmick though. This is a variation, but a very small one. Where’s the next trick?

  Another wave of Fast Monsters came ripping past, were summarily ignored, and yeeted themselves into the moat. Which seemed… even for monsters kind of insane until I connected the screaming dots.

  It was Miyuki. All those whistling arrows of hers, pinning monsters in place. They were forced by the fear effect to either run away from the Tower entirely, or clump together and try to stay as far from the arrows as they could. She was funneling them right to the moat, and the speedy, dumb, Fast Monsters and Wallbreakers were going right over the edge. The regular Monsters and Murder Baboons were keeping it together better, but it had to be affecting them too. Maybe that was why they were moving in such tight formations. Fear.

  I smiled. You love to see it, you really do.

  Corporal Mika was doing her bit, hosing down the front of the battlefield with the focused, combined firepower of her squad. They were a long way from a machine gun nest, but even without their ult, they were smashing monstrous faces and breaking charges.

  The front looked more or less under control. Time to check the back. And send some support.

  “Miyuki, sweep the rear. Pin at least two and try to keep them alive.

  Wait. Wait… I was forgetting something. Something important.

  Mrs. Hungry and Yoko.

  Damn. They were still deployed on the front wall. But you can’t tell me they don’t have better than decent detection range for hidden threats!

  “Mrs. Hungry and Yoko, to the back wall!”

  Off they trotted. I noticed a trail of incense floating behind Yoko. That would be the buff incense, I’m guessing. Probably explains our delightfully high damage output. Mrs. Hungry was a melee focused defender, with two special abilities. She had to kill five personally for the weaker version, but for the Grand Feast, it was one hundred kills combined for all the Hunters of Hidden Moon Mountain.

  “Mrs. Hungry, is the Grand Feast ready?”

  “Yes, My Lord. Rikka and Miyuki have been quite busy, and dear Yoko has been a big help too.”

  “How long does it take you to activate?”

  “Not long.”

  Well that didn’t help me. My instinct was to use it now so I understood the cooldown timer, but I held off. One hundred kills is a lot, and a massive heal spell that works on the whole battlefield should be saved for a crucial moment. We were doing fine without the buffs for now.

  The monsters at the rear were starting to pile up. Rakkim was exclusively focused on blowing up the Murder Baboons, but that left all the Fast Monsters that weren’t rushing to their deaths. Mostly they were milling around, looking unsure about what to do next. Irritating. I’d have to deploy more units to the rear, or see if Miyuki’s arrows couldn’t herd them off a cliff. Maybe I could shift a Pomoroi around? But it took her a good minute or so to pack and unpack her cannon. And even with it packed, she wasn’t speedy.

  Is Rakkim speeding up? She was resting her carbine on the parapet, firing quickly and accurately down into the mob. She had always been quick, but this was really quick. Explosions were tearing out great clumps of monsters as she picked off the Exploding baboons. Really lightened up all the rain. But that wasn’t what I had been hearing.

  I concentrated on the fast beating sound. In the chaotic noise of the battlefield, picking out just one sound was hard. I closed my eyes and really listened. Ignoring the screams, and the cannons and the whistling arrows, and the gunfire. What was it that I was hearing?

  The drums. Those ghostly Taiko drums that came with the rain. They had found their rhythm, and were speeding up. The distant bell wasn’t tolling faster, but the noise was deeper. Boss music.

  Trick number two was coming. I raked my eyes around the forests, looking for any clues. Any hints about what might be coming.

  Sometimes the clues aren’t subtle.

  The clouds twisted into a snarl, and the snaking lighting twisted with them. From out of that knot fell a long spike. I barely saw it before it slammed into the ground, embedding itself in the ground in front of my tower. The battlefield seemed to freeze for a moment. Then the spike rose, hovering twenty feet above the ground.

  I could see it clearly now. It was a gnarled tree- most of its branches missing, all its leaves long gone. In the flashing lighting, I could see it was made of iron. And within the twisting folds of its bark, I could faintly make out… something. Some language or shapes of people in torment. Some distillation of suffering.

  “ALL AWAKENED! FIND COVER!”

  The second phase of the battle was here.