The Portal I open to Kano in Nigeria is big enough for all of us to jump through at the same time into complete chaos. Dozens of Ravager Manta float high above the city, centered on Emir’s Palace which has largely been smashed by the Dh’uundar Seige Beasts that smash through the walls and buildings. The Mana Influx has been kind to Kano and it has large, modern buildings and infrastructure which never used to exist, but now it’s rapidly becoming a warzone of shattered buildings and lives.
Arkkil Swarm Interceptors are thick in the air and the ground is carpeted with Viscerlok Drones who chase after anyone that can’t hold their own in packs. There’s no sign of Dreadroot Corruptors, no doubt they will enter once this area has been secured for the invaders to suck the life out of everything around us.
Jeff instantly lays down Shock and Awe which flattens and stuns the swarm of Viscerlok Drones as far as the eye can see. Their bladed limbs flail in the air and their many eyes close or roll around without focus. People running from them turn and slay them quickly and get straight to butchering more of them. The Mana Influx has taught all of us not to waste an opportunity to put an opponent down.
Alana takes immediately to the air in a flaming elemental form that looks like pure heat and fire concentrated in a superheated, flowing force of nature. I’ve never seen this form before; it must be part of her Infernal Sovereign Class and she lights up the sky with fire as far as I can see, roasting the Arkkil Swarm Interceptors who swoop around and dive. Brodie flickers through the shadows and emerges behind a Dh’uundar Seige Beast, who have seemed to shrug off Jeff’s Shock and Awe Skill. The Monster immediately roars and staggers, struggling to stay on its feet and Brodie disappears in the shadows again.
I hesitate to trigger Resonant Strike because I don’t want to steal XP from any of the people of Kano who are exacting their revenge and the situation looks under control extremely quickly. I can see the four of us have ideal Skills to complement each other and I keep an eye on Alana’s Mana which is ticking down quickly.
“Don’t overdo it?” I send with my GPC. “I haven’t even engaged yet, don’t expose yourself without need. We’ve got this.”
“I’ll reduce the burn rate at 50% Mana,” she assures me.
While I’ve been watching, something's changed. I can see the Ravager Manta over the city have dipped down lower to the surface and then they send everything from their reserves; tens of thousands of creatures drop down to earth in curled up balls like meteoric paratroopers to try to turn the tide back in their favor. My Danger Sense starts to take notice and I can feel it gently pressing down on me from above to remind me that the Ravager Manta are not impotent.
More Adventurers join the fight since this is the epicenter of the invasion for now, and the transportation options provided by the Mana Siphon give us a huge advantage. We’re not far from the MIS Hub and first on the scene, probably because this is within their assigned zone, is Rogar Qaaldon and his SSA Legendary Strike Force who I assigned to Africa and Europe. The massive Tauron flashes past me into the sky and dozens of Arkkil Interceptors implode every second as he uses his Void magic on them.
With a shock I see Logan amongst the new Adventurers in his power armor and it’s clear he’s gotten his Class Skills. I check my connection to him through Marked For Glory that’s still giving him bonus XP and see that he's on the brink of his Legendary Class and has been advancing rapidly. My worry spikes until I watch him for a few seconds as he darts around at insanely high speeds and lashes out with blasts of kinetic energy that pulverize the invaders.
I feel good about how we’ve responded to this threat even though the looming thought of the Level 538 Evolved Ravager Manta on Venus plays at the back of my mind.
Suddenly, all my previous questions about how the Ravager Manta’s maw works are answered when I’m ripped through space before my Affinity can respond and instantly teleported up through the maw of a Ravager Manta and into its insides. Spinning rows of razor-sharp teeth, strengthened and sharpened by Mana, grind and then break off against me as the inside of the Ravager’s maw convulses on me while rotating in sawblade-like segments. Health-stealing auras and liquids fall off me, not even penetrating my Dimensional Forge armor, as I check my Party status and chain trigger Resonant Strikes all around me.
The Ravager Manta vaporizes for 100 meters in every direction leaving me in a mist of material as adrenaline dumps into my system when I see flashing Statuses on Health and Mana on Alana and Logan. Jeff and Brodie seem to be holding their own. I ignore the fact I’m falling through the air and trigger Omnipresent to find Logan, who’s deep inside one of the Ravager Manta and surrounded by murderous attacks and auras. There’s no space to manifest the Portal, but I push hard and strain with my Affinity in focused anger, slowing everything down as far as it can go with Perfect Focus. Like an avalanche releasing, my Portal rips into the Ravager and I reach through and pull Logan out into freefall with me. His Health is already climbing, probably due to converting the kinetic energy of the maw’s teeth into Health, and he looks unharmed physically but has multiple toxic and harmful Conditions. I hit him with Rise Again to boost his Heath as the jets on his power armor engage and he rockets off to get some distance from the fighting.
My rage fully risen to the surface, I unleash my Charisma and Aura and trigger Guardian’s Blessing to help all the humans around me. The waves of them immediately roll out, giving my human allies a boost and causing the Ravager Manta to pivot toward me as one, swarming and swooping above my position. I slam into the ground on my feet and trigger Omnipresent again to find Alana. She’s living flame the intensity of the sun, incinerating everything inside the Monster around her in a massive sphere, but her Health is plunging from the corrosive auras and her Mana is guttering out; she hasn’t left enough in reserve. I rip a Portal into the Ravager Manta and pull her out as the super intense heat hits me through the Portal. My Dimensional Forge armor wavers and starts to disintegrate as the flesh and muscle on my arm burns and melts away, but I push through the pain to throw her on the ground and hit her with Rise Again two, three, four times praying that it’s enough.
