Chương 186: CDM 3, Chapter 62: Flanking Bonus

That night in Matewan was the first time I defended a place instead of invading it, and I very much disliked how different that was. When we targeted a monster nest, the process was active. We had to be wary of our surroundings and be ready to protect ourselves, but we controlled the pace of our advance. We decided when and where to attack. We pressed the action when we were ready. Sitting and waiting for a potential attack was agony. Red Jacket was only 2 miles north.

That was no distance at all for a bugbear horde.

"Kimmy, Rainy, do you read me?" Megan asked as soon as her radio headset was on.

"We read you, Osheski," de Saint replied.

"Is everyone okay?"

"We're fine. How about you? Are you far enough from the bugbears?"

"We are for now. We're ready to haul ass if they find us. What's the plan?"

"Do you have any intel to add that wasn't in the note?"

"We weren't sure if they planned to attack tonight, but that's changed. They seem to be gearing up for a fight, and small groups have been disappearing into the forest. At least some of them are taking a similar route as you did."

"Roger," Megan replied.

"Get the drones to Matewan and search outward from there with thermal. We need to know when any are getting close."

"On it."

"Kimmy, you good?"

"Worried sick about you guys, but yeah," Nathan answered.

"We're going to get everything coordinated here. Radio us when you have updates." By the time Megan's radio conversation was finished, the rest of us had our equipment sorted and ready. Wrapping my hand around the frame of my voidwood bow was such a relief. Not only was it worth more than I was, but it felt like an extension of me. Without it, I was incomplete.

"Do you have a siege defense plan?" Megan asked Silas.

"Archers on the walls. Keep 'em outside. We have plans for meeting enemies on the road or in the forest, but that assumed they were human. Monsters with dark vision will wreck us out there. We've got quite a few Molotovs made up for just this occasion."

"How many fit and able bodies?"

"14, all former service members. We got 8 fighters, 4 rangers, and 2 rogues. All have archery proficiency."

"Okay, good," Megan said.

"We'll have drones with thermal here in a minute, so we should be able to spot them coming through the woods. Silas, have your people take position on the walls. Make sure your Molotovs are protected and out of sight. A bugbear shaman might be smart enough to throw a Fire spell at them otherwise.

"Hornby, Giago. I want you on the walls. Giago, conserve your mana for close-quarters defense. Gray, I want you on the ground. Kimmy will play spotter for you. I'm hoping their heads will be looking up at the rest of our people, and they won't expect arrows to come at them from ground level." Staring at a wall for the entire fight wouldn't have been my preference, but Megan was right about the tactic.

A bugbear with its shield up to block arrows raining down was extremely vulnerable to attacks from any other direction.

"Osheski," de Saint radioed.

"When you have a moment, jump to channel 3."

"Any questions?" Megan asked us.

"Good. Everyone, conserve your ammo. Take smart shots and trust the calls my people make. We have drones scanning from above, so we'll have better eyes on enemies than you. Let's get to it." Megan tapped her ear a few times and said, "Rainy, you on channel 3?" She nodded a few times and then looked to Silas.

"Where do you store the electricity from your solar panels?"

"This way." While Megan and Silas took off for the town's battery bank, I waited beneath the wall as instructed.

"Thermal has them massing about a quarter mile into the forest," Nathan reported.

"They're forming up similar to the bend in the river, like they plan to hit us from all sides." A Bolt shot out of the forest and into the sky, producing a loud pop.

"Kimmy is down," Nathan said.

"Mother fuckers."

"Pull Zordon back and keep it moving, Rainy," Megan ordered.

"No still targets." I braced for the start of the battle to come soon after, but it didn't. Instead, hours passed with no movement or sound whatsoever coming from the trees. We knew the bugbears were there, and de Saint periodically confirmed as much with her thermal imaging, but they didn't attack. Before, I thought that Megan might miss the initial assault with her visit to the powerbank, but she was back on the wall with time to spare. That in itself was a tactic, I realized.

Our adrenaline had been running high when we first got the news and scrambled into our positions, but nearing 4 a. m. with no activity meant that the initial buzz of excitement was a waste of valuable energy. At this point, our people were still watching for an attack, but I saw yawns and sleepy eyes all around. We were far from our sharpest. I heard a grunt on the wall and looked up to see Silas sniffing the air, his eyes narrowed.

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"They're moving in," de Saint radioed.

"Contact!" someone on the wall yelled as a volley of arrows soared toward the palisade.

"Cover and hold!" Megan yelled. A line of bugbears wielding shields and spears emerged from the forest with a second row carrying ladders, many of which were made from sticks and logs lashed together, but more than a few were Earth-made aluminum. They sprinted toward Matewan, their war cries melding together into one giant, bone-chilling roar. A few seconds later, a cluster of six appeared, carrying a battering ram.

The moment our people popped up to loose arrows at the invaders, the bugbear archers at the back loosed again. One of the Matewan fighters was caught by surprise. An arrow went through his neck, and he was dead before Megan or Hornby could get to him to help. This had just begun, and our numbers had already dwindled from 18 to 17.

"Hold, Gray," Megan radioed. And that was difficult. I couldn't see the bugbears, but I could hear them right on the other side of the wall. A deep thud accompanied by a splintering crack echoed through the valley. The battering ram had made contact only once, and the town gate was already seriously damaged. The bugbears would need three more strikes at most to break all the way through.

