It was a lovely evening on the beach, and the smell of salt and rotting flesh permeated the air. Truth be told, it was always evening here, as the dim light of the bubble forced the mercenaries to squint in order to see into the distance.
The light was dimmed even further beyond the bubble, so unless the monsters swam right next to it, one could only distinguish shadows lurking.
Waiting for these shadows to attack were 10 sets of 20 warriors dispersed throughout the beach. Four groups took the vanguard position, rushing after the approaching monsters and tearing them to pieces.
Four other teams stood further behind, resting while at the same time keeping an eye out for stragglers and ambushes. The final two groups were formed mostly out of archers and mages, and they assisted everyone from afar.
Dominic Junior was in one of these groups, and although the formation was his second in command’s idea, the boy was performing exceedingly well.
“Team one, take out the snake to your left!” he ordered. “Team three on standby! Team four, there’s an incoming crab!”
As the leader of team four, Finn told everyone to spread out in a semicircle. When the crab approached them, they shot it full of holes.
The creature was massive, with pincers as large as a wagon. The heads of countless beings, including dwarves and humans, were stuck to its back as decoration or trophies.
Fortunately, its shell was not immune to arrows. But the second it got shot, the creature retaliated with a water cannon spit straight at the archers.
Warriors stepped forward and blocked the attack. Anyone in the crab’s way backed off while the archers kept shooting.
“Should I help?” asked Annie.
“No!” both Finn and Luca responded.
There was a golden ring with a blue crystal on each of her fingers, a contribution from both teams in case of an emergency.
“If there’s even a blemish on my ring, yours is forfeit.” Luca complained while shooting a couple of arrows straight into the crab’s eyes.
“Natalie, your turn!” Finn shouted.
The girl, followed by Michael, Tommy, and three other warriors rushed the creature from all sides. As they had practiced during their time off, Tommy and the warriors sliced the crab’s pincers. It took two men to take one down, but the group was well coordinated.
In the meantime, Natalie and Michael sliced the limbs on one side of its body, leaving the creature immobile and vulnerable.
‘This is humiliating,’ Michael complained as he was forced to use a bladed gauntlet for longer reach and damage.
“Team four, snake incoming!” Junior relayed the situation.
While Natalie’s group dealt with the crab, four other warriors took on the snake. There was one fighter per head, with the other two as backup.
After a month of fighting, they had a strategy for every situation, presuming they had encountered it before.
‘Would any of this have made a difference on that day?’ Finn asked himself during a moment of rest. The chilling fact was ‘No. Our best bet is still to end this quest and run.’
Fortunately, the number of monsters did not increase.
In the next few days, Finn’s team fought several more crabs, a few stingrays, and a single clownfish. Until the fifth day, it all looked relatively peaceful.
“Fall back!” Junior shouted out of nowhere. It was the very first emergency since their shift had started.
Tentacles pierced through the bubble, each one as long and as thick as a train. The vanguard retreated and the 200 warriors again took on a semicircle type of formation. It was meant to help surround the enemy while at the same time allow for everyone to run in different directions.
One, two, three, four tentacles emerged from the sea before the body finally made its entrance. It was an octopus larger than a three-story building, definitely the largest creature they had seen thus far. Eyes the size of Finn’s head covered its entire body aside from the eight tentacles which stretched in every direction.
“Prepare to engage!” shouted Junior.
“What? No!” Finn blurted out. This was not a monster mere mercenaries could fight.
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Fortunately, the octopus advanced some distance into the beach, and then for some reason it stopped.
Finn sighed in relief. “Let’s call for backup from the wall, and…”
“Teams one through eight, immobilize a tentacle!”
Upon hearing Junior’s order, the entire defense force sprang into action. Swordsmen and brawlers hacked and smashed while mages and archers attacked from afar. Finn wanted to resist, but if everyone moved, he had to move with them.
‘We should’ve retreated,’ he kept to himself. This was the largest monster he had ever seen. “Attack only the tip of the tentacle,” he ordered. “Do not penetrate deeper until we know how it moves.”
“Do you hear yourself?” asked Natalie.
While half a dozen warriors immobilized the tentacle tip with their shields, she and another five swordsmen attacked with all of their might. The archers shot arrows at an area of flesh further up ahead while a couple of mages set them ablaze for maximum damage.
