TAKE ON ME [Survival LITRPG Apocalypse]

Tess stood in line for food, arms crossed tight over her chest.

After the Dungeon the previous day, she had resumed training with several teams, until she was practically sleeping standing up. Her Mom had finally forced her to go to bed.

When she woke that morning, she went straight to work. She had skipped breakfast, and now she needed something in her stomach before she jumped into another time-dilated zone. She hated being idle. It felt dirty. But eating gave her a few minutes of excused thinking time.

Her stomach cramped: not from hunger alone, but from the knot of anxiety that had formed since dawn. The Deep Woods expedition would leave that afternoon, and the start-time was fast approaching. The Deep Woods were a dangerous place, and she didn't want anyone hurt.

We have to practice, though. If we can't even handle the Deep Woods, then we'll never survive the monster wave.

Tess sighed, and looked out over Foundation's progress. Skeletal frames of [Basic] buildings rose against the sky, with time-dilated builders crawling over the beams like ants.

Her father had said the new crafting buildings would, hopefully, be ready that night. Tools and resources were already being stacked near the construction sites; the crafters would be able to start immediately. Foundation would soon be producing [Basic] weapons and armor.

The Stage was under heavy construction. It was estimated that it would barely be finished in time, and even that depended on the Travertine group returning as scheduled.

But it's all coming together. I just have to keep everyone alive.

The line inched forward. Tess shuffled along, ticking through her mental checklist. Ever since she'd thrown herself back into leading the 'army', her mind wouldn't stop spinning with battle scenarios. She refused to leave anything to chance. She never wanted to be caught off guard again.

Richard had completed another [Far Sight] session at Tess's request. He had found the one-thousand-person refugee group, and they were still on track to arrive in just over three days. Luckily, they had gained some ground on the monster horde. Unluckily, their arrival would be timed almost perfectly with the earthquakes and Dungeon respawn: but it wasn't like she could ask the people to slow down.

Even as her thoughts raced, Tess welcomed the endless grind of preparation. It felt good to work through contingencies. Still, she could only plan for the known factors. It was the surprises—the things she hadn't thought of, like the flanking Wolf Spiders in the hillside battle—that would get them all killed.

As if the known factors aren't already enough.

The Level 1 Headless Dungeon would respawn and attack. Two or more Level 7—or higher—Trolls would be with them, and at least one trio of Level 2 Wolf Spiders. Those monsters were all coming; that was one hundred percent certain. However—thinking outside the box—there were still Goblins out there that had yet to attack Foundation, and they were close enough that they could.

Then add on the Orcs, Fire Gremlins, Zombie Coyotes, and a giant . . . Giant.

As frightening as it was, she ran through the worst-case scenarios. What if a unit collapsed, or was wiped out? What if the new projects ended up only half-built? What if there wasn't enough new gear for everyone? There were so many moving pieces.

She tried to control her anxiety by focusing on what she could control.

Tess shuffled forward a few more steps in line. She worked through her checklist, crossing off more boxes on her growing list. Now that the adults were 'committed', she barely had enough hours in the day: even with time-dilation.

I shouldn't complain. This is a good problem to have.

The first training session had been with Tom's frontline tank unit. Kate—even though she was not specifically a tank—would fight alongside Tom. Kate the Bear mostly followed her instincts, which—fortunately—meant 'kill things next to Tom'.

Tess had them practice basic defensive 'walls', then spacing, then moving as a group and turning to face different directions.

"Turn! Face east!"

Another scramble had turned into a hot mess of bodies trying move as one. The simple act of changing direction had ended in two collisions and a dropped shield clattering to the ground. Tess had drilled them, over and over, until they had gotten it.

The volunteer kids had been invaluable. She'd set them up as enemy forces, and told them to probe for weaknesses, to dart through gaps, and to test the formation's strength. Tess had worried they'd feel left out now that the adults had finally stepped in. Instead, they'd thrown themselves into coaching, and Tess was grateful.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

After hours of drilling, the unit had settled into a checkerboard formation. Higher-level tanks took the front, while the lower-level tanks formed a second line, ready to intercept any 'monsters' that slipped through. If someone on the frontline got hurt, they'd fall back to the third line, where [Lifeguards] with healing abilities—and the unit's battle master—waited.

Tom had pulled Tess aside. "We need a way to practice tanking hits from that giant monster club."

"How the heck are we gonna do that?"

"I don't know. I've been thinking about it, but I got nothing." Tom shrugged, rubbing at his jaw. "I know it's a big ask, but I'd feel a lot better if we could figure out a way to practice taking hits from something that big."

Tess tapped her fingers together, considering. "I might have something," she said finally. "Keep practicing. We've got Deep Woods again today. Make sure the unit is solid. If your unit messes up, those monsters will spill into the other units."

"I know. They seem solid so far . . . mostly." Tom glanced back at the group.

"Talk to them. Get their heads ready. Tell them what it's like to tank. Most of the second line hasn't had much experience. Walk them through what it's like to have these monsters in your face."

"Yeah. Good idea."

Tess left the Training Zone and headed for the next: the archery unit. She sent a runner with a slate note and a blueprint to Ben. The note was marked 'special project' in thick, urgent letters. High priority. She hoped Ben would see that and move her request to the top of his pile.

The air was thick with the sound of bowstrings and the thud of arrows. In the Old World, bow hunting had been the local sport. Now, Foundation was full of [Rangers], and the archery unit was the biggest in the army.

Eric—her number two—was the unit's battle master. He had the archers lined up in tight rows, and his magical banner flared—bright and fiery—marking the targets.

"Loose!" he shouted.