By this point in the battle, I had expected to see Bolt and Fire spells smashing against the walls, targeting our archers, but the only blues and oranges to flash in the darkness were Giago's. One archer fell from the wall, and then a second.

"They're casting Stone!" Megan yelled.

"Stay close to cover!" Bastards. That was smart. A rock hurling through the air was far harder to see and track than something bright like flames or electricity. Fortunately, Stone was a first circle spell, so the projectile it produced didn't fly as quickly as an arrow or a bullet. Instead, it was like the rock was thrown by hand by someone with a strong arm and good aim. Which was still plenty deadly if it smacked you in the skull.

The sound of bottles shattering, followed by the whoosh of fire taking a sudden inhale, rang out all across the wall as Molotovs began to rain on the bugbears. For this next part to make sense, remember that railroad tracks marked the perimeter of Matewan and were outside of the walls. A buffer of about four feet lay between the railroad and the palisade.

I learned after the battle that several of the bugbear invaders used those tracks to make their ladders more stable, wedging the feet of the ladder against the iron, so many of the monsters ended up on or near the tracks as a consequence.

"Gray, go!" Megan radioed. Finally. Focusing my efforts around the gate, I loosed and loosed. Even firing blindly, I rarely missed. I felt the feedback of Momentum activating as my arrows phased through the walls and appeared in the bodies of bugbears on the other side.

"Sweep along the wall, 15 quick shots." I did as I was ordered and ran along the wall, shooting at the bugbears trying to scale the palisade.

"Silas, now!" Megan radioed. A violent bang rang out, a sound similar to a close lightning strike, followed by a steady, crackling buzz. When bugbears were surprised by pain, they yelped like dogs, and for a moment, that was the only thing I could hear all along the wall. Smoke from burning wooden ladders climbed into the sky, and a few fires broke out along the palisade where aluminum ladders connected the walls to the tracks.

All of the town's stored electricity was gone in an instant, sent through the railroad tracks to shock the invaders. Another crash shook the gate. I could see through to the other side now. Massive bugbear muscles filled with arrows readied another swing of the ram. I sent my usual combo through the walls–Dual Knocking with Multi-Shot, Vengeful Arrow, and Splintering Arrow. The front two bugbears on the battering ram went down.

With their strength and support suddenly gone, the ram fell forward and dug into the dirt. I grinned, and the Lord God immediately punished me for celebrating the pain of my enemy. An arrow winged my left shoulder from behind. Wait. From behind? I spun in time for another arrow to buzz by me.

"They're inside!" I called.

"Fuck, sorry," de Saint radioed.

"I count 6 coming from the river."

"Hornby, Giago, stay on the wall! You're in charge!" Megan shouted before jumping to the ground a few yards away from me. For the battle that had transpired thus far, Megan's contributions had been limited to throwing Molotovs and shouting orders. Her classes didn't have a ranged attack option, but now that bugbears were inside, she could put her sword and shield to work.

"Where are they?" Megan radioed as we both took cover behind a single-wide trailer.

"Three are fanning out. They all have bows. Three with swords are kicking down doors." I sparked flare after flare, tossing them over the trailer in every direction. I had never fought bugbears in the dark before, and I hoped to delay that experience for a little bit longer.

"Fire!" one of the Matewans screamed as a barn within the walls erupted in flames. Silas, soaked with sweat, blood running down the side of his face, slid in behind us.

"There's a white farmhouse to your 11 o'clock. The biggest shelter is in the basement. The doors will hold, but not if the whole thing burns."

"On me," Megan said to just me. We burst out of our position, Megan charging in with her shield raised while I ran behind her, providing accurate cover fire thanks to Steady Hands. Three bugbears ran into the house. I risked a few blind fires into the first floor, but if the shelter was in the basement, any bugbear below that level was too close to civilians to risk a void arrow. But I was still sprinting.

I jumped onto the wrap-around porch, focused on getting to the archers at the rear of the bugbear sneak attack squad, when one burst through the window next to me. Glass, wood, and plaster sprayed outward. The bugbear's shoulder felt like getting hit by a car, throwing me off the porch and through the railing. My mind, functioning purely on instinct, drew and loosed two arrows into the bugbear's face on the way down. It landed on top of me, knocking the wind from my lungs.

A flash of extreme pain bloomed as the impact snapped the arrow in my shoulder, driving it deeper. When the bugbear reared back, grasping at a white arrow in its eye, I shot three more from my back. They went up under his chin and into his skull. As the monster fell, I rolled to see Megan facing two bugbear warriors with swords. She had just blocked a blow with her shield from one, but the second was already coming down on her with another. From my side, I peppered the bugbear with arrows, halting its attack.

A furry blur crashed into it, snarling viciously as it bit down on the back of the bugbear's neck and yanked, spraying blood as pieces of bugbear spine pulled free. Three massive wolves bounded by me, tackling two more bugbear archers who lined up shots on Megan. Their teeth ripped chunks of flesh from their arms and chests. As soon as the defenses were cleared, their teeth found bugbear throats.

"They're retreating!" men on the walls yelled. Howls rang out, and I saw the silhouettes of men along the wall transform and jump down to the other side to give chase.