The Extra is a Hero?-Chapter 333: THE WAR COUNCIL
Chapter 331: The War Council
The atmosphere in the Lower Districts had shifted.
A week ago, it had been a place of fear—a refugee camp huddled in the dark, waiting for the ceiling to collapse. Now, it was a forward operating base. The air didn’t smell like rot anymore; it smelled of ozone, sharpening steel, and the distinct, crisp scent of mana being compressed into volatile explosives.
I stood over a makeshift tactical map spread across a crate in the center of the market square. The map wasn’t paper; it was a 3D projection generated by Selena’s memory, glowing with faint blue light in the gloom of the roots.
Around me stood the architects of the coming war.
Leon, his golden armor dented but polished, looking every inch the Hero.
Maria, spinning a dagger of unmelting ice between her fingers, her eyes bored and dangerous.
Selena, standing perfectly still, her obsidian eyes tracking the movements of the resistance fighters preparing in the background.
Chris Blackthorn, the quiet tank of our group, checking the straps of his massive tower shield.
Elara Moonshade, the Princess of the Wood Elves, looking less like royalty and more like a ranger commander.
"The situation is simple," I said, pointing to the glowing purple dome covering the Upper City on the map. "Valen and the Cult have sealed the canopy. They are draining the World Tree to power a summoning ritual. If that barrier stays up for another twenty-four hours, the Tree dies. And if the Tree dies..."
"We all die," Elara finished grimly. "The Roots will petrify, and the cavern collapses."
"Correct," I nodded. "Which is why we aren’t waiting for them to starve us out. We’re going up."
I traced three lines on the map.
"The barrier is S-Rank. We can’t break it from the outside without a tactical nuke, and I’m fresh out of those. But every barrier has a physical anchor point. The Cult is using the Crystal Gates—the main elevators connecting the Roots to the City—as the conductors."
I looked at Maria and Chris.
"Team A: The Hammer."
"Maria, Chris," I said. "You are the distraction. I need you to hit the Main Crystal Gate. It’s guarded by the Cult’s elite shock troopers and at least two Siege Golems. Your job isn’t to sneak in. It’s to knock so loud they have to answer."
Maria smiled. It was a terrifying expression. "I can knock. Can I break the door?"
"You can turn the door into dust," I confirmed.
I turned to Chris. The large boy looked nervous. He was the only one of us who hadn’t undergone a massive, traumatic power-up. He was still just... a really solid tank.
"Chris," I said. "Maria is a glass cannon. If she gets hit, she breaks. Your job is to make sure nothing touches her. You hold the line against the Golems. Can you do it?"
Chris gripped his shield. "I... I can hold. But those Golems hit like freight trains, Michael."
"I know," I said. "That’s why I have a gift for you."
I opened my inventory.
During the week of guerrilla warfare, I hadn’t just been teaching tactics. I had been crafting. I pulled out a heavy, metallic sphere the size of a cannonball. It pulsed with a rhythmic, gravitational hum.
[Item: Aegis Core (Modified)]
[Rank: A]
[Components: Nether-Iron, Gravity Crystal, Turtle-Shell Fragment]
[Effect: When attached to a shield, generates a ’Kinetic Redistribution Field’. Absorbs 80% of impact force and stores it as explosive charges.]
"Attach this to your shield," I said, tossing it to him. Chris caught it, sagging slightly under the weight. "It converts damage into ammo. The harder they hit you, the harder you hit back."
Chris’s eyes went wide. He slotted the core into the center of his shield. CLICK. The shield hummed, a faint orange barrier flickering to life around it.
"Whoa," Chris whispered. "Okay. I can tank a train with this."
The Scalpel and the Lifeline
I turned back to the map.
"Team B: The Lifeline."
I looked at Leon and Selena.
"While Team A draws the heavy fire at the main gate, you two will take the service ventilation shafts in Sector 7. They lead directly to the Heart-Root Chamber—the place where the physical tree connects to the city’s mana grid."
"The pump room," Leon realized. "Where they were injecting the rot."
"Exactly," I said. "Valen has reversed the flow. He’s sucking the tree dry. You need to sever the pumps and re-establish the connection to the earth. If you don’t, the Tree won’t have the strength to support the city during the fight."
"Understood," Leon said, his hand resting on his sword. He looked at Selena. "We’ll save the Tree."
"Objective: Infrastructure Stabilization," Selena droned. "Probability of success: 84\%."
"Team C: The Blade."
I pointed to myself and Elara.
"While everyone is looking at the explosion at the Gate and the sabotage at the Heart, we go for the head."
I traced a line up the sheer vertical cliff of the World Tree’s trunk, bypassing the gates entirely.