“This is stupid,” Luca was muttering from the side. Besides Annie, he was the only one sitting out the fight. “Hey Finn, open your eyes.”
The boy was in the middle of loading up an arrow when the priest’s comment made him stop.
‘What the…’
The octopus’ body was not moving an inch. The tentacle they were fighting was also barely wriggling. To the soldiers sitting on the city’s defensive wall, this epic battle must’ve looked like a bunch of kids trying to piss off a monster and failing.
‘We’re less than ants,’ realized Finn. ‘We can’t just stop, but this is a waste of time, not to mention dangerous.’
“Keep shooting!” Junior shouted. He and the two squads of mages and archers rained countless projectiles towards the creature’s eyes. Yes, the eyes closed, and yes, there were signs of discomfort. But, how were they going to kill something for which a volley of arrows was merely an itch?
“Mages! Coordinate with me!” Junior’s crystal started glowing bright red. At the same time, the octopus began moving backwards. Its humongous body retreated towards the sea, and its tentacles crushed several people while doing so.
“Get back!”
Fortunately, Finn’s group of twenty could easily avoid the now moving tentacle.
“You’ll only piss it off, moron!” Luca shouted towards Junior.
“It’s running!” Junior continued firing. “We have taught it fear, now let us teach it death!”
With a twisted grin that threatened to break his cheeks, he summoned a large fireball above his head, twice the size of his own body. Then, the other mages threw smaller fireballs into it too, resulting in an impressive sphere that was almost as big as a giant.
“What now?” asked Michael while grabbing his bladed glove and throwing it in the sand. He wasn’t able to do much against huge or armored opponents, and it was starting to weigh on his mind.
At the same time, Dominic Junior shouted a final death threat and released his creation.
For the first time since the beginning of the fight, the octopus actually bothered to defend itself. It moved one of its giant tentacles and hit the fireball mid-flight. Dominic’s masterpiece was immediately destroyed, as if a ping-pong ball had been hit by a giant tennis player on steroids.
Having completed its morning stroll, the octopus continued trudging towards the ocean until it finally exited Trident’s bubble. Left in its wake, many warriors were dead, the mages were drained of mana, and a certain someone was pissed.
The boy left his group and walked straight up to Junior. He grabbed the mage by the collar with his left hand and armed his right fist as far back as he could.
“You bastard!” shouted Tommy, but before he could strike his superior, the blonde officer grabbed his arm.
“Continue and you’ll be tried for treason.”
“I’m a student of Phoenix academy,” Tommy attempted to break loose.
“You’ll rot in jail for a decade before the director even hears of your fate.”
Despite the situation, Junior was smiling. He kept eye contact with Tommy as if daring him to strike. Some 50 feet away from them, a group of twenty or so beastmen, elves, and a couple of humans lay in pieces upon the sand. What was for the octopus a simple swipe to remove an inconvenience, for those in its path, it was death.
“Tommy,” Michael called out. “It’s not worth it.”
More monsters were arriving on the beach. Whether they liked it or not, the fight had to continue.
[Later that day in the depths of the ocean]
A young girl, no older than 10 was munching on a piece of coral. Thousands of eyes focused on the girl, for a giant octopus was right in front of her.
The two looked like brother and sister, one big and one small. Except, one had thousands of eyes while the other had less than ten.
The girl’s body was blue and deformed. Tentacles spread out of her waist like a skirt, and three stubby legs kept her balanced. None of these could be used for swimming, and she needed none of them.
A goblin carrying a black crystal swam over and gave the girl more coral. The girl took it, but she kept her eyes on the octopus and the octopus kept her eyes on her.
While this was happening, thousands of mutated sharks were devouring the octopus’ legs. Blood spread into the water turning the entire ocean red.
The sharks suddenly went into a frenzy and ate even faster. However, they kept their distance from the girl, and the giant octopus did not scream or twitch or express any pain.
To the both of them, this seemed natural, and from afar, it looked almost beautiful. Only the glowing blue city in the distance ruined this tapestry of red, that and the three ugly goblins that were kneeling behind the girl’s back.
Suddenly, the girl snapped her fingers and one of the goblins dropped dead. A moment later, another goblin showed up, dragged the corpse away and took its place.
There were again three goblins holding three black crystals. There were three battlefronts and a single goal.
However, Trident was protected by a monster too, one near the pinnacle of the species known as dwarves. If the girl was to overcome this being, she could not allow further mistakes.