Bradley grabbed his microphone, “Mission Start!” Everyone scrambled to their posts, and the whirring sound of the metallic gate being lifted sent shivers down everyone’s spine. The Shielders stationed near the edge of the gate, while dealers positioned themselves to the middle to clear a path. The small cracks of the gate had goblin hands and faces trying to squeeze through only to be butchered on the spot. Once the height was enough to exit, the Squads began their move. The shielders maintained the safety of the side, while main dealers began clearing through droves of goblins. Leaders of the squad maintained distance, barking orders and preparing for any Orcs or Ogres to approach to handle them.
Squad 0 was stationed currently at the center of the formation. All non 0 members were positioned in a circular fashion, slowly rotating around clockwise to give those in front a break. Squad 0 supported from the center without reducing their stamina and mana too much. Ben’s arrows felled their every mark, including Orcs, since the last upgrade Bradley gave it. Bradley kept Ogre’s at bay using Greasefire to maintain distance from the most threatening of enemies. Once they broke through the main mass of goblins, clearing most of the threat, Squad 0 pushed out of the front.
“Return Formation! Squad 0 will be heading out now!” Bradley prepared himself for his next task, sprinting and fighting. “Joel, Trisha, Don, and Kelly centered. Kevin at front, Devin at back, and Kathy and Betty at either side. Ben behind me and cover anywhere you see fit.” They charged forward, sprinting and slaying, but after half a mile, the wear of the fighting started to get to Kelly, Trisha, and Joel. “Semi-circle formation with only Devin at the front. It’s time for the next step!”
The formation shifted, and Bradley was now at the center, hearing the sounds of battle around him as he emptied hunk of metal after hunk of metal out of his inventory. “Blueprint Hitched Tanker Truck!” Bradley had his mana sapped out, almost emptying him. Appearing in the center of the circle appeared an armored vehicle with the largest water truck attached at the hitch. “Everyone hop in!” I’ll buy us some time!” Bradley used a crystal to refill some of his mana, “Greasefire! Greasefire! Greasefire!” Bradley gasped for air, but he managed to create a slick spot about 50 feet away.
Bradley limped towards the closer Tanker Truck and hopped into the passenger seat, “Devin, drive!” With that Devin punched the armored vehicle forward and they cruised along at 40 mph. During the drive Bradley used a few of his crystals to recover his mana to full. When he finished he noticed that the gate for the water pump area had been busted down. No goblins were in sight however.
“From here we should disconnect the water truck and walk along as it’s driven. Everyone out of the truck!” Bradley hopped out of the side seat, and disconnected the hitch. Everyone else slid out from the armored truck. “We’re going to march in, but I’d like to leave Kevin and Don here to guard the entrance and to give us warning. Do not engage in combat you cannot win. Devin, you’ll be driving the tanker truck, everyone else into front facing semi-circle formation.”
They slowly marched forward, Devin following behind in the tanker. The time it took them to arrive at the station was about 8 minutes. “Seems like there are no problems so far, Devin I need you to fill up the tanker if possible, and Ben I want you to scout our surroundings a bit, look for any enemies nearby.”
Ben noted that nothing was out of the ordinary, but Devin couldn’t get any water out of the hose, “I can hear the pump trying, but nothing is coming out. What should we do?”
Bradley pinched the bridge of his nose, “I want Devin, Joel, and Trisha to stay back here, while everyone else follows me to find the problem with the hose.” Bradley and the rest of the crew marched, checking for any wet spots or any signs of a tear, but it wasn’t until they reached near the edge of the water when they noticed that the hose had been pulled out of the water.
“Well that’s odd, let’s sort this out quickly,” Bradley seemed a bit annoyed that the hose wasn’t anchored into the water, but it would have to do for now since they didn’t have time. Ben froze up, “We’re surrounded. Wolves, ten of them.”
Bradley quickly made a plan, “Ben, I need you paired with Kathy, I need Betty at my front. Kathy and Betty, do your best to guard, and me and Ben will try to deal finishing blows. This is going to be rough, but we will survive.” They positioned themselves into a rotating line, prepared for the attack. Suddenly several wolves leapt into the fencing. Once quickly lunged at Ben, but Kathy blocked the attack, and Ben shot it through the head, killing it instantly. Bradley fired several GreaseFires, making several wolves fall, allowing time to fire his pistol at full power. The first shot popped the head clear off the wolf since it used the fully charged crystal to upgrade its spell level. The second shot simply pierced through another’s side. It attempted to lunge, but slipped and Betty smashed it in the face with her shield. Ben quickly fired another shot into its head, and he began panting, “Seven more, but I’m already at half mana, only have two shots left.”
Bradley pulled out a crystal and was about to toss it to Ben, when several more wolves jumped into the fencing, causing Bradley to drop it. “Shit, there’s a crystal on the ground behind you. Pick it up when you can.” Bradley was about to cast, but several wolves lunged. Betty and Kathy blocked two of them, but that was all they could manage. Ben dodged out of the way, but Bradley was snagged by one. He tried pushing it away from him, but instead had his arm put down the wolf's throat. It began to lift Bradley and bite down hard.
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Bradley grinned in maddening pain, “You make it an easy shot!” and fired straight into the beast’s face. Bradley deconstructs and deposits the beast to get his arm out. Bradley then fired on the beast Betty was barely keeping at bay. Then swiveled around and took out the one on Kathy. “Betty cover Ben real quick, Kathy heal me!” Bradley grits his teeth as his shoulder was barely hanging onto his body. Bradley dumped a few crystals on the ground, and Ben and Betty managed to clear another one. Kathy used area heal several times until Bradley could move. “Good enough, we have more company.”
