Travis and Javy had their infinite bags ready to go, with their weapons able to come out at a moment's notice. The sheriff came back out from the back room as Rich finished handing out the weapons. It looked like they had about 30 fighters all together.
Someone else was outside, bringing everyone that wasn't taking part in battle to the second large building, hoping to hold up there until the fight was over.
The mysterious leader of this town now had a large crossbow that looked to be something French forces wielded versus King Henry, and a much smaller, almost handgun-like crossbow holstered off his waist. He also looked to have a small pouch around his waist.
Travis pointed to it, “an infinite bag?”
“Sort of. Isn't it crazy that girl left such an enormous legacy by naming those things the day she died. Real tragedy that one was; I liked her.”
Almost anyone else in the JTF faction would have taken the bait, but Travis had to be riled up already to let his emotions show from one thing. He did find it interesting that this guy, this thing, was trying to push his buttons right before a fight. Also, how the fuck did he know about Anna.
“As did I. We will help with the fight. Are you in command on the field?”
The sheriff smiled a short and tight little smile, one that was missed by the other two.
“Yes, I am. Come on, walk with me.”
As they went outside, the town appeared empty except for what looked like a kid. The sheriff told them that he was a runner. He would find out what was happening at the battle, and if the people that couldn't fight needed to evacuate, it was his job to tell them.
As they came out of the sheriff's building, which was set on the far eastern side of the town, there was a dirt path out in front which had a well and a sewer grate. The well looked like it had been there for long before the town was. There were a couple of small buildings situated to the right of where they came from, but then it led to the town exit, which ran right into the first of a few farms in the area. There was about 30 yards of open space before you could see the first fence and where the animals were supposed to be.
Then in the distance, Travis could start to make out large groups of humanoid figures. The 30 or so people in that open space before the fence were lined up in a pretty uniform way, with three rows of ten. After that, it looked to be broken down into smaller groups.
The sheriff and the three party members walked towards the three lines when the sheriff pointed for them to go stand in an area. It was to the right of the third line and next to another small group of three men. Their leader walked to the front of the groups between them and the fence. He didn't seem to be in any rush, but neither did the ‘zombies,’ if that's what they were.
He addressed everyone, 'Men and women, we are under attack again. It's happening so frequently that we're almost bored.' There was some polite laughter, breaking the tense mood a little. 'You have all been trained with your weapons and how to use them in a team. Listen to your group leaders, fight with courage, and know that if you run, they will have an easier time reaching our homes, and, God forbid, our children.' There were some gasps, but mostly people saying 'no,' expressing their determination not to let that happen. Travis had seen many speeches like this; there was something about the way this man gave his that made Travis think it was a skill or maybe he just had high charisma. He looked over at Gary, who was mesmerized. Travis chuckled inside and shook his head.
'I haven't known all of you for long, but in the time I have, I've come to know that you are good, hardworking people. More importantly, in this dangerous new world, you are brave! You are the salt of the earth, and we are fighting slugs. What does salt do to slugs?' People started cheering. It was a simple pep talk, but these appeared to be simple people.
'We have three strangers that I have been getting to know this afternoon who will help us. I will give them their orders. Also, we are trying a new thing this time. Come forward, Slayers.' He motioned to the small group next to Travis and friends.
There were three men and a woman; the woman had a bow. One of the men had a sword sheathed on his waist, similar to his. The other two men had an axe and a mace, respectively. The mace wielder also had a chest plate and helmet, which was something quite new.
The sheriff continued, 'These are our special forces, our Seal Team 6 if you will. They are wasted fighting in the scrum, so they will roam free and kill many enemies. They can also attack the boss or stronger monsters. Finally, if your group is under a strong attack and you feel like it might get wiped out, group leaders, blow the whistle you were given, and these men will come to your aid.'
'That is all; fight well and good luck.' He walked over to Travis and crew. 'I would say Gary can join one of my squads, but he has no training. What is your plan, Travis?'
