It was chaos in every direction now that the gate had fallen. The barricade was overrun by the minor beasts as they moved in through the wall and spread out amongst the town. The town was only maybe a mile wide but the amount of buildings tightly packed in gave the beasts areas to hide and lay in ambush. The decision came down to trying to retake the gate or fight street by street against the horde.

There was a group of townsmen coalescing around the large blacksmith trying to push forward to the gaping hole left by the gate so I moved over to them and we formed a loose wedge. There were 10 or so of us in the group and dozens of beasts left between us and the gate. I took a forward position with the longer reach provided by my spear. The large blacksmith on my right and a small, thin man on my left.

“We need to close that gap. We can’t let the rest of them walk in and spread out.” Arthur stated over the group. “Nerves of steel boys, need them now.”

No one else spoke as we continued to move forward. I skewered a hound on the end of my spear, tip getting stuck in its body. A different hound jumped for my throat before a sword cut it in half. Dozens of the fierce looking beasts were coming at us from all directions by the time we made it to the gate. The beasts were growling and roaring so loud that it was disorienting and hard to focus. Every time a lion roared I had the urge to drop my weapon and run, so far I had been able to resist, I could see it taking effect on others, being torn down as they ran.

“Careg said he needed 10 minutes without interruption and he could get a temporary gate up that will hold.” Arthur shouted over the sounds of combat. He turned and cut another hound in half before being tackled by a minor demon. The demon must have sensed the tide turning and decided to step in. It swung its vicious looking claws at Arthurs exposed neck, only blocked at the last second by his arm. The demon shredded the man's arm as if it were paper.

My spear found purchase on its scaly hide through the armpit, sinking in a few inches before it was ripped out. The demon gave a horrible cry as every beast in the area turned and converged on us as the demon limped away. It was a desperate battle after that against a seemingly unending wave of the minor beasts. Every hound taken down was replaced by two more jumping through the gap. As the townsmen started to falter Arthur shouted again. “Fall back! Fall back to the town hall! We hold there!”

The sense of panic was growing as men turned to run and exposed their backs to the beasts that leapt with renewed vigor. The fighting turned to a desperate retreat as our group tried to work back towards the middle of the town closer to where I had entered. I hadn’t paid much attention to the large square building when I passed it earlier but I could see a second set of barricades set up around the area. The big double doors to the hall were open and a few guards were standing by.

“You damn cowards! Fight damn you! Arthur screamed at the guards who had only just started to respond to the sight of the beast wave trailing our group of defenders.

“Shut the door! Shut the door!” A voice screamed out from the hall.

“You're all damn cowards!” Athur screamed back.

We reached the front of the town hall just as the doors shut in our faces, the soldiers had backed inside. We turned and readied for a last desperate stand. The dark skies were starting to give way to the pre-dawn light.

“Only 30 more minutes! The timer is almost done!” Arthur yelled out as encouragement. “Keep retreating and stay on the defensive. We just need to wait them out!”

Almost as if the beasts could understand the man they redoubled their frenzy to break across the barricade. Throwing dozens of bodies against the waiting defenders spears and swords. I didn’t know what kind of timer they had but I didn’t have one. Running up to a barrel of arrows standing against the town hall I threw it up to the roof. Quickly climbing the post and side of the building, I joined the barrel up top.

I searched out for any minor demons in range of my bow and spotted two of them just on the other side of the barricade. I let my first arrow fly and it took a minor demon through the forehead. The other turned and ran, I hit it twice in the back but it kept stumbling away. I shot another 50 or 60 arrows over the next few minutes as the horde of beasts continued to assault the barricade.

“5 more minutes! We can hold! 5 more minutes!” The large blacksmith was shouting, raising his one still working arm that was holding his massive sword. The double doors to the town hall burst open and 10 guardsmen in professional gear marched out and joined the fight. Just as the defenders of Burch had regained the momentum around the barricade a loud hiss came up from the horde. Followed by many hisses and groans of pain, I watched in confusion as the beasts and demons dissipated to nothing.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“We did it! The timer is done! We survived!” Arthur yelled alongside several other townsmen. More townspeople were flooding out of the hall now and celebrating with the survivors or looking through the bodies of the dead.

