“I’ve got an idea, but I need to throw this through the whole,” said Jenn as she held out a round bottle with a cork stopper before continuing, “It’ll create a confusion mist in a three yard area. I wasn’t able to get the volumetric fog to stay concentrated enough in higher doses for the full effect. At least that’s what the prompt said on the failures.”
“I’ve got something that might work. The cards will take too long.”
CJ pulled the mana filament from his ring and approached the door. Instantly another arm swiped in, claws outstretched towards CJ’s throat. If the hole in the door were a centimeter wider, the Lykin could easily rip out his larynx. CJ charged the wire with an investment of mana watching the soft glow suffuse the razor thin strip of chord. On the next swipe at him, the wire interposed itself between CJ and the arm. There was a slight reverberation in the air as the Lykin’s arm plopped to the ground. A delayed howl from outside was overshadowed by something slamming into the door. Hard.
Looking through the hole, CJ noticed there were three blood splattered wolf men standing on the wall. They just pushed the one with blood spurting from his cleanly cut stump back over the wall toward the outside. The two others were conversing in yaps and growls before they turned back to the door. They positioned their bodies equally across the walk space on top of wall and squared their shoulders. Each a few paces distant from each other.
“Throw it now!” cried CJ as he spun away from the door.
The bulbous bottle was hurled through the door catching the first Lykin in the chest and bursting. Yellow fog burst around its body, and it began to cough. Arms flailing, it backhanded smacked the one running behind it. That interrupted its charge and they both fell to the ground in a heap. Then the biting and clawing began in earnest. Each one spent the next minute trying to tear the other one apart. CJ just watched, mouth agape, as the two wolf men killed each other.
New Message from Monty: We could use a little help down here. This door is heavy but there are enough of them outside to make a difference.
New Message from Rubio: I don’t have target acquisition on anymore incoming. This might be it for this wave.
New Message from Party Leader CJ: I’m on my way down. If you don’t think you can hold the door, start making your way up to the fallback position. Monty, if they get through, choke out the first two.
With that CJ took his revolver back and began reloading the cylinder. Jenn did the same and focused her attention on the hole in the door. Ready to shoot anything that would try to make its way in.
Halfway down to the ground floor, CJ heard a loud crash and the igniting of Elena’s chainsaw. He picked up the pace, pointing the barrel of his gun at the ground like Rubio taught them. Shooting Elena in the back while trying to mount a rescue would not be a good look.
CJ rounded a corner and witnessed a horror movie. Four Lykin had bashed the door open and now stood inside the tower hacking and wheezing while clutching at their throats. This is the first time CJ had gotten a good look at the enemy. They stood well over six feet in height, covered head to toe in fur, and the claws on each hand were razor sharp. The fur was modeled in whites and browns. Two of them had golden loops in one ear while one had longer chin hair that was braided.
Elena in her full helmeted regalia stood on the fifth stair up reading herself to leap at the first Lykin that stopped choking. CJ just fired at them from above her. Four rapid fire shots. One went wide and ricocheted off the stone wall and into the head of the Lykin furthest back. It unfortunately gasped for air and raised its head at the wrong moment. The back of its head exploded before the body slumped to the ground. Two other shots hit the leading Lykin center mass. Each coughing gasp from Monty’s spell was now accompanied by gouts of blood. It just sagged slowly to the ground drowning in its own bodily fluids. The final shot just embedded itself in the stone of the wall behind the targets. Then the spell ended and the two remaining Lykin charged the stairs.
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CJ had one bullet left but decided to pull the mana wire instead while stepping up next to Elena. The surprise element came when the two Lykin slammed their claws into the walls at either side of the stairwell and launched themselves past the two defenders. CJ turned to his right hoping to clip the wolf with the wire, but Elena slammed her saw into the back and spine of the one on her left. She pressed it up against the wall as chunks and giblets of the monster started flying in all directions.
CJ’s speed attribute was currently at twenty, but his agility was only thirteen. He wasn’t coordinated enough to catch his target as it passed by. It landed square on Monty and for a brief moment pure terror was painted across the rabbit’s face. This was all happening incredibly fast. CJ was still in mid turn, partially facing the wall on his right as his right foot was lifting off the stair so he could turn fully. The only thing he could think to do was trigger Familiar Empowerment mentally. He dumped twenty mana into that ability as the Lykin’s jaws were about to clamp down on Monty’s head. The mana swelled Monty’s form and the now four foot tall hare rose up into the air with a picture perfect inside crescent kick. Monty’s now much bigger right foot connected with the Lykins jaw. Monty must have put a lot of force behind it coupled with the Lykin being in mid because the kick slammed its head off the right wall. It rebounded and fell backward right into the waiting and charged mana filament wire CJ was just now stretching out in front of himself.
As soon as that Lykin fell to the ground in two halves, the torch light all settled back to standard orange and red flames. Rubio sent out a message for everyone to gather at the wall landing. Once there, everyone began reloading in silence.
“The next wave is going to be much worse. I suggest we just trap the ground level with some of Jenn’s mixtures and handle everything from here up.”
“If there were more of us downstairs, I bet we could hold the door shut. Maybe with big Monty,” theorized Elena.
“Big Monty only lasts five minutes. It’s also mana intensive. I think your dad’s suggestion is a good one. My big problem is that wall move they pulled. I didn’t anticipate they could easily climb the interior walls and get passed us. For them, fighting us is optional. They just need the tablet.”
“If that was their tactic inside the tower, they may just use it from the outside if getting in is too much trouble. I suggest we hold nothing back in the next wave. If we can get through that the portal may appear again and we can take the B rank. I’m fine with that,” stated Rubio.
“We’re so close now. We have plenty of ammunition. We just need to make the shots count. I also have another idea but it’s risky,” said CJ before all the torch lights switched directly to black light.
Jenn came running up the stairs tossing various bottles over her shoulder. There was a glowing green cloud behind her that looked unpleasant. Shots were being fired from the top of the tower in rapid succession. Elena and CJ kept firing through the hole in the door that led out to the wall, hitting the Lykin center mass as they approached. Rubio had stopped messaging their numbers once they exceeded twenty five.
“Several Lykin are in the tower now. They are unhappy about the amount of flesh falling off their bodies. What the hell did you spray down there Jenn?” asked Monty his ears sticking straight up and slowly rotating away from each other.
“A little bit of everything really. Not sure what it will do but it won’t do anything good.”
The Lykin were keeping clear of the door now, not giving the defenders any clear shots. Up the stairs lumbered a half melted Lykin. It’s muscle and sinew were exposed on the right side of its body and a pathetic mewling was coming from its slack jaw. CJ just shot it to put it out of its misery.
“Remind me never to piss you off,” said CJ before calling out, “Reloading.”
“I second that,” added Monty.
“Me three,” coughed Elena.
“Aww, you guys are terrified of me. That’s so sweet,” joked Jenn.