The soldiers along the wall guard themselves from the massive blast of pressure that washes through us. Some tumble back, like Shrelle, the soldier guiding me, others successfully keep their feet, but none that I see are able to withstand it entirely, retreating a step or two from the force of the attack.
My own mana dips as I resist the force of it.
A deep, unsettling silence follows, even birds and beasts in the forest quiet for a moment as a shiver is shared between all who felt the cry, wondering if it was but the first attack in a salvo.
When no further attacks come, a few indignant officers break the silence, yelling and shouting to prove that we’re not all struck deaf.
The soldiers thusly reminded of their duty, line up along the wall, ready to engage with the enemy wherever and whatever it may be. Though even now they can’t disguise the shuddering fear running through them, more than a few have their feathers ruffled in dismay.
Only the officers are speaking, and they shout loud enough that it’s impossible not to overhear them. They gather their fastest runners and shout orders.
“This is a code black emergency.” The nearest officer says, “You two, do a circuit of the bases, and you, run to the peaks and gather the nobles. We need everyone. Fly low to the ground and be prepared to take more hits like the last.”
“Yes, sir!” The soldiers reply with swift and snappy salutes before diving into a low flight so near to the ground that I swear that the grass would be whipping at their faces if it wasn’t flattened by the blast.
Other runners join them and it takes only a moment of thought to realize why so many runners are sent. Redundancy. If one, or a dozen, should fall, another will still live to carry the message. Some of them give up their flight and run instead, likely worried about a follow up attack.
“Are we supposed to report to anyone?” I ask Shrelle as she gazes into the forest beyond the wall.
“I… The base commander.” She says, shaking her head and quickly pulling me along. She focuses on her goal, and doesn’t bother to slow herself for my sake.
I save the rest of my questions for now; from her reaction this is clearly not some ordinary raid from a familiar enemy. If I were to guess, then I’d say that this is some form of Omega beast, and this little city has just found itself in the path of some powerful, mana-hungry beast.
Something able to attack with such thick mana from so far away and over such a large area really speaks of how dangerous this thing really is. I can’t even really imagine how much power it must have to waste as much so easily.
“Commander!” My guide shouts, snapping a salute as she approaches the man. I’d expected him to be running around busily getting people moving, that’s how it is in the movies I’ve watched. Instead, the commander of this fort is quietly observing the soldiers rush about with silent poise.
“Initiate Shrelle, traveller.” He says, nodding to the two of us as he continues to address me. “Something truly dangerous approaches, as you no doubt already know. Will you assist us in the defence of the fort, and the defence of our home?”
“Well, I can’t fly or teleport away. If I’m stuck here, I’m not going to go down quietly, let’s see what this beast can do.” I say with a shrug. I am tempted to call in Arduelle and have her deal with it, but I very much doubt she’ll listen to my requests. For all I know, this could be the pest that she wants me to deal with.
“In that case would you rather be assigned to the artillery mages, or the wall defence? With your lacking mobility you would make for an awful scout, so that’s already ruled out.”
“Wall defence, I guess.” I reply. Looking back up at the wall, wondering if anyone can even see the beast yet. “Isn’t there something that you should be doing? Running around giving orders or something?”
“Are your people so ill prepared for such instances as these that they need to give orders to ready their forces?” He asks, standing tall and proud. “The soldiers have been trained on what to do. Throwing around new orders now will simply distract them from their training. I’m observing to ensure that everything is working as it should, and for now, it is.
“Shrelle, take her to Kyle’s combat group and work to support her. Ensure she survives.”
“Yes, sir!” She replies, with the same energy as before, pulling me away with a firm grip and focused gaze. I have to jog rather fast, for fear of her dragging me up the stairs like a sack of potatoes.
“So, how are you meant to respond to something like this?” I ask, noticing that all the soldiers have found their places on the wall or in spread out formations behind it. As the commander said, they all seem to know what they’re doing and where they’re meant to be.
“The scout teams move in to monitor and potentially engage with the beast, before returning to report.” It’s unfortunate that they don’t have the messaging systems. Their own support devices are completely unmodified and old style. They still seem to have Skills at least.
