Chapter 12: Monster battle.
Day 4, part 5.
After going to the wall with the ranged group, Those who need a bow go to where they are handing out standard issue bows; Me included. Getting myself a bow as well as a bunch of quivers of arrows, we then promptly make our way to our designated spot on the wall. Once there, we make ourselves comfortable while we wait for the rest of the trainees and corporal Kal to arrive. Shortly thereafter corporal Kal and the rest of the trainees arrived.
Once Corporal Kal arrived, he quickly pointed out where the defenders will be, while the supporters were given permission to move about freely as they saw fit, as long as they stayed behind the defenders and of course, actually supported both the defenders and the artillery corp.
Picking a high spot on the wall, I sit down and start surveying the surroundings, which by now basically only displays the monster horde arrayed before us. They are arranged in formation and are marching with a steady pace towards us. They will be here at the walls within 5minutes or so, by my estimates.
After making sure everyone is accounted for, corporal Kal turns this way and that as he carefully inspects us for a minute before nodding to himself. Focusing on Raven, who stands next to me, he calls out to him.
“Raven, I need your eyes in the middle. Choose your unit members.” After a slight pause, he continues: “You're allowed two defenders, and 9 attackers. For a total of 12 people, you included.” the corporal says.
Gaze turning towards the marching horde, he adds: “Choose them wisely, the middle will likely be where the fiercest fighting will likely be taking place.”
Looking out towards the horde in the distance, Raven stands still in silence for a moment.
Nodding once, he puts his arm on my shoulder.
“I want all of group 6’s members. As well as Revis, Kole and Sting.” he says, eyes looking towards each of the mentioned persons.
“The remaining 4 I leave up to you.” he finishes.
Nodding, corporal Kal replies with a short: “Good choices.”
Straightening himself, he says: “Leyus, Lara, Virgil and Klein. You will join Ravens group.”
Looking out towards the monster hoard that will be upon us any minute now, he quickly sweeps his gaze over all the monsters with a scowl on his face. Turning back to Raven, he simply states a quick: “Prepare for combat. You are dismissed” before taking his own place in the middle of the defenders line, dead center.
Nodding and saluting, Raven turns and walks off, with the rest of us hurriedly following behind him.
Taking up position right above the main gate, we prepare for the now imminent battle.
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“Look alive men and women! Here they come!” corporal Kal shouts as the first flying monster reaches within ranged attack range, some 100 or so meters.
“Artillery and Ranged division! Prepare to launch a volley at my command!” the corporal shouts.
A moment passes as chants are chanted and bows are drawn.
The monsters have now reached the 80 meters mark.
“At my mark! 3. 2. 1. FIRE!” the corporal shouts at the top of his lungs.
At the signal, I let loose my arrow.
It mixes in with all the other arrows and disappears from sight.
A bright glare passes overhead as magic of all types, from fire to wind, passes overhead.
Ducking down behind the parapet, I take cover while I wait for eventual shockwaves from the magic bombs.
A moment later various sounds of explosions and arrows hitting their targets can be heard, followed by screeches of pain and anger from the injured monsters.
Hearing a bang from behind, I turn and look at the source.
It is the corporal, sword and shield at a ready; a Harrower with a smashed head at his feet.
Looking up, he shouts: “Fire at will!”
Suddenly rushing forward, the corporal blocks an incoming fireball from hitting its intended targets: a group of mages that is chanting a group spell.
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After blocking the fireball, he immediately shouts: “Defenders! Shields up! Defend the artillery division!”
Coming alive, the defenders rush to the front of the parapet, swords and shields held at a ready.
Aya and Jacen were already at the front even before the call, and are even now blocking the occasional fireball, projectile or diving Harrowers.
Looking over the parapet, I quickly assess how the ground force is faring and quickly realise they are struggling to hold the rushing monsters; Just barely managing to hold their formation, they won't last long at this rate, unless something changes, fast.
Looking over at Raven and the rest, I whistle to get their attention. “I'm going to use magic! Prepare to take cover!” I shout at my squadmates.
Focusing, I quickly gather mana and imprint it with an image of thunderbolts falling from the sky and branching as they hit their targets.
A few seconds of focused effort later, I look over the parapet and shout as loudly as I can: “Take cover! Magic incoming!”
A moment later I let loose my magic; targeted at the second wave of monsters, a fair distance back from the front line where most of the fighting is occurring.
‘The guards fighting below should be outside the magics range
Probably. Hopefully…’ I fret by myself as I wait for the magic to manifest.
A moment passes, followed by a massive crack of thunder as dozens of giant lightning bolts descend from the sky and momentarily paints the world white.
Just as the sound of a dozen thunder strikes hits me, so does the shockwave; as it sends me sprawling to the floor by its sheer force.
Momentarily stunned, I look around confused for a moment until I realise what happened.
A few quick glances reveal that my squadmates heeded my words, as they all have taken cover, muttering curses to themselves as they hold their ears.
