Chapter 741 741 Working Together
There were naturally a number of the ranking Demons and Fae that were not particularly happy with the fact that the defence plan involved them in the most labour-intensive positions, but there wasn’t much of a way around it unless they wanted to fight on the front lines, or risk losing the respect of the people.
They did represent and protect a group, but if they screwed up, the locals might not hesitate before sending out messages to other areas that this one might need a new guardian.
There was a lot of internal competition for these spots, especially for the senior spot, as the amount of land in Faerie and the Demon Realms had been limited for generations.
This was the best chance for the younger sons and daughters to get their own territory, and they didn’t have to outdo the family heir to get it. They just needed to be powerful enough to protect what they claimed.
One of the Wrathbringers, who was actually from a region further north along the coast, crossed his arms and nodded in agreement with Wolfe’s decision to have the town protectors and assistants uphold the barrier line.
“Where do we get these barrier poles, as you called them?” He asked.
“They’re already in town. Each town should have enough of them to stretch to the defensive lines of the next, but they were all made by Rank One witches, so the spells on them aren’t strong.
It will be up to you, or me if I’m nearby, to upgrade the inscriptions to your own standards.
I think that you’ll like these barrier arrays, though. They link together, so you can set them evenly spaced and not have to move at all, just keep up the mana feed so that the barrier doesn’t collapse while the town guard fights.
That should keep the Undead Horde on the other side, for the most part, and limit casualties.
Then afterwards you only need to deal with the cleansing, some healing and a lot of expended ammunition resupply.”
The Demon smiled. “That sounds incredibly boring, and I’m glad it’s not my town being attacked. I will join the battle where I am needed.”
The other wrath demons chuckled at his enthusiasm. The Wrathbringer had absolute confidence that someone could cleanse the undead Necrosis from him if he got infected, so he planned to go fight while the ones who had territory here had to hold the barriers.
That was the drawback to being on the frontier. You had more chances to get famous, but you would also get stuck with all the drudgery and danger that came with being on the frontier and not closer to the power base of the nations.
“Why don’t we make new poles with more powerful spells?” One of the Fae asked.
“The array on these allows for any element’s barrier to be activated. It has its limitations, in that too much power will blow up the inscriptions, but the issue in the past has always been keeping enough mana in them to keep the barrier active.
You shouldn’t have an issue with that, so for now, you can pick the element that you like best, and just keep it fed with mana.” Wolfe explained.
“What one do you usually use?” A Demon with nothing but loosely woven silver chains as an outfit suggested.
“I like Unholy Fire. It is nearly impossible to put out, it spreads quickly, and it is mana efficient. Using lightning is more destructive, but it casts a bolt at every target that touches the barrier. Unholy Fire just coats the whole barrier while there are any points of contact.”
The Fae frowned at that news. Unholy Fire wasn’t an ability that they could use, and the boundary area was almost completely controlled by the Fae. They could use something like [Crushing Vines Barrier] a nature magic defensive array, and the vines would tear apart anything that touched them, but spreading Unholy Fire through the attacking army was not part of their arsenal.
“Why don’t we work together? Fae magic to prevent them from scaling and bypassing the barrier, and Unholy Magic to burn them? If we activate both in a complex array, it shouldn’t be a problem, and then we can spread it all down the line as the other sections are erected.” One of the Fae town guardians suggested.
“Both at once? Is that even possible?” One of the Demons asked, while everyone nearby turned to look at Wolfe.
“Of course it is. It’s not going to be particularly easy, since you both want to use magic that the other can’t use at all, but with cooperation, you can still set the array. I will draw it out for you if you show me what Fae magic you would like to use, and then you can activate it from the drawn inscription.” Wolfe suggested.
The Fae looked quite eager to see such a thing. Or, more likely, to get their hands on a copy of it. It would take a Magi to actually create it, layering the incompatible magics into one spell instead of casting them both on the same object, but it would totally be worth it if they could reuse it later.
That was the end goal of most of the Saint and Overlord level creatures among the two species: to gather knowledge and magical items that would let them overcome their own limitations and amass power that would help them rise to either power or the next rank.
Rank Seven to Rank Eight was nearly impossible, no matter who you were. Even the children of the legendary Queens and Kings had only the faintest chance of accomplishing the task, and that was with the resources of a nation behind them. The ancient King, the King of Magic, with his hybrid bloodline, had waited two standard generations for one of his children to accomplish the task.
Combining the two might not be helpful for most of the people here, but they all knew at least one Hybrid who would pay very well for the knowledge once this Monster Tide was over.