Kassan Horun and several of the church’s warriors were seated around the map within his tent of operation.
They wore their full body armour, but had not equipped their helmets, Kassan’s short blond hair was on display, it perfectly matched his white and golden-red armour.
The atmosphere of the gathering appeared calm, they were exchanging reports about the current situation of the plane, “We are expecting the newest supply of rations as early as tomorrow. Judging from the previous ones, this will comfortably last us about twenty days, fifteen if we include all of the competitors.” one man reported.
“Should we provide them with meals? Though they are humans too and our allies in this plane, I believe it would be in the spirit of their competition to leave them to fend for themselves. Which of course, includes scavenging for food.” another one inquired.
The collective gathering turned their heads towards their leader, “Kassan?” the same man called out to him, pulling Kassan out of his thoughts, “The Delightful Deaths are still very much abundant. Leave the competitors be for as long as they manage to nourish themselves. You are correct, they are our allies in this plane, we should consider them not as something separate, but an extension of our exploration team.”
“If their strength decreases due to them being famished, that means a decrease in the overall strength of our human forces. Since we are already on the topic, have any of you been keeping up with the competition?” Kassan spoke.
“Aye. I have.” someone answered, “That Starhelm youngin really is something to behold. He has been at the top of the leaderboard since the first day. Me and my team encountered him a while back during our routine observation. He seems like someone who has solidified himself in rank three, a real force to be reckoned with.” he nodded his head in satisfaction.
“It also seems to me that he has the qualities of a leader. The people his group consists of? A fire wielding rank two, a fierce young lady, who seems absolutely confident in her ability, and an ice wielding rank two, who, although he appears like a rude dunce, is also pretty solid when it comes to fighting. Both of them are also near the top.”
“Anyone else?” another person asked.
“No one else worth mentioning among his group. Just a bunch of rank ones he is graciously taking along.” the former shook his head.
The room became silent, everything appeared to be said, “I see. How has the construction of another outpost been coming along? I believe this one was planned further up north, no?” Kassan broke the silence.
“Problematic. Like all the others before it. Tearing down the trees is not a problem, it just takes some time, but the really dangerous part is the sudden increase in locals whenever we do so.” one of his men informed him.
“To make it possible we would need another one of you, someone strong enough to hold off any kind of assault.” the man continued, his words were laced with flattery, but he wore a genuine smile.
“I will try to inform the people in Astafor, but I do not believe that his Majesty sees this plane as lucrative enough to invest so much into it. After all, the only thing we can really get from this plane is a bunch of space, and nearly limitless amounts of wood.” Kassan sighed, he had already once before declared this plane to be the most boring, his writings would surely be declined within days with the excuse of him needing to do a better job.
Kassan then noticed some unintelligible mumbling coming from outside of the tent, which became increasingly louder, “What’s all the commotion about?” one of his men stepped out, but just as quickly popped back in, “Kassan, there is a scout outside, saying he has some urgent information he wants to report.”
Kassan touched his chin, a curious smile spread on his face, “Let him in.”
A young man with very light armour stepped into the tent, his clothes were full of dirt, as was his face, and hands.
He saluted to Kassan, and after seeing a nod of the man he looked at, he began to speak, “I was out, scouting the camps perimeter, when I noticed an abnormality! A rather big part of the swamp that borders our camp was devoid of life!”
The people within the tent got up from their seats, sharp breaths and words of disbelief filled the room, “Where?!” one of them impatiently called out.
“I- I can take you there.” the young scout offered, the intense gazes he felt on himself made him feel uncomfortable.
Everyone put on their helmets and grabbed their weapons, Kassan picked up the shiny shield and mace he had stored inside of a chest behind him.
Their lustre, paired with his armour, made him stick out like the sun in the sky, something this world was desperately lacking.
Even Kassan felt unsettled as they arrived, it appeared like a chunk of the swamp had simply disappeared, the trees dried and fell, the ground looked like scorched earth, the steaming water was nowhere to be seen.
“Is this a good sign, or a bad one?” he mumbled to himself.
He had been stationed in this plane for over three years, the exact amount of time escaped his mind, but he knew for certain that such a thing had never happened before.
“Wait! This direction… isn’t that where the new species of locals was discovered?” one of the warriors exclaimed.
The people present were Kassan’s most trusted companions and allies, they had been informed of the rank three races’ existence from their first discovery, but no one had yet actually encountered them, to scope out their abilities… but they surely couldn’t be the reason for such a huge change in the world, right?
After all, rank three was just that.
Humans had tons of rank three mages, yet an attack of such a scale would be a first for them.
The church held records of fights that involved their gods, the land before them made many think of the tales and legends that depicted their boundless might, the sight before them made their hairs stand on end… what manner of being was still lurking in this world, hiding from their sight?
