Chapter 24 - The Inter-Cohort Battle: A Lost Rift


    “Hmm, I’m not sure that is what Centurion Armiger intended.” Optio Magunnus stated as he listened to the team''s plan.


    “His intention is for us to be captured and beaten…” Rufian muttered under his breath.


    “The centurion ordered us to enter the rift to delay the enemy capture of the tower,” Seline explained, “ we are just following the order.”


    The optio was lost in thought, he stared up to the nearly two hundred conscripts of the 1st and 6th centuries in the first cohort marching towards them. Then towards the River Tower where the rest of the 7th century were abandoning the river tower and were retreating towards the Misty Tower a few kilometers into the forest behind them.


    “Maybe… you are relying on the enemy to engage in haste. I don''t like that we are relying on them to act a certain way and putting the century at risk.” Despite his words Magunnus’s posture shouted that he was receptive to the idea. “What makes you think you can make a difference here?”


    The team gave the optio the quick and dirty run down of the capabilities that made them confident of their plan.


    With a palpable excitement Seline explained her ars.


    “It is a variant "Root", the core ability is a targeted control ability that stops an enemy from moving and leaves a slow effect, but it can be applied to a wider area causing a slow and occasionally tripping over moving enemies.”


    She went on to explain Palinus’s new Ars. When he started to add the caveat that he hadn’t tested his new ars yet, she cut him off with a sharp look.


    Holding a staff to her chest Vesuvia explained her abilities. She had an ars that could heal and one to buff the defenses of allies, which she had used so effectively to avoid the sting of the whip only hours before.


    Sheepishly Bruchts and Rufian explained they didn’t yet have calculii allowing them to use ars outside of the rift but that they could contribute with their Tier 1 physicality and fighting skills. They were both armed with a wooden gladius and shield which Rufian planned to use for overworld battle but to discard before entering the rift.


    The team were getting excited as they discussed their capabilities holistically. With their abilities and roles laid out it was easy to see that there was a distinct synergy to their team.


    “Ok. Yes, I think this could work, but you are going to need to be fast and time this perfectly… even so, we are going to need to pull in some extra support. I have a feeling that Centurion Armiger won’t be receptive so we need to act before he is able to pull back the full century. Maybe I can get the 9th century to support, their Centurion owes me a favour.” Optio Magunnus scratched his chin as he launched into action immediately yelling for runners from the surrounding decios as he marched off into the forest towards the 9th century .


    This left Palinus and the team to wait, their plan set in motion.


    Their focus as they waited was up the slope towards the tower where they could see a group of five conscripts separated from their century. They stood roughly between the two opposing River Towers, mirrored by Palinus and the team who stood at the junction between the River and Misty tower.


    They couldn’t see details from this distance but they knew they were looking at the second rift team of the first century. They were known to be a solid and stereotypical Tier 1 rift team not a specially selected team, but they were dominated by the children of career soldiers as most of the training legion was so they were likely the favourite for the rift they were about to delve. Palinus was quietly relieved they wouldn’t be jumping into their first rift as a full team against the monstrous 111s.


    Both teams waited for their opportunity. Their enemy battled to capture the river tower and make the nexus within hostile, empowering the nearby enemy conscripts with more essentia. Palinus’s teams goal was just to not lose the rift too quickly, the Centurion did not expect them to win and counter capture of the tower. It would be quite the acheivement if they were able to.


    The groups eyed each other off, on edge with the pending fight and an unknown time frame.


    They wouldn’t need to wait long as the prismatic light of a rift began to spark and faster than they thought possible a seed appeared and began to open.


    “Bloody Augustus…” Rufian complained. “I can’t believe the floppy haired crotch sniffer managed to lose so fast!”


    <hr>


    ... A few minutes ago in the First Rift of the River Tower ...


    Augustus and his team had gone into the rift with low expectations.


    Their expectations had been exceeded, in completely the wrong way.


    “Armiger is going to be pissed.” his team mate whispered to Augustus. Quintis was the only teammate still standing after the most team battle. They had lost three, and hadn’t managed to get a kill in return. Even worse the outer turret of the nexus they had fought under had already been swiftly dismantled leaving themselves and their nexus with not much defence remaining, and even less hope.


    They stood behind the Nexus Towers watching the enemy rift team dismantle the minions and towers with ruthless efficiency as they waited for the nexus to revive their teammates.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    “He knew we were outmatched.” Augustus replied as much to himself as to his teammate. “We just needed to delay long enough to limit the embarrassment to the century, we were never going to win.”


    “We are never going to get selected for the rift trials.” Quintis said wistfully.


    “We were never going to be selected over monsters like them.”


    The 111s, the first rift team from the first century of the first cohort, were definitively the best rift team in the legion. When the team inevitably got selected for the rift trials and left the training legion they were always replaced with the second best team. It was considered a nearly sure thing to be the next team selected for the trials. Augustus would kill for the chance to become the 1st 1st 1st team.


    His team was currently more than a few places behind in line, today they had probably jumped down the list even further and he could see just how stark the difference was.


