Chapter 21

The window for escape was closing. On the eastern and southern fronts, resistance was collapsing fast, organized defense falling back before the unstoppable power of the monster leaders, and the sheer numbers of the bestial attackers.

In front of me lay the only possible way out. The fallen wall segment, currently swarmed by people trying to use it to get out, to race out in order to hide out on the plain and avoid becoming monster food.

They had the right idea.

I slowly launched into a jog. I pointedly did not shake my head in order to clear it of the befuddled sensations. That didn’t seem like the proper way to treat a concussion. Of course, neither did going into monster-filled territories, but again, beggars and choosers…

The beasts were intelligent. That, or whomever was in charge was intelligent, and had the ability to corral the beasts efficiently. However it worked, the damn things went from an evenly arrayed push from all sides to an absolute swarm for the opening, in order to trap us all.

For now, enough people were rushing to escape, that the exit wasn’t plugged. But there was no doubt that the door was closing, rapidly.

Even so, I didn’t increase my pace. My Agility had taken an ugly hit from the debuffs, and I wasn’t going to try to outrace anybody and put even more stress on my already damaged leg. No. This was going to be ugly, drawn-out and bloody.

In spite of everything, the situation, my mental health, my poor odds of survival, I felt a feral grin slowly emerge. If the fuckers wanted to take me down, I would make damn sure that it was going to be ugly for them as well. I’d taken one leader out. I could go for seconds, if they wanted to try me!

The first attack took me by surprise. I didn’t even see it coming. Just felt a burning sensation on my back, and saw a Lesser Glimmerscale at least fifty meters away close its jaw still lit with fiery residue with what I could only interpret as smug satisfaction.

I tried to ignore the pain of the… dammit. Of the forty-some damage the fiery missile had caused – crappy start to the conflict. Instead, I focused on the fact that the damage allowed me to activate Wheel of Magic. With the speed of a mental nudge, a shining, see-through wheel came into being around my torso, slowly starting to rotate around its own axis, with me at the hub. Five spokes emerged from the wheel, all pointing straight at my diaphragm. A second later, the point at the end of one of the spokes lit up with a clear, blue colour, and the wheel started spouting small missiles back at the nearest beasts. There was a delay of several seconds between each missile, and the missiles didn’t seem horribly damaging. Still, they were automatic attacks, where I didn’t have to further divide my attention.

Ahead of me, a tall woman with a massive bone staff bristling with some dark green energy had stopped advancing. I couldn’t tell if it was fear or something else, but she’d stopped running, and was waving her staff in a figure-eight, fending off one of the otter creatures and a Skreeling.

“Heads up!” I yelled, as I ran past her. The staff nearly clipped my shoulder, and, at the edge of my vision, I watched the tip dripple some horrid, sizzling energy. Then I was in between the two monsters, and all coherent thoughts were put on hold.

The otter hit me first. It raced at me fast enough I didn’t even have the time or the wherewithal to get the shield in front of the glowing, barely visible claw-tipped paw. I barely managed to get my swordbreaker in between the claws and my leg on a downward swipe.

I hardly felt Deflect activate, but I sure as shit spotted the result. One moment, the slippery, overwhelmingly fast beast was en route to slide around me and go for my heels. The next, the beast tumbled head over heels as its paw was dragged downward with vastly more force than either of us expected.

I was surprised enough, I even managed to get an Identify off, seeing what the hell I was up against.

Lesser Riverkin

Level 11

Further information locked

Then I was past, and right up close with the Skreeling who looked caught in a frenzied rage, launching itself head-first, claws swinging… straight at my shield.

This time, I didn’t even slow down. I kept up my forward pace, trusting in my momentum to keep me going against the German shepherd-sized Skreeling. Also, yes, I activated Wave of Reflection.

The feedback almost killed me. Not because the big, ugly beast knocked me back with its leap. Quite the opposite. I expected to be knocked back from the impact and adjusted for it. However, when it struck my shield, every single impact, claws and teeth simultaneously, were met by an instance of Deflect, flinging the beast back and up. The Wave of Reflection that struck it mid-air, meanwhile, obliterated it entirely.

I nearly fell on my goddamn face, stumbling forward like a hurdler who’d clipped the top of an obstacle. With a brief wave of nausea and a slight burst of pain from my leg, I righted myself and kept going without looking behind even once. There was no time.

