I gained a few more levels during the fight in and leading to the square. I dumped all of the skill points into Empower. An empowered and boosted Van would be a terror during the battle and the fastest improvement I could make. I couldn’t wait to see his smile when he felt the rush of the stats. Empower was now level thirteen, it would boost his primary stats for 130% for ten minutes.
Level forty seven meant I was only three levels away from another class choice. After everything that had happened I wondered which options I would get. There would need to be a decision in the near future about what I wanted to be. Splitting between two paths would leave me limited against anyone that focused on one. It was strange to think of the world in those concepts but it had been a strange week.
Marci checked back in and sent some images of the city. Citizens were pouring out of houses and shops where they had sheltered. Chasing them were groups of the damned coming from every hole and crevice. The control of Allain seemed to happen as soon as a person died, their corpse almost immediately rising after death.
If I thought that our flight down the central avenue was a desperate retreat, it was nothing compared to the dire situation the normal citizens were in. Any chance she saw for intervention she dove down and assisted, had the citizens read her note and then took off again looking for more.
Some groups were sadly too overrun for her to risk landing. She spotted large groups moving down the streets being harassed by the walking corpses. Corpses moved in a way that mimicked their physical bodies. If legs were intact they could run surprisingly fast and move fluidly like their living counterparts. Legs too damaged would cause the corpses to drag themselves forwards on their hands. Even without arms or legs they would reach out to bite anything that walked past.
Each use of See What I See dampened the disorientation and I used it in quick ten second intervals. Stretching my time out as long as possible and saving some for later. I didn’t share the news of the struggling groups with Nadia or Haust. They were already doing the best they could against the incoming horde that was fast approaching.
I slipped by Arthur and Camile’s section of the line to avoid them seeing me. I knew they would want to join me during the fighting but I could do more freelancing. I climbed a nearby house and moved to the far edge facing the horde. It was less than a block away and closing fast, the damned in the lead running at a full sprint.
The feeling of stat increases washing over me signaled the start of the battle. Our support troops triggered their base amplifications and a quick check on my interface showed a nearly twenty percent increase. The confidence of the soldiers soared and they began chanting an old Eter marching song.
My Marci colored bow found its way to my hands. Lining up my first shot took less than a second due to the density of the horde. I rapidly began to fire and took one of the damned down every two or three arrows. With a bow you had to hit them directly in the head or take out one of their legs.
I triggered Identify as soon as the first line got into range. He looked just like any normal merchant would look. Slightly plump and of average height, the only thing you would have suspected about him was the sword sticking out of his stomach.
Damned - Once Human - Level 12 - Health 20/40 - Armor 5
The horde crashed against the line of soldiers like a wave of the wild ocean crashing upon the shore. A desperate melee broke out as our line faltered. There looked to be a thousand of the damned lining the street back a fourth of a mile. I quickly exhausted my supply of arrows and jumped down to an alleyway off the backside of the building. Rounding the alley I used my spear to stab out at a few of the damned hoping to draw them down the alley and vent a little of the horde.
A dozen of the damned noticed me and began moving down the alley. The constrained fighting area gave me an advantage with my spear, able to attack from a safe distance. My superior agility and stamina meant I could keep up this pace for hours. Each time I cleared the alley I dashed back out to the horde and tried to get more to follow me.
When I stepped back out I found myself sliding under a large battle axe that was being wielded by a Kingsworn. The Kingsworn’s armor was covered in blood and there was no outward sign if it was damned or not. I dodged back towards the alley and recovered myself just quick enough to dodge the next attack. Several more Kingsworn were entering the alley mouth and I knew the game of cat and mouse was over.
I turned and sprinted out of the alleyway and found myself on one of the streets leading to main avenue. If I kept moving towards the gate, these Kingsworn would attack the backs of my allies. Setting myself to fight had me sorely wishing for more bombs. Next peaceful moment I had was dedicated to gathering and crafting.
The first Kingsworn to reach me was actually a swordsman. Their identical armor made it difficult to tell them apart but the size fit the one from the parade square. I probed his defenses quickly before his allies caught up. Feinting high left his abdomen exposed, his strength was certainly high but his agility was lacking. I stabbed through him and relaxed slightly just to see him ignore the spear completely and advance toward me, sword held high. I ripped my spear free and triggered Identify while dodging backward.
