“Good timing,” Mary said, as she checked her rifle. She preferred pistols, but the Mage Gunner class could technically work with any firearm. Efficiency would go down compared to a Mage Sniper, but that wasn't the biggest issue right now. “You gonna join in on the fun?”
Josh looked out on the field outside the walls. They hadn't been able to clear much past the dragon's teeth; true Burn Lines were expensive and dangerous to maintain, so they just cut down what trees they could. Sarah had some ideas for using alchemy to poison the land. Josh had some ideas about how that would backfire horribly.
The monsters trickled in slowly, at first. Large, solitary monsters like bears the size of trucks or wolves the size of cars. It was especially obvious because they were picking their way through the abandoned trucks and cars that the village hadn't bothered to salvage. Out here, with the trees growing between the rusted hulks, it was rarely worth the effort.
One of the bears sniffed the air, as if testing the direction of the village and the citystone. It roared in challenge. It was answered by Mary's rifle, a sound like shattering a glass wall and a smell like a sugar factory burning down. The bear roared in pain and rage, but it was cut short as it collapsed in on itself, a massive spike of gravity between its eyes crushing its skull to pulp.
“Sarah said she wanted an ursa brain,” Josh noted idly. He hefted his ax on his shoulder. “Something about a stamina potion.”
“She can get it her own damn self, then.” Mary frowned as she pulled back the slide on her rifle. Glowing dust puffed out, the sickly-sweet smell of magic coming with it. “Why do I have to reload? I'm shooting pure magic.”
Josh didn't bother responding. He narrowed his eyes at the horde.
More monsters roared. They started coming out thicker from the trees, and more weapons fired. Archers shot arrows flying with the impossible speed and accuracy of techniques, or glowing with magic of their own. Gunners fired primitive pistols and repaired rifles. There were more than this village had ever known thanks to the Gunner bloodstone they had brought back and given to one of the children. It was a miracle they had found enough guns for all of them.
It wasn't just bears and wolves, and they weren't all animal-shaped. He saw big cats, though he couldn't quite be sure what they had been before the Jungle got to them. There were wingless birds with two heads, giant lizards with six legs, and something that he was sure was a mole made out of moss-covered rock.
“No bugs,” he noted idly.
Mary took another shot, then smirked. “Anna really doesn't like bugs. She might have undersold how many nests she crushed once she realized no one would stop her.”
Josh hefted one of Ruth's grenades, activated the rune, and threw it as hard as he could. It landed in a good spot, and the shrapnel did decent damage. It didn't cut a huge swath like it would have against bug monsters, though. He even saw many of the injured monsters getting up and charging forward again.
He clicked his tongue. “What level are these monsters, again?” They were a bit too far away for a scan.
“Should be about thirty.”
As expected. He threw another grenade, with much the same effect. It paused the horde in that area, briefly, but it wasn't the huge dent he was hoping for. “That's about the same level as most of the people here.” He was still level 37, himself. It was annoyingly hard to get decent experience from anything even slightly lower level than yourself.
Mary shrugged, sighted another big monster, and fired again. “It is what it is. I think we're holding them off well enough, myself.”
“I suppose.” The first lines of the horde had reached the dragon's teeth. The stone and concrete fortifications slowed them down, allowing the defenders to focus their fire and take them apart. Unfortunately, that resulted in them no longer shooting the more distant monsters, meaning the horde was free to advance more quickly.
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“We should probably send out melee fighters,” Josh noted. He swung his ax, an [Empty Chop] slicing through a bird monster of some description. It might have been a giant, flightless crow. He didn't want to use grenades this close to the wall.
Mary fired again, and Josh saw a massive monster at the tree line collapse into itself. It might have been a mutated crab. With her gravity attacks, she was the only one who could reliably take out the big ones. “Don't let me stop you. But the walls can't protect them if they're in front of them.”
“Yeah, that's the truth, innit.” He released another [Empty Chop]. He got two this time. His art had ranked up nicely, making it larger, faster, and stronger. “On the other hand, the monsters are more likely to stick here if we have people in their reach.”
Darius suddenly skidded to a stop next to them. He breathed heavily, as if had run the entire way. “What are you two doing?” he snapped. “Take this seriously!” He raised a shroud around Josh just in time to deflect a flying spike. It seemed the monsters had found their ranged attackers.
Josh's eyes flicked in his direction briefly. “Are your Defenders ready?”
The sudden professional tone seemed to catch him off guard. “What? Yes, of course. I just—”
“Good.” He raised his voice. “Oi! Melee fighters, start second phase!”
Across the wall, almost half of the fighters dropped their grenades or other ranged weapons, leaving them for their friends to pick up. With no hesitation, they drew swords or spears, shields or staves. They jumped over the wall and landed right in the middle of the dragon's teeth.
The monsters redoubled their assault with humans in reach. Even the ranged monsters in the horde, strange creatures covered in spikes or spitting acid, focused on the people on the ground more than the ones on the walls.
But this was not some desperation move, where a bunch of inexperienced children decided to fight a suicidal last stand. Only the most experienced fighters had jumped over the wall.
Josh spotted Anna right away. She was supposedly a [Defender], but her class worked far more like an [Attacker]. She danced through the claws of a lizard monster, beheaded an elk with horns like lightning, and landed with her sword planted in the skull of a bison ten feet tall. A fox monster lunged at her before she could dodge, but her shroud protected her long enough for her to split it in half.
“Deedee, keep an eye on her, yeah?” Mary asked as she fired off another shot at a distant target. Josh idly noted that it was a bolt of water magic, and it took out some sort of burning monster. “I'd rather that girl not get killed too quick.”
Darius kept throwing out spells to bolster shrouds on the front line, but he spared a moment to glare at Mary. “Don't call me that. Also, I suspect that I will have bigger problems shortly.”
Josh threw another grenade. “Wot? You think we need to chivvy this along?”
“Someone certainly thinks so.”
“Maybe try being less vague, thanks—” He stopped when he realized what Darius was talking about.
It was impossible to miss Ruth jumping ten feet off the top of the wall, hammer held high, and landing in the middle of the horde like a bloody meteor. Monsters exploded away from her, leaving a clear space for a moment before they scrambled over each other to get to her.
“RUTH!” he yelled, more rage than even he would have expected in his voice. “The bloody hell are you playing at!?” He cursed under his breath and prepared to jump into the fray himself.
Darius grabbed his arm. “Please don't be that stupid. You are not a combat class, you have one offensive ability—”
Josh ground his teeth. “Either give me a buff or let me go.”
He looked hesitant, but nodded. “Fine. I can see logic won't work here.” He stepped back and waved a hand airily. Josh felt the shroud on his wrist buzz with power. “It won't last long. Please get Ruth out of there.”
Josh grinned. “No kiss for luck?”
Darius threw up his hands. “I tried to be reasonable! You all saw me!”