Nick, who was sitting in the middle row of the SUV, stared at the empty mana potion in his hand as he did his best to tune out the sound of Maria, Seo-ah, and Elizabeth arguing over the best street food. Maria was waffling between fish balls and caramel bananas, Seo-ah was firm in her tteokbokki choice, and Elizabeth was trying to tell them both that those were wasteful calories and that they should stick to meat kebabs with hot sauce or spicy dry rubs since good hot sauce had a ton of flavor and almost no calories.
As Nick looked up from his mana potion, Reggie glanced over and gave him a sympathetic shrug, the two men enduring the continuation of an argument those three girls had gotten into more than a dozen times in the gym.
Nick glanced over at Adele, who would usually play peacekeeper, expecting her to butt in, but he couldn’t make eye contact with her as she was just staring out the window at nothing in particular. There wasn’t anything to see after all. There was only white, white, and white. The ground below them was white, the gentle dusting of snow falling was white, and the clouds above were white too. There was nothing for her to see.
“You okay here, Adele?” Nick asked the moment there was a pause in the three girls’ food argument.
“There were so many dead . . .” Adele responded, not looking back at him.
“A lot more knights would have died if we hadn’t shown up when we—” Nick began to try and make her feel better, but she just carried on talking.
“It’s not just the knights. It’s not just here. It’s our city too . . . I don’t think I’ve seen that many dead people in my whole life,” Christina said from the front passenger’s seat. “When we were cleaning up before we came through the rift . . . I just kept thinking, ‘This is it. This is the last body on the block . . . only to have another brick moved and another corpse revealed.”
Reggie, who was sitting next to Nick in the middle seat, reached forward and put a hand on Christina’s shoulder. “I know what you mean,” he told her. “I thought it was going to be over too after Mr. Gallows beat the dragon, if I’m being honest,” Christina mumbled. “Then night bled into day, and the fighting hasn’t stopped since.”
“I lost my mother when I was six to a dungeon dive,” Adele told them, unprompted as she steered the conversation again, the whole car tensing up. “Her teammates said she would have lived if they had just one more health potion, and the reports say they did their best, that it was just an accident and those things happen, but it didn’t make it easier. I don’t remember much of my childhood, but I remember the taste of her empanadas. She didn’t add enough salt and put too much paprika, not that I knew at the time. But then one day, she was gone, and every time after that I’d ask for Mom’s empanadas, I could hear Dad sobbing in the kitchen, and they never tasted the same again after. They were always too salty.”
Adele paused, leaving a silence that everyone else seemed too afraid to fill.
“I’m so sorry you had to go through that,” Nick replied eventually.
“Yeah . . . me too.” Adele swallowed so hard it was audible across the car. “And now, every time I see a corpse, I just can’t help but think about too-salty empanadas.”
“Is that why you joined the church? To help the orphans out?” Topaz, who had a similarly rough background, probed as she looked at her friend with concern.
“Maybe.” Adele shrugged, letting out a deep breath. “Maybe not. But it is why I’m going to say . . . the best street food? Definitely empanadas.”
Nick’s jaw nearly dropped at the rapid conversation shift, but he, like everyone else, didn’t have a single thing to say in reply. They were just about to tacitly accept empanadas as the king of street foods, moved by the story, when Elizabeth huffed.
“No. That’s even worse for your macronutrient ratio than the fish balls. Meat kebabs, spicy dry rub. Final answer,” Elizabeth insisted. She had also lost her mother and seemed completely immune to Adele’s appeal to emotion as she continued her push for nutrition over flavor.
“Adele’s right though . . .” Reggie mumbled.
“What? You’re picking empanadas too?” Christina looked back, confused. “You never pick Mexican when we’re going out.”
“No, about the dead. There’s just . . . There’s just too many, and I’m with her. I keep thinking it’s going to end, but it doesn’t. Nick’s so good at making sure we all get home that I forget what the true nature of these monster battles is. We keep coming out alive, so I keep feeling undefeatable, but the more I see the corpses piled up around us, the more I remember that it's not always going to be the case. One single loss and a whole team might just go missing. One slip of the hand or wrong move and I might find myself with a wound that even Adele can’t heal.”
“Yeah, I get what you mean . . .” Christina, half her body facing the back seat as she was now completely turned around, did her best to comfort Reggie, “but nothing’s going to happen to our guild’s smith while I’m here. Nick put me in charge of keeping you safe specifically.”
Nick, who had done no such thing, didn’t bother correcting her as he watched the touching moment. He, who had seen the whole of humanity collapse before his eyes, wanted to throw in another apology like he had for Adele earlier. He wanted to comfort the group with some grandiose words, but nothing came out. He felt like a third party observer, watching from a thousand miles away, as they went through the shell shock that had been thrust on him so long ago he could barely even remember it, much less how he felt that very first time.
“Yeah . . . well . . . I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but uh . . . dead ahead,” Will said, pointing out the front window.