“Bloody hell Ray!” Jacen shouts at me as he stands up tentatively. “You don't take it easy, do you? I thought I would be sent flying down to the ground!” He complains as he moves forward again to take position next to Aya, who is already up and ready to block any incoming attacks.
Shakily standing up, I shout at his back: “Sorry! I'm still trying to figure out the power output.”
A moment later, all of my squadmates have recovered and they are quickly followed by the rest of the soldiers as they promptly start sniping at monsters that were exposed or injured by my magic.
Looking over the parapet, I glance down to assess the damage done by my magic. While a few guards also got knocked down, most managed to avoid being directly hit by the shockwave and seem none worse for the wear.
The monsters however, weren't so lucky. The monsters who were in the epicentre have been reduced to a burned heap of smoking body parts.
Nothing remains alive within 50 meters of the epicentre.
The monsters outside the 50 meters did just a bit better, as the sheer force of the shockwave sent them flying and crashing into each other, but didn't kill them outright.
As most of the monsters didn't have any cover, most of the beasts were hit by the full force of the shockwave, throwing them against each other or solid objects in the surrounding.
The, now recovering, guards on the ground hurriedly make short work of the stunned and injured beasts that were thrown about by the shockwave, before quickly reforming their defensive formation when the monsters snap out of their shaken states.
The third and forth waves of monsters have also been hit by the shockwave and while no real damage has been inflicted on them, they seem reluctant to approach.
For the time being.
“Take out the stunned beasts while we can!” Raven shouts urgently; And our group hurry to comply with the given order.
Taking a archer stance, I draw, aim and fire arrow after arrow at the few remaining stunned beasts below the walls.
A few minutes of cleaning up ensued, followed by a temporary lull in the fighting thanks to the monsters still being reluctant to rush through the carbonized zone that remains after my magic attack.
Taking a deep breath, I let it out slowly as I let my gaze wander over my fellow squad members.
Thankfully, they are all fine.
Except for a few minor wounds and scrapes, but that is to be expected.
Nodding to myself, I instead turn my gaze towards the gathered monsters that are waiting just outside of our attack range.
The horde is a mishmash of various monsters, the second uglier than the first. And that's not to mention the third one, hoo boy...
They've got the whole package of beasts and monsters;
Beasts on all fours, monsters on two legs and every now and then there are even the occasional flight of flying monsters.
Said monsters usually come diving down at ludicrous speeds with fangs and claws at a ready.
Or even worse, A rare few kinds of them even use magic to bombard us from above.
Thankfully those are few in number and are promptly disposed of, once discovered.
So far we have only had to fight the beast kinds, the most numerous of the monsters, as well as the occasional flight of fliers. The rarer and less numerous types have mostly stayed back so far, staying well out of attack range.
‘I have a feeling things won't be as easy as it has been so far though…’ I think to myself as I look out at the rearranging horde and the occasional enormous monstrosity I can see moving around out there that we will soon be facing soon enough.
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Using the few tense minutes as the monster horde gets ready to launch another attack, my squadmates and I quickly shove rations into our mouths and take a few pulls of water from our waterskins as we keep a wary eye on the milling monsters movements while chewing the tough meat our rations are made of.
“Ray, that lightning attack was crazy. Are you ok? How bad is the Mana sickness? … Strange. You look fine?” Jana asks one after another, not allowing me any time to reply to any of them.
Nodding at her, I reply with a simple: “I'm more or less fine, for now.” and after a moment's consideration, I add: “I think I have almost completely recovered now.”
Pondering a moment I continue with: “I could probably do two or three of those attacks in a row before I run dry, maybe?.”
Eyes sparkling, Jana exclaims: “Wow! Really!? “I can't even use half that much mana at once, much less within 5 minutes!” Lost in her hype, she grabs my right hand, squeezing it with both her hands and pulls my hand in towards her impressive chest.
‘Too bad we’re wearing armour, I can't feel anything… Nono, focus! We're in a battle, dammit!’ I reprimand myself.
Sighing, I refocus on what she is saying.
“If you could master more than two elements you could become a magic knight and be employed by the king himself! …. Blah...blah blah…”
‘Right... I forgot this girl is a magic maniac.’ I lament as I scratch my head awkwardly as Jana keeps going and going.
“They're coming.” Raven says as he looks over at us.
Taking a deep breath, he shouts loudly: “Get ready for battle!”
The shout is passed along the lines moments later.
Thankful for his timely interruption, I pat Jana on the shoulder. “We'll talk more later, ok?” I say and smile at her.
Nodding slightly, she replies: “Sure.” and smiles back weakly at me.
After giving her a reassuring pat on the back. "We're in this together, so let's give them hell." I say before returning my gaze towards the incoming monsters.
"Yeah, let's make them pay for attacking our city." Jana says from behind me.
Nodding my agreement, I notch an arrow and take a stance, I don't start aiming however as I notice Jacen looking at me out of the corner of my eye.
Meeting his gaze, he nods at me before turning back towards the front.
"Let's give them hell!" He shouts as the first flyers come crashing down unto us once again.
End of chapter 12.