Our camp was so organized that everyone set to work at once. Fifteen minutes was not a very long time to clear out the buildings of objects we needed to continue our path forward. But we did it.

  And just in time.

  All around us, the tall buildings imploded. Oddly, there was no dust as they simply disappeared into the ground, leaving nothing but our tower all around us. It felt very exposed. Off in the great distance, I could see a handful of other survivors who immediately started moving in the direction of the only building remaining.

  A low rumbling slowly intensified as we all stood looking out. When there were ten minutes left, the sky shifted to the lower light of dusk.

  At five minutes, the protective bubble popped and disappeared.

  At two minutes, the ground before us erupted in movement as thousands of chimpcrete rapscallions clawed their way out. They all moved to form orderly lines, each hefting spiky chunks of concrete. My perception and mental stats allowed me to do a quick count.

  Ten thousand. Fuck. But, good news, when I identified them, they were all Level 10. Perfect for testing my new skill.

  I ran out several hundred meters in front of the squadrons of the ADA. As the final seconds counted down, I re-read the entry for Feast Burst.

  Feast Burst. Rare. All must be consumed! You have manifested your endless hunger into the Feast Burst, maintaining the connection to your ever-ravenous core. This beam of hungry energy will eat away at any physical or magical materials it contacts, and cause extreme damage to living foes. If the living foe is slain with this beam, they are consumed within the beam and returned into your core as if you had consumed the enemy, and additional beams burst out from the initial kill to strike out at other nearby enemies. This can chain for weaker enemies, but each burst deals less and less damage.

  The System window appeared just as the timer hit exactly 30 days.

  Tutorial Time Remaining: 30 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes.

  Survivors: 802/2000.

  QUEST UPDATED!

  Quest: Besieged.

  Objective: Now that all Control Spheres are under the control of one group, the Siege has begun. Waves of enemies will continue to buffet your designated ‘Tower’ until it falls or 100 waves of foes are survived.

  Waves Survived: 0/100.

  Tower Health: 100%.

  Survivors within your designated Tower Area: 764/764.

  WAVE 1 BEGIN!

  The white noise from the roar of the chimpcrete beasts’ roar echoed through the empty space as ten-thousand monsters charged my army and me. I opened my now vertical chest- mouth as I formed the Feast Burst. It grew to several meters across with what looked like large bumps of the same swirling dark red energy.

  Huge chunks of concrete arced in my direction as those directly in front of me shifted their trajectory to avoid me.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  When they got to within 100 meters of me, I fired the beam. Feast Burst moved much faster than I was expecting, and in less than a second it struck one of the chimpcrete rapscallions. A dome of consumption erupted around it, devouring at least ten others before the secondary effect triggered.

  I felt my pathways beginning to drain as the burst sent ten more beams out to strike nearby enemies. Burst after burst spread quickly throughout the first wave. Before long, the energy coming in from those consumed surpassed what I was spending to continue the bursts.

  One death became ten, became one hundred, became one thousand, and in less than ten seconds we received the notification.

  WAVE 1 COMPLETE! Next Wave to commence in ten minutes. Records received.

  QUEST UPDATED.

  Waves Survived: 1/100.

  Tower Health: 100%.

  Wave Coins: 100,000.

  Survivors within your designated Tower Area: 764/764.

  The universal group chat blew up with people chatting with one another. I saw the pop up of the admin chat similarly pick up speed.

  Sarah: Damnit that fucking ruled! I’m so glad he’s on our side.

  Bethany: Sarah! A little decorum, please. This is the admin chat.

  Selka: No, I think that display warranted it. And now I owe Sarah some flame crystals.

  Dan: Y’all need to chill with the whole betting on my goings-on thing.

  Sarah: No, sir! It’s too fun.

  Selka: We have ten minutes to begin defensive preparations now that we have Wave Coins.

  Dan: I say we wait to purchase anything until we have more coins to get the good stuff. Let’s get a few waves under our belt to see how they increase in difficulty before making any rash decisions.

  Bethany: That works for me. Most of the good items and defensive structures are pricey.

  Dan: I don’t get any experience from anything less than level 53. But that’s not the same for y’all, right?

  Selka: True. Though the ones this low level likely won’t help too many of us.

  Sarah: Why not send our lowest level folks out to fight the early waves to gain some levels?

  Bethany: As surprising as this may be, I think my sister’s right.

  Sarah: Why is my being right surprising?!

  Selka: Take the win, Sarah. I also think you’re correct. Those who have not had much experience with their classes will need to grind on the early waves. We’ll keep a close eye and try to keep casualties to a minimum.

  Dan: Sounds good to me. The further we get, the harder the fighting will become. I’ll set myself up out here and use another of my new skills to direct them all to where I sit. I won’t fight the creatures or help unless things get too dicey.

  After agreeing on the plan, I stomped the ground around me to make a nice flat surface and sat cross-legged in the open field. The ten minutes passed and the notification appeared.

  WAVE 2 BEGIN!

  In nearly the same place, another huge army climbed out of the ground. Same creatures, but Level 11 this time. Interesting. I opened the mouth on my chest and exposed the core, crimson threads flowing before me as I wove them into the luring Mark from my Soul Chamber.

  The effect was instantaneous. The rapscallion roar echoed as before, but all their eyes were turned upon me, filled with hunger. They charged at me, throwing their stones as they entered the range.

  They tickled a bit. Two hundred of our troops, over half of whom looked more administrative than combatant, charged out to meet the army. Weapons struck chimpcrete. Someone even had an oversized summoned stapler. And it was red! That made me chuckle. Some of the opposing army veered to attack my troops, but most of them tried vainly to kill me. The mark, to my great delight, cost nearly nothing to maintain.

  The second wave took much longer than ten seconds, but even our administrators were too powerful for the low level beasts, and after about 30 minutes the battle ended as intended. We lost none of our troops, and some even gained a level or two. As a bonus, several of the survivors who were out in the city finally made it to our away and helped with the cleanup of the beasts in a flanking maneuver. They readily joined us and were swiftly regulated to their respective squads.

  WAVE 2 COMPLETE! Next Wave to commence in ten minutes. Records received.

  QUEST UPDATED.

  Waves Survived: 2/100.

  Tower Health: 100%.

  Wave Coins: 210,000.

  Survivors within your designated Tower Area: 781/781.