The Erinyes flew around the battlefield lifting up solitary hoplites, and ripping them to shreds above the phalanges, causing showers of blood to cover the troops lowering their morale.

The people unlucky enough to be chosen by the Erinyes were tortured slowly having their skin torn off, the eyes removed and their organs taken out one by one whilst they were still alive. The screams heard from those unlucky souls pierced right through you making you feel cold.

When one of the Erinyes took the man standing near me, in could see its cold bloodshot eyes. Its hair was made from writhing snakes, and its face was dried and crinkled. The sight of it made me throw up causing the Erinyes to cackle harshly sending shivers down my spine.

The lightning mages tried to shoot the Erinyes out of the skies with their lightning but, they could not connect to the insanely high levelled creatures.

It appeared that the Erinyes weren’t enough to satisfy Hades, because behind them came dracaena. These dracaena were green skinned female creatures with twin snake tails for legs. They held shields and bronze swords as the slithered their way towards our lines.

One phalanx from each of the other three sides of the town made their way to the eastern wall to help fight against the dracaena, and most of our mages were brought to distract the Erinyes. it was impossible for our mages to hit the Erinyes so we had to settle for holding them off.

The dracaena were smart and used the hellhounds as fodder to strike within the gaps of our defences. I ran around the battlefield enchanting blades with my three elemental enhancements. when most of the phalanx were elementally enchanted I started using life orbs from hellhounds which improved resistance to demons when used on shields thereby reducing the impact received from hellhounds.

The battle even slightly however there was a huge number of casualties on both sides. Our army had dropped to half its reinforced size, and no new enemies were coming from the forest. The Erinyes were still flying around distracting our mages, and the dracaena were still killing indiscriminately.

All of a sudden our side faltered. We felt a cold grip on our hearts.

*triiing*

You are in the presence of ThanatosIf you die whilst in the presence of Thanatos, effects of death will be applied ten-fold.

A young man clad in black 4 metres tall appeared on the side of the battlefield. His black wings spanned 5 metres in length, and by his waist was a pure black sword sheathed in his belt. The once chaotic battlefield froze as they turned to look at him.

“It has been a while since enough death has occurred for me to manifest in person” Thanatos stated with a deep foreboding voice.

“Don’t stop because of me, fight, kill most of you are already marked for death anyway.”

The Erinyes seeing Thanatos disappeared immediately and the hoplite army pushed forward facing the underworld army.

The distraction by Thanatos was both welcome and ominous. Thanatos was known to hate gods so it doesn’t make sense for him to stop a war between gods. Many of the adventurer’s retreated and left the battlefield now that Thanatos had made his presence known. Both armies fought much more aggressively hoping to kill their enemies before them themselves died.

The battlefield became more brutal. Monsters were impaled by spears, keres were struck by a shower of lightning. The hoplites were killed by hellhound claws and teeth or struck by the blades of the dracaena. Limbs were thrown all over the battlefield, the frenzy brought to fruition allies attacking ally and enemy attacking enemy. The battlefield was the epitome of chaos.

Hoplites were hysterical covered with the blood of their enemies and cries could be heard from all over. I teamed up with Kairen and we fought defensively. We have no idea how many allies we killed during the battle but the enemies started to thin out over time.

During the fight Kairen and I had to tag out quite frequently defending one another due to the injuries sustained mostly by the dracaena. At one point we had to retreat fully to the wall because Kairen lost an arm. The healers had to encase his arm with a white light and chant for 3 minutes whilst the arm regenerated. The wait was agonisingly slow watching those who fought by our side die at the hands of the underworld army.

I had used up all my herbs and was no longer able to elementally enchant. I had to resort to enchanting with bones, teeth, claws, and life orbs. Some enchantments increased health, defence or even attack. Some enchantments failed and destroyed the weapon item that I tried to enchant. I discovered that there are risks to enchanting with random body parts. The dracaena orbs created a minor vampiric effect when used which helped keep our troops alive.

Finally, we heard a blood curdling roar, and out from the forest came a 12 metre tall black humanoid creature. It was a Minotaur. Its fur was pitch black, the colour of night. Its eyes looked like bottomless pits. From its bull like face tendrils of smoke escaped. In the Minotaur’s hands was a giant club, well more of a tree than a club. As it stepped onto the battlefield, the ground began to shake as if there were an earthquake. The army of the underworld cheered as the Minotaur made its way onto the battlefield.

