“Ebba! What is it?” Max said.

“The guns. They are loud, way too loud. You have brought every predator for miles on our heads. We can’t even run because they will be coming from every side. You have doomed us,” Ebba said and clutched her head with her upper arms.

“I doomed us? Why did you say we could go all out if we couldn’t use our guns?”

“I forgot! They told me not to let you use them, but I forgot, ok?”

“You forgot that humans would bring loud weapons? I’m pretty sure people have brought guns through the portal for every single year it was active,” Max said.

“Yes, yes. But they never last. The projectiles don’t react well with mana. They will all explode within the week. No human has a working gun outside of this clearing,” Ebba said and started backing away.

“Oh. Well, what about your Disregard card? Won’t that protect us?”

“No! I can protect us against maybe one or two, but never a horde. Why do you think I always scout ahead? We have to avoid herds and concentrations of predators,” Ebba said. She dropped all of her arms. “Ah whale shit. I shoulda listened to Briggita. This whole trip was wasted. Sorry, humans. I’ll have to leave you now, good luck.”

Panic gripped Max. Ebba was the only one that knew what was going on. She might be a terrible guide, but she was the best they had.

“No, wait! Stay. Help us set up our defenses, tell us what’s coming. We might survive. If it looks like things are going south, you can always leave then. Until then, please stay with us. You can’t get your four cards if you abandon us now,” Max pleaded.

Ebba looked around and shuffled on the spot. “Fine. I’ll stay for a bit. I’ll do some scouting with my botfly summons. But I won’t stay with you during the fight. I’m heading up that tree until the monsters stop coming.”

“If that’s all the help you will give us, I’ll take it. I guess we’ll set up some fortifications in the treeline," Max said.

Ebba had sat down and closed her eyes. She opened them back up again and said, “No, don’t do that. Half the monsters out there are ambush predators. Set up in the middle of the clearing so they can’t jump down on you.” She closed her eyes and her summoned monster appeared and buzzed off.

James had been standing close enough to overhear the whole thing and he was standing there with his mouth wide open. He pushed his hand at Max and said, “Here. These are your share of the cores. There were fragment cards too, but Kristina took those and won’t give them back.”

Max accepted the cores, four of them, and put them in his pocket. “Ok, yeah, we’ll deal with that later.” He walked to the center of the clearing and yelled out, “Everyone, gather up, we have a big problem.”

Kristina was one of the first to arrive. She popped a core in her mouth and smiled. “What’s the problem, Max?”

Once everyone was close enough to hear, Max addressed everyone. “The purple lady forgot one crucial detail. Our guns are super loud. She says that monsters for miles and miles are going to come try and kill us now.”

Max was treated to cursing in four different languages. He thought the Chinese curse of ‘stupid vagina selling tofu’ was particularly inventive. He held up his hands to get them to quiet down.

Kristina waited for a break in the swearing to say, “What kind of monsters? Can we take them or should we just run?”

“Running is a bad idea. They are mostly ambush predators and coming from all directions. Nasty monsters. She’s doing some scouting now and we need to set up a defense away from the trees,” Max said and pointed at the bearded firearms enthusiast. “Gus, right?”

“Yeah, that’s me,” Gus said with a slight frown.

“Do you have military experience? Do you want to take over the defense?”

“Yeah, served a tour in Afghanistan and Syria. But I'm not exactly leadership material,” Gus said and scratched his neck. "Last time I tried, someone got shot."

“Alright, fine. Can you give us military advice on how to set up defenses? We've only got a few minutes."

"We need something to get behind. It doesn't have to be big, waist height would be enough," Gus said. "And if we are going to be in the middle of the clearing, it'll need to be a circle."

Max nodded and clapped his hands. “Alright, let’s get to it. Everyone grab their bags and the largest log you can carry. Be back here in sixty seconds. Now!”

Half of the group burst into action, the other half belatedly following. Max clipped his pack back on with shaking hands. He tucked the hammer he had created earlier into his belt. He looked around and found a large tree branch, one a bit bigger than he would normally be able to carry. His exolegs made up the difference and he was able to drag it back to the center.

His log was the biggest of the bunch, by far. He hustled back to the treeline and grabbed another. Gus had them set up the logs in a circle, with backpacks to shore things up. It looked a bit pitiful. Even the shortest among them could look over the top of their ‘wall’. Max told Gus to give everyone competent a gun and to spread them out on all sides.

