Chapter: Falling back?
Glosil was coordinating with the different archery groups that were all pulling back into the center of the city.
“We’re moving back,” Roska reported as she and the quick reaction force had dealt with the two king ranked beasts they’d been tasked with.
“Move to assist Blaze,” Glosil said.
As Blaze was coordinating the heavy infantry he didn’t have time to check out the overall situation. Erik and Rugrat were still on the wall and among the beasts, killing as many of them as possible.
If the king ranked beasts were to make it into the city then they would smash through the heavy infantry defenses.
They had to be stopped no matter what.
Erik and Rugrat were the only ones that could go toe to toe with them, the quick reaction force that were made up of elites still needed ten people to kill just two king ranked beasts.
Glosil was on top of the village headquarters, using the binoculars that were in the watchtower to see what was going on.
He saw a commotion on a rooftop, a group of panthers had climbed a house and hit the archers that were using the roof as their firing position.
“Sergeant Shi! Assist Sergeant Flo!”
“Sir!”
The archery sergeant turned his attention to the fellow groups worried, three people had been cut down by the panthers, the remaining three on the roof were in a panic as they jumped off of the roof.
Sergeant Shi’s people had just reloaded thankfully and at this distance it was hard for them to miss, three of the four panthers were killed outright.
The final panther dropped onto the group, Glosil’s heart stopped, with the panther inside their defenses, they could get in behind the heavy infantry and tear them apart, or get to the archers who weren’t well suited for close range combat.
“Medics. I need you to take out the panther in the South Western sector! Sergeant Flo’s people are on top of the Yui family home, there are wounded among them,” Glosil said.
“Yes, sir,” Sergeant Mi of the Medics replied, organizing his people, the medics were prized possessions, they had the greatest armor and close in weapons as they ran from fight to fight, supporting the different groups and getting people back on their feet.
After the quick reaction force they were the strongest group.
Glosil didn’t want to use them to fight, but he didn’t have anyone else he could pull from as the quick reaction force were fighting their way back to the village square.
He could see the heavy infantry units were just fifty meters away from the village square, that distance reducing slowly but surely.
“Archers! Watch your area, already we’ve had beasts breaking through our lines of defense and attacking other groups,” Glosil warned.
There were holes showing in their defenses, but now there were less than two hundred beasts inside the village, the problem was that they were all elites.
Even the advanced crossbows weren’t able to kill them in just a few hits. The worst conditions were those for the heavy infantry as they directly clashed with the elites.
A red haze and bloody smell seemed to come off of them. They didn’t seem to feel pain, even as they were pushed to the rear with massive injuries, as soon as the medic released them, they’d step back up to the line, ready to go again.
Glosil felt a chill looking into their eyes, their blank stares as they’d pushed beyond stamina fatigue, reaching a new state that surpassed their limits.
He understood the hellish training that they had gone through now, even with everything, they had their reactions.
“I think one of the panthers is evolving in the North Eastern sector!”
“Glosil looked over as he saw a panther, growing in size, its power flowed out, giving off a stifling pressure.
Sneaky bastard, this must be the panther king, he hid in the ranks, moving like one of the regular panthers just to show himself at the last moment!
The panther grew until it was the size of a horse, blue lines appeared on its body as the air around it became dense with mana.
“Mana beast,” Glosil said breathlessly.
The panther let out a roar, the lines along its body glowed as energy seemed to flow around it. A magic circle appeared in front of its mouth.
A ray of mana shot out, hitting the Heavy Infantry line.
Three of the soldiers were knocked down, their fates unknown.
“Quick reaction force!” Glosil yelled out, feeling his panic rise, they weren’t ready for something like this.
The magic circle in front of the panther’s mouth, another appeared under its feet as a yellow glow fell over the panther’s body, increasing its strength.
Glosil hadn’t seen it before, but he knew what it was, one of the terrifying abilities of mana beasts was their ability to use mana, this gave them ranged attacks and could be used to buff their stats and abilities greatly.
***
Erik and Rugrat’s affinity for Mana had increased as they became mana lords, with the disturbance created by the mana panther, they looked over in alarm.
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The gorillas had made it into the village and they were pushing hard, it was difficult to push them back. There was simply too many of them and it was impossible to one shot them.
It took four or five good hits on their vitals to take them out, that was some twenty grievous injuries. Their natural defenses and strength were high, as was their reaction speed.
Cracks were showing on Erik’s Golden fox armor from the hits he’d taken.
Rugrat knew that he was hurting and near the end of his abilities, he was deep into stamina and mana fatigue.
Rugrat was using his sneak to get the attack modifier, but with so many, it was hard for him to sneak off.
“What’s that?” Rugrat yelled over the sound transmission device.
“A mana beast panther!” Glosil, said, even the normally disciplined Guard Captain’s voice shook.
“It’s level fifteen!” Blaze confirmed.
Do we try and fight off the gorillas or move to the mana beast and kill it?
“We’re on our way, Get the quick reaction force to hold off the Gorillas they’re breaking through the houses, if they aren’t stopped then they’re going to break through the barricades that we made in the different sectors,” Erik said, he fired at the gorillas as Rugrat started running for the Mana panther’s location, he didn’t need anyone to tell him where it was as the disturbance in the natural surrounding mana was like a beacon to him.
Erik was right behind him, it only took them a few minutes to get to where the mana beast was.
