Deathly silence. Silence and yet more silence for a dozen seconds until a horn blew in the distant tree line and the earth trembled again.

Gnoll after gnoll came through the forest line. Drums began beating on our side as we prepared for battle. The army in front of us did not cease to emerge from the tree line until a force twice our size had entered the plains and formed up about a mile in front of us.

“That’s... a lot of gnolls.” Maria said. She pulled the bow from her back, as did Jessica. We all unsheathed our weapons and prepared for what was to come next. The air was vibrating from the sound of horns and drum; the ground began vibrating again as the gnolls started to move forward; everything was coming to a crescendo.

“ARCHERS!” Rhugar yelled from behind me. I couldn’t help but look back at the wall, where arrows were pulled from baskets, dipped into torches and lit ablaze, then nocked. “HOLD!” Rhugar yelled again. The gnolls in the distance started to move faster in our direction till they were nearly sprinting. “RELEASE!”

“SOLDIERS, FORWARD WITH ME!” he roared as blazing arrows flew overhead. Rhugar’s horse kicked up clumps of dirt as he rode forward with the infantry running behind. They moved a hundred feet forward from the wall before planting down shields like a shield wall, spears stabbing two feet out from the cracks awaiting the approaching gnoll army.

“Let’s go!” Lucas said before rushing to the front line. Alan and Richard joined him as the rest of us followed closely behind. There was a wall of shields separating us from the incoming gnoll army, allowing us to pick our targets. “That over there should be a commander.” Lucas pointed at a towering gnoll brute with a mace the size of a man in each hand. The brute’s body was more green than brown, and one eye had been cut out with a deep gash across its face. It scanned the battlefield in front of it looking for a target.

“If that hits the shield wall, they won’t be able to hold up,” Thomas said, “it’s a good first target for us.” It was a valid point, and Rhugar had specifically asked us to support where we could.

“Can you inspect it?” I asked Jessica.

“Level thirty-seven gnoll brute. It’s elite,” she said before reading off its skills.

“Intimidating Presence: can Fear nearby enemies for up to three seconds, and Warrior’s Spirit: increased life regeneration as life decreases.”

Both skills were formidable, but Intimidating Presence was the more dangerous by far. A three second crowd control could be the difference between life and death. The other just meant we had to really burst it down, but I didn’t think damage would be our problem. “Is it okay to pull?” Lucas asked, “I think we can take it.”

“Let’s get it out of that encirclement of gnolls,” I suggested. Rushing to fight it in the middle of their army wasn’t the right decision. I believed we should be able to hold our own against the brute if it was just us and him.

“I’ll try to get its attention.” Jessica said before turning to Maria, “join me?” And the two of them nocked arrows before sending a Godless Arrow and an Explosive Arrow whistling towards the gnoll brute.

I watched with bated breath as the Godless Arrow struct the right shoulder of the monstrous gnoll. The power of Godless Arrow had been impressive up to now. It had always exploded flesh like bursting a melon. This time, however, there was a smaller than normal burst of blood at the moment of impact. Jessica looked at me with surprise: this was the first time either of us had seen it do so little damage.

Immediately after Godless Arrow connected, Explosive Arrow followed up striking close to the first arrow and seeming to compound its effect. The apple-size wound doubled in extent and black smoke billowed from the shoulder of the brute. The hair there had been singed and the original red bleeding wound was now a disgusting pink from the flames.

The gnoll brute howled loudly in anger before its eyes darted around in every direction. It towered at least ten feet tall and had no obstruction when searching the field too look for a target. Its eyes eventually landed on Jessica and Maria, both standing firm with their bows.

“I think I got its attention,” Jessica said. There was no denying that, as the gnoll brute used its massive maces to move aside the gnoll soldiers in front of it, like pushing past children. It took just a few seconds before it was in front of the shield wall and ready to smash down on the soldiers.

Any man hit by those maces, shield up or not, would be turned to a bloody paste. Rhugar understood the strange actions of the brute and could see that we were formed to face it. “OPEN THE WALL!” he yelled.

The men and women in the wall that was about to be battered and sent flying by the gnoll brute quickly moved back, left, and right to create a six-foot opening for the brute to rush through. Its eyes were seeing red, and it didn’t even look back as the infantry hurriedly closed ranks again after it had passed. The monster saw only saw Jessica and Maria, the ants that had hurt it.

