Overpowered Wizard

Five hundred skeletons rose from the muck just when the soldiers and the acolytes reached the end of the lane for the gate.

The young men and women all came to a bumbling stop and watched the skeletons shed their useless flesh, pluck out left-over organs from inside their rib cages, and strip themselves of lingering muscles and tendons until they were all bone white, the rain washing away the blood.

“Finish off the survivors among the kobolds and help get the corpses to the dungeon!” Zarian ordered.

The skeletons nodded at once and turned to do their grim task.

At this point, even Naomi couldn’t bring herself to push the young people any harder. They needed time to recover after seeing Zarian’s mightiest work of spellcraft yet.

That was fine because it gave Zarian’s new skeletons time to stab to death the remaining kobolds with their own weapons. The skeletons even dove upon the survivors and strangled their former brethren with their bony hands. The empty eye sockets and rictus grins of the new skeletons gave no remorse to their former kin as they slaughtered them mercilessly.

When the skeletons finished, Zarian looked over at the total tally.

Still no level up. Zarian chuckled. He supposed that was fair or too many high-level monsters, intelligent or not, would run around and wipe out low-level civilizations just to grind up their levels easier.

With the enemy completely wiped out, everyone worked quickly to drag corpses through the gap in the entrance, right under the crook of Stony’s knee. There, the dungeon spiders took the corpses and passed them along a conveyor line with their insectoid hands.

While the dungeon could fully recover by absorbing ambient aura from the surrounding land outside of the fort, it was faster to throw in fresh material for it to feast on.

Zarian didn’t need to be a genius to figure that out, especially with how eagerly the dungeon spiders worked with the fresh bodies. He was sure Reiki would smile from the offering to her dungeon.

Zarian chuckled. “Nobody can’t say I’m a bad Dungeon Master.”

Finally, after some hours of bloody and gruesome logistics, they removed a majority of the corpses from the battlefield. The Dancing Librarian Dungeon was well fed, now able to produce even more supplies for the Ride-or-Die Fort along with greater comforts, such as easy-to-build pavilions and spacious tents and magic lamp posts that lit up the fort while running on only a small amount of aura.

As for the extra skeletons, Zarian left them out on the battlefield as piles of bones buried in the mud.

“Good job, everyone,” Naomi said to the formation of soldiers and acolytes. They were standing at the center of the nicely lit and refurbished fort. “Take the night off and enjoy your gains. Make sure to place your Free Points where you need them most. Eat as much food as you want and sleep well.”

The acolytes and soldiers looked at her wide-eyed, unable to believe that Lady Instructor Washington was being nice to them.

Naomi knew well enough when to dial it up and when to dial it down. They had no idea that she was actually very proud of them, almost like a mother.

“And if you’re going to sneak around, try to be subtle about it,” Gilbert said with a chuckle. “Then again, just know Lord Zarian over here will be watching. There’s an invisible spider somewhere near all of us.”

The wide-eyed stares only grew wider. Zarian didn’t say anything. He just stood coolly with his arms crossed. He did let the darkness under his wizard hat lighten so they could see his all-knowing smirk.

“We have another battle tomorrow, everyone. It’s going to be harder than today. But we’re doing great!” Bianca gave them all thumbs up and a bright smile, uplifting all of their spirits with her Shining Trust and her princess ways.

She was as peachy as anyone could be after seeing thousands of evil creatures die.

“If there are any issues you’ve found with the fortifications, let me know. I did make everything in a rush,” Hannah said, sounding well-rested. She had slept during most of the siege just like Stony.

Nobody had anything to say, so Hannah left it at that.

All attention fell on Zarian.

“Did anyone die?” he asked.

No response.

“Huh, funny that. Nobody’s dead. And it looks like everyone’s above Level 20 now and making way through the early Level 30s. I wonder how that happened.”

Still no response. But he caught a few soldiers and acolytes smiling or looking away in embarrassment. Zarian’s smirk grew into a grin.

“That’s what I thought. You’re dismissed. Let’s get back to it tomorrow.”

The soldiers and acolytes scrambled away as an excited rush of teens who were both tired and animated from today’s gruesome work. There was no real trauma to be found, not when they had levels, stats, and Free Points to distribute. Not when they had thought themselves dead and were still alive to face another day.