“The rest of us defend the wall from encroaching beasts.” She continues. “We can’t let a single one past us. If we deal with this particular monster, but let a horde of lesser beasts climb up into the peaks, they’ll kill all the ordinary people.”
“So, we hold the line and blast down whatever tries to fly over?” I ask, watching as a few mages use ice and earth shards to slay a few birds that get too near. It’s difficult to tell from this distance if the mages are simply overeager, or if the birds are actually a dangerous threat.
“Yes.” She replies. “We keep the beasts away.”
“What if we’re overwhelmed?” I ask, as I get to the top of the wall and see the first beasts start running for the wall, they’re dealt with quickly and efficiently.
Whatever creature attacked us with that pressure blast is yet to be seen, but I doubt that it’s going to leave us alone.
“If we cannot hold, then we gather into groups, and continue to fight however we can. The nobles of the city should gather fast enough to support us, before the beasts reach the city.” She replies as we finally approach a few familiar faces.
Kyle turns to face us while the rest of his team glares down into the outer forests with sharp eyes.
“We’re here to give support to your team, Captain.” I can feel Chip twisting about in my head as it tries to find an appropriate title, as apparently Captain doesn’t fully suit. It’ll still work, regardless.
“Orders from the commander?” Kyle asks, looking between the two of us. “Take a space in the line and make sure nothing gets past us.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“I can manage that.” I say with an easy nod hoping that this will count in my favour with Arduelle. If this isn’t the pest she wants me to deal with, then I don’t know what I’ll do about her quest.
“Call for support if you think something will get past you.” Kyle says. “The biggest rookie mistake on wall defence is thinking you can handle it on your own and failing.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” I reply standing by the stone and watching into the forest below. At the moment, the beasts attacking are spread out and hopefully it will stay that way.
Though, of course, it can’t be so easy.
Sounds erupt from the forest depths before us, shouts and cries of a thousand different animals. Some roar in rage, some scream in terror, and others make the ground tremble as they charge for us.
It doesn’t take long for the wave of flesh and bone to reach the edge of the clearing, and those that can launch themselves at the wall, climbing it with frightful ease. Something akin to a raptor leaps for me, but a quick casted annihilation bolt tears through it, sending it tumbling to the ground, trampled by the beasts less capable of scaling the walls.
In all of a moment, we go from relative silence, to the overwhelming cacophony of bloody battle. Corpses lay strewn over the walls, but there is rather little blood covering the stones or bodies. The soldiers around me gather the blood to strengthen their weapon arts, and magics, but even then, fighting at their best, some smaller beasts still manage to get past us.
“Don’t let them cross the walls!” Kyle shouts, slicing a frightened beast in half, adding the blood to his two short blades. “Not a single one can reach the peaks!”
“Too late for that.” I reply, blasting the legs off of a small six legged dog-like thing and picking it’s body up to drain it’s mana.
The entire wall has become a slaughter, and I’m not at all surprised. Has my life really just become one slaughter followed by the next? So much so that a sudden attack by beasts is less of a twist and more of an expected outcome for me?
Shouldn’t I be trying to manipulate Kings and play my hands in politics rather than competing with vampiric lizards to see who’s the fastest sword in the dungeon?
“Fight hard, gather their blood, we’ll need it for the battle ahead.” Kyle shouts, a vicious smile rising on his lips.
Another battle maniac, perhaps?
Not like I’ll judge him for it, one of my lovers is much the same, though likely much worse. It feels so wrong to be fighting without Eshya and the others by my side.
“We have to run!” Olly shouts from among the warriors, “We can’t win this fight!”
“We’re not meant to.” Kyle replies. “We’ve sent the call, we’re holding the wall until someone else can come deal with it.”
A wave of large birds fly overhead, but they’re struck down by waves of arrows and magic, falling as corpses around us. Warriors catch the corpses on their blades and spears to take the mana dense blood to fortify their attacks.
Though it might seem otherwise, the waves of beasts are not endless, and soon enough there’s a pause in the fighting, only a few strays coming to challenge the walls, and many of them looking up at us and deciding that it’s smarter to run along the walls instead of trying to cross them.
