The whole street was illuminated by the green light coming from the open portal, creating a light show as if from a horror carnival, and the running zombies were casting twisting shadows in front of them and the houses lining the street.

The last two dozen remaining zombies fell on the defenders' shields, and they had a short calm before the incoming storm. After the first Rothound stepped through, it barked twice, and the rest of its pack followed in.

The real fight is about to begin, John thought, currently sitting on a kitchen chair, and carefully observing the street as the pack started to form into lines a few meters in front of the portal in three rows of four and a slightly larger pack leader behind them.

Oh no, you don't!

Over the battle, he figured out the wisp was not only able to attack a target for up to fifty meters away, but also move up to fifty meters away from him, so theoretically it might be able to… the wisp zipped down from the night sky and after reaching maximum distance fired a bolt of lightning right into the front most Rothound's face.

"Yes!" He pumped his fist, watching the aftermath.

This first shot served as a wakeup call, and soon three other long-range projectiles were fired into the midst of the forming ranks of their monstrous enemies, doing a little bit of damage, but more importantly, forcing them to abandon whatever plan they had and blindly charge into the humans ahead.

Making a quick choice, John used both of his minions to attack the leader, and as the whole pack rushed ahead in a disorganized mess, more and more people joined in, throwing their abilities onto the frey. The first five beasts collapsed under the unrelenting bombardment or were left stuck in obstacles spread through their path before crossing the remaining twenty meters, and three more died before the pack with their leader hit headlong into the wall of shields.

"Stand firm!" The giant of a man yelled out, and for a brief moment, all their shields linked with brown chains, spreading the impacts through the whole line, making them take two steps back, but preventing any immediate casualties.

Damn, that ability was a lifesaver, John thought, carefully watching the fight, and guiding his stiletto to do maximum damage to the leader.

[Rothound Alpha ⋆]

The Alpha was ranked as a blue, but the toughness of its skin and increased reflexes put it above the rest of its pack. His stiletto was unable to cut through the hide at all, but with the increased penetration and very sharp point, it was able to pierce small holes in its thick neck, making it slowly bleed out, but lacking any immediate impact. His wisp was also trying to help by firing a bolt into its head, but now that the pack reached the front line, the dangerous part of the battle began.

One of the hounds used its mouth to latch on the defender's shield and by giving it a rough jerk to the side it opened a weak point, where the other immediately bit and pulled the man out of the formation by his mangled arm. This caused panic in the ranks after his friend stepped out from the line and attempted to help, leaving an open hole in the left side. The Alpha, seeing an opportunity, jumped through and attacked the vulnerable short-range fighters and supports, before those around secured their weakness.

The only thing John could do was attempt to stab out its eyes, but the speed and quick responses made it difficult, letting him only succeed after it bit into the shoulder of an unfortunate woman, tearing a whole arm and half of her torso off. Without sight, the Alpha started wildly thrashing around, sending a couple more people sprawling back but couldn't survive the onslaught for long, and soon collapsed under the barrage of precise hits from the top of the wall, giving a blue card drop to someone under John's balcony.

The other remaining Rothounds failed at breaching the shields and were also killed in a quick manner, bringing another calm moment across the battleground. Both the wounded and the dead were dragged back into the shelter, and two new fighters picked up the shields, filling up the missing spot. Unfortunately, the one dragged out was torn apart before anyone got to help him, and his friend was heavily injured after a paw cut through his armor and nearly disemboweled him.

Echoing cheers were suddenly heard from the other side of the shelter, but before anyone here got to celebrate, the portal pulsed, and through it stepped a massive monster made entirely of white bones. Its shape reminded John of a centaur, except instead of a horse, its body was made out of a skeleton of an animal the size and bulk of an elephant, and a massive ribcage with a triangle-shaped skull sporting two curved black horns. The monster's height was reaching a good five meters, making it taller than the defenders standing on the three-meter high wall.

Oh fuck!

There was no way the line would hold against something like that, especially after looking at the three meters long club made out of a femur in its bony arms. He had no idea how other people were supposed to face something like that, but he got an idea of what to do, and after making a split decision, he sprinted down the stairs and through the gate to the front line. The massive beast was luckily taking its time, and John was able to get all the way to the front before it even moved.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Shouted the massive guy leading them.

"No time to explain, my ability should be able to take it down, but it will take time, so the sooner I can attack before it gets here the better. Let me through!"

"Go," he stepped out, making a hole wide enough for two, and then turned around to talk with someone behind him. Meanwhile, John ran halfway toward the portal, and as he got in range sent his dagger to lodge itself into the empty skull through the eye socket and begin its thing. The wisp joined in, striking the bottom part of the front foot, but not making any noticeable difference.

[Deathfiend fatebreaker]

If the rarities were the same, going by the yellow text this was the first rare monster he ever met. Being unsure about what to expect he kept the maximum distance and was ready to throw himself to the ground at any sign of imminent danger. Luckily, the colossal monster only took heavy steps and slowly advanced toward him.

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"Thank god it's so slow," he mumbled as he watched it shamble forward. Its bulk was supported by three pairs of stubby short leg-bones, and after observing the first couple of steps, the heaviness radiated with a promise of slow but inevitable defeat.

Estimating its speed at a relaxing jog would make it a trivial target for him under normal circumstances, here though, they would have a minute at most until it reached the wall and broke through soon after.

"What is your plan?" Suddenly asked the leader. "If it is anything like the skeletons, lightning is almost useless."

