Malik briefed Matthew on these things.
Nightwalkers. Those who dwell within the darkness of night, preying on the less populated areas of the world.
Against nightwalkers, who can grow in numbers during the night. Strategy and conserving one's mana is key.
They are equal or at around the same level as C and D - Class monsters.
Small villages are usually destroyed by these things due to a lack of man power.
They all needed to work together and save as much energy as they could. For the rest of the night, they'd have to keep going. These things only dissipate at the crack of dawn.
"On your right!" Warned Rokhan's clone.
They have been at it for hours.
"This side's mine back up Squad beta."
"On it!"
Their teamwork has grown, thankfully only D - Class nightwalkers showed up.
Both Alpha and Beta squad were beginning to lose steam, Exhaustion would soon hit as the group ran out of stamina.
If it was just the three C - Class folks by themselves then it would have been fine but it's clear that the D - Class will soon no longer be capable of letting up.
Whisshh. Clack. A few of Matthew's puppets have fallen due to overuse.
He's covering for most of the party while Malik had to keep on casting large-scale spells.
"Malik! Fuck the spells just finish the barrier!"
They have 4 heavily injured, 3 passed out due to exhaustion and those who still stood are out of mana. Only the 3 former sergeants are moving but even they will be tired soon enough.
If they had a priest or a paladin then this would have been easier.
The Virtuoso's collection of puppets were spent, each destroyed, detonated or simply broken.
His spares were pushed to their limits, forcing the augments to be active for longer than they should be.
In his eyes it was better to lose puppets and trade them for the lives of his party members.
[Screech] [Hyper Voice] His second screecher puppet held its last hurrah as 3 wolf-like nightwalkers pounced on it.
He pulled out another set of pawns and knights as he along with Rokhan defended the group.
Malik began to create a magic circle. He learned from his mistakes. This time around the barrier would only need his own mana. The other magis could help fuel it but he alone can at least hold it for about 30 minutes or so.
What matters most is the creation of it. If they had known beforehand he would have prepared, and the barrier itself should last a few hours, with the help of his constant intake of mana.
A very crucial set of few hours. The group seems doomed. This was their only hope.
Which is why the remaining spellcasters gathered around Matthew, helping him fuel his puppets.
There is no breathing room, he can't meditate mid-fight. The spellcasters poured their mana onto him while he and Rokhan protected Malik and the others.
Rokhan cleaved through each monster, thrusting his spear like there's no tomorrow. He has long since depleted his reserves of ki, but to him what mattered most is that he is useful.
Useful to his liege.
Their Captain had to last a bit longer, having ran out of spares he was forced to use one of the advanced puppets.
A new puppet suited for large scale defense.
Model 02, Matthew Khan Original Series. Using the Queen puppet as a base, he created a spellcasting puppet that has multiple spells that can help in the protection of others. Though he hasn't thought of a name for it yet.
A sleek matte black design, as opposed to the white design that Geppeto's set had. She wields a staff that carries her power source the soul orb of a Titanoboa. Her head is in the shape of a helmet with a crown on top of it.
The main spells that she has are large scale spells similar to what Malik has been casting. The difference is that due to her base being the Queen model, she is capable of fighting in the frontlines. Making her a rival to the knight puppets in terms of speed and power.
The two main spells that he repeatedly uses from her augments are the [Chain Lightning] spell and the [Hail of Fire] spell.
Usually such spells would require a few minutes to cast but the soul orb cuts that casting time in half. She also uses her [Protective Shell] augment on both herself and Rokhan, which helps out a lot since Rokhan ran out of Ki.
The constant flow of mana coming from the other spellcasters gave way to at least half an hour of usage for the Model 02 puppet.
Giving Malik the time he needed to prepare the magic circle for the Barrier spell.