That was all the time I had before it started raining birds. I raised my tower shield and braced one knee on the ground as heat washed off me in waves with each vicious thud of Thrashers. The chitin flexed dangerously, and the heat started to steal breaths from me as the downwards wind pressure of the birds trapped the heat. My health trickled down as the force was transferred through my body, ejecting it with vicious intent into the ground beneath me.

I wasn't sure if the incoherent screaming was mine, Samuel's through the comm-plant, or both. Possibly even one of the other squad leaders Sarah had added to the call that were horrified by my decision to turn 'distraction' into 'bait and punish'. While my health crept down below 70% and I could hardly feel my shield arm and legs, I was waiting to deliver on the punishment part.

And deliver I did.

As the last of the murmuration pivoted, trying to take to the sky again to make another kamikaze run at me, I swung Fievil. The uppercut motion was simple, and it didn't even have the extra oomph of Ballast behind it, but all it needed to do was connect with one of the bastard birds. Considering the air was chock full of them, it was hardly a difficult task. The fury of the desert roared at the moment of impact.

encased me in a cocoon of darkness as the sand and rocks pelted everything in a conical path of blooming from Fievil's hammer head. One second, the birds were there. The next? Deleted. I blinked, watching as the wind dispersed the rocks and let them drift down along with a curtain of avian blood that soaked into trees and earth alike. In an instant, a fourth of the birds had been wiped away. A glance over my shoulder told me that my Amplified Skill had only enough juice for one more retaliatory attack, but I didn't think I was going to need it. The flock had suddenly lost all interest in Fievil or the base and were scattering to the four winds.

Something about the sheer intensity of the butchery disturbed me, but my mind latched on to the first thing it could to keep me from crumpling in fear of my own power. "How are we going to get that Pith?"

Cheering erupted from the walls, spells chains flashing magic into the air as the attack was repelled. A chant of 'VANGUARD' rattled not only my ears but every bit of my Harmonic Sinews. Of course, like anything that happened on the surface, the joy lasted a mere pittance. The steady crescendo that had been underlying the attack of the Thrashers jumped, peaks and valleys flashing with definition erupting from the treeline.

"Form up!" I yelled through the comm-plant, sending it to as many people as I knew through the connection. Sarah's pillar of fire ignited and I saw the orc woman catapult herself explosively up to the wall with the help of her fiery hair. Her voice fell into the background as my eyes finally spotted the sources of the thrumming and my blood ran cold.

I almost didn't want to believe my eyes as a veritable horde of pigs mowed down the undergrowth in their effort to reach us. The water, air and fire hogs were intermingled with little regard for the effects their Attunements were having on themselves. Trailing embers of lightning, ice and ash followed in their wake, exploding in puffs each time one bumped the other. One of the fire hogs exploded through the ruin of a house, flipping head over hooves just to resume its charge when the others nudged it back into formation. If that had been all, I would have been worried enough. Instead, three monstrosities trotted behind the horde as if taking an afternoon walk, toppling trees with casual disregard, each easily twice my length and just as tall as me.

"I can honestly say I've now been put squarely in my place, power wise," I mumbled, feet rooted in place as the hogs grew closer. If Fievil hadn't rebooted my brain from the back-to-back shocks I don't think I would have survived the five minutes that followed. As it was, I turned tail and bolted for the wall. A vine unfurled down from the top where it had been waiting and I latched on to it like the lifeline it was before it yanked me up. The last charge of followed me like an obedient skin flaying, flesh tenderizing Augmented Skill. While not as large as when I'd first cast it, several defenders were forced to step away thanks to the dome of sand and rocks hovering behind me like a turtle shell.

"Crowd control!" Sarah roared.

Hail formed in the air, whipped into a blizzard in seconds as air attuned threw their power into the mix just to projectile it into the earth. The ground between the wall and the charging hogs instantly turned into a hellish landscape of upturned earth and gouts of fire. Where the ice and fire met, steam popped like the crackle of burning log. The Living Wildfire Hogs snorted their displeasure, a gold-tinged haze of red sweeping out from them to wash over their charges.

The first few hogs at the front stumbled, their reckless charge turning deadly as they encountered the uneven ground despite whatever the Wildfire Hogs had done. Where one fell, the closest thing to the opposing element was concentrated by the defenders. Air Hogs got impaled by fragments of earth, the hail clustered around the fire ones and flames roared as the air hogs fed the very things bringing their demise.

