He was a fox in a henhouse. All around him on the top of the wall were ranged classes. Mostly basic mages and archers, frail squishy ranged fighters who suffered even more than him in the narrow corridor between the parapets of the wall. Where he could shrug off multiple blows even if he didn’t have his mana barrier being fueled by a seemingly endless stream of energy from the fetish. Most of the others died in a few well placed thrusts. Even with the threat he represented only those near him could be diverted to fighting him. The skies were filling up with flying monsters. Quills were being sprayed up at the defenders on the wall. While the monstrous multiheaded monsters charged the opening in the wall. Their odd baying somewhere between a howl and a hyena’s laughter filled the night with more than unnerving sound. Debuffs started appearing and psychic damage was starting to affect the defenders.
Dren flowed through a group of defenders like a slithering serpent, his blades trailing blood in their wake as they lashed out. Coming to a stop on the other side he flashed a monstrous grin at a terrified mage before spinning around to hurl an explosive dagger over the toppling bodies at more defenders trying to target him from ranged. Just as he turned to resume his attack, a second dawn caught his attention. Where the skies had burst into flames with the cresting sun to one side, another dawn did the same from within the city. He glanced just in time to see a second massive barrage of spells sailing over the city from the Haven Lord’s tall building.
Dren wasn’t the only one who noticed the bombardment coming towards the wall. Many of those defending the wall paused to look on in horror. For his response, he jumped up onto the inner parapet and sprinted down it with all the speed his agility could muster. Despite his best efforts, escaping the bombardment proved impossible. Whoever had launched the attack hadn’t focused it on him. But instead blasted the top of the walls for a wide stretch in both directions. When the elemental blast struck he was blasted off the parapet and bowled into a group of native defenders. Gripping the fetish tightly he tried his best to help hold it together. But he still felt the snap of sinew or silk within his hand, the power flowing from it into him faltered and sputtered but didn’t die out, yet.
Beneath him two natives he had crashed into were now dead, killed either by him slamming violently into them like a human cannonball. Or from the bombardment attack. Even as he shot to his feet and took in the devastation around him his system pinged repeatedly notifying him of passed resistance checks to the monstrous baying. Dren swore. “That fucker really blew apart his own people?”
Just as he turned to look around trying to catch sight of Maria or that mad skeleton, new explosions detonated around him. Bloody bones pelted him like shrapnel as they exploded from the bodies of the dead all around. So large was the wave of bones it knocked him backward and pinned him against the parapet for a moment before all the bones flew off, turning into skeletons all around him. It wasn’t just the people he had killed but all those killed by the friendly fire of the bombardment. “Where are you, coward? Face me!” Dren bellowed out even as skeletons rushed in on him from all sides. Unlike the living defenders, these knew no fear and like a solid wall of gore, they slammed into him from all sides.
Clinging and scratching at him they nearly pushed him over the wall but instead ended up pinning him bent back over it. Their attacks couldn’t break his barrier but the constant damage put an endless drain on it. His arms were pinned beneath the weight of the horde and while each one was physically inferior to him together they were overwhelming. They piled on so tightly that they seemed to almost merge together. Struggling under the press of the horde Dren swore he heard the distant cackling of the necromancer in the distance. Growling in annoyance he looked up past the pile of bones on top of him and at the dawn tinged sky above.
Three enormous shimmering blades of light appeared high overhead. More than ten meters long and three wide they appeared without warning. As quickly as they appeared they slammed down into the wall below. Two slicing down, the blades turned parallel with the wall as they cleaved down the center of it. While the third speared into the wall right in front of Dren, obliterating a good deal of the horde pressing in on him. It also acted as a shield blocking a second, focused bombardment from the distant hotel. Just as the blast from the bombardment dissipated so did the blades.
With a grunt, Dren managed to push out from under the now thinned horde of skeletons on him. He breathed out a gout of fire engulfing all those still close to him. Blackened and charred the skeletons lunged forward seeming unphased. Cursing he flung out daggers rapidly around him, heedless of how close they landed. Bones rattled and clattered as skeletons were blown apart and hurled over the edge of the wall. Tasting blood he grunted and opened his left hand to eye the broken fetish. It seemed trying to rapidly refill all his resources at once while manifesting the trio of giant blades had finally pushed it past its limits.
His mana had taken the brunt of the drain and his head throbbed from low mana. A quick gulp had him swallow one of the mana potions taken from the ambush party. It was nowhere near enough to fill his pool, but it did halt the growing headache. Skeletons were putting themselves together or already moving towards him while the defense in general around this part of the wall was all but destroyed. His manifested blades had damaged the walls and a good section of it slid free nearby. Falling down and crushing a whole pack of the baying monsters down below. “Those count as my kill.” He said to no one while looking around for his targets. Almost as if answering his statement there was a rapid pinging of kill notifications and Dren snorted.
‘I don’t see either of them. Where the hell is she and that stupid cackling skeleton?’ Dren couldn’t find any signs of Maria or the skeleton. Pressing his lips together in annoyance he flung binding daggers in both directions down the wall as he turned to look within the city. ‘Should I try and find them? Or look for Kitty to complete the proclamation requirements? Fuck me. This didn’t go the way I imagined.’ Dren jerked his head back to avoid an ice attack before turning to glare to a frazzled mage that stared wild eyed at him. Just as he called a throwing dagger from his spatial storage his eyes slid past the deranged native.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“What the hell?” That was all he could say.
