The skies are gray and foggy with clouds when Fren arrives at a scene. The half finished fort, it looks like a big wooden tower made of unrefined logs tied down with ropes, it’s also missing a back wall and a wall on the right, north-eastern side. Luckly the front and left walls are up and the large stake walls around the tower give it small cover, but beyond the walls arrows fly toward the fort from the front. Most guards are hiding behind the stake walls and a few brave ones are actually in the fort, clinging to the walls for cover from the bandit arrows.

The clearing in front of the stake walls is empty from bandits all the way to the nearby woods from which they safely fire arrows.

“Fren! Take cover, they have already started to attack.” A guard meets Fren and urges him to take cover. Instead of taking the guard’s advice, Fren reaches for his shield, the little handle tied to his belt, and points it to the sky. The force field extends from the shield base and Fren bravely walks forward, deflecting arrows and walking to the barricaded exit.

“They have to run out of ammunition sooner or later.” Fren leaves the guard at his cover and takes on the whole bandit rain of arrows. The bandits, now with a solid target to aim at, expend their arrows even faster, but it all gets deflected by the shield and ricochets to the floor with no exception.

The green field of grass quickly fills with arrows stuck to the ground, After a few volleys of arrows, the bandit’s aim get’s sloppy. Maybe it’s the stamina to fire arrows consecutively or perhaps it’s the infuriating target that refuses to fall down that makes them fire with less focus, either way it takes enough focus form the bandits to allow the guards to make a counter attack.

“This is our chance, fire!” the deputy commander yells while raising his bow, he was waiting for an opportunity atop the tower this whole while. Now it’s a battle between two forces, with the guard archers firing back and a melee division making its way with shields raised in a line. They only have so many arrows, they cannot let the bandits enter the half built fort and overwhelm them, not only that but the way to the village is not far from there, even a single bandit getting passed them could mean the lives of the weak and elderly who stayed behind at the village..

The village guards fire, their pauses between their shots getting longer each time, their objective is to guard the entrance to the fort until Carola arrives, if they can. Arrow shots thin out on both sides, the battle enters a new stage now.

The gray clouds start to drip and suddenly a large man with a mace comes forward, he looks like a mountain troll with a club and his voice is rugged and deep. “This isn’t working, charge in you cowards! They can’t take us on.” He confidently orders his fellow bandits and walks slowly to the division on the battlefield.

Fren stands in front of him, he probably means to meet him and take him down but just after the man has his words a crowd of bandits come out of the wood’s cover and storm in with their weapons. The guards, while battle ready, are outnumbered. Infantry soldier guards run to the barricaded entrance to assist those already outside, but the bandits flow out of the forest at a constant rate, the ratio of soldiers in battle only grows larger for the bandit’s side, and the rain starts to drop faster and harder.

It’s clear for everyone that this is a battle to wait for reinforcements. the bandits attack the front where Fren and a handful of skilled soldiers guard the entrance, but some try to claw at the stakes next to it. The steep descent of the small cliff to the west is keeping the bandits from moving around the fort that way, and to the north east arrows are still fired at the bandits, although some of them are not fired from the fort itself.

The village guards and militia are trying desperately to fend off the bandits from their walls, they throw hot oil and wooden logs over but it only sends the bandits back a few steps back before trying again to push the walls to their breaking point.

Slash and slice, and a block too. It’s harder when it’s two or even three on one, but Fren manages to come through, his stamina is peerless and the power of his swings intimidate the bandits, even if it is three on one. He did face more foes at once before, albeit small goblins, and at the time he had a much bigger body. These are bandits, similar in size to him, and much smarter than goblins, the slight advantage of having a tight spot to defend benefits smaller numbers but he cannot step back much otherwise he would let the bandits in, neither can the other guards, who are in a much more defensive state then Fren. He also sustains some injuries. Just barely dodging a lethal blow, but dealing one instead. Anyone silly enough to think he can land a hit on Fren receives one in turn, Still, the small progress the bandits make to bring him down is not unnoticable. It might be a death by a thousand cuts, and the bandits' numbers increase.

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Toooooootooooootoooo a horn’s sound breaks through the battle, it comes from the village-side entrance and is followed by Carola’s naturally loud voice “We’re here! Hold the line! Don’t allow them to advance!”. He motivates the troops with orders, and the many guards that arrive from the village side are a boon in battle no doubt, but will it be enough?

