Bradley and his crew received the notification of the siege beginning. They exited their zones and began heading towards the walls to scout before descending to face the wave of monsters, but the whole while they were being stalled by random bullshit from normal corpo workers. Finally they exited the building and all they could smell was blood, and all they could hear was the screams to be let back in or to be helped.
Bradley ordered his Squad to quickly climb the ramparts to figure out what was going on, and that’s when he saw a sea of green and red. Goblins, Orcs, and Ogres all rushing Detroit. And the corpses littered the base of the wall, only a few thousand remained from the tens-of-thousands. There were several with extremely powerful abilities that were protecting friends or family, slowly getting picked off one by one.
The enemy probably numbered 100 thousand, and a normal untrained classless couldn’t even kill a single goblin before dying. Many of the goblins had simple clubs, Most of the Orcs had clubs, and The Ogres sprinkled in all had large stone axes. Their goal was to kill and feast on those inside, but most were sent outside.
Bradley took a deep breath, “Anyone with ranged weaponry to fire into the hoard. Focus on the small goblins as clearing them will be the fastest with our bullets. I’ll target some of the closer up big enemies with Greasefire to make them slip-up. I want anyone who is a melee fighter to wait by gate 10 down below to prepare for a rescue if possible.”
The real battle began, Bradley, Ben, and Don were burning through mana crystals in hopes of saving some of those in the northeast who were sent out. “Try to make it towards the gate, you have covering fire now!” Bradley shouted from above the wall.
Greasefire, after bullet, after arrow shot into the crowd. Those close up slowly began to thin out. Bradley burned another two crystals and began firing a wall of Greasefire to create a safezone for those escaping, “Open the gates now! Squads 0 through 6, rush out for a rescue attempt, 7-10 stay up here as covering fire!”
Bradley slid down the ladder, followed by Ben and Don. “The rest of you stay up there for better covering fire!” They rushed out of the gate. Waving any survivors that were stationed at the northwest gate back inside. “Betty, you and the other shielders make sure to maintain our front. Any dealers make sure to allow survivors to pass through while covering their back from goblin attacks. Warn me if an Ogre or Orc approaches so I can give covering fire to knock them over! Protect your life first, but save as many lives second!”
Slowly survivors managed to trickle within the walls, “Don’t get overextended. Always be prepared to retreat. Maintain formation!” Bradley was getting nervous because Goblins from the other sectors slowly began to trickle towards Gate 10, and the Orcs and Ogres had enough time to approach in mass.
Bradley saw a young man protecting a woman with a bitten leg, being swarmed. It was clear he had a strong class, as he was able to move swiftly in-between their ranks, taking them out from behind. “Squad 0, delegate your position and group up on me!”
The others rushed towards him. “I need Kevin and Devin on me, Betty and Kathy are to guard and heal the injured woman, I need Ben and Don giving covering fire. Kelly we need a speed buff, can you manage all of us?” Kelly nodded and spammed her speed buff on each of us, almost falling over after completing her job. “Squad 1, bring Kelly back, and keep her safe, Squad 0 forward!”
Bradley went in, firing shot after shot, using only magic weapon and reduction in friction to save on mana cost, and began taking out the goblins as he ran. Devin and Kevin on either side as they rushed into the crowd to save the boy. The plan followed the orders given smoothly. The boy was supported by the two heavy dealer classes, The lady was healed and was slowly being pulled back. Anyone who dared approach Kathy and Betty were shot by Don and Ben.
Everything was fine until an Ogre that had been previously greased had regained his friction. He rose up and grabbed the boy, opening his mouth wide. Kevin and Devin slashed at the beast, but they weren’t able to hit anything vital among all the thick fat.
Bradley took a deep breath and gave one last order, “Haul my ass back and close the gates after!” Bradley jumped up, reaching eye level with the Ogre, “Magic Cannon!”
Magic Cannon, a spell created by the combination of Grease, Catapult, and Magic Weapon, normally used on a projectile, was used on his fist as he threw a punch.
His arm flung into the fatty Orcs face, smashing in his nose, and cracking his skull. The fist managed to punch deep into the Ogre, causing it to let go of the boy. Bradley felt a horrific pain run up his entire arm, and passed out midair. Kevin ran up, threw the boy over his shoulder, and Devin did the same with Bradley who was passed out from pain and mana exhaustion. They quickly rushed back to the gate and slammed it shut behind them.
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When Bradley woke up he found himself once again bound in a cast, but this time he wasn’t fully healed, and his arm was still in tatters. He groaned as he sat up, looking around at the strange tent he found himself in. It reminded him of those emergency medical tents seen in disasters. It had the separating curtains, the constant groaning, and everything else you’d expect in a short term medical ward.
