Chapter 75: Marauders
Coop identified one of the red-tinged Prowlers as they snuck across the sandy battlefield.
[Marauding Prowler (Level 40)]
[(Agility)]
[Minion of the Primal Constructs]
These monsters were ten levels higher than the Enraged Defenders. The difference in levels was consistent with the regular variants found on the island, but Coop could immediately recognize a major contrast between the Ancient and the Marauding Prowler’s behavior. Instead of being in consistent groups of five with one visible at a time, these Prowlers weren’t grouped at all, or really, they were in one much larger group with no real distinction for smaller parties. There also didn’t seem to be any pattern to determine which were cloaked and which were not. Some were even alternating between both states. It effectively masked their numbers and caused Coop and the others to be caught off guard when the first wave of invisible monsters reached the walls.
Coop was dragged back into an all out fight, burning his mana on extending the range of his Fog of War so that he could detect cloaked Prowlers with Presence of Mind, and following their detection with spear throws and mistjumps. It was an impossible pace to maintain, but he was trying to give the defenders inside the walls a chance to regroup.
The first Marauding Prowlers had made their presence known by scaling the walls and entering the arched windows on the second floor, catching cannon crews off guard, and causing the first real injuries for Ghost Reef. The shouts of danger and combat drew everyone else back into the fight. They only had a few brief moments of blissful decompression before they realized there wouldn’t be any lull in the siege.
The walls may have been routed before the defenders could respond if not for Jett. The Sentinel of Shadows rejected the presence of the invaders on the entire eastern half of the exposed wall. She seemed to be in every shadow, picking apart the monsters as soon as they climbed through the windows, even before they allowed their invisibility to fall off. There was no getting past her ability to detect pests within her domain. Jett completely relieved half of the pressure that the monsters had applied to the defenses.
Shane was stifling any panic while rearranging the melee and midrange fighters to defend the second floor windows with Jett. The main gate had been slammed shut, and the casters on the roof had resumed their casting, trying to pick off the monsters that approached the fort even if not all of them could be seen by blasting the battlefield with area of effect spells.
Rear Admiral Gideon was leading a full division of phantoms in retaking the second floor of the western wall. The mass soldiers made sneaking through nearly impossible. They had recovered enough to fully secure the third floor windows, but would need to go room by room, hunting down agile enemies with invisibility on the second floor. Coop was doing his best to prevent the monsters from being able to reinforce their position in the western half of the walls, defeating as many monsters as possible, not bothering to pace himself for an extended battle. There was no point in conserving resources if they were defeated before he could use them all.
Coop quickly identified a major problem with their consolidation of forces and abandonment of the outer wall. The Enraged Defenders were still coming.
Even though a new wave had begun, the previous wave wasn’t complete, and now the Enraged Defenders were unimpeded in their efforts to chip through the walls. Dozens of the monsters had already climbed their way out of the moat and started assaulting the reinforced stone brick of the outer walls. Their numbers hadn’t let up at all.