28 The First Swarm!!!
Majin asked for the other Champions abilities to aid her in defending the stronghold and herself and for some reason they started introducing themselves!
"My name is Zidane. I can split my brain in half to process multiple things and use multiple elements at once."
"I'm Liya. I'm a golem made out of magic rocks and I can control my weight with mana. I could even make a leaf weigh as much as a battleship!"
"I'm Elise! I can use metal magic."
"Call me Buddy. I'm good at archery but not because I'm an elf got it?"
"Teddy. I can make anything as sharp as I want. I'm born from a high ranked demon and a mindless one."
"I am Kristina.. I can use water magic.."
Majin was upset there wasn't a defensive type of Champion here that could build turrets or something like that. But then she realized that she could do something similar! She excitedly giggled before exiting the stronghold and going on a planting frenzy. The rest of the champions except Ren, the kobolds, xenomorphs, and Tuff left to see what their Leader had planned before gasping in shock. Majin was speeding around the stronghold creating strange plants. Some of the things she planted were just xenomorph eggs while others were mysteries. One plant even briefly rose from the ground and slapped the ground with its vine arm before sinking back into the ground and looking like a harmless flower.
"How much mana would that take a person...?" Elise asked.
"I should have wished for a bottomless mana supply..." Zidane said.
"I don't think we'll have a problem with the monster wave if we have her as a leader." Liya said.
It would take Majin a little over a couple of hours before she was finished and returned back to the castle. The others looked into the grassy wonderland that Majin created that was filled with dangerous and undetectable traps and plants. They realized that really lucked out and wondered if there was anything else she could be hiding but they wouldn't be getting an answer to that anytime soon as the person in question just fell asleep.
"Do you think we should wake her up..? We have two more hours before the monsters come and I don't think a two-hour power nap is strong enough to energize a person.."
"Don't wake her.." Ren said to the rest of the Champions.
"I've been wondering about this since we got here, but what's the deal with you and her anyway? You've been as quiet as a mouse all this time." Buddy asked.
"I'm an underling..." Ren said with a depressed expression. The previous three-day resting period was hell on Ren's body and psyche. Somehow Majin managed to invade his dreams and force him into an inhumane training session that nearly broke him mentally and physically. The feeling of having his body explode internally from mana overload, courtesy of Her. The feeling of being choked to death by a much more experienced clone of himself using a steel chain. The feeling of being ripped apart by swarms of goblins, eaten by carnivorous horses, and split in half by a Troll Captain.
He was forced to experience those and more all within three days. But for some reason he felt as if he was trapped in that hellish place for much longer than he should have.. He wondered if it was a byproduct of his time power that he had no control of. She would say he needs more training but he felt that he would be better off dying in the real world than going through that training session again. Normally his mind should have shut itself off or been permanently altered in some way from being forced to experience death after death after death after death but Her powers knows no limits. She had him rest his head on her lap and massaged his body and soul. Through this magical and strange massage, all his fatigue, both physical, mental, and spiritual were restored to max capacities and he felt much better than he did before he was forced into that training.
It was at that moment that tears started to slowly fall down his face. It was both the greatest feeling massage and the worst massage he has ever experienced. This was his fate now and he doubted even death would be able to let him escape from her. The only thing he could do now was to increase his mana supply. With more mana perhaps he would be able to escape to a different timeline that didn't have Her inside it.. But the amount of mana capable of that is something he can't even dream of currently and he would also have to find a way of avoiding the gods or getting rid of them.
His sponsor told him that the gods aren't a fan of manipulations of time and would actively try and halt any sort of time distortion that would affect the world or themselves. So, for now he was stuck as Her minion until she somehow magically died or he gained enough power to escape himself. Both of those choices were so unlikely he could only laugh to himself.
"Oh, I see..." Buddy said while looking at him with pity.
Tuff and the kobolds rested alongside Majin while the Xenomorphs laid around her watching the other Champions. Ren fiddled with his magical steel chain that was gifted by Majin and waited until it was time for the Destiny Battle to begin. The steel chain was capable of extending itself whenever Ren wanted, being durable enough to withstand even Majin's attacks, and capable of evolution. Apparently She was even capable of creating legendary Soul weapons. The ones said to only be gifted to heroes and created by the gods themselves.