A dozen fell in that first exchange, but something chilled me as I saw the charge slowed and the survivors in the second row opened nightmarishly huge jaws. The hogs gulped down their fellows one bite at a time until only scraps remained. Only... Cinders... The bodies are burning up! As the connection formed in my mind, the first of the second row hogs snorted and bulked up considerably. Bleeding gouges and scorch marks courtesy of the crowd control healed before our eyes. My blood ran cold as I realized what had happened before my Implant reacted.

"They are leveling up as they come!" I shouted, finally snapping myself out of my funk. The mechanics of how the creatures operated could be figured out later, the important thing was to put them down before the Wildfires got involved in the rolling buffet.

"Air, water, fire target the backline!" Sarah shouted through the comm-plant, matching words to action as an explosion of choking ash detonated close to one of the Wildfire Hogs. "Earth and death, brace!"

Magic once more flew overtop and from either side of me. I saw one particularly crisp bolt of lightning take out one of the backline creatures before raking the side of one of the Wildfire Hogs. It fizzled without much apparent damage, but the massive creature missed a step. I spotted Ponzio far in the distance, flanked by other elves from the Guard. Surprisingly, the ones not throwing wind were directing their electrical powers at the youth, who then redirected it back at the charging masses. His control was the best out of any lightning wielders I'd seen, even the old hands like Devon himself.

Yet, it wasn't going to be enough. A plume of static bloomed amidst the hogs, grounding the follow up attack on the backline Wildfire Hogs as that particular creature jumped to Q4. My mind spun, creating and discarding plans as fast as it could. My mana was back up to 60% but, even with the radical effect of my Amplified Skills, the other high level dwarves weren't having much luck putting down the slobbering pigs.

A flash of irritation had me glance at Fievil, the mole rolling his eyes in exasperation. Even without our mental connection, I would have read that as 'seriously'. I was holding the thing that made me stand apart from the others in hand and I forgot it right away. I huffed back. "Fine. If you want to be so useful, let's see if you can trigger Skills."

"Ronan?" Jolene asked, hearing me talk to myself. Her smooth face was wrinkled with concern and I could see frost hanging on to her hair. Most of my had already been broken, either by her or attacks, but she cut an intimidating figure as the battle illuminated her face.

"Just... improvising," I said, smiling despite the kernel of fear in my heart. With no further hesitation, I connected privately to Samuel using the comm-plant. "I've got an idea."

"Oh goody! How's a 'thank you, Sam, for keeping me from getting my heavy ass stuck outside of the walls' or maybe 'hey, sorry for jumping right into a legion of talons and beaks. I won't do it again. Scout's honor!'" the blonde nagged in my ear.

"We didn't have Boy Scouts in the Bunker, Sam. Are you going senile on me?"

"You... Gah! Just you wait until I tell Danny, Ron. She's going to upgrade you to pebble brain and I am not even going to fight it!"

"So, plan?" I said, unable to keep the smile from my face as my friend's voice soothed my nerves ever so slightly. Whoever said banter wasn't important during life and death combat?

"Fine, what's the cracked pot you call a skull come up with now," Sam groaned.

"I need you to be my fishing rod," I said, quickly explaining the rest of my plan even as I jumped into motion.

"Are you sure this is going to work like you think?" he asked, only hesitating slightly which I took as a positive sign.

"Not in the least. But I don't like our odds. I don't want a Gator Dungeon repeat, mainly because I don't think we'll all get away," I said, grimacing at my own words. With a grunt, I finished tying the vine that had pulled me up the wall tightly around Fievil's haft. Just for the sake of hopes and dreams, I covered my hands with a short pulse of that I broke the moment it hardened. A pair of fake, rock hands held the axe-hammer as I slipped my hands out.

I set the Shard Weapon down, aware of how much closer the hogs were and how many more had crossed into Q4 as other Q4's were eaten. It was a numbers game and beasts tended to win on that front unless us humans had an overwhelming advantage. I planned to tip the scales a bit.

