The five entered into the next car and saw groups already fighting. A quick count showed eight hostile all preoccupied.

“We need to get to twenty. Defeating enemies isn’t the goal. It’s a race against the clock.” Carl said

“Everyone stay close. We have to move quickly.” Seth said

“Sheen, I need a timer. Share with Glitch” Carl said before equipping his bow and quiver

“Glitch, activate the party system. I’m taking the Tank role.” Seth said firmly

He equipped his Battle gear set and the water guardians shield before dashing forward and bashing the nearest man who had run towards them. He took the shield to the face and fell over into the nearby booty. The five ran passed before he could get up. Carl knocked an arrow and unleashed his skill, volley of arrows. The single shot burst forward before multiplying into twenty smaller bolts. This succeeded in creating a path to the next door. Seth rushed forward and stopped to hold the door while Fiz and Grace ran through. Atiyah and Carl followed behind and they pushed through to the next car.

The next three cars were similar to the first. Seth rushed forward to create a path using his bulk and the shield to knock everyone back. Atiyah followed up with quick slashes from her daggers and Grace followed behind with Fiz. Carl shot a few arrows and then with an amazing feat of athleticism, somersaulted his way to the other side. Fiz took a small box out of his bag and chunked it into the twenty-third car. He shut the door and the five waited in between the cars before hearing a large explosion. Fiz opened the door to check and motioned everyone in. The occupants were all lying on the ground having what looked to be seizures. Seth led the others through and they entered into the next car. He immediately saw a sword coming down on him and just barely threw his shield up in time. He pushed forward, parrying the blow back and knocking the man off his feet. He grabbed the sword hand of another man and pivoted to throw him into her wall. Atiyah rushed past him staying low and forming an orb of air mana in her free hand. She rolled it forward with a bit of upward spin and the ball flew up and around to strike another group that was preoccupied fighting each other. Fix and Grace ran forward narrowly getting through the gap that was created; the other three followed before shutting the door and moving to car twenty-one.

“One more and we are free of the vapors’” Seth said.

“We need to keep pushing.” Carl said.

“Why’s that?” Seth asked as he sidestepped a hand strike and countered with a cross jab to the grunt he was fighting.

“Everyone and their mother is going to be fighting over twenty. We need to get as far away from the chaos as possible. There might even be less fighting near the engine. Those occupants are already safe.” Carl explained.

Seth couldn’t argue with that logic and just nodded. He formed a water orb in his hand and sent a blast at the grunt in front of him. Water blasted over the grunt and knocked him over onto another. Fiz formed a ball of yellow energy and threw it over the two and hit three others. Electricity arched around them and they dropped to the ground also. They made it to the door and tried to open it. It was locked!. How could this be? Seth pushed and shoved and tried to get it opened. He heard laughing on the other side and peaking under noticed a piece of metal wedged inward blocking it.

“We have to find another way around.” Seth said.

He looked out the window and saw that the sun was rising and the cold snow had melted. He checked the windows but they did not open. He was fixing to break the glass when Carl yelled at him.

“Hold up! We can go up here.” He said pointing to the ceiling. There was a drop down ladder and a door in the middle of the car. Carl boosted Fiz up and he hit the latch dropping the rope ladder down. Seth climbed up and with all of his upper body strength, pushed the lid up and out of the way.

The train was traveling at full speed. A small number displayed at the top of his vision. Seventy-eight miles per hour . Seth looked behind him and saw his glider at the rear still attached to the roof. Seth tensed at the landing. He could have done better, but hey! He was on a boat during the war, not flying gliders. Seth got up and pulled Atiyah and Fiz up.Carl and Grace followed up and Seth had to grab Grace as the wind nearly threw her off.

“We have to get to the next car!” Carl said. He stabbed a dagger down into the roof and used it as a hand hold. Atiyah and Seth followed suit slamming their dagger and knives down. Fiz’s fingers flared with electricity and he used a skill to hold himself in place.

“What’s that skill?’ Seth asked

“Magnetism. It’s the same skill I used to throw those swords earlier. It also allows me to control metal to an extent.” he said

The team made their way to the front of the car. Seth looked behind and saw the purple gas leaking out of the opened door. He looked to Atiyah who also noticed. They could not go back the way they came.

“This doesn’t seem so bad. Why don’t we just stay up here?” Fiz yelled.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Because of that.” Carl said, pointing up ahead. The other’s followed his gaze and saw an upcoming tunnel.

“Glitch, Scan distance and time.” Seth said. He felt a sequence on his back shoulder.

“We have about eight minutes before we are splat. We have to get to the next car.” Seth yelled.