'Such an unfortunate fate I must suffer...' Ren thought to himself.
The steel chain would only evolve through repeated combat usage and killing. Ren has only killed small F-rank monsters since he came to this world unless you count the monsters, humans, and such he killed in that dreamscape. For some reason he felt that even if he killed a person, he wouldn't be too affected by it anymore. When he first arrived into the world of swords and magic, he killed a F-rank Horned Bunny. He was so horrified by murdering the creature that he threw up and went ill for 3 days. The days afterwards weren't much better and he always had a fear of killing and landing the final blow. It wasn't until his experience with Her in that dreamscape that he got over it.
He sighed.
[THE MONSTERS ARE COMING! PROTECT YOUR LEADER!
Swarm 1/10
100/100]
The Champions quickly got into position atop of the stronghold. Buddy, the archer, readied himself with his bow while the others were preparing their magic or abilities.
"Stop!!" Majin shouted as she jumped up from her previous resting position.
"Don't waste your mana! Those who can attack without using mana go ahead but those who can't just be patient. Unless you feel like running out there yourselves." Majin said.
Teddy hopped over and ran towards the incoming swarm of weaponless and armorless goblins. As soon as the goblins stepped into the grassy flower wonderland, it turned into a literal hell on earth for the small humanoids. A red plant with white spots over it burst from the ground and tore a goblin in half before chewing and swallowing it whole.
"That's the plant from Mario.. The Piranha something.." Ren mumbled.
After killing the one goblin it sunk back into the ground before reappearing elsewhere and killing another goblin. Multiple variants of the creature were seen massacring the goblin swarm. There was a walking dinosaur type of the plant, a fire breathing plant, and even one that spat a sticky goop that held multiple different properties. The goop could electrify, burn, poison, or melt anything it encountered. The champions looked on in amazement as they saw the number of goblins being reduced quickly. It hasn't even been an hour yet and their almost finished with the first wave!
Teddy finally arrived as the goblin swarm finally started to dwindle down into the stronger ones. These goblins were the same pint-size as the others but they wielded weapons, armor, and had some sense of combat. But they were still mostly powerless against the Piranha Plant army. Even if they blasted magic at the red, white, and green plant monster its epidermis was tough enough to withstand it without trouble. Although if sliced in half, it would die very soon. The plants seemed to ignore and avoid interacting with Teddy as he sliced through the goblins with his sword sheath without trouble. Any armor or blade was sliced through without the slightest hint of resistance and soon the goblin army was reduced to 7 troll-sized goblins equipped in good gear and 2 wizard goblins and 1 even bigger goblin in gold armor and gold axe behind them.
Teddy let the dinosaur plant and the other large plant go ahead first to see how they would do against these goblins that look well-trained. Two goblins walked up and seemed to want to deal with these plant enemies fairly. They both charged their opponents and when they were mere inches away, they were ambushed. The smaller Piranha Plants burst from the ground and swallowed the feet up to the ankle of the goblins. Their sharp teeth were no match for the well-equipped goblins but once they infused fire into their teeth, they quickly began heating up the armor and then chewing through it. The goblins quickly tried to attack the plants attached to their feet but were soon chomped up in the jaws of both the large Piranha Plants. They yelled in agony as they were being chewed into pieces and swallowed.
The rest of the goblins quickly charged in to avenge their fellow goblins and the battle between monster and Mother Nature began all over again. The goblin mages blasted the smaller Piranha Plants apart easily but couldn't get past the natural defense of the larger ones who just seemed to get angrier at their magical attacks. The "King" goblin walked towards Teddy and let the others deal with the plants. He held out his axe and pointed it towards Teddy before charging towards him. Teddy smirked before clashing weapons with the King.
"Huh. Maybe you'll be a worthy opponent.." Teddy said after realizing the goblin's axe was magically enchanted.
They clashed even more with destructive and even sometimes beautiful attacks. It seemed no matter how much mana Teddy poured into his sheath, that King Goblin's axe will not be sliced apart. Teddy would have to defeat this enemy through pure skill, pure skill he hadn't bothered to train up to this point in his fantasy career as a swordsman.. He was able to get by purely by slashing through anything that could harm him. Why would he bother to practice swordsmanship when he could slice his enemies in one hit? Sadly, it never occurred to him that one day he might face an enemy that his wish couldn't face against and he soon paid the price for his negligence. The King Goblin kicked Teddy in the gut after breaking a clash with him and knocked him to the floor. He quickly followed up with an overhead strike that landed itself in the chest of Teddy, splitting his chest open.
