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We reached the inn at a galloping speed. As soon as we stopped, Lore jumped out and strode towards the lobby entrance. I trotted after him but after a few steps, I glanced back at the carriage. The armored lizards huffed with exhaustion so terribly that the driver didn’t even bother to stable them before passing out food and a bit of water. Several more carriages pulled up behind ours; their mounts just as haggard.

When we entered the Inn, the staff hurriedly sat us in comfortable seats and brought tea. Lore didn’t look stressed, but I could practically feel his nervous energy. He really wasn’t kidding when he said that tonight would be rough.

A harried inn receptionist jogged up to us and obviously used Observe. “100 PMk for the night if you join the defense and you’ll get a portion of the loot earned for the siege depending on your contribution and need.”

Lore nodded and the guy tossed him a key before rushing off to greet the next guest. An NPC servant then led the way to our room.

As soon as the door closed behind us I yawned. The day had been difficult, and the night didn't look better.

“Do we have to go meet the guy we’re helping right now?”

“Sleep first. I already sent him a message. We’ll see him tomorrow morning unless we meet him tonight on the wall.”

***

When it was our turn to participate in the watch, we trudged our way over to where the other players stood. Unsurprisingly, we saw Mossthorn, Cho, and Whitedove standing with many other unfamiliar people.

A broad-shouldered man marched up to our group, introduced himself as Captain Briack, and started explaining everyone’s positions, including my own. Once again I was stuck on meat-shield duty.

To my surprise, Cho took out a bow. I thought for sure this noob slayer would have become a knife assassin.

“Alright people,” Briack started. “A high-level mount crashed and died in an area it didn't belong in, causing a phenomenon we call, a Monster Tide. We’ve already gone through two waves and we expect there to be another two to four more.” he sighed. “It's a real pain in the ass. If any of you ever reach a high level, remember to stay the fuck away from lower leveled areas. Can I get a, ’Right on, Captain!’”

“Right on, Captain!”

“To your places!”

HUD arrows once again pointed the way to our positions. This time there were three other healers and about twice the amount of guards up on the wall.

Someone had already cast light, illuminating the empty field between the forest and the inn.

Lore talked to the other healers to get an understanding of where he should focus his energy. I stood near him while watching every direction for a sneak attack.

“Monsters sighted!”

”Everyone to your positions!”

Lore grimaced. He hadn’t finished discussing things so the lead healer said in frustration, “Just heal all the low leveled players,” then shooed us away.

We trotted back to our spot. “Are you ready?”

I nodded.

The ground shook.

In the distance, monsters charged, running like a shadow of their past chased after them and their only safe haven was inside our massive walls. Their eyes glowed red and I assumed that was from fury. Even though we had nothing to do with the fallen mount that had disturbed them, I doubted they gave a shit? To them, it probably seemed like all players were responsible.

Soon the mobs entered the field.

Large bear-like beasts with squirming tentacles coming off their shoulders lobbed forward while roaring. Griffin-like creatures, just without the wings, zoomed past them and spat balls of blue flames towards our wall. And at the lead swarms of armored rats ran on four legs while weapons clanged on their backs.

“Mages cast wide damaging spells on the small mobs! Archers, loose on the large and medium-sized in the back! Grouser, cast shield and protect our asses from those spirit fires!”

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Bursts of magic flew forth breaking up the rats’ charge. Most still made it through, though their momentum wasn’t the same.

Archers pulled back on their bows and I saw the shaft practically vibrate with energy just before they were released. The arrows flew up and onward, raining down on the charging creatures. Every time they loosed the archers would quickly grab another and pull once more.

A majority of the rats vanished from my viewpoint as they neared our location.

“Close combat! Ready yourselves. Defend the wall!”

The swarm finally finished scurrying up and over. They chomped their massive front teeth toward the close combatants upfront or pulled weapons off their backs and hacked like mad at any player that moved. The shield warriors blocked while the sword warriors did massive amounts of damage with every swing. Any rat that was lucky enough to bypass those two types were quickly cleaned up by the speedy rogues who darted in and out of combat.

Lore took up his regular battle stance, cast a healing arrow, and shot one of the injured shield warriors.

A few of the smaller rats managed to get through the defensive line and rush through the archers and mages. Most were quickly killed off but one reached me. I stabbed it in the eye, dispatching it easily; the action reminding me of the bad parts of that rat dungeon.

It took everyone, including myself, about twenty minutes to massacre the last of the rat invaders. The remaining rodents scurried past the inn and continued their nonsensical charge.