“Fren, I’m here! Everyone, keep together!” Gregory reaches the barricade and reassures Fren, then he immediately opens his book and reads a passage, using praying magic to heal Fren and the other guards.

Carola sends guards to help retrieve Fren and the others back into the fort. “We can hold the fort, everyone outside, come back in! We can tire them out if we take a defensi-”

Booom

Smoke comes from the middle of the grassy arrow filled area between the woods and the fort. There is a large scorch mark on the ground and a moment later it’s seen to whoever looks at it, a bandit’s corpse thats black as coal and on fire for a while, even while the rain is still going. “The bandit’s brought magic fire stones, they’re going to blow the walls down.” A girl’s voice fills the silence that was brought after the loud boom. Fren and Gregory no doubt recognize this voice as Ruby’s.

“If they can blow this down we can’t just stand here! Charge, come out and meet them on the field!” Carola calls his men and women to intercept the bandits out on the grass field with his spear raised. He joins them as they use their numbers to break through, Fren and the others outside the fort, instead of being brought back they push forward with more forces aiding them at their back.

“How did this happen? How did they know?!” The Troll sized bandit angrily shouts at his troops. “Nevermind! No reason to hide it any longer, strike them now!” He orders the remaining bandit sappers to blow up the fort. Bandits with red stones in their hands come out from the forest, but arrows are shot at some of them accurately.

Boom! Boom!

“Stop dying! Who’s doing that arching?”

The rain takes momentum and the battle becomes a wet skirmish. The bandits fighting to break through and the village militia trying to stop them. Fren finds himself surrounded by several bandits, but now with the chaos he can manage pretty well, he might be overdoing it actually, his strikes are too strong for the bandits to defend against. A nearly perfect slash cuts a bandit nearly in half, clothes and ribs together. It’s probably the adrenalin of the battle, he shouldn’t expend too much mana at once. When he has the chance to, he looks for the bandit leader, but even when he finds him, his way is obstructed by a dozen bandits.

The bandit leader is not just big, he’s also strong. His mace hits a soldier and knocks him over seemingly without effort. “These little chips aren’t even dangerous, even with their sharp twigs!” He brandishes hismace as he shouts to moral his troops.

“I’ll show you a twig, when I plunge this spear deep into your eye!” A man stands before him, unafraid. Before the big muscle mass stands an ordinary looking man, with blonde hair and a handlebar mustache, chain armor under his yellow guard shirt with a symbol of two crossed spears, and his signature frown. It’s Carola, captain of the guard of Coppercamp, standing there before the threat with rain dropping on his face and explosions sounding in the background along the metal clangs of battle. Like Godwin Weaver facing his foe to defend his home and loved ones.

“A tiny man with a long stick? Let’s see if you can swing it.” The burly bandit leader taunts him right in front of his face. But Carola is not afraid, or rather he is afraid but knows there is no turning back. He doesn’t even look at the victims this large foe left along his wake, instead he gets into position and looks at his opponents weapon, then at his chest, where he plans to strike.

A thrust, met with parry. The bandit leader shoves Carola’s spear away. Carola takes a step back but the bandit takes a larger step forward and swings, just barely missing Carola who ducks underneath the mace, but finds a kick in his face.

“You can’t be serious.” The bandit laughs at Carola who got knocked back and returns to his battle posture.

“I’m not done!” Carola’s voice is still strong. He thrusts again, this time aiming for the bandit’s neck, with his arm extended he hopes he won’t meet another counter attack. But the bandit dodges to the right and grabs the spear.

“Carola! Look out.” Fren warns Carola from afar. But Fren has his own battle to fight too far from Carola to assist. The mace swing hits Carola this time at his shoulder, sending him flying a bit until he hits the ground and winds up lying on his back, his mace next to him.

“You maggot!” The bandit leader is angry. Carola pulled the spear out just before the mace connected, the bandit’s left hand is now bloody from the spearhead grinding it. “You will pay!” The bandit leader breaks the spear on the ground with his mace. “You will pay with your life!”

He screams, raising his arm, ready to bring it down and finish Carola.

“Carola! No!” Fren shouts in despair while staving off his own squad of bandits.

But before he can swing it down an arrow hits his arm, and he screams in pain. “Ahhh!”

He raises his arm again but before he swings he dodges the next arrow and steps back. Between Carola and the Troll man now stands a girl with two eyes, one red and one purple, she was called a demon, a fiend, an evil spirit, possessed, monster, but her name is Ruby.