Nick leaned forward, looking out the window to see what Will saw. Sure enough, right in front of the caravan of SUVs were the base’s fortifications, currently besieged by thousands of monsters. The smaller units, the squirrel-like sciuri and the rabbit-like horned lepuses, were organized like a roman legion with tiny wooden and acorn-made shields, each glowing blue with magic as the plant shields were infused for extra defense, and they marched to the walls to overcome the barriers.
In place of siege ladders, many were riding atop the two to three dozen towering achlis, hurling ropes of twine with heavy rocks at the end over the wall as they tried to quickly ascend the fortifications. They were aided by the flying sciuri that were launching themselves through the air, boosted by wind magi, as they flew straight over the wall itself.
Where there were gaps between the rows and columns of small woodland creatures, hundreds of giant boars charged straight into the barriers, each slamming into the wall with all of its might as it let out a wild squeal before circling to the back as another giant boar took its place, ramming the same point.
Even though the boars weren’t doing much damage, a number of big, blue frost-horned bison were. Each hit they landed left large spiderweb cracks in the concrete.
While this was going on, the defenders were doing their best. Nick could see the base’s four drones working at maximum speed to dispatch one sciurus after another as the monsters flew over the walls. There were also hundreds of arrows flying out of the base from points Nick couldn’t see, and holy fire lit up the sky as those inside the base burned the unlucky members of the besieging party.
But almost all of the monsters getting killed were the smaller ones.
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“I guess that solves our essence and material problem,” Reggie remarked with a sigh as the group began quickly readying their weapons and tensing up, knowing how tough the next battle would be.
“Hit the gas and charge into the closest flank. Everyone else, grip the doors. We’re going to jump out the second the fight starts,” Nick ordered before picking up his walkie talkie and issuing instructions to everyone in the other SUVs.
Will slammed the gas so hard the large vehicle nearly skidded out, turning the gigantic SUV’s into a battering ram as he drove straight into the back lines of the monster, crushing the smaller foes alongside the dozens of other SUVs until each came to a halt and released its occupants into the fight.
Hundreds of people scrambled out in an instant, a mix of Daedalus Guild members and other adventurers.
“Forward! Hit them hard and fast!” Nick ordered, pulling the Standard of Greatness from his inventory and planting it in the ground as he activated his Pep Talk and Enhanced Command skills. The combination boosted his influence, and every single person around him attacked.
Nick drew his spear, the Weight of Dedication, out of his inventory, and it quickly found the back of a horned Lepus. Then he sidestepped the charge of another before fatally slashing a third as Seo-ah took out a sciurus he hadn’t seen that leapt at him from a tree.
The closest monsters to him killed, he had a moment to see how his team was doing on the battlefield.The Daedalus Guild fighters, easily identifiable by the cold-resistant armor emblazoned with the guild logo Reggie had meticulously crafted, had formed tight-knit units of three, supporting each other as they laid into the monsters.
The other adventurers worked with their own group members or solo, their skills flashing as they activated them and cut down the rabbit-like horned lepuses and blasted giant flying squirrels from the sky.
The Walters family took it upon themselves to challenge some of the biggest and baddest of the foes: the giant boars and the frost-horned bison with their sharp blue-frost-covered horns and thick, armor-like hide.
Topaz, her grenade launcher poised for action, climbing the roof of an abandoned SUV as an impromptu battle platform and there was a thunk-thunk-thunk as she fired a grenades into a group of sciuri covering them with sticky white webbing and leaving them immobile and vulnerable to fire from the base walls.
Then Nick and Seo-ah were in the mix again, and Nick had no time to see what else was happening around him as the bellow of an achlis drew his attention. The twelve-foot-tall moose-like creature with crystal antlers as wide as a man was charging straight for Nick.
Nick dove to the right as the creature reached him and swung side to side wildly, catching Nick in the back with the prong of an antler and throwing him through the air. Nick rolled as he hit the ground, the cold snow absorbing some of the force of his fall. As he came to his feet, he swung his spear in a wide arc to buy him a moment.
“Leave him alone!” Seo-ah shouted from the other side of the achlis. There was a burst of pink aura as she stabbed into the side of the creature. Hot blood, steaming in the frigid air, sprayed everywhere as the aura created spinning saw discs that cut into the monster.
The beast spun ninety degrees, its antlers swinging to catch Seo-ah, the source of its pain. But she was quicker than the moose-monster and leapt back, just barely missing getting gored.
Nick didn’t waste the precious second she’d bought him and infused not only his aura through his spear, but holy fire, covering the weapon in burning white flame.
He thrust his spear into the unprotected flank of the monster, the burning speartip meeting resistance for only a moment before puncturing its hide with a sizzling pop. Then the beast bellowed as Nick used the spear to pour holy fire into the wound, igniting the monster from within.
