The cavalry that had been hiding behind several large snowbanks exited their hiding after the howls of the werewolves finished and had clashed with the demigods drawing their attention to their left flank leaving the right flank wide open.
The mixed force of allies, some riding the large gargs, others riding the gray and nimble reindeer found around the local area charged the enemy’s right flank and hammered it.
The force of the charge knocked some of the demigods all the way to the left flank where they were fighting off the werewolves and orcs that had exited the white foggy woods.
Akira was at the center of the fighting leading the shield wall forward step by step felling demigod after demigod. Whatever they dropped near Akira he would pick up and put it in his bag on instinct, not even looking at the item he picked up as he continued to fight on.
“Yap!” Fluffball, who had been playing around chasing a distressed demigod, sensed something coming from the north and sent out a warning to Akira.
Akira looked to the north and saw a dark fog slowly moving south. Two people in dark robes stepped out of the black fog. The arm of one of the figures pointed in the direction of the current fight between the demigods and the allied army.
One after another hundreds if not thousands of dark disfigured shambling bodies of all types exited the dark fog and started a quick walk towards the two fighting parties.
‘Demigod reinforcements?’ wondered Akira.
“Awoooo!” Akira let out a loud howl that echoed over the sound of battle, warning everyone of the new threat coming from the north.
They fought fiercely trying to kill as many demigods as they could before Akira gave the order to disengage. They needed to pull back their dead and wounded and organize a solid front against the large number of new enemies.
The small number of remaining demigods and their minions that had survived the onslaught were puzzled at why they had decided to retreat when they were on the edge of complete victory.
After experiencing such a devastatingly one-sided fight they did not have any intention of chasing after the allied army.
With grim faces they watched the large army reformed some distance away. They braced both their will and their tired bodies for the oncoming second charge that they would most likely not survive.
Before they could see the start of the second attack from the allied army they were swarmed from behind.
“Allies?” asked Zundar as everyone watched the grotesque scene unfold before them.
The demigods had been unaware of the enemy behind them. They were torn apart, eaten bit by bit by hundreds of these unknown creatures, the gruesome sight lasted until they died and disappeared into thousands of light fragments.
“I don’t think so,” said Varbu. He pointed at several of the shambling creatures that were now moving towards them.
Akira looked to the left and then right flank where the Buster light cavalry had been situated.
“Awooo! Awoo~!”
Receiving their orders from Akira they took a few seconds to aim at the targets that had been given to them.
Thud! One after another the large spear-like bolts flew out from the left flank and headed to their targets.
Several of the dark shambling creatures that were hit in the attack were knocked off their feet and into those behind them.
They were back on their feet in only a minute resuming their fast walk towards the allied army. The only damage for most of them was several large cracks on their chest or body part that had been hit.
The worst Akira saw was one that was now walking with one of the long bolts sticking out of its chest.
Thud! A second wave from the right flew out and over the heads of the thousands of creatures. Their target…the two dark-robed figures. Particularly the one that had given the order to attack.
Unfortunately, the majority of the bolts missed, hitting one of the swarming dark creatures near them as the range was just too far.
Only one looked to have nicked the commanding robed figure’s head as it cut a large portion of the black hood fabric as it passed.
Akira could not tell how severe it was from such a distance but he guessed it was not anything serious.
He watched as the dark-robed figure pulled the hood down further before reaching out a gloved hand and grabbing onto a passing dark creature.
In seconds, the dark creature stopped moving and slowly turned gray, falling to the ground in a pile of rubble.
Everyone was on edge seeing the large mass of creatures still exiting the dark fog.
“Awoooo~~~!” Akira, deciding that it was better to be safe than sorry, ordered a retreat.
-
Darkness domain activated!
***
Tibia watched as her prey escaped somewhere into the white fog. Her vision was blocked by both the white and dark fog that had popped up around the escaping army.
“That damn idiot! What was he thinking ordering them to shoot at my face!” she grumbled as she lightly ran a finger over the new scar on her left cheek.
“That dark fog…Is it like ours?”
“How could he have something like that. The fog was created by the ancients and only the Elder numbers and you who perfected its use, know of it,” said Tibia.
Bonestringer watched Tibia touching the new scar on her face.
“Why did you use [Life Suction] instead of a potion? You wouldn’t have a scar if you used the potions I gave you. You also need to stop destroying the material that we need for later,” said Bonestringer.
“The potions dry out my skin and cause havoc to my smooth skin. [Life Suction] is really great at rejuvenating the dead skin and keeping everything smooth and full of life.”
“You dare compare the sacred skill [Life Suction] to a skin cream? If the elder numbers heard you talk that way they would punish you!”
“Those old coots are too busy on the mainland taking care of other tasks and playing mind games with each other to bother with little ol’ me.”
Bonestringer looked away from Tibia and watched over the large shambling army of disfigured monsters, humans, and demon bodies.