Suddenly a loud shriek caused their attention to shift.
“A Flyer?” someone wondered, it wasn’t the first time their camp was being attacked, but their jaws dropped in shock at the size of the attack…
The unchanging night sky was filled by countless orange blobs, their numbers continuously increasing as more and more appeared from the surrounding swamp!
Below them scuttled Treemen, threatening to overrun the camp if left alone, they destroyed the lampposts on their way, darkness reclaiming the outer territory of the outpost, “Back to the camp! Now!” Kassan ordered his men, they were roughly as far away from the centre of their outpost as the locals, all they could do was pray that the guards could successfully hold them off for some time, to minimise the damage.
A long horn sound bellowed out from within the camp, waking and alerting even those that were fast asleep.
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“Priests into formation! Activate the defensive array!” loud orders managed to suppress the confusion and bewilderment, the camp consisted purely of trained warriors and mages, a large-scale fight like this was nothing new to them.
“Mages to the edges of the camp! Form orderly rows!” the squad leaders began to direct their groups, fortifying the camp in no time.
Several golden pillars of light shot into the sky, each originated from the body of a member of the church; after reaching a certain height they spread out, connected with another, and formed a defensive globe around the camp.
“Fire!” another order echoed at the edge of the camp, bowmen had readied arrows with burning tips, a volley was let loose, effortlessly passing through the golden globe like it was air, only to land onto the Treemen, and a lone few Flyers that happened to cross their trajectory.
The Treemen were set alight, but such an attack didn’t even manage to slow them down, it would merely chip away at their outermost bark.
“Fire mages, hold it!” one of the commanding men raised his hand, waiting several seconds for the nearest line of Treemen to get even closer, “Hold it!” he repeated, his eyes wide open, his hand shaking with anticipation, for the perfect moment, “Attack!” he pulled his hand down, pointing it at the approaching locals.
The fire that burned several Treemen lashed out, jumping from one target to the next, enveloping them all in a fiery vortex.
“Hold it steady!” the man in charge of the fire mages ordered, the flames’ intensity seemed to have increased, wearing down the Treemen’s bodies a lot quicker.
The man turned towards the archers who had readied another volley, “Fire at will!” then back to the mages, “Increase the intensity! Do not allow them to get close!”
With each arrow that hit its mark, more and more fire particles were created, the single spell that over ten rank two mages were controlling only became stronger, raging through the midst of the incoming wave of locals, wiping out a big chunk of their numbers, the Flyers however simply arced around the burning pillar that rose into the sky.
The onslaught slowed, but just for a moment, as a silhouette was bulldozing its way through the eye of the fiery tornado, “Rank two Treeman incoming!” the people on the frontline warned.
“Keep up the spell! Don’t shift your focus!” the squad leader ordered, the appearance of the rank two Treeman was a problem, but not one for them to deal with.
If the inferno ceased, the golden globe would be put under extreme pressure, and though the formation specialises in defending a stationary point like their camp, sooner or later the priests would be worn down by the sheer number of attackers.
The first bulky Treeman managed to force its way through the spell, it lost roughly a third of its size, but it was still very much a source of danger, even for rank two mages.
Behind it, still amidst the inferno appeared another two similar silhouettes, “Leave it to me! Kassan will be here any moment! We just need to hold out a little longer!” another man shouted, he stepped in front of the group of fire mages, he wasn’t wearing armour, instead what looked like a formal gown, attire one would wear to a noble gathering, not a fight.
In his hand he held a long silver staff, at the top of which were a bunch of bells that rang with each of his movements.
He slammed the bottom of the staff against the ground, the bells chimed, every other noise was suddenly gone.
The man closed his eyes and held up his hands in a prayer, “O great ones, this world is yet untouched by your grand radiance… allow these inferior lifeforms a glimpse of your vast existence, your unparalleled might, and the never-ending light of your glory!”
He picked up the staff again, raising it into the air, the rank two Treemen were getting closer, but the only audible thing were the bells.
As he finished his prayer, his staff began to glow, his call to the gods seemingly heard, as a blinding flash of light spread into all directions.
The humans within the camp squinted their eyes, covered them with their hands, or turned away entirely, the brightness was too much to bear.
By the time the light disappeared, and they could once again look to their opponents, there were three bundles of ash on the ground in front of the priest, right where the Treemen used to be.
The man himself fell to his knees, his face looked like he had aged twenty years in just a few seconds, wrinkles covering his forehead.
He had a hard time breathing and could no longer move on his own, warriors were forced to act quickly and evacuate the man from the frontlines, bringing him further in to recoup his strength.