Zarian scrolled through his notifications where a declaration waited.

“Reiki and beer?” Zarian asked his fellow Floridians.

“I’m down,” Gilbert said.

“Same!” Bianca cheered.

“Actually, I want to go over some things with Naomi,” Hannah said. “Maybe we can join you afterward.”

“Sure thing,” Zarian said.

The Runic Engineer and Rumble Psion went off to talk about improvements for their fortifications. Zarian liked how they were already thinking ahead even though the kobolds hadn’t even touched the walls today.

Hells, they still had three boons waiting to be used, one more from Lovewar, and two more from Shadowfell. Zarian wasn’t sure if they were necessary when they had the ground and the air covered from most attacks, but the wolf kobolds and wolf dragons might have some surprises they’d kept hidden.

Zarian, Gilbert, and Bianca went down into the Dancing Librarian Dungeon and had drinks in Reiki’s cafe, which also worked as a bar. Their host was gracious and mysterious as always.

Zarian liked to watch her tip-toe around in her humanoid form. Sometimes she would perform a pose or playful gesture that was alluring and smooth, hinting at a past from long ago that was tied to Carrowmore.

“I think Reiki used to be a leader or someone important to Carrowmore,” Zarian said, while sitting at a round table with Gilbert and Bianca.

“I love the way she moves,” Bianca said dreamily.

“How’d she end up as a big ol’ boss of a dungeon?” Gilbert asked in between sips of his beer. “Hell, why was she placed near Castle Grimrock then?”

“Ekri the Tailor,” Bianca said. “He’ll have the answers, I bet.”

“Naomi’s spider friend, huh?” Gilbert nodded sagely. “Well, there’s no doubt that Carrowmore is in our future. But the more the anticipation builds, the more I expect it to wow my socks off.”

“Same,” Zarian said. “But let’s think less of that and more of the now. We have good dungeon-made beer and a Mythical Regional Event to win.”

Later on, Naomi and Hannah arrived.

“The kids aren’t fucking around as much as I thought they would,” Naomi said, taking a seat at the round table, Reiki sweeping around gracefully to place down mugs for Naomi and Hannah. Soon enough, Reiki arrived with platters of hot food for them to feast on, especially Zarian.

“Most of them are all sleeping soundly,” Hannah said in between bites of food. “From what Naomi told me, the kobolds weren’t adequately prepared. It’s good to know we had better preparations, or maybe we’ve overprepared. However, I don’t trust today’s showing as an accurate depiction of the situation going forward.”

“It can’t be,” Zarian said. “The wolf dragons hadn’t revealed themselves fully. Despite that, we have to admit we’re a hell of a strong party. And I think all our abilities leveraged in the right way made a big first impression.”

“We have freaking boons from the heavens,” Naomi said after a sip from her mug. “We have a giant whose Level 105, master rank. We have a rare Level 40 dungeon that’s set to keep us supplied with gear, arms, and comforts. I don’t see us losing.”

“No, I don’t see it either.” Zarian hummed after filling his monstrous appetite. “Losing isn’t a factor. It’s how much we can gain from this that matters. We also have to consider the overall uplift of the guild for us to gain the most by the end.”

“It’s measured by the group instead of the individuals, yes,” Hannah said. “If we can push these children higher than anyone has ever pushed them before, that would be very favorable. But what will this event reward us that’s so pivotal?”

Zarian hummed thoughtfully. “Don’t know. We’re not in need of money after raiding Lovewar’s coffers. I don’t know if we need any cool gear. Hannah’s got us covered. Maybe more stats, but that would be a little lame for something like a Mythical Regional Event. I hope it’s not more levels, or I would be disappointed. We have plenty to do that’ll get us more levels naturally.”

Nobody could think of what the event would give them if they achieved high marks in their goals. They didn’t let that drag down the mood as they drank, ate some sweet snacks Reiki offered as dessert, and watched random dungeon spiders move about among the immense bookcases.

When it became late enough, they went outside the dungeon to their own sleeping quarters to rest. Zarian did some more studying of the gravity spell before catching a few hours of shuteye.

Ariana came by for a quick dream visit. She left him with a cryptic message.

“I think something incredible is going to happen soon.”

She wouldn’t explain any further.

The next morning, the Ride-or-Die Guild prepared to face the wolf kobolds again. This time around, there was no rain or cloud cover.

