Any question I might have had about the monsters being driven by some compulsion was answered immediately. The fall to the bottom of the moat snapped already dissolving bones, shattered skulls, it sounded like the hideous things were vomiting out their own organs. All while neon yellow acid debased them into a heap of mush and gristle. I knew without looking that it was a hideous, sickening mess. And then it got worse.

  “Tower Master… Don’t come out.” Othai’s voice was strained.

  “I wasn’t going to… but why?”

  “The monsters… aren’t dead enough. They are dead, but something in the heap is moving.”

  “Is it burrowing under the wall?”

  “No, I think it’s… I don’t know, my Lord. I don’t know what this is or what it’s doing, so please stay inside.”

  “Ah. Keep me informed. And yes, I will.”

  “I just saw a head roll away. Something pushed it up and over. It looks like veins are connecting, but it’s all wrong- like a net of tubes instead of how veins are supposed to look.” Othai kept her voice tightly controlled.

  “All that melted meat and fur is getting squeezed together. Things are melting and regrowing. It doesn’t look like anything I have ever seen before.”

  This didn’t happen any of the other times we fought the Toads, and loads of monsters got melted by the acid. It’s not as simple as one plus one. There is something else happening here.

  “Mikas, shoot that thing.” I ordered. They did, bolts raining down on the moat.

  “It’s still moving, my Lord.”

  “Mikas, back on shooting anything incoming. Carousel, Blue Roses- Final Revel. Kill that thing for me!”

  I forced my attention back on the battlefield. The monsters were advancing alarmingly fast. Just losing Carousel shifted the weight of fire enough to let more monsters into the mid-clearing area. That meant more base Toads spraying acid, and the Alphas were getting closer to the Tower with their throws.

  To make things supremely irritating, their “go wide” strategy was taking away most of the effectiveness of Miyuki’s whistling arrows. It was a really, really obvious thing for them to do, they should have been doing it ages ago, and I hated it.

  Since day one, the strategy was “Slow them down, shoot them up.” Today, that strategy was falling apart. I needed to change things up. And more troops. The developers had started getting real cheap with how they were doling out resonance crystals. After the Tenth Wave watershed, everything got slower and harder. Got to motivate those whales, right? And you never know- maybe a free-to-play deadbeat might be convinced “just this one time” to spend real money.

  I needed to change up my strategy. “Miyuki, don’t target the Alphas. Prioritize the basic, acid spitting Toads. Only shoot other Toads or Alphas when no basic Toads are in range. Try to make them explode near where other Toads exploded.”

  “Yes, my Lord.”

  I hated the double-edged nature of the acid puddles, but right now, they were the easiest way to make barriers between me and the monsters.

  “Pomoroi, Radz-” Do I switch them back to blowing up things in the woods? No, they are so spread out I’d only be getting one or two kills per round. Not a worthwhile trade. “Focus on the Alphas. Try to hit them when they have picked up a Toad or two.”

  It would take some very fussy timing, especially given the long hang time for Radz. The Alphas had clusters of Toads around them for ammunition. I’d have to cross my fingers and keep reminding myself that every little bit helped. I drummed my fingers on the stone railing around the balcony and glared around the clearing.

  The clearing was lit with bursts of blazing lights and colors- sodium yellow, cherry red, Baja Blast blue. Punctuating this were the streaks of brilliant white light from my Awakeneds weapons and the cold light of the moon. It made everything more hideous, more frightening, more confusing as details were lost or exaggerated in the constantly shifting lights and colors.

  The sounds made it worse. The roaring explosions of artillery were now accompanied by the screams and roars of the Alphas, the horrible, piercing whistles of Miyuki’s arrows, the wet, explosive blasts of the Toads. The moat was dreadfully quiet, given what I knew was going on there. And rising up through it was the wailing song of Carousel and her Blue Roses.

  It was the twisting tones that really scraped their auditory nails along my bones. The song refused to stay on a note or even in the same register, sliding to almost inaudible highs and down to lows I would have sworn no woman could reach. The Roses spun as they sang, their long sleeves trailing through the air as they swept around Carousel.