"AGHHHH!!!!" Teddy screamed.
Even with his demonic body that boasted of its regeneration, pain was still pain and it was also something he wasn't used to feeling. The King Goblin slowly dragged his axe down the body of Teddy and revealed in his agony as he split the man open from his chest all the way to his nether regions. Teddy has long passed out and his body ignored his wishes of letting the monster end him as it slowly tried to regenerate the damage given to it. This only made the King Goblin even happier as it spent its time happily butchering Teddy before getting bored with the lack of response from him and ending him with an axe to the skull.
[DOWN TO 8 MEMBERS]
"That idiot.. Who told him to try and face a boss when he's so weak?"
"He truly died from nothing.. He could've stayed here and been completely safe.."
"Let's hope we can get by without him for the future swarms.." Ren said while messing with his fingers.
And once the horrific torture was over, the King Goblin was left alone surrounded by multiple Piranha Plants. The rest of his army was either eaten, burned alive, or in pieces on the flowery landscape. He seemed to refuse such a fate for his kind and yelled out a roar of fury and vengeance. He dashed and chopped one plant in half but it refused to be taken out so easily. After its stem was hacked off, it latched onto the shoulder of the goblin and dug its teeth into the shoulder guards. The King Goblin tried to punch it off but was quickly assaulted by another Piranha who chomped into his arm guard. The King Goblin wildly swung his blade, sometimes hacking more plants apart and sometimes missing entirely. The King Goblin was soon overrun by the numerous Piranha Plants and eaten alive.
[Congratulations. Your team has successfully defended your leader! The next swarm will appear in 30 minutes. The Leader can choose to start the next swarm early or sacrifice a member of their team to add 30 more minutes of rest.]
A sea of bright white lights erupted in the flowery wonderland filled with blood, guts, and goblin body parts. The Piranha Plants were evolving! Majin accidently let loose small fan girl-like scream at witnessing this and stared at the new evolution of the plants. Ren was also secretly interested in the evolution of the plants. There are no games in this world like his old so, passing the time was spent training his time ability or reading.
The regular Piranha Plant after evolution evolved in four different directions. They either grew bigger in size with their teeth also growing in size and amount, grew multiple heads, gained control over a magical element, or grew pointy thorns along their leaf body and plant head. The dinosaur plant seemed to go the basic route and simply increased in size and strength while the other giant plant who walked around on its leaf feet grew thorns all over its body and was capable of controlling multiple spiky tendrils and extending them.
Majin was really torn about what she was about to do but she couldn't let herself be swayed by her own excitement. She ordered the Piranha Plants to fall back and bury themselves underground. Then ordered the second species of plants she planted to take their place.
'She even planted those enemies.. The trademark enemy of all those games.. Goombas...' Ren thought.
'No wait.. if she planted both of those.. what else did she plant from those games!? Think! Think! What other plant-like creature are there..'
*SMACK*
Ren was interrupted from his thought process by the flaring pain his back just experienced.
"Told you there was nothing to worry about." Majin said.
"That was only the first swarm.. We still have 9 more to go.." Ren responded while shaking slightly.
"And you think that'll be a problem because...?" Majin asked in a happy-go-lucky voice.
"I.. I just mean that the gods could do something unexpected.." Ren said.
Majin looked at him with a serious look before quickly replacing it with her usual happy look.
"Hmm.. I guess your right. They could.. but that's still nothing to worry about." She smiled.
[THE MONSTERS ARE COMING! PROTECT YOUR LEADER!
SWARM 2/10
200/200]
The monsters spawned already in formation.
*LOUD HOWL*
The monster swarm this time consisted of white monster wolves. Differing in size, color, and appearance. They collectively howled before dashing off towards the stronghold.
"Charge!!!!" A voice from the flowery garden shouted and an even larger swarm charged towards the wolves after popping from the ground. A brown mushroom monster with 2 fanged teeth out of their mouths and two tiny feet ran towards the wolves. The Goombas seem to outnumber the wolves drastically but would their sheer numerical superiority be able to match against the wolves?