The closer I got to the fallen wall segment, the tighter the press became. By now, the monsters were flinging their all at us, in an attempt to stopper the bottle.

Everybody else was coming to the same conclusion, of course, and the result was easy to see. The fallen wall was getting clogged up with the surging number of bodies and fallen humans.

A few people were being clever about it, leaping from the ramparts to avoid the worst of the press, using talents to soften the landing or kill enemies nearby to improve their chances. Me, with my damaged leg and concussion? Yeah, no. Even if I were agile enough to nail a landing like that, the debuffs ensured I wasn’t going to chance it. Head down, shield up, and straight into the grinder for me.

The press of bodies kept increasing. Now, I was running alongside a crying teenager who definitely shouldn’t have been allowed to go to Ademia at his age, and a thickset woman with a mace who looked like she’d ace any Russian weightlifting contests. Neither were slowing down, except for the teen who, even through tears, was making punching motions and unleashing some fiery substance.

Only, the presence of the monsters was thickening as well. And now, we were running out of space for evasive manoeuvres.

My upper chest took a hit, slowing me down for a moment. Then my leg flew back, spilling me to the ground. Thankfully, it wasn’t the injured one, and I picked myself up and continued with little but a twinge to the leg. In the press of monster bodies ahead, I couldn’t be sure which of the damn lizards hit me – hell, it might also be friendly fire – but I wasn’t trying to get even. Just get away.

A massive burst of fire emerged from just ahead, and the teenager, panting, started stumbling forward haltingly. A Skreeling leapt in to bite him from the side. I barely got there in time, interposing the swordbreaker between its wide-open jaws and pushing downward.

Deflect engaged once again, and I took great pleasure in watching the damned thing’s head get dragged down, as if its neck was stuck in an industry-strength rubber band affixed to the ground.

I reached out and grabbed the teen’s arm. “No time outs! We’re on the clock, kid.” Then I pressed onward again.

We passed by the woman, who had stopped and was glowing from within as she activated some talent or other. Then, I had to let go of the teen’s arm, as we leapt onto the ruined section of the fallen wall and ran for freedom.

The view on the other side of the wall nearly got me killed. In the last second, I managed to duck down behind my shield, as an extra-fast specimen of those Riverkin slid at me, fangs first. Deflect activated, making the beast tumble away behind me with an extremely satisfying mewling sound, and I stood up and took in the scenery. Then I cursed, and got back to running.

I’d lost the teen somewhere in the last dozen meters, as well as the bodybuilder. They’d been replaced by three other people, one with enough blood running from her neck that I doubted she was long for the world. It was everybody for themselves right now. And I wasn’t giving us good odds.

The camps were overrun. What had, just an hour ago, been a chaotic, but merry sight of what humanity looked like without proper planning, had been turned into a post-apocalyptic sight. Fires sprouted everywhere, and the growing shadows of the evening seemed to hide enemies behind every tent.

The presence of monsters didn’t stop at the camps, though. No. Mixed bands of Skreelings, Riverkin and Glimmerscales roamed the Killing Fields beyond, aiming to catch the people who were fleeing the battlefield, alone or in small groups. Whoever they were – whatever they were – they’d come prepared.

I growled and sprang into motion yet again. Whatever else might happen tonight, the only way I was going to actually survive this mess was if I managed to get through the still-teeming scores of beasts trying to stem the fleeing people in the first place. Evading any hunters could come later.

***

My back hit the mud of the river bank hard, as I watched my stamina hit single digits. I snarled into the darkness. This was it for me. I’d done what I could. I just couldn’t lose the bastard.

It had to be closer to morning than night, by now. I’d lost any sense of time and orientation hours ago, though, as the nightmare of being hunted kept up and would not relent. The night sky was still pitch black, and the only noises were those of my enemies, trying to find me and kill me.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

At first, things had looked up. I’d been one of several hundred escaping into the evening. Once we managed to push through the encroaching press of beasts and through the chaotic mess of the overrun camps, there was a short period of relief, as we faced the wide plains beyond. I found myself picking a random direction. The only coherent decision at that time was to not run in the direction of the canyon.

The single team of three Skreelings and a Riverkin that decided I’d be easy prey for hunting in the Killing Fields got to rue their decision. At that point, I’d gone beyond anger and worked up a white-hot fury. The small group of monsters standing in the way between me and survival seemed more of a gift bag that an obstacle.