“…”
“…”
Darnic and Elda stayed silent for a while.
Just then—
“Hey! What are you doing!? Put those barrels there!”
“Y-Yes!”
“Stop panicking! This isn’t the end! We can win! We have Captain Darnic and Town Head on our side!”
“Yes!”
—the two heard a guard’s shout and glanced at each other.
“We can’t let them down, can we?”
Elda muttered with a light smile on her face.
“I would rather die before that.”
Darnic spoke as he smiled as well.
“Don’t say that.”
Once again, the Townhead glanced at her Town and its people, the ones who couldn’t fight were moved, the rest were in their positions,
It was time.
She glanced at Darnic one last time, the Captain nodded, the Townhead nodded back as she then stepped forward,
“People of Greyvale.”
She began.
“Look behind us,
This place is our land, a land where we were raised, a land where we played, a land where we danced, a land where we… lived.
Behind us lies our families, our children, our parents, our people,
We are the last line of defense, and if we fall, everything we cherish will fall with us.
Are we going to allow that!?”
“NO!!”
“Are we going to allow that!?”
Elda raised her hand.
“NO!!”
The guards shouted.
“Are we going to let some mindless beasts trample over us!?”
Elda raised her voice even further.
“NOO!!!”
“Then stand tall!
Fight till you cut all who are coming for our people!”
“YEAAHHH!!!!”
The guards raised their voices as well, their eyes shining with endless determination.
With the fighting force all riled up, Elda turned towards Darnic, who nodded and stepped forward.
“The beasts we are going to face are divided into five categories.
Brutes, heavy creatures with high defense.
Crawlers, capable of crawling through walls, sewers, and barricades.
Swarm Beasts, Medium-sized, fast, and agile.
Sky Beasts, Flying motricities.
Aberrants, deformed, unpredictable, and unstable, these things explode on death.”
The Captain started explaining as well.
“The way to deal with all these creatures has already been told to you. We know their strengths, we know their weaknesses, we know everything there is to know about our enemies,
It is a battle we cannot possibly lose,
So raise your swords, it is time to deal with the insects who have been bothering us for a while now once and for all.”
“YEAAAAHHH!!!”
The soldiers raised their swords and cheered loudly, their voices reverberated throughout the town.
But then,
Rumble Rumble Rumble
As if to answer their cheers, the ground began to tremble.
Darnic stared ahead and from the tree line, shadows emerged—low and fast.
“T-They are here!”
One of the Unit Leaders shouted as dozens of beasts with red eyes and foaming jaws charged toward Greyvale, snarling and shrieking.
Yes, the Swarm Beasts had arrived.
However, before the newly listed men began to panic,
“Archers!”
Darnic raised his voice, instantly calming his people. The archers nocked their bows.
The Captain waited for a while, letting the Swarm Beasts get closer, and then,
“Loose!”
He ordered.
Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh
A wave of flaming arrows lit up the sky and rained down on the creatures.
“ROAAAAAARRRRRR!!!”
Several beasts collapsed mid-run, pierced and burning. But the rest didn’t slow. They screeched, howled, and sprinted straight for the barricades.
“The Second Batch!
Loose!”
Darnic ordered as the second batch of Fire Arrows fell on the Swarm Beasts. Some Arrows missed, some hit, Swarm Beasts continued to fall, however, those who survived continued their charge even as the Fire Arrows rained down on them without stopping.
Pierce Pierce Pierce
“RRROOAAAARRRRR!!!”
The first of them smashed into the wooden stakes with bone-snapping force. Crunches and gurgling screams echoed through the cold air as they impaled themselves—yet others climbed over the dying bodies, hurling themselves against the wall.
Elda loosed another arrow. It struck a beast in the eye, dropping it instantly.
“They’re piling over!”
The Town Head shouted.
CRACK
From the southern barricade, a terrible crack rang out—wood splintering underweight.
“They’re through!”
Someone screamed.
“Southside! Move!”
Darnic turned and in an instant, he passed the orders.
“Mara! Take your best and close that breach!”
Mara Lyn, the Town’s best hunter, didn’t hesitate.
“Tarn, Elric, Faye—with me!”
She ordered, drawing twin daggers from her belt as she sprinted. Their Bonds all followed behind them.
“Focus on closing the breach, I’ll take care of them!”
Mara passed the orders as she reached the opening together with her Bonds, just as the first beast crawled over the broken timber.
She was quick, her dagger instantly skewered it through the ribs.
“ROOAAAAARRR!”
Another beast lunged over the carcass and tackled her, or at least it tried to but then suddenly, Mara’s Bond, a Gale wolf jumped on top of the Swarm beast that was about to attack Mara. Two more Swarm Beasts jumped in, Mara and her two Bonds stood in front of the four Swarm Beasts.