"Brace!" Sarah roared, her flame hand flaring and splitting into two that rose off her shoulders. The close range specialists, which included the Wild Fists to no one's surprise, ignited with their various attunements. The ditch in front of the wall sagged, dropping another four foot and stretching away from the wall as if to meet the hog's charge with a subterranean one of its own. I spotted the Shapers stomping the earth on the wall as a spell chain thick as my arm orbited the dwarves.

"Ron?" Sam asked.

"Ronan? If you are going to do something, I think now would be the time," Jolene said, a quiver to her tone.

"Hold..." I told no one but myself. Well, Fievil was there but the mole had already strapped in to a cartoonish roller coaster cart. He smacked a poorly sized helmet on with a giant star on it before giving me a claws-up. Oh lord, my hammer is a Looney Toon. "Now!"

I tapped into my tower shield, dripping mana as the extra Strength flowed through me. Doing my best imitation of a lasso, I lobbed Fievil into the charging hogs. The vine in my hand started to smoke as I gripped it and I was sure that if I didn't have Limestone Skin I would have been down to the bone just from trying to stop the momentum when the hammer got as far as I wanted. With the slack gone, Fievil pivoted downward sharply. The axe blade met the spine of one of the air hogs, nearly severing the creature in two as the heat exploded off the impact. As effective as the base attack turned out to be, that wasn't my focus.

The whole time I'd been glaring at the charging horde with a singular intent in mind: having the desert scour them from the earth. The dome of sand and rock behind me was happy to oblige. leapt over my shoulder and surged towards the mass of hogs, the center of the conical attack aimed at where my weapon had touched down.

"Reel it! Reel it in, Sam!" I shouted, letting go of the vine as I breathed deep in preparation of the discomfort to come. Mana flowed into my helm, reforming a half powered behind me even as the sandstorm from the first made contact with the wild hogs. I gripped the parapet of the wall, glaring at the Wildfire Hogs as they moved out of the way of my attack. Thankfully, my impromptu attack had caught a solid third of the horde. It was leagues weaker against the higher Quotient, sturdier creatures, but visibility for the hogs dropped to nil. Which in turn caused them to panic despite the Life Attuned Hogs trying to direct them.

Fievil flew up over the wall and I snatched the vine to bring the weapon back into my hand. The mole cackled with delight, thoroughly thrilled with being juggled through the air. I didn't give it any more thought as I turned my body slightly, tapped into my shield and then released towards one of the outside edges of the horde. The impact that time was less effective as it glanced off ice coating the Wild Hog like armor. It didn't matter, the first charge of my half-powered Skill galloped over the wall and Fievil was already making the return journey courtesy of my druidic fisherman.

"Ronan, you beautiful madman! How many more of those can you do!?" Sarah asked, even as she orchestrated a wave of attacks on the hogs not impeded by my sandstorms.

"I've got maybe three more then I'm tapped," I said, snatching Fievil once more.

"Try to hit one of the big bastards in the back," she directed. "If we can keep pressure on them, they won't be able to buff or organize the rest of the charge!"

She didn't need to tell me twice. I twisted my body, trying to recall every clip I'd ever seen of the Olympic Games before the Fall. Fievil was to a javelin or discus what a whale was to a barracuda. Despite that, I had magic on my side and a very eager living weapon. had barely had enough time to form before my Shard Weapon was sailing over the horde which was practically slobbering at our doorstep.

Like hitting the broad side of a barn, Fievil sunk one of the three Wildfire Hogs. It squealed with agony, the first real damage against them, before it started to backpedal and turn. The vine started to unspool as the creature moved. The dutifully moved to follow.

"Fievil is stuck! Sam, pull the vine!" I shouted, clamping my hands on the vine and almost getting pulled over the wall. My feet slammed into the parapet, releasing a series of cracks down it as Tremor Frame betrayed me. "Pull the vineeeeeee!"

My strength proved just enough to hold the Wildfire Hog for a breath. The battle was still for a full second, then mana created stone failed and I was flying. I was vaguely aware of Jolene shouting behind me and Sarah shifting the plan of attack but all I could do was hold on for dear life. My collision with the ground wasn't anything serious; the collision of my body directly into the snout of a hog was a different story. My health dipped and my vision grew blurry as vibro overwhelmed my vision.