'Javy and I are ranged fighters, while Gary covers our flank. Then I move in for the kill with my sword as enemy resistance weakens. We will move around the right flank and push them towards you guys. Does that work for you?' He asked the sheriff, who was the leader here; Travis respected that.
'Yes, okay. Happy hunting. We can talk more when this is over. One thing, though, if I die and don't get a chance to tell you: you can claim villages like this to add to your faction under one of two situations. One, it has to be within a certain distance of your main base or another claimed territory, which this isn't; you can check your map to see that.
'Two, you either have to kill the leader if you are of an opposite alignment, but here you just do a series of tasks for me until you gain control. Like one of your video games. If I die, though, you can claim the village outright. If someone else does before you do, then either fight them or convince them to stand down,” he explained.
As he looked toward the farm, he observed that the first group, resembling mummies, was almost at the gate. The sheriff headed to join his men, and Travis motioned for Javy and Gary to follow him.
Approaching the fence that separated the good guys from the bad were the ‘mummies’. They lacked bandages around their bodies, almost like zombies, except they weren't formerly dead humans. The ones in front walked with their arms out, resembling a perfect mummy stereotype. It would be hard to describe these monsters if one was laying dead on a research table. Mostly a conglomeration of various species the closest thing Travis could think of was mummy.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
These were merely the fodder, as about 25 yards behind them stood a mishmash of undead orcs, werewolves, and creatures Travis hadn't seen before. They seemed to retain more of their pre-death functions.
Travis realized they didn't know anything about these enemies. Did they have a weakness? Could they be killed in anyway, or was this really trope central, requiring headshots?
The group the sheriff called the Slayers was getting ready to move when Travis called out to him, “Hey man, what can you tell me about killing these things?”
The leader of the group, a tall ogre of a man with a mace and heavy armor, answered Travis, “Ignore the ones in the front; they will kill themselves walking into the spears of our main army. The second line isn't much tougher, but they are smarter. Take out their legs or go for head shots.”
He turned around to give an order to his small team. The female archer, who looked like Brienne of Tarth from Game of Thrones, moved up to the fence about 15 yards to the right of where the undead were approaching. The other two men not talking with Travis moved up to cover her flank, while she fired long-range arrows into the second line of undead.
“It starts to get tricky once the third line comes into the field. The lich uses these expendables to tire us out or get lucky and kill a few. Then he has a small army of skeletons wielding swords and shields, almost exact replicas of the troops from Warhammer Fantasy if your familiar with it."
“They don't look like much, but lose focus for a second, and you will get stabbed. The blades are usually poisoned, so you're basically screwed, be careful. There are some potions back at camp, but good luck getting there. After that, he unleashes his elite bodyguards. Last time he came through in a chariot."
“If he doesn't kill enough of us in the first three waves, he should pull back. He did the one time they attacked, and that was the word from another town a few miles away. Yet, there are rumors that he has wiped out numerous villages, but who the fuck knows if that is true.”
They had the luxury of time discussing this because the mummies had just made it over the fence. They walked up to it, fell over, and then took a minute to get up, these really were just mindless sword cushions. Travis was pleased to see that the sheriff didn't order his men to break formation for some easy kills. It wouldn't have been worth it; against enemies like this, organization and discipline wins the day.
“I don't want to get in your way, so we are going to go around that farmhouse there and attack into the second or third line,” Travis told the guy.
“Okay, take this.” He handed him a whistle. “Blow three quick times if you need support. If you hear the same and can break off, come help us. My name is Terrence; they call me the captain.”
“Sounds good, Captain. I'm Travis but they call me Major.” The men shook hands like soldiers do.
---
The Lich was attempting a second attack on this village. He had woken up in a strange world from his centuries-long slumber. The minions that were supposed to protect his tomb had obviously fled, so he started off alone.
