Hera slashed at a frog, cutting its back wide open. She saw Alex moving to the side, kicking the creature's leg, and stabbing her new dagger in its head. With a swift motion, the duo went after their next target. Kenny slammed the side of his broadsword in an incoming pangolin, sending the creature flying to the side and hitting the water of the ocean. Blue spun an applicator a few times and tossed it in the spike traps. A lightning bolt crossed the battlefield, parting the wave of monsters in two.
"Do not falter. The beast are many, but we stand as one," Thomas pierced a toad and a chameleon in quick succession.
"This should be over soon. Hang on," Kenny yelled as more monsters crossed the trees in the distance.
Hera sent a few of her poison needles to the group. Since she didn't have to worry about the condition of the body, she could use the spell as much as she wanted. She wasn't the only one who had that idea. The mages in the back, as well as the archer, kept firing all the spells and attacks they could non stop. Several of the monsters were barely recognizable after the assault. The sky was quickly being covered in fire, lightning, and arrows.
Hera looked around. They spent the last 50 minutes fighting off the constant assault of creatures. Their group was not the only one. All teams around Hazelpond were defending the city at the moment. According to Cass, even though the rampage was something constant, the pattern would change every hour. The first one would be a heavy assault, then smaller groups would appear, and after the second hour, the heavy assault would begin once more. The plan was for some to rest during the less populated waves and switch 15 minutes before the heavy assault. That way, they would be able to keep the momentum without having the entire team exhausted.
"Get ready for the first switch. I need six people still fighting. Runir and Mika, one of you has to rest. I want a healer in each team," Cass commanded.
"I'm still good," Blue had just snapped the neck of a chameleon and was moving towards a pangolin.
"My spirit will not falter in front of these beasts," Thomas pushed yet another frog to the pile of corpses that he was making before one of the pits that were dug out as a trap.
Alex, Hera, and Runir shared the same feeling. The combat wasn't enough to tire them out just yet.
"Very well. Bolton, they lack some cover fire. Can you stay with them?" Cass asked a mage that was in the ramparts with her.
"Aye, aye captain," he made a small salute.
"Oh, for fuck's sake. We already have a knight. Don't you start with the pirate crap," Kenny sliced an alligator that jumped at him.
"Can't you take a joke?" Bolton asked as he prepared another spell, "everyone duck!" He shouted and sent off a fire wave that covered most of the entrance they were protecting. Even with the warning, Blue and Thomas were a bit late to the draw. The roaring fire licked the top of their heads. If it weren't for the barriers placed by Runir and Mika, they would have some nasty burns.
The attack was relentless. Every creature that died was replaced by another one. The bright side was that none of them were particularly strong. It was clear that the issue was the numbers. In one hour, Thomas had killed 36 monsters, Hera and Alex got around 18 each, and Blue got 15. In total, the team killed over 200 monsters.
They kept fighting until the monster's bodies dissolved, signaling the end of a wave. The pile that Thomas made vanished into several pieces of skin, teeth, and gold. Hera realized his plan. Not only was it a way to blockade a path, but it made collecting the loot much easier. Hera and Alex tried to scramble to gather their haul, but the monsters were still coming. Kenny took the job of picking the drops in front while the other team members did the same with the creatures that died closer to the entrance.
"Don't worry about the loot. We'll split it later. If you guys focus on that right now, we are doomed," Cass said as she helped to get the valuables to a small camp, they made a few meters behind the city walls, "everyone is getting the same share, I promise."
Hera wasn't very worried about that. She was more concerned with the possibility of another wendigo showing up. Even if she didn't get any of the loot, they would still get a lot of money from the quest. Before she could even consider the options, a large toad jumped from the surrounding bog. Bolton sent five fire arrows in sequence, and Hera used her poison spray, trying to cover the creature with her spell. When most of the toad's body was painted in the bright orange from the spell, Bolton sent another fire arrow that ignited the beast.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Alex was using a new spell called wind cutter. It would surround her dagger and send blades of wind flying as she slashed the air. The toad was sturdy and dangerous when it got close. The assassin seemed to remember that. Blue, on the other hand, seemed to be worried about the idea of fighting barehanded against something that was engulfed in flames.
Runir and Tom, were already fighting another monster that popped out. It was a chameleon, and its slow movements weren't very suited for an offensive assault. The knight only needed a couple of strikes, and a buff from Runir, to dispatch the monster. It quickly became apparent why this wave of the rampage was considered weaker. Instead of the half a dozen monsters that would spawn every minute, they were fighting one at a time. Being able to fight as a group instead of on their own was much less taxing. Hera and her friends kept killing the creatures that rushed towards the city. Some weren't even able to go past the traps, giving the defenders even more time to rest.