“Get ready and heal up!” Kyle shouts, “Another wave will be coming, expect it to be worse.”
Thankfully with Shrelle’s help, I’ve managed to fight so far without wasting all of my mana. If this next wave is more intense, then I’ll actually have to put a little effort into the fight.
“I really hope that this is the ‘pest’ I’ve been sent here to deal with.” I say, carefully touching at the grip on my pistol, but keeping it holstered. I’m not sure how much more ammo I have left in the thing, so I’ll have to use it only sparingly.
Thankfully, my annihilation magic has grown more powerful since I’ve used it in coordination with the branching magic Skill. Now rather than trying to melt everything down it weaves complex branches through the flesh, which is far more conservative with my mana.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go back and join the casters?” Kyle says, coming over to me in the small break in the fight. “It seems better suited to you.”
“I would.” I reply, tearing into the flesh of a carcass. The blood has been drained but there’s still mana left in the flesh. “But I sort of need the mana from these things to keep going.”
“Oh? You gain mana so easily?” He tilts his head as he addresses me.
“Yep. It’s my superpower.” I reply, feeling the cyclone of razorblades cutting away the inside of my soul.
“An interesting power.” He says with a respectful nod.
Our conversation is cut short as once more the forest ripples with another attack, this time more powerful, shredding entire trees as it goes.
“Cover!” Kyle shouts as he ducks behind the walls crenelations, I follow his lead. My reactive defences can take the hit, but that cost is just not worth the reward of impressing a few soldiers.
The wave of pressure still manages to hit us as we’re ducked below the defences on the wall. My reactive defences keep me from being pushed back, but consume another handful of mana in recompense.
“Up!” Kyle shouts. We stand back up, and scan the forest for threats.
A tight grouping of glowing crimson lights shine over the horizon, glaring at us with the sort of murderous intent that only a living being can imbue. The lights glow bright at the top of a tall black stalk that must be the creature’s neck, while the rest of its body is still hidden over the horizon.
I’ve learned about supersized fauna before, they were covered in one of my classes, but it’s one thing to learn about them and quite another to see something like this for myself.
I’ve come across beings more powerful than me before, but never have they approached me with murder in their eyes. Arduelle could squash me like a bug, but she’s never shown the intent to actually do it.
“Do we have anyone that can fight that thing?” I ask, gesturing at the distant figure.
For something that large to survive in this world, it needs to have the mana density to back it up. Which means this thing has to have more mana inside it than anything I’ve ever fought. Its attacks only confirm that.
“We do. We just have to survive until… more beasts!” He shouts, rushing along the wall and gathering the warriors for another fight.
The next wave of beasts has arrived, creatures much large and more terrifying than the last we slaughtered. Many are bloodied, bruised, and broken, but they rush towards us without looking back. They run at us; climbing, jumping, flying, or even desperately seeking to smash right through the massive walls we defend. They know they have to try and escape, but the soldiers here don’t have the same choice.
I throw a few annihilation bolts out at those that get too close to me, aiming to maim rather than kill. With beasts as large and powerful as this, killing would be very expensive.
Even as we struggle against the horde, the titan continues to near us, attacking more and more frequently. There’s no more questions, this thing is after us for some reason, and there’s no escaping it.
A large bird tries to fly at us, but another pressure wave tears it from the sky, slamming it into the stone wall by my side. I finish it off with a bolt of annihilation to the head and start pulling the mana from its corpse as the battle rages around me. The beasts that climb the wall don’t even bother to fight, charging past us and towards the peaks at our back.
The crimson red eyes flash brighter for a moment, before another wave of pressure blasts over us.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Skills & Stats
~Mana Form:
Current mana density: 354 units
~Mana distribution:
Catagory Current Max. Defence 33% 33% Offense 26% 57% Mana Sense 30% 72% Recovery 0% 30% Gluttony 0% 26% Misc. 0% 42% Efficiency 89% 89%
~Favourited Skills:
-Chip Shredder
-Multi-mind
-Tag
-Mana surge movement
-Reactive defence
-Fire burst punch
-Annihilation magic
-Mana form flow fixer
-Branching magic