The twin suns shone down on a bright autumn morning while today’s challenge was looking more impressive. They might need a little more help from their leading Floridians.

Eleven thousand kobolds moved like a living carpet of evil intent. The horde mainly comprised kobolds in the teens of level just like yesterday.

However, now there were taller and stronger kobolds in the Level 20s that acted like sergeants. There were more intelligent kobolds barking orders in the Level 30s. Those seemed like low-ranking officers.

Zarian noticed special kobolds with unique abilities in the Level 40s. Those might be the more specialized fighters in their horde and could kill dozens of soldiers and acolytes if given the chance to scale up the walls.

There were so many kobolds they couldn’t all rush down at the front of the fortress. Several thousand attacked from the sides as well, which was even more dangerous. The specialized kobolds could aim to infiltrate where there was the least resistance.

“Naomi, to the eastern wall,” Zarian ordered. “Bianca, to the western wall. I’ll keep watch on the southern wall, just in case. Kill them all.”

“ROLAND, take charge!” Naomi yelled.

“Yes, Lady Instructor Washington!”

Naomi nodded before she ran off to fight on the eastern wall. She wouldn’t be entirely alone, since Zarian directed a heavy presence of spectral spiders to stay close to her. While they weren’t fighters, the spectral spiders were great at tying up and slowing down enemy units.

They were suited for Naomi’s style, and with the help of her Earth-Sky Meditation skill, she could always stop and recover.

Granted, it was still risky to send her off like that, but it had to be done. At least she wouldn’t have to fight on the ground. They had other ways to wreck kobolds from a distance.

Bianca, on the other hand, would be perfectly fine. She beamed a bright and intense smile before she soared away in a flurry of sparkling lights. She had so much power packed into her as good +3, she could eradicate scores of kobolds without too many issues.

She had the high Wonder stat and abilities for it.

Zarian still sent half his skeletons as backup for her: Glowy, Hasty, Warper, Windy, and Flamer.

Zarian would rather be safe than sorry, although he was more likely to lose the skeletons than the Light Princess if they weren’t careful.

That shouldn’t be a problem as long as they stayed on the wall. As long as Bianca stayed good +3.

“I still don’t like the odds,” Zarian muttered.

Two thousand to the east.

Two thousand to the west.

Seven thousand barreling down at their front.

And there were kobolds in the Level 40s with special classes lurking in the horde.

Yeah, no, this was problematic. Zarian had reasons to be concerned, but he didn’t let that show.

Just like yesterday, he had his arms folded across his chest while the Parasite Cloak flapped dramatically in its biggest and most monstrous form. He exuded nothing but confidence on the outside, and that worked too well on the soldiers and acolytes.

“There’s no stopping us now! They can throw a hundred thousand at us and our Floridian Lords and Ladies won’t bat an eye!” a soldier shouted.

I don’t think we can take on a hundred thousand, Zarian thought.

“Can you imagine how much we’ll grow today? Maybe we’ll all be in the Level 30s and on our way to Level 40! I never thought such a thing was possible, but anything is possible in the Ride-or-Die Guild!” an acolyte cheered.

Hold it now, my excitable girl. The leveling speed slows down drastically as you go up, Zarian thought.

“We’ll never lose! We’ll defeat thousands and thousands more! We’ll even defeat millions if we have to!” a different soldier shouted.

Millions?! Zarian was struggling to keep his thoughts to himself.

“Lord Zarian Darkrun says we’ll live to be gray and old after this! All we must do is believe in him!” an acolyte cheered.

“Lord Zarian! Lord Zarian! Lord Zarian!” the young men and women cried out.

“Woo, Ride-or-Die!” someone screamed.

The Madness Wizard wanted to groan from embarrassment. This was his fault. He’d given them a little too much confidence.

They didn’t even care how the kobolds were laying down wooden bridges over the ditches to keep funneling forward in numerous streams. The pace the kobolds pushed, despite the larger size of today’s battle, was much faster than yesterday.

The wolf dragons are still holding back, but all these kobolds might actually threaten my side of the game.

Zarian shook his head before he glanced up at the suns with some mild disinterest.

“I would’ve preferred the weather from yesterday,” he said, “but fine, I’ll play big bad dark magician even when it’s bright out.”