The archers fired. Arrows sliced through the air and slammed into the training dummies.

"Nice, everyone!" Eric shouted.

Like the tank unit, they worked through movement drills and direction changes. They ran into a big snag with dynamically changing orders. Most archers had specializations in long distance shots, which usually meant some type of [Eagle Eye] or [Scope] ability. Being 'zoomed in' meant very few saw Eric's banner updates with new orders. In addition, they were so focused they barely registered his voice when he tried screaming the orders.

Tess spoke to Eric, her voice low and urgent. "I don't want to leave this on your shoulders, but I can't babysit this. I trust you can figure it out. They have to see and react to new orders. Figure out a way. What if we're lined up to shoot ground units, but get attacked from the back? They have got to react fast."

Eric nodded, scribbling notes.

"Seriously, I'm counting on you to figure this out. Okay?"

He met her gaze, and nodded again.

Tess left him and the unit to train.

Delegating is scary.

Tess had visited several more units that morning, and the—

"Lady Tess? Did you want some food?" A [Cook] was holding a ladle and peering at her expectantly.

Tess blinked. "Oh, sorry! Yes, please. This smells great." She gave her head a little shake.

She hadn't realized just how hungry she was; time-dilation could really mess with your appetite.

After lunch, Tess dispatched her runner to fetch more runners, Eric, and a handful of admins. She made her way to the Town Hall and slipped into one of the time-dilated offices. There, she sank into a [Crappy Chair] and began sorting through her slate notes.

Several time-dilated hours later, Tess and Eric—with the help of the admins—had nearly finished building the roster for the Deep Woods expedition. Originally, Tess had thought forty members would be a good test, but the list had swollen; now, that estimate seemed almost laughable.

The point of the expedition—besides gaining levels—was to mimic a real battle. That meant including representatives from every army unit. That, in turn, meant the battle master for each unit would have to join as well. And each unit needed their own healers and support personnel.

Tess looked down at the table; its wooden surface was invisible beneath all her notes on the expedition. Directly in front of her, a slate detailed the 'main tank unit' roster. Three sections: clean and simple. First, the frontline: four main tanks, plus Kate. Tom dead center, Kate on his right, and Mike on his left. Two more tanks flanked them: one from Team Three, and one from Team Four. Kara—Team Three's main tank—was also a [Fighter] specializing as a [Knight]. The fifth spot belonged to Arjun, an exchange student from Bangladesh. He was a [Conjurer] who could summon thick and layered sheets of ice which wrapped around him as armor. It slowed enemies too, freezing them if they got too close. Behind the front, the second line: less experienced main tanks pulled from other teams. And at the very back, the third line: two defensive [Lifeguards] focused on healing, and the unit's battle master. Overall, the unit's representatives consisted of thirteen members.

"I feel good about this," Tess said.

She picked up the slate for the 'ranged spell damage' unit next. It included Hana, Richard, Helen the weather [Wizard], Priya the cosmic [Sorcerer], and two other ranged casters. She had also included Chloe in the unit; she had ranged spells, but she was mainly there to keep the group safe with crowd-control if needed. Once the unit's battle master was included, it became a delegation of eight people. That list looked good as well, so Tess set it to the side next to the main tank unit's slate.

The selections for the 'off-tank' unit were finalized too. The arrangement was similar to the main tank unit's design. While the frontline consisted mostly of [Monks], that was purely coincidental, as nearly every class had a specialization for every role. Tushar, Walt, and Terry would form their frontline. This unit also had thirteen representatives. They would pick up any surprise or flanking enemies, or if there were none then they could be used as extra damage.

Next, Tess picked up Eric's archery unit. Sophia and Art's names were at the top, along with ten other archers, one passive healer, and a support person who gave excellent ranged archer buffs. There was a total of fifteen: the largest group in the day's expedition.

Last of the large units was 'melee damage': Tess's heavy-hitters. The delegation was made up of ten people: it had a battle master and two [Lifeguards], but the other seven were all raw damage. Charlie was in the group: he was a [Fighter] with the specialization [Tank Buster]. He wielded not one, but two massive hammers. His wife Jeannie was one of the [Lifeguards] with her crystal shields and healing. Steve the Quarry Master—with his giant smashing club—was also in the group, along with Paula the [Lumberjack]; her axe was almost as big as she was.

The rest of the units were much smaller comparatively.

Tess had a small group of four ambush and stealth types, such as Veronica the poison [Rogue] in Team Two. They had one battle master but no healers. Besides the obvious use of damaging surprise attacks, Tess hoped to utilize them to break the monsters' morale.

Tess's goal was to fully utilize the different units and their strengths to control the battlefield the way she wanted. Along those lines, she also was bringing a small five-person skirmisher unit with blow darts and slingers. Once she managed to break an enemy unit's morale, the skirmisher group would either finish them off, or run them off the battlefield.

Tess would also bring a small unit of five trappers. This team did not have a battle master or healers: Tess placed this group under her direct leadership. Tess was very interested to find out how big of a contribution their traps added; she was already slapping herself for not employing traps around Foundation sooner.

Then—also under Tess's direct command, but not placed in a unit—were Loo, Finn, Jill, and Amber.

And last but not least: the 'band' would be joining as well, with Bo, Brad, Bridget, and Billy—the young guy with a massive drum strapped to his chest.

Her small 'test the army units' expedition of forty was now eighty-one people.

Oh, wait. Me too. Eight-two.

Tess blew out her breath as she began handing out the slates to the runners. "Please inform everyone on the lists to begin preparing now. We'll be leaving for the Deep Woods shortly."