Chapter 13: In the midst of it.

Day 4, part 6.

“Form up!” Corporal Kal shouts, just as I reach my position on the wall atop the main gate.

Peeking over the parapet, I look down towards the monsters that are charging once again.

Even though we must have killed 2,000 or so monsters already, I can't see a noticeable difference in their numbers as they rush towards us, growling and howling as they run.

This time there are bigger and more fearsome looking types mixed in as well.

There is even the occasional behemoth and, what I assume, are rock trolls mixed in. They both look mean as hell, I must say.

Standing easily 3 meters high with a layer of stone above their skin, the rock trolls have a set of natural armour right from the outset.

Add in their impressive bulk and bulging muscles and you have a natural killing machine.

The behemoths however, are even more terrifying. Being giant beasts with a height of 3-4meters, they are just as strong as they are fast; basically organic freakin' bulldozer's. And while technically true that they don't have a natural armour like the rock trolls, what they do have however is way more dangerous; Magic.

Yes, they can cast frikkin' magic. And not just one type either; they have barrier magic, elemental magic and even frikkin' healing magic. Add in their ridiculous strength to the mix and it's just absurd how powerful they are.

‘Not like it's enough with giant razor sharp claws and fangs; No, they have to be able to spit giant fireballs or call down lightning on your face.’ I lament to myself as I watch in horror at the capabilities of the new additions to my foes. At least they only number a few, in the comparison to the thousands of other monsters rushing at the walls like a mad stampede.

“Ranged attackers, prepare to fire a volley!” corporal Kal's shout brings me out of my thoughts a moment later and I focus on following his command.

A moment passes as the mages chant and the archers take aim and draw. Deciding to use fire magic, I gather mana and mold it, holding an image of a piercing lance of fire in my mind.

“On my mark! 3. 2. 1. FIRE!!”

Releasing my hold, a giant fire lance slowly materializes in front of me, taking a moment to fully form.

A myriad of lights pass over me just as the flame lance fully forms and promptly flies off at my chosen target at an impressive speed.

Flying off towards the middle of the incoming monster lines, it is aimed straight at the behemoth that is leading their charge.

A moment after the volley of spells and arrows have hit, loud explosions and shrieks of pain from the monsters can be heard throughout the battlefield. A split second of silence follows the volley; as if the very air is taking a deep breath.

Then with a roar of flames, the flame lance hits the behemoth, who screeches loudly as its flesh instantly melts as if butter as the fire lance passes straight through the beast. Unhindered by the behemoth it passed straight through, it continues its flight through the line of monsters, leaving smoking holes in the monsters in its wake.

After passing 50 or so meters, it suddenly explodes like a miniature star and sends flames flying outwards in a giant circle, burning everything in a 100 meter radius to a crisp.

The heat is unbelievable. I can feel the heat on my face from where I am peeking out from behind the parapet, some 150 meters or so away.

“Ray!” someone suddenly shouts at me. “Move!!”

Glancing over at the source, Aya, I notice she is rushing towards me while her gaze is locked on something behind me. Following her gaze, I realise what has her in a panic.

A giant clearly demonic, semi-human looking thing with bat wings is doing a full on dive.

Straight towards me.

‘Shitshitshit!’

Panicking I glance around for cover or somewhere I can run.

Little surprise I find none; We're on a wall so there is little to no cover to be found in the immediate area, especially from above.

Glancing back up, I notice its eyes. Eyes, that wholy fixed on me and is burning with anger and deep resentment.

Glancing to my sides at my squadmates, I take a deep breath. Slowly exhaling, I look down at the ground below and quickly make my choice.

“Raven! Take care of everyone!” I shout as I jump off the edge of the wall.

“No! Sto--” someone shouts at me as i jump off the edge.

I instantly regret my decision as fear for my life rises from deep within and screams at me to do SOMETHING to fix my situation.

My current situation, which consists of me falling about 6 meters to my likely death; if I'm lucky, that is.

As the ground closes in at an alarming rate, my fear and panic goes into super mode, and all I can think about is my inevitable demise when I crash into the ground at lethal speeds.

“.... aero! Levitate!”

Suddenly my falling speed dramatically slows, before stopping completely a meter above the ground. A moment later I'm falling again.

With a thud, I land on my feet and a dull pain runs up my feet from the impact with the ground.

Hurriedly taking cover behind the corpse of a particularly big rock troll, I hunker down as I start searching the sky for the demon; However, I see no trace of him.

I do hear a lot of explosions and screams further in towards the city, but as I am now down on ground level there is little to nothing I can see over the walls. But no demon in sight.

‘Perhaps he thought me as dead as I myself believed, and simply left me to my fate?’ I ponder as I glance around to get a grasp of the fighting around me. 'Whatever the case, I can't stay here...' I think as I take in the fighting between the monsters and the soldiers on the ground.

