The Two Week Curse

by Michael Chatfield

  Arrows shot into the air; some failed to as there were obstacles in the way. Those that shot into the air carried ceramic jars filled with holes. They sped off into the sky.

  Erik jumped into the air, tossing healing powder into his mouth.

  The second rope was pulled. Small explosions went off all around the village that bloomed into a massive explosion as Rugrat’s thermobaric weapons were set off.

  Alva Village was hidden under explosions and rolling thunder as the beast horde was ripped apart. Their defenses were obliterated but they’d taken out two-thirds of the horde.

  Erik was buffeted around. He used healing spells as he was hit with flying debris. His fatigue was coming back as the strength from the monster core was dissipating. He hit the ground awkwardly, twisting his foot, and slammed into the ground. He pushed himself up. He was slower now, feeling his injuries.

  He looked around at the beasts that were recovering. Those closest to the wall were better than those still stuck in the defenses. The wooden spikes and barricades had turned into shrapnel, tearing them apart.

  Erik took out a sword, finishing off a few close-by beasts as he oriented himself.

  He could hear Rugrat firing over the dull ring in his ears from the pressure wave. His eyes found the gorilla band. They were covered in blood now and they had lost some of their numbers. But they seemed even more determined as they let out angry war cries as they rushed the walls.

  The lead gorilla slammed against the wall, cracking it. It was only made of mud and it couldn’t stand up to the powerful gorilla elite’s hit.

  “Prepare to move back from where the gorillas are attacking! They’re getting through the wall!” Erik yelled. He tried to run and limp his way toward them; the Focused Heal worked on his foot, getting him to run once again in a short period.

  “Where are the quick reaction force?” Erik demanded.

  “They’re fighting off a group of panther elites,” Rugrat yelled back.

  “We’ve got a breach in the northeastern sector!” Glosil yelled out over the command channel.

  “Blaze, have the heavy infantry take up the rearguard. Start retreating back into the village square!” Erik hoped it was the right decision. The walls were the greatest obstacle against the beast horde. If they tried to hold it too long, they would be cut off from one another and unable to retreat in strength.

  “Yes, sir!” Blaze said.

  There was movement on the wall as groups prepared to retreat back into the village. People were taking their monster cores, using that extra power to rally themselves.

  Rugrat jumped off the wall and back into the village.

  Erik fired his pistol at the gorillas. It hurt them, but they still continued on.

  Erik adjusted his aim, going for the head, and started to drop more of them. He paused his steps, not wanting to get too close. With their brute strength, not even Erik was sure he would be able to fight them one-on-one.

  A section of wall was destroyed. Dust flew up away from it as people could be heard yelling on the other side of the wall.

  The gorillas started to charge forward and widen the gap, only to be cut down by rounds buffed with explosive shot.

  Rugrat was holding the other side, giving people time to evacuate.

  Erik saw other beasts making it over the walls and into the village. There must have been some five hundred of them still remaining.

  He felt despair, fear that they wouldn’t make it but he had to bury it—he needed to fight!

  With the expanding breach and even with Erik and Rugrat firing on them, the gorillas were making headway. They were tough bastards and didn’t always go down with one round, taking three or four each. Erik fired and reloaded as fast as possible until there were no more magazines left in his storage ring.

  He had to move as some of the beasts that hadn’t made it into the village were rushing him. He had to look to surviving as he fought across the crater-pitted wasteland that the exterior of Alva had been turned into.

  ***

  The walls were breached and there were beasts inside the walls.

  Sergeant Niemm watched as archers and people from Alva Village weaved around the heavy infantry, running up the main road toward the village square.

  Archers were set up on rooftops and different elevated positions so they could provide support and plunging fire right into their enemies’ teeth.

  With the archers leaving the walls, the beasts didn’t have any obstacles in their paths as they dug their claws into the mud walls and pulled themselves over.

  The larger beasts directly attacked the walls, opening up holes and flooding through. The beast numbers inside the walls swarmed.

  “Ready!” Niemm yelled out as he saw panthers turning around the corner and rushing up the main street toward the heavy infantry.

  The archers fired, cutting down the leading beasts. The heavy infantry were silent. Niemm had gone straight to swords and shields. Their spears were more liable to break than kill the beasts; with their shields, they could reinforce one another’s strength and their swords—being of a higher quality and made from metal, not wood—were stronger and less likely to be pulled away by a beast.

  The sounds of fighting could be heard, the noises from different spells going off as Rugrat’s rifle fired again and again.

  Sergeants called out behind them, organizing the archers and their fire zones. They watched the beasts getting closer, running over the bodies of their fallen.

  “Heavy infantry! What do we do?” Niemm asked.

  “We stand!” They replied as one, their voices resonating inside the shield wall.

  “What do we not do?”

  “We do not break!” They all replied and gripped their weapons tighter. The lingering doubts and fear in their minds cleared.

  “I am proud to stand with you all today. We might not last till tomorrow, but we will not break! We will stand together!” Niemm yelled, feeling his throat close up with emotion.

  “Hah!” They slammed the sides of their blades against their shields in salute and agreement.

