Blacksmith vs. the System

While deciding that ambushing the arrival would be a good strategic concept, it wasn't that simple tactically, mainly due to two factors.

We had no idea about the nature of the reinforcements. More importantly, if we left them alone for too long, they would inevitably alert the reinforcements, who would be ready for an attack.

"So, what do we do," Eleanor asked. "Do we just go and camp at the nearest dungeon gate, hoping to catch the reinforcements?"

"No, I don't believe that's the most efficient plan," I said, but didn't immediately declare it a bad plan. Until very recently, she had been my superior, and while she currently saw me as an equal, a little delicacy wouldn't hurt. No one liked an upstart with a lot of new ideas.

It was a lesson I had learned when I first joined the faculty.

Luckily, while she frowned at my declaration, it wasn't the deep, affronted expression that I feared. I didn't know if she respected my acumen more than I had realized, or if it was still the good mood from her new sword. The former would have made me happier, but I would still take the latter as well.

"That's not exactly an efficient plan. They might just use another gate to arrive here, and we would be screwed. And, we need to stay near to harass them. I don't want them to get the idea of targeting my guild to draw us to a fight."

"What do we do, then?" she asked.

I bit my lip as I thought, then my gaze flipped to the ruined ballistas. "We're going to use their original tactic, and destroy them with the ballistas," I said.

"How? We can probably take them, but they would realize that there's something suspicious."

"Not if we bury them," I responded. "Since they seem determined to attack

"Can't we just kill them?" Eleanor asked. "This new sword is incredible, and I'm guessing you're not too shabby with that hammer, or you couldn't have soloed dungeon bosses no matter the trickeries you used."

"True. I'm sure we can take them, but I doubt we could catch all of them if they decided to escape. And, more importantly, it would mean their reinforcements would stay hidden, looking for an opportunity. Wouldn't it be better to get rid of them all at once?"

Eleanor paused, thinking carefully. "Alright, professor. You have one chance to put your plan into action before we go with mine."

I smiled, doing my best to ignore that we were planning how to massacre about forty people, plus an uncertain number of reinforcements. That ignorance came easier than I was happy with, but once again, the immediacy of the situation forced me to ignore my own warping psyche and focus on practical matters.

Like, how to conceal my action of hiding my assault. The first step was to lure them into a false sense of security. Luckily, with the reinforcements on the way, they were also trying to kill time, giving us enough time to prepare.

During the first assault, Eleanor attacked from the front alone, still using her old sword to limit her threat level, while I supported her with several ranged spears. When Eleanor pulled back, she was already frowning. "I hope you're confident in your plan. I'm not used to failure," she warned me.

"Don't worry. It's clear that they want to kill time, and it gives us an opportunity," I said.

"If you say so," she said even as I accompanied her for another rush. "Huh, are you still using your sword?" she asked.

"Don't worry about it," I said even as I joined the assault, charging the mess from the opposite direction, expecting to fight in a combined manner. It worked well. I wasn't as good as Eleanor, but a maxed-out Rare skill, particularly one that worked well with my Strength build, was enough to keep the five guards that attacked me busy.

Then, I noticed that one of the guards engaging with Eleanor was struggling. I pulled a spear from my back and threw it with a smooth motion before the others could realize it.

I wasn't able to infuse it with mana in the middle of combat, but it didn't need to. The guard who was trying to engage with Eleanor did his best to dodge the spear that he noticed at the last second. Unfortunately for him, Eleanor was too experienced to let such a mistake go unpunished. Two attacks were all she needed to destroy his guard completely before decapitating him with the third attack.

Georg seemed to be uncaring of the loss, but the same wasn't true for the guild leaders. "Screw your plan," one of them growled as he rushed toward me, and five from the inner line joined him, all moving toward me.

"Idiots," Georg growled even as he quickly barked a few orders. The majority of the reserves attacked me, while Georg rushed toward Eleanor.

I stomped my foot to the ground twice, as Eleanor was too far away to see me, signaling her to continue with the plan. "Finally, little cowards joining the battle," I said, louder than necessary even as I took a step to the side, positioning myself at the edge of the hill.