  The survivors of Gradden March usually described magic in almost clinical terms. It was another science to them, or a craft. A mage was a job. It was apparently a respectable job, and a highly controlled one. A civilized position, in a civilized nation. This wasn’t that. I’m sure the rest of their magic didn’t look like this. It couldn’t. This was madness. It’s what I imagined a rave was like when ecstasy stopped being a party drug and descended into mania.

  You had to dance. You just had to. Your body wouldn’t let you be still. Even if your feet were bloody, your mouth was bone dry, you were exhausted, head pounding, people touching you and you couldn’t stop them, couldn’t even dream of telling them no because you need the sensation. Your body needs to keep moving, to keep vibrating and flowing with the shifting tones and wild rhythms.

  This was the magic of dark nights and hot bodies that would soon go cold. The kind of magic that left the users as huddled up and shaking as the survivors. And Carousel could use it when she was still Madame. Made you wonder why she left the Royal Mage Corps. Made you wonder why she opened a ‘bar,’ and why her entertainers would be loyal beyond death to her.

  It wasn’t some affair with Versai’s dad that dragged her from the capital to Gradden March. I don’t believe that one second. There was so much more there. So much more to her. Locked behind the gates of the damned relationship system and the pruned mind left to her by the Developers.

  The monsters were now solidly established in the midfield now, the kill rate not at all keeping up with their numbers. I hadn’t really appreciated how much I had relied on artillery clearing out big batches of enemies. That, and their nerfing Miyuki was firmly underlining that the era of field barricades was not yet over. Not without a hell of a lot more numbers and weight of fire.

  It would be better once they were in the Mika’s range, of course, but the Mikas didn’t much outrange the flung-toad range of the Alphas. The other upside was that the closer they got to the Tower, the more they bunched together. It wasn’t much, but at the moment, I was grateful to have it.

  The wailing song wound down. Final Revel couldn’t go indefinitely, and there was a cooldown period. “How is it looking, Carousel?”

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  “Like an abomination in every conceivable sense of the word. It’s… not doing well, but I don’t think it’s all the way dead yet, my Lord.”

  Ahaha. What?

  “Explain.”

  “It keeps trying to grow into something. Final Revel does make bodies sicken and fall apart, but this body came sickened and in parts, as it were. Whatever is causing it to grow into whatever it is growing into is using those broken down parts to make itself. My Lord, the best I can say is that we seem to be breaking it down faster than it can build itself up, and the parts are getting less and less intact with each formation.”

  Well that’s alarming.

  “Alright, new cycle. Until directed otherwise, cast Final Revel on this thing as soon as you are able, for as long as you are able. When you are on cooldown, use Glass Arrow to kill Toads. Prioritize multi-kills and Toads that are flying towards the Tower.”

  I was quite proud of how even my voice sounded.

  “Yes, my Lord.” Was her tone a little more confident? A little stronger? I hoped so.

  We need a way to get Versai and Mrs. Hungry out into the field. I want Othai up on the battlements where she can lead the pikes if anything makes it to the top of the wall. But Versai and Mrs. Hungry should be out there speed hacking their way across the map. It’s just, the damned Toads! How long did it take them to aim? It took them a couple of seconds to build up a charge and spit, which is something, but not very much if they are doing it twenty yards to your left and a bit behind you.

  My hitters were fast, but they didn’t have three hundred and sixty degree vision. Yet.

  Even with Carousel, the Alphas were getting uncomfortably close. More and more of them were pouring out of the woods. Not in the same numbers as their lesser cousins, but given I only had three units capable of reaching the back of the clearing, how fast they could move, and the fact that we never managed to kill more than two at a time… Batches of ten and twelve were enough to overwhelm us.

  The Alphas would never reach the moat, but then, they didn’t have to. One well aimed Toad could take out the Mikas, or the Pikes, or anyone, really. Then we would be in a death spiral and spinning fast. I don’t know if the Alphas had enough arm to yeet a toad up to my balcony, but I really didn’t want to find out.

