“Wounded?”

Clara glanced at the two men lying out on the floor. One — a rather large man dressed mainly in black, was seriously wounded, but he remained conscious. The other, a blonde man wearing a light blue jacket and freshie green pants, had more minor wounds, but blood was trickling out of his ears, nose, and even down from his closed eyes. “I’ll stabilize them for now, but I can’t do much more. I need to focus on buffing.”

“That’s all I can ask,” Aurora said.

Aurora grabbed her spear from her back and rushed forward. Without knowing it, Lyle had made this fight much easier on the rest of them. The greatest threat, during this fight, wasn’t the rat king itself; its lumbering movements, while powerful, were easy to avoid. The real danger lay in hordes of rats that the King called from the tunnels beneath the Scrapyard.

“How many Guards left?” Liam, commander of the WC’s Secondary Assault Platoon asked as he hopped backward away from the Rat King’s stomping foot.

“We’ve only killed seven, so there should still be five left.” Bernard, one of the Platoon’s mages said as he manipulated the anima around him into an iron javelin that flew forward stabbed into the chest of the massive rodent.

“Well, where are they?”

“Hey, you don’t think those two…”

“What? The freshies? No, there’s no way they killed five of them on their own.”

“I killed one that was chasing after them,” Aurora said as stabbed her spear into the creature’s leg.

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A burst of white flames spat forth from the wound but quickly died down as the creature’s thick furs bristled and snuffed it out. It kicked forward, and Aurora used that motion to spring off of it and away to safety.

Martin, a young man who had recently joined the platoon, ran forward with an RPG and took careful aim, as Kendra, one of the older members urged the earth to hold the massive creature still as massive hands grew up from the ground and wrapped around the creature’s legs. It thrashed and tried to pull itself free.

“Blast zone clear!” Martin called as he glanced over his shoulder.

Thsss. BOOM.

The rocket-propelled grenade exploded in a small fireball into the creature’s face. It roared as billows of black smoke curled around its head.

“Wounded are stabilized, initiating buffs!” Clara called.

A yellow light shot forth from her and wrapped around all of the members of the Second Platoon present. Aurora felt her body lighten, and her muscles harden, and Bernard bent down to bury his hands into the rusty sand as anima began to congregate around the Rat King’s head. Through the billows of smoke, a purplish light shone forth.

“Bombardment incoming!”

The rusted sands formed together to create a small, chest-high wall. Clara grabbed hold of the two injured dragged them behind the jeep, and ducked herself as the rest dove behind the wall. Martin, meanwhile, was struggling to load another shot.

“Martin! Get to cover!”

Martin glanced at Bernard; hidden behind the makeshift wall with his hands still buried in the sand. Too late. One of the piles of junk exploded and sent shrapnel flying toward. The shrapnel battered against the metal wall and punctured the wheels of the jeep. Martin, mid-stride, was torn to shreds. Metal shards stuck all throughout his body.

The black smoke cleared away from the creature’s face. A massive chunk of it was missing and blackened, and chunks of flesh smoldered on the ground. The muscles that held up its eyes and nose were exposed, and throbbing. Blood stained its bright gray fur, and trickled down its neck. Its sharpened teeth shone through the gore, as it pulled its legs free of its snares.

Once more Clara buffed the party, and the melee fighters rushed forward. Bernard, and the rest of the Anima experts, used their spells: forming missiles of flame, wind, and iron, and the gunners shot incessantly.

“Hey! You’re wounded, get down.” Clara said to the large man in black who was hissing loudly through his teeth.

Jack, the large man who had been accompanying Lyle, kneeled behind the jeep and pulled out his rifle. He joined the fight with a well-placed shot that burst the ratman’s eye like a ripe grape. With its head wrenched back in pain, the large rodent’s throat was exposed. Aurora took advantage of this and leapt from the ground and stabbed her Platinum Lance into the creature’s throat. Buffed by Clara, the white flames burst open the creature’s throat. Blood poured out on the ground; the blood that touched the flames still eating away at the flesh, boiled and turned to red steam.

The Rat King fell to its belly, and Liam rushed forward and slammed his claymore into its head: cleaving it in two.