The following day, the Dark Horde advanced on the Wall as the sun reached its zenith.

  Thousands of warriors and mages stood in loose formations amongst siege weapons built in mere minutes using magic. Dozens of flags depicting countries or battalions, nobody knew for sure, hung above the mixed troops of demons and humans. They marched slowly, sending no attacks toward the Wall.

  “Target the scaling ladders,” Lord Silas Catanzano yelled as he moved about on a floating wheelchair. Usually, the wheels touched the ground but today he was using what he called his battle chair. It floated a few inches above the ground with a steady flow of magic keeping it up. “Distance spells and arrows only. Save your earth magic until they’ve closed in.”

  Daniel’s giant sword, Gertrude, was strapped to his back. His abilities were mostly geared for closeup use. Instead, he had a wall of spears standing up nearby to throw. Someone gave him a bow and arrows as well but with his strength, a hurtling spear would do more damage.

  “This is bullshit,” he growled, raising his objections again as he raised a spear over his head like a javelin. “We should be down there fighting before they get too close.”

  Orrin cast [Calm Mind] on his friend for the tenth time in three hours. “Keep it together. You’ll be fighting demons soon enough.”

  Orrin confirmed that his [Utility Ward] and other buffs were fully applied. His mana was back to his normal amount when he woke up. Madi’s constitution was back to her baseline as well. He was hesitant to fully buff her constitution to a hundred, despite her request. Orrin’s plan was to experiment with a few extra points each day until they could figure out any potential side effects. Brandt requested a full constitution buff and [Utility Ward] increase of all stats but only Daniel and Orrin knew they wouldn’t suffer the backlash.

  Instead, Orrin brought Madi and Brandt’s constitution up fifteen points. He played with the math until he felt comfortable and left both of the other members of his party with nearly sixty points of strength, dexterity, will, and intelligence. Madi was practically giggling in glee as she prepped her [Sunbeam] spell.

  Orrin also topped off his friends with every ward he’d purchased. He’d begun buffing them when the horde first began to move. It took only a minute to get all three covered but the demons chewed up the earth as they approached.

  “Spell orbs ready,” Silas shouted down the line. Mages using sound magic relayed his orders the full length of the Wall. Orrin heard someone mention the opening of the Pass into the rest of the demon country was one of the narrowest points. It would be the easiest Wall to defend with more consolidated troops gathered than any other planned defense. “Ranged attackers use the orbs and attack at will.”

  Orrin couldn’t buff the entire army but he’d done his best at creating a mountain of spell orbs with various increase stat spells for Silas to hand out at his discretion. The vast majority would be used in the first attack, with the plan for Orrin to continue making more if they were forced to retreat.

  A single arrow jumped out between the two armies. Streams of magic, more arrows, and what Orrin swore was a bag that exploded into several very angry badgers followed. The soldiers advancing on the Wall held up shields where they had them and cast spells in other places. Some enemy mages cast magic into the air that snuffed out the attacks. However, some enemies fell and the Wall erupted in cheers as the first causalities fell.

  The majority of the horde surged forward into a light jog, leaving the war machines to slowly make their way under the continuing barrage of arrows and spells. They were finally close enough that Orrin could use [Identify] on them. He let out a sigh of relief.

  “I’ve used [Identify] on about ten different random demons. None of them are above level sixty.”

  Assigned to their same section was a squat, balding man wearing a white robe with silver trim. Black markings were embroidered on the silver background. His horseshoe of thin greying hair did not match his young face or jovial attitude in their limited interactions so far. His spear was double-sided but the man used it more as a walking stick. His name was Crius and he was Lady Timpe’s Agent.

  A ruler in Dey had the ability to give part of their power to a chosen representative. The last Agent the party had encountered was Samara, the woman who captured Daniel at Lord Wendeln’s behest. Orrin and Daniel had killed her.

  When Silas introduced them, Crius smiled and shook their hands but Orrin noticed a slight unease behind his eyes. Agents were supposed to be nearly untouchable, the same as the lords of Dey. He’d been assigned to fight beside the party that had been the downfall of one lord and his Agent.

  “That is what the few [Scout]s we have on the Wall are reporting as well. Most enemies are above level thirty but the highest level we’ve found so far is seventy-five. Just two above level seventy so far,” Crius said. He cast a spell and nodded as if listening to someone talking. “Yes. Three above level seventy but spread out. They are sending the infantry against us first.”

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  Madi’s eyes started to glow softly as she stepped forward. “Any of them close?”

  Crius shook his head. “They’re a few minutes away if we run but not close enough to attack from here. We should stay until we’re called to reinforce.”

  Crius didn’t have the traditional [Message] ability but he could send a ghost-like copy of himself to listen in and report to a select number of people giving orders. He’d been chosen to stay close to Daniel to lend tactical help.

  Madi was now giving off a slight heat. “Orrin, point out any groups of higher-level demons.”

  Orrin nodded, understanding what she wanted. He got behind her and pointed to a group of mostly level fifty to sixty enemies. “There, the group of ten demons. The guy with the green armor and behind him to the red guy with two swords strapped to his back. That entire group is the highest level around here.”

