Four days wasn’t a lot of time to get anything of note done, at least when it came to the options John had to spend the remaining time. For pure levelling, there were the tried and tested Assaults. Difficult as they were, Raids presented the greatest rewards. Engaging in an Adventure could be a worthwhile endeavour, but that would only be clear once they went in there.

Because they were curious, the entire party agreed quickly to check out the Raid and the Adventure, before letting John go to do his usual five to six-hour long Assault sessions.

John whistled as he looked at the scenery around him. They were standing on a flat stone rooftop and the city sprawled out around them. It wasn’t bustling with activity, although quite a few things were moving. The streets were empty, save for a few patrolling machines that seemed to be a fusion of stone and magic, their beige colour accentuated by an arcane glow. For all of the spires and hovering pieces of architecture, John spied very little in terms of people moving about. It very much had the feeling of a set piece, rather than a real place. Given what Raids were, that made enough sense. Why would Gaia simulate beings beyond what he needed to fight? That was just unnecessary work on her part.

As impressive as the architecture might have been, what John found truly impressive was the arrangement of it all. The pop-up had said ‘twisted’, but the way the city encircled their position seemed incredibly orderly. They were in a bowl, or something like it, the buildings further away rising up and up, blocking the horizon.

John looked around the rooftop. A single path, down a flight of stairs the Romans would have blushed at for its extravagant design, led them downwards to a walkway attached to the side of a cathedral-like building. John could already see the first group of enemies standing there. Enchanted armours, two and a half metres tall, forged from a silver metal and sparkling in the sunlight. There were five of them, each with a different armament. A bow, a staff, a sword and shield, an axe, and, finally, one that had no weapons but an extra pair of arms instead. They just stood there, about a hundred metres away, and watched, blue mana flickering inside their empty helmets instead of eyes.

‘Interesting,’ John thought, after reading through the Observe window. It was pretty light on what to expect combat wise, but a little bit of information about history was always appreciated. ‘I wonder if the Great Sultanate used the early jihads as a cover to bring its own troops in or if it started that series of wars itself… Fascinating either way.’

“So, do we stand a chance?” Rave asked.

“We… might,” John’s answer came slow.

“Ya don’t sound all that certain.”

“Because I’m not. They’re level 325, which is only 25 up from the Sicklemen… but there are five of them and I wouldn’t be surprised if that,” John pointed at the Ohmior Knight with the staff, “is a healer. If we try it, we’ll have to start with nuking him.”

“Orrrrrr,” Sylph chimed in, “we could just fly on past them, right on by them, just gonna do this and… WOAAAAAAAAHHH!” The arcvolt elemental hovered a little bit past the rooftop and was shot at by a whole volley of energy spears that reminded John a lot of his Arc Lance. They missed her narrowly and Sylph zapped over to John to cuddle him for safety. “The city is shooting at me! Bad city! Very, very bad city!”

“Yeah, no flight gimmicks this time around,” Salamander remarked, carefully hovering around. It was all fine while she was close to the designated walkways, but once she went a couple metres past the edge, the next volley came flying.

“That makes things more difficult… Sylph, could you test for me how far up you can go?”

“Sure thing, Johnny,” Sylph chirped and began her slow ascent. One metre, two metres, five metres, ten metres, then a flash of arcane discharges across the spires and machines below. Two dozen Arc Lances flew through the air where she had just been, the arcvolt elemental storming back down to regular heights the moment she saw something coming her way. “Not that, can’t go high at all,” she reported, saluting just for the fun of it.

John rubbed his chin. With her speed, Sylph might be able to go up regardless, but it would drastically reduce her combat effectiveness if she had to concentrate on dodging. ‘At the very least, none of us can be carried anywhere,’ the Gamer thought, ‘and it’s probably a bad idea to venture off the planned path, if we get bombarded this way. Pretty gamey way to keep us railroaded, but I can dig it.’

“Any further information that may be best acquired in advance?” Lydia demanded to know.

“Nothing I can think of right now,” the Gamer admitted and looked at what would be the arena of their first fight. It was pretty plain. A smooth cathedral wall to the right and balcony railing to the left, in between just a stone-covered walkway. The only gimmick that could be pulled off in such a situation was to throw one of the enemies off the platform. With similarly tall buildings nearby, John wasn’t sure if that was even a worthwhile endeavour. The enemies could just climb back up. Better to keep to the right rise and make sure they weren’t the one to be thrown off instead, given the hostile machines around.