All our mages switched target to the Minotaur throwing lightning spells at it to try weaken it. It looked unfazed as it continued its way to our army. All our forces made way to attack the Minotaur throwing their spears if they still had them, and hacking at it with swords.

Each time the Minotaur swung its club ten or more bodies flew through the air, their bones completely broken from the weight of the club. Within seconds, the Minotaur took out an entire phalanx leaving behind carnage. With all the pressure our entire army put on it, the Minotaur finally started to flinch.

Seeing the Minotaur fall on one leg, I grabbed Karen's hand and we climbed up its leg across its back to its head whilst it still swung its club. As we reached its head. We struck our blades at its neck, and a deafening roar blasted next to us. The Minotaur started shaking wildly trying to throw us off.

Kairen, the idiot he is jumped and climbed into the nose of the minotaur and started hacking away inside causing blood to run down its face. I climbed around the back and made my way to the top of its head to stab down into its eyes.

Thanks to the overall might of our remaining army we finally managed to slay the fearsome beast causing our morale to jump and the enemies to fall.

The Battle was far from over and it was a brutal battle to overcome but, overcome it we did. We have no idea how long we fought but, when the battle finally ended there were no more than 70 people remaining on our side. Bodies were piled all over the place with dried pools of blood everywhere.

*triiing*

Quest Completed: Protect PersephoneYou have fought and defeated the armies of the underworld. Persephone is safe to remain until the following winter where she must return to Hades side once more.

Rewards: Blessing of Persephone

Fame +200

New Skill: Blessing of Persephone (Passive)You have received Persephone’s blessing.

In seasons other than winter all stats +1%

You cannot gain experience in this skill. Doing favours for Persephone can make this skill grow.

As the messages appeared, the bodies of allies and enemies alike began to disappear in huge clouds of grey dust. During a war in Wing’s to Tomorrow, bodies killed on a battlefield do not disappear.

Due to the battle having so many monsters, my level had grown rapidly. I am now level 53. My adventurer rank and Bounty hunter ranks had changed from red to green. Finishing the battle, I decided to check how much strong I had gotten and assign my new points.

“Display status window”

NameElyssaAlignmentNeutralLevel53ClassBlade Dancer

Sword EnchanterRaceHigh ElfTitleLady of the dance

Friend of the NymphsFame740Infamy0Health1680Health Regen8.8Mana2760Mana Regen13.8Stamina672Stamina Regen4.0Strength90Agility245Dexterity23Vitality168Intelligence276 (+15)Wisdom289(+10)Leadership0Luck14Resilience40Endurance48Attractiveness65 (+10)Charm48 (+10)+ increased skill exp 5%

+ NPC’s view as a noble

+10 to charm and attractiveness

+able to learn all dancing skills

+fencing penalties removed

+10 to wisdom

+15 to intelligence

+able to learn all enchanting skills

“Display skill list”

IdentificationIntermediate lvl 7FireballIntermediate lvl 8Ice BoltIntermediate lvl 7MeditationBeginner lvl 5CookingIntermediate lvl 3BandagingBeginner lvl 6Magic MasteryBeginner lvl 7Language MasteryBeginner lvl 2(sub skill) Magic languageComprehension 83%Fencing MasteryBeginner lvl 8Dance MasteryBeginner lvl 9Dance of the SylphBeginner lvl 6Dance of the FairyBeginner lvl 4Dance of the WarriorBeginner lvl 4Dance of the DragonBeginner lvl 6Dance of the BerserkerBeginner lvl 3RepairBeginner lvl 3EnchantingBeginner lvl 7Life EntrapmentBeginner lvl 6Fire Blade EnchantmentBeginner lvl 4Wind Blade EnchantmentBeginner lvl 4Ice Blade EnchantmentBeginner lvl 5PressureBeginner lvl 1Blessing of Persephone (passive)Beginner lvl 1

“Display job list.”

Job listjobrankreputationAdventurerGreenEBounty HunterGreenF

After helping clean up the town, I met up with Zach, Rosetta, and Kairen in the inn and we chatted. In the end we decided to separate for a while to explore and develop our character’s further but, promised to keep in touch. Rosetta suggested I show my dad the battle in case he wanted to use it for promotional means. After everyone left, I too logged out.

If I learnt anything from this chapter, its that tables are evil and should go die.

I think this chapter badly needs proofing, if you can point out mistakes, please do I woudl appreciate it.

not too sure if this chapter flowed too well, I think I preferred the thief hideout chapter.