Chapter 36: Chapter 36: Enemies at the Gates

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Enemies at the Gates

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With the patchwork wolves falling into our hastily-erected shield wall, one might imagine that we were in deep trouble. But, with Mistress Lorelai and Red Beard leading the charge, the opening salvo to this second act of the battle mostly went in our favor.

It wasn’t just because the blessed fire kept the other monsters—those pesky ogres and trolls and whatnot—at bay, but also because I’d properly clued in my fellow novices about what to expect when fighting these patchwork wolves.

“Be prepared to block their Helfire breaths!” Helm Grimm yelled to our tanks.

“Do it right and you’ll prevent all our deaths!” Koby Grimm added.

“Hard to kill while also wielding Helfire breath?” Red Beard chuckled. “You’ve brought me some nasty fuckers to play with haven’t you, Will?”

“I call them Patchwork Wolves…” I glanced sideways at Mistress Lorelai. “I get to name monsters that I encounter first before anyone else, right?”

“This is true, but—godsdamnit, put your back into it, Mr. Ericsson!” Mistress Lorelai frowned at Bjorn the Viking’s back as his position in the shield wall had nearly been blown away by a patchwork wolf’s headbutt. She turned her glare on me next. “You’re assuming no one has encountered wolves like these before.”

Well, based on the last run, Mistress Lorelai did seem like she didn’t know what these wolves were, and she was even surprised that the blue-eyed man had called himself an emissary. This possibly meant two things; first, emissaries don’t all look alike, and second, these patchwork wolves were new to the realmsverse bestiary. They must be new because I couldn’t find hints of them in either ‘Monstrous Beasts and How to Hunt Them’ or the bestiary section of Divah’s Guide to Adventuring when I’d checked earlier, a fact I pointed out to Mistress Lorelai without mentioning my master’s journal.

“If you’re right then yes, even a novice is allowed to name a creature newly discovered if they are truly first to encounter such creatures,” Mistress Lorelai conceded.

She flung ‘Gin’ into the open space between shields that the defenders had opened up for spears to pierce into the enemies braced against their wall.

“We can discuss this further after the battle ends,” she reminded me. “Focus on the fight before anything else, Mr. Wisdom.”

“Don’t let the dark elf ruin your fun, Will… Patchwork wolf is a fine name for beasts like these.” With an intricately-designed cutlass in each of his hands, Red Beard strode past me while flanked by the elite members of his Crimson Corsairs. “Besides, you get to name them, and I get to make the method that kills them properly. Don’t you agree, Corsairs?”

“Aye!” his five companions agreed.

They were all pretty famous adventurers too. That busty blonde with the scar over her nose, well, I only just recently realized that she was the famous Flintlock Rosé, a top two-hundred silver rank adventurer who was also Scaredy Cat’s aunt.

Rounding out this hunting party made specifically to hunt down the patchwork wolves was our dökkálfar instructor, Mistress Lorelai.

“I’ve got one kill, L,” he reminded her. “Only five of these beasties left. You sure you can catch up with this much competition?”

In response to his challenge, Mistress Lorelai pulled out her golden spear ‘Kin’ with her right hand while also summoning Gin back to her left hand.

“Dual-wielding spears…” I raised an eyebrow at her back. “Groovy.”

Did it bother me that Red Beard and Mistress Lorelai were getting so competitive that they seemed like an adult parallel to my current thing with Liara? A little. I mean, I didn’t want to ever be frenemies with the she-elf the way these two gold-ranked adventurers had become. Still, you got to hand it to them—they knew how to kill things.

In the short time that it took for the wall of blessed fire to finally die out, Mistress Lorelai and Red Beard had each despatched a patchwork wolf by themselves while the other horse-sized monstrosities were skillfully held at bay by the other Crimson Corsair elites.

Meanwhile, the remainder of the monster horde on the southern defense line began pouring into the space between the first and second iron barricades which they managed by climbing over the pile of burnt monster bodies around our now defunct ditch.

I wasn’t idle during this period either. I did my best to stab at monsters who fell on our second iron barricade like wild beasts while doing my best to pace myself before my big boss fight. Unfortunately, it wasn’t just me starting to feel the fatigue settling in either.

Whether they were novices or full-time adventurers, people were beginning to slow down despite the odds now in our favor. It was worse for the tanks as they’d kept their shields up even now to ensure the monsters couldn’t climb over the second barricade and breach our defenses.

There were also far fewer monsters left to kill, although these bastards who’d endured my killing field strategy might as well be the elites of the horde. They were that beastly.

A green flare rose into the heavens to light up the night sky with another glowing green clover. It was the signal for the second bombardment, which meant bad things for everyone on the ground.

“Danger-close!” someone warned. Others took up the call around our line, with cries of “Brace!”

The first of the Red Pearl’s bombardment lit up the ground with fire and air elemental shells just at the edge of the first barricade, sending shockwaves rippling across the field toward us that blew away defenders who couldn’t find cover in time.

I was ducking next to Dess who held her shield up to protect us both. A little way behind us, Zen had used his body to cover Liara and Delphine while Brunhilde cast that wind barrier of hers like an umbrella to protect even more novices.

Bits of burning debris and biting winds swung our way, and we all gritted our teeth as the sounds of explosions continued on and on and on—it was like a World War II movie with us in the thick of it.