They carefully worked their way up to the edge. Carl peeked down and saw three men holding the door closed. He formed a dark orb in his palm and dropped it. They heard…nothing. No sound was made at all. Seth peaked over and saw a cascading area of pure darkness. Carl leaped the gap stabbing his knife into the roof of the next car. He reached his hand out and Grace jumped across grabbing him. They kept trying to reach the next opening. The timer at Seth’s periphery was showing only four minutes left. The tunnel was maybe 5 miles away from the engine. They team reached the trap door and tried to bust it open. The damn thing wouldn’t budge. They couldn’t spend any time on it and there was no telling who was inside. They kept crawling, deciding to fall between the nineteenth and twentieth car before the tunnel hit. The air was getting hot as the tunnel opening came closer. Seth peeked over the edge and saw now one was there. Carl jumped down and he started lowering the others, being careful to not make any noise. Seth was just about to lower himself when he felt a tug on his leg. He looked back to see a large man holding his pants leg, a sword plunged into the car’s roof to keep him steady. Seth turned to see the train enter the tunnel. He had seconds to act. With his free leg, he kicked at the man to try and make him fall. He heard the others down below yelling for him to drop down but he could his yells were overshadowed by the roaring of the wind. Seth formed an orb of water and shot a blast of water backwards. The man was hit and dropped back two cars. Seth looked and saw that he had recovered and was crawling back. He did not have time to move as the tunnel came. Flattening himself to the metal roof, Seth sent up a silent prayer that the gap between the train and the tunnel would be enough for him to fit. He held his breath as he was enshrouded in darkness.

…

The tunnel lasted only a few minutes. Seth watched as wind and darkness flowed around him before becoming sunlight again. His body immediately felt different. The heat on this side of the small mountain was very hot and dry. Seth looked up and saw that the land was scorched in fire and death. They had made it to the edge of Gridarnia. Technically the entire continent was Gridarnia. This western area was just all dead. Dead, burned, and full of monsters and demons. Seth felt the train slow in speed. It leveled out at around fifty miles an hour and Seth was able to stand up. He turned and saw the large man running at him with a fury. The man brought his sword down and Seth tried to sidestep but slipped on the slick roof. The sword came down missing him by inches and clanging against the cabin roof. Seth kicked at the man’s legs and knocked him down. Seth regained his footing and lunged forward with his dagger stabbing the man in his left thigh. The man screamed out in pain, and Seth delivered a right hook. Seth heard a scream and looked up but was too late. A dark figure rammed into him and he hit the roof. He looked up to see a bird like creature tearing into the other man. Seth watched in horror as the monster picked the man apart before pushing his remains off the side of the train. The creature looked up and noticed Seth standing there. It had bird-like feet and a humanoid torso. There was a short beak and sharp claws. The creature's wings spread out four feet on each side and it stood close to six feet in height.

“Glitch, Can you identify?” Seth asked, pulling his sword out of his inventory and the shield off of his back.

“...H….a….arpy.” Glitch barely got out between the static.

Seth checked his mana. He saw that he was dangerously low and the status window was beginning to fade again.

The harpy lunged forward and Seth blocked with his shield before pivoting and slashing horizontally. The harpy was insanely fast and no matter how many combinations of stabs, slashes and shield bashes Seth tried, he was slowly losing ground.

“You need some help with this?” Carl yelled from behind the harpy.

He sent a volley of arrows toward the beast clipping its left wing. Seth tried to rush forward and shield bash the beast but was missed. He was losing power and his abilities were becoming less effective. He hit a knee and did everything he could to keep his shield up as the beast began its attack. Carl sent out more arrows and Seth thought that he saw Atiyah up there with them. She was fighting the beast head on dodging and slashing with her ice daggers. A strike of electricity hit the creature and it fell down onto the roof. Seth struck down with his sword decapitating it.

“Th…t…not…enough.” Glitch said.

Seth realized he was right. Demons had to be killed in a specific way. Seth thought and thought but could not remember the different methods.

Black smoke came out of the demon's neck and reformed the head. It leaped back into the sky and was joined by more of its kind. Seth counted 15 of the demons floating in the air around them as the train rounded a curve. The heat was getting intense and Seth was having trouble breathing.

“You have a lot to learn if you wanna walk the line with us Mr. Ravensword.” A voice said from behind him.

Seth turned to see Lance, a dwarf, and what appeared to be a wood elf standing behind him. They ran forward attacking the harpies with such blazing speed that Seth could not follow the movements. Antiyah, Carl, and Seth came running up to help him.

“Where is Grace?” Seth asked

“She’s safe. We got her inside and came back to help. I was right. Everyone was fighting over twenty and no one was in nineteen.” Carl said.

They helped him to a sitting position as they watched the three newcomers fight the harpies. They fought with an efficiency only years of battles and training could create. The dwarf, Seth decided was the one named Stubby swung a large two handed hammer. Each successful hit either crushed the harpies against the train or sent them flying back away from the group. Carl stood in marvel as Picard sent arrow after arrow into the beasts with pinpoint accuracy on top of a moving train while they were flying in the air. The pure physics of it was sending Sheen into a fit of confusion. Carl finally told him to stop trying to calculate it and they just watched in wonder. Lance forward on the roof of the train as if it were on solid ground. Each sword stroke was precise and direct and crippled the beast. Picard started imbuing his arrows with mana and even stopped to imbue Lance's sword. Harpies began disappearing in a puff of black smoke one by one until there was only one. Lance ran up to Peggy who swung his hammer right as Lance jumped in the air. The dwarf slingshotted Lance at the Harpy as it tried to retreat. With a graceful sword strike Lance slashed through the heart of the beast and rolled into a landing on the car in front of them. It was finally over.