PoA The Concept of Death Chapter 9

PoA The Concept of Death 9

 

Melinda found this siege far worse than the first one she had been a part of. The Queendom was in a rush, made apparent by their willingness to just throw bodies at the city walls in an effort to take them down.

To make matters worse, they were laying siege to the city that Matt had chosen to harass. His ceaseless attacks were a constant worry to her team. They were on opposite sides, but no one wanted to kill or be killed by their friends.

That would make things too awkward. She tried sending him a message, but it was blocked by army AI. Apparently, it wouldn’t route messages to someone actively opposing her unit. An interesting tidbit to learn. That revelation caused her to wonder how spies did their work mid-conflict. However, she had little time to ponder the oddity, as she was already overwhelmed in her familiar role as a dedicated healer.

Vinnie and Tara had been pulled out of their team to assist the larger army. Knowing that they were beyond her reach to heal didn’t help her worry any less. The Queendom couldn’t forcefully break up teams, but they had dangled enough compensation in front of the pair to convince them to willingly join other units.

Vinnie endlessly complained about digging trenches up to the walls, or creating reinforced paths to allow the siege towers to approach the city walls. He was constantly under fire, and the work was harder on him than the other earth mages. Whereas the rest of his combat engineering unit used skills like [Reinforce Earth] and [Walkway], her teammate relied solely on his innate [Earth Manipulation].

The stubborn idiot refused to buy the other skills, as he claimed that the manual work was helping his innate skill grow faster, especially with the Queendom supplying him with endless mana to continuously use it. Keeping up with the other mages cost him more effort, but his manipulation abilities were getting better, faster.

Meanwhile, Tara was pulled to help man the siege equipment. Her Talent let her land shots with scary precision. Even more notably, her Tier 3 piercing Talent affected the city walls so well, it almost felt wrong. Her shots always seemed to bring down much more of the wall than anyone else’s. The success garnered her friend a great deal of notoriety.

Melinda was less than pleased about that.

Assassination attempt after assassination attempt were thrown at her teammate. She had silently cursed Matt for that, because the army was keeping hush about Tara’s identity and her contributions. His team were the only Kingdom people who would know to link her to the wall’s destruction, and specifically target her. It cut deep for him to use that information against them.

Or so she thought. When they finally captured an assassin alive and interrogated her, they learned that one of the Pather teams to flip sides had been a plant by the Kingdom. A Pather spy in Tara’s own siege engine unit had marked her for the assassination. That, in turn, made Melinda feel even worse for doubting Matt.

Thankfully, she had no time for pity parties. Being a dedicated healer kept her incredibly busy.

As usual, Baxter was hovering over her shoulder the entire time, but he only observed and talked her through a few tough patients. Instead of relying on her Talent, she acted as a normal healer would. She was much more proud of the patients she saved without it, even if her success rate suffered for it. Not that it prevented her from gaining some notoriety of her own. The other healers were, in her opinion, utter garbage.

Even that was being too nice.

The Queendom healers weren’t real healers at all. Their knowledge and understanding paled in comparison to hers.

According to what she’d learned, a healer was a professional who could use [Directed Heal] on any injury covered by their knowledge of the human body. In the Empire proper, these Tier 6’s would be classified as nurses at best.

They had simple, undirected healing skills like [Ranged Heal] and [Healing Touch]. Neither of the skills were bad, but their applications were limited. More than one soldier had to be sent off to the army’s real healers for missing limbs.

The hardest cases fell to Melinda, and they left her swamped.

But that wasn’t the others’ fault.

She had asked around about their situation. In the Queendom, young, aspiring healers were given the basic healing spells as a first stepping stone.

More than a few team healers started that way, and most nurses did as well. Melinda had too, before her Talent allowed her to skip steps. The education that was supposed to come afterwards was simply absent in the Queendom.

It hurt her to see them so clueless about the intricacies of healing.

Even with undirected healing spells, knowledge of basic human anatomy could be applied to slightly concentrate the scope of healing spells, and thus boost the spell’s effectiveness where it was actually needed. Basic knowledge would help them heal a broken hand in a single cast, instead of needing two. The second casting also put a greater burden on the patient’s body, and sped up the rate at which they accumulated healing resistance.

To offset this, she prodded Baxter to give a lesson or something.

He just laughed. “Such a lazy girl! If you want to help them, do it yourself. Even you have the requisite knowledge to teach them this much.”

Doubtful, Melinda had protested. “I don’t have that kind of skill. If I teach them wrong, I can set them back years. I’m safe because my Talent covers my ass if I make a mistake.” She shook her head. “They don’t have that, which makes it irresponsible to teach them with my half-assed information.”

The irritating man just ruffled her hair. “Ahh, look at little Mellie being all humble. It’s good you think that way. But I’m definitely making you do it now. Just keep it simple, and point them in the right direction. Not even these children can mess up limiting the scope of their healing spells. At least, not directed ones.”

Melinda opened her mouth to protest more, and he raised a hand. “If they really fuck it up somehow, I’ll step in.”

With that assurance, she began offering lectures during their recharge times.

