I watched from behind Icalia’s shoulder as she finished her incantation. A wall of fire projected from her position, shooting forward and engulfing the trench for about 20 feet.

The mobs racing towards us were four-legged beasts, like hyenas but with over-sized mouths and teeth as long as my hand. The trench was narrow enough that they could only run two at a time, but there were a dozen in sight, with more filing in behind them by the second. The light from the red moon combined with the amber light from the firewall to give the hyena mobs a devilish cast. Their mouths were open and snapping, the suggestion of teeth amplified by the grating sound of their gnashing together.

The first of the beasts bolted into the hip-height wall of fire and barely slowed. It yelped in pain as the fire scorched its skin, but it didn’t slow. A health bar appeared over its head and quickly ticked down from the damage.

Icalia stepped back, giving me room to hold the trench. I quickly glanced over my shoulder at the other trench and noted that there were no mobs visible on that side yet. We had worked out earlier that Icalia would tap my shoulder if the other trench needed my attention, but for now, I could focus on the incoming hyena mobs.

The first mob burst through the fire mere feet from me, his health deep in the red. He launched at me with a single bound, flying through the air with a snarl…and impaling himself on my weapon. He died instantly, but I was forced to flick him off the tip of my poleaxe as his fellow leaped to his death a split second behind him.

Within moments, five of the beasts were dead, piling up at the mouth of the trench. Those behind were forced to climb up the bodies of their fellows, and the delay caused them to stand in the fire for just that much longer. By the time the tenth mob was dead, a barricade of bodies had formed that effectively stemmed the flow of monsters. Before they could climb the barricade, the hyenas were dead in the firewall, roasted alive.

That didn’t stop them from coming, though. They just kept piling up, threatening to spill into our little junction. I posted my poleaxe against the ever-growing pile of bodies and shoved them towards their smoldering fellows. The wall of hyena corpses toppled into the fire, and the smell of burning flesh and hair started to overpower me.

A quick glance behind me showed more hyena mobs approaching from Jailen’s side. He had cast [Quicksand] earlier, and I noted that the hyper-fast mobs were forced to a crawl as they entered the area-of-effect. But the first of the pack was nearing Jailen’s position, and I noticed him casting furtive glances my way.

I looked at Icalia and nodded towards her trench. She returned my nod and moved to cover the entrance. She pulled out an ember-tipped wand and started sending little fireflies towards the oncoming pack. She had mentioned that she had the wand, but that its damage was lacking compared to her spells. Still, I noted that it was enough to finish off the hyena mobs that were currently trying to traverse the flaming corpses of their fellows.

For Phase 1, we were restricting their spells to only [Quicksand] and [Fire Wall]. I wanted them to hold as much mana in reserve as possible in case any surprises popped up. And so far, it didn’t seem like I needed [Burning Coat] or [Loam Defense] - none of the mobs had gotten close enough to hit me so far.

But I knew this was only the vanguard of the Horde, and before the two hours were up, I imagined we would need to pull out all the stops to hit that bonus objective.

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I moved to Jailen’s shoulder and tapped him on the back. He had been using his own wand to pepper the slowed mobs with miniature stalactites, but the damage was almost uselessly low. He had only managed to take out one of the mobs since the fight had started, and they were almost upon him.

At my touch, he backed away, and I stepped right up to the edge of his spell. As the first mob approached, he leapt at me. He had been running at a crawl before, but as his feet left the ground, his velocity suddenly increased, throwing my timing off a hair. I wasn’t able to intercept its leap with the blade on the end of my weapon and was forced protect my face with the shaft of my poleaxe. The hyena mob’s wide mouth latched onto the staff, and I turned to fling it away. It let go as I threw it, bouncing off the nearby trench wall. Its health was just a sliver, but it was alive. But before I could finish it off, another mob was leaping towards me.

“Fuck!” I shouted, as I moved to skewer the incoming mob. The hyena thing obliged, its open mouth trying to swallow the tip of my poleaxe. It slid halfway down the haft like a god damned kebab. I arced my weapon over my shoulder like a lacrosse throw, sending the dead hyena flying through its fellows that were almost on me. It took the mobs out like bowling pins, buying me precious seconds.

I looked over at the mob that had still been alive after colliding with the wall, but it was dead now. Jailen gave me a nod, so I assumed he had wanded it to death.

With the cacophony raging around us, Icalia couldn’t hear me no matter how loud I shouted, so I mentally typed her a message.

RayGun47: Icalia - status?

Icalia: Mana at 70%. Mobs are stuck behind the corpses - still burning.

I started to type a reply but was forced to slash through a mob that had managed to recover and was lunging at me. It died in a single swipe of my weapon.

RayGun47: Okay, turn off firewall and reposition on the east. Jailen, loam defense on me.

Icalia: Acknowledged.

Jailen: On it.

I struck down another leaping hyena as Jailen cast. Pieces of the ground ripped up around me, forming an interweaving orbit of dirt clods and rocks with me at the center. When the next hyena came at me, I purposefully let it through my guard. It crashed against me, its jaw open wide to latch onto a limb. Its teeth dug painful furrows in my stomach, but couldn’t find purchase past my mail armor. The creature bounced off my torso, hitting the ground hard. That had done surprisingly little damage. The bleeding lines on my stomach were painful, but not much more than a series of paper cuts. My health had ticked down less than 1%.

My confidence swelled. These creatures looked scary, and in the real world, I would have shit my pants at the sight. But the rules were different here. Here, I was way over-leveled, and a thought occurred to me.

These monsters should be afraid of me.

I pinned the mob to the ground with my foot, finally examining the creatures for the first time.

Name: [Feral Slack-Jawed Hyena of the Scarlet Horde]

Level: 41

Health Points: 12/115

It struggled helplessly beneath my foot. A whooshing sound caught my attention as Icalia’s fire wall burst into life, overlaid across Jailen’s quicksand. The hyenas screeched out as one, as their flesh and fur started to burn.

Over my shoulder, I noticed a wave of the feral hyenas cresting the hill of their dead pack members.

I typed a quick message to the two mercs.

RayGun47: I’ve got the west, you two hold the east. Ping me if you run into trouble.

They both nodded in reply, then turned their attention back to their trench.

I looked down at the squirming hyena, barely noticing its struggling under my foot. I pushed down with my weight, and its belly caved under my foot, killing it instantly.

I turned towards the hill of bodies, shook my foot briefly to get rid of the intestines wrapped around my ankle, then started towards the western trench.

The hyenas leapt towards me from their elevated position on top of their dead fellows, but I swiped them from the air with a single swing. I stowed my weapon, bent my knees, and leapt up as high as I could. My jump took me almost to the top of the pile, and a quick scramble brought me to the crest.

I drew my weapon, watching the dozens of hyenas scrambling over the corpses as they raced towards me.

“Let’s fuckin’ go!” I shouted at them.

Almost as if in reply, their pace increased.