Captain of the Damned - Once Human - Level 28 - Health 250/300 - Armor 60
It was one of the damned. A Kingsworn converted after death and much stronger than the simple damned. I cast Identify on the other three that followed us out to the street and confirmed it was the same for all of them. There was no outward sign of communication but the four moved to circle me in sync.
I stabbed forward with a quick jab towards the swordsman and it was deflected by a shimmering golden shield. At least one of them had a shield spell, I tracked them with my eyes but they moved eerily silent. No faces were visible behind their helms, no indicator of the mage. The last shield spell I faced took four hits to break through. I danced forward again and got multiple strikes against the shield without it breaking.
I called Marci to me over our bond and felt concern flash across Van’s as well. I communicated to him to meet me at the entrance to the street behind me. Four on one were terrible odds, three on four I could live with. I continued to probe with my spear while keeping the Kingsworn in my vision.
If these were living soldiers I would be able to outlast them with my stamina. I had no idea how long the damned could keep fighting. I spun around to block a blow from the massive battle axe and cried out in dismay when my spear broke against it. I used the now wooden stave to stab through the neck area of the Kingsworn. The shield didn’t appear this time and my stave stabbed through its neck and up towards its brain.
It slowly toppled over emotionlessly but the moment cost me as I took a deep sword wound to my side. I jumped back and narrowly avoided an arrow as the two swordsmen pressed me. Van chose that moment to appear and tackled one of the swordsmen to the ground and began to grapple with him. Marci let me know she was close and diving towards the archer, who was likely also the mage.
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Not wanting to waste the opportunity I pressed the remaining swordsman backwards. Repeatedly stabbing and hacking with my broken spear. He committed both of his arms out and I kicked him right in the chest, taking him down. Before he could get up I stabbed the stave through one of his thighs. I kicked his sword away, picked it up and stabbed it through his brain.
Marci was swooping around the mage dodging small bursts of golden light. I sprinted over and used the sword to stab through its neck, nearly decapitating it. Van had finished his Kingsworn off and wandered over to me. I was breathing heavily and had taken one fourth of my health bar from the sword initially, now closer to half.
We hurried back down the central avenue and passed throngs of citizens fleeing. We cut down any pursuers and Marci returned to her scouting duty. Van was anxious to return to the pack so I told him to run off before me. I turned the corner of a building blocking my view and was stunned to see the chaos before the gate.
A crowd of citizens that must have included hundreds was stopped before the gateway. The lines had broken and the fighting sprawled out over the entire avenue. The pack of forest apes was still forming a core and I saw Haust protecting the support team from a frenzied Kingsworn. There were more of the Captains here and they were dangerous. Too many of our forces were underleveled, having been fooled by the Royal Advisor.
“Fight! Fight with everything you have!” I shouted and pushed through the crowd. Every citizen of age would have a class, something to contribute. “It’s now or never! Push through to the gate!”
I felt a wave of inspiration wash over me as I rejoined the fight and stabbed and hacked my way through. I had little skill with the sword beyond academy training but brute strength made up for it against the regular damned. I felt more than heard Camile call for maximum support and felt my strength boosted to even higher levels. The ensuing rally finished off the enemy forces in the avenue.
Marci sent me several frantic emotions so rushed off to the side and asked Van to watch out for me. I triggered See What I See and saw a huge column of Kingsworn and damned moving down the central avenue. There were at least a thousand and many of them looked to be Captain or higher even. I ended the skill and searched for Nadia.
“Nadia! Nadia!” I shouted out, moving through the crowd of citizens towards her side of the line.
“Father! No! Leslie! Someone find Leslie!” I heard Camile’s voice shouting out from a small crowd.
She was on her knees over the lifeless body of her father and unlike back in the mine, I could tell there was no coming back. He had a huge slash mark across his stomach and his organs were trying to spill out around his armor. I reached down to grab her and she ripped out of my grip and continued to shout for a healer. Nadia was there, looking down at Arthur.