  “Here they come!” Niemm said as the first beast reached the shield wall. The wolf was covered in wounds and had two arrows sticking out of it as it charged at the shield wall. The wall recoiled slightly, but they backed one another up, taking the impact as those under the beast stabbed outward.

  “Hah!” Their clean blades cut into the open underside of the wolf as it tried to climb over them.

  “Hu-ah!” Niemm yelled out as the shields bashed the wolf corpse away. More beasts rushed them now as blades shot out once again.

  “Hah!”

  They fell into a rhythm, using their shields to bash, their swords to kill.

  A red haze started to appear around them, the effect of the armor Erik had procured for them.

  Niemm felt himself losing control, leaving him with only his reactions.

  “Hu-ah!” Shields slammed into the beasts, pushing them back and opening them up.

  “Hah!” Swords came out as one, wounding and deadly.

  “Watch those blades!” Niemm barked, seeing people extending to get an attack to land. They corrected, only hitting within their reach and not overextending.

  As more beasts came, the lines were getting inundated with bodies and the press of attacks. They held, relying on one another to not break.

  Their aura was undergoing a change. The beasts had a slight hint of fear in their eyes as the red haze around the group started to increase, their strength being bolstered.

  “Second rank! Prepare to move forward. First rank, prepare to move to the rear!” Niemm yelled out, organizing everyone. “Change!”

  “Hu-ah!”

  “Hah!”

  The first rank turned; the second rushed into the gap, taking up their position.

  “Hu-ah!”

  “Hah!”

  Niemm could see the arrows thinning out the beasts but it
wasn’t enough.

  The first rank were bloodied, tending to their wounds by rote response. There was a dullness to their eyes as that red haze continued to build up around them all.

  I think the armor affects others with the blood haze effect.

  Niemm could feel the draw to destroy, the heady feeling as his power increased when he killed or the slight increase in the red haze when someone killed around him.

  It was a drug, making him crave to kill more, to gain more strength, to become a god-like power.

  You will not fail them! Niemm yelled inside of his head, gathering his thoughts.

  Someone screamed out as their arm was cut up by a panther’s claws. Those on either side covered them as they were pulled back and another stepped up into their position.

  “Prepare to fall back!” Niemm yelled, putting emphasis on his words, making it a clear order. He knew that they were being affected by the red haze. They looked as though they wanted to argue but then, seeing Sergeant Niemm, they closed their mouths.

  “Fall back!” Niemm said.

  “Hu-ah!” The shields opened up some space, knocking back the forward beasts.

  The first line took a step back, the second line making sure that the first line didn’t step on anything that might make them lose their footing.

  The archers adjusted their positions but continued to fire down on the beasts; in the enclosed spaces, they couldn’t miss.

  Sharpshooters aimed for elites and the most powerful beasts, weakening or killing them before they engaged the heavy infantry.

  The heavy infantry started to methodically fall back, leaving the street covered in bodies.

  Chapter: Falling Back?

  Glosil was coordinating with the different archery groups that were all pulling back into the center of the city.

  “We’re moving back,” Roska reported as she and the quick reaction force had dealt with the two king-ranked beasts they’d been tasked with.

  “Move to assist Blaze,” Glosil said.

  As Blaze was coordinating the heavy infantry, he didn’t have time to check out the overall situation. Erik and Rugrat were still on the wall and among the beasts, killing as many of them as possible.

  If the king-ranked beasts were to make it into the city, they would smash through the heavy infantry defenses.

  They had to be stopped no matter what.

  Erik and Rugrat were the only ones who could go toe-to-toe with them. The quick reaction force made up of elites still needed ten people to kill just two king-ranked beasts.

  Glosil was on top of the Village Hall, using the binoculars in the watchtower to see what was going on. He saw a commotion on a rooftop. A group of panthers had climbed a house and hit the archers who were using the roof as their firing position.

  “Sergeant Shi! Assist Sergeant Flo!”

  “Sir!”

  The archery sergeant turned his attention to the fellow groups, worried. Three people had been cut down by the panthers; the remaining three on the roof were in a panic as they jumped off the roof.

  Sergeant Shi’s people had just reloaded, thankfully, and at this distance, it was hard for them to miss. Three of the four panthers were killed outright.

  The final panther dropped onto the group. Glosil’s heart stopped. With the panther inside their defenses, they could get in behind the heavy infantry and tear them apart, or get to the archers who weren’t well suited for close-range combat.

  “Medics, I need you to take out the panther in the southwestern sector! Sergeant Flo’s people are on top of the Yui family home. There are wounded among them,” Glosil said.

  “Yes, sir.” Sergeant Mi of the medics organized his people. The medics were prized possessions. They had the greatest armor and close-in weapons as they ran from fight to fight, supporting the different groups and getting people back on their feet.

  After the quick reaction force, they were the strongest group.

  Glosil didn’t want to use them to fight, but he didn’t have anyone else he could pull from as the quick reaction force were fighting their way back to the village square.

  He could see the heavy infantry units were just fifty meters away from the village square, that distance reducing slowly but surely.