Perhaps the only reason none of us were seriously hurt afterward was that the Red Pearl’s gunners were highly precise in their aiming so that our defensive line was mostly intact by the time things quieted down. And, after my ears stopped ringing, all I could hear were the sounds of heavy breathing and the groans of defenders who were beginning to uncoil from turtling up.

“Is it finally over?” I heard someone ask.

That question was answered by a troll’s roar, and then we were all getting back up and repositioning ourselves.

Surprisingly, many of the monsters in the horde had survived that second bombardment. Possibly because they’d learned their lesson the first time and were now smart enough to have ducked for cover too.

For me, that meant they had someone leading them after all. Sure enough, I felt that tingling sensation in the pit of my stomach that was like my very own spidey-sense that alerted me to the presence of something that’s killed me before. This, I assumed, was Extra Life’s way of telling me to get revenge for old me, and I was all too happy to oblige.

True enough, my tingle proved right again. Another warning cry from adventurers to our right clued me in on where the blue-eyed man in the patchwork cloak had finally made his grand entrance.

I glanced to my left—noticing quickly that both Mistress Lorelai and Red Beard were knee-deep in monster territory themselves—and I knew I couldn’t rely on them for backup this time, which sucked, as I hoped to have them by my side when it came time for the inevitable rematch.

Still, I wasn’t about to let this opportunity go to waste, so I decided I’d take him on… although I didn’t need to do it alone either.

“I’m going to see what’s happening over there,” I explained to the people gathered around me.

“Not without me,” Liara insisted as I knew she would.

“Or me,” Dess chimed in.

“Um”—Morph raised his hand—“can I come too?”

His offer was admittedly surprising, although not as astonishing as the sea of determined faces gazing back at me. Every member of Team Six—yes, even Lohgan—as well as Delphine and Zen were choosing to follow me into near-certain death, and I couldn’t help but grin. Perhaps Divah had the right of it, and finding reliable comrades was the correct way to go with this adventuring business.

“All right,” I nodded to them, “let’s go boss hunting.”

Over on the right-most edge of our southern defensive line, ten defenders were already attempting to keep a cluster of powerful monsters from breaking into camp and flanking our center. Incidentally, both Anal and Ms. Ives—the raven-haired green cloak—were part of this group.

While over on the opposite side of the fight, leading these armored hobgoblins, lizardmen, and snake women from the rear was my old pal, the blue-eyed man in the patchwork cloak.

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“Don’t ye give in to these bastards!” Lieutenant Doyle commanded. “We’ll not be the cause of our defenses failing!”

This was easier said than done as Lieutenant Doyle and his nine novices were all that remained of our rear fighting force. Dozens of bodies littered the ground around them, and I couldn’t help noticing that many of these bodies didn’t have adult proportions.

“Vargr…” I sighed. There goes my goal for a perfect, no-kill run.

“Is that the emissary you spoke of?” Liara asked.

“Scared?” I asked.

It was the same question Liara had asked me right before we first stepped into Lugh’s Lament. I asked her this now as the feeling of walking into the unknown was palpable in me, even though I’d fought this bastard once before.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a little worried,” she admitted in an undertone. “But I’m excited too… We’ve got someone who can help put our grimoires to the test.”

Yep, leave it to the wunderkind to be able to tell just how strong our enemy was in the short time she’d observed him.

“Um, guys, shouldn’t we go help them?” Morph asked.

“Well, I guess we can make sure everyone but Einarr doesn’t get maimed.” I hefted my glaive over my shoulder. “So, if you’re all willing to follow my advice one more time, here’s the strategy I’ve cooked up…”

At my suggestion, Morph and Scaredy Cat would head straight for Lieutenant Doyle’s group to assist them with healing duties. Meanwhile, the rest of us would steal the aggro and give them a chance to heal up.

Again, I hoped Mistress Lorelai or Red Beard was around for this rematch as having either of them in the fight would increase our chances of victory a hundred-fold. But my current team was pretty good too.

Liara and Dess ran alongside me as the three of us would be the linchpin of this battle plan. Zen and Brunhilde flanked us to ensure none of the other mobs could get around us. Lastly, Delphine and Lohgan took the rear for crowd-control purposes.

Were we enough? Maybe. I honestly wasn’t sure. Even with all that I’d learned of my enemy in the previous death, there were a few things about the emissary that eluded me. Particularly, at what threshold of his health did we need to shave off before he turned into the mega patchwork wolf that had torn me open from neck to the torso in a single huge bite?

“We’ve got incoming!” Dess warned.

True enough, a few of the monsters that had attacked Lieutenant Doyle’s group were now raising their hackles at us.

“We’ll take care of it!” Zen promised.

He’d slowed down to begin casting a spell with his staff. A second later and three ‘Arcane Missiles’ launched from the purple jewel embedded on his staff’s wooden pommel. They streaked past us in a shower of purple stardust and smacked against the first enemies to interrupt our mad dash forward.

Brunhilde had also slowed down like Zen, but she didn’t use her magic. This time, the half-giant pulled out the two short swords on her back—which were just about the right size to look like daggers in her hands—which she then used to stab and hack at nearby foes with finesse and accuracy that marked her as a rogue novice.