The Connected System

Loch Activated Thunderclap, swinging Onyx in front of him. The wave of force slammed into the Gray Gaunt Drones. A couple were thrown back, others just fell to the ground. There were more behind them. He rushed ahead, Onyx cutting into a gaunt on the backswing. Loch kicked, pushing another aside.

A sword flashed out, cutting into the chest of the gaunt. A hand grabbed it, yanking it away, pulling it off the sword. Jenny Brannock pushed the dying gaunt away, blocking an attack by another. Loch pushed on, driving deeper into the ranks of the gaunts. He lost track of Jenny, but knew she would be alright.

She’d gained in Levels after the fight at the Clanhold and she wasn’t alone.

Brian was on Loch’s other side, his giant club smashing through the Drones. Others spread out behind them, including Drew Meyers, the newcomer. Harper and Davis were out there, moving along the edge of the gaunts with Elora Seedspear. Archers were spread throughout the field, picking away at the frings.

Loch was at the head of the spear, pushing through the last gaunts, heading for the glowing blue portal ahead. He could see it, pulsing, flickering, barely visible through the mass of drones. And there were a lot of them.

Not just the survivors of the Dullahan’s attack on the Clanhold, but the others that had come in through the still active portal. It had been four days since the attack on the Clanhold. Three days of rest and recovery. The Clan’s few healers had been tapped out, not able to fully heal everyone with minor wounds. Those had to heal on their own. It had taken that long to clear up the battlefield and to bury the Clan’s dead. Over two dozen, not just warriors but a couple of civilians.

Each death weighed on Loch. Each death made his swings stronger. He knew he was pushing harder than he should. Part of it was revenge. These gaunts had attacked his people for no reason. They could have lived peacefully. He knew that was a lie, something he tried to convince himself of. But in this new Connected World, there was no living peacefully. Still the gaunts had attacked them, tried to kill his people. The survivors, the burgeoning Clan Brady.

They had managed to kill some. People that had looked at Loch for guidance and protection. People he had failed.

Onyx sliced into a Drone’s shoulder, the sword dropping from its limp hand as the arm and shoulder fell away. The sharp blade of the axe continued, without evening needing to use an Ability, just fueled by Loch’s rage. It struck ribs, cracking and broken them, shearing through the gaunt’s spine. Loch yanked on the axe, feeling it stuck against bone. He released the weapon, immediately summoning it back.

The large axe disappeared from the gaunt’s body as it landed on the ground with a thud, tripping up another. It reappeared in Loch’s hand, smaller now. He pulled his arm back and snapped it forward, releasing the axe. It spun end over end, soaring over the heads of the Drones. Onyx slammed into the head of a Gray Gaunt Captain.

The only one Loch could see on the battlefield. Onyx split the Captain’s head, lodging in the skull, the force of the throw pushing the gaunt backwards.

Activating Bulwark, Loch blocked the swing of a drone. He pushed up with the shield, driving the gaunt backwards. His strength was that much greater now that he’d hit Level 25. He shifted his leg, moving it behind the gaunt, feeling the pressure of the stone hard leg as he pulled toward him. The gaunt tripped, falling down hard. Loch continued, Onyx appearing in his hand.

He wasn’t happy. Not just with what had happened at the Clanhold but with this attack. It was needed but he wished it wasn’t. Clan Brady were the clear aggressor. They were attacking the gaunt’s home, just like the gaunts had attacked theirs. Loch knew, it had been argued over and over, that the Clan didn’t have a choice.

The gaunts were weakened but because of the portal they would keep coming. Maybe they’d just amass in the field and never do anything without the guiding hand of the Dullahan. But could Clan Brady count on that? Could they really let an army keep assembling only a day from their Clanhold?

And would the portal ever stop? Would it keep churning out drone after drone?

The Dullahan’s motivation was unknown but it seemed the gaunt’s were rivals for the limited resources in the Northwood Territory but that didn’t mean they were safe. The portal was in Johnson’s Field, only a couple hundred feet off Route 4 where any travelers coming to the Clanhold would pass by. Not to mention the two walls the gaunts had controlled until Loch and the others had shown up.

It hadn’t taken much argument to convince Loch the strike was needed. They couldn’t have an unknown hostile force so close to the Clanhold and in control of part of Route 4.

Loch just felt pushed. This was the path the Connected System wanted of him. It was the path Cerie, the bonded spirit trapped in Piper’s Codex Band, had described as the one all the powerful Connected Clans on other planets followed. The path of power. The path where the strongest make the rules.

It wasn’t the path Loch wanted.

But if he had to follow it to keep his people safe, he would.

Multi-colored sparks of Spirit drifted through the air, flowing into his body and those of the others. He felt his Core filling bit by bit, each spark adding to his experience. It barely filled what he envisioned as a bar. There was so much more to go.

He’d hit Level 25, the first on Earth to do so, most of the others had gotten a Level or two in the fighting. The Connected System preferred quality over quantity but it seemed to have made an exception for the large battle they’d just fought. Loch could understand why it was considered normal for Clans to wage war on Clans, engaging in almost endless battles. It was the best way for so many to get experience at once.

It was not something Loch wanted for his Clan.

He pulled back on Onyx, stomping on the gaunt to hold the body down as he wrenched the axe out of the creature’s chest. It was more forceful than needed, the gaunt was already dead, making a large mess of bone, blood and guts flying but Loch didn’t care. He was angry and needed to vent that rage somewhere.

The gaunts were a good target.

Except there were no more.

He looked around, seeing his people the only ones standing. Two dozen of Clan Brady’s fighters. Not all, some had to stay behind at the school. Even with Drew Meyer’s people augmenting them, the Clan was low on fighters. Julia Montgomery, the newly Level 10 Battlemender, was making her way through the fighters. Loch could feel the use of Spirit, see the light blue glow of her healing spells, as they were cast. It didn’t look like anyone was killed or seriously wounded.

The plan of attack had been about speed and power. Surround the gaunts in the field, charge in and slaughter. Don’t give the Warrior or whoever else had been in charge a moment to plan. Don’t even give them time to react.

It had worked.

They had been fighting drones and without the Dullahan or higher leveled gaunt to fully control them. The drones weren’t adaptable, they couldn’t change tactics or adjust their plans. Not without a controller. They just reacted. If there had been more Warriors or another Dullahan, Loch wouldn’t have made the plan.

“How are we looking,” he called out.

“Good,” Jenny said.

“Start gathering whatever we can use. Swords, armor, whatever,” Loch ordered, walking over the last body between him and the cemetery.

“What about the bodies,” someone asked.

He wasn’t sure who. Aside from the people in his normal party, the Clan’s leaders and other important people Loch was losing track of who was who. He didn’t know everyone and he hated it. They all mattered, but he just didn’t have time or the ability to remember everyone in the growing Clan. He knew Drew, who had arrived at the end of the battle with a dozen fighters and after that around thirty new people to the Clan. That kind of bothered Loch. There were people in the Clan that had been there longer than Loch had been. Some right from the start when Ed Turner had first organized them at the two churches down the road from the Clanhold, even before Loch had become the Clanchief. He didn’t know all of them but he knew someone that had only just joined the Clan officially three days ago.

And that was because Drew was Level 13, making him the fourth highest Level in the Clan. Drew had also brought fighters with him. All of them Classed and above Level 6. That made them incredibly useful to the growing Clan. It made Drew very important.

Which is why Loch knew him and remembered him.

And he hated it.

It shouldn’t have been based on power and usefulness but the Connected System made it that way. Everything in the Connection was based on power.

“Pile them up somewhere and burn them,” he said.