It was once again raining on the day of the battle.

And for once, Rowan was glad to be on the wall. The flooding in the village had reached his thighs, making almost everything impossible. Their defenses were now concentrated on two points. The walls and the cluster of safe residences.

“Everyone’s been taken care of?” Olivia’s amused voice greeted him as soon as his head peeked over the palisade.

“Not easily or quickly, but yes.”

“I’m honestly surprised that as many of them cooperated as they did,” Olivia confessed, looking out over the field of the upcoming battle.

The demon army was still not visible, but they could see the shaking of the trees in the distance. Milena had reported that the assault was being led by the urchins, and apparently the massive slugs were simply bringing down every tree in their path.

The watery field was also still covered by the piles of beast corpses, which had been roughly pushed away from the walls. The manpower and effort required to clean everything up hadn’t been worth it.

In fact, they were even hoping the corpses could hold back some of the demons. At the very least, they’d break up any charge a little as a sort of sick, floating barge.

“Well, it turns out that ‘you are going to be murdered by ghostly water demons’ is motivation enough to do as they’re told. For most people.”

“It’s done now. Besides, look.” Olivia gestured, the shaking and cracking finally drawing close.

With a loud crash and water spraying into the air, the final trees were cleared, revealing a long column of urchins.

If anything, they were bigger than the ones Rowan had faced previously, their spikes more numerous and longer. Partially covered by the water, they looked like miniature islands floating towards them. But the bad news didn’t end there.

Right behind them, was a stretch of churning water. It was like the water was boiling, multiple geysers incessantly spraying into the air. When the head of a Mudclad Lure broke the surface for a moment, Rowan realized that it was an old enemy. Just hundreds, if not thousands, at once.

And if that weren’t enough, there was a whole army of colorful aquatic humanoid monsters marching forward. Each and every one of them wore equipment. Some were dressed in only armor, tattered and mottled in places. Others bore spears, clubs, or even a sword.

Above the marching army, a whole host of Skyfins swarmed. And at the tail end of the procession were wraiths. Only four revealed themselves at the start. Then, emerging from a patch of forest, drifted up a fifth.

That one’s different. Maybe a commander? Rowan marked out the last wraith in his head.

The army was imposing.

The army was terrifying.

However, what really worried him and every other defender were the three shadows far up in the sky, beyond even the highest soaring Skyfin.

Two were smaller, and they twisted and snaked through the sky without rhyme or reason. The outline of their bodies was snake-like. The moment they were visible, the rain intensified.

The final outline absolutely dwarfed every other creature Rowan had ever seen.

“There’s our demon,” Rowan muttered and he didn’t even bother to hide his bitterness. After all, everything seemed meaningless compared to that demon.

From what he could see, the demon could flatten a good quarter of the village just by landing on it. And that was just its size. It had rare-tier lackeys when the last demon they fought off was a rare-tier demon. And its very presence was enough to send the atmosphere into a conniption.

“That’s an epic.” Olivia’s voice was quiet and without her usual fight. He risked a glance, and she was watching the sky as blankly as the rest of them.

“Imagine all that sweet, sweet experience,” Rowan said, forcing his voice to stay cheerful. “Wonder if I could just skip the uncommon tier entirely if we hunt that thing down.”

Olivia laughed. A smile sneaked onto her features. “Well, I guess I’m definitely getting into the rare tier today.”

Rowan nodded, delighted by the spark of light that was once again dancing in her green eyes.

“Okay. Okay, we can do this,” Olivia said, pumping herself back up. “It’s odd that they chose to lead with the urchin, but we can punish that. The urchins are ranged dealers. Marcus, get ready to apply your aura as soon as you can. Everyone else, buckle down. They’re going to try to drive us out with their barrage, we need to outlast it.”

Rowan wasn’t too worried about the quills. Getting his head blown off or his brain mushed would probably kill him, but with his Lavish Feasting replenished, nothing short of that would work to put him down permanently.

Still, he did as he was ordered, getting closer to the palisade and taking cover.

“Do you want me to start working on the ritual?” Milena posed the question, eyes rowing over the many demonic creatures arrayed before them.

“Not yet. I want you to wait until the urchins are gone. Maybe more. Speaking of,” Olivia took a deep breath to steady herself and took a look at Rowan, “everyone, let them get as close to us as possible. With all this water they’ve provided, I have a gift for them.”

Rowan reinforced her authority.

“Friends. If I may call you all friends,” Rowan said, his voice ringing out. They were lucky that the demons were once again only attacking from a single side, which meant most of the defenders were within shouting distance. “Today, we fight an army from hell. They’ll be mean and tough. And it’ll be a hard fight. But the measure of a man is determined by his greatest challenge. This is a damn big challenge. We can ask for nothing better to prove our mettle.”

As Rowan’s speech fell, shouts emerged from the defenders huddled against the wall. Rowan flashed Olivia a grin, who returned the smile.

