As we carefully made our way over the barricade, we were sure to leave the retreat ramp firmly positioned. It was a hastily assembled reinforced wooden plank that would allow us to run over to the other side. Noah would then pull it out from the barrier we just passed and set in the one behind us. That way we could always retreat safely and fast.

We took our position behind the first barricade. I was on the front and Noah behind me. We agreed he would step in every time the number of creatures increased more than I could handle or when I needed a breather.

The last few seconds as the sky clock ticked away were the worst, same as last time. We both stared at it with growing anxiety.

00:00:03

00:00:02

00:00:01

00:00:00

[The second wave has started.]

An enormous pressure slammed down on our shoulders as the powerful red beam surged. I gritted my teeth and stood my ground watching the red hue slowly encompass everything. Already expecting it, I used the sledge hammer as a cane. Noah was using the wall and his metal bat as support, but I could see he was barely holding. After a few sharp breaths the pressure waned and we could straighten ourselves again. A deep howl came from a distance.

“Wolves?” I asked Noah. He had lots of experience with wild animals.

“Never heard one with such a howl. If it’s a wolf, it's some fucked up version of it. It might not be as easy as last time, mate.”

“I didn’t think it would.”

I grasped my sledge hammer tightly with both hands. Shuffled my feet a little looking for optimal footing and started to work my breathing. I felt pumped up, full of energy. I was ready to destroy whatever came this way. It was do or die, I kept telling myself.

The alleyway in front of us opened up to a large street and a building directly in front of us. We didn’t have an open view of things, so we had to rely mostly on our hearing to gauge how close or far the creatures were. I wasn’t too good at it, but Noah was remarkable. While I couldn’t hear jack shit, he was already getting faint sounds of snarls and barks. It seems we would really be dealing with some sort of canine.

There was around ten meters between the entrance of the alleyway in front of us and the first barricade. We wouldn’t have much time to be gasping at whatever horror this infernal place sent to us, so I steeled my resolve as much as I could. Their noises were close enough that even I could discern them. They would turn that bend at any moment now.

Large red eyes, wine colored fur, vicious claws and a mouth with too many teeth. The tailless dog looking creature was the size of an average house cat. But there were a whole load of them. I didn’t even try to count. They crashed against the walls of the alleyway as they turned the corner. They barked and snarled, their mouth hanging open. They crashed against the barricade. It groaned, but held. The cacophony was deafening. The first ones started to inch up above the barricade. I whacked one in the side. I felt a good crunch on my hands as it flew to the side. It crashed against another and fell limp on the barricade. A message from the system popped.

[You have slain a newborn demon hound.]

I ignored it. The next one was already on the barrier again. I hit it. It fell backwards, towards the oncoming throng. I didn’t have time to see if it died. I hit the next one. Eventually they started jumping at me. Noah’s timely intervention prevented me from being bitten in the arm. I couldn’t hit them downwards while they stood on the barricade. I feared I would help destroy it faster. Swatting them sometimes didn’t seem to be enough to kill.

I stepped back. I gave them space to jump down from the barricade. It was a risky move. But it was better to fight without them at my shoulder height. As they fell on the floor I quickly dispatched them with downwards swings. At some point a different message popped up, but I didn’t have time to read it. Although they were faster than the goblins, they were clumsier. As if they were not even used to their bodies yet. They almost always tripped themselves trying to go down the barricade.

I hit and hit and hit. At some point I felt like I was playing whack-a-mole in a carnival, but one where the moles actually exploded in a shower of viscera and blood. Noah’s timely interventions had saved me multiple times. We were making good work of the creatures, even as we slowly gave them ground. They would awkwardly sprint at me only to slip and trip themselves on the messed up ground. A tap on my shoulder from Noah warned that we were nearing the second barricade. He would go over the ramp and position himself to pull it as soon as I got to the other side.

“Now!”

Noah’s voice came from behind me, and with a wide sweep I did my best to create distance between me and these fucking dogs. I turned my back without hesitation and ran up the ramp. When I reached the top I turned towards the oncoming mass of creatures and I couldn’t see an end to them. They flooded the alleyway as they stepped over each other and some even tried to climb the walls with their sharp claws.

‘Bloody hell! These fucking things are seriously fucked up!’

“What are you doing, mate? Get down, now!”

Noah’s voice got me out of my daze. I jumped down, but my delay had proven with consequences. As he pulled the ramp, one of the creatures was already on top. It lost its balance and fell towards me, biting me on the shoulder. I felt its gnarly teeth pushing through the jacket and digging into my flesh. I didn’t feel pain, just a dull reminder that I was getting hurt. My first reaction was to pull it away, but Noah stopped.

