Ascension of the Primalist [A Tamer Class, LitRPG]

The next three days were an annoying exercise in patience.

The sun hammered the fortress, baking the stones until the air shimmered with heat haze. Seth and his squad continued to hold their ground, forcing the empire's hand. With the numbers advantage secured, a stalemate meant a technical victory for Kastal—but such a thing would have left a terrible taste in Seth's mouth.

He wanted to break them. To shatter the myth of their invincibility and show the whole enemy army that they couldn't just march into the Warfare Rifts and expect an easy win with no casualties.

Just as Seth's patience was fraying enough for him to consider demanding Henry letting him go on a solo hunt, the horizon shifted. Clouds of dust finally rose into the air.

The enemy was on the move.

As predicted, they didn't hold back; their entire remaining force was now marching across the desert floor, seemingly leaving their own fortress empty in the distance.

They halted a few miles outside of Kastal's fortress.

Seth's Rogue team was already in position, huddled into the jagged shadows of a rock cluster. They watched the enemy formation like vipers coiling in the sand.

"What if they pivot?" Selena whispered, leaning in close enough that the words would be audible only to Seth. "What if they spot us and turn the whole army our way?"

Seth's gaze remained locked on the distant line of soldiers. He had already explained the plan to the squad—ambush the artillery crews if they deployed cannons, flank the Priests and Elementalists if they rushed—but skepticism hung heavy in the air. They were all afraid of dying.

"Then Henry opens the gates and charges out with the others," Seth replied. "If it comes to that, I'll buy us time. I won't let you guys get slaughtered."

"Can you really hold forty of them?" Selena asked. "Alone?"

Seth glanced at her, a faint smile touching his lips. "I'm never alone."

"Is that supposed to sound heroic?" Selena sighed as she rolled her eyes, though the tension remained in her shoulders. She paused, then looked at him once more. "But seriously... if it goes sideways, let me help. I can buy time too. Me, you, the big guy, and Nightmare."

"No," Seth answered with a tone that left no room for argument. "If I give the order to run, you run and don’t look back." He locked eyes with her. "Staying behind doesn't help me. It divides my focus. I can't fight to my full potential if I'm burning aether to keep you alive."

Selena pressed her lips into a thin line. Frustration likely warred with the brutal logic, but she didn't argue. She knew he was right.

The tension in the air snapped as the empire's formation rippled. The wait was over.

The enemy line solidified under the glare of the sun. A disciplined wall of Guardians and Warriors took point, shields locked, weapons bared. Behind, the air distorted violently, and two ominous shapes materialized from nothingness, hitting the desert floor with a heavy thud.

Seth recognized them instantly. Arcane cannons, identical to the ones Toren had provided to him.

Just like Seth, they had probably used Shrinking spell-scrolls to maneuver the heavy artillery into position. But the realization brought a bitter taste to his mouth.

We have to use those scrolls only to bring ours out of the Rift, he thought. They use them as burning expenses.

The disparity in terms of wealth was obvious.

Henry and the defenders atop the fortress didn't wait for the empire to entrench themselves.

A twin roar shattered the desert silence, shaking the ground where Seth and the other Rogues crouched. Muzzle flashes lit up the distant battlements, and two streaks of unstable aether screamed across the sky.

Almost immediately, the air above the empire's army rippled; a translucent dome shimmered into existence to cover their formation.

Seth narrowed his eyes, scanning the enemy ranks for a caster, but the Elementalists were busy manning the cannons.

It has to be a spell-scroll.

The Kastal shells slammed into the barrier. Red-and-blue aether detonated in a thundering explosion and spiderwebs cracked across the invisible shield, but the dome held.

Before the smoke could clear and before the fortress cannons could even begin to reload the empire retaliated.

Their artillery bucked, kicking up clouds of dust as they fired two heavy projectiles. A heartbeat later, the ground shook. Stone exploded within the fortress walls, followed by a bellow of fire and black smoke rising into the clear sky.

The duel escalated into a thunderous chaos.

The fortress fired again, the shells tore through the air. The empire's barrier shattered under the second volley, dissolving into a shower of harmless sparks. Yet, a fresh dome instantly snapped into place with a hum.

This time, Seth had seen it clearly: a figure in the backline had crushed a scroll to release the spell.

Damnit.

