You’re a worry, Tiny. No doubt about it.
The object of my frustration continues to bounce on his heels as we walk, throwing compact punches at the air, a wide grin stretched from bat-ear to bat-ear. Hopeless.
Oh? What is that I see?
On the horizon is a grey smudge that, once we’re close enough for my ant eyes to make out the details, is a city wall. With haste, I throw together a Mind Bridge to chat with Morrelia. She would be sure to know something about this place.
[Hey.] A classic lead in.
To which I’m promptly ignored…
[Hey!] Second time’s the charm.
…And still a strike.
[Heeeeeeeey!] This time, for sure.
[Would you shut up! I’m trying to focus!]
Holy moly! Seems like I poked a bear… I should take the hint and leave her alone.
[S-sorry. Just wanted to ask a question…] When there aren’t any objections, I plough ahead. [Do you know anything about the town up ahead? It’d be great if we had a little more information is all…]
[GAH! Stupid ant! What do you want?]
Along with her ferocious mental sending, Morrelia rounds on me, the barely controlled rage in her eyes searing me with intense heat.
[Hey there, just, like, chill for a second. All friends here, right?] I shrink back from her glare, and Crinis, sensing my distress, begins to extend a few warning tentacles toward the enraged mercenary.
With a visible effort, Morrelia chokes down her anger. When she speaks, her mental voice sounds tight with the strain. For a berserker to keep her emotions in check must be quite the taxing exercise.
[Is your class actually berserker? Because that would be awesome,] I blurted out.
A thick vein begins to throb on her temple and I hurry to move on.
[Ah, ok. Just wanted some information about what I suspect is a town up ahead. We’ve tracked some monsters here. I can see what looks like a town wall. It only follows that we can expect some monsters fighting up ahead, possibly against survivors. I was hoping to learn what you planned to do?]
I speak quickly, squeezing out my query before this enraged lady draws her weapons and cuts me down where I stand. For her part, Morrelia blinks as my torrent of words smash into her head. She manages to keep a grip on her temper long enough to sate my curiosity.
[What you’ve said is correct. The town ahead is called Midum. It’s a fair size trading hub with a garrison and city wall. Since the monsters we’ve been tracking are headed this way, I believe the city may still stand or is currently under attack. I’ve been trying to maintain the correct emotional state to enter into my Berserk Rage, a feature of my Berserk Tempest class, at the first sighting of the enemy. Anything else?] she answers my questions in clipped tones, making it clear her emotions are still at a steady boil under the surface.
[All good. Just, ah, don’t try and kill us when you go all angry.]
A tight smile is all I get in response as she goes back to ‘maintaining the correct mental state.’ I don’t begrudge her testy attitude at all, since the closer we come to the city, the clearer it becomes that it’s at least partially on fire.
46. City Under Attack
The city of Midum is burning at an impressive rate. As we draw closer, the sound of combat begins to ring in the distance. Roaring monsters, shouting people and the clash of steel on claw. In a lucky break, the gates of the city are already demolished, overwhelmed by whatever creatures arrived before us. The wooden gates, no more than smashed timbers hanging on hinges pinned into the stone walls, make a sorry sight as we rush through them.
The walls are far less impressive close up. Nothing at all like those of Liria. A mere four metres tall and two metres thick, they’re hardly the kind of fortification that would keep out a monster horde. Then again, they weren’t intended to be. The only things they’d expected to have to deal with in this part of Liria were low-Level surface monsters and bandits. At the very worst, an attack from a neighbouring country. Something like a Dungeon monster invasion was never on the cards for these people, right up until it happened.
The rubble of buildings is strewn about our feet and the signs of battle are everywhere. Smashed buildings, doors ripped off their hinges, burned out roofs. The only thing missing is the remains of the combatants who’d fallen. Because there wouldn’t be any, naturally. Human or monster, the fallen are Biomass, ripe for the taking.
It makes for an eerie scene. Just like what I’d witnessed at the farmhouse, except magnified in scale a thousand times. It’s almost like running through an old ruin rather than a place with humans still fighting. There’s just no sign of anything organic. What were once inns filled with people, laughter and merriment, are now shattered. Their signs ripped down, walls knocked in and furniture destroyed. As we race past one, I can see the tables and chairs are upturned, and even the bar itself is carved right down the middle. Yet not a single sign of any living thing inside.
I get the feeling that whatever has happened here, didn’t happen quickly. There are signs of barricades on the streets, of houses torn down to create makeshift walls and open up space for archers. Spent arrows abound in the areas we pass through, scattered across stone or lodged into wood. It seems that once the walls were lost, the people engaged in a brutal fight, street by street, in order to try and survive.
I skitter over rocks and debris as the once cobbled roads of Midum are now cracked and strewn with the remains of the homes of its citizens. The deeper into the city we get, the louder the roar of combat becomes.
I look at Morrelia as we Dash with all our might, and the signs of her emotional state are clear to see. Clenched teeth, fierce glare, muscles knotting, all pointing to her barely repressed rage. If I was to hazard a guess, I would say she’s balancing herself on the very edge of her class feature activating. Aiming to berserk the second she catches sight of the foe.
It doesn’t take much longer to find them. Rounding a corner, we find ourselves approaching the waterline, the widespread of the… lake? Ocean? Laid out before me, along with the source of the fire. Large warehouses are burning, sending soot and smoke billowing into the sky. The people here are making one last stand.
Several warehouses, those made of the most stone, have been boarded and walled in with whatever they had on hand. Archers dot the roofs, firing into the hungering mass of creatures below. Men and women with spears defend the edges of the building, stabbing and pushing with desperate fervour to prevent the monsters from finding purchase on the roof. Centipedes, spiders and others climb straight up the walls, jaws clattering as they strive to sate their hunger.
Around the base of the buildings, more powerful beasts like crocas, hounds and bears, are attempting to batter the barred doors whilst fending off constant thrusts from spear wielders inside the building.
It can’t last.
The sheer mass of the monsters presses forward, unwilling to be denied access to the building itself, which they tear into with fang and claw. The stone scrapes and shatters beneath the blows, and the tough wood of the warehouse door is already splintering.