  Hell with this. “Rikka come to the wall and report.”

  A few moments later, she emerged from a shadow near Pomoroi. “My Lord, I have returned.”

  “What’s the situation in the woods?”

  “We continue to see a steady infiltration of Alphas and Toads. There does not appear to be any more Fast Monsters running in, and they aren’t trying to wrap the whole Tower. Other than that, there is no movement in the woods, my Lord.”

  Fantastic. I rapped my knuckles against the stone. “Do the Toads target Rache or you?”

  “Only if they see us, my Lord.”

  “Yes, I… wait. Hang on, that sentence had hooks on it. What do you mean “If they see you. You are very…” A goddamn ninja “Stealthy, but Rache is as subtle as a hurricane.”

  “Yes, my Lord, but the monsters only look forward. So long as you don’t threaten them and stay ten or twenty feet from them, they won’t turn around and attack you.”

  “AGGRO RANGE?! THEY HAVE A GOAT THROATING CHICKEN TERIYAKI SHIPLAP OF CAT-BOY ROAD SALT TRANSUBSTANTIATION AGGRO RANGE?”

  “My Lord.”

  “Sorry, frog in my throat and I lost my temper a bit.” I shook my head. Probably for the best my profanity came out a bit garbled. Not even sure what I was trying to say there.

  “Let me just make sure I completely understand what you are telling me. The monsters will attack you if they see you. Generally in front, but given how wide those Toad eyes are set, they can probably see a pretty wide angle around themselves.”

  “Yes, my Lord. That is correct.”

  And as long as you are behind them, are not attacking them and are outside of immediate range, they won’t turn and attack?”

  “Correct, my Lord.”

  “Are they just fixated on something? Do they keep reorienting themselves?”

  “They seem very focused on the Tower, my Lord”

  No, my suddenly dear Rikka, they are very fixated on me. I just happen to be stuck in the Tower.

  “Do you know how far in front of themselves they can see?”

  “No, my Lord.”

  Alright, this is great but it didn’t completely negate the problem of Toads coming in from behind the scouts… “What does she, or you, do about Toads coming in behind you?”

  “If you leave their sight for a while they refocus on the Tower, my Lord.”

  So whatever their visual range is, there is a limit to how long they stay hostile. This is delightful. After getting abused by game mechanics over and over again, it’s time to beat them with that same smelly stick.

  I called Versai and Mrs. Hungry over and explained their new job- Alpha hunting. No more than three seconds per beast. If it isn’t dead in that time, that’s fine, leave it and come back later. They were to be a lean, mean, high speed murder machine.

  Their smiles as they accepted the orders were somewhere between relieved and innocent. It seems the forced inactivity was making them antsy. I sent them off to go relieve their frustrations.

  I had been a little worried about the three second time limit. It should be too short a period for Toads to lock on, charge a shot and fire, but it was also the first time in a long while I’d sent them out into melee. Probably the first time ever that I sent them out into the middle of an active battlefield during a Tower defense. But they weren’t going out alone or unsupported.

  Rikka and Rache dropped back in from the woods. Rache’s whole job was distraction- get into an Alpha’s range, launch a single attack, and keep right on trucking. She was also battlefield pickup. If someone got injured, she was to ride in and pull them out. Next stop the Medics.

  Rikka was doing her level best too. Her assignment- set traps for Toads. They really didn’t take much damage to go pop. Every little bit would help. And, of course, she was there to stab and run as needed. But mostly the traps.

  Miyuki? Her number one job was shooting any Toads that looked like they were locking in on Versai and Mrs. Hungry. Ditto the artillery- they would be on toad clearing duty as much as practicable. Rakim and the Mikas were on close-in defense, making sure no Toad actually reached our walls. And Carousel? She had her orders. Toad murder and suppressing/killing whatever the thing in my moat was.

