Several days later inside a small building near the front walls of the thief city.
“How is the work going on covering the secret entrances?” asked Akira.
“Everything was finished this morning. We finished collapsing the last tunnel. Most of the workers are now focused on plugging any gaps they find. While the rest have been tasked with strengthening the walls and adding a few more makeshift wooden roofs for the walls to try and protect those guarding the walls from any incoming arrows or other projectiles,” said Zundar.
“I was out there this morning and helped slap some of the dredged dirt and gunk from the moat onto the outer walls to help stop fires and blunt the impact of projectiles. There really isn’t much we can do and I am not sure if that will really do anything but it was a suggestion from Spearia so we went with it,” said Akira.
“Better than nothing,” said Crowbahr.
“The city armory has been completely emptied and the civilians that are strong enough have all been armed to join the city guards,” said Beater.
“Have the two under your watch done anything suspicious over the past few days?” asked Akira as he turned to Spearia.
Spearia only shook her head.
“What about the messengers we sent to the main camp and the allied villages? Did they receive the information about our current situation?”
“Awooooo!” a lookout on the city walls let out a howl that rang throughout the city alerting everyone who was still hard at work that something was happening.
If they were still confused, not understanding what the howl meant, all that confusion was wiped away when the city’s central alarm bell began to toll, making sure that everyone knew the city would soon be under attack!
Akira and everyone who had been in the meeting rushed out of the small building and ran up the nearby ramp quickly reaching the top of the city wall that was now filling up with city guards and the civilian warriors.
The wall was now full of several different demon races including Oni civilians that had been tread on by the higher-ups and had no desire to be under their control again. The city was really a city of the downtrodden who wanted to stay free.
There were still several civilian workers who had been working on fortifying the outside wall and deepening the moat. But with the alarm bell ringing they had stopped their work and were now rushing through the open gate. When the last civilian passed through the heavy drawbridge was pulled back up by a dozen muscular Oni guardsmen.
Akira looked out over the charred black desert-like planes that surrounded the city. In the distance, he was able to make out a large column of dust moving towards the city directly towards the main gate. Whoever It was, they were not afraid to let the city know that they were coming.
Akira pulled out his spyglass and peered at the distant column. At the front were several dark-robed figures that were leading the group of several hundred Oni warriors.
Akira handed the spyglass over to Spearia to allow her to get a look at the approaching enemy.
“Only a few hundred Oni warriors. We should be able to defeat them or at least hold them off until allies arrive,” said Akira.
“That’s if they don’t have their own reinforcements,” said Zundar.
“Yap!”
“We should be fine Fluffball. I’m sure you will be able to get your fill of fighting today,” said Akira.
The enemy force continued marching towards the city before stopping well out of range of the city walls attacks.
“What are they doing?” asked Galena who was standing next to Rondie and Sister Teresa.
Instead of preparing a camp for a siege, or getting ready for an attack, the black-robed people were now herding the Oni warriors into several intertwining ring formations outside of the city spaced evenly in a wide semicircle.
The suspicious black-robed leaders of the enemy force walked into the center of the formation where three makeshift altars had been placed. Akira focused on the dark-robed leaders but was unable to receive any information about who they were…
The warriors in the circles all started to chant at the same time loud enough for those on the walls to hear them. To Akira’s ears the sound was like guttural roars and grunts and not actual words.
But to many of the civilians on the city walls, shocked gasps were let out as they heard the chanting.
“What is it?” Akira asked Spearia, seeing the shocked expression on her face as he stared at the Oni warriors. She absentmindedly muttered out a response.
“Ancient Dark Rune Casters. Only evildoers know how to properly use these types of evil spells. They use life force to cast their rune spells,” said Zundar translating her words.
As they were talking the Dark-robed leaders pulled over several animals to the three altars and began chanting as they swung their blades across the animal’s necks slitting their throats.
The flowing blood gushing out of the animals was drunk up by the parched black dirt as well as the three black altars which started to glow red from the absorbed blood.
The glowing red light from the altars soon turned into a red mist which rose into the air and covered the chanting Oni warriors who started to chant even faster.
At the height of the chanting several chained slaves who looked to be children from an unknown demon race were dragged to the altars… and were sacrificed on the altar letting their blood be drawn out and soaked up by the altars further strengthening the red mist that was now covering the warriors.
When the bodies had been drained of blood they were thrown to the side to lay on the ground with the slaughtered animals.
As the chants grew even more frenzied the red mist began to condense and seep into the Oni warrior’s bodies before disappearing. With the disappearance of the red mist, the chanting also became silent. The only sound on the dark plains was the dry wind blowing sand.
Akira watched for some time as the Oni warriors and black-robed leaders stood still and silent.
“Blublabloubabuu!” shouted a large black-robed figure as he pointed his purple hand toward the city walls.