Tarn, together with his Bond, joined in as well, giving them the numerical battle.
“RRROOAAAARRR!!”
The Swarm Beasts did not care and rushed power, the corrupted energy oozing out of their body made them stronger than normal beasts at their level.
“KILL!!!”
Mara ordered as she and Tarn dashed together with her Bonds.
A bloodied battle began.
While Mara and Tarn fought the Beasts, Elric dragged debris into the breach and Faye kept the eye on the surroundings to make sure nothing else happened.
“AAAHHHHH!!!!”
As the battle continued, Tarn screamed in agony as a Beast’s claw plunged into his shoulders.
Blood sprayed across the ground as Mara slashed open a beast’s throat. Another slammed into her side, throwing her down. Its jaws snapped inches from her face—until her Gale Wolf pounced on the Beast and tore it to shreds.
With a trembling body, Mara stood up.
This was just the beginning, she couldn’t lie down here.
“Clear the breach!”
One of the Town’s Mages shouted, both his hands glowing with magic. A gust of wind shoved two more beasts back, and fire rained down behind them.
More guards rushed in. Together, they shoved crates, broken beams, and corpses into the hole until it was sealed—at least for now.
“Mara! Retreat with your people!!”
With that done, Darnic passed the orders. Mara and her men weren’t positioned there to begin with, they had their own part to play and while he had been covering for them, things were becoming different.
Mara and others nodded as they all fell back, rushing towards Darnic who was pushing himself to the extreme.
It wasn’t good.
Darnic was their strongest warrior, he had to preserve his strength for what was about to come.
“Continue fighting! Do not let them break through the barricades!!”
Elda ordered as she continued shooting.
“YEAAAAHHH!!!”
The soldiers roared, pushing the swarmed beasts back.
This continued for about 30 minutes, out of the Twenty Swarmed Beasts, Fourteen were dead, the rest were injured. The fight was still ongoing, things however, had already taken a horrible turn.
Bodies lay everywhere.
Twisted, burned, and broken.
Five defenders were dead.
Two were torn apart during the second breach that Mara and others couldn’t take care of. Others had fallen along the barricades—one slashed across the belly, another bitten through the throat.
Darnic stood in the blood-stained mud, breathing heavily, sword dripping with Swarmed Beast blood.
This wasn’t supposed to go this way, he wasn’t supposed to participate in this battle, he was supposed to preserve himself. However, if he hadn’t made the move, the casualties would have increased.
He needed more people to be able to resist what was coming, he couldn’t lose people unnecessarily, fighting was the only option.
“…”
With a grim look on his face, he looked at the wounded being carried away on stretchers—some crying out, others silent with pain.
“Move the wounded to the chapel,”
A Unit Leader commanded.
“Reinforce the southern barricade. Get me oil from the granary—we need more traps set. Go!”
Another Unit Leader instructed.
The defenders scrambled to follow the commands. Fear still lingered in their eyes, but the Leaders’ steady voices brought some calm. They moved between the men, patting shoulders, pointing to key spots, giving clear, firm orders.
They were all following Darnic’s plan while the man himself watched everything in silence.
A healer moved quickly between injured defenders, muttering spells and applying poultices. One young man clutched his wounded leg, his entire body trembling in pain.
Darnic knew him, that child was barely 16 years old, someone who was proud of how fast he ran but now…
“C-Captain!”
Suddenly, Darnic heard a shout.
He turned to see one of the defenders rushing towards him.
“What is it?”
He questioned, his voice still as calm as ever.
“The Crawlers! The Crawlers are here!”
In an instant, Darnic’s expression changed as he rushed towards the direction the defender pointed at and climbed the wall.
There, he saw it.
Long, twisted shapes slithering out of the woods. Low to the ground, with bulging muscles and too many legs,
The Crawlers had arrived.
Their bodies dragged across the dirt, leaving deep grooves. Thick black spit dripped from their open jaws.
“KREEEEKKK!!!”
“RRROOOAAAAARRRR!!!”
The remaining Swarm Beasts howled and ran with them, finally joining the second wave.
“Crawlers on the east!”
Another man shouted.
Panic rose fast.
Some defenders even dropped their weapons.
“We’re not ready!”
One man cried.
“They’ll climb the walls!”
“This is it! This is the end!”
“O’ Lord Feraos! Please show mercy!!”
And just like that, the chaos spread and the battle spirit dwindled.
Darnic however, hadn’t given in,
“Hold steady!”
He commanded, instantly attracting the defenders’ attention.
“This is not over!
Worry not!
This is going all according to my plan!”
Yes, Darnic lied.