“Let’s go!” Alan said before casting a Charge and ramming directly into the gnoll brute. His shield slammed high into the air, intercepting the arc of the brute’s swing at the top and minimized the force it could muster. His jagged sword swiped across the left inner thigh, activating the special effect of Rend and inflicting a bleed.

Richard appeared at Alan’s side and used the strength of his entire body to stop the second mace swinging horizontally. The shield Richard wielded bowed in as a mighty clang rang out and he was sent back three or four feet, losing ten percent of his HP from the swing. “Careful!” Richard yelled, “its strength is insane!” He didn’t hesitate to use his instant heal and rush back in.

Lucas used the opportunity provided by our tanks to send out a Wind Slash, leaving a shallow gash on the left arm of the gnoll brute. “Its skin is incredibly tough!” Clearly our melee was not going to be effective in this fight.

The brute tried for a moment to push the two warriors aside and continue chasing Jessica and Maria, but quickly realized the ants in front of it wouldn’t move, nor die. It was stuck behind enemy lines, and Richard and Alan wouldn’t give it a single foot of progress forward.

My undead troops encircled the brute from behind, and although they weren’t able to deal much damage, I could see they were being useful as a distraction. The gnoll brute was surrounded by over fifteen skeletal warriors constantly moving in and out and attacking it. Each of my undead could only take one hit before exploding into a boney mess, but that time was crucial for allowing Richard, Alan, and Lucas some time to pin the elite monster in place.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

As soon as our ranged members felt the gnoll brute was well contained, they began pelting it with spells and abilities. Quagmire Trap came out as well as Entangling Arrow, leaving the gnoll brute in a literal marsh. Anna’s ice spells began to accumulate on its body, further slowing its movement.

We were all dodging incoming arrows while all of this was happening. The war was still raging around us as gnoll archers rained arrows from above. Men fell all around us, and my bone armor had deflected two arrows so far.

Thomas spent most of his time casting a HoT on our two tanks and then watching the skies to avoid arrows. No one wanted to be impaled unsuspectingly. While arrow damage could be healed, it would hurt like a bitch in the moment and definitely require actual medical attention, which would take one of us out of the fight.

I channeled Decay with my full MP. Pre-summoning my minions allowed me to be in top condition before the fight even began. It was our tried-and-true method, and I didn’t even need to tell Jessica to focus on the eyes.

I focused my Decay on the gnoll brute’s face, quickly causing it to lighten into a greyish green color. The scars now looked like creases on its drooping face and Jessica didn’t wait to send out several Godless Arrows in a row.

The skin of the gnoll brute became soft and vulnerable, and the sturdiness around the eye socket vanished as even the bone decayed. Jessica sent arrow after arrow towards its eye. “I’m spent!” she yelled, but she had successfully blown a hole right through the only remaining eye. Even in this post-apocalyptic world, we could depend on the enemies having glaring weak spots, and these gnolls were no different.

Almost immediately after it lost its vision, the gnoll brute cast Intimidating Presence. A purple wave of what looked like miasma rushed outward from its body for at least twenty feet. Every soldier and enemy in the area immediately cowered in fear. They stopped what they were doing and crouched on the ground holding their head like a crying infant.

The gnoll brute was more than ten levels above us, and we weren’t able to resist the effect either. The only exception were my undead warriors. As soon as I saw the Fear cast, I ordered nearly all of them in with no regard for their lives and they dogpiled the boss.

My skeleton general I positioned in front of the defenseless and crouched Richard, just in time as a mace came flying towards him blindly. It hurt my heart to watch the destruction of my general, but I could resummon him. The zweihander he wielded resisted the shock of impact only for a fraction of a second before the mace pushed it back into his bony frame. Then, his boney body exploded into dozens of pieces and speckled the battlefield.

Fortunately, the skeleton general had absorbed enough force to keep Richard from being turned into meat paste. My plus five Fear Resistance wasn’t much, but it allowed to me get up a second earlier than the others and manually direct my undead. I focused Decay on the hand holding the second swinging mace and instructed my warriors to pull Alan and Richard back from beneath the boss.

A blind and wild attack from the brute dug a trench into the ground right where Alan and Richard once sat cowering in fear. Dirt and mud was sent soaring a hundred feet through the air before falling in the distance. A moment later Alan and Richard came to and stood up, before rushing back to the boss.