“Don’t pull it, mate. It's going to make the wound worse.”

“The fuck should I do then? Let it eat me?”

“Just stay still, you dumbarse.”

I did my best to stay still as the creature’s teeth sank deeper in my flesh. Noah got his metal bat and aimed at the creature's face. With whoosh, the tip of the metal bat passed mere millimeters away from my ear as it crashed with force against the creature’s face. It instantly slacked and let go of me It dropped on the floor, its face caved in. Blood rushed from my wound, but I didn’t have time to care. Numbed by adrenaline, I was already swinging on the next one. Noah went back to his position behind me while muttering curses.

The battle went on the same as it had been. I smashed them while Noah covered my openings. We retreated and eventually Noah’s tap told me we had reached the last barricade. There still seemed to be no end to these demon dogs. This time I wouldn’t make the same mistake. I would be quick and efficient. Noah crossed and called to me. I did a wide sweep and turned to cross the ramp.

I don't know if it was the sudden turn, or the accumulated fatigue, but one second I was fine, the next I was so dizzy I couldn’t tell the floor from the sky. I heard Noah’s voice while I lost my sense of balance and crashed on top of the barricade.

“Who the fuck is that? The hounds are going after them!” Noah didn’t seem to notice that I was falling. Too focused on something happening somewhere behind me. I hit the barricade hard. My bitten shoulder knocking part of it over as I tumbled to the other side. I tried to stand up but failed. Noah had seen what happened to me, and was frantically trying to help me stand. I couldn’t. He turned away from me. Probably busy fighting the creatures that rushed us.

It seemed I had gone over the top in my daze, at least. I retched. With one hand on the wall I tried to stand up. The spinning seemed to be slowly stopping and I managed to stay up on one knee. I looked at my side and saw Noah fighting three of the creatures. He stood in an awkward position between me and the broken part of the barrier. I watched as one of the dogs bit him on the forearm and another on the calf. He swung at the third one one-handed, but more were pouring in.

He glanced at me, and I knew he couldn’t hold the line on his own. He could have left me here, but he hadn’t. He swung the creature that was gnashing his forearm against the wall while wildly swinging the bat. I managed to stand up. I felt much better and I had recovered my footing somewhat. I grabbed my sledge hammer. I swung with all the strength I could muster at a demon hound that jumped Noah. I felt the crunch of its bones breaking as it was launched towards the wall on the other side. I stood beside Noah as we did our best to keep the creatures at bay, but we were losing ground fast. It wouldn’t take long before we had to retreat or be overwhelmed. Noah’s leg didn’t look very stable, so retreating might not be an option for him.

As I was starting to come to terms with the worst, the fight suddenly ended. There was no announcement of the end of the wave, but there were no more creatures rushing the alleyway. Noah fell on his ass and I slouched on the barricade. The dead hounds were everywhere in the alleyway. There were so many I couldn’t even see the pavement under the bloody remains. How many had I killed? The messages had been popping so often I had no idea what had happened. I willed my status screen, but it seemed I didn’t level up. But there was something new in the skill section.

[Club Fighting (Initiate)]

I had earned a skill somehow. Probably because of the weapon I was using to fight? That was quite interesting. Before I had the chance to think about it any further, I heard the same loud howl from earlier. But it was much closer than before, it seemed to come somewhere from our right. I exchanged a look with Noah and we got ourselves up and moving. He wasn’t too fast with his limp, so I offered my shoulder. When the last of the hounds was dead, the sounds of other battles had been very faint, so I assumed it was over, but I had forgotten about what had happened last time. The boss, as Chen had put it.

We made our way out of the alleyway in silence. We turned to the right and saw another of those hounds, but this one was bigger. The size of a large dog. It’s red fur stood on its end and its maw was terrifying. Huge serrated canines that promised to cut bone like paper. Johann and the people around him retreated slowly as the creature growled in a horrendously deep and guttural sound. John passed in front of me, Will and a few others beside him. He didn’t notice me, or chose not to.

“Noah, you go inside, you are in no shape to fight anymore. I will give them a hand.”

“Are you sure, mate? You almost passed out earlier.”

“I feel better now, the time we took to rest has helped me recover some strength.”

“Alright, mate… Just don’t push yourself too hard. It seems we got the worst of it by the look of things here.” Noah motioned to the still standing barricades. He let go of me and moved towards the central building. I could glimpse a few people inside being treated by someone, probably Ciara.

I turned and started walking towards the large demon hound. It slowly made its way down from the barricade. Unlike its smaller brethren, it had powerful and firm steps. Not taking the next until it got a proper hold of the pieces of the barricade. Its eyes moved slowly among the people until they stopped on John. It seemed to have singled out the large man.