From deep within the forest, an enormous creature, even taller than the defensive wall, lumbered into the illuminated field carrying a sequoia-like tree like a club. I would say that the thing looked like a giant, except its limbs were too long and thin to be human. Its skin was a dark purple stone with wiggling hair-thin tentacles —proportionate to its size— growing out of several awkwardly placed moles. The thing’s head did not look like a human head at all, it being similar in shape to that moon eye logo from Welcome to Night Vale, only perpendicular and with a circular mouth where the iris should be... Fuck, where were its eyes? Where were its fucking eyes?

“Ba... ballista. Get out the fucking ballistae and fire on the Grinsomlobber! Now! Everyone else, attack!”

From the side, two archers stopped shooting, pulled out massive bow ballistae, and set them up. They cranked the string back until it locked in place. The captain set bundles of arrows that pulsed with magical energy beside them. Each ballista archer grabbed one and loaded it. When they loosed at the Grinsomelobber a backlash of wind swept through the crowd.

The arrow itself flew toward the monster, each embedding itself in a spot near its heart, or what would be its heart if it were human. The force of these arrows caused it to slide back but each one barely took off a sliver of its health bar.

“Holy shit! What is that?!” I asked Lore.

He grimaced. “We might not survive the night. But on the plus side, look.” He pointed out at the monster horde that decided to avoid the giant monster by continuing their run and bypassing the little inn.

The archers using ballistae kept firing.

A few mages started casting long-range spells at it as well but most didn't do any damage.

The Captain grimly glanced at the players. “Everybody below level 15, retreat to the inn! Now! Go! Go! Go!”

Well, that included us. I grabbed Lore’s hand and turned to leave but too many escaping elves blocked our path. Shit!

I looked down. The wall must be well over a hundred feet up. Could I use my teleport? Maybe?

I had 77 mana and it was 1 foot per mana. Wait, I’d leveled that spell so I could go at least twice that distance as long as I had a line of sight.

I glanced back at the Grinsomelobber and jumped in surprise. It sprinted towards us, club raised. And it was fucking fast. There was no time to think. I wrapped my arm around Lore’s waist and used most all of my mana to teleport us down to just below the wall.

Then we ran. Above us, I heard the sound of stone breaking, and death screams. Chunks of debris fell around us in large chunks. A chill ran down my spine. A sharp bit of shrapnel battered my head, making the world spin but I kept going.

The creature screamed with fury making a sound I'd never heard before.

Eventually, we reached the inn along with the crowd of people who had reached there first. Several people still lagged behind, most of whom had taken damage. Lore and the other lower-level healers who’d escaped went to work restoring each player’s health as they arrived. Or, in Lore’s case, saying unheard words and stomping to spread a mass heal towards the people already there.

Since at this point I was useless, I stared up at the fight on the wall. There were maybe four people fighting that monster —five if you counted the remaining healer— plus the two ballista archers, who hadn’t stopped firing.

A mage cast spells that caused the thing to back up a few steps, then two arrows hit simultaneously. It retreated another step.

From out of nowhere an assassin appeared, shanked it in its circle mouth then jumped back to the wall as if walking on air.

One of the Shield Warriors, or what I assumed was a shield warrior raised his minuscule —compared to the Grinsomlobber— shield above his head as the thing bashed his tree-club down again. And the fucking tiny-ass shield took it. The warrior barely moved and he prevented the wall from taking any damage. Holy fuck. I did not want to fight anyone above level 15 right now.

Shit. Jethia Ravenborn was a Shield Warrior and she was about to reach level 15. We needed to get stronger. Like, immediately.

The Captain seemed to be a sword warrior over level 15. Wait, a sword warrior?

I mean, why was he even still up there if he couldn't reach it?

As if to prove me wrong, he kicked off and flew sword-first into the monster’s neck. Then he jumped back and return to his spot. My eyes widened.

Holy shit! Here I thought I was so cool for being able to use magic. Turns out that the other classes were just as cool in their own way.

As the fight continued I couldn’t take my eyes off these higher leveled players as they fought off the giant monster. But eventually, they damaged it enough that it tried to run, then the ballistae and mages peppered it to death, but since it was nowhere near the wall, I couldn’t see its final death throes.

The cheers came from the winners on the wall. I couldn't help applauding myself, even though I didn't do much besides kill a bunch of rats. But for some reason, I still felt like I did my part.

Congratulations! You’ve survived a wave in a Monster Tide! As a reward, you receive x1 Armor of Solace