Chương 101: Chapter 100- The Ramparts

The pair walked back to the entrance of the passageway, boots squelching in the blood and viscera coating the floor as a stream of men and women rushed past to man the new wall, the twang of bowstrings filling the air as they set to the grim work of clearing the courtyard beyond. Elias and Astra found an exhausted and bloody Cooper standing over an equally disheveled Mason as he sat with a dazed look on a piece of stony rubble, as a thin trickle of blood leaked slowly from one nostril.

Astra rushed over to check on the man, thumbing open one eyelid as he tried to push her off, Cooper chuckled under his breath as she fussed over him, " This looks like more than just a little dry Mr. Mason…" Mason gave a resigned sigh with a wince as she released his head and stepped back, " Aye my Lady. I was lower than I thought, and the only stone I could find was deep. I bottomed myself out completely. I'll be sturdy as stone soon enough, but it will be a few hours." Astra winced in sympathy, " Very well.

Mr Cooper, are you fit for a little extra duty?" Cooper smiled and nodded as he continued scanning their surroundings, his eyes not stopping until the rest of Astra's guard jogged over to join them. Elias suppressed a grin as he noticed the faint uptick of a smile and the slight amount of tension leave his posture as Cooper's eyes caught sight of Sasha winding through the throng around the entrance to the ruined gatehouse.

Astra glanced around a hint of satisfaction in her gaze, " Better by the moment, we have a rampart to clear ladies and gentlemen and you have just been volunteered. Mr. Cooper, find me another squad and we will split the task, you all will follow Mr Mercer up the left, I'll take our new friends up the right and we shall meet around the middle on the far side."

She glanced down at Mason, " Mr Mason since you are currently unfit for the task please find Captain Winterbrook and get me a report on what in the Abyss happened here, I expect a full briefing upon my return. Have him task at least four squads to follow us up once the all clear signal has been sounded to man the ballistae and begin thinning the ranks of the tide."" Nay my Lady." Astra turned, arching a brow at Cooper with a stern look as he nervously shifted, " Excuse me Mr. Cooper?"

He shook his head, " I will accompany the lad if you wish, but your guards go with you, no exceptions. This is enemy territory, patrolmen only." Astra gave a small huff of frustration before favoring him with a small smile, " As you say Mr Cooper, protocols are written in the blood of the incautious after all." His smile returned as he nodded, " Aye, so they say. I'll find yer men, dinnae you worry." Astra shook her head and coughed, before speaking with a rasp, " Anyone have a spare canteen?

I fear my wits fled me and I decided on a mid battle bath before realizing I only brought one."

Tia had paused in her aerial bombardments to join them for the assault, but after Cooper returned shortly with another squad from the patrol in tow, there was another short argument when Eli insisted on sending Tia with Astra before she relented." Look I'm not the one with the fireball combo move, that's you two, plus she loves hanging out with you. Astra, you do keep promising to take her out to blow stuff up." Astra snickered, " Aye I do, all right."

She propped her hands on her hips as she looked down at the wyvern as the young beast wiggled with excitement, " Do you remember our battle plans?" Tia chittered with derision, How could I forget? Eli laughed, " That's a yes." Astra clapped her hands, " Let us be about it then."

Elias pounded up the winding stairs of the partially destroyed guardhouse behind the broad back of Cooper as they headed for the roof where the exit to the ramparts was located. The big man paused at the top, one hand on the crossbar holding the door closed as he listened with one ear to the door. He held up a hand for silence as the rest of their detachment filed up onto the landing and stacked themselves along the wall opposite the door.

Cooper gripped the hilt of one of his cleavers as he spoke in a low voice, " I can hear a few of them, but I think they gave up on the door and wandered off." He eyed Eli as he asked, " Loud or quiet? I hear tell you are keen with those blades when striking from the shadows." Eli snorted but smiled back at the man, " I appreciate the vote of confidence, but I believe the ship has sailed for an attempt at stealth, I'm good, but not that good." Cooper grinned, " Oh aye? Well I can do loud, on my mark."

He gently eased the bar out of its slot, leaned it against the wall, braced the knuckles of one hand against the door as he gripped a cleaver, while pinching its brother in his other hand with two fingers as he silently counted down with the other three. The drums in Eli's chest had settled into a dull rumble as they left the chaos of the passageway, but the anticipation of the assault on the ramparts stirred the song awake once more.

As each finger dropped, they grew louder, a faint ripple of amusement drifting down the tether as Astra could feel his excitement rising. As the final finger clasped the hilt of his cleaver, Cooper lashed out, booting the door open with a roar, and before he could take a single step, Eli was out the door in a flash. On the other side of the door a pair of smaller humanoids had been facing away a few scant steps from the doorway, but they turned upon hearing Cooper's shout.

The gleaming blade of Eli's poleaxe traced a curved arc through the air as he used the weight of his System imbued strength to cut through the creatures, as he separated the head from the shoulders of the first and sheared through the shins of the next on the downward stroke. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Elias grimaced as the unexpectedly heavy resistance threw off his balance causing him to almost lose his footing and stumble on the next step.

Elias surged onwards, leaving the downed monster to the men following behind, as Cooper raced to catch up to him with a series of long loping strides. As they rounded the corner of the walkway, a small crowd of humanoids further down turned towards the commotion, as several of the taller creatures towered farther behind them. Eli slowed to fall in step with Cooper as they bounded forwards to meet the front rank of the pack.

Knowing that the monsters had the advantage of numbers he swung with quick but deliberate arcs, hacking at limbs and joints while aiming to maim and cripple, working to thin the crowd quickly before the monsters massed against their squad. Eli grimaced once more at the unexpected resistance, something he had not experienced so far in his battles, their skin parted as normal but something in their tissue was dense in a way he wasn't used too.