The final three wolves jump into the enclosure. One clearly the leader as it was almost twice as big as the other two. “Kathy and Betty face the front, me and Ben will cover behind. Ben I’m gonna try to be less stupid this time, can I get some arrows?” Ben didn’t even ask, he quickly handed him a few and Bradley deposited them. Ben and Bradley quickly fired at the two wolves on the side, taking them out, but the larger one lunged, trying to break through the two shielders. Betty and Kathy were knocked backwards. “Area Heal!” Kathy screamed as she spat out blood.
Betty managed to maintain contact at the cost of one of her legs. She was on one knee. Ben fired on the beast, but the shot simply sank into its fur, lightly staining it red. The beast roared and lunged at Bradley. “Catapult!” Bradley jumped up in the air, avoiding the beast and landing on top of it, his left leg now useless and in agony. He clutched the beast's fur and climbed up towards its head.
“I will kill you fucker! Withdraw 5!” A cluster of arrows appeared in his hand. “Withdraw 4!” Spell crystals appeared in his left hand. He clenched his thighs on the beast. Absorbing mana as he focused on his spell, pressing the arrows against the beast’s temple, “Magic Fire Cannon!” The handful of arrows lit aflame and launched out of Bradley’s hand, burning and cutting it as they flew out. The arrows penetrated deep, and the beast began to crumple. Bradley took an exasperated inhale, “Fuck, Deconstruct! Deposit!” The beast disappeared right out from under him and he fell to the ground.
“God damnit, this fucking hurts. Withdraw 3! Withdraw 2! If anyone is able, go grab Trisha please. Kathy, can you use one of these crystals worth of Area heal?” Ben stood and began walking away, “I guess I got Trisha.” Kathy sat up, and slowly climbed to her feet. “You look really stupid just laying there waiting for me.” Bradley chuckled through the pain, “Well, I still got the xp didn’t I, level 7 baby!”
Bradley began to cough up blood. “Kathy, pretty please?” “Area Heal! Area Heal! Area Heal!” Kathy sat back down, “Damn that’s exhausting.” Betty spoke up, stretching out her busted leg some, “At least I can move a little now. I don’t know how we dealt with just you healing before.” Kathy sighed, “I wasn’t even a healer in the first place, you guys just stretched me so damn thin. My heal is like for recovering stamina or my injuries.”
Bradley nodded, “Yea, you’ve been a real lifesaver either way. Thank you.” After a few minutes of pained discussion the sound of running footsteps approached, “Ohh goodness, who do I need to heal first?” Kathy pointed towards Bradley, “That dumbass hurt himself again pretty bad. Go focus on him first.” Quickly Trisha ran over?. “You said you were bitten Bradley?” Bradley coughed, “Yea why?” “Detoxification! Minor Heal! Minor Heal! Minor Heal!” Trisha almost fell over, feeling woozy. “Bite’s might get infected, better safe than sorry.” Bradley got up, mostly healed now. “Here’s a crystal, refill your mana and heal Betty please.” Trisha nodded, healed up Betty, and they quickly knocked the hose back into the water. Ben told the others, “We should be good to go, I hear the water flowing again.”
They all walked back to the mid-zone to a worried Devin and Joel. Bradley didn’t give them time to question him, “Get the truck filled up and catch up. We’re moving slow so it shouldn’t take too long.” Bradley limped forward, “Withdraw 7!” pulling out a crystal. The group slowly managed to pick up the pace when they ran into Kevin and Don pushed back quite far because of a few goblins at the entrance.
“Joel, can you go support them? You should be able to take care of those quite easily.” Joel nodded, and quickly dispatched all the enemies. Kevin was exhausted, and Don was out of mana. “Thank fuck, by the time the numbers got unmanageable I was already out of mana.” Don slapped Joel on the back, “Good job.”
“Devin should be here in the truck soon. Let’s continue forward,” Bradley said as he slowly marched forward. After just a few more minutes Devin had caught up and they made it to the gate and the armored vehicle. “Okay guys, I’ll launch a firebolt up into the air as the flare, we’ll re-hitch the truck, and then charge towards the gate. I’ll cast Magic Weapon on the truck to hopefully make crashing through goblins and such is an easy task. I need Don to take a crystal and ready some offensive magic to clear our path some if necessary.” Everyone agreed and prepared, “Firebolt! Start!”
The truck kicked, and quickly got up to speed, racing back towards the gates. Within just a minute, the wall was in view, and the goblin horde seemed to be thinned out a little. “Magic Weapon!” With that Bradley burnt out the rest of his mana, and passed out.
Don was stationed at the top of the vehicle, standing in the gunner spot of the armored vehicle. He saw the horde fast approach, and he felt the magic surround the entire vehicle, the whole truck turned into a magic battering ram. It was his turn. He had a pocket full of crystals that Bradley had supplied him, and he was determined. The horde finally grew close enough for him to target, “Time to get roasted you green fucks, Chain Lightning!” A blast of lighting slammed into the ground, and chains of electricity bounced between the groups of goblins, frying them in an instant.
“Fireball!” Don launched a huge ball of fire forward, causing an explosion into the group of goblins. Don felt the bumps as they crushed corpses and live goblins all the same. Don burned through all his magic power, and the wall was fast approaching. The brakes were slammed, Don barely managed to hold on, and they crossed the threshold. Devin screamed out the window, “Retreat behind the walls again! Mission complete!”