The Innkeeper

Far away from the fort walls, where no one could see him, Luthor crouched a bit as he caught his breath. As a Foundation realm cultivator he did not have a massive reserve of spiritual energy, but what truly allowed him to use such massive attacks was the augmentation of his suit. 

The suit, which had been designed specifically for him, replenished his spiritual energy almost passively. The moment he stopped channeling energy, even for a moment, it began to replenish his reserves.

That did not, however, mean that he could use energy endlessly. He had to master the extremely precise way in which to use techniques and his energy, keeping in mind how quickly it will replenish. After so long on the battlefield, he had already mastered the art.

Now, what fatigued him was not a deficiency of spiritual energy, but physical exhaustion. He had been fighting nonstop for eight hours, and no matter how much his suit supported him, it could not replace actual nourishment. He needed rest, food and lots of water.

But that was only because so far he had refrained from using his bloodline. Once he started using it, he could push all his fatigue, hunger and exhaustion into the future, to be dealt with later.

A soft, crunching sound of a footstep on a lot of gravel alerted Luthor that someone was nearing him so he quickly fixed his posture, standing tall and strong without any indication of weakening over time.

"Gerard is calling you back," said a familiar voice, belonging to the Inn member called Sandra.

"The elves have deployed the formation. While they did not have enough time to set up a formation that can stabilize space in such a short time, they set up a kind of barrier that will prevent space ripples from coming in. Now that they are free, they will be taking over the defense of this side for the next six hours."

"I can still hold this side on my own," Luthor said firmly, as if there was no hint of doubt or hesitation in him.

"Yes, Gerard said that you would say that. But while you still can, you should not. We don't know how long we will have to tolerate this siege. You need to conserve your stamina."

Luthor frowned. Gerard was right. Not to mention, if Luthor did not return then 1000 would not be able to deliver his report. He needed to be easily accessible in case 1000 returned.

He had been fighting for eight hours, would that be enough time for 1000 to learn something important? Probably not, but he had no choice but to accept.

"Fine," he answered simply and turned away. The pattern between new waves was fairly simple, and after a few waves they had already figured it out. Basically, every thirty minutes there would be a new space ripple which would result in a new wave to Void Dwellers. If they were not able to defeat the previous wave before then, they would be faced with even more foes. However, if they wiped out the creatures then they could get some time to rest.

While the others may have struggled, Luthor's purple flames were especially potent against the Void Dwellers so he had no trouble. Well, if he was being accurate, his flames are extremely potent against anything living, but have practically no heat for nonliving things.

It was a peculiar trait of his flame that he could not explain, but he was not complaining for now. After all, it was serving his needs exceptionally well.

So by the time Luthor got back to the fort, the elves had a good fifteen minutes to go ahead and deploy themselves before the next wave arrived.

"What's the situation?" Luthor asked Gerard as he joined the old man up on the rampart. There was a supply of rations and rehabilitation elixir waiting for him beside where Gerard was, so Luthor did not hesitate to dig in. These food items were specially designed to replace normal food and water, and would keep the body satisfied for a long time afterward.

"We have had up to 349 soldiers admitted to the clinic during the various attacks. A majority of them have been treated and are able to return to battle soon enough, but 12 of them are critically injured and cannot be treated here. They will have to wait till they are rescued. There are many deaths as well, and not just because of the ripples. Effectively, we are down to 3400 soldiers as of right now."

"Has there been any updates from the other side?"

"No. We have been trying to establish communication with the alliance, but all our means are being blocked one way or another. Some techies have been trying to join a few transmitters together and build a communication device that does not rely on local satellites, but I wouldn't hold out any hope. We don't have the kind of facilities needed to build such a device."

Luthor paused for a moment as he felt the food reach his stomach and instantly dissolve. An extremely pleasant heat spread through his body, reinvigorating him and massaging his sore muscles.

 "How is the progress with the fort going?"

"The fort itself has been reinforced multiple times, and each barrier has been strengthened to be able to tolerate attacks from a Golden core cultivator. Now Jace is working on an underground network of escape tunnels. So far he has only built 3, but his plan is to create 100 independent tunnels leading to various areas should they need to escape. Of course, he is being extra careful to ensure none of the tunnels are easily discovered, lest we have invaders coming in from beneath us as well."

"Good. I want the elves who have knowledge of formations brought here instead of sent to battle. If we can build any offensive formations that will greatly relieve the pressure on our soldiers."

"I'll have them summoned."