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A second later my arm is healed and I’ve refreshed my armor, but Alana isn’t getting up. Stupid! Fucking stupid! Her form has reverted from flame back to her stunning beauty, sprawled on the ground. She’s not even physically injured! Out of Mana, drained of Health by the Ravager Manta’s aura, trapped and probably panicked rather than blasting her way out. A few seconds sooner and I would have had her, she’d still be alive.
I push down all the feelings coming up inside me and carefully Inventory her body then look up at the hundreds of massive Ravager Manta blotting out the sun. They all need to die. Worried and trying to hold back my rage and grief so I don’t do something supremely stupid, I trigger Omnipresent then filter for all the Ravager Manta and all the high Level Humans in the area then overlay them. It’s clear the Ravager Manta have all targeted the highest Level humans to feed on; all of them have one or more humans inside their maws.
The frustration I feel is immense. Even with everything slowed down with Perfect Focus, there’s no way for me to kill all of them in time to save everyone. I skip past Jeff and Brodie and focus on the next highest Level Adventurer; to my surprise it’s Coumba. I force a Portal to her then manifest it and instead of pulling her through I step through it and blast Resonant Strike all around me in a sphere. The increased power of Resonant Strike after I dropped four more points in it drives the damage to new heights as I connect with the right wavelength and the Ravager Manta’s center vaporizes and tears apart, freeing us.
I take a split second to check Coumba’s Health before triggering Omnipresent and open a Portal to Evan Low trapped inside a Ravager Manta. A second later he’s free and I’ve triggered Omnipresent again and prioritized Logan who’s been trapped again. I blast the insides apart with Resonant Strike and hit him with Rise Again as he falls back to Earth then trigger Omnipresent again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
Every two seconds I Portal in, destroy a Ravager Manta, Portal the Adventurer inside to the Kano MIS if needed, and Portal to the next one. Too many times I arrive just a bit too late. Too many times I Inventory an Adventurer who was too close to the edge as I work my way down the list. I drive myself through Perfect Focus to maximize every moment, kill as many as I can as fast as I can, but there are thousands and thousands. I drive myself every second for hours. How do I choose who to go to next? I stop for a few seconds every few minutes to consider a change, but I know every second I delay is another person I might not rescue.
Some people I get to multiple times as they bravely re-enter the fray and are pulled into a Ravager Manta maw. Below us, our ground troops are mostly handling the invasion as more and more high Level Adventurers and people who want to make a difference show up. Some Adventurers I rescue really didn’t need it so I learn to skip them. I leave Jeff flying on his Griffon while dealing out death and Brodie reluctantly. I even leave Logan who has left and broken through to his Legendary Class and no doubt will rejoin the fray - though I’ve added him to my Party so I can keep a close eye on his Health and Mana.
The mental toll becomes harsh, filling every second with blood and guts and tragedy without stopping, but every time I feel like taking a break I see Alana’s body as I place it into my Inventory and think of the people I release from certain death.
More than two hours into the fighting, the Ravager Manta that are left have started to split off into two groups that stream toward Egypt and Spain. Where they are doesn’t matter to me, but it does mean less Adventurers are teleported into their maws as they stay to finish off the fighting in Kano while the Ravager Manta leave. I don’t let up and stay relentless, killing one every two seconds for another hour until a notification finally arrives after killing thousands of Level 300+ Monsters.
Level Up!
You have reached Level 5 as a Dark Mana Knight
+30 Aura, +20 Mana, +60 free Attribute points to assign
You have 60 free Attribute points to assign
Would you like to allocate them now?
(Y/N)
You have 4 unallocated Class Skill points
Would you like to allocate them now?
(Y/N)
I take only a few seconds to add all 60 free Attributes to Aura which further pushes my connection with my Mana Affinity and the Dark Mana that I can tap into deep within me. Three Class Skill points go to Perfect Focus so I can go even faster and the last one I drop into Resonant Strike for the Evolution.
Class Skill Evolved!
Resonant Strike (Dark Mana Knight Skill) (Evolved)
Like Dark Mana interacts with Mana, the Dark Mana Knight can disrupt enemies through powerful, destructive interactions.
Enhanced effect: emits powerful targeted waves of resonant energy that create shockwaves and disruption at a molecular level
Unique Evolution effect: under certain circumstances, bolstered by the Dark Mana Knight’s Mana Affinity and connection to Dark Mana, this Skill effect may create a chain reaction
Cost: 3000 Stamina
I feel the expanded knowledge of how to use the Skill fill my mind and know instinctively that where Monsters are close to each other compared to their size and my Mana Affinity’s strength, there is a chance to amplify the original damage through a new destructive resonant energy cycle without using the Skill again.
Exhausted mentally, I use my upgraded Perfect Strike to further slow time and trigger Omnipresent to open a Portal to one of the Ravager Manta heading toward Egypt, where I spent so much energy fighting Oblivion Shroud. There’s a lot more avenging of Alana to do.
