46.

  Santiago V. Silva

  Level 52 Air Mage

  Strength: 40 (75)

  Durability: 40 (75)

  Stamina: 40 (75)

  Dexterity: 40 (75)

  Vitality: 40 (75)

  Perception: 40 (75)

  Intelligence: 126 (161)

  Mana: 170 (205)

  Willpower: 138 ( 173)

  The jacket gave him a pure fifteen extra points and the circlet gave a five percent boost to his base stats. That put his pure strength stat at ninety-four, which was extremely impressive for a mage. A warrior class in his level range would have a strength stat roughly between his mana and willpower stats. So he couldn’t fight them toe to toe, blow to blow, but it did allow him to match them at least briefly.

  Then there was what the curse gave him. The burst in strength and speed from the curse wasn’t something that couldn’t be immediately dismissed. In the coming hours every tendril of strength would be needed, every iota that he could summon. Even if he had to lean further into the curse.

  Santi looked up as the door opened and Mom came in, followed by Bianca, Cameron and Chloe. They all waved in quick succession before sitting down around the table. Cameron sat down and had Bianca nestle on his lap, Mom shooting them a sharp glance but not saying anything. Chloe snorted and spun her chair around to sit on it backward.

  “Are we ready to go?” Santi asked.

  “Chad got here last night with a few of his highest level hunters. Got about six mid to low thirty Acolytes. Isn’t anything to sneeze about,” Chloe said. Cam grunted and Mom just nodded.

  “The numbers we’re facing are huge. I’m not going to lie. When I went out there and saw how many there were, it shook me. They must have had hundreds of people in Reno who joined them. If you guys want out, I can get you out,” Santi said looking over his family.

  “No,” Mom said instantly. Slowly everyone shook their heads.

  “This is our home. We won’t be forced out of it. Not with what we’ve sacrificed to make this our home,” Bianca said. Chloe nodded in agreement while Mom continued to look at him with a steady gaze.

  “Alright. Then step one went well. We cleared out the vanguard, or at least everything Duncan dragged over towards us. Yessenia did well, her spell work is the only reason we were successful. The dryad has been removed too, thanking again mainly to her spell work. Rayleigh, Hana, Daniel and the rangers should be clearing out the stragglers.” Santi stopped and debated about talking about his gains, but if he couldn’t trust them who could he trust?

  “Got a couple levels off of that kill too. Hit fifty-two. Another step closer to leveling up my title too.”

  “Yessenia told me you’re leaving,” Mom blurted out. The room went quiet and every eye turned towards him.

  “Yeah. After this is done the entire region should be pretty cleared up and we’ll just be working on things like crops and ranching and setting up industry. Not exactly my forte. I need to keep growing and fighting and meeting challenges, so yes, I'll be traveling.”

  “When we’re you going to tell us?” Bianca asked, accusation in her voice.

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  “When I asked who wanted to come with me,” Santi shot back and the family grew still.

  “Fuck,” Bianca hissed.

  “What?” Santi asked.

  “Cameron won the bet. Said you were going to invite us all to go with you. I thought you’d try to be the lone ranger and go running off by yourself,” Bianca groused.

  “Anyone else take up bets?” Santi asked, leaning back in his chair, a small smile on his face.

  “I thought Cam was right,” Chloe said and the big man nodded in agreement.

  “Mom?” Santi asked. Mom just blinked slowly and shook her head.

  “No, I didn’t bet.” Bianca broke with her words by pulling a ration out of her pocket and handing it over to Mom. Mom put it away, the entire time not looking away from him.

  “So, just Bianca thought I’d be some weird edge lord who’d run away by himself?”

  “Yeah,” Chloe said as Bianca rolled her eyes.

  “Well, I’m glad the rest of you know me so well,” Santi said with a chuckle.

  “Alright, that’s cleared up. We just now need to kill the rest of the cursed horde, finish off Duncan and then we’re moving on?” Cam asked.

  “Easy peasy,” Santi said.

  “Let’s get serious here for a minute. How many people are we going to have here?” Mom asked.

  “We sent Keegan back, he was done along with Zeke. Frank and Maya stayed but they’re still too low leveled to be much use. Yessenia is continuing her work and we have Torin, Grimvr, Chad and his hunters. Rayleigh took her entire team along with Daniel, Hana, and all the Rangers. So we’re pretty short handed here,” Cam said.

  “Daniel and Hana and their rangers should get back in time hopefully along with Rayleigh and their team. Otherwise we’re going to get crushed under the numbers, even with Yessenia’s spellwork,” Santi said.

  “Do we have an ETA on when the main part of the horde will get here?” Mom asked.

  “No, but it’ll be soon. We’ve cleaned off the vanguard and we’re clearing off the stragglers. There should only be the core group of them left and they should be hurrying here quickly. I’m going to head down after this and try to find them and give us a warning,” Santi said. Missing Daniel and Hana was tough at the moment.

  “What happens if they don’t get back in time?” Mom asked.

  “Then we have to stall them until they do. We can’t hold the walls long enough without them.”

  “You mean, you have to stall them,” Mom continued.

  “Me, Cam, Bianca, and Grimvr most likely. Tank, you,Chad and Torin as a secondary reserve team to pull us out if it goes to shit too fast. This will be the worst case scenario only though. I have no desire to fight a bunch of cursed warriors right outside of our defenses.”

  “So we should plan for that to be actually what happens then,” Cam said with a grunt.

  “Hey, not all my plans become worst case scenario,” Santi defended himself.

  “Name one.”

  “I got those potatoes grown, didn’t I?”

  “Wow, with the potatoes. Congrats.” The entire group burst into laughter as Santi smiled appreciatively at them. It was good to be here, even with his hair still smelling of burnt flesh and charred wood. They grounded him and he needed that.

  The front door opened and Tank came in, looked around at the group and sat down next to them, putting his feet up. He pulled out his own ration bar and started to munch on it as he started talking.

  “Chad and Grimvr are watching the walls. The other hunters are sleeping.”

  “Good that someone’s paying attention out there,” Santi said as the group all relaxed for a few minutes.

  “Does anyone else find it amusing that my name is Tank and I’m a healer?” Tank finally said. The entire group went silent and then everyone burst out laughing aside from Mom who was looking confused. She switched to Spanish and whispered to Santi.

  “What does he mean?”

  “In games there’s a roll called a tank, they stand in front of the group and attract all the attention. Take the beating and hold ground and space to allow others to do their job,” Santi whispered back. Between the stats and the system translating everything her efforts were in vain.

  “Oh, so it’s ironic,” Mom said, nodding as she leaned back, allowing herself just the thinnest smiles.

  “Yes Mom, Cameron is our tank, while Tank is our healer,” Bianca said as she patted her boyfriend's arm.

  “Why didn’t you pick a tank role, Dexter?” Mom asked.

  “Not who I am. I’m a big guy, but I’d rather put people back together than take them apart. Or get hit in the head a bunch of times,” Tank said.

  “Cameron doesn’t mind getting hit in the head,” Bianca said, patting him again as he nodded absently. Then he caught up to what his girlfriend said and he pinched her hip as she laughed loudly.

  The door banged open and Grimvr rushed in looking up and around at the group before delivering the news that Santi had been hoping to hear.

  “Hana and Daniel came back with everyone else, Tank, you’re needed for injuries. Santi, they were just ahead of the main group. They’ll be here in a few minutes.”