Standing further down he caught the sight of a familiar mop of red hair as the defenders seemed to part perfectly. His eyes met Kitty’s eyes.”What is she doing up on the walls? Is she not a prisoner?” He muttered, not bothering to attack the mage but instead shifting to avoid another attack. As if to answer his question two skeletons grabbed onto her and she started struggling in response. He could see her mouth opening as she shouted at them but couldn’t hear what she said over the cacophony of the battle. Just as he hopped up on the parapet to avoid the bound mass of skeletons as well as other natives, the two skeletons as well as everyone else near her were sent flying backward. Short walls erupted out from her in a circle and when they did, they launched everyone near her back. Both skeletons struggling with her were blasted over the side of the wall. While others were shoved back, toppling over one another still on the wall.
Dren just laughed at the mixed look of relief and horror on her face as he started racing down the wall. He jumped up to avoid grasping hands and bounced from one parapet to another. All while flinging enchanted knife after knife. Kitty looked up as the walls rushed back in on her and vanished. Her eyes met his and he saw the flash of recognition in them. Her mouth opened, a scowl already forming just as he launched off the parapet to land crouched on the wall in front of her. Sound just started emerging from her mouth when the breath was knocked out of her as he sprang forward to tackle her. She folded over his shoulder as he hit her in the middle, his arms coming up to hold her tightly as he jumped right over the wall. They sailed out and over the mass of monsters right at the base of the wall. Kitty managed to reclaim her breath halfway down enough to let out a shriek right until Dren slammed into the ground. His knees buckled and again Kitty had her breath blasted out of her by the impact, cutting off her shout.
Dren gritted his teeth as the shock of the impact finished blasting through him before he started running. Only a few attacks came his way as the defense on the wall was well and truly in chaos. Ahead another wave of monsters charged out of the woods. Yet, the baying monsters and waddling bear/beaver/porcupine horrors suddenly toppled over, heads flying free. Ren appeared glistening threads flashing in the early morning light as they trailed from her to the corpses. A shimmer in the treeline turned into Meg as she flipped free the cloak’s cowl.
“One damsel in distress retrieved.” Dren said loudly as he approached the tree line.
“Fuck you.” Came a wheezed response as Kitty finally caught her breath, she then started smacking her fist against his back. “Put me down you ass. And never call me Katherine again you dumb, dense, stupid, idiotic… dense…”
Dren laughed and just kept running as he entered the woods. “You are repeating yourself.” Things might not have gone exactly as he had wanted. But things hadn’t turned out too bad. Glancing to the edge of his vision he read the message.
“Procilmation Upheld. Rewards Allocated.”
****
Maria still stood on the balcony, looking down at the disaster below. Monsters had breached the walls and fires, most likely caused by Richard’s reckless use of his new Skeletal Mages, had spread through the Necropolis. At least a quarter of the walled haven had been damaged by fire, with several blocks completely gone. Nothing but ashes and charred skeletal frames of buildings left. Casualties were high, impossibly high compared to the previous Monster Surge. Yet, more were killed by friendly fire than either the Invader or the monsters. She gripped the banister of the balcony until her knuckles turned white. This was not how things were supposed to go. How could she fix this level of disaster? She had never imagined Richard would become so… crazy. Had becoming an undead altered him this much? Or was it simply the rapid growth in his power that had unstabled him?
She hadn’t even bothered to try and divine a path. She knew the moment she opened her skill it would be a maddening web of chaos. She would, eventually. Far too much had been invested to give up now. But still, she wondered just what should she do.
“Hmm, maybe they will do after all.” A smooth male voice spoke up from right beside her. Maria jumped and stumbled back as she turned to find a man standing right next to her, chewing on the nail of his thumb while looking over the destruction.
“Who…” Maria started but stopped as she realized who this man was. “Scourge, What are you doing here?” Maria swallowed hard, she had predicted he would have moved further north chasing the newly forming dungeons. Even if that prediction was one made without the use of her system given powers she hadn’t expected him to be here. Her predictions had been unstable from the start when concerning the man who called himself Scourge. All she knew for sure was that he was dangerous beyond all reason. Countless of her own paths had ended whenever she foresaw meeting this man.
“I came to see how they were doing.” He paused taking his thumb out of his mouth and spitting a piece of the nail away. “The Invader you sent to me.” He turned to look at her with those unnatural eyes.
“I didn’t…” Maria started but was cut off.
“Of course you did. I let you.” He smiled at her, it would have been a kind friendly smile if not for those odd flecks of green and violet in his eyes swirling unnaturally making it unnerving instead.
For a moment Maria just stared at him before uttering a single word. “Why?”
The smile on his face broadened into a grin. “Because if I am to be THE hero. I need a villain, don’t I? But not just any old Invader will do. I need someone worthy to play the supporting role.” His grin reached ear to ear and then just as quickly as it came it suddenly morphed into a frown as he started chewing on his thumb again. “Right? That is what I need, right? A hero needs a villain. But there aren’t any good enough. No. None. I’ll just have to make one. Yes. Make one. Gave them motivation.” He muttered and babbled seeming to have forgotten Maria was there. Then just as quickly as it came, he straightened up again. All the muttering and babbling stopped.
“Well, I have things to do. I need to get back to my dungeon. Timer resetting and all. I just thought I’d come to see how things were going. Give them my regards when you see them! Tell them to keep up the good work and to kill a lot more next time. I can’t see their status anymore but I get the feeling they haven’t collected nearly enough attributes yet. I need them nice and strong when I finally kill them.” Before she could respond, he hopped over the balcony. Glancing down she caught a blur of movement as he was swept away by something that passed just below them before sailing off as a dark blur towards the horizon.