There was the entrance to the cathedral itself, a doorless arch, but John expected more enemies to be inside. It was generally ill advised to pull enemies deeper into uncharted territory.

“Metra, I want you to take on the one with the four arms or the one with the shield,” John told the First of Wrath. “I’ll cast the first spell in such a way that it won’t hit him. Then it’s your job to get his attention and pull him somewhere where you can duel him.”

“Yes, my king.”

“Nia, I want you to try and isolate one of them and keep that Ohmior Knight inactive for as long as you can. If there is no way for you to do it, attack the one with the staff instead.”

“Understood,” Nia said, manifesting her visor and her weapons.

“Everyone else, we’ll just fight. Aclysia, Gnome, you’ll try to distract their frontline. Our target priority is staff, bow, whoever Nia is fighting, whoever Metra is not fighting and then whoever Metra is fighting. Jane, you should charge your finishing move from the start. Gnome, Salamander, Stirwin, if it’s too difficult for Gnome alone to hold her own against one enemy, I want you to Combine into Smlere.” He got confirmations all around. “Alright, once you see the first Unstable Arcana pulse, we’re ready to go. Remember to stay clear of Metra’s target.”

With that final warning, John turned to the Ohmior Knights and started walking. There was no reaction until he walked down the steps of the spawning platform. They brandished their weapons, a purple glow engulfing them, manifesting into an arrow in the bow’s case. John continued walking, getting closer and waiting for the attack.

‘They’re remarkably reluctant to attack,’ John thought, then he was fifty metres from his target.

Two-thousand mana vanished, manifesting as a sphere of silver at the target. The Unstable Arcana immediately pulsed for the first time. A wave of sparkling energy washed over the polished foes. Enemy and spell had similar colours, but the arcane energy burned over their surface regardless. Placed in the middle between them, the first pulse hit bow, staff, shield and axe-wielder at the same time.

Crouching down, the Ohmior Knight with sword and shield got ready to charge forwards. It had barely raised its foot when a thorn-covered chain launched from the handball-sized Unstable Arcana and slammed into its back. The spiked tip failed to penetrate the armour, but latched on with a magical force, as if attached through magnetism.

Pulling against the Mana Chain, the Ohmior Knight managed to shatter it only after two more damage pulses washed over it. The second chain was launched at the bowman, while the third latched onto the soldier again, further hindering its attempt to take the battle to the frontline.

‘Pretty lucky there,’ John thought, while axe-wielder and four-armed Ohmior Knight charged forwards unobstructed. Rather than engage with that, John turned heel and ran. They caught up with him in a matter of seconds, but with Magus Step and the invisibility of Skitterstep, John brought enough distance between them that Metra could jump in. Literally, in this case.

A streak of grey armour, prismatic light and the ecstatic shredding of Rex Magnar’s brutal guitar sounds, Metra slammed knee-first into the four-armed Ohmior Knight. The impact drove it back a few metres, then it hit Metra with a hammer fist. Taking the attack, the First of Wrath managed to land on her feet. The dull grey of Astrotium shaped into the spiked, segmented armour of the Breaker of Armies made her seem like the villain in this situation. Artificial Spirits with eyes of glowing magic, green and blue, met in a clash of superhuman power. The earth trembled, as halberd and fists clashed. Rex Magnar could cut through greater materials, but the amount of mana Gaia had pumped into these monsters made them harder even than regular Mithril.

Other parts of the battlefield were in steady motion. The axe-wielder continued to run after John, only to be confronted by Aclysia. An overhead swing of the two-handed, single-bladed weapon clashed with Tiemarath. The weaponized maid budged under the attack, immediately being forced to her knees. This was all the gathered Harem Party needed to witness to adjust their strategy to the enemies’ strength.

John tossed Stiriwin at Gnome, who ran past him. Salamander flew down. All three elementals met at one spot, their forms blurring and their essences unifying. Smlere burst out, surrounded by incandescent, golden light.

The volcano elemental had a voluptuous body, a combination of Gnome’s balanced and Salamander’s abundant curves. Aside from her curves, she was harder than both of them, heavy on the Amazonian and muscular appearance, rivalling Metra in those aspects. She also shared the light brown skin of the First of Wrath, but that was where the similarities ended. Her eyes were brown, the sclera a crimson red and her braided hair had the aesthetic of a lava lake, black and glowing red, orange and gold. Her yellow dress was covered in bladed plates, the skirt of it fluttering as she stormed at the soldier Ohmior Knight.