The warriors’ morale skyrocketed; the biggest threat was annihilated thanks to the grace of their gods!
Now there was only cannon fodder left to be dealt with.
“Kassan! You are back!” some people announced, their voices full of relief.
“I am. Is this everyone in the camp?” he glanced over all the participants, the leaders he had been with were still on their way back, so their numbers wouldn’t grow any bigger after that.
“Correct a majority of the camp is still out, but we should easily be able to defend the camp, now with the rank two Treemen gone.” a man answered as he gestured at the still ongoing inferno.
“Alright! Every able-bodied woman and man with me! We are pushing these cretins back into their shitholes!” Kassan roared, and his warriors joined in, following him out of the protection of the golden globe to face the locals head on.
Just a step outside of the barrier, Kassan’s scalp tingled, something was off... he raised his shield in front of himself and scanned through the approaching locals.
Treemen and Flyers were all rushing out of the forest, their numbers bigger than during any prior attack, but that would only slightly increase the amount of time it took for them to defend the camp.
Did their assault have something to do with the sudden disappearance of that part of the swamp?
That strange feeling he had only intensified, “Stop! Get back inside!” Kassan shouted, his gaze was fixed on the edge of the swamp in the distance, but he could feel more and more of his people step out of the globe.
They halted their steps, exchanged sceptical looks between each other, “But Kassan! We won’t let you face them alone!” someone shouted back, they sounded annoyed at the lack of faith Kassan displayed in them through his order.
Kassan’s head turned; he observed some kind of blur moving across the battlefield.
His body was virtually frozen, only his eyes managed to keep up with the movement, his mouth opened, but he felt slow, as if time was flowing at a fraction of its normal pace.
Blood splattered at the surrounding warriors, as a man was ripped into two, right after the disgusting sound, Kassan’s words finally escaped his mouth, “Watch out!”
The creature that stood among his men, a nearly human-like green thing with a hunched back, sharp bloodied claws, and what looked like a painted wooden mask, opened its mouth, the mask split in half to reveal rows of teeth.
A victorious screeching made the remaining warriors jolt, no one had noticed its presence before it struck.
“Hank!” a tearful cry rang out, the church’s warrior lifted his sword into the air, a colourful glow surrounded his entire body as he swung the sword down at the monster.
The local swiped its claw against the incoming sword, effortlessly shattering the weapon into pieces.
It followed up by digging its claws into the man who had volunteered to be its next prey yet piercing through his body proved to take more effort than the victim before him.
The man screamed loudly, his tears were running down his cheeks, but he focused on keeping his miracle active.
He threw a punch at the creature, his glowing fist hit the monster’s chest, but he felt like a kid punching a boulder.
His howling ended in silence, the local had taken another life in the span of seconds.
The remaining warriors were still dumbstruck, nothing in this plane had threatened their life ever since they first set foot here, and now there was a being in front of them, that could take their lives in practically a single blow!
“Argh!” Kassan shouted, he forced his way through his men and swung his mace.
The monster once again countered with its claws, but this time it wasn’t the weapon that shattered, but the creatures hand!
Kassan spun, he gathered his momentum and landed another strike against the creature’s head, green goo splattered onto the ground, and its headless body collapsed.
Someone gasped “What was that?!”
“Get back inside! Now!” Kassan ignored the man and repeated his order.
They obliged and dragged the corpses back into the protection of the golden globe; Kassan looked to the sky, the Treemen were slowly being dealt with, but the Flyers were advancing without any obstruction.
He frowned but was forced to raise his shield again; with a bang his shield was struck, then followed another shriek.
More of the rank three locals had been lying in ambush!
Kassan took a step forward and used his shield to bash against the local, knocking it backwards.
Burn marks appeared on its torso where he hit it, a circular texture now engraved in its skin.
“Come at me then!” he roared but glanced over his shield only to spot another five of these rank three creatures approaching!
Kassan lowered his gaze, a figure entered his mind, his own definition of a god, “Damn it! Forgive me Your Majesty! This lowly follower of yours is about to waste the gifts you bestowed upon me!” he cursed, his heart was aching with guilt, but he gritted his teeth and raised his mace into the air.
Just like the priest’s staff, the mace began to glow in a warm and caring yellow, almost white, but unlike the priest, Kassan wasn’t doing this to channel a miracle...
The entire mace turned into a translucent yellow before it popped out of existence, it dissolved into hundreds, if not thousands of small yellow and white particles.
Every woman and man within the camp raised their heads to observe the wondrous sight, “By the gods... what miracle is Kassan trying to conjure?” the priests raised their hands to pray.
But someone corrected the clergymen, “...That is no miracle... that power belongs to a human... a human beyond the rank of three...”