    Both of the defeated team members let out a sigh as he watched the entire wave of minions vaporised by a combination that had been pushing them under the tower the whole rift. Vel, the captain of the 111s, summoned a blistering hot flame wave that left a debuff on each of the minions struck. Arruns, his ally and an absolute behemoth of a man would then follow up, swinging his giant axe around in a sweeping circular strike that cleaved through the minions and triggered the debuff causing the affected minions or avatars to ignite from the inside with a deadly flame.


    “It’s not fair.” Quintis grumbled as they moved further back behind the turret. Without their teammates and the minion wave they couldn’t get close enough to do damage to the enemy. The other three members of the 111s were hovering, standing at the ready to pounce and add to their already high death tally. “They are clearly tier 2 at least, and they all have multiple ars.”


    Augustus couldn’t help but agree. The opposition team had a strong synergy around building momentum using conditional buffs and debuffs. They were also extremely well practised and knew how to play their roles well to dominate their individual lanes and convert that into tower pressure.


    “If only the idiots in the bottom lane hadn’t fed Vel and Arruns, maybe we could have stalled this a bit longer.” Augustus idly blamed his teammates as he waited for them to reappear from the Nexus.


    The time it took their avatars to respawn was taking longer and longer as they lost the rift and the essentia balance accelerated towards the opposition''s favour.


    “Didn’t you lose first blood?” Quintis questioned.


    “They had already lost, and my lane opponent countered me. Besides… it was close to my first blood.”


    Quintis must have noticed the edge to Augustus’s voice as he dropped the topic.


    “Well at least we won’t be losing our position as the first rift team in the century.”


    “Yeah, the second team finally filled their ranks. Did you see? It looks like they picked up some random street rats from the 7th hill.”


    “... and your father served with Armiger.” Quintis replied pointedly.


    “GROOoooo!” From the nexus came the howling roar of Jano, his transformation ars already activated as he was already charging at the 111s. From behind him their revived team mates followed, scrambling to keep up.


    “Wait-!” Augustus yelled impotently as Jano rushed towards the enemy team.


    It was too late, with his bestial transformation he ran on all fours with his arms matted with a wild fur and fierce claws instead of humanoid hands. His face was partially transformed and huge fangs stuck out from a protruding snout with his still mostly human eyes tinted the yellow of a wolf and glazed with a ferocious focus.


    As he passed out of range of the towers he was instantly struck with an ars. A thick black tentacle cast by the other mage of the 111s grabbed the bestial avatar, bringing his charge to an instant stop.


    Augustus’s team didn’t have a cleansing ability which forced Jano to wait, snarling and roaring, for the effect to finish as he was already bombarded with magical strikes from a wand and a stave of the two mages. They were stacking combo points and a burning effect that was already making a dent in Jano’s health points.


    Supporting their teammate Augustus and Quintis joined the charge with their shields up and swinging their wooden short swords. They caught up to Jano, flanking him on either side to soak the strikes of the enemy mages and break their combo. They were able to prevent further damage from the ranged attacks but as they stepped past the still rooted Jano they were stopped in their tracks as they ran headlong into a wall.


    One of the other melee fighters from the 111s stood with his arm up behind a shield channeling an ars. The wall was a solid impassable object that mimicked the painted wooden surface of the shield he carried.


    Striking at the wall in anger Augustus again felt the sting of helplessness. They didn’t have the ability to fight against this team, they were too strong.


    He knew from their last team fight that the wall was not meant just for defense.


    As he felt the wave of heat rise nearby and with his two strongest allies standing too close together he knew this was the end of the fight, and the end of the rift.


    Augustus gritted his teeth for the uncomfortable sensations of dying as an avatar in a rift and for the second time today was grateful they were not in a hardcore rift. He would just have to bear some stings before waking up safe in the tower in the overworld.


    The flame of Vel’s fire wave struck, it didn’t hurt at first but the burning effect began to make its presence felt as it began to eat away at the health points of his avatar.


    It felt almost cool by comparison when the blast of black goop struck his chest from the other mage.


    The vision obscuring [Blind] effect was almost a relief as he couldn’t see the axe swing he knew to be coming. When it struck it cleaved his flesh leaving a gaping wound.


    His body was instantly lit up with fire that began to truly hurt, it was beyond any pain he had felt within a rift and he whimpered as he waited for it to be over. His arms holding his sword and shield dropping beside him he gave up the pretense of resisting.


    With a finishing blow his pain ended. His avatar was dead before the [Blind] effect had even finished.


    <hr>


    With a blast of prismatic light the rift seed opened. It’s aperture revealing a similar room to their previous rift with five columns and an Erulean temple theme. There were similarities to the previous rift, but Palinus could see a reassuring difference in a less chaotic swirling of energy and a softer light. The tendrils that probed from the rift moved with less vigour and seemed almost gentle in their touch.


    The team shared a look as they moved into place.


    They lay down with their heads towards the oncoming enemy, positioning themselves so that the rift would block any projectiles that came towards them and so they would be ready to run once they were finished with the rift. They knew the rift would protect their bodies while they were in it, but once the rift was over they would be vulnerable - whether they won or lost.


    With a final look towards the oncoming enemy conscripts, Palinus knew that they would be overrun in minutes and whether they woke up from the rift completely safe or in prime position for a beating was out of their hands.