While they worked that out, Max ran out to collect his bolts and spear. Before he found the last one, he heard something coming. It wasn’t loud, just a few twigs snapping, but it was enough to terrify him.

He tried to sprint back, but his exolegs weren’t ready for it. The programming interfered with his run and he face planted. He hurriedly turned them off and got back up. He started running, but then another distraction popped up.

Kristina and her group were walking into the forest. They had just reached the treeline when she looked back and their eyes met. She shrugged and slipped away. Max was shocked speechless. They were abandoning the group. When they could use every fighter to protect them, these assholes were using them as a distraction so they could escape.

Max knew that he wouldn’t be able to convince the cowards to stay. He just turned and got back to running again. As he ran he shouted, “Monsters on the way!”

He needn’t have bothered. While he was yelling, gun shots went off, downing a monster that had just stepped into the clearing. It looked like a flattened wolf, wide and thin instead of tall. It went down in a spray of blood. A green and red orb appeared in the air above it.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Gus had everyone arranged in a tight circle inside their log defenses. The guns were spread out, ten people resting their guns on the logs spread out in front of them. Yang had gotten a rifle and passed off her handgun to an older guy. Lily asked for a gun, but no one was going to give an untrained kid a gun. James was wielding the hand axes he had packed.

Max was relieved to see that no one had given James a gun either. His friend had been a menace with guns the one time they had gone to the range together. Max was an alright shot with a handgun, but he had trained with his crossbow far more and was a great shot with it.

Ebba appeared in their midst. Max was shocked until he realized that she had been there the whole time, she just made them ignore her until now. She turned to Max and said, “You have many monsters inbound, mostly from the north. You might survive them if you are accurate with your guns. However, a titan is coming from the south, so I will leave you. I will watch what happens from a distance though. If you happen to survive, I will return and continue to lead you.”

She disappeared again. This time Max knew that she was still there, his brain was just being forced to ignore her. It was a frustrating power. He turned to Gus and said, “They'll be here soon. We ready?”

“As much as we can be. I got earplugs if you want them. I have a feeling we are gonna get loud again," Gus said and held out earplugs.

Max took them and loudly said, "Everyone, conserve your ammo, we don't know how many monsters are on their way. Cover your quadrant, trust the others to cover theirs. Ebba says there is a big scary one on the way too. If you see it, shout and we can concentrate fire on it."

Max put the earplugs in and walked over to Yang. She gave him a nod and went back to scanning the forest line.

He knelt down between Yang and James. Max placed his spear and extra bolts next to him. He had a total of twenty-four bolts, hopefully he wouldn’t need all of them. Once he was set up, he turned to his friend. James’ knuckles were white and he was shaking a bit.

“James, you ok, buddy?”

It took James a second to turn and say, “Yeah, Max. Just fine. Just fine.”

“It’s going to be alright, don’t worry,” Max said and patted him on the shoulder.

James just turned back to the forest and said, “Yep. It’ll be fine. I chose this. I wanted to be here.”

Max gave his friend a one armed hug.

Shots rang out behind them and Max twisted to see what had arrived. It was an armadillo type monster, plates of armor all along its body. As he watched, bullets ricocheted off of the armor and the monster kept coming. It had four legs and a long tail, and it galloped towards them, roaring in anger.

That was the last mistake it ever made.

Its mouth was unprotected, and four shots were enough to put it down for good. An orb and a fragment magic card appeared over the body. More monsters appeared out of the shadows of the forest. Some of them charged right in, others slunk to the side. Despite their fellows dying, the monsters weren’t giving up. They just kept coming.

Max turned his attention back to the southern forest. He needed to focus on his job and trust that they would do their job. A yeti-dog was coming up from the east, but Yang had that one, shooting it in the face over and over again. Max turned to the other monster approaching.

It was a black bug of some sort, clothed in shadow so he couldn’t make out details. Its eyes glowed, piercing out from its misty veil. It jumped forward then crawled and then jumped again.

Max timed his shot just as it was about to land. He hit it in the head, but the bolt deflected off. He pumped the handle and sighted in again. This time his shot missed entirely, the monster having leapt out of the way. He hurriedly reloaded the crossbow and held his fire until he was sure he had a shot.