To their credit, they were quick and eager learners. Lack of available information held them back, not drive.

When she’d asked why they simply hadn’t looked up the relevant information up on the EmpireNet, she had been met with blank looks.

The Queendom troops didn’t have free access to the greater network. They had to pay fees that Melinda considered absurd. Meanwhile, the Queendom’s LocalNet had nothing about the basic subjects she was lecturing on.

That bothered her. Eventually, she asked Baxter about it when she had a free minute. His answer logically made sense, but she still didn’t like it.

“The EmpireNet isn’t cheap to run, and people had to find, verify, and then upload all the information it holds. The page owners take home most of the money that normal people pay.”

“That doesn’t seem fair. I have free access to all of that stuff.”

Baxter actually looked confused. “No, you don’t. You have access because the Empire covers the cost while you’re on the Path. But you’re still being charged. Mooching the cost off the Empire doesn’t change that. The guilds and conglomerates who curate the lower EmpireNet permission levels spend and earn quite a lot of money on the system.” He paused. “Not exactly passive income, but low effort income.”

She thought that was incredibly stupid. People should just copy the information and make it free. Or only charge people enough to cover the cost of accessing the information. These bloated fees for basic information seemed so unfair.

Her pondering only lasted until another wave of wounded flooded into the tent. She needed to focus on healing now.

As the only person with a directed healing spell, reattaching limbs and such always fell to her. It was seemingly never-ending work, as the troops were called up in waves to try and take the walls.

Eventually, Team Unbroken went on standby, and they were collectively sent to rest up before they joined a wave.

Melinda suspected Baxter of pulling a few strings, or five hundred, but she didn’t mention it. She wanted to help, but half of her team was still waiting for a decent chance to earn more points.

While she, Tara, and Vinnie had been assigned elsewhere, Mathew, Sam, and Kyle had been pushed into spending their downtime performing ‘general labor’. That translated into backbreaking menial jobs like hauling supplies, assisting to clear nearby forests, and prepping the trees for refinement.

Mathew was ecstatic to see her for more than ten minutes, and likewise for her. But they were both so tired, they fell asleep in their full armor. She had an imprint of his shoulder pauldron on her face, but being near him was enough to recharge her mental batteries.

Their team was attacking at sunset, when the defenders would have the sun in their eyes on this side of the wall. In theory, it was a good idea. But she didn’t miss the two burned-out husks of siege towers approaching the walls.

Unlike the last time, the Queendom army seemed more prepared to work with Pathers. Large shields were handed out and collectively held up to protect them from the incoming fire, which was an improvement from last time, when they were left to their own devices.

Remembering the man with a whip, she winced.

They advanced in darkness, with the raised shields blocking everything. However, the sound of their steps was soon matched by the patter of arrows striking shields.

Melinda kept an eye out for any wounded, and quickly healed the few injuries she found. Their forces remained mostly unharmed, until a ballista bolt ripped through a column of their ranks.

Then, the screaming started.

A man missing most of his chest quickly vanished, courtesy of the ever-watchful army personnel. He was arguably one of the lucky ones.

A young man clutched the stump of his lower leg while blood hosed out of it, driven by the frantic beating of his heart. Melinda’s AI noticed where the leg was. The severed limb was mostly intact, so she grabbed it, almost stumbling as some of the armor fell away. As she made her way, she saw the remains of pink flannel pajamas underneath. There were even pictures of adorable snoozing kittens on it. After quickly shaking off the sense of incongruity with the scene around her, she pried the kid’s hands away from the wound and casted [Directed Heal]. She didn’t have long,as the formationation was relentlessly marching on around her. Yet with the assistance of her Talent, the man was back on his feet in seconds, ready to push forward again.

One poor woman sat impaled through the hip and anchored in place by the bolt. Melinda tried to help her, but the formation moved past too quickly. Thankfully, she was pulled out quickly, but Melinda still saw the woman’s pleading gaze.

An unfamiliar earth skill rose from another part of the formation to meet the next ballista bolt. A foot-wide pillar of stone shot out and intercepted the bolt with a head-on collision, resulting in an explosion of stone fragments. But the projectile’s energy was spent, and they were safe. For that brief moment.

A mana cannon’s blast proved more difficult to block. More of them disappeared in flashes of blue-white.Then, seemingly without warning, they found themselves at the breach in the wall and climbing the stairs, hobbled together while climbing out of the rubble.

They quickly rushed through the incoming fire raining down on them from above and in front, but the blasts petered out as they arrived within melee range of a makeshift barrier in the middle of the breach.

She called out through their team channel, “Vinnie, open us a hole in the berm. Tara, take out any mages you see. If not, pick off the defenders on the wall. Sam, hit them with something to clear the wall.”

Kyle and Mathew moved up through the little clearing that Vinnie made, drawing attention to themselves. But between the two frontliners, her team’s position was secure, at least for the moment.

A woman sped unnaturally fast towards them with a purely electric wreath atop her head and lightning glowing around their arms. She suddenly slid into the ground as Vinne pulled her down before she could touch Mathew or Kyle. Mathew used his personal shield to keep the small berm controlled as he took measured steps forward, using his bulk and heavy armor to prevent anyone from moving past him.

