"Slime!" Kaeya shouted to his left.
Everyone on the left wing nested atop the castle walls braced. A geo slime smashed the wall embrasure. Bits of rock and small debris bounced against armored Favonius archers behind cover. None were injured as the archers shot over the embrasures to return fire.
The other side of the city's stone bridge, the only one connecting the city to the outside world, was infested with hilichurls throwing wild gestures of threats with their clubs and shields.
On the bridge were hilies charging into death. Arrows showered upon them that slowed their advance, and those without a shield were pinpricked to death. Whereas those have halted behind their shields.
"Make way!" Mercenary crossbowmen shoved Favonius archers aside the embrasures. They did not mind, simply watching them aim their heavy crossbows. The row of crossbowmen released a volley. Their iron bolts pulverized their wooden shields with loud impacts. The crossbow units slipped behind the ranks to reload as archers took their place.
"Will somebody kill those damn mitachurls!" The Cavalry Captain complained. Yelling in a stationary position was unbecoming. He would have finished this siege with decisive cavalry charges, but alas, Varka borrowed all the war horses each armored as they are tempered.
On the other side of the bridge, were the Abyss Order that fortified their positions with spiked barricades and horned roadblocks. Arrows were deemed useless by their walls of barricades. But what made the scenery before them horrifying was the army of darkness on the other side. The savage mass of hilichurls encompasses the field like a wheat field.
Nothing new.
Such forces of evil grab the opportunity whenever Varka leaves for an expedition. This time, however, the Abyss Order got a little bolder in their effort, knowing only twenty percent of the Ordo Favonius stayed home left without even a single squad of cavalry. The most alarming this time, in particular, were the dozens of Abyss mages, all dancing in a ritual, using their magic to erect earthen constructs to further fortify.
Their elemental prowess cannot equal a trained Vision holder, but they did compensate with numbers resulting in both sides having no interest in leaving their positions. No matter. There's a reason that when it comes to sieges, two sides are never in an out showdown as portrayed in fiction.
It's a game of who lasts and who gives in.
The fact they're sending waves is proof enough they're only keeping the Favonius occupied so that there'd be fewer who could deal with the infiltrators. Sandwiched on both sides, the knights on the walls have no choice but to hold their ground.
Amber nocked an arrow, arrowhead glowing red. She charged her attack, aiming at a high angle - her arrow flew in a parabola, and like fireworks, split into glowing projectiles of pure Pyro energy.
"No one escapes my sights!"
The mitachurls, bulking behemoths employed as walking catapults, readied to throw either elemental slimes or rocks. Their monstrous arms flexed but suddenly they were showered with pyro-infused arrows. Most incinerated into dark ashes, the ones that did not throw what they had on their hand. Any pyro arrows that missed landed on their log walls and started to crumble from the intense elemental fire.
Favonius archers took this opportunity.
They aimed higher.
From the enemy's perspective, arrows in hundreds dotted the skies. In defense, the abyss mages erected elemental barriers only for themselves. Hilichurls were left vulnerable as they huddled behind what little defenses they had. Chaos reaped in their ranks. For a moment, the city was winning. But those with experienced minds knew this was only a temporary relief.
Kaeya is one of them. The Abyss Mages will just summon reinforcements in time before Amber can gather elemental energy for another elemental burst.
"Ah, you're here. Is the warehouse sector all good?" Kaeya slumped shoulders.
"They had some trouble with a mitachurl, but I dealt with it. It's already secured under Captain Hertha," Amber gathered arrows from a nearby bucket full and stored them all in her magical space, disappearing with yellow sparks, "I killed one of the Abyss mages. I counted two more of them but they disappeared into thin air before I could give chase."
"Two, huh? I heard from Lisa she sensed around ten or so, I believe. If you saw two of them in the warehouse, that might mean the rest must have already sneaked in..." Kaeya clicked his tongue in disdain, "What of the residential district?"
"They're still evacuating. Hertha is already fortifying the areas around the docks."
"And the infiltrators?"
"Lisa's got nothing right now. For all we know, they're not even inside the city."
Turning behind from the battlefield, Kaeya leaned over the edge to look down over their adept mage, "Lisa! How's your thing going!?"
"Shush now! I'm trying to concentrate," Lisa sat on the street, sitting behind a magical runic circle endowed with a purple glow.
Kaeya knew their game.
The Abyss Order might have sent infiltrators into the city as bait so that he, one of the few Vision users who could change the tide, would leave his defensive post behind to throw off the balance.
Either way, if they deal with one side first, that grants the other an opportune moment for disaster. They were at an impasse, sandwiched by two forces, split at the same time. Just as the Favonius made sure nothing could get past the gate, the Abyss Order and its army outside made sure no Vision users abandoned their defenses. And with the density and strength of their numbers, none would charge in reckless abandon.