  The millstones of violence started to grind, and they ground very fine indeed. Watching Versai speed around was always kind of funny, her sword flailing wildly in the air. Less funny now. I only wished she could flail faster. Mrs. Hungry, on the other hand, was pure nightmare fuel. I speak as a minor expert on the subject. The way she seemed to hop around, almost pouncing through the air with her two meathooks…

  A teenage dream of the mom next door. Eagerly smiling in her demure, yet flattering, dress and apron. And she kept pouncing forward, the hooks coming down and in. Like a spider or preying mantis. Something that eats its mates.

  You never hear about Mr. Hungry, do you? Only that she was a widow. Another story gated behind the relationship system. Maybe this time I should be thankful.

  Mrs. Hungry ran forward, hooks pouncing, seemingly going directly at an Alpha. I almost screamed out an order, but bit my tongue. She was a predator. She knew what she was doing. The Alpha got low, ready to catch her instead. At the last moment, Mrs. Hungry shifted targets, blurring towards an acid pool to the left of the monster, then another behind them. Then her hooks were biting into the Alpha’s back.

  One hook had been reversed, and jammed up and under the beast’s spine. The other went down through its skull. Her magic cauldron appeared out of nowhere, and the Alpha, considerably bigger than Mrs. Hungry or her pot, vanished inside.

  Just… jammed the hooks right in there. One to kill it, the other to hang it for processing. If the Alpha had been standing up, I bet that hook would have lodged through its heart. A week ago, that Alpha had been sheer terror. It was down to Versai and some damned careful work to kill just one of them. And now, Mrs. “Why don’t you come in for some cookies, dear? I have lots and lots of milk to go with them.” just packed one up like it was a time limited special offer.

  She was already on to the next one. Versai was already pulling her sword out and hacking towards number three. I could see the Toads locking on to them, then losing them. Then locking on again. Then losing them again. This had the unexpected side effect of stalling the Toads.

  It seemed that the Toads could only handle one instruction at a time- advance, target, attack, be thrown. There was a lag when they shifted between them. The Alphas were a lot quicker off the mark, and clearly had no trouble whatsoever identifying a target and attacking while moving. Still. Melee enemies, and ones that didn’t explode when you killed them. They were manageable. With the speed hacks, and the support and everything, they were manageable.

  It was a bloody little while, but no wave lasts forever. Eventually, new targets stopped coming in through the forest, and our scouts reported the all clear. We had one Alpha on ice, and all was well in the world. Except for the bloody singing.

  “Carousel, seriously? Is it seriously still not dead?”

  “I’m afraid not, My Lord. It’s moving very sluggishly, but it is still moving.”

  “Huh. Mikas, shoot the hell out of that thing.”

  They did. And kept shooting. Which meant that it wasn’t dead. Did I have to send down Mrs. Hungry to scoop it into her pot? No, there wouldn’t be a monster with only one character that could kill it. This was about introducing new mechanics. This thing had a gimmick. Explosives? Probably, but it was in the moat. Too close for Radz to target, even if I was okay with an explosion going off at the foot of my wall.

  That thought percolated for a second.

  “Hey Carousel, is there still any acid down there?”

  “A small amount, my Lord.”

  “Any on or near the hideous abomination?”

  “Yes, my Lord.” I could hear her wondering where I was going with this.

  “Shoot it with Glass Arrow.”

  “Ah. Yes, my Lord.”

  There was a satisfying explosion, then silence.

  “It’s dead?”

  “Yes, my Lord.” Was there a trace of embarrassment I heard there? Actually…

  “Mikas, pick a pool of acid and shoot it.”

  They did. It… not-quite-exploded. Not nearly as much of a reaction as when Carousel did it, a bare crackle of power, but there was definitely a reaction.

  “Is it just me, or is the moon especially pretty tonight?”

  “It’s the same moon as always, Tower Master.”

  “I’m not so sure about that. Let's get the battlefield cleaned up, and then the workers are to set off with their buckets and spades. I have a sudden need for worms.”