The flying Aeviuns and their companions flew at such a fast speed that it made Akira worry that their bodies could not hold up to much wear and tear. He looked down at the ground far below the large Griffon that he was riding and could barely make things out as they passed by in a near blur.
“Do not fret over such minor details. Our bodies were built for this type of exercise,” said Berdmun after Akira brought up the subject with him.
“The reason I asked is not because I don’t trust you. I just don’t want to see any of you fall in battle because you were too exhausted and worn out,” shouted Akira trying to be heard over the roaring wind which was a chore since he could hardly even hear himself over the wind.
“A few hours of flight and then a battle after is nothing new to us. We can even fly for several days non-stop at this speed if we need to,” said Berdmun who seemed to have no trouble hearing Akira.
Berdmun and his companions had agreed to immediately fly to the coast with Akira and a few others to help deal with the sneaky Oni army that was targeting Kodria’s fortified positions on the island.
From what Akira could see most of their weapons were meant for either medium to long range with the fewest using swords and shields. All their weapons and armor were of ancient design which Akira hoped would still hold up against the attacks from the Oni who were using more modern equipment.
Screee! A golden eagle swooped down from high above where it had been circling for some time and landed on Berdmun’s shoulder deftly avoiding the man’s wings as they continued to flap, pushing him through the air at a high speed.
With a few squawks, chirps, and screes it relayed a message to Berdmun.
“The shoreline is just ahead! He saw the town you mentioned before!” shouted Berdmon before he opened his mouth wide and then let out a long and loud bird cry.
As one the entire flying force turned diagonally to the right, adjusting their flight pattern to fly to the new shore city that had only recently popped up.
At their current speed, it only took ten minutes for Akira to see the shoreline using his enhanced sight. It was still slightly obscured by the stone trees and only a few more before they shot out from above the tree line revealing the shoreline town below which had large plumes of smoke rising from it!
Akira’s heart fell as he looked down at the burning town below.
The battle had already started! But from what he could see with his clear birds-eye view, the battle had not been going on for too long.
The Oni attacking force was no small raiding force. Akira was able to guess there were well over 1000 Oni fighters, possibly double the number. The Oni army was split into a three-pronged attack, each moving in from different directions.
They were already at the outskirts of the new ramshackle town and were setting the houses and shops on fire while tearing others down to make way for their forces to reach the fortified ashy hill which was held by the defenders of the town.
Well-aimed ballista, crossbow, and arrow attacks rained down on the Oni force that was heading straight down the main road undeterred by the sight of those next to them being cut down by the hair of ranged attacks. The Oni seemed intent on doing a full frontal assault on the heavily fortified hill. They wanted to overrun the fort!
But their task was made even more troublesome since two new forts had been built, one on the rear left and right of the main fort. With the three forts now creating a triangle they were able to help cover each other and block any attackers from surrounding them or sneaking behind them.
Akira watched as Kodria’s ships along with Captain Peg-leg’s shot off a large volley of their large ballista which had been angled in a way that they flew over the heads of the warriors in the forts and rained terror down on the attackers who were hidden from their view on the other side of the hill.
Their aim was not bad at all, they managed to pierce through several of the chaotic Oni warriors pinning them to the ground and nearby burning buildings. This was still not enough to stop the Oni as it only made a small dent in their numbers as the Oni continued to move forward unfazed.
The Aeviuns and their flying beast companions slowed down their flight and began circling high above the ongoing battle to inspect the situation. This caused the two forces below them to be thrown into mass confusion at the sight of the large flying force that had appeared out of nowhere.
Each feared that they were reinforcements for the other side so they began to aim attacks into the air to keep the newcomers away.
“AWOOOOO~!” Akira let out a long and loud howl that was clearly heard by all below.
The defending warriors in the forts below all let out gleeful howls of their own as they recognized who the howl belonged to and what the appearance of such a large force meant for the current battle!
The Oni warriors who only moments before had the numerical advantage, were now lacking in fighters with the appearance of the unknown force. Their cocksure expressions from just moments before had changed to that of someone who had their face shoved into a pile of manure.