Seth's stomach tightened. It was impossible to know how deep the empire's pockets were. If they had a stockpile of those defensive scrolls, the besiegers could simply sit there all day, sipping water in the shade, and grind the fortress to dust without taking a single injury. Things were going to get ugly, fast.

He turned to the Rogues huddled behind him.

"We have to intervene. Now. If we don't, everyone inside that fortress is going to be buried alive."

The whole group nodded, knuckles white as they gripped their weapons. Seth could see resolve in their eyes, yet beneath it, a wave of nervousness vibrated through each of them. They knew what this meant. They would charge into the jaws of the enemy army.

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Seth briefly considered switching Share's thread to Illusory Emptiness so he could conceal himself completely, but he dismissed the thought. He needed the combat mobility of Shadow Step for the chaos to come.

Besides, perfect invisibility for him was useless if his squad was detected. They were the weak link in the stealth chain; once the empire spotted one of his squadmates, their cover would be blown regardless.

"Stay low," Seth commanded, "and follow me."

They moved out—a cluster of blurred figures concealed by low-rarity spells and pocket watches.

Overhead, the cannons on both sides kept rumbling, a deafening exchange that shook the ground beneath their boots. The air smelled of charred, pulverized rock. Each impact on the fortress walls sent showers of stone shrapnel whistling in all directions, but the noise was their cover.

They crept closer. Fifty feet. Forty. They were almost within striking distance of the rear cannons and the handful of soldiers operating them when something shifted.

A sudden, unnatural stillness fell over the Bridan lines. The soldiers stopped reloading.

Seth's core screamed violently inside his chest.

He instinctively reached for the communication orb to notify Henry, yet before his fingers could brush the smooth stone, the soldiers in the rear guard spun around to face them. They had been waiting.

A ripple of vibrating aether spread out through the rugged plateau and washed over Seth like a bucket of ice water. A distortion field.

The communication orb died in Seth's grip, its faint hum snuffed out. Simultaneously, the shimmering veil of his pocket watch shattered, stripping away his invisibility just like the two other Rogues who had also been using similar artifacts.

They were exposed.

"It's a trap!" Seth roared, his voice cutting through the roar of Kastal cannons. "Retreat!"

The empire didn't hesitate. A detachment of twenty men—half their ground force—peeled off the main line and charged.

The Rogues of Seth's group scrambled, boots kicking up sand as they bolted away. Seth turned, following them, and tossed the dead communication orb to Selena, who was by his side.

"Get out of the distortion field and signal Henry!" he ordered. "I'll buy the time!"

He barely had time to spin around when the first wave of the enemy hit.

A Bridan Warrior lunged, his greatsword hissing through the air in a decapitating arc. Seth dropped. The blade sliced the air inches above his hair.

He then spun around and rose, using the momentum to drive a fist straight into the man's chest. The breastplate buckled, ribs cracking with a wet pop, and the soldier reeled back, gasping for air that wouldn't come.

Around Seth, the melee exploded.

The retreating Rogues and Selena were forced to turn and fight as the faster empire soldiers closed the gap. Steel rang against steel, desperate parries meeting heavy strikes.

Just as Seth prepared to finish the recovering Warrior, a sharp command echoed from the enemy backline.

"Now!"

For a heartbeat, the suffocating pressure of the Distortion Field vanished, then the blue light of enemy Protecting Belts flared in a synchronized wave.

Seth reacted on pure instinct, activating his own defensive artifact. "Use your belts! Now!"

The warning allowed Selena and four others to trigger their artifacts in the split-second window, but three were too slow. The distortion field descended on the battlefield once again.

Seth scanned the skirmish, his stomach dropping.

His squad was being overwhelmed. It was twenty elites—Rank-50s and Rank-60s—against eight Rank-30s and Rank-40s Rogues.

There is no way we win this, Seth realized, parrying a thrust that would have skewered his liver.

'Do we come out?' Nightmare asked, his voice vibrating with eager violence from within the necklace.

'No!'

Seth intercepted the falling greatsword with his armored forearm. The blade, wreathed in flames, sizzled against his gauntlet. The impact drove him backward, his boots carving deep furrows into the parched rock.

His mind raced.

If he let the direwolf and Colossus out now, the distortion field would trap them outside. That meant he couldn't use Illusory Emptiness to escape. No tactical retreat. Especially with Colossus' Agility.