"Tom, what kind of spells do you have?" Alex asked after a giant frog fell into a spike trap.
"I do not possess spells that deviate from knighthood. My sorcery is focused on strengthening myself," Thomas explained.
"Right, but what kind? Do you get like harder armor or what?" Alex used her Wind Cutter once more to kill the frog that attempted to climb up from the hole.
"Both, my spells are able to make my attacks true and my enemies to falter. I can also challenge a creature to duel me," Thomas said.
"A forced duel? Can you give me the code? I'll pay you," Blue asked since she was listening to the conversation.
"Code? Apologies, brave fighter, but magic comes to me in a more natural way. As long as I can picture how to use it, the sorcery is formed to aid me," Thomas explained.
"Oh, you use the subjective approach?" Hera was surprised by the information. It was the first time she met someone who used the same method as she did.
"Ah, yes. I believe some call it that. I prefer to call an innate ability," Tom chuckled.
"Can we talk about how you feel the magic later? I'm not sure if I'm doing the right thing. Maybe I can even share with you a long-range spell," Hera asked.
"Of course, We can discuss the battle tactics later. Now we have a duty to fulfill," Tom cut the conversation as another monster arrived.
He was right. It wasn't time for a training session. The monsters were still a threat, and they couldn't let a couple of easy kills make them drop their guard. As time went by, Hera started to wonder if the monsters were getting stronger or if their power was random. The first few were either killed or injured by the traps, but then, the beasts stopped falling into the pits. Could they be getting smarter? Was that the danger of a rampage?
She wanted to ask about it, but it didn't feel like the right moment. It was too much of a distraction right now. Some of the monsters listed in the quest were a mystery to Hera. If one of them appeared, she had to be sharp, especially since the snapping turtle seemed to be a problem. The minutes went by slowly. Facing a single monster as a group was hardly exciting, and thanks to Thomas and Bolton, the fights lasted less than a minute. Blue kept trying to hit the creatures before the veterans had a chance to strike, but as she began to move closer to the traps, the group scolded her for being reckless. They had to stay before the pitfalls, not after. If they were too advanced, it was easy to be overwhelmed.
"You guys are worrying too much. We are facing a single monster at a time. There is no way I'm biting more than I can chew," Blue protested.
"Boundless bravery is nothing but folly. The monsters can be attacking with fewer numbers, but nothing stops those numbers from growing suddenly. During the Carpon Caves' rampage, there were several moments when the waves of monsters grew at a moment's notice. Many could have died if they didn't follow the commander's orders," Thomas spoke in a stern tone.
Surprised by the unexpected seriousness, Blue gave up the idea of charging at the monsters and stayed with the rest of the group. Hera admired Thomas, Blue could be exceedingly stubborn when she wanted, but the knight could make her understand the situation quickly and without even defending her initial idea.
After forty minutes, Cass and the rest of the team came from the camp to trade places. They would have twenty minutes to rest, eat, and do what they needed. After that, the wave would change once more, increasing the number of monsters that appeared at once.
As the group changed, Cass walked back to show the base camp to everyone. It was just a couple of large tents spread out in the middle of the street with a small campfire in the middle, a couple of beach chairs to the side, and a large pot with some kind of stew inside it.
"There are four beds, two in each tent. If you need, lie down for a moment, but be ready to come back. Try to eat something but avoid stuffing yourself. The last thing we need is someone throwing up in the middle of a fight. In the back, we have some chemical toilets if you need them. The guild delivered them after you got here. We will keep doing these turns for 8 hours. Then another team will come to swap with us. We are closing in the second hour, and the rampage is always weaker at the start," Cass explained.
"How long is it going to last?" Blue asked.
"We have no idea. Every morning there will be some clouds in the sky. The color of those clouds will tell us if it's the last day or not. If they are yellow, we keep fighting. The signal for the last 24 hours is when it turns red," Cass said as she grabbed a water bottle.
"Is the last day a problem?" Hera asked.
"It's a final push. The last day will be much harder than the rest. There is no wave change. The monsters just keep coming at us non-stop," Cass said before heading back to the entrance. Her group was missing a Mage since she was explaining things to everyone.
"I believe I should inform you of one more thing," Thomas sat by the fire and picked a bowl of stew, "If the morning clouds turn black. That's when we evacuate the room."