"Stall it for as long as possible, my other minion has a blessed affinity and is very good against the undead, especially the skeletons. Unfortunately, I have no idea how long it will take to kill a monster that size."

Turning, the guy yelled in his deep voice, "everyone who can stun, slow, or otherwise obstruct its movement, get your asses over here and get to work! The rest of you, be ready to use everything you can once it enters your range."

The first attempts to slow it down proved almost hopeless, because trying to obstruct it with a wall of thorns or a meter-high obstacle from hardened dirt was simply not possible, and the deathfiend kept advancing forward. Luckily, a team of three joined in, attempted a combination of their abilities, and finally reached a positive result.

A short woman conjured a ball of water which easily eclipsed her small stature, a teenage girl—likely her daughter—unleashed a shockwave into it, turning the three meters wide ball into a knee-high tidal wave rushing to meet the monster, and as it was passing around the tree-trunk leg bones, the third member used his card.

A teenage boy conjured a small white crystal and shot it forward, hitting the raised water between its first pair of legs and immediately turning all moisture in a four-meter radius around the impact into thick milky-white ice.

The ice emitted loud cracks and formed long spiderweb fractures around each of its six legs, but withstood its momentum and brought it to an unexpected stop. This happened roughly forty meters from the wall, giving them a perfect opportunity to unleash endless salvos of every attack type imaginable, but sadly, its innate resistance to most affinities left it with only a few surface wounds before it gave up on pulling out its legs, and started repeatedly smashing its massive bone-club into the ice around its feet.

One thing John noticed though, were the first signs of golden lines forming around its left eye signaling the beginning of its demise, and despite the danger, this made him smile.

After freeing its forelegs, the deathfiend was able to leverage its bulk to pull the remaining two pairs out and finally continue on, but the whole entrapment bought the defenders almost an extra half a minute of time. Chips, breaks, small gouges, and black marks marred the previously pristine ivory bones but were not enough to cause any severe injuries and the monster was already closing on the wall.

"Fall back, everyone falls back!" The leaders of strikers and supporters commanded, giving the people manning the wall enough time to safely descend before the deathfiend got into the club range.

John was one of the last to retreat back into the square, but as he did, he sighed in relief. His greatest fear—the deathfiends also attacking from the other sides—didn't come true.

With no one remaining outside, the gate was shut and a go-ahead was given to resume the attack. The beast was only a couple of meters away, and an easy target for all the people forming two rows in a horseshoe formation behind the wall.

Reaching the wall, the monster stopped moving, lifted the first pair of legs against the wall, and pulled the bone-club high above its head.

What is it… Oh shiiiit, John dived behind the formation and immediately lay down the moment he noticed the green glow forming around the club, and two seconds later a deafening blow echoed through the streets, followed by surprised yelps and cries of pain.

Carefully looking up, the formation was in disarray. The left and the middle part were lucky because some people were able to react in time and erect defensive barriers or walls, but the right side had more than a dozen wounded and a few people lying on the ground, either unconscious or killed by the rock shrapnel.

The monster shattered the part above the gate and created a hole almost wide enough to fit through, but the telltale golden lines forming from its eye socket were now covering most of its head and slowly reaching its spine.

Just a little more time, he thought and seeing the panicked faces decided to ask for help.

"Listen up, it's almost dead! We just need someone to slow it down for a couple more seconds!" He yelled over the desperate crowd, but nobody listened.

By now, the people who successfully defended the other sides were rushing to help, and John recognized Tom and Mira leading the group coming from the south wall and making a beeline to the big guy leading the close-combat defenders here, and he quickly ran to them.

"Hey Mira, anyone in your group with the ability to stun the undead?" He yelled out as he got closer, making the other frown at his interruption. "It must work on skeletons though." He added, remembering its resistance to some abilities.

"Go away. We need to form a new plan and don't…" A man in a strange black garb from the third group started saying but was interrupted by John speaking over him.

"It's almost dead, we just need to buy a bit more time, quickly!" He nodded to the deathfiend who just squeezed through the breach and was about to enter the shelter itself.

Making a split decision, Mira decided to trust him and called for someone named Arian, making another argument to explode among them, when suddenly John felt a heavy hand on his right shoulder. Turning, he stood face to face—maybe face to shoulder—with their leader.

"I hope you know what you're doing. His ability is probably our only chance to restrain it, so if we waste it now…" He left the next part unsaid, but it was clear what he implied, but John remained confident. He had seen enough of the undead fall apart to know it was very close and nodded.

The man turned and using his deep voice announced the support of John's plan, making it two against one and making the third leave with an angry grunt.

Arian turned out to be a man in his eighties, who was pulled there on a wheelchair, but as he got roughly thirty meters from the monster, he reached out with his hand and golden chains shot out, flying toward it and wrapping around the legs, arms, ribcage, and the lower body, making it unable to make a single move.

The others quickly resumed the barrage, and thirty seconds in, the golden lines covering its entire skull and reaching halfway down the rib cage flashed and turned the whole upper body to dust, making the rest follow suit and create a normal yellow ash fly towards John's chest.

[Congratulations! You have successfully survived the first wave of the Restless assault.

Points:

* Zombie: 1

* Rothound: 25

* Rothound Alpha: 100

* Deathfiend fatebreaker: 1250

Your contributions:

* Zombie: 123.43

* Rothound: 0.34

* Rothound Alpha: 0.58

* Deathfiend fatebreaker: 0.71

Total points 1077.43

Note: You have defended your spot on the Fate-ladder and successfully vanquished the fatebreaker.]