What fatigue I have lifted as Janet finishes off the few that survived the fall. Ah, I suppose I leveled up.

“Put the stat points in Strength, please.”

Will do.

Unlike how William interacts with his patron, some trickster, as far as I know, I hear Ariel’s whispers to me. As soon as the order goes through I feel a rush of energy flow through me as my Strength stat increases. Mark quickly climbs the tower and takes his position. From the depths below, about a hundred more Ratmen rush up. I suppose Lawrence was right; there was an army being built up here.

“Ha ha! Here we go!” Oak laughs loudly as he positions himself a couple of feet away down the hill outside of the gatehouse.

Janet stands a little behind him, and William climbs the stairs after Mark.

“Keep a couple of them alive.” He says, “I’ll brainwash them to try to convince any others that we’re dead.”

“Will do.”

Oak’s shield changed into a tower shield as the wave crashed against him and surrounded him like a swarm.

“Splinter.” Mark mutters.

The arrow grows a slight yellow right before he lets it loose into the middle of the surging crowd of wiry-haired Ratmen. As it flew above the heads of the creature the yellow light intensifies before it explodes into dozens of splinters of wood and metal that rained down on the gathered horde. They screamed as the shrapnel ripped through them.

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About ten die from the explosive barrage, and several others are wounded. Oak held firm, while lightning fell over the gathered group like water, striking even more dead. The smell of burned flesh rises up to the ramparts, and I draw in a deep breath and step out into the air above the group. I gradually drop down until I’m on the slopes behind them. A few turn their heads toward me. I point my saber toward them and let off a couple of Wind Lances. They blast into the creature's face. One has its head ripped off from the blow, while the others brush it off. Once I land on the ground, ten of them turn toward me and attack.

Billow.

I release all of the air in my lungs and blow it into the group. It rips through the ranks like a tempest. It shoves several of them over the edge and they go flying down into the abyss, their screeches echoing off the cavern walls as they fell off into the void. Oak pushes forward; drawing one of his javelins and stabbing it forward into the throat of one and roars his incantation.

“Oh, Balor. King of those that came before, open thine eye and lend me thine power.”

The ratman that had the javelin stuck in its throat exploded as a wave of rolling flame emitted from it and tore through the ranks; puncturing a whole right through toward me. I have to hop to the side to avoid it as it collides against the cave wall; leaving a black scorch mark as it sears the glowing moss.

“Upon these lines, break.” He shouts out as he slams his shield into the ground.

A rumbling begins to emit from the point of impact. His wooden shield warps shrinks and sinks into the floor. A line of woven wooden pikes burst through the ground and skewered the row beside it. The wooden pikes retreated back into the ground and reemerged along the front ranks. The ratmen screech as they’re pierced, and left to die as soon as the root pikes retreated into the ground.

From this distance, I see Oak wince. That was the most spells he’d used in a row in a while, but it was worth it; over thirty had died as a result. The back rank begins to retreat back down the hill, but I follow; stabbing and slicing through their numbers. The silver edge of my blade turns ruby as it tears through hide armor and flesh. I slice through limbs and pierce through throats as I trace a trail of crimson through them. Dozens fell before me.

A bolt of lightning strikes near me, and I hop back.

“Janet, you almost hit me.”

“Oh, sorry.” She managed to sputter out during the brawl.

Eventually, most of the horde lies dead; save for about five that we managed to capture. The others have them pinned against the wall of the gatehouse as we surround them with our weapons drawn, while I make sure that no others approach.

“Let Aite open thine eyes and listen to my words,” William says before each of them.

A red light emits from his pendant as he utters his commands. The red light splits and wraps themselves around their wrists.

“We are dead. You have been victorious and want to tell others of your victory as you go down. You’re heroes now.”

The creature’s eyes take on the red light and they nod. To them, in their delirium, they had just killed a group of invaders and were happy to tell their comrades as such as we let them loose. It wasn’t long before three long gongs rang from down below, and the sound of hurried activity ceased.