“We have to leave. There is a large force heading our way that's stronger than either of these were. The city is lost.” I said somberly.
Nadia didn’t react at first, just staring down at Arthur. “He took that blow for me. It should have been me.” She looked up and that fierce intensity was back in her gaze. She looked at me and set her shoulders before turning away and bellowing, “retreat! The city is lost! Retreat down the road! All soldiers to the first rally, all citizens make your way to the forest.
Van picked Camile up gently and refused to put her back down. She beat him with her fists but if they hurt, he didn’t show it. He sent me an image of the road through our bond and started off through the gate. She cursed us both all the way down the road until I couldn’t hear her anymore. I knelt down and closed Arthur’s eyes.
“I’ll keep Camile safe. She’s going to hate me for a while, but I’ll keep her safe. I promise.” I wept over the big man's corpse and grabbed his large hammer to carry to Camile.
Standing back up and drying off my tears, I watched Nadia try to organize the retreat with Captain Haust. She sent half of the soldiers out of the gate and down the road to create a defensive position at the first rally point. The other half wheeled to face the central avenue and create a rearguard using the thinner gap of the gate.
“Sylar. I need someone to stay in the gatehouse and close the gate when I give the signal then break it. You’ll have to use the roof of the gatehouse to access the top of the wall and then climb down. I wouldn’t ask if I had anyone else that could accomplish it, you have the highest agility here.” Nadia said from beside me.
“Send someone with me that knows how to work it. They can leave once I get into position.” I agreed.
She called up a soldier I didn’t know and told him of her plan. We set off to the gate house and he showed me how to work the mechanism. We locked the heavy door behind us and wedged a table under it. It normally took two men working in concert but that was before the framework and my increased strength. Out of the gatehouse window I watched citizens trickle through, fleeing the incoming force. I could see them now down the avenue, marching with intent, no regular damned sprinting ahead. This was an intelligent force bent on destruction, not a horde.
The other soldier handed me an axe and then left in a hurry as our forces funneled out of the gate. Nadia was one of the last to move through and gave me the signal to close the gate. I turned the massive wheel until the gates creaked and began. The approaching force was in the square now and started to charge the gate as it closed. A few slipped through and a few more stood in the way and tried to prevent the massive stone gates from closing.
Before the gate fully closed there was slamming against the door as the damned tried to force the room. I turned the wheel the last few times and then hacked it apart with the axe. It wouldn’t stop them for long but it had to be enough. I thought of the teeming crowd of damned outside and wished again for more bombs. We wouldn’t be caught off guard next time.
I used the window to climb out to the roof and up the wall. It was built of old stone and had weathered over time to have small handholds. Before the framework I would have never been able to scramble up like this, I reached the top of the wall just as arrows and spells started to fly. Ice Bolts, balls of fire and more rained down on my position.
No time to reflect on the wall I turned and jumped down to dangle my feet over the edge. Marci chirped from the sky as she dodged a few arrows lazily. If only she was big enough to hold my weight. I scrambled down the twenty foot wall and jumped off to the ground. There were a few damned waiting for me but Marci distracted them long enough for me to take them out with the hammer.
I set off at a sprint and soon caught up with the rearguard battling the damned that had slipped through the gate. Nadia was there, leading from the front as the rearguard was harassed by the damned. I joined in from behind and made quick work of the harassers. I exchanged a nod with Nadia and turned to look at Etes. Smoke was rising from everywhere in the city as it burned. I could almost hear screaming from the trapped citizens still inside the walls.
“Most of the crowd has passed rally point two. We need to keep moving, we won’t be safe until we get to the forest. Sylar.” She hesitated for a moment. “We need to use the mine.”
I turned to look at her wondering why she was asking my permission instead of Arthur’s as the emotions hit me in a tidal wave. I gave her a stiff nod and turned away before the tears began to flow. Looking over Etes filled me with immense sadness. Eter would never be the same after this, the Royal Advisor through Allain now controlled more than half of the continent. I took a deep breath and turned away from the city of my birth, from the graveyard of my family and friends. Despite it all, I had survived.