If he came out, there would be no turning back. They would either win this impossible fight, or they would all die on this patch of sand.

The line broke to the left.

Selena and a Rogue squadmate were scrambling backward, barely holding off a Rank-60 Warrior while a Dark Assassin who moved with a terrifying grace similar to Kaelen flanked them.

Dark aether swirled around the man's dagger, forming a spectral blade that tore through Selena's Protecting Belt in a single strike. She stumbled, eyes wide, realizing the next blow would be the end.

'We have to save them!' Colossus bellowed through Link, his mental voice vibrating with panic. 'We have to do it now!'

"Fine!" Seth roared, abandoning all caution as he dashed forward.

The next instant, the air warped and tore open. Nightmare and Colossus surged out of the teardrop necklace in a whirlwind of chitin and black fur. The giant scorpion wasted no time: Chitinous Taunt rippled outward—the heavy, undeniable wave of compulsion seized the minds of the four closest enemies. The Warrior's and Dark Assassin's blades descending on Selena froze, then jerked violently toward the massive beast.

Quartz Armor spread over the scorpion's shell, hardening him into a stronghold. Simultaneously, Nightmare triggered Shadow Step to reappear behind the distracted assassin. Gloom Fangs surged through the direwolf's maw as it clamped down on the man's leg. The spell's corrosive smoke ate through the defensive barrier in a fraction of a second—just in time for Seth's arrival.

He drove his gauntlet straight into the side of the man's chest. Ribs snapped with a wet crunch, and the assassin folded.

Then, a command cut through the chaos: "Clear!"

For another instant, the distortion field vanished, and two thundering booms shattered the desert silence. One shell screamed toward the fortress in the distance, but the other arc was lower, flatter—aimed directly at Seth, Colossus, and Nightmare.

'Block it!' Seth exclaimed.

Sandstorm Dome erupted from the scorpion, the vortex of grit and aether rising to meet the projectile.

BOOM.

The shell detonated against the sand barrier with a force that rattled Seth's teeth. Fire and shrapnel bit into the shield, turning the outer layer of sand into flames, but Colossus held firm.

Seizing the chaos, Seth raised his fists into the air. Night Veil billowed from his body—the thick, inky fog swallowed the battlefield in a single breath, plunging the blinding desert day into suffocating gloom.

Cloaked in the darkness, he joined Nightmare in a synchronized assault on the Dark Assassin.

The empire soldier panicked, slashing blindly at the mist, which made him run straight into Seth's fist. The combat gauntlet slammed into the assassin and shoved him backward, directly into Nightmare's waiting jaws. Gloom Fangs devoured leather and flesh alike. As the man collapsed, lifeless, another boom resonated from the enemy lines.

A second shell slammed into Colossus' barrier, the explosion lighting up the area inside Night Veil with a hellish orange glow.

"Move! Now!" Seth roared to Selena and the others, waving frantically. "Use the smoke! Get out of the kill zone!"

He spun to cover their retreat, but two silhouettes loomed out of the fog. The Rank-60 Warriors, whom he and Selena had been fighting earlier, blocked the path, their weapons raised, eyes tracking them through the haze.

Seth raised his spectral fists, bracing for the clash.

Yet before he could lunge in, a desperate, terrified voice tore through the noise behind him. It wasn't from the enemies. It was one of his own.

"I surrender! I surrender!"

Seth spun around.

Alfred—the Rank-40 Rogue who had acted so tough with the prisoner days prior—was on his knees. His weapon was on the ground; his hands were raised high in the air.

Standing over him was a Warrior, a cold sneer twisting his face.

"As if I care."

The soldier of the empire drove his broadsword down and impaled Alfred through the chest.

The scream of another squadmate pierced the battlefield as the Rogue slumped, life leaving his widened eyes.

Seth stood frozen in the middle of the dark fog. The man had surrendered. He had followed the rules of this stupid war. And yet they had butchered him like an animal.

This was not right. Where was their honor? This was not forgivable.

Seth's core exploded in his chest. Pure, unadulterated fury flooded his veins, burning away fear, burning away tactics, burning away his humanity.

Aether surged violently through Beastmaster Rage's grooves, and a red veil descended in Seth's vision.

No more captives. No more mercy.

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