On the other hand, the demonic party didn’t pause or deliver grand speeches. They began their assault as soon as they were in range. The quills thunked into the wood of the wall and quite a few defenders flinched when some of the arrow-like quills managed to pierce through the palisade and poke their tips out.

In spite of that, the soldiers and mercenaries held still and waited.

Even if they weren’t a hundred percent convinced they were going to survive until sundown, they were still willing to gamble their lives on the hero and his party.

The demonic creatures got closer.

With the shrinking distance, the quills gained strength. Enough that the barrage of attacks cracked and splintered the top of the palisades.

Still, they waited.

At some point, Olivia’s hand had found its way into Rowan’s. He wasn’t sure which of them was shivering. It might have been both. He gave her fingers a reassuring squeeze anyway.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Closer and closer the demon’s army drew, until it was time.

“Stay down!” Olivia screamed, squeezing her eyes shut as she took out a potion bottle in her other hand, gave it a light shake, and threw it as far in the direction of the advancing army as she could.

The burst of power that followed was deafening. It reminded Rowan of a mix between a lightning storm and the sounds given off by a Tesla coil he used to have as a kid. And the potion was definitely a close cousin to them, judging by the zaps of electricity lashing wildly through the air, making his hair stand on end all the way up on the wall.

Rowan didn’t think that the urchins, whatever they actually were, were capable of screaming. Obviously, he was wrong, since their voices rose in a haunting tune of suffering. The underwater Mudclad eels were screeching too.

When the screeches died down, Rowan risked a glance to find the entire field of urchins and at least half of the eels floating lifelessly in the water.

“Do you have any more of those?” Rowan whispered.

This is what Olivia is good at, Rowan thought. He could count on a single hand of the different healing or enhancing potions that Olivia used. But attack potions? They never seem to run out.

Olivia giggled. “Impressive huh? I used all but one of my lighting potions to distill them and supercharge that one. Do you know how much mana I used up keeping that thing stable until now?”

Rowan’s smile cramped. “And if you failed to do that?”

“Well, I mean, we had a demon army headed our way anyway, so…” Olivia trailed off, giving him a cheeky grin and looking not at all apologetic.

Perhaps Kayden was right. Olivia should not be allowed to continue down this path.

“Did that give you enough experience to level up? All the way to rare?” Rowan asked, taking another glance beyond the wall.

It wasn’t only the defenders that were still reeling from the effectiveness of Olivia’s assault. The humanoid part of the demon army had paused and if his eyes weren’t deceiving him, some of their ranks were actually brawling with each other.

“Yes, holy Aristeaus. That was a lot of demons,” Olivia said with a hint of disbelief in her voice.

“Then give out your last orders and go. I’ll hold the line until you get back.”

Olivia took courage from that, and her voice rang out clear and loud. “Milena, wait for them to start advancing again, then start your summoning. Marcus, keep everyone alive. Rowan, you’re in charge while I’m gone. The rest of you, stay alive, that’s an order! I’m going to get out of combat for fifteen minutes to rank up. And once I’m back, we’ll make them pay!”

A cheer rose up at her proclamation. As Rowan thought, the fact that Olivia was this powerful as an uncommon tier crafting class was already a major accomplishment. Having her come back as a rare tier? It was a massive morale booster.

Olivia straightened up, quills no longer being a concern, and made a beeline for the closest house immediately. Seeing no reason to continue hiding, Rowan followed her example.

“Everyone, back to your positions. Get ready to deny them approach to the walls,” Rowan commanded, his voice steadier than he actually felt.

To the demon’s credit, and to Rowan’s frustration, the minor scuffle in the enemy army was quickly resolved. One of the wraiths drifted forward, and a few moments later there were a few ice sculptures and obedience in enemy ranks once again.

Milena stepped up to the ritual circle that was shielded from the rain and took her place in the smaller of the two circles, just like she did back out in that clearing when summoning familiars.

That, however, was where the similarities decisively stopped.

When Milena started up her quiet chant, the sound of her voice thundered and echoed like she was shouting at the top of her lungs. The sheer force caused ripples on the water that grew with every passing moment. More impressive was the way her voice shifted and changed, suddenly sounding like countless others had joined in.

Rowan tried, but failed to distinguish between them. He’d almost manage to separate one voice from the rest before they merged again in perfect harmony, the one he’d been following disappeared and turned into something new.

Milena had set up an odd, old flag right next to her in the inner circle, and now it flapped, raging, as a wind formed an invisible barrier against the rain.

The flag itself had started off unremarkable, with a simple, faded design in some brown-black shade. Yet, as Rowan watched, the color of it shifted and grew richer. It shone with an inner crimson light now, light refracting across it in a glossy way that convinced Rowan that what he was seeing was blood.

Then, between one moment and the next, a crack formed in front of the village gates.

