(Braden)

This isn't good. The horde just goes on and on, and I can see the King Monsters from here. They're taller than the forest. The Shadow Wolf King is at least eighty feet in height, while the Goblin King is at least one hundred feet in height. I think the tallest tree is only seventy feet in height, and I'm elevated, giving me a better vantage point. The Flame Slime King looks around the same height as the Shadow Wolf King, while the Frost Knight King is probably around twenty feet taller than the Goblin King.

To make matters worse, they're simply destroying the forest as they pass through – intentionally. They aren't just destroying it to pass through, they're clearing a damn path, which will make it much easier for the following horde to reach us. Max called up an hour ago that 'Boss be out of commission', which means he likely died. If Big Flame's telling everyone under him that Zack's out of commission, he's either dead or unconscious and lost somewhere.

And the Shadow of Life wants him dead.

But we push on, doing our best with this horde. There's a second mage up here, a woman who joined us after her team went down at a stone wall nearby. There's another priest here as well, up here and buffing us while helping Luca with healing. It's needed, too, because he's worn-out. Even our hellish training with Zack never pushed Luca's abilities this hard.

Nothing can prepare anyone for facing an endless horde of monsters. Not even having done it before.

Something comes out of nowhere, and before a Barrier can be put up, the priest is dead. Crap. It looks like a goblin's spear. Or a kobold's. It's crude and ugly. It's also too late for him, he's dead. He's not the first death I've seen, but at least he's up here. We can recover his body as long as he's here and not down there.

Turning, I fire off several arrows at the trio of Goblin Giants that began charging towards our wall with a Bounty Beast Kobold Giant. I let out a whistle, and Rebekah turns around and starts using her spell Skills to help me kill these. The other two focus on supporting my team.

The giants are tough, and it takes the two of us a lot of effort to kill, but I finally manage to put arrows in their eyes. We turn our attention back to the horde in front of us. The weaker monsters can't destroy our wall, and I'm grateful it's easy to tell when something that can is coming.

"I'm out of potions," I say after I drain my last one.

"Same here," the others say.

I tried making mine stretch, and even used Nature's Blessing a few times, and the other archer used his, too, but even that has limits. If Zack's out of commission and these four King Monsters are on their way, is it even possible for us to win?

Even if Zack were fully-active, we'd still lose here. Two King Monsters was feasible, but the Frost Knight King and Flame Slime King brought in an entirely different factor.

"Can any of you see their Healths?" I ask as I let loose more arrows.

"The wolf has thirty million," Carmen says. "The Frost Knight has eighty million. Lowest and highest."

Damn. And the Frost Knight doesn't have any eyes we can try to put arrows in. Or spears. Spears would probably be more effective. By my estimates, the quartet will reach us in half an hour or so. They're at least halfway through the forest.

"When is the team tackling them going?" I ask.

"They should go soon," Rick responds, and I shoot an arrow out of the sky, my other arrows going after the kobold archer which shot it. "Thanks. Definitely before the four make it here. Hopefully, they can do enough for a miracle to happen."

We definitely need a miracle. I turn back to shooting monsters coming at our team, and notice Luca's staff glowing the way things do before entering an Inventory. As soon as it disappears, Luca slaps his chest and holds his hand there. His cloak glows. What is he doing? As soon as his cloak is in his Inventory, his tunic begins glowing. Why did Luca suddenly stop?

The moment Luca's tunic is in his Inventory, leaving him bare-chested, a pair of beautiful white wings stretch out of his back. I forgot he'd taken on Angelic Wings for his Angelic Aspect required for Tier 5 of the holy Classes.

As I continue to defend my team and wonder what our healer is doing, Luca lunges forward, grabbing Max by the back of his tunic. In a flash, Max is flipped under Luca's arm, squealing, and Luca grabs Gavin, then flaps his wings, avoiding our attacks aimed at the monsters as he soars up. I see his face, and there's confusion and panic on it, not just on Max's and Gavin's.

"Someone's coming for you!" Luca calls. "Hold out until then! The Crystals are calling a hasty retreat!"

Someone is coming for you, they should be there in less than three minutes. Hold out.

Lord Dark of Water just talked to me. I shake my head, then return to shooting monsters until a pair of Dark Knights with their armor off and wings out arrive. One grabs me and the other guy, while another grabs the two women. The one holding us uses Binding Darkness to grab the corpse, then we're flown off the wall and towards the City Walls.

Less than a minute later, we're on the top of it with the thousand or so other Adventurers. A lot of losses, and quite a few corpses. From up here, the King Monsters look even more terrifying, and the horde even more vast. This is frightening.

"What's going on?" I ask as I'm set down, Max, Luca, and Gavin rushing towards us.

"We don't know," Gavin answers. "All anyone knows is that the Crystals started contacting everyone following them, either ordering them either to wait for rescue or to order them into rescuing others. Everyone was told to be brought up here for some reason."

"The gates are sealed," I explain. "During each wave, the gates are sealed shut to make it more difficult for the monsters to breach. They become as tough as the actual City Walls themselves."

"Oh," he says. "Brandon tell you that?"

"They said that in the war meeting, silly," Max says.