“All they care about is if we accomplish our task and gather what we need. They won’t care about such minor things,” said Tibia.
***
“Fela, how many times do I have to say that you can’t be acting like this! If you keep dying like this all your strength will go back to nothing. You need to think of the bigger picture. We need to plan before we do anything drastic. It has served me well during my time on this snowy hell of a continent.”
“Whahahah! Guys! I’m back!” said Yu huu as he entered the Froit city meeting room. Every other officer was already gathered inside.
Upon the idiot Yu huu’s return, everyone ignored him and continued to listen to the argument between Bland and Fela.
Yu huu walked over to an empty chair and sat down unaware of the others ignoring him and continued to try and start a conversation with the others.
“You guys, that last death was the worst. Being eaten alive bite by bite… that has to be my worst experience yet. Do you know what those things were? I wonder where they came from…”
“What are you talking about?” asked Fela after hearing the last part of the complaining idiot.
“Oh, that’s right! I forgot that you were the first person out of everyone to die, and then it was Bland and everyone else dying in the first two waves. You guys need to get stronger,” said Yu huu, shaking his head at their failure.
A pink vein appeared on Fela’s forehead as she grit her teeth and said, “Knowing you, you probably stayed in the rear center of the army so of course, you would stay alive the longest.”
“Hey! It sounds like you are calling me a coward! I was commanding everyone! Commanding I tell you. All the great commanders of history did the same… Or so I heard from someone who read a book.”
“Enough, tell me what you were talking about just before that,” said Fela.
“Some swarm of black stony things attacked us from behind and tore us apart or ate people one bite at a time. It was horrible, even worse than dying to the werewolves,” said Yu huu. His body shivered as he remembered the experience of being eaten alive.
“Allies of the werewolves?” asked Fela. She was well aware that there were several demon races and human cities that had joined together to oppose the demigod guilds.
“No,” said Yu Huu, shaking his head. “They disengaged and reformed some distance away from us before we were attacked from behind. They saw them before we did and went on the defense.”
“This is not good. A third party has just entered the fight. Who are they….”
***
“What’s the death count now?” asked Akira.
Akira, Klyn, Zundar, and Varbu were currently talking inside Akira’s cramped tent. Gobbers was not here as he was sleeping in his tent after finishing a night shift with the rear guard.
“Over a hundred warriors were lost in the fight with the demigods. Those deaths were mostly from the volunteers of the small towns and villages. The rearguard has lost twenty men so far in the several skirmishes with the creatures following us,” said Varbu.
“The rear guard is losing that much? Is the enemy really that strong? Or is it a problem with the healers,” asked Akira looking to Klyn.
“Only a few of the rear guard soldiers died in battle when they were swarmed and torn apart. The others died from the wounds they received. Somehow they caught an infection of some type and it started to turn their body into something like what has been chasing us.”
“Have you tried your new holy shaman chants on them?” asked Akira.
“I have, but either I do not have enough understanding, or the chant is not strong enough right now to deal with the infection. All I can do is slow or pause the spread. Grandfather might have more insight on the matter when we get back to Kodria.”
“How many infected are still alive?” asked Akira.
“Just 5.”
“Keep them away from the others and keep a close eye on them. Get all the info you can from observing any changes. Just don’t let your guard down. I can’t have my most important chief shaman catch the infection.”
“For some reason, I am getting a heavy feeling of Déjà vu,” said Zundar as he scratched his head.
“Are you saying this is something from back in your time?” asked Akira as he sat up straighter on the cot he was sitting on.
“To be honest most of my memories of the past are very muddy and vague. The feeling I get from hearing all this… It’s very similar to past events. I wouldn’t say it’s the exact same thing but I feel it is close,” said Zundar as he scrunched his face trying to remember the events from the past.
“Awooo!”
“Looks like the Yuki-onna army has finally arrived. should we use their help to go on the offense and destroy the enemy following us?” asked Klyn.
“We should first go tell them about the situation and see if they know what is going on or what those things are,” said Akira as he stood up readying himself to go and meet the arriving allied army.
***
“How are they?” asked Jezebel.
The royal jailer was kneeling on the throne room’s cold stone floor in front of the Queen.
“Your majesty the demigods are not immune to the [Molten Onyx] plague. All of the test subjects gathered from the dungeon have died now. Each one showed the symptoms that every other infected person has before they turn into dead husks and start attacking people. Fortunately, they disappeared into many light fragments as demigods normally do, not causing us any more trouble,” said the royal jailer with his head bowed.
Jezebel scowled at the man unhappy that the demigods who had killed her toys died such a simple death.
“Put out a royal decree. If anyone sees those demigods in our kingdom, they must arrest them immediately! I want them brought back to the royal dungeons for… questioning…” said Jezebel, smiling as she thought of the future ‘Questions’ she would ask.
The royal jailer shivered even though he could not see her face he could still feel her gaze directed at him and her sinister smile.