The three enemies at the backline had started to back away from the Unstable Arcana. Whether they just wanted to escape from the damage or if the constant Mana Chain spawns annoyed them, they had figured out that being next to it was a bad idea. Smlere prevented at least her target from successfully repositioning, tackling them back into range and letting another damage pulse hit their target. The bowman tried to help its comrade, but before it could aim its bow, a damage pulse from somewhere else hit its shoulder.

The Mandala Sphere spawned its first Mana Chain automatically and then emptied all of its Mana Storage, four-thousand points strong, into two spells. One was a second Unstable Arcana, on the other side of the Ohmior Knight, the other was a set of four additional, manually cast Mana Chains. All five of them latched onto the Ohmior Knight’s right arm.

““I’ll help here!”” Lydia and Rave exclaimed at the same time, launching their attacks at the axe-wielder. Clenched fist and rapier tip collided with the shoulders of the golem. One ruined the balance enough that Aclysia could escape from under the attack, the other punched a hole into the armour. Strimata sang a cheery tune that didn’t fit into the atmosphere of the battle whatsoever.

“I’ll leave it to both of you!” John quickly exclaimed signalling that he wanted the two of them to continue helping Aclysia. He, Beatrice, Siena, Sylph and Nia broke through to the backline. As he left and the two human girls were shaken off by the axe-wielder, a golden glow engulfed that Ohmior Knight, melding the hole in its shoulder. ‘And that confirms the healer.’

Using its bow like a glaive, the bowman smashed the five chains on its right arm and then quickly tore through the less sturdy ones that had latched onto its other side. Just as another damage pulse was about to hit it, it stepped out of the damage radius of the Unstable Arcana. At the same time, the one that John had spawned originally fizzled out and with it the cascade of silver chains that had latched onto Smlere’s enemy.

The soldier’s shield slammed into the volcano elemental’s side, catapulting her against the wall. With the Endurance of a Combination, she took the attack, managed to collide feet first with the wall, and jumped right back at the Ohmior Knight as the rest of the party passed them.

An arrow of arcane energy came flying for John’s head. It was erased from existence, as it was sliced apart by Nia’s blade. The pariah’s aura intensified suddenly, just as it had intensified when she had intimidated the Sicklebrood Matriarch. Of an evidently higher intelligence, the bowman only hesitated for a moment, before hurling his solid-metal fist at Nia. The pariah dodged, by teleporting a metre backwards.

‘That throws a wrench in things,’ John thought. “Nia, we switch targets!” he announced. The pariah teleported again, appearing among the other girls who were charging at the staff-wielder. The bowmen quickly pulled at the string.

John used Magus Step to get into range, then used a Blast Ray to throw the bowman’s aim off. The arrow was loosed and uselessly exploded on the façade of the cathedral. With a metallic ringing sound that seemed to signal annoyance, the Ohmior Knight turned to John. The Gamer and his Mandala Sphere lost no time, throwing several more Mana Chains at the enemy.

It was useless to focus on damaging his opponent while the healer was still alive. Buying time, eliminating them one by one, and building a cascading advantage was much better. Especially since John was certain enough he couldn’t nuke this target by himself.

The Mana Chains did their job and, to that point, everything had gone wonderful. The technical execution and their teamwork were as true as ever.

Siena, Nia, Sylph and Beatrice, all four of them clashed with a magical barrier that kept them from properly attacking the healing Ohmior Knight. Nia teleported through, landed a few successful blows, only to be forced back again. Specialized for healing or not, the golem still had massive physical power, and on her own the pariah was in danger of being one-shot. Between the barrier and fending off Nia, there was no healing to be had.

They also didn’t finish off the healer, however.

‘It’s our loss,’ John realized as soon as he saw the stalemate manifesting. He tried desperately to avert it, but they were simply the losing party in a gridlocked situation. First, he ran out of the mana necessary to immobilize the bowman. Next, Smlere split into her parts. Aclysia’s HP began to run low.

They had a short window of opportunity when Rave used her Babel Phrase to blow apart the torso of the axe-wielder. At that point, the healer stopped blocking everything for ten seconds and completely mended the wounds of that target. That would have allowed the group to deal quite a bit of damage, if the bowman and the soldier still had been under the pressure necessary to allow people to pile on one target.