We had passed unscathed through what I hoped was the most difficult trial of the fight. Jessica was out of MP but she continued to pelt arrow after arrow into the decayed spots on the boss. Anna placed a Blizzard directly over top the boss and then sent out pulses repeatedly that cleanly sliced through the thick hide.

The regenerative ability the boss possessed was astonishing: the wound inflicted at the beginning by Jessica and Maria had already fully closed. Even the wound on the thigh and arms and all over its hind legs started to rapidly close. Only the areas burned by Maria’s explosive arrow showed resistance towards its regeneration.

“We got this!” I cried. It was merely a tank and spank fight now. The gnoll was still without vision, and all it could do was swing wildly in front and around itself. My undead warriors occasionally died, but my summoned range undead were working well.

Anna began focusing her spells on the wrists, and I compounded her damage with Decay. Lucas expertly Wind Slashed along with her Freezing Pulse and after a minute, the two had bisected both hands clean off.

The gnoll brute had no eyes or weapons anymore. It turned its head back and forth, seeming to feel fear for the first time since the beginning of the battle. The regeneration it had previously demonstrated disappeared. Richard and Alan pushed forward hard while my undead squad attacked from behind.

The earth shook as the gnoll brute toppled onto its back. Explosive Arrow, Blizzard and Freezing Pulse, Wind Slash and Double Attack came repeatedly. As every skill connected with the now decrepit and soft neck, the head of the brute disconnected from the body and rolled a few feet towards the shield wall.

A solider that felt the bisected head touch his back looked backwards and couldn’t help but let out a scream. “DON’T LOSE FOCUS!” Rhugar yelled. “WE HAVE DOWNED A COMMANDER. THIS IS NOT LOST!” And then he rode along behind the shield wall stabbing out a spear at the gnolls trying to break through.

“Is everyone okay?” Thomas asked. He hadn’t healed that much during the fight, only Richard and Alan took damage, and most of it was blocked by their shields. They were an impressive duo that even the toughest boss found hard to get through.

The commander had put up more of a fight than I was expecting. It was higher level than I had anticipated. In most games I’d ever played, fighting an enemy a few levels above you solo was usually okay, but maybe not an elite. There was only six of us at the moment, as we’d decided that Mark and Glenn shouldn’t come into battle with us this time.

Their potential value was great, and the risk to their lives posed by high-level fights before they fully developed their classes and skills was not something I had wanted to see. Instead, they were atop the wall helping direct archers and standing ready to assist weak spots in the defense.

“Mike!” Rhugar yelled, “our left flank is starting to fail. I’m going to call for a retreat but I need your assistance! Follow me!” Our whole group rushed after Rhugar, still behind the shield wall, dodging arrows and the occasional spear. Those around us weren’t so lucky as I saw several men and women, fall.

My adrenaline was pumping when we arrived to see the scene. Gnolls had already breached the shield wall here and were wreaking havoc on the men trying to hold the frontline. Alan and Richard needed no directing as they rushed forward to meet the enemies.

These were non-elite, and even my undead squad could handle a single gnoll for every two skeleton warriors. Just by myself I could hold off five or six without much difficulty. Jessica stayed by my side and easily picked off the gnolls my minions were locking up. Anna and Lucas assisted both Richard and Alan.

In just twenty seconds, the gnolls that had breached the shield wall were dead, and I got a welcome message.

Congratulations, you have leveled up!

There was no time to stop or check my stats, we hadn’t even looked at the loot from the gnoll brute. Alan swiped it off the corpse and put it away before rushing to assist the others. “RETREAT!” Rhugar yelled. We needed to move closer to the wall, it would allow the archers to assist more accurately, but also use new weapons.

The top of the walls were lined with tar, and humungous rocks that would crush a man when tossed over. The causalities of the gnolls were climbing, and although they were dying faster than their human counterparts, they outnumbered us four of five to one. It was a battle of attrition, and the resource we were losing was people. This was war.

I shook the thought out of my head and quickly resummoned the undead I had lost from the bodies we dispatched. Anna placed a Blizzard in front of the shieldwall in our section, while archers atop the wall laid down heavy fire while we retreated with Rhugar.

The entire army moved back twenty or thirty feet and had reset themselves into preprepared pits. Wooden barricades covered the area all around the pits, and men waited behind them with shield and spear.

I could tell from a glance, even with these preparations, this wasn’t a situation we would win. We would be bottled up in the city soon, and without strong reinforcements from the north and west wall, would be kept contained inside.