James’ card started working then, affecting the monster’s paw. It turned ashy gray and started flaking off. The monster stumbled at the sudden pain and weakness. Max took the opportunity and shot. This time his bolt hit home, piercing deep into one of the glowing eyes.

Minor amount of essence gathered

Minor? That was a huge monster. Max wondered if they would have to kill a kaiju to get a major amount of essence.

A trio of bugs buzzed into the clearing. They were ten feet wide with beetle wings and a long proboscis. They swooped in from the left, spreading their bladed legs to attack. Gus fired off a spray of bullets, hitting all of them in one go. Only one died from the attack, but the other two had their wings clipped and fell to the ground where they were easy pickings. Max turned back to his side.

There was a large distortion in the air about a hundred yards out. He thought it might be a monster with invisibility. He sighted in and let loose with a bolt. To his shock, it stopped midair only fifty feet from the log wall.

It was a glass beast, only visible now because of the cracks running along its shoulder. Max swore and fell backward in shock. Yang noticed and turned. By the time she fired, the monster was only thirty feet away. Ten rounds from an automatic rifle were just enough. The monster shattered into hundreds of pieces, momentum creating a line of glass shards ten feet long. A moment later a silvery magic card appeared in the air above its remains.

Medium amount of essence gathered

Max ignored the message and the ones after that. The fight was getting intense. The cadence of gunfire behind him picked up.

Four monsters slinked closer and closer. They were avoiding the gunfire by using the bodies of other monsters as cover. Three of them were the oddly flat cats, scrabbling around the field, only held back by the lack of cover directly in front of the log wall. The fourth monster looked like a caterpillar stegosaurus. It was five feet high with dozens of insect-like legs. Its body was covered with bloodied fur and had large plates along its back. The plates were glowing brighter and brighter.

Instinctively, Max turned back around and covered his eyes with his forearm. His guess about the monster was quickly proven right when the clearing lit up with a searing bright light. He could see the outline of his arm bones through his closed eyes. He turned back north, blinking the light out of his eyes.

The stegosaurus caterpillar had blinded most of the defenders and some of the attackers. Two of the monsters rolled on the ground, screeching and clawing at their eyes. One of the flat cats took advantage of the guns falling silent. It scuttled forward, all six legs throwing up dirt.

Max stood and fired his crossbow over the heads of the blinded gunmen. He missed. The monster leapt over the short log wall and landed in their midst. It started slashing and biting all around itself, flailing indiscriminately. Blood flew and four people fell. Screams resounded. Max finished reloading and fired his bolt into the monster's eye from almost point blank.

The bolt sunk deep, almost to its fletchings. It wasn’t enough to kill it. The monster reared back in pain, swiping the air in front of it. Max’s crossbow was yanked out of his hands. He jumped back, fumbling for the spear he knew was behind him.

Yang took the opportunity he presented. Now that the monster had exposed its soft underbelly, she fired a quick volley into its belly and head. It fell to the ground, covering the people it had just killed. She put a bullet through its other eye, just to be sure.

More monsters charged into the clearing. These were the smart ones. They had waited until most of the guns had gone silent before they made their move. There were armadillos, Quill Cats, shadowy bugs, and a rainbow colored crustacean.

Max jumped forward and grabbed a gun that had fallen to the ground. The shooters were still blind so they wouldn’t need it. He shoved Gus out of the way and knelt. There was no way he could kill this many monsters, even if Yang joined him. He shouldered the rifle anyway. He didn’t have a choice.

The closest monster was the stego-caterpillar and Max fired three quick bursts into its face. He winced as half of the shots went wide. The monster still went down though, a magic card appearing above its body a moment later.

Max turned to the other monsters, expecting them to already be climbing the wall. They weren’t. They were standing still, staring at him.

No, they weren’t staring at him, it was something behind him. He glanced back. The trees were moving. He watched as the tightly packed trees fell, one after another. He looked forward to see the monsters scatter, bounding away as fast as they could.

Max looked to his left and addressed a blinded Gus. “Hey, Gus. You happen to pack a nuke? Or maybe some anti-tank missiles?”

As soon as he finished talking, more trees fell and revealed a titan.