Screams greeted them as they came across the mana Beast plunging it claws into a heavy infantry soldier that was still slashing at the beast’s leg.
The entire section had been torn apart by the mana beast, the other beasts with it, were rushing forward into the archers that were behind them.
Rugrat buffed his rounds with explosive shot, he switched to full auto on his personal rifle, unloading into the mana beast.
It was thrown backwards under the unrelenting assault.
“You help the archers and pull the heavy infantry back together!” Rugrat said.
Erik dodged through the fighting and grabbed two heavy infantry that were around the mana beast. Rugrat altered his aim to not hit Erik.
Erik got clear with the wounded, one over his shoulder, the other held in his left hand as he charged the beasts.
With Rugrat’s strength stat, his rifle even at full auto didn’t shift its point of aim as the sound of shattering glass could be heard.
The golden like aura around the mana beast shattered as Rugrat dropped his old magazine and slapped in a new one, his speed hard to follow as there was barely any time between reloading.
Rugrat stepped forwards, other beasts seeing him attack their leader rushed to kill him.
Rugrat flipped to semi-auto once again, to him they were all moving too slow. The rounds knocked them back as he fired with his right hand, a grenade appeared in his left from his storage ring, he threw it out underneath the mana beast.
The grenades went off, Rugrat turned to the side, debris raining down on him as he turned back and fired at the mana beast again.
It had turned from a powerful and dominating beast into a bloodied and burnt looking weakling.
Erik helped ease the pressure on the heavy infantry, they took their monster cores recovering faster, the worst were placed with the medics as they charged forwards. Erik led them as they attacked the beasts directly.
The Red haze around them made the beasts scared to fight them, they didn’t seem to worry about injuries as they only wanted to kill more.
Sensing the danger to their rear the beasts started to face the heavy infantry, the archers pulled back, combat medics and other heavy infantry that had been pulled from other sections rushed forwards, their shields slamming down as their swords slashed outwards.
They didn’t fall back anymore but pushed forwards, forward to meet the beasts, forward to rescue their fellow heavy infantry members.
The mana beast dropped to the side, with the piercing enchanted runes buffed with explosive shot, its side had been torn apart.
It didn’t sense Rugrat and Erik before they attacked, Rugrat hadn’t paused in his shooting, pushing the beast back, it had lost its momentum, the pain made it unable to do anything but accept the damage.
While it was a level fifteen beast, so was Rugrat, instead of using his magic to attack, he used it to buff his rounds, each one had the force of a grenade launcher.
Nothing would have been able to survive such an onslaught, but the mana beast’s recovery ability was much greater than anything back on Earth.
The panther finally dropped to the ground, its body broken, half of its head was gone, showing skull underneath.
Panthers relied on their speed, not their tough hides like the gorillas.
Rugrat reloaded, he fired at the panther’s skull, a tombstone appeared above it.
Rugrat turned and looked to the other beasts, they had fought with renewed vigor seeing their king enter the battlefield, now, seeing that it had fallen they were scared.
Rugrat started firing on them, no longer caring about holding back his mana.
In two or three shots he was able to kill a creature.
I’ve only got two magazines left.
Rugrat could only grit his teeth and keep going. Suddenly the beasts stopped trying to fight and started to flee.
The remaining elites and kings let out calls, grouping together the beasts started to pull back out of the village, once they were past the walls they started running back out towards the forest.
The people of Alva village used their crossbows, chasing them with arrows, bleeding as many as possible.
Rugrat, pulled out his bow and started firing on them as they retreated, now it was the people of Alva chasing and charging them.
They made it beyond the wall, the day had worn on and it was already late afternoon, some beasts fell into the craters, others into the defenses, there were only a few that made it back into the forest.
Rugrat was standing at the edge of a breach, he knocked a new arrow, looking around, expecting to see a target, looking for the next threat.
Details started to enter his mind, some of the wooden defenses on fire, the beasts parts across the ground, the rubble at his feet, the people around him.
The yells behind him.
“Archers on the walls!” Erik yelled out before falling into a fit of coughing as he dropped to a knee.
Rugrat felt a wave of exhaustion fall over him as well. He took out his common grade monster core and absorbed it.
The flow of power allowed him to clear his mind.
“Start patching up the breaches! See to the wounded! Wounded are to report to the village headquarters!” Rugrat called out, Erik pulled out healing solution and drank it, his body covered in big and small wounds.
They were tired from fighting all day but they worked together.
Rugrat could only grimace as he saw human bodies among the beasts, no longer moving.
He opened up the last notification, he felt his whole body relax seeing that screen.
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Quest Completed: Beast Mountain Trial
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Requirements: Survive the beast horde (0/5 Waves remaining)
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Rewards:
Title: Dungeon Master
Control over Beast Mountain Dungeon
+100,000 EXP
Teleportation scroll (location locked)
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Erik picked himself up, using the wall beside him, his face had blood on it, his armor on his legs and arms had broken long ago.
His eyes were hooded, drained of his energy, but still he was able to stand.
“See to the village I’ll check on the wounded,” Erik said.
“Got it,” Rugrat held out three mana recovery potions.
Erik took them and headed for the village headquarters were the sounds of pain could be heard.
Rugrat checked his rifle and moved to the wall, checking on the different people there.
Dungeon Master, I wonder what that means.