“Raaaaaa!” the Oni warriors all screamed out as one and charged forward breaking the ring formation that they had been in. While the three black-robed figures stayed behind and continued to chant near the three altars.
“Everyone, prepare to push back the enemy!” roared Akira.
With this command, his werewolf guards all transformed and Fluffball grew to his large adult size ready to take on the approaching enemy.
Waves of Arrows from the city walls shot through the air and landed, hitting their targets but the charging Oni warriors did not care. They continued rushing forward, not bothering to use their shields to block the raining arrows that pierced arms, legs, chests, and even heads! The Oni warriors continued to rush forward, some with odd movements caused by their wounds.
The [Full Moon] guild members began to use their various ranged skills to try and cut down the approaching enemy which only led to several of the attackers collapsing while other attackers with large wounds continued to move towards the moat that blocked them.
Fluffball and Akira also lent their strength by using their own skills. Fluffball shot several Ice attacks at the enemy, freezing parts of their body which shattered when arrows from the other defenders hit them.
The wounded enemy warriors jumped into the moat without hesitation only to start floundering, many sinking to the bottom due to their heavy armor.
Those who were lightly armored were able to swim across but they were pierced with so many arrows and bright-colored attacks from the [Full Moon] guild members that they were a gruesome sight to be held. They looked like pincushions that continued to move forward even as their skin peeled off and their guts poured out with large amounts of blood.
Those who made it to the city wall began to form ladders by stepping on each other’s shoulders allowing others to climb up the wall. These ladders were knocked down by the defenders using their long spears to pry them away from the wall and push them back.
But the attackers kept getting back up and forming ladders to climb the wall.
‘Luckily the attacks were all focused in the front of the city allowing us to focus our defenses here,’ through Akira.
“Awooo!” Akira sighed as he looked to where the several warning howls had come from.
The heavily armored warriors whom he had believed to have drowned were now looking ghoulish and bloated as they crawled and pulled themselves out of the moat on the far side of the wall where the defenses were thinnest. They also formed ladders using each other to climb up the wall.
With the majority of defenders all occupied with keeping the mass of Oni attackers off the wall, there were far too few defenders on the wall to deal with the new threat. If he did nothing then the situation would spiral out of control.
“Fluffball hold down this part of the wall for me!”
“Rawr!” said Fluffball in between shooting several ice attacks.
As Akira rushed forward weaving in between the defenders to reach the far end of the wall, three of the heavily armored Oni warriors were able to latch onto the top of the wall and pull their waterlogged bodies up onto the wall.
“Step back!” shouted Akira warning the defenders before he activated the skill [Sword Slash] and shot out a blue crescent that sliced through the armor of the nearest bloated enemy.
With a hard kick to the chest, he knocked another attacker backward causing them to stumble and fall off the wall.
Clang! Akira blocked the heavy attack of a swinging morning star using his shield and continued to push forward with his shield plowing forward knocking the attacker off of the wall.
Akira looked down at the gathering of heavily armored warriors that were once again forming several ladders and then down towards the front of the wall where the larger force of enemies was. No matter how many times the enemy warriors were knocked down, nor how grave their wounds were, they continued to get back up and try to climb up onto the walls.
He noticed those that were the most wounded were now glowing red and the light was getting stronger the worse their condition got. Some of the lightly armored warriors were nothing more than skeletons with almost all of their flesh, blood, and guts either torn or burnt off. It seemed the only way to stop them for good was to completely dismember them or shatter them into tiny pieces.
Even with their best efforts, there were still several of the glowing red attackers that somehow managed to get onto the top of the wall and caused several of the AAF warriors along with the civilian defenders to be heavily wounded or even die before Fluffball, Akira, or the [Full Moon] guild members were able to take care of the attackers.
“Awoooo!”
“Enemies have broken into the city from a secret passage!” shouted Beater.
“Zundar, Fluffball, you keep command of the walls. I’ll go take care of the intruders! [Full Moon] members come with me!”
Akira jumped off the wall not using the stairs and ran through the streets that were empty with everyone hiding inside the ramshackle buildings that had been boarded up to try and protect the weaker civilians.
Akira needed no help finding the invading enemy warriors as the sound of breaking wood, frightened, and pained voices rang out in the distance.
The infiltrators were not wasting time and had already started killing civilians and destroying buildings.
When they found the attackers, they were treated with the sight of several glowing red bodies dragging screaming and struggling civilians out of their buildings. Unlike the attackers outside the walls, Akira noticed that each of them had rings that glowed red.
Among this group of attackers were Orny and Gyart, the two representatives who had voted against fighting against the Oni forces.
“Go save the civilians,” growled Akira as a black mist covered his body blocking him from the view of anyone for a short moment before a large heavy aura burst out as he transformed into his werewolf form. His large muscular body exploded with power as his teeth grew into sharp tearing daggers along with his claws and long black tail that was now covered by the tail armor that extended out with it.
