The hike to the bridge took about two hours, twice what it would have taken me if I was on a casual stroll before everything had gone to hell. The changes in terrain would occasionally block our view of the bridge only to bring it back into sight as we topped another hill. Around us were ruined homes and businesses, the pale pastels that had been popular in the city now buried in the browns and greens of nature reclaiming her territory.

Catayla had appeared, in her usual ninja like fashion, as we reached the top of the final hill before a gradual slope would bring us directly to the ramp leading up the bridge itself. At the far side of the bridge we could see a dark mass of bodies pressing through the barricades of stacked cars and scrap metal. The roar of thousands of voices crying out together was punctuated by the echoing barks of gunfire.

It was difficult to make out individuals from the horde but some of them were large enough to be clearly seen even from a distance. Among the wash of bodies could be seen massive forms, some humanoid with odd proportions - overlong limbs, and twisted bodies. Others were beasts of fantastic size that would dwarf their common cousins. Still stranger creatures were harder to describe with no common creature to compare them with, one such beast seemed to be a massive ball of eyes and tentacles covered in rubbery, wrinkled skin.

The sky above the battlefield was nearly as full. Forms too far away and packed to densely to be clearly seen blacked out the sky, providing shade to the killing below.

“Tiller,” I said. “Can you make out anything useful? What about those birds up there?” I was relying on Tiller’s perception heavy build. It made sense that it would increase his vision, but I’d never really asked him about it in detail.

“Dinosaurs,” Said Tiller. “Pterodactyls with gold and red feathered wings and scaled bodies. It’s really quite amazing…”

“I get it, Tiller,” I said. “We can both geek out together when our lives are not in danger and we don’t have a crisis on our hands. Now. Focus. What are the birds… I mean dinosaurs. Tell me what they’re doing.”

“Nothing,” he said shaking his head. “I mean they are flying, obviously, but they are not fighting. They seem to just be circling. Some are breaking away from the group and fleeing, but they aren’t attacking.”

“I don’t like it,” said Rachel. “Whatever has these literal fucking demons spooked is something we should stay away from. There must be hundreds of those things, thousands! Yet here we are moseying on in like it’s a day at the park.”

“You wanted to be here,” said Catayla. “It’s too late to back out now. Besides, those are your people on that bridge. We need to get down there and find a way to punch our way through.”

“Look,” said the tall amazon with the ridiculously oversized club. “None of us want to be here, but it needs doing. Besides, I’ve got friends on that bridge. There is no way we are leaving them there to die.”

Despite the tough words none of us moved immediately. The numbers were overwhelming, a mass of dark bodies covered half the length of the bridge like swarming ants. It was Worthy, of all people, that started moving first. With a grunt his two companions followed, the rest of us not too far behind.

Crossing the bridge required going up a ramp and climbing over several makeshift barriers of stacked cars and debris, but we covered the ground quickly. The sound of gunfire and the roar of voices, both human and otherwise, slowly began to drown out my ability to pick out individual sounds. My other senses were obscured as well, smoke and the smell of burning hair nearly overwhelmed me for a moment. It was disorienting and isolating in a way that made my heart begin to race and my hands shake.

We were soon met with a close-up view of the battle, and immediately thrust into the fray. The defenders had fallen back to a secondary barrier about half way down the bridge. This funneled the stampeding monsters into a narrow area creating a ‘kill zone’ where the defenders were able to concentrate their ranged fire. Despite the advantage this gave to ranged attackers most of the guards had abandoned their rifles and those that still used guns had telltale blue lines tracing the trajectory of their shots, much like Tiller’s guns did when he was using mana rounds instead of physical bullets.

Worthy and his two companions immediately ran to the top of the barricade and began shooting with hunting rifles. Catayla quickly disappeared again as she shimmied up one of the bridge’s suspension wires. It didn’t take her long to find a perch on a cross beam and begin raining death upon the horde of monsters set out before us. The rest of us were slower, but not by much.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

I stepped onto the hood of a car before jumping off it and landing on the top of a three-car high barricade. God it felt good, even with all the danger around me I reveled in my new strength. My physical stats had basically doubled during my time in the system, making me feel like a superhero in the rare times I was able to truly cut loose.