The blackness of the crack was absolute, yet Rowan found it oddly reassuring instead of terrifying. Rather than a gaping maw of a beast, this was the color of repose, of gentle rest and forgotten woes.

A leg appeared, leeched of color and almost see-through. Its owner, a woman warrior, stepped out in a perfectly casual, disinterested manner. She carried a massive shield in her left hand, easily larger than Rowan, yet barely big enough to cover her torso. In her right, she bore a wicked, jagged blade. It, too, was perfectly proportioned to its wielder.

The warrior surveyed the field, took in the dead and approaching demons, and laughed.

As if that was the signal, more and more figures streamed past her. Absolute behemoths, smaller and more agile figures, a female wolf kin who wielded a bow oversized even for her massive stature. More and more warriors joined the fray, until Rowan could count sixty-four ghostly figures.

At the very front was the first warrior to cross the threshold between realms, and she screamed out in a bestial voice as she charged.

Whether by wraith induced discipline or the fact that they outnumbered the strange warriors thirty to one, the odd humanoid monsters didn’t falter. That quickly changed as the first line of monsters fell almost as soon as the warriors breathed on them. Milena had downplayed the power of this ritual. It was about to be an absolute slaughter.

Or it was. Until one of the outlines in the sky decided enough was enough.

It plummeted out of the clouds and Rowan saw a creature that was neither dragon nor serpent. The demon had a superficial resemblance to dragons from Chinese myths, but only in the sense that both were snake-like and flew without wings.

It had jaws that stretched for nearly half the length of its body, and two rows of eyes that stretched the full length. Its tail ended in a fin-like appendage, and long spines lined its back, quivering and dancing with an electric charge that fluttered between them.

Rowan thought about using Inspect before deciding to keep the card in his cardholder. For one, he didn’t need a headache before battle. And second, it didn’t matter what the demon was. He needed to kill it, otherwise it would kill him. That was all.

The creature swooped down at the charging warriors, only to rock sideways when a glowing arrow dug deep into its side. The projectile remained inert for a moment, then exploded, sending a shower of blood and fleshy chunks into the air.

That only made the creature angrier.

It screamed an unearthly sound, then dove towards the archer with an outsized bow. The archer nocked another arrow with an unconcerned expression on her bestial face. Her next attack threw the creature off-course and it crashed into the ground. Before Rowan could blink, the other warriors fell upon it, laughter and screams of bloodlust rising into the air as they hacked their way through.

Rowan almost thought that would be it. One of their greatest foes would disappear from the battlefield.

But that was wishful thinking. A burst of electricity, even greater than what Olivia had produced, erupted from the serpent-dragon. Behind him, Milena coughed out a strangled gasp and dropped the potion bottle she was holding.

“Sister.” Marcus rushed over, trying to shield her from whatever was hurting her.

Milena put out a hand to stop him. “I’m fine. Just my mana.” She fumbled for her mana potion and downed it in one gulp.

Rowan glanced outward and saw that several of the glowing figures were gone completely, and that more than a few were flickering precariously too. The creature paid a price for its attack too. Its originally vibrant spines were now dull, a mere few sparks left where once electricity raged.

But the demonic creature was already regenerating. Wisps of flesh unspooled from its insides, weaving themselves into new rough scales and healing its wounds in mere moments.

“Oh great heroes, heed my call,” Milena whispered. Her voice slowly grew louder with each word. “You fight, not for victory or life.”

The monster’s jaw unfurled, revealing tongues and tentacles that fought with the remaining warriors. With both sides wounded or missing strength, the fight was nearly even.

“You need not fear the oblivion,” Milena continued. “You were already consigned to it. The only thing to brighten the darkness is a flame of glory. Your flame of glory.”

The warriors pulsed. Rowan could almost see what they would have looked like had they been alive. And they began hacking into the serpent creature, ignoring any attacks that the monster made in defense. Ten, maybe twenty, warriors perished but their sacrifices bore fruit.

The serpent tried to fly and escape. But every attempt was beaten back by the archer’s arrows or the warrior’s axes. It struggled, thrashing its tail and tongues.

“Kill and spread your name, even to oblivion,” Milena screamed. The warriors pulsed once more and the first woman warrior began a sprint at the creature’s head. At the peak of her momentum, she leaped high in the sky and slammed her shield on the monster’s head. Raising her blade so far back that her arm almost looked like it had dislodged from her shoulder, the warrior smashed down and plunged the weapon deep.

The monster shuddered and opened its mouth wide. Only a weak whimper came out. The warrior answered with her own scream. She raised the shield again and pounded the blade deeper into the monster. One more shudder and the creature went still.

Rowan almost celebrated. Except the second creature chose that moment to emerge from the skies.

It didn’t bother to defend its twin, or even avenge the murder. Instead, its many malicious eyes focused on the wall and the defenders arrayed on it. It opened its mouth, and its many spines started to glow with even more intensity.

And then the wall was gone.