Despite the easy fight, after facing the Wendigo, the entire group was on edge. They all had heard the stories about the monsters would grow stronger with time, and if it encountered a prey that it couldn't kill, it would start bearing a grudge.
Hera had to forget the idea of controlling her chakram for a while. This was no time for testing things out. She got distracted for a moment with that when a giant newt jumped at her, trying to bite her arm. With no time to dodge, Hera tightened the grasp on her handaxe and braced for the impact. Just before it hit her, a soft yellow light covered her arms and shoulder. Runir had just placed a barrier on her.
As the monster attacked, and the shield did its work at first, but it didn't take long for the barrier to break, making her armor block the rest of the blow. The repulsion blast triggered, pushing the monster away. Hera followed it up with two strikes at the creature, making it tumble back. Before she could deliver the killing blow, an arrow flew through the air, hitting the monster between its eyes. The creature stopped moving. Hera looked up and nodded towards one of the archers that she didn't know before looking towards the entrance. Runir was breathing heavily and sweating a lot.
"Runir, go take a break," Hera said as she turned around to face an incoming toad.
"I'm fine!" he replied.
"Dude, you can barely stand. Go, rest!" Alex shouted.
"My friend, your strength has left you. You should retire for a moment," Thomas killed another chameleon, "As a matter of fact, I shall accompany you if that is ok with our brave leaders."
"Yeah, I'm taking a break too. Out of mana. Is that ok with you, Jess?" Cassandra said from the top of the walls.
"Go for it. We can afford to let someone else rest too. Is anyone feeling tired?" Jessica replied.
"Yeah, can I take a break?" Blue asked.
"I'll go next then," Kenny shoved a monster towards a trap.
"Hera, help me get some loot that is in the middle of the area," Cassandra said as she got down from the ramparts.
Hera quickly grabbed everything she could, tossing a few materials towards the walls. Cass joined in, but she didn't throw anything to the side. The two quickly moved back towards the camp, carrying a lot of materials in their arms.
"Hera, just one thing. Even though I praised you earlier, I want to know what was going through your head there. Why did you leave the trap area to attack the Wendigo?"
Cass asked.
Hera looked at the mage, "I wanted to get a better angle. We were having trouble hitting it, and I thought that maybe a pincer attack could help."
"Is that all?"
"Yeah. I know how dangerous those things can be first hand. I wanted to find a way to kill it before it had a chance to escape, and since there were no monsters around the walls, it felt less dangerous in a way. It just didn't work," Hera continued.
They arrived at the camp and placed the materials inside the box. Even without the piles that were by the wall, they had already completely filled one of the crates available.
"Oh, good. I was worried it was something else."
"Like what?"
"Revenge? Rage? I don't know, some reckless impulse decision. But since it was a reckless calculated decision, everything is fine. Now go, you have to get back there. You just had your break," Cass said.
"Sir, yes, sir," Hera saluted Cass before running back.
"Why do you all keep treating me like different things? Pick one and go with it!" Cass complained as Hera walked off.
Going back to the entrance, Hera saw a different scene. Instead of the several explosions, there were lightning bolts, wind blades, and icicles flying everywhere. Without Cass's flashy fire spells, the magic wasn't hidden behind the flames. The monsters kept moving towards the entrance. No one could count how many they had already killed, but the rampage didn't care.
Half an hour later, two giant snapping turtles emerged from the swamp. It was the first time that these species appeared in a group, and the one in the back of them was much larger than the other. Hera started charging a poison needle. At the same time, a couple of spells hit the first turtle.
"Don't kill it before it gets close!" Jessica yelled from the back as she used a spell to make the second turtle even slower.
The monsters hid behind the large three-meter tall creature. That created a problem for the group since they couldn't see the beasts coming and prepare in advance.
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"This is just annoying. The turtle is just walking at us menacingly, and it's already messing up with our entire strategy," Alex said as she and Hera killed a pangolin together. It was easier to kill the creatures in a group than fighting on their own.
"Yeah, but it's not like we have other options," Hera said, throwing a poison needle at a chameleon that had latched on to Kenny.
"Wait for my signal!" Jessica yelled.
The turtles started to get closer and closer. More and more monsters seemed to flood from behind them. As the first turtle crossed the traps, came the command, "Fire!"
Ironically, the first thing that hit the turtle was a giant icicle that became embedded in a part of its shell. The lighting spells were aimed at the massive ice spike to help to penetrate the creature's defense. The arrows were aimed at its eyes while the vanguard worked on the legs. The turtle was very sluggish, but the force behind it was massive. Each step made the ground shake, and with a stomp, it felt like a small earthquake.
