TAKE ON ME [Survival LITRPG Apocalypse]

"FINE," Tess yelled. "ONE MORE. But then we're stopping, no exceptions!"

A cheer went up, echoing off the stone bluff.

Tess had the trappers fan out, setting fresh lines. She signaled the band to have a song ready. This time, her Dad pointed to himself.

As with the other waves, Tess took the full fifteen minutes, letting ability cooldowns recycle. She made minor adjustments to the positions of the different units.

"If you see anything new, shout it out," Tess told the battle masters. "I'm expecting other monster variations this wave."

"Everyone, bring your A game!" Tess shouted to the wider army.

The timer hit zero.

The ground didn't just shake: it convulsed. The trees in front of them exploded apart as [Level 5 Tough Midwest Plant Shamblers] barreled through. They were flanked by much smaller, four-legged half-cat half-flower monsters: [Level 5 Loyal Flower Fiends].

The Fiends zipped on and around the big Shamblers, leaping from one Shambler's back to the next. When a Fiend landed on a Shambler, its back-moss puffed out clouds of glowing white pollen. When the pollen hit the Fiends, they leaned down and pulled in deep breaths of it.

Tess watched in horror as the once-small monsters grew in size, their legs growing more muscular and their claws sharpening.

They'll get huge if we let them keep buffing like this!

Tess commanded the ranged units to commence their assault. She also sent the skirmishers to the edge of the northern treeline, intending for them to harass the Flower Fiends away from the Shamblers.

As volleys of spells, arrows, darts, and rocks flew across the battlefield, Tess expected the Shamblers to begin their advance. However, they took her by surprise when they formed their own defensive line and shielded the Fiends, who continued to receive buffs.

Raintree's army would not be able to hold position and wait for the wave to come to them. If they didn't get moving and engage the Fiends, they would quickly grow out of control.

Tess issued the order, and the frontline tank unit began to march forward.

A few moments later, following Tess's instructions, the off-tank unit also advanced.

A clear gap emerged between the two tank units and the rest of the army. Tess waffled back and forth on the next orders; was it better to have a larger gap in the army and give her ranged units more space, or was it better to maintain a tight formation?

As the two tank units advanced ahead of the rest of the army, the creature wave must have seen an opportunity. They charged forward. In moments, the two units found themselves surrounded by eighty-two Level 5 creatures.

Crap! Sticking to a unified formation would have been better!

Tess commanded the rest of the army to move forward and support the tank units.

"There! Lady Tess! Look there! Check your map!" The skirmisher battle master was screaming and pointing toward the back of the creature line.

Tess had spent so much time second guessing her own orders that she had missed a blinking red exclamation mark on her [Battle Map] sent by the skirmisher battle master. She would have chewed someone's butt for that!

Double crap!

Tess looked to her map, then peered through the line of creatures.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

Oh God.

There it was, at the back of the enemy wave: a [Level 5 Midwest Plant Shambler Shaman: Deep Woods Rare Spawn]. The Shaman looked mostly like the other Shamblers, but its arms were raised as dark green magical light swirled around its clawed hands.

The rear units of Raintree's army—which were moving forward to support the tank units—came to an abrupt stop amid shouts. Roots burst from the earth, entwining their legs and feet, and immobilizing them.

Tess sent new orders for the archery unit to unload on the Shaman . . . no, wait. She changed the orders, and commanded the archers to focus on burning down the Shamblers; the tank units were becoming overwhelmed.

That's when the enemy wave launched its second surprise.

With the tanking units bogged down under the Shamblers, and the rest of the army locked in place, several of the Flower Fiends leaped off the backs of the Shamblers. They launched over the tank lines and sprinted toward the rooted casters.

Dammit! Shouldn't have committed my off-tank unit so early!

Loo quickly summoned a coral barrier, but it merely diverted the oncoming creatures.

Tess rushed in to tank the Fiends. She struck down one and tanked two others using [Parry] and [Reflexive Guard], but the number of Fiends was overwhelming.

Chloe unleashed her three crowd-control abilities—[Fear], [Epilepsy], and [Trauma]—in rapid succession, locking down several Fiends. But it was not enough.

Three Fiends, some now almost the size of tigers, bore down on Tess's Mom and the rest of the casters.

Helen stepped forward from the caster line, and an ability flared above her head: [Overcharge]. Lightning surged from her fingertips, targeting the approaching Flower Fiends. Her spell incinerated them.

Helen collapsed to the ground.

Still tanking the two Fiends, Tess issued orders through her [Battle Map]. She instructed Finn to heal Helen, but he was already moving; his hands glowed green as he poured healing energy into Helen's burned arms.

Tess slapped down her new big fat missile symbol right where the Shaman was standing.

