Pantheon Online

217  Knowledge is Power (Part 3)

"Where's Exile?" Noslin demanded as she entered the area Clay and the other Pantheon leaders had designated as command HQ.

"He's currently unavailable." Clay replied with a frown on his face. "He'll be with us as soon as he can."

Noslin grimaced when she heard that. She glanced at the other leaders and noticed that even Aeri was there. Despite the grievances the two factions had in the past, nobody was willing to quarrel when Valheim was threatened. However, it was clear that those who had been on the winning side of the civil war had taken command of the situation.

"Alright, how long do we have?" Noslin asked as a sigh escaped her mouth.

"The scouts have reported their vanguard will be visible within the next few minutes," Beartooth replied as he sent a runner to warn his Pantheon to be ready.

"Minutes? What have we done to prepare for this?" Noslin asked with surprise.

"We've manned Valheim's walls, and we're currently searching to see if there's a mechanism to shut the gates we can use. If we can't shut the gates, we'll have to use players as walls to funnel the Deep Stalker army into a kill zone." Clay replied matter of factly.

Noslin slammed the table they were seated around before noticing the gazes her action drew. The leaders who had never faced the Deep Stalkers sensed something was wrong with the situation from that.

"It won't be enough!" Noslin hissed in a low voice.

"Do you have a better idea?" Clay hissed.

Noslin remained silent as she considered the situation. 'We don't have enough time to come up with anything better.' She sighed as she glanced at the other leaders. 'And it's not like Exile's presence would add much to this fight. It's not like this will be like before. We have all the players of every Pantheon, and plenty of people have reached Tier 1 now.'

Of course, she knew those who had recently ascended to Tier 1 would be weaker. However, she could still afford to hope. It all depended on how many Deep Stalkers there were. She was certain they had not seen all of them before. 'Nar'Kozz will be the problem.'

"Sorry, I'm late." A cheerful voice called out as a player walked into that area. He glanced at the leaders and nodded his head. "Ok, I think I've got a grasp of the situation, so we need to make some adjustments."

The leaders stared at the player with incredulous expressions. They glanced at each other seeking an answer as to how a Tier 0 player had gotten into that area. It was clear he was newly ascended to Valheim due to his ragged clothes.

"Who do you think you are?" Aeri snarled as she walked up to him. However, her complexion paled when Clay placed himself between them.

"You won't talk to a member of our Pantheon like that. Especially not our strategist!" Clay's gaze became cold as he glared at Aeri.

"Strategist?" Noslin asked with confusion on her face.

"Hm, this is Mikari. The man responsible for the plan to defeat Sommerdan." Clay grinned when he saw Aeri's expression turn ugly, and everyone else let out gasps of surprise.

'So this is Mike Anderson. Exile's brother.' Noslin thought as her eyes narrowed. She had seen Rebel Energy's announcement and had kept up to date with all the developments. She studied his features to commit them to memory. 'Messy brown hair, blue eyes... He's kinda hot.'

"Split the Pantheons into three teams. All the heavy hitters will be in the two main teams, while the weaker Pantheons should form a reserve force. Teams one and two will rotate until they use their DP up. At that point, the reserves will take over. Their job will be to hold the line until the main teams can recover at the temple." Mikari said as he glanced around the table. "Noslin, you can use ice, right?"

"Yes," Noslin replied with a cough when she saw his ice-blue eyes looking into her own.

"Good, I want you to use it to narrow the gap in the gateway. If anyone else has spells that can be used to make barriers, I want walls cutting off the exits into narrow streets from the main road. Any Deep Stalkers that get in should be kept on that road. If you have a way to get out players onto the roofs using spells then do it. We should avoid close combat for as long as possible. No matter what, the enemy does not reach the temple. Is that understood?"

Mikari had taken control of the situation before anyone could object. The leaders could only look at him with admiration. They had been so focused on the threat that nobody had taken the time to think of what they could do to even the battlefield with their spells.

The leaders nodded in agreement as Mikari's expression turned solemn. "I don't want to see any deaths before their leader appears. It will be unavoidable when that happens. However, until then, there's no excuse. Give the orders, and get into position. Leave some runners with me. The rest of you should be with your Pantheons."

Some of the leaders revealed reluctant expressions. However, they also realised if they failed, then they could pin the blame on Ragnarok.

"I never liked this stuff anyway," Beartooth grunted with a grin. "I'd rather be in the thick of the fight."

Mikari nodded to Beartooth, and a glance told him the other leaders would leave it to him. He caught Noslin staring at him as if she wanted to say something. However, she soon left with the other leaders.

"Bring me a map of Valheim and something I can use to mark the positions of our forces and the enemies," Mikari said as he glanced at one of the players left behind. "You three, you'll run to the battlefield in turns and bring me information on how everything is developing. Let's get to work people!"

"Do you think he can get us out of this mess?" Noslin asked Clay in a low voice as they walked to the gates.

"Hm, he's pulled off miracles before. Even if we didn't know it was because of him." Clay rubbed his jaw as he glanced sideways at her. "Exile trusts him, and that's all I need to know."

Noslin nodded as she reviewed her spells in her mind. 'I'll have to act as a support to make the most of this plan. So I can ignore my offensive spells.' She sighed as she saw groups of players chatting come into view. 'They have no idea how rough this is going to be.'

"Enemy spotted!" A voice yelled from the top of the wall. The tension in the air immediately rose as the players took out their weapons.

Noslin spotted a few of the battle junkies grinning at the thought of fighting in a battle like that. She turned to the other leaders before things could get out of control. "Let's move quickly and get these people to higher ground."

Meanwhile, Exile frowned at the golden runes on the stone. 'It's too weak.' He sighed as he cancelled another creation that he dubbed as a failure. 'It only had the power of a Tier 0 spell. I need them to express Tier 1 power at least.'

Creating Runestones had been more difficult than he had imagined. It required a different process where the strength of the spell depended on how much mental energy he could charge it with. 'The battle should be starting soon. I can't waste any more time.'

He decided to brute force it. Strands of his mental energy leaked into the runestone as he wielded them to create the Rune for fire. A second Rune appeared beneath it, then a third. He knew he was being ambitious with his creation, but he felt like it was something he needed in his arsenal.

'Damn it!' He groaned as he sensed it was another failure. 'Is it impossible for me right now? Am I blinding myself?'

He glared at the stone for several seconds before heaving a sigh. 'I don't have enough control. I'm using too much energy to create and hold the other runes.' He slapped the enchanting table before letting out a groan.

'I'll have to enchant each stone with a separate rune and be careful of when I use them.' Exile sighed as he made his decision. Combining the three runes would have saved him that effort as they would have worked together to limit the specific effects of the spell.

A look of determination appeared on his face as he filled new threads with all the mental energy he could. The golden lines of the rune became thicker before condensing and etching themselves onto the stone. A grin appeared on Exile's face as he sensed it reached a power equal to 70 points of Authority.

'Haha! I've done it!' He grinned as he picked up the smooth stone. 'It's a shame it's disposable. But I guess that's just a way to make it a fair ability.'

The Rune would create a torrent of flames that would cover a wide area when he used it. 'Now, the next one.' He focused on the new stone he placed on the table, and soon a new rune appeared. 'Hm, not bad.' He thought as he scanned it. It was a healing rune that would regenerate five HP every three seconds for thirty seconds.

However, so far, he had been unable to create anything that reached a power suitable for Tier 2. 'Damn! The rune only affects Tier 0 players!' He had come across that fault when he inspected the runestone. His eyes narrowed as he suspected there were hidden limits placed on the creation of Runestones if he wanted something more powerful.