Until the infiltrators inside the city are erased, all the knights of the Favonius cannot combine into a single cohesive unit as a spearhead to finish them once and for all.
"Those pests have been rather adept at hiding under my purview. If only we had a dedicated astrologist, we could have found them by - Aha!"
Amber and Kaeya leaned in anticipation. They saw her spell circle - a map of the city - had these small glowing dots all over.
"There you are you critters!"
"Got anything?!" Amber took the initiative to speak.
"Come down over here! I have important things to share!"
The height would have been fatal for the ordinary, but both jumped down from the wall and landed beside Lisa with their ears wide open.
"Good news, I approximated their numbers. Bad news, It's difficult to pinpoint their exact location. I managed to detect strong pulses of their elemental signature, but they only pop up with long pauses in between," The purple-dressed librarian pointed to a glowing dot that soon faded. The circle provided a bird's eye view of the city's layouts, "It other words, those abyss mages are being conservative in their use of magic for stealth."
"They want this siege to last, huh?" Kaeya shot a glance to Amber who stared contemplatively.
Lisa sternly proposed, "Even if I track them all instantaneously, we lack the numbers and strength to round them all up in a day... I can only imagine how terrible the night's going to be if nothing is done."
The three thought in silence while the defense of Mondstadt battled in the background. Houses were getting bombarded by boulders and slimes. Windows were broken. Scores of tile roofs shatter, and debris falls to the street like rain. Lines of spearmen mercenaries struck hilichurls that got past the bridge. Behind them, groups of armored maids were hauling buckets of arrows where needed.
So many things were going on at the same time.
A childish laughter caught their attention. Had they not been familiar, their heartbeat would've spiked in the assumption a reckless child hadn't yet evacuated. That is until everyone saw the child in red jogging towards them with a shining smile.
"Hi, Lisa! Hi Amber! Hi Kaeya! Guess what I got?!"
"Oh hey, there Klee~" Lisa bent down to head pat the young elven arsonist who squirmed on her feet, "It's nice of you to join us."
"Lisa! Lisa! Jean is soooooo nice!" Klee was hopping in glee, "She let me have all my bombs! I can't wait to use them in action, I'm so excited :D!"
"Whoa," Kaeya's attention whipped to Albedo walking to them, especially to the machine behind. A small squad of knights all grunted in the struggle to push a catapult. Its broad wooden wheels rolled into place facing the main gate of the city, "Phonia, right? Didn't think you'd bring that old junk."
"I apologize for the delay, Sir! We were shorthanded on the restoration," Phonia saluted sharply, her curly brunette hair swung to the side. Her determined expression burned behind her pair of glasses.
"Delays? Ha," Kaeya coolly shook his head, turning to the chief alchemist, "None of us were even informed of this. I knew you all wanted this a surprise, and certainly, this is one."
Albedo shrugged, "I decided to keep this a secret in case an infiltrator got a wind of it."
"No harm done," To be honest, Kaeya felt a little betrayed that such a project wasn't entrusted to a Captain like him, "It's not like I don't understand, after all, this could have been a card snatched from us prior to the siege."
"That's it!" Lisa beamed. Everyone turned to her attentively, "This changes things. Instead of any of us hunting down every saboteur in a wild goose chase, we could have them come to us instead by devastating the army outside, which should get their attention."
Kaeya already understood the merit in that plan… and so were the demerits, "If it does, that would mean having them all converge here... quite dangerous if you ask me, but it shouldn't be nothing we can't handle."
"Two birds, one stone!" Amber added, fist-pumping animatedly. "Even if they won't check on us, at least we can finally deal with that army."
"Soooo..." Klee readjusted her bag bulging with explosives, "I don't get it, but… boom booms?"
"Yes, Klee," Facing Klee, Albedo smiled softly, "Boom booms."
Her eyes lit like a fuse.
...
John whistled.
You don't see a catapult every day. Then again, there's more concerning… novelties than a catapult. When you suddenly die then not die in equal suddenness, he didn't exactly have the luxury to differentiate what is interesting and what isn't when his mind already has a full plate.
Plates. Plural. One might say it's an entire buffet. Reincarnation. Transmigration. Becoming a game character. Existence of other inhabited worlds. Magic.
He can go on.
What does normalcy even mean anymore?
For one, his life was thrown out the window with a new one shoved to his throat the next instant. Then there's the fact that he might be the only guy seeing game text, with all the fucky wacky funsies inherent to video games. To be degraded to a mere gear in whatever fantasy manifestation this was.
This was his life now. If some god turned his life into a game then who is he to deny his reality?
The rooftop he stood on gave him the needed leeway for a wide view. Mondstadt is being sieged right, though an infestation would better describe it. The hilichurls were causing a big mess in places. They broke windows. Clubbed closed doors. Flipped carts. Slapped a cat. Stole a wheel of cheese. John chuckled when one of them got kicked by a mad donkey as others skittered.