"We climb the exterior," I said. "We infiltrate the Throne Room. And we kill the ’Monarch’."
Elara paled. "Climb the exterior? That’s a three-thousand-foot drop, Michael. And the winds... the Slipstream barriers..."
"I have Void Step," I reminded her. "And you have Wind Affinity. We’re the only ones who can make the ascent without being detected."
I looked around the circle.
"This is it," I said, my voice hardening. "Valen thinks he has won. He thinks he’s a god because he sits on a throne of rot. Tonight, we remind him that rot burns."
The council broke. The resistance fighters began to move, loading weapons and checking supplies.
I walked over to the edge of the market square, looking into the deep darkness of the tunnels.
"Michael."
I turned. It was Professor Lysandra. She was sitting in a wheelchair—her legs were still weak from the draining ritual—but her eyes were sharp. The Moon-Lilies on her wrists glowed softly in the dark.
"You’re sending children to war," Lysandra said softly. "Again."
"I’m sending soldiers," I corrected. "They stopped being children the moment Valen put a price on their heads."
"I know," Lysandra sighed. She reached into her robe and pulled out a small, leather-bound book. It was old, the cover stained with ink and time. "This is the original Codex of the Silverwood. It contains the architectural blueprints of the Throne Room. There is a hidden mechanism behind the throne—a panic room. If Valen starts losing, he will run there."
I took the book. [Item Obtained: Codex of the Silverwood (Intel)].
"Thanks, Professor," I said. "I’ll make sure he doesn’t get the chance to run."
"Michael," she grabbed my wrist. Her grip was surprisingly strong. "Valen... he isn’t just an Elf anymore. The Rot... it changes things. It hollows them out. Be careful you don’t fall into the same hole."
I looked at her, then at the violet glow of my dagger.
"I’m already in the hole, Professor," I said with a grim smile. "I’m just the one holding the shovel."
"Move out!" Maria shouted.
The main tunnel leading to the Crystal Gates was wide enough for a siege engine. Maria walked right down the center of it, her white hair acting as a beacon in the gloom. Chris walked beside her, his shield raised, the orange glow of the Aegis Core illuminating the path.
Ahead of them, the massive crystal doors of the gate loomed. They were blocked by a glowing purple barrier and guarded by two Obsidian Siege Golems—constructs twice the size of the ones we fought in the tunnels.
"Halt!" A voice boomed from the walls. A Cultist Commander stood on the ramparts. "This sector is under martial law! Approach and be incinerated!"
Maria stopped fifty paces from the gate. She tilted her head.
"Chris," she said calmly. "Do you like bowling?"
Chris blinked behind his visor. "Uh... I guess?"
"Good," Maria said. She raised her staff.
[Skill: Ice Creation - Glacial Sphere]
She didn’t shoot an ice shard. She created a massive, perfect sphere of ice, ten feet in diameter, hovering above her head.
"Bowl," Maria ordered.
She launched it.
The sphere rumbled down the tunnel, gathering speed. The Cultist Commander’s eyes widened.
"Open fire!"
Archers on the wall unleashed a volley of fire arrows. They hit the sphere, hissing and melting pockmarks into it, but failing to stop its momentum.
The sphere slammed into the legs of the first Obsidian Golem.
CRASH.
The Golem toppled, its stone legs shattered by the impact.
"Strike!" Maria cheered flatly.
"Incoming!" Chris roared.
The second Golem raised its arm—a cannon barrel. It fired a beam of concentrated mana.
Chris stepped in front of Maria. He didn’t dodge. He slammed his shield into the ground.
[Skill: Aegis Reflection]
The beam hit the shield.
Usually, Chris would be pushed back ten feet. But the Aegis Core hummed violently. It drank the kinetic energy. The orange barrier flared red.
"Storage complete," the Core beeped.
Chris gritted his teeth, sweating from the heat. "Return to sender!"
He bashed his shield forward.
BOOM.
A shockwave of stored energy erupted from the shield, mirroring the beam back at the Golem. The construct’s chest plate exploded, sending stone shrapnel flying into the Cultists on the wall.
"Nice toy," Chris grinned, patting the shield.
"The door is still sealed," Maria noted, looking at the purple barrier covering the gate. "And here comes the welcoming committee."
From the broken gates, hundreds of corrupted soldiers poured out.
Maria cracked her knuckles. Frost began to creep up the walls of the tunnel.
"Chris," she said. "Don’t let them touch me."
"You got it," Chris said, locking his stance.
Maria began to chant. It wasn’t a quick spell. It was an aria of destruction.
The Siege of Silverwood had begun.
(To be Continued)