  Madi nodded and held her hands up to the sky. Orrin watched the mana rip away from her body and explode at a point far above them. A solid five-foot diameter beam of fiery light appeared from the heavens. It struck wide from where Orrin had pointed but Madi grit her teeth and pulled her hands to the side. The impressive magic scoured the earth, looking like nothing more than a giant magnifier glass burning ants. It moved slowly and the men ran from the ray. Madi’s spell followed them as it drew patterns in the earth, kicking smoke up in every direction.

  She kept the spell going for almost two minutes. When the smoke cleared, only one of the ten demons in the group was still standing. His arm was gone, burnt to the elbow. He still held his second sword but was on his knees screaming in pain. Three bodies were burnt husks. The other six were ashen clumps on the ground.

  Madi let out a cry as she fell to her knees, the spell faltering and fading. The after-image of the bright line in the sky was burnt into everyone’s retinas and many of those nearby stepped away from the awesome display of magic.

  “Madi, are you alright?” Brandt asked as he partially caught her on her way to the ground.

  “I overdid it a bit,” she said, slurring her words a bit. “I couldn’t get all of them. That swordsman is fast.”

  Orrin crouched and pulled a vial from his bandolier of potions. “Here. Drink this.”

  Madi tipped the potion back and squinted one eye as she swallowed. “Ugh. That’s terrible.”

  “It’s one of my regen potions. You’ll be fine in a minute. You weren’t supposed to push yourself that hard.” Orrin rubbed her back as she began to shake. She’d used too much mana and was paying the price but his mana regeneration potion would give her a reprieve. Although it wouldn’t work as well for anyone without [Meditate], the regen potion would still give Madi a point of MP every minute for the next hour. It was like getting [Meditate] for sixty minutes for the price of a few mushroom clippings and Orrin’s time. “We really should get you [Meditate]. You could cast that again in a few minutes.”

  Madi gagged and almost threw up. “I can’t even think about doing that again. [Sunbeam] is harder to control than I thought it would be. Every extra second toward the end felt like I was being turned inside out.”

  “Lady Catanzano, your father is coming,” Crius said, taking his eyes from the battle.

  Silas was rushing about the Wall, giving orders and using his own powers to bolster his troops. It wasn’t the same as Orrin’s buffs but the man was able to project confidence through his voice in a literally magical way. Orrin watched him as he approached. Silas spoke to several groups of archers and mages, the mana flowing from his mouth to circle their heads. Orrin watched the spell coalesce around their eyes. Every fighter stood straighter as he left.

  “Madeleine? How is she, Brandt?” Silas floated to a stop and touched her head hesitantly. “That was too much mana. How could you let her—”

  “Father, I am fine. Don’t berate Brandt, he did nothing wrong.” Madi shook her head, letting her braids swing free from where she’d tucked them into her shirt. “How is the defense holding up?”

  Silas sat back in his chair and moved his lips to argue but stopped. He reached out again and touched Madi’s cheek. “You’re right. I’m sorry. You did well. Your mother would be proud, as am I.”

  Silas dropped his hand, pointedly ignoring the tears that slipped past Madi’s eyes, and looked at Daniel and Orrin. “The Horde has reached the Wall. A few were able to scale it without equipment but we’ve held off any permanent excursion so far. We’re seeing a few deaths but mostly injuries. We’re evacuating the hurt for healing. We estimate they will begin escalading as soon as the ladders are set. Their mages are protecting those at all costs. I thought they would take longer to move, but they’ve attached the ladders to carriages or wheels. They eat up the distance without the need for horses. A few men pushing from behind is all they need and they’ll be here in a few minutes.”

  “We can go down there and take out those things,” Daniel said, smashing his fist into his palm. “Orrin can [Teleport] us in and out.”

  Silas looked out over the fields below. Bodies stained the dirt and the rolling ramps were within sight. “We aren’t doing as much damage as we’d hoped. It might be necessary.”

  Crius muttered something under his breath and nodded. He glanced up, seeing everyone looking at him as he came back fully into his own body and smiled. “Sir, I’ve just received some news. Dragoon team took the initiative and jumped the Wall. They’re attacking the ladder transports and moving their way south to us. They’ve taken down seven of them.”

  Daniel turned and hurled a spear. It struck a demon two hundred yards away and passed clean through. “We can work from here and move up to meet them,” he said as he turned back to Silas. He reached over his head and touched Gertrude’s handle. “Please, sir. I can’t keep taking potshots from here.”

  Silas studied Daniel, turning to Brandt who nodded. Madi pushed herself back to her feet and drank one of her mana potions.

  “We can do it,” she assured her father. “This is what we train for.”

  Silas ignored them all. He caught Orrin’s eyes in his own. Orrin could see the man bolster his resolve before he asked, “Will you keep them safe? Can you handle the demons?”

  Orrin summoned a sword in each hand. One was made from fire and the other was blue ice. “Yes, sir. We’ll stop them.”

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