With their existence announced and the way cleared for the Aeviuns, they swooped down dodging the ranged attacks sent their way by the Oni before landing gracefully behind the central fortifications.
Akira hopped down from the Griffon and let out a grunt from the pain in his legs. Riding on such creatures without a saddle for a long time and at such speed was really taxing on the legs and groin area…
Looking back up at the fort in front of them Akira saw Qort, the commanding officer of the central fort, rushing down the sandy hill to meet him.
“Sire! The situation is dire. If not for your force showing up… I fear we would have had to abandon the forts and retreat to the ships,” said Qort with a sharp salute to Akira.
“That bad? What of the civilians?” asked Akira.
“They have all been evacuated to the ships already! No one was harmed even though it will be a tight squeeze for all of them staying on the lower decks. The only ones manning the forts are Kodria’s marines, Captain Pegleg’s soldiers, and the town’s guards who would not leave!”
“Alright, we need to take care of this problem before things get out of control. How many men are free to launch an attack on the enemy forces?” asked Akira.
“Only the reserve marine forces. We have been using them to help shore up each of the fort’s defenses when anyone was hurt. There are around 200 of them fit to fight right now,” said Qort pointing at the Kodria marines who were hunkered down in the ashy trenches behind the central fortification. “The rest are all in the forts fending off the attacks of the Oni forces.”
“Berdmun, I still do not want to see your men harmed so I hope you will help reinforce the forts while I lead a force out to pulverize the Oni’s left flanking force before turning to deal with the main center prong attack,” said Akira.
“We can not sit back and watch while you put yourself at such risk! We will join you in your push and take out the enemy’s right flanking force and meet up with you to take on the center force!” said Berdmun proudly.
“If that is what you wish to do… I will not stop you. Marines! Prepare yourself! We will head out in 5 minutes!”
***
“Damn it! Another ambush! These cowards!” Roared Zundar in the ancient language as he charged toward the small group of Oni warriors that had popped out of the stone tree woods next to the main road. The Oni ambushers were quick to throw their spears and shoot off a handful of arrows at the marching Ancient Alliance army.
Akira had handed over command to Zundar and tasked him with leading the Ancient alliance’s warriors to the coastal town to help clean up the Oni army.
“Stay calm. All we need to do is kill them,” said Spearia who was tagging along with him.
“How can I stay calm when they keep popping out of nowhere and attacking us? The wounded are increasing with each sneak attack. They are stopping us from reaching the coast in a timely manner. If Akira is hoping for our help… we will not be able to give it to him with our current progress…” roared the angry Zundar as he clobbered one of the Oni attackers with his large maul sending the man flying into several other Oni ambushers that were trying to flee back into the stone tree woods.
The Ancient Alliance forces all pounced on the downed Oni and silenced them with their combined attacks.
“I see it differently. The Oni are wasting a large number of their warriors to try and stall us from reaching the coast. That means the attacking Oni also has fewer people to fight Akira and the bird people. If they ignored us and just headed to the coastal city to help out the main Oni force, who knows if it would be enough to tip the balance of the fight,” said Spearia as she stabbed her spear into the last Oni soldier who had failed to escape.
***
“Enemy force sighted!” shouted Beater from the top of one of the Thief City’s walls.
“It’s just as lord Akira said! They want to take back the city as well!” said Sweety as she looked at the approaching Oni forces.
“We only need to smack them around and show them that this place is not theirs anymore!” said Crowbahr.
Swoosh! Kaboom!
Several colorful skills and explosions flew over their heads and exploded while others landed on the city walls startling the defenders on the city wall.
“Damn! They brought people from other guilds with them! They really are sneaky! This doesn’t look like it will be an easy fight…” said Galena.
“Do not fret about such minor issues. We have the advantage with all the preparations and defenses set up earlier. Plus we have the help of the Ancient Alliance warriors and city guards that stayed behind. With our combined forces we should be able to push back any attacks,” said Sister Teresa, confident in assessment of the current situation as she watched the enemy forces approach the city.