I began raining down arcane missiles. The self-correcting missiles allowed me to minimize my time aiming, and it was one of my most mana efficient spells. The analyze ability allowed me to pick out the strongest, or at least highest level, monsters. I focused my spells on bringing them down so the others could take down the fodder that were threatening to overtake us.

Tiller was close behind me and began firing his revolver into the mass of bodies. He quickly began to match my targets, switching only to take down anything that came close to our barricade. His speed and ability to quickly change targets with almost no aim time made Tiller a whirlwind of death and he quickly caught up to and surpassed me in number of kills.

Tiller could probably keep up his barrage for an extended period, but I knew I could not. My mana was quickly being depleted and its recharge time seemed to be suppressed to almost nothing during times of danger. We were vastly outnumbered and any monsters I took out were quickly replaced, often with stronger, uglier beasts.

I looked out over the battle field trying to pick out the best targets. These creatures were spooked already, perhaps if we could take out the strongest among them we could weaken their resolve – perhaps even cause them to break and withdraw. It was clear they were not working together in an organized way, more a stampede than an army. It might benefit us if we could further lower their morale, even if they didn’t flee. I can be an optimist at times.

I finally calmed down enough to slow my racing thoughts and concentrate, taking a deep breath I tried to take in the whole battlefield and understand what was happening. What was coming at us, and what resources did our side have? Despite our lack of numbers, the group of bridge guards had some impressive abilities.

Someone had conjured a golem made of concrete and rebar that was smashing its way through tiny humanoids that had blue skin and furry shoulders and backs. The golem would strike out with giant sledgehammer like fists and send the tiny creatures flying. They would swarm the concrete and steel juggernaut, but it would quickly shake them off or flatten them against its own body with a massive concrete palm.

The construct would occasional reach into its own chest and pull forth a boulder that really should have significantly lessened its mass, and yet somehow didn’t. Rather than toss the boulders the creature would then roll them, literally bowling though the horde of fiends. As the stones came to a stop under the weight of crushed bodies they would provide additional cover and create another obstacle for the approaching horde of beasts and monsters.

A man in a long coat and fedora was shooting red beams from his palms that would set anything they touched on fire. Between spells he waved his arms and contorted his fingers in complicated and exaggerated motions that I was quite sure were unnecessary. Despite his theatrics and bad fashion sense, his attacks were quite effective as he would sweep his beam across the attackers setting as many as half a dozen aflame every few seconds.

A large man with a fire axe had jumped down in front of the barricade and was hacking apart anything that managed to make it that far. I watched as a wolf the size of a jeep charged down the middle of the bridge and tried to leap over the barricade. The man with the fire axe twisted his body sending the axe into an uppercut like slash that sent the dire wolf flying back tumbling head over feet as its entrails spilled out upon the ground.

I yelled commands to my dark companion, still in its kingfisher form, to fly through the battlefield and find anything that resembled a leader. Despite the noise and distraction, it was able to understand me – perhaps due to our mental bond. The creature immediately turned into a haze of gray feathers as it darted through the air. Rather than fly overhead it chose to cut through monsters leaving bird sized holes in anything in its path. It didn’t tarry or search but seemed to be heading in a straight line towards the far end of the bridge.

I ignored the bird and began to look around, as I realized that one of my companions was missing. “Rachel,” I called out, but my voice was lost in the cacophony of battle.

I immediately regretted sending out my dark companion without first making sure I had accounted for all my teammates. It was a mistake I vowed to learn from.

“Tiller,” I yelled grabbing his shoulder to get his attention. He fired into the horde twice more, but then lowered his aim and bent his ear towards me. His increased perception allowing him to hear my voice even as it was concealed by the intense sounds around us.

“Find Rachel,” I said. He looked back at the battlefield beneath us, but then just nodded once and jumped down in the direction we had come from. I trusted him to find her faster than I could, and I didn’t want him following me for what came next.

The eldritch energy was thick around me, I could feel it rolling off the bodies of the slain monsters and coagulating into thick clouds around the human combatants. The knuckles on my left hand turned white as I grabbed the hilt of my sword, slowly dragging the blade from its scabbard. I carefully began to draw the dark energy into the blade, extending its edge and reach. I built the shadow of a sword onto the frame of the metal blade until it was twice its original length.

In my right hand the vague outline of a shield slowly began to take form as I jumped down into the battlefield. Bodies pressed around me, providing targets for my blade.