Sand flew through the horde towards the point where I'd attacked the Wildfire Hog, covering me enough to dissuade accurate retaliation from the other hogs. The one I shoulder checked got a full dose of my Skill, getting flayed in the process and further obscuring me as the excess of the cone pushed past it. I slammed into two more hogs before I was able to get my feet under me, tucking the vine into my armpit to try to improve my grip on my only lifeline. I gave my Implant a wary glance as the Q5 hog used me as a living plow, leaving me with 60% health, just over 30% of my mana.

Subject: Ronan Terrigan

Health: 63% (Unafflicted)

Mana: 37%

"Fuuuuu--" A shock of lightning seized me as I sideswiped an air hog and I watched my health tick down by another 5%. The Electrified Affliction flashed and disappeared from my Status. Then, I was in the clear. It took me a second to realize that I'd moved into the churned up earth behind the charging hogs. The injured Wildfire Hog was still retreating for some reason so I let myself be pulled further. Without much in the mana pool department, a fight against a Q5 wasn't optimal, but keeping it away from the horde would relieve the pressure on the wall at the cost of a mostly tapped fighter. I hope.

Extraneous thoughts like the distant wall, the fight therein or the fact that I was possibly one of the first humans to go board-less wakeboarding on land, went out the window as the hog finally turned around. Up close, the creature's more... grotesque features came into view. Instead of the coarse fur that the other wild hogs seemed to have regardless of their attunement, the Wildfire looked more like a sea anemone given pig shape. What had appeared to be thick hair from the wall turned out to be tiny protrusions that rustled and flexed in a non existent wind. The eyes of the creature were burning with a dirty brass-colored light as they took me in. When the flank into which Fievil was embedded came into view, it became obvious why I'd gone for a ride after my weapon.

Hundreds of the strange tentacles were slowly working to absorb the axe-blade into the creature's body. Blood still ran freely from the wound, the actual damage having been exacerbated thanks to having me hooked on the line, but with the two of us in a stand off I watched as the tentacles pulled the damage together; it was visibly healing. A snort from the creature as it dug its back hoof into the ground drew my attention back to the creature. Then it charged.

Had I not been equipped with the Traits and armor I did, I was fairly sure I would have turned into a pancake. As it was, I felt one of my ribs creak ominously from the impact I barely had any time to brace for. One of the small --relative to its enormous size-- tusks on the hog would have gored me if not for blunting the jagged tooth. Even while cursing my low Mobility, I pulled tight on the vine tethering me to the creature. Vibro was screaming with potential as the force of the collision reflected inside me before working its way towards my chest. So I did the only sensible thing and bearhugged the creature with all I had.

Disgusting living hairs caressed my face through my helm and I had to resist the urge to release the contents of my stomach. Thankfully, I didn't have to wait long for the Wildfire Hog to get a bit of its own medicine. Like a subwoofer going off, the snout I was holding on to took the reflected blow and splattered into mush. Now covered in more disgusting stuff I dropped to the ground as the hog reeled away from me. It tried to run off, but I was done getting dragged around.

"!" I yelled, watching a precious tenth of my mana pool disappear as the earth heaved with my magic. Even as the vine started to slip away, I coiled it around the spike again and again, smoke trailing into the air from the friction force the creature was exerting. Eventually, I managed to get enough loops in there to stop the creature from running. You are mine, you villous hunk of bacon! If no one told you, those are supposed to be inside the intestines not outside!

The hog jerked when it met resistance it couldn't fight and I heard a crack from my Skill. Thankfully, momentum still worked even with all the magical nonsense that went on on the surface. As the hog failed to escape, Fievil did a number on the creature's side, tearing the thing all the way to the haunch before slipping out of the creature.

I didn't dawdle as the wild hog let out an ear-splitting squeal and I created a with the pittance of mana I had left. Even as it thrashed in place, I could see the villi along its side attempting to seal the wound like a gross zipper. The creature didn't appear particularly sturdy, but its healing abilities were obscene. So, let's see how you deal with road rash!

There was no point trying to be fancy; I didn't even try to pick up Fievil from where he'd flown after tearing up the hog. Instead, I crashed into the side of the creature with as much force as I could manage. My tackle sent the first wave of sand to scour the creature, erasing the healing it had initiated. Then I drove my fist up to my elbow into the wound. I didn't get the chance to trigger the third charge of as the hog rolled over me in its panic to get me off.