“This Is definitely not the small-scale battle we were expecting… It was a wise decision for Akira to have us stay behind and protect the city. Otherwise…”
“Yeah, the other guilds and the Oni faction seem to be going all out now. They really want to capture the island in one go,” said Sweety.
“We’ll just have to stop them!” shouted Beater.
***
Akira led his warriors through the empty cramped streets of the left side of the burning town.
The smoke was heavy causing their vision and other senses to be clogged. That did not stop them from rushing to the sound of riotous cheering by the enemy as they set buildings alight.
Crash! Fwoosh!
As they were rushing past a burning thatched sandy house the flimsy wooden door of one of the houses flew across the cramped street quickly followed by a bright red fireball that flew out of the burning house and slammed into Akira’s side!
“DEMIGODS!” roared Akira warning the others behind him. There was no time to question why the demigods were here, all they could do was fight them.
With a silent motion, he ordered the nearest warriors to form up behind him as he raised his shield in front of him and walked to the smoky open door of the small thatched hut.
On the count of three, they rushed in ready to fight but found the hut empty save its burning furniture…
CRACK!
The wooden beam holding up the burning thatched roof snapped in half, causing the roof to fall on everyone inside the building.
“Out!” shouted Akira as he held up his shield blocking the large beam that would have caused serious injuries to the other’s armored body if not blocked.
The burning thatch roof now clogged the floor all around them with fire and smoke making it hard for them to breathe and see a few feet in any direction.
They rushed out of the building coughing as they breathed in the less clogged smoke air outside the building.
“Everyone be on your guard, the demigods don’t want to face us head-on, it seems they only want to keep playing games with us. Too bad for them I have a way to counter their tricks…”
A dark misty light covered Akira’s body before disappearing revealing his large furred and muscular werewolf form!
He wasted no time activating his skill [Darkness domain] spreading out a darkness from where he stood hindering the enemy demigod’s view even more than the smoke that wafted through the streets.
The demigods, frustrated with not being able to see their targets, popped out of their hiding spots and started flinging skills into the darkness that now surrounded them.
Although Akira and those behind him did not have their vision blocked any more than it was by the smoke and could see the demigods’ wild movement that did not mean they could successfully dodge all the wild skills that were shot everywhere.
“AH! MY LEG!”
“It burns!”
Akira was forced to shoot off several glowing blue sword slashes at the flailing demigods inflicting severe damage to them, slowing down their wild skill attacks.
With the wild attacks lessened Akira was able to rush forward and silence the nearest demigods.
Use this mode of attack to clear up the left flank of the few remaining demigods and the rest of the mob of Oni warriors that were rushing through the streets burning and looting everything they could get their hands on.
The fires were spreading quickly even without the fire-crazed Oni’s efforts to burn down everything.
Akira led his forces to the large cluster of Oni warriors that were laying siege to the main fort at the center of the city.
As they crashed into the side of the surprised enemy they were able to carve deep into their forces causing mass confusion before panic set in.
Akira did not see Berdmun anywhere but that did not stop him from focusing on his task of clearing up the center force. If Berdmun was having trouble he would have to help them out after the center force of the enemy routed and retreated.
As Akira and the werewolves fought the swarming number of Oni the ballista and arrows raining down on the Oni lessened as those in the fort began to aim at the rear forces away from Akira and his men to not hit them but still support them lessening those that wanted to overrun Akira’s men who where now blocking the way forward.
Not long after the sound of a fierce battle was heard coming from the right as Oni and a few demigods were pushed out of the side streets and into the hard-pressed Oni center force that had been stalled due to their vision now being hindered by the dark mist emanating out of Akira’s body.
“I was worried we would have to go in and save you!” shouted Akira.
“I may be a little rusty but don’t underestimate us! We have fought tougher battles long ago!” shouted Berdmun who was covered in blood and wounds.
With Akira’s skills and Berdmun’s forces combined they were able to slowly push back the Oni forces as they were cut down until they began to break and made an unorganized retreat out of the burning shoreside town.