Bradley pulled back the curtain and limped out of his section, quickly spotting Kathy, Kelly, and Don all bent over exhausted near the edge of the tent away from the patients. “You guys saved my ass again, good job creating a healer squad on such short notice,” Bradley pulled out several of his leftover mana crystals he didn’t even have the chance to use. “These should be useful for recovering, and keep up the good work,” Bradley handed them over and attempted to leave the tent.
Kathy swept his leg and knocked him over, “You aren’t fully healed yet sir,” she growled frustrated, “Area Heal! Area Heal! Area Heal!” The coughs from the rest of the room calmed down, some even getting back up, and Bradley’s arm returned to normal.
Bradley snickered, “I’d complain about smacking my head against the floor but you healed that too already. Anyways, I need caught up and you guys still have some work to do. I’ll come back in to check on you.” Kathy wanted to say something, but she hesitated, and instead began focusing on her healing work, “Come on, let’s get this finished up.”
Bradley looked around, hearing the sounds of steady gunshots. There were also the sounds of yelling from just around the corner of the impromptu military camp. “You think this is some kind of sick joke? You throw us out there, leaving thousands to die, but because you saved the scraps suddenly you’re not at fault!” It was a voice Bradley didn’t recognize.
“That’s not what I said, you’re not listening. We weren’t even told about what had happened to you, it was because of the orders of our captain why any of you were saved at all. Be happy you weren’t at any other gate.” Bradley turned the corner and saw Devin poke the kid they saved in the chest, as he tried to get through the boy. Devin noticed Bradley and Bradley waved him away.
“So you’re my savior? I saw you pass out the instant you even hit the ogre. You barely saved anyone and you want me under you! What a joke-” Bradley slapped the kid hard across the face, knocking him to the ground. “Listen here you prick, I saved your ass because you had value, otherwise I would’ve only picked up those close enough to the gate. My crew risked our lives for you and whoever that woman you were protecting is. If you don’t wanna join a crew then fine, fuck off, but if you’re gonna get in my way I’ll put you down like a stray dog. Got it?”
Bradley sighed and pulled the kid to his feet by the back of his shirt collar. “See I fucking knew you were all scu-” Bradley raised his hand. “I’ll get out of your way, thank you for rescuing my sister and me.” “Fucking teenagers,” Bradley mumbled under his breath and walked away towards Devin and Ben who were handling the influx of new awakened.
“Any good abilities you find boys?” Ben shook his head, “Even if they tell us what they can do, none of them want to go back out there. I can’t blame them. Glad to see you awake again. A full day without you is pretty rough.” Bradley pinched the bridge of his nose, “You’re telling me I was asleep for 24 hours? Shit. Update me on the situation outside.”
Ben nodded, “Since we didn’t lose the tutorial yet, we think the requirements is to wipe out every creature within the siege. It also seems like only the Ogre’s would be strong enough to break in, but they seem hesitant to approach after you smacked the shit out of one. For now they are evenly spread out to intercept any escapees. They might try to starve us out since we can’t gain access to any supplies.”
Bradley nodded, “Did any during the rescue inventory the enemy corpses?” Ben nodded, “Any squad member safe enough managed to snag a few after seeing you do it for long enough.” Bradley nodded, “Make an announcement to deliver me the bodies. I’ll deconstruct them into their usable parts and it seems like I’ll need more Spell Crystals of higher level for us to even stand a chance against those Ogre fuckers. For now focus on maintaining morale and keep an eye on water levels, that’s the biggest trouble. If it drops too low, shit might hit the fan hard.”
Ben nodded, and made an announcement over the intercom. Bradley waited as the soldiers dropped corpse after corpse in front of him. Bradley disassembled them quickly, and began distributing the meat to any cooks. In return for them cooking, they get an extra share of the meat per day. Bradley scanned across the shitty city he had lived in, their numbers diminished, and thousands bound to dehydrate or starve and felt affirmation that what he was about to do was right.
Bradley pulled out his spare Glock he hadn’t needed and shot himself in the foot. The bullet bounced off, and he felt almost no pain. The only people who had the enhanced bullets were now following Bradley, and the Corpo’s used their last range of power to secure enough food and water for themselves.
Bradley was confident that when the time came, he could end those bastards without losing a breath, but for now he wanted to sow discontent. He made an announcement across the speakers, “For those of you who are upset at the tragedy that either befell you or those you know, I am also furious. The men and women who work for the corporations affiliated with the outside world offered you freedom, when they don’t even have that power. They squandered lives to ensure that no matter how drawn out this battle for our lives, they had enough supplies for themselves, when they contributed nothing. Even now they are hiding in their towers, powerless to the threat outside, yet even when they have the same opportunities as everyone else, they hide. I, the leader of the Squad 0 task force, have a question for all of you. Will you take it lying down or will you fight for your rights as a person! …Thank you!”