A second later, Amber yelled. "Tess, I'm stuck! I can't kill it!"

The old panic of failure surged through Tess. Her breath came in short, sharp puffs.

If they couldn't get the roots off, they would lose. If Tess and the army fell, the monsters would break out of the Deep Woods and attack Foundation.

Oh god I pushed to far and got us all killed, I…

"Got you, Tess!" Chloe shouted from somewhere behind her.

Tess's mind snapped back into focus.

While Brad might be able to supply the strongest [Bard] buffs because of his Dungeon ability, her Dad had access to every song he'd ever heard. If anyone could pull something out of his ass to save the raid, it was him.

"Dad, play something! We need to get free of the roots!"

"Uhhh . . . on it!" Bo shouted.

A moment later, he busted out [Footloose by Kenny Loggins].

The music exploded across the battlefield with a raw, frenzied energy. The music hammered into the roots and pushed them back into the earth.

"Oh, baby!" Amber yelled as she slipped free of the roots. She tore across the battlefield in full sprint, slicing down one of the Flower Fiends Tess was fighting on her way. Amber winked at Tess, and even added a spin and a [Footloose] heel-slap as she ran past.

Tess sliced down the other Fiend facing her.

The song fully pushed the roots back from the army. Now that they were free, Tess issued commands for the stealth and heavy-hitter units to execute flanking maneuvers.

"How are you casting those vine spells!" Finn shouted out from somewhere behind her.

Between the notes, the roots kept trying to re-emerge and snag people. Tess hoped Amber could kill the Shaman before the song ended.

A thunderous roar rolled across the field, causing Tess to momentarily look away from her map. She saw Kate atop one of the Shamblers, fiercely biting and clawing at its hunched spine. Despite being isolated and encircled, the two tank units were holding their ground. Tess couldn't tell how much longer they would last, though; several injured tanks were lying in the undergrowth with healers tending to them.

Charlie, Steve, and the rest of the melee team gave their own roar and charged into the Shamblers' southern flank. A Fiend lunged at Steve, and Jeannie's [Crystal Shield] sprang into place to block the damage. Steve reared back as if someone had tossed him a softball pitch. Yelling, he swung his club and knocked the Fiend's head clean off, sending it soaring.

This caused morale to dip in the surrounding enemies. The closest Fiends let out a loud catlike hiss and fled. Tess instantly sent her skirmish party new orders to hunt them down and chase them off the field.

Bo continued to blast his music, but the song was at least halfway over now.

Tess checked on Amber. She was close now, her buffs for [Dodge] and [Parkour] flashing above her head as she kicked off and flipped over the Shamblers, stabbing at any Fiends that got too close.

Tess sent more orders to the army.

The stealth unit had finally reached position; they launched a devastating flank attack upon the Shamblers and Fiends, who hadn't even known they were there.

Tess peered through the enemy line.

Amber reached the Shaman, and the two collided in a blur of branched claws, blades, and pollen. Amber had [Dodge], [Parkour], [Balance], [Show off], and [Thrill] activated as she dashed and stabbed at the Shaman. Up until now, the Shamblers had all been completely silent, but the Shaman shrieked as its green magic flashed to the ground beneath Amber's feet. However, with Amber's speed and Bo's [Footloose] buff, Amber could not be held down.

Holy crap.

Not only was Amber fighting a Rare, she was dodging 'friendly' arrows as well; someone in Eric's unit had clearly not seen the updated orders to NOT attack the Shaman.

Someone's gonna get yelled at!

Amber worked through [Shiv], [Slash], [Slice], [Slice], [Slice], [Stab], and finally ended with [Slaughter].

The Shaman's body exploded in a spray of sap, sticks, and moss. It was like a finisher move in Mortal Combat.

Amber's [Slaughter] move was so disturbingly damaging and gory that the morale of a nearby group of Fiends and Shamblers, which had been closing in on her, dropped through the floor. They turned and fled.

Tess seized the opening, and she ordered every unit forward; the army crashed over the remaining enemies.

Amber—completely drained—blew her hair out of her face, gave Tess a thumbs-up, and plopped down on her butt in the middle of battlefield while the rest of the battle raged around her.

Tess threw herself into the fight.

With the Rare spawn defeated and the enemy's surprises exhausted, the battle proceeded smoothly, with Loo's [Mana Brook] now pumping mana into the army. Despite this, it still dragged on much longer than Tess would have preferred.

After the last creature finally fell, Tess stood on a Shambler corpse, breathing hard, her hair plastered to her face with sweat and green blood.

"Still no level?!" Amber yelled. "You have got to be joking—"

Tess felt the familiar lurch in her gut as the world shifted.

"Oh. Never mind," was all Tess heard before everything went white.