[New Objective: A mercantile headache]
[New Objective: Caravan trouble]
[New Objective: Trampled Boutique]
[New Object-
"Ugh, how do I turn it off? There's gotta be a mute "button" for the volume… is there even a setting?" His head pinged with alerts as texts of more quests flood a small corner of his visuals. His… HUD highlighted an icon of a minimap in the upper corner, flashing with exclamation marks indicating new information. Honestly, the UI still weirded him out. He's not exactly sitting behind a physical screen with a mouse and keyboard. Everything is happening inside his head and that still freaks the hell out of him in ways he cannot elaborate.
The way these troublemakers make trouble, it made them look no better than lowly critters. Street gangs whose motives are to break the peace with mindless violence for entertainment rather than organized forces with a clear mission. With their numbers, how these seemingly dumb brutes got in far deep in the city's center was a mystery…
A mystery was shortly demystified when he saw one of them [Cryo Abyss Mage] summon masked humanoid monsters that popped out of smoke, to only retreat back into the dark alleys from whence it came.
"… Uhuh," He mumbled in thought.
From what's going on, these savages are just distractions. The real threat is those… things. He pondered whether he should hunt them only to throw the thought out the window. Those things do magic, and he doesn't know magic. As Sun Tzu said, it's based on fight fights you know you can fight, while it's cringe fighting fights you don't know you can fight…
Or something close to it.
He checked the sinking sun. Judging from the distance, there was only a few hours left until darkness creeps over the city. The clock in his… HUD says it was around four in the afternoon.
"Two hours left until evening."
He tried to think like the enemy, trying to understand their perspective. Whatever they want from Mondstadt, whoever the invaders are to lead a monster raid, it is to their credit they attack before sundown. It would mean the defenders stand on their toes throughout the night, and the attackers harass the city covertly in elusive darkness.
If he recalled right, sieges don't happen like in movies - which for the most part can be applied in general. They just wait it out or harass.
"Sieges are long drawn to wear out the defender side, aren't they?"
Which means there are a lot of things to do. A lot of things to clean up before night falls. He can barely care about the quest rewards, even so far as not reading the quest description just as he paid no attention to the tutorial.
There's a lingering thought that he might get in trouble by his ignorance behind the [System], but so far his missions had been so simple.
"I don't know who I am. I don't know why I'm here. All I know is that I must kill… haha," He recalled that one meme.
Find monsters.
Kill monsters.
Repeat.
Again, he cares not for the quest rewards, not even a fraction, for he believes that helping this city is the reward itself; if he were to settle in his new home, then, of course, he'd lend a hand for this land to be a little less… hostile.
Besides, what choice does he have?
He surfed down the roof, hopped down on a balcony, onto another and another, then landed on his two feet. All done effortlessly, which admittedly makes him feel giddy and cool knowing that this was all because of his… videogame physiology if that even makes sense.
A handful of hilichurls became alerted by his presence.
He can still recall the time he was rescued by one of the locals.
There was no better opportunity to repay the debt.
They charge with clubs held high.
…
"By the Seven…" Pallad praised on the second floor of the building. Said apartment has its door hinges in shambles. Other occupants who varied in age and appearance looked over the open windows in awe.
"Uhh… welcome?" John replied awkwardly, "It's safe now… I think. Are you all going to evacuate?"
Pallad took note of his foreign attire, "Do you mean to the knight headquarters? I don't want to risk it. In case you don't know, sieges like this aren't rare. The city of Mondstadt is never unprepared thanks to everyone's contributions," He proudly shared, then switched to a shy smile, "Though I admit, while it's common for every building inside the walls to be reinforced, it's never enough to account for monstrous brutes like that."
Pallad pointed down at the dead mitachurl lying prone. While he witnessed how a miraculous, concussive strike to its nape downed the beast, he had a hard time believing how someone managed to down something that big of a monster - with a shield no less! Not with a sword. Not a spear. Not a claymore. Not with any blade.
A shield!
John noticed an icon of an exclamation point above one of the people. "Agh more quest givers," He sighed internally. He was happy to help, but hopefully, this isn't another monster subjugation. It was becoming repetitive.
"Hey… uhh," He looked at her name and title hovering above the woman in a maid dress which he recognized. In video games, you just press a button to engage with an NPC. But standing in front of a person, he didn't know how to start. Should he just… mention her name? "Is that you, Sara? You're that waitress from Good Hunter, right?"
"It is you, John!" She leaned over the window frame with disbelief on her face, "You were all nervous like a lost child when Amber introduced you, and yet here you are battling monsters for breakfast. I can't believe it's you! I thought somebody else stole and wore your clothes hahaha!"
John tuned out in her quest dialogue, "… Skip."