"Oh," Gavin's face flushes a little.

The walls are pretty thick, so there's plenty of space up here, especially with us spread out.

I look upwards, but don't see the Dragon. Listening to others, no one's certain what happened to it, but word was apparently given to the entire Dark Order that Zack is out of commission. If it defeated him, it must have flown off to do something. To wait? We're protected as long as we're up here and don't exit the barrier's protection, but that won't matter if it attacks.

Maybe it's waiting for the King Monsters to reach us? It probably needs to recover from Zack's attacks. With how powerful he is and how good his gear is, Zack likely did a lot of damage to it before going down. It was probably a hard fight for both of them, so it would make sense the Dragon will wait to recover its energy a little before returning.

Normar approaches us, kneeling beside the corpse of the priest. He pulls out the spear, then holds his hands over the man. A pure-white glow pushes out of him and cloaks the fallen Adventurer, who comes back to life a moment later. Normar then uses Heal on him a couple of times, before looking at us.

"Good job," he says.

"Do you know what's going on?" I ask.

"No," he looks out across the fields, then sighs. "I hope Zack recovers soon."

Right. Zack's been helping Normar get over his shyness.

"You know what happened to him?" I ask.

"Where be Boss?" Max asks.

"Where?" Luca nearly wails.

"We don't know," Normar shakes his head. "Big Flame told us he was out of commission, but he didn't say 'dead', which means Zack's still alive. If he's still alive, then he's been rendered unable to continue the fight."

The way he's saying that… he knows something, doesn't he?

Normar returns to looking for Adventurers to Resurrect, and we turn our attention back to the horde. The stone walls are being destroyed as the horde of monsters finally slams against the City Wall in full, and not just what made it past us. We were able to stem the flow some, but not fully, and now…

Lord Dark of Water… could you please give us a sign that Zack's doing okay? That he's going to be fine?

He's going to be fine, Lord Dark of Water responds, surprising me. Zack's stubborn like that. The Dragon could have eaten him whole, and Zack would have just cut his way out. That, or to the Dragon's heart, then severed all of the veins and arteries around it so he could claim it as an offering to Big Flame.

Yeah, Zack would do that. So he's okay?

He's okay, Lord Dark of Water responds. The evacuation is almost complete. That means it's almost time.

His presence fades from my mind as I ponder over what he said.

"It's almost time?" A nearby Paladin mutters. "Lord Light of Air, what do you mean by that?"

So I wasn't the only one being spoken to, and it seems all of the Crystals know something we don't. Is there a large-scale spell about to be used? A trap set out in the fields that none of us were informed of, but which none of us should be caught in?

I watch as a few more Adventurers are rescued, including two corpses. Actually, it looks like those returning and bringing back corpses that Normar can actually Resurrect. Is what's about to happen that powerful that we have to risk lives to recover corpses to ensure they can be brought back?

As the monsters continue their useless attack on the City Walls, I turn my attention to Nik, who's approaching us.

"Good," he says. "You four seem to be okay."

"Banged up, but okay!" Max nods. "What be going on? Big Flame just keep saying 'wait and see'."

"Yeah," Nik nods. "He's telling me the same thing. As near as we can figure, the Crystals are doing something they've never done before. It must be weakening them a lot, but from what we've managed to get out of them, the King Monsters shouldn't be too difficult to finish off after."

Something that can take out tens of millions of Health? Just what is going on?

"Me not want wait and see!" Max suddenly exclaims, and I realize he was still talking with Big Flame. "Me want to know now, Big Flame!"

Yep, still talking with him.

"He's not going to answer," Nik says.

"Do you know where Zack is?" I ask. "Lord Dark of Water assured me he's okay."

"Lord Light of Air told me the same thing," Luca says.

"Lord Light of Earth told me that, too," Gavin nods.

"Big Flame say he be recovering from battle with the Dragon."

"Yeah," Nik nods. "They won't tell us what happened with the Dragon, just that Zack's recovering."

Does that mean he won? Or that he managed to escape the Dragon, which is hunting him down as Zack rests and recovers in bursts?

I snap my head to look at the King Monsters, all four of which stopped moving in unison. They give each other looks that say something is up. Something disturbing. For us or them?

"What is going on?" Someone asks.

"I don't know," someone else responds.

"Think they might attack from there?" Another asks.

Could it be that we were pulled back because the King Monsters are just that powerful? The Flame Slime could probably have easily killed us as soon as it reached us. But then why are we only evacuated to here and not far away? Then again, if we lose here, we'll all end up dead within a year anyway.

"Whatever it is, I pray it happens soon," Nik says. "As soon as whatever is going to happen does, I'm going to fly Braden and Gavin back down there. Luca, you take Max and follow me. You four will fight at the edge of whatever it was – there should be minimal monsters there, and possibly damaged ones."

"Got it," we say.

That gives us a good chance at killing more. Let's just hope it happens soon.

It's time, Lord Dark of Water says, and I look around, trying to find out what's going to happen.

As I do, I notice everyone else looking around as well. It seems everyone received the message from the Crystals, likely from their own patrons. But what does it mean?

(Zack)

"Sayonara, bitches."