“Awwwoooo!” Akira let out a howl before turning his gaze at the dark-robed figure who was standing in the middle of the street and was not attacking but instead had his purple hands raised and were moving as if he was conducting a music concert.
“Blubabu!” chanted the dark-robed leader as he pointed to Akira.
The infiltrators stopped their attacks on the civilians and instead turned to look at Akira before rushing at him, several of them still dragging civilians behind them as they rushed forward.
Neither Akira nor the [Full Moon] guild members could use skill attacks with the civilians being so near the enemy. As they got closer the infiltrators started to throw whatever they were holding at Akira and co. which included several civilians…
Akira and several of the [Full Moon] members were forced to run around and catch the flying civilians instead of attacking the approaching enemy.
“Get out of here!” shouted Akira as he dropped a third civilian onto the ground behind him and faced the glowing red attackers that were leaping toward him.
Akira activated [Darkness Domain] engulfing a large area around him.
“Everyone, no need to hold back. Transform!” growled Akira.
Dolph, Vilkas, and the Fullmoon members were able to transform before the enemy reached them and a full-blown melee broke out between them and glowing red fighters who would not die from fatal wounds. The [Darkness Domains] effects seemed to have little to no effect on the glowing red attackers as they were able to attack Akira and the others.
Akira sliced through several arms and legs of the red-glowing attackers, opening a hole revealing the black-robed leader behind them.
Akira Activated the skill [Cross Attack] sending a large blue X shooting forward through the hole … only for it to be blocked by one of the glowing red warriors that used its body to jump in front of the attack and had its body severed into 4 pieces.
With so many attackers all ganging up on Beater who was protecting several civilians behind him, he had already received several small and medium wounds… but it only caused his berserk nature to grow stronger!
“TAKE THIS ATTACK!” shouted Beater as he knocked the group of glowing red attackers into several others in the rear.
This cleared a path for Akira who activated the skill [Shield Slam] and hurtled forward trying to break through the line of attackers before the hole closed again.
Several of the glowing red attackers threw their bodies in front of Akira and… blew themselves up trying to stop him but Akira plowed right through them only receiving minor wounds and burns from the explosions.
When he broke free of the mob, there was only the dark-robed figure in front of him.
The swaying purple left hand stopped its motion and grabbed a nearby wounded civilian’s neck, crushing it as he muttered a chant. The purple hand gripping the neck started to glow a bright purple as it was raised and pointed directly at Akira.
A large purple bolt of lightning shot out and slammed into Akira who came to an immediate halt.
“ARGHHHH!” he shouted out in pain as he dropped down to one knee and held his helmeted head in his hands.
A sharp pain pierced into his mind causing him to feel like his head was going to explode and the pain was only getting stronger as another purple lighting slammed into him again. The pain was making it hard for him to even think.
“RAAAA!” Akira let out a pained howl as he fought back against the mental attack that was trying to destroy his mind. As he resisted he felt something break causing the pressure of the mental attack to lessen and start to dissipate.
Before another purple lighting bolt could be launched, he gritted his teeth and activated the skill [CROSS ATTACK] sending a Blue X toward the dark-robed figure that was stumbling back from the backlash of the failed mental attack.
The attack did not kill the dark-robed figure but sliced into the body and destroyed the dark robe revealing an ugly humanoid creature underneath.
A purple Octopus-like face with tentacles for a mouth and no nose looked at Akira with anger in its eyes. Its tentacle mouth fluttered as it muttered another curse and pointed at Akira causing him pain. But unlike the first two attacks, the mental attack felt far weaker.
Akira stood up and gathered his strength as he weathered the mental attack and Pounced forward grabbing onto the purple Octy man’s arms and… tore them off!
He didn’t stop there as he tore off the man’s legs and head before stabbing his sharp armored fists through the purple chest piercing the heart.
Ding!
-
The Cult of Science’s plot to take over the city has been thwarted! The AAF has added a new town to its forces!
Ding!
-
You have defeated Number 4 of the Cult of Science!
You have leveled up to level 220!
With the death of Number 4, the glowing red attackers all fell to the ground lifeless. The sound of battle on the walls well behind them also became silent.
“What the heck? Not only are the demigods on this island but these freaks from Cult of Science have decided to show up?” muttered Akira as he looked at the dead body on the ground which was starting to quickly dissolve into a puddle of purple liquid.
***
In a dark room in an unknown place.
“I sense that Number 4 has died,” said the calm husky male voice of Number 1.
“How? Even the demigods can not resist his power?” asked the smaller playful female voice of Number 2.
“What could he have run into to have been killed? I am drawing a blank unless that place has some hidden protectors that we do not know about. They should all be rather weak,” said number 3 the golden lion.
“I hope he completed his task before dying… if not I will have to raise him from the dead and kill him again and again,” said the angry female voice of number 6.
“Even If he is dead there is still number 5 who has her helper with her. They should be working on the task as well…” said number 7 Tibia.
