The green was nearly at the town by the time they got sorted. None of the town was taking breaks at this point, just grimly cutting as the green grew every closer. The few demon goblins that still had any energy left were torching the front just to hold it at bay.
Only Claudette had any real fire power left, with an emphasis on fire. The eye in her crown burned and wave of fire erupted from her. All that was left in front of her was ash. Ratface could feel the heat of it just standing near the demon. She didn’t seem happy.
She’d seen unhappy since the others had left. Only Her, Halmir and Ratface had remained behind as a focus for the two elves. Claudette had agreed with the plan but even then, it had been clear that she didn’t like it.
Since then, Ratface and her had barely said a word except for Claudette to remind her to keep the crystal close.
It was a simple plan, the three of them and the town would hold out until the away group took care of the plant elf. It was an all or nothing plan but it was the best one they had.
The kudzu had gotten more aggressive as it homed in on the town. Where before it had just grown at a steady rate, now it would randomly attack whenever people tried to cut it back. So far it had just been injuries, but it was only a matter of time until blood was spilled.
Ratface and Halmir were close to the front, she with her knives, him with his swords. The two of them had only run in to help people so far, every time Ratface got close to the plants they lashed across at her with such aggression she couldn’t stay for long. It made a great distraction to get others safe from the plants though.
The time for delaying was about to end though, and both sides knew it. The kudzu had started pulling down the demon plants to make a path and they heard a roar in the distance.
Dirthand came by with a strange concoction.
“Coat your blades with that,” she told Ratface.
Ratface poured the strange smelling liquid onto her blade. It smelled like oil mixed with metal and lemon. A terrible smell, if distinctive.
“The plants will hate that,” said Dirthand. She rushed back to join the group of non-fighters making their way to the mansion. She’d been helping with the injuries and Ratface imagined her day was about to get a heck of a lot worse.
Ratface and Halmir went to join the line facing off against the plants. While a few of them had been holding the plants back the rest had dug several wide trenches behind them to hold the plants off. Ratface hopped over the first trench into the waiting arms of the rest of the group. It was tempting for Ratface to only acknowledge the goblins but there was an entire towns group of people here. Humans lined the trench, some with wicked looking prosthetics, and others with flesh and blood. There were a few other races in the mix though she didn’t have time to examine them. Hannah stood at the centre with a sword in hand. Her glamour had turned into a bear next to her and the wind swirled around the two of them. In the back Claudette stared out across the horizon where a line of monsters was marching forward. It had some from the swamp, like alligators, but she’d also grabbed strange creatures ratface had never seen. One set of monsters stuck out to her particularly. They looked like if you mixed a gorilla with a lizard, one of their hands ending in a massive snake. She wasn’t looking forward to fighting that.
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Behind her, people were quickly grabbing out bow and arrows in preparation for when the monsters got close.
In the middle of them was Amaranth sitting on top of one of those bladed deer.
“It’s not too late to surrender,” she called out, “only the Witch and Ratface need to be taken, the rest of you can live free.”
“Just once I’d like them to call me by my proper title,” muttered Claudette.
Amaranth continued oblivious to Claudette’s objections.
“I am not without mercy, but once battle begins, I can guarantee none of your safety.”
Ratface stared in surprise, the elf kept talking. She looked around and saw a lot of shuffling feet. It was hurting their morale, but it also seemed unlikely anyone would risk the kudzu on the elf’s say so.
“Does anyone have a crossbow?” Ratface asked.
A few shuffles later and one was handed to her with a couple of bolts. The elf kept talking while Ratface lined up her shot. Amaranth was far away but still within theoretical range. She tilted the crossbow up a bit and fired.
The two groups went silent as her bolt flew across the battlefield. Amaranth smirked as it dipped well before it would hit her. Ratface smirked right back, she hadn’t been aiming for the elf.
The deer cried out as the bolt slammed into its knee. It fell to the ground and Amaranth had to quickly jump off before it took her down with it. Ratface smiled, not a bad shot, though she’d been aiming for its chest.
Amaranth looked across the battlefield at Ratface in fury and brought her hand down in a swift cutting motion. The monsters charged forward and Ratface got ready.
It was a huge horde of monsters, bigger than in the sewers. Ratface didn’t know how she’d managed so many in the short period of time.
When the monsters got withing 150 meters, the people behind Ratface started to fire. It was a combination of crossbows and archers, the demon goblins holding off for now. Ratface held her shots until one of the lizard gorillas got close and aimed for its chest. The bolt flew true, but bounced off the things chest. Not ideal. She switched back to her sword and knife.
A line of the deer reached them first, they saw the trench and did a beautiful leap across, sure to land on the other side.
The frontline, which was mostly spearman, took exception to that. As one they stepped forward and stabbed up into the deer. The deer reared back in pain, some died. The main thing they did was collapse back into the trench, making it harder for the rest of the horde to get closer.
After their initial thrust, the spears quickly scuttled back to get back behind the second trench, using the wooden boards left for such a thing. They were slow. None of them were soldier and the face they’d done as much as they had was already helpful. A ordered retreat was asking too much.
They had a solution to that problem, however. The demon goblins stepped forward and unleashed a wave of fire at the coming horde. Most of them tried to run back to avoid the fire, primal instinct taking over, but with the push forward they were quickly trampled. In between this, Halmir, Hannah, and Ratface moved around cutting at any monsters of kudzu they missed.
It was a quick punch to the monsters’ line, and it stopped the stampede for a moment. In that moment, the demon goblins and Ratface’s group jumped over into the next trench with the rest. Boards were kicked into the ditch and oil poured into it as well. It was an expensive endeavour, but you couldn’t spend it if you weren’t alive.
The monsters started climbing over the filled trench towards the next line. Once again the ranged group shot into their ranks.
Ratface grimaced. This was working for now, but they only had ten trenches before they’d have to run back to the mansion and by then it was a losing battle. Her eyes were still on the lizard gorillas and Amaranth. Once they all got close it’d probably be time to run no matter how many trenches were left. She wondered how Hannah would cope against a true elf.
Amidst all of this, the green continued to spread. That too would be a problem. Ratface looked into the sea of green, towards where her friends had gone. She hoped they were safe. She just had to put her faith in their success. If they managed it, Claudette could fight back with the forest as well. If they didn’t, well, it wouldn’t matter how well this fight went.