The achlis, bleeding from shredded flesh on one flank and suffering from a growing burning pain on the other, bucked and kicked wildly, forcing Nick and Seo-ah to abandon any follow up attacks. The creature went mad from the pain and turned and charged right into its own forces, trampling anything that got in its way as it fled.
The moose-monster had cleared a small area, and Nick shouted, “Daedalus Guild! Line formation on me!”
Nick switched to his sword and shield as the other members of his guild joined his side, at first two or three and then dozens. Half had their shields out and stood in a line to Nick’s left and right. The rest pulled their standard-issue guild spears from their inventories and formed a second line behind him.
Nick heard Seo-ah behind him shout, “Second line ready, Nick!”
“Forward!” Nick ordered.
The first line walked forward in unison, their shields lined up nearly edge to edge, swords at the ready behind their defenses. The spearwielders followed a pace behind, their weapons jutting out past the shieldwall.
The arctic monsters crashed into the shield line. There was a nearly deafening series of clangs as hundreds of the quick, deadly lepuses slammed their horns into the shields. The sound of horn on steel then gave way to high-pitched squeals and shrieks as Nick’s people stabbed and slashed the monsters without mercy.
A hundred feet in front of the Daedalus line, magic, grenades, and bullets rained down on the middle lines of the monsters. Sticky grenades exploded with web-like fluid, snaring any monsters in the AoE and making them an obstacle for those around them. The drones continued to fire, directed by ViVi to areas where the Daedalus line seemed like it might break. Lighting bolts from the cloudy sky electrocuted monsters as fist-sized chunks of rock lobbed from the base walls crushed skulls and broke bones, all as blasts of holy fire burned fur and flesh.
Nick checked to his left and right and saw that the hundreds of hours he’d drilled with his guild paid off as their line of shields held. “Forward,” he shouted, and they continued marching.
Each step of the line pushed the creatures back and cut down those that didn’t give ground, trapping the monsters between the sturdy walls of the base and the line’s deadly steel.
The movement overhead caught Nick’s eye. The Crimson Crusaders, who had to travel slower due to their guarding the injured party members, had finally caught up and joined the fight from the sky.
Lassandra, their petite leader, soared through the air, her magical staff leaving trails of ice in its wake. He could hear her shout, “Crimson Crusaders, engage!” as she pointed at the animal army.
Nick watched as Bob and Rob, the twin warriors, charged into the melee. Kyle, their artificer, unleashed a barrage from his magical gatling gun, joining the continuous fire from the drones.
As if in response, a wave of arctic creatures turned and surged toward them, the sheer number of the sciuri and horned lepuses making the ground rumble. Their tiny wooden and acorn shields glowed an eerie blue, pulsing with magical energy. The first impact came like a tidal wave. Nick's shield arm trembled as countless small bodies slammed against it, their magically-enhanced shields sparking against his own. He gritted his teeth, pushing back with all his might.
"Now!" he shouted.
Seo-ah's spear flashed over his shoulder, skewering several of the smaller creatures. All along the line, spears thrust forward in a deadly rhythm, puncturing the wall of glowing shields.
But for every creature that fell, two more seemed to take its place. Nick's muscles burned with exertion as he hacked and slashed with his sword, alight with holy flame.
Then a deafening roar split the air. Nick risked a glance to his left and saw a massive frost horned bison charging toward their flank, its breath steaming in great plumes.
“Seo-ah!” he called out. “The bison!”
She pivoted smoothly, her spear, glowing pink with enhancing aura, already in motion. It struck true, burying itself in the bison’s eye. The beast bellowed in pain and fury, its charge faltering just enough for Nick to duck under its sweeping horns and drive his sword up into its throat, its fur, flesh, and blood burning as he withdrew his blade.
The bison crashed to the ground, rolling over a dozen sciuri, their high-pitched squeaks snuffed out as they were crushed.
"They're breaking!" someone shouted. "Push them back!"
Nick saw it was true. All around them, the tide of battle was turning. The combined assault from the base's defenses and their own forces was proving too much for the arctic herbivore horde.
“Don’t let up! Kill as many as you can before they can retreat!” Nick roared, leading the charge as they pressed their advantage. The smaller creatures scattered, their once-perfect formation dissolving into chaos. In the distance, he could see a few of the swiftest beasts fleeing into the wilderness.
When the last beast died or fled, a flood of notifications appeared for everyone, and the icy air filled with cries of victory as Nick’s people shouted, “Daedalus! Daedalus!”
Nick finally allowed himself to lower his shield. His entire body ached, but with the base still standing, his people healing up, and a wealth of essence fragments waiting to be harvested, he found himself smiling despite the exhaustion and pain.
“You’re already thinking about what to add to the base, aren’t you?” Seo-ah said with a knowing look and a self-satisfied grin on her blood-and grime-smeared face.
Nick wiped a fleck of sciurus gore off her chin and laughed. “I love how you get me.”