Kyle’s massive swinging sword dissuaded anyone from even attempting to approach him. Instead, archers and mages began peppering him from a distance.

Seeing the issue develop, Melinda called for Sam. “I need something to clear out the second berm’s ranged attackers.”

Sam pulled out a large bottomed vial and threw it high.

Tara pivoted and shot the vial mid-air, without breaking her stride. The orange liquid quickly dissipated as a vapor, melting everything it touched. Skin and metal bubbled in a sickening display before the entire swath of people vanished.

The next defensive berm’s occupants stayed far away from the cloud of gas as it settled on the stone, after one person lost a foot to the remnants.

That was not a potion that Melinda knew of in Sam’s arsenal. Nor was she fond of seeing it in action. She made a note to get an explanation from her later, but she suspected a certain double princess’ involvement.

Despite the grotesque way of killing people, the tactic had worked. Their team single-handedly captured a portion of the berm, and Queendom troops rushed in from behind them to try and secure the gap.

The Kingdom troops didn’t idle either, and reinforcements stormed in from deeper in the city.

Kyle and Mathew fought a pair of Tier 7’s to a standstill, and to her pride, were now gaining ground. It would take them a bit of time, but they each were holding their own, and even pushing the Kingdom reinforcements back. Until a full group of Tier 7’s arrived, and shifted the odds heavily against them.

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Outnumbered, their team started falling back.

The situation deteriorated further when an arrow sprouted from Sam’s chest.

Her teammate crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut, and Melinda called out for cover.

Discovering the issue only took a moment; the arrow had nicked her friend’s spinal cord. Sam didn’t even say a word, simply trusting Melinda to make her whole again.

She called out, “Hold for me! I got her.”

Healing something like this was a delicate job. Were it not for her Talent, Melinda would have needed to go back and perfect the area later. But she extracted the arrow enough to free the spine, and delicately stitched the broken nerves back together, with her overhealth guaranteeing perfection.

Sam gasped for breath as function returned to her body. Melinda left the rest of the arrow in her after breaking off the fletching. It had missed everything else vital, and she didn’t have the time with their retreat.

Standing together, Sam tossed a potion at their feet which produced a dense, grey haze. With the woman’s Talent, the gas completely avoided her side, and created a deadly zone for the counterattacking Kingdom troops.

Melinda dodged out of instinct as a Kingdom man attacked her after taking out part of the team next to them. He seemed unconcerned with the poisonous fumes around them.

She took the first strike on her armor, but her AI registered that the blade had pierced through and bit into her flesh. She struck out with her mace, forcing the man to step back. He tried to lunge forward, but she used a backswing to strike his arm, which broke under the weight of her weapon.

Using her shield, she blocked the next two attacks, feeling them get stronger each time. In between each strike, she realized that he was holding his breath to avoid inhaling the poison, yet he didn’t seem to be slowing down with lack of oxygen. Luckily, heavy wounds taken from the last team were wearing on him, or else she’d have been gone by now.

Reeling backwards to desperately create distance, she saw Vinnie ping her AI, “Grabbing him.”

When the man moved to close in on her, only to sink into the stone down to his knees, she was prepared. Her blow that the man clearly intended to take on his shield landed directly on his armored head instead. He was gone before she could identify how bad the damage truly was, but she knew that it had to have been a fatal blow.

With the team next to them fallen, Melinda checked her mana, and found that she had half a pool. She decided to use [Jolt] to help clear out a portion of the enemies who were rushing to attack their flank.

Baxter had repeatedly recommended that she never exhaust her mana pool below the cost of an emergency offensive skill. Those words proved their worth, as her rarely used attack extended from her. The energy ripped through three people before fizzling out. It bought them enough time to disengage.

Or at least, for most of them to disengage. Tara was locked up, trading shots with another archer.

Melinda wasn’t sure if she was showing off, or having trouble taking the other archer out, as they were shooting each other’s arrows out of the air.

Finally, Tara lost her patience, and her next shot split into five copies before the other archer could shoot it, and several copies made it through. Mathew was there to block the final return arrow, but the explosions of fire in the distance told Melinda that Tara had used the skill on one of the elemental arrows.

Exposing one of their trump cards was an unfortunate outcome, but she agreed with Tara’s usage of the skill.

Most human enchanted arrows couldn’t be easily duplicated with skills. They either didn’t work, or lost most of their power. With each copied arrow’s explosion being the same size, anyone who noticed could deduce that their team had either a supply of rift enchanted arrows, or a rift item that made them.

She hoped that everyone would assume the former, if only because they’d all try to steal Tara’s quiver if they knew it was the latter.

With half the secret out of the bag, Melinda gave Tara leave to use three more arrows. That should be just enough to imply that they had a supply, but were using them very sparingly, as if they were few in number. Hopefully, they could get ahead of the information with some incessant complaining about the loss of irreplaceable arrows.

Two more fire arrows were launched to cover their retreat as they raced away with the rest of the survivors of their unit. There was no order, and the surviving formations ran together while trying to dodge the incoming fire.