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice a few of the ground force members 10 meters or so away are running towards me, coming from the guard house.

Seconds later, they reach me and as the leading member reaches my proximity, I turn and face them.

They are all wearing a full set of mix of leather and chainmail armour and are covered from top to toe. Their helmets cover their faces completely, so I can't see any of their faces.

The armour is not in the style of the guards wear and the crest all guardsmen wear is also missing, replaced by a golden hawk.

‘Adventurers? Or mercs perhaps…?’ I ponder as I examine them quickly.

The leading member suddenly stops dead as they see my face.

A moment later the lead member suddenly takes a few quick steps forward and throws an uppercut that hits me straight in the stomach.

“Guhhh!” Doubling over, I let out a strange sound as the air that was forcefully emptied from my lungs tries to refill themselves.

“What in the hell is wrong with you?! Do you WANT to die!?!” I hear a very familiar voice yell at me.

Dry heaving, I desperately try to get my lungs to work again. After a moment, I manage to suck enough air to just barely make a reply.

“H-Hey, E- Eri. Fa-fancy meeting you he-here.” I force myself to say as my lungs continue rebeling.

Snorting, Eri turns toward the other members that came with her.

“Return to formation. We need to hurry back before the monsters try to break through.”

Turning back, she glares at me and says: “Get up or be left behind.” Before promptly turning and proceeding to jog back the way she came.

Her team members give me a hesitant glance, before quickly falling in behind her. All, except one.

“Come on, we really need to move before the monsters spot and swarm us.” A young boyish voice comes from my right.

Looking over, I notice he has extended his arm, offering to help me up.

“Let's.” I reply simply and take the offered hand.

After getting up we promptly set off after Eri and the others.

-------+××=

“I'm Ley by the way.” The remaining member of Eri’s group says suddenly as we jog along, a dozen or so meters behind Eri and her followers.

Being somewhat short with a rather lean build, plus the androgynous looks, makes it hard to tell whether Ley is a man or a woman. I'm leaning toward “woman” but I can't be sure as the armour covers all signs of gender.

“I'm Ray. Thanks for the help by the way.” I reply as we keep jogging.

“Sure.” Ley replies “But what'd you do to piss the princess of that much anyway? I've never seen her that angry before; and you just almost fell to your death from a frickin’ wall... What'd you do to provoke her like that?” Ley asks, practically radiating curiosity.

Sighing loudly, I mumble: “That's what I'd like to know…”

Not giving up, Ley continues asking. "Did you hit on-”

“Behemoths incoming!” a loud shout comes from above us, looking up I see an archer pointing beyond us, towards the south.

Looking where he is pointing, I see what I assume are the dozen of Behemoths that are rushing straight towards us. The things are enormous, big and muscled beast of nightmare with long horns and sharp claws that run on all four. They somehow remind me of bulls, only they are more sleek and almost feline in shape.

“Form up!” Eri shouts. “Ray! Ley! Get over here!” she continues, then turns to face the incoming behemoths and starts chanting; her teammates in a formation around her.

“Let's go.” I say as I grab Ley’s hand and pull him with me as I run towards Eri and Co.

A moment later we arrive and fall into the formation just as Eri releases her magic; a windblade that flies straight at the lead behemoth and beheads it before dissipating.

Facing the incoming behemoths, I once again realize that these things are freaking nightmares given physical form. With my heart beating wildly in my chest, I draw my bow, aim and pull back.

Holding my breath, I aim and wait for the massive beasts of destruction to draw a little bit closer.

Suddenly I am stuck by an idea.

Gathering mana, I try to infuse the arrow with magic.

Picturing a land with permafrost and hail storms, I use my will to press the mana into the arrow and once there, mold it.

A long moment passes before I snap out of my trance and realize the behemoths are almost upon us.

Releasing the arrow at the leading behemoth, it flies with a high pitched squealing noise and leaves a trail of frost in its wake. As it hits its target the arrow shatters into a million pieces and a blue mist quickly spreads to the surrounding area.

The next behemoth that is following the now dead leading behemoth's movements instantly grow slower as it enters the blue mist that was left behind by my arrow, and a moment later it trips over its own lagging feet. Not a second later the next behemoth rushes into the mist, and also quickly falls down in a spectacular fashion as their legs are slowed by the icy mist.

As the next few pass through the mist, the same thing repeats itself.

Noticing something is off, the rest of the behemoths cease their rush and stop well before the blue mist and inspects their barely moving allies from a safe distance.

Realizing that most of their allies are dead and frozen solid, they let out roars of anger while they stomp their feet furiously.

A moment later they all stop their outburst in unison, as all turn their gazes towards me.

'Oh, shit! Shitshitshit!

Even before I feel their magic being focused on me, I am already in the process of gathering and molding my mana to defend myself from whatever magic they are trying to throw at me.

A moment later half a dozen large fireballs come flying right at me.

'Well shit!'

End of chapter 13