Luckily, the number of spells and attacks aimed at its face was enough to kill it before it managed to hit anyone. The other turtle kept walking towards the entrance but moved more to the side, standing directly behind the corpse of the first one. It was still too far to start hitting it, and Jessica commanded everyone to wait before attacking.
The turtle's corpse was in the middle of the area, making the vanguard and the damage dealers split into two groups. On the one hand, that set up helped since the monsters would come in a line. On the other one, the agglomeration of people made the healer's job harder.
Hera and Alex stayed on the left. It was harder to use spells with so many people around, so the two focused on using their weapons to kill the incoming monsters. A group of three pangolins came running from behind the second turtle. The two on the edges started to spark with flames and lightning, while the one in the middle just stared at the defenders. As they got close, the two on the edges slammed against the vanguard, while the one in the middle jumped over the front line, parkouring through part of the turtle's body. A few arrows flew at it with the monster in the air, but its scales blocked the projectiles.
Hera jumped up and tried to hit it, but only managed to make the monster miss a step and fall from the turtle's shell. The pangolin dropped to the ground and head-butted Hera before trying to rush at the entrance once more. The only ones blocking the monster now were the healers.
Mika jumped in front of the creature as Jessica triggered her slow spell. That was enough for one of the fighters from the second team to intercept it, slamming the pangolin into the wall. Before the monster fell to the ground, Alex's body slammed it and shoved her daggers on its torso, killing the beast.
Hera focused on the monsters coming. The second turtle was close to the point where they could attack it. The giant monster adjusted itself, placing its head directly behind the first turtle's corpse, almost as if it was using it as a shield. The turtle moved its head and bit down on the corpse's shell. The body rose a few centimeters from the ground, and the turtle swung its head, using the first one's body as a club, tossing it to the side. Most people who were on the left side were flung to the side. Hera got hit and stumbled back, falling into one of the traps on the ground. Luckily for her, the hole was filled with bodies from different monsters, which allowed her to avoid the sharp wooden spikes at the bottom.
The turtle's body fell over fifty meters away from the entrance, hindering close to half of the defenders. The mages sent several spells towards the turtle, while the people on the ground kept attacking its legs. Hera did her best to get up from the trap, but even with the bodies, it required some climbing, and the impact hurt her arm.
"Watch out!" a voice rang, followed by a scream. Hera recognized the second voice. It was Alex's.
She grabbed the ledge and climbed back up, despite her wounded arm. The turtle was very close to the entrance, but it was too large to go through the gates. Alex was on the ground to the side of the walls, she was struggling to get up.
Hera escaped the trap and rushed towards her. On the way, she flung a poison needle at the turtle pumped with 200 mana from the mana crystal. If it managed to infect the monster, that attack would deal a lot of damage.
The beast didn't notice the attack and kept walking towards the gate. Hera took that chance to grab Alex and pull her to the side, so the turtle's movement wouldn't hit her. After making sure that she was in a safe spot, Hera turned around, sending a poison spray on the monster's front leg. When the orange liquid covered most of her target, she sent a fire arrow.
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Spell acquired
Grease Fire
Rank: Novice
Creates a spray of flaming grease. The liquid can adhere to some surfaces, creating a continuous damaging effect without an extra mana cost.
Range: 5 meters
Base mana cost: 35 mana per second.
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Hera waved the notification off and focused on the monster. She got closer to it, aiming at its face, and was about to use the new spell to cover the creature in the grease, but before she was able to do so, the barrage of attacks that the beast was receiving since it crossed the line, proved to be deadly.
She turned back to Alex and helped the assassin to reach the healers. With her safe, Hera started to help the rest of the members who were tossed to the side. Halfway through rescuing the people hurt, the third team arrived. Seeing the situation, they took over the vanguard while the now four healers helped everyone who was injured.
In total, four people got hurt and had to take a break to tend to their wounds, and another three were out of commission. Kenny took the brunt of the attack and ended up with a broken arm. Hera got lucky and only had a dislocated shoulder aside from some minor bruises accumulated over the day. It hurt like hell to put her arm in place, but Mika had a spell to lessen the pain.
Blue, Runir, Thomas, and Cassandra had joined into the fight once more. Alex just needed a quick first aid, and she back in the fray as well. The battle continued for a couple of hours. The extra 14 people helped alleviate the pressure that the group was feeling. The issue now was mostly space. The area was large, but not large enough for all the 20 melee warriors to have a comfortable room to fight.
Another hour went by, and the eerie crimson glow coming from the clouds became more intense. Even the dark purple trees started to look red with the light.
"Keep it up, everyone! We are getting close to the end," Cass yelled from the ramparts.
Hera smiled. The extra people were helping a lot. With them, defending the city felt almost a sure thing.