The group of men out in front of the town hall were in a full blown celebration now. Hugging and crying as more people streamed out from hiding spots all over town. Wails of grief and disbelief at the dead warred with the disbelief and elation of those left alive. I watched from my spot on the roof of the hall and laid back to stare at the sky. I soaked in the feeling of being alive after another awful night. I had notifications flooding in and as I was about to view them a commotion from the town hall grabbed my attention.

There was a man in a richly appointed robe standing in front of the doors now. He was waving his arms angrily and shouting down at a now subdued and injured Arthur. “You overstep your authority blacksmith. I am the duly appointed mayor of this town by the King. You dare order me around? My guards?” The mayor scoffed. He looked around to the townsfolk gathering at the spectacle. “You all know the price of disobeying a rightful order. Guards, take him to the cellar and chain his hands. He will be tried in the afternoon for his treasonous attempts to usurp Burch from its rightful ruler.”

“Your cowards. Your all cowards, sitting in the hall safe while we are slaughtered to defend your poor decisions. Your greed triggered this event. We told you the town wasn’t ready. You brought the beast wave upon us, you cost some of us everything.” Arthur said with quiet intensity. “Come and get me” he said as he brandished his sword with one arm. He looked ready to topple over.

The 10 guards spread out and began to advance towards the blacksmith and the growing crowd of his supporters. I only had a few arrows left so I needed to be careful. I couldn’t let this fight play out, I didn’t want to see the blacksmith dead. I needed allies in this town that would have a positive disposition to me. It was a selfish reason to fight but it was a reason.

Dropping down from the roof I slinked around the wall. The guards attention was all on the blacksmith and allies, everyone waiting for someone else to make the first move. I crept up against the wall until I was within sprinting distance of the mayor. Taking a deep breath and bursting forward at maximum speed and power I tackled the mayor to the ground and shouted, “Stop! Stop! Everyone stop!”

I had my dagger against the mayor's throat by the time the guards turned to me. “Everyone just stop. Put your weapons down. The violence ends now.” I waited with held breath, hoping the guards would obey.

“Pah. Drop your weapons!” The mayor coughed out, the action drawing blood from his neck. “Whoever you are, young man, you are threatening the life of the kings agent. You threaten the king himself. You will be hunted throughout Eter without mercy until caught and tried.”

“No more killing today. No one else dies.” I repeated out loud. I gripped the dagger tighter and threatened the mayor with increased pressure. “Take their weapons, secure them” I stated.

The townsmen disarmed the guards and tied them up in a line to the town hall. I gave the mayor over to Jerrel and checked on Arthur. His arm was mauled badly and he looked to be about to faint. He sagged down in a large chair that had been part of the barricade.

“I have healing potions in my pack. Stay here and I’ll go get them.” I couldn’t tell if he heard me or not, his eyes had turned to glass and he swayed in his seat. Camile was by his side now, gripping his good arm and begging him to hold on.

Running as fast as I could to make it back to the forest it only took me moments to find my pack still attached to the tree. Taking one health potion for myself completely filled my health bar by the time I was back at the town hall. “Here, take this” I said as I offered the potion to the large man. There was a pool of blood by his feet.

“I’ll help him. Here father, drink this, it's okay.” Camile said through tears.

The grim process of checking bodies and clearing every building in the town took well until the afternoon. The mayor's threats and screams could be heard from hundreds of feet away while he was tied to the post in front of the town hall. Arthur was unconscious but looking better, the floor of the town's only inn had been converted to a medic tent. The town didn’t have a healer or anyone who could make potions. I gave out my supply carefully to those who looked like they wouldn’t recover on their own.

Back to my spot on the roof of the town hall I checked my notifications. No level this time, it seemed these beasts weren’t high enough level to satisfy the bloodthirsty framework. A few notifications about kills, according to my combat log I had slew 61 of the beasts. The only notification related to the event was my contribution score.

Burch Town Upgrade Survival Event - Contribution

Name

Contribution

Sylar

13%

Reward : 75 Gold, +20 reputation with residents of Burch, Silver Item Box.

I could only see my own contribution and no one else. The only reason I could think of was because I wasn’t a member of this town. The rewards paled in comparison to what I usually received from the framework, more questions without answers. One of the younger boys went through announcing an all town member meeting at sundown in the town hall, taking the time to include me. I laid back and stared up at the sky before closing my eyes and taking a deep breath.