He flicked an [Identify] as he stumbled again after severing another leg at the knee. Ding [Gravetouched Rendling Lv 19] Eli recoiled in confusion, " What the fuck is a rendling?" Cooper grunted and swore beside him, " I dinnae ken lad, but they are fecking tough cunts." A soft green glow coated his cleavers as he ramped up the speed of his blows, the odd enhancement caused his blows to skitter off bone, but punch through cartilage and tendons like they were tissue paper.

Elias triggered his own [Veilrend] and as the transparent edge flowed up to coat the head of his poleaxe, the resistance disappeared as his blade sheared through the creatures soft as a whisper. As the footsteps from behind gave away that the squad had caught up with them, the pair pushed forward, stepping past their disabled opponents as they hit the ground, the pained squeals and squelches from behind reassuring that the team was finishing what he passed over.

Elias spent his mana like water, the expensive but powerful skill the only edge that kept him from being overwhelmed, he flickered the skill off and on to try and conserve what he could but between needing the offensive punch of [Veilrend] and the occasional blast of [Distortion] to push back whenever the rendlings pressed too close.

The Skill worked best for throwing an item, but also worked just fine to blast back a claw tipped arms descending for a strike, or bowling a creature over as Eli slapped a palm against their chest and pulsed a blast into their center of gravity. Eventually, they were able to break past the knot of creatures before his reserves dipped too low, Eli glanced at his mana reserves with a grimace.

Mana: 423/850 The tall creatures at the back crouched warily, dodging and weaving through the pair's blows with short erratic movements that were disturbingly swift for their size, but after a few moments Eli cut off his use of [Veilrend] as he continuously failed to connect a blow. The pair menaced the creatures, pressing hard, but with the slim walkway they were unable to fight the creatures to a standstill.

After a few moments of back and forth Elias found that the glassly black orbs of the creature's eyes were fixed on their weapons, clearly having evaluated their blades as the most serious threat. When Cooper next lunged forward to take a swipe at the reaching arm of one of the creatures, as it tried to leverage its greater reach to sneak in a blow from an unexpected angle, Elias took a stutter step and dropped behind Cooper blocking one shoulder from view.

As he stepped clear he was already bringing up his left hand, and fired a mana lance from the hip. The blast was an off center glancing blow, but the strip of bone and brain tissue it tore free was enough to send the monster to the ground spasming. Cooper rushed forward with a whoop of glee, bowling into the second monster's center of gravity and pinning it in place against the crenellations long enough for Eli to bury his poleaxe in its chest.

Twisting the blade savagely, the monster roared an eerie cry of pain that was a disturbing mix of a human scream and the bugle of an angry elk. Seeing the creature distracted, a pair of spears lanced over Eli's head and speared its throat spraying him with a foul viscous black fluid that Elias surmised must be the thing's blood. After the quiet ding of the kill notification, they stepped back and as Cooper caught a whiff of Eli he hacked with an involuntary gag.

Laughing, Cooper took several steps back before taking a cloth from his pocket, tearing off a couple pieces and wedging them up his nostrils, " Urg, Ancients forbid, urp." He gagged some more before coughing." Best ye go first lad, and ye better bathe before the Lady catches wind of ya. She might never forgive ye if ya get that smell on 'er." Eli laughed before grimacing as he caught a whiff before gagging himself, " Ugh, tell me about it, damn thing smells worse than death."

Quiet, but wild laughter filled his mind as Elias could hear Tiamat having the time of her life on the far side of the enclosure. Elias wiped what he could of the disgusting dark fluid from his face and hands as he caught a glimpse of the other team across from them. Astra shot bolts of brilliant crimson plasma at a cluster of rendlings as Tia swooped down from above, each round of cackling punctuated by a distant puff of flame as their foes went from on fire to immolated.

The distant figure of Astra turned to wave as Eli realized she must have sensed his affectionate amusement drifting through the tether. Eli laughed and waved back, the spike of fury he received in response causing him to startle, his recoiling in surprise was the only thing that saved him from having his face torn from his head. One of the tall creatures had reached the top of the wall at that very moment, and had swiped with its long arm, the claw tipped hand passing through the space his head had just occupied.

Eli swayed backwards, eyes dilating with the surge of adrenaline, heart booming in his chest, as he dropped the cloth and strained to bring his weapon around in time to ward off the next blow. His heart pounded as he swung his weapon around racing against the seconds as his perception of time slowed in a desperate attempt to save his life, but as the monster stepped on the lip of the battlement it reared up to its full height before spearing downwards with the other hand.

As the creature balanced on the edge, plunging its claw down in a flash, Eli knew from experience that there was little chance he would bring his weapon to bear in time. He pulled one hand from the shaft thrusting it forward, but he had yet to train [Displacement] into forming the focus anywhere but his palm. He gritted his teeth as he strained, but there was little chance he would make it in time. As he braced for the blow he knew was coming, an errant gust of wind blew from behind Eli.

Faint as it was, a small thing able to do little more than stir the air, the breeze struck the larger creature in the chest, just enough to tip it backwards shifting its center of balance ever so slightly. One moment it was balanced atop the parapet, and the next its arms were pinwheeling in confusion as the antlered fiend lost its footing and dropped off the ledge back into the courtyard below. Eli froze. What the fuck?

A clap on his shoulder startled him out of his confusion as Cooper sighed, " I swear you young ones have all the luck. Let's hurry lad, we can not let the Lady beat us."