"Huh? Excuse me?" Sara raised an eyebrow seeing John's gaze darting all over the place.
"Uhh," John almost panicked when he couldn't find any dialogue option, "I mean, nothing?" He stammered salvaging the conversation, "Sorry. A bit under the weather. Been fighting these things for a while," He tap-kicked the dead monster.
"Ah. How noble," Sara teased, "Were you a knight before losing your memories? Perhaps you were a pilgrim?"
"Ha… ha," He smiled meekly, "Anyways. I'm guessing you got some quest for me?"
"A quest? The fact of the matter I do, oh noble knight~," Sara teased, giggling at John's sudden deadpan, "My shop has a large root cellar, and I forgot if I had it locked or not, so could you go out there-" Sara's words entered his ear and out the other when a new text page pertaining the new quest formed into view.
[New Objective: Sara's troubles]
[Description: [Updating. Please hold]]
"Skip dialogue skip dialogue skip dialogue skip dialogue," John's face turned blank as his brain went somewhere else. If it wasn't for courtesy, or rather not looking like a lunatic, he'd have laughed out of nowhere at the thought he was skipping dialogue in front of a person, "Yeah no of course it doesn't work that way."
"-you just need to ensure nothing gets stolen… John? Are you okay?" She took notice of his… detached expression, "I have a feeling you weren't listening."
"Yes. No. Wait, no. I mean no I was listening," His tone told me he was not, earning an irked look from Sara. It mattered little when he could just skim through the quest description, "Protect your shop. Secure supplies for siege effort. You call for knights. Guard until support comes in. That's all, right?"
"… Yes," Sara nodded slowly.
"Yeah. So… Uhh… " John pointed with his thumb to the whereabouts of his mission according to his HUD's minimap.
"Well, good luck, John!" Sara waved supportively.
He ran away in embarrassment. He heard her say something but he didn't care.
"Fuck fuck fuck that was so fucking awkward. Pretty sure I'll be labeled as the town weirdo at some point," Not that he might already be in their eyes all things considered.
He snorted in amusement; though he had qualms about socializing, it had only taken a relatively short time to adapt to this world. That deserves some credit, but perhaps that was only so as he had goals to focus on that deterred him from thinking about the absurdity he was thrown into.
"Ugh. Better not be hilichurls again. It's getting boring."
…
It did not take long for him to regret that.
Abyss mages are monsters of another level.
He dodged a flying ball of ice coming his way. How would his past self react if he were told that his dodgeball skills would be used one day in some Sekai?
His eyes looked out for the next attack. He theorized every swing of its staff might not be arbitrary. It must have a pattern. A telltale sign. It spun its staff like an egg beater. Mist and snowflakes formed in a whirl as a single ice rock took shape from thin air. It slashed with its staff down.
A 3D holographic "ribbon" superimposed in his vision tells the attack's trajectory.
It was an attack indicator; it's those things in video games that telegraph enemy attacks. Such a great tool that is, one that offsets his ignorance of their magic.
He jogged to the side avoiding the "ribbon" - his gaze never leaving the funny-looking creature - the rock of ice flew through a trajectory where he could have been.
"It's playing with me," He noticed it had a playful temperament judging from its cheerful laughter. That might change soon though. For every ice projectile he dodged its cockiness eventually shifts to concern. Every spell flew faster than the last, taking the shape closer to a spike each shot. When the human insultingly sidestepped away from its attack like some walk in the park, that had become the last straw for the Cryo Abyss mage.
The fluffy humanoid thing threw a tantrum in the air. Ice spikes formed above, which all combined into one.
A large blue indicator that encircled him flared red - had he not somersaulted to the side in time, he would have been pasted from the meteorite of ice that crashed to where he was which formed a spiky sculpture with a jarring shape.
He launched his shield. It hit to the chest - the floating mage recoiled. His shield thumped falling. He didn't bother getting it back.
It squealed in pain like it was punched in the nose.
And then he ran.
He ran away like the world was ending. Instincts foretold it was going to get worse. His guts were proven right when the servant of the Abyss carpet-bombed the whole street behind his wake in revenge.
With a glance behind, he saw the creature disappear. The thing teleported somewhere. His attention on the monster melted, his focus now on the town that was ruined by the icescape; buildings were frozen into glaciers as the flagstone had become a frostbitten landscape. At least The Good Hunter's cold encasement can keep out intruders.
"What the fuck?" He hissed under his breath.
He didn't bother asking about the thermodynamics behind this phenomenon. Undoubtedly, he's underprepared against the monster's raw power. He'll have to explore if the System has crafting mechanics; It'd be of great help if he can craft dedicated ranged weapons. Not some frisbee.
Preferably guns.
Had he had one, this would have been over.
The mage appeared overhead. He's oblivious to the spell it's casting. Regardless it was too late - an ice brick smashed the side of his head from nowhere.
End