"You have pushed your luck, Arthur," yelled the enemy guild leader, who I remembered talking to once or twice — though only if veiled insults and threats delivered by him while I gave one-word responses counted as talking.

"Oh, brave man," I responded, forcing a joviality to my tone. "And, it took only the support of a dozen warriors to face me," I said. Actually, an equal number of warriors were also trying to circle around me to pin me in place, but I acted unaware of that.

After all, they were supposed to be concealed by the mist.

He just growled in anger and attacked. Unfortunately for him, the skill mismatch was enough to keep their blades from ever touching me, and even if it wasn't my current armor was strong enough to take any blow that might slip.

None of the blows actually slipped, but it was the difference between trying to do rock climbing with a safety tether on, and without it. The former was much easier. I pushed forward 'recklessly' which positioned me between the two parties.

And, coincidentally, near the broken ballistas.

"Oh, big brave guild master can't defeat poor old me with just a dozen soldiers, and require more," I shouted as the second group joined the mess. "Too bad," I called even as I took a step back and switched to my hammer, ready to devastate the hill we were fighting on.

[-100 Health]

As I slammed my hammer on the ground, six different attacks hit me, but all bounced off helplessly. I didn't even feel them enough to actually require Health to cure me, but I still made a show of grunting in pain.

Quake hammer destabilized the edge of the hill we were fighting on, which created a landslide that had three consequences, two of them intentional. The first two consequences were bringing me away from the ambush as I used Fleeting Step to surf over the wave of rubble, and burying the ballistas as intended.

The third one, however, had been a welcome surprise. The guild leader and five attackers, who were responsible for the ineffective attacks against my armor, had tumbled down with me. And, unlike me, they lacked the skill to help them keep their footing on such unstable ground.

Before the landslide calmed down, my blade flashed several times, making sure they could never stand up. Not exactly an honorable victory, but considering how things had developed, I wasn't exactly burning with a desire to give them a fair fighting chance.

When the dust settled, I found the others looking at me from the fresh edge of the hill, looking horrified. I didn't blame them. One against twenty was supposed to be the odds for a decisive victory, especially once I recklessly pushed in between them.

The loss of six of their members, including one of the guild masters, when the best they could do was to scratch my armor was not that.

Though, while thinking that, I glanced down, only to see my armor completely pristine, without even a scratch, making me realize that they weren't even able to achieve a scratch.

Fascinating and scary in equal measures.

I pulled back, and Eleanor managed to ditch Georg with relative ease as she had the advantage in mobility. Though, watching them fight, I had seen that Georg wasn't any weaker than Eleanor, likely possessing a well-developed Epic skill, so I made a note not to confront him directly.

With everything in place, stealing the ballistas under the rubble went without a hitch. Eleanor continued attacking, while I split my attention between supporting her from range and using one of the most famous siege strategies in the ancient world.

I dug a tunnel.

Thanks to a combination of mana and Strength, digging that tunnel barely took me a minute, and the constant sound of battle kept that activity concealed.

Soon, we were looking at six ballistas, pristine after a few touches, hidden behind a rock. A quick supply run to the safe house meant that we had the ballista bolts back, not to mention a fresh batch of throwing spears.

"Not bad, professor," Eleanor said before as she started giving me a crash course on how to use them, which seemed simple enough with enchantments handling most of the work. "All we need to do now is wait for the reinforcements to arrive. Speaking of them, why do you think they have them?" she asked. "Wouldn't it be better if they had been a part of the ambush in the first place?"

"Not necessarily," I responded. "Don't forget. While setting the ambush, Thomas suspected that I might be over level hundred, which meant I was harder to target. With the visibility in the dungeon, they weren't sure to take both of us down. That way, once I retreated away from the dungeon, they could ambush me outside. Which means, we're going to have a difficult fight even with the ballistas."

Her smile was positively vicious even as she grabbed the hilt of her new sword. "It's good that I'm properly armed, right?"

I was glad she was on my side.