Luckily for him, he was a Lich King and master of the undead. He began by raising the most basic soldier he could from any kind of organic material. Really, he could raise discarded chicken parts if that was all there was. He used that first 'army', if that's what you could call it, to wipe out a small group of humans holding out inside some type of building for healers. It had red crosses all over it, which only made it a perfect easy target for his weak undead army. It also provided more material for his forces.
After that, he had an entire room full of organic material, bodies inside bags sealed with some odd silver contraption. He had toyed around, raising them while still inside their soft-skinned coffins, but it lost its humor when their mindless husks couldn't get out.
It was much more fun for him when he raised his army over 300, a mix of weak chaff and slightly stronger versions. When he came across the orc stronghold, things really turned around.
He unleashed his 300-strong minions into a small walled settlement of about 100 orcs. In a straight-up fight, the orcs would have cut through his troops like a scythe through wheat, but the Lich King could turn any weak-minded foe against their own allies.
The orcs were made up of more than half low-level troops which turned around and started killing the stronger forces before they knew what to do. Not long after, and he had a small army of risen orcs to add to his forces.
That is where things started to become frustrating, though. These human villages, which should be a walkover, have been a thorn in his side. He needed to raise his undead forces to over 1000 so he could feed on the dark energy and rank up his power.
Then he could turn entire graveyards into his loyal hordes.
For this battle, he used all of the dark energy that was stored up to raise a force of skeletons, fully armed and armored, plus his bodyguard. This should be a great victory for him and a steppingstone to immortality!
---
Javier moved ahead of the other two, scouting out the area. He had become a crack shot with his bow and also had a couple of skills he could use. They moved around a farmhouse that was about 75 yards to the right of the main battle, if they went unseen, it would take them directly into the middle of the skeleton army. Those forces appeared to be held back until the first two groups did what they could.
Javier stopped abruptly as he moved up behind a tree; they were getting close now. He gave the hand signal for them to stop and get down. Then he ran over, making sure to stay low.
“I think I see this king and his bodyguard,” Javy whispered.
“You weren't spotted, right?” Travis asked first. Javier shook his head no.
“Okay, let's go take a look. Gary, stay here and watch the bags.” He nodded, no argument from him. Gary had no desire to scout out some zombie-raising king or whatever the hell he was.
Travis and Javy got on their bellies and crawled to the same tree Javy was at. Travis pulled out his binoculars and peered towards the figure that looked to be in a chariot. The Lich was about 20 yards behind his skeletons, appearing to be in some kind of trance or an active magic spell.
It was the figures around him that made Travis’s heartbeat faster. This was the first true nightmarish monster he had seen. First, there was what looked like an orc marauder; on the top, his bottom half was a tiger or some other big cat. He held two huge clubs and had on a mishmash of armors. Taller than a man but even pacing back and forth seemed to have the speed of a cat.
Then there was what even Travis recognized as a goblin, riding a huge spider. The goblin looked like a mage because he had a staff and was wearing a robe. Unlike the orcs that were not traditional to western media this goblin had green skin with a long-hooked nose.
Finally, the biggest of the trio, not based on anything he had seen before. It was a huge gorilla-like thing, described that way only because he had to describe it somehow. This thing was not like a gorilla, but it was proportioned like one, he supposed.
It walked on its two hind legs, but the arms came down to the ground where it also pushed off of them. Its fur was all black, and it had bones sticking out of its wrists and elbows, presumably weapons, Travis guessed. This thing looked tough to kill.
He wondered if a few headshots could wipe out the entire core of elite monsters as easily as he had killed a number of other foes these past weeks. The problem is if he missed or if they didn't go down so fast Travis would have the baddest looking enemies he had seen in his life coming straight at him and his two companions. He lay there and weighed the pros and cons of such an attack.
The decision was made to wait it out. He motioned for Javy to follow him back to the farmhouse. He wanted to go through and get ready the best scrolls and potions they had; this was going to take the magical equivalent of getting juiced the fuck up.