  “Archers! Watch your area—already we’ve had beasts breaking through our lines of defense and attacking other groups,” Glosil warned.

  There were holes showing in their defenses, but now there were less than two hundred beasts inside the village. The problem was that they were all elites.

  Even the advanced crossbows weren’t able to kill them in just a few hits. The worst conditions were those for the heavy infantry as they directly clashed with the elites.

  A red haze and bloody smell seemed to come off them. They didn’t seem to feel pain, even as they were pushed to the rear with massive injuries. As soon as the medic released them, they’d step back up to the line, ready to go again.

  Glosil felt a chill when he looked into their eyes, their blank stares as they’d pushed beyond Stamina fatigue, reaching a new state that surpassed their limits. He understood the hellish training that they had gone through now. Even with everything, they had their reactions.

  “I think one of the panthers is evolving in the northeastern sector!”

  Glosil looked over as he saw a panther, growing in size. Its power flowed out, giving off a stifling pressure. Sneaky bastard. This must be the panther king. He hid in the ranks, moving like one of the regular panthers just to show himself at the last moment!

  The panther grew until it was the size of a horse. Blue lines appeared on its body as the air around it became dense with Mana.

  “Mana beast,” Glosil said breathlessly.

  The panther let out a roar. The lines along its body glowed as energy seemed to flow around it. A magic circle appeared in front of its mouth. A ray of Mana shot out, hitting the heavy infantry line.

  Three of the soldiers were knocked down, their fates unknown.

  “Quick reaction force!” Glosil yelled out, feeling his panic rise. They weren’t ready for something like this.

  Another magic circle appeared under its feet as a yellow glow fell over the panther’s body, increasing its strength.

  Glosil hadn’t seen it before, but he knew what it was. One of the terrifying abilities of Mana beasts was their ability to use Mana. This gave them ranged attacks and could be used to buff their stats and abilities greatly.

  ***

  Erik and Rugrat’s Affinity for Mana had increased as they became Mana lords. With the disturbance created by the Mana panther, they looked over in alarm.

  The gorillas had made it into the village and they were pushing hard; it was difficult to push them back. There was simply too many of them and it was impossible to one-shot them.

  It took four or five good hits on their vitals to take them out; that was some twenty grievous injuries. Their natural defenses and strength were high, as was their reaction speed.

  Cracks were showing on Erik’s Golden Fox armor from the hits he’d taken.

  Rugrat knew that he was hurting and near the end of his abilities. He was deep into Stamina and Mana fatigue. Rugrat was using his sneak to get the attack modifier, but with so many, it was hard for him to sneak off.

  “What’s that?” Rugrat yelled over the sound transmission device.

  “A Mana beast panther!” Glosil said. The normally disciplined guard captain’s voice shook.

  “It’s level fifteen!” Blaze confirmed.

  Do we try to fight off the gorillas or move to the Mana beast and kill it?

  “We’re on our way. Get the quick reaction force to hold off the gorillas. They’re breaking through the houses. If they aren’t stopped then they’re going to break through the barricades that we made in the different sectors.” Erik fired at the gorillas.

  Rugrat started to run for the Mana panther’s location. He didn’t need anyone to tell him
where it was as the disturbance in the natural surrounding Mana was like a beacon to him.

  Erik was right behind him. It only took them a few minutes to get to where the Mana beast was.

  Screams greeted them as they came across the Mana beast plunging its claws into a heavy infantry soldier who was still slashing at the beast’s leg.

  The entire section had been torn apart by the Mana beast. The other beasts with it were rushing forward into the archers who were behind them.

  Rugrat buffed his rounds with explosive shot. He switched to full auto on his personal rifle, unloading into the Mana beast.

  It was thrown backward under the unrelenting assault.

  “You help the archers and pull the heavy infantry back together!” Rugrat said.

  Erik dodged through the fighting and grabbed two heavy infantry who were around the Mana beast. Rugrat altered his aim to not hit Erik.

  Erik got clear with the wounded: one over his shoulder, the other held in his left hand as he charged the beasts.

  With Rugrat’s Strength stat, his rifle, even at full auto, didn’t shift its point of aim. The sound of shattering glass could be heard.

  The golden-like aura around the Mana beast shattered as Rugrat dropped his old magazine and slapped in a new one, his speed hard to follow as there was barely any time between reloading.

  Rugrat stepped forward. Other beasts, seeing him attack their leader, rushed to kill him.

  Rugrat flipped to semi-auto once again. To him, they were all moving too slow. The rounds knocked them back as he fired with his right hand. A grenade appeared in his left from his storage ring and he threw it out underneath the Mana beast.

  The grenades went off. Rugrat turned to the side; debris rained down on him as he turned back and fired at the Mana beast again. It had turned a powerful and dominating beast into a bloodied and burnt-looking weakling.

  Erik helped ease the pressure on the heavy infantry. They took their monster cores to recover faster; the worst were placed with the medics as they charged forward. Erik led them as they attacked the beasts directly.

  The red haze around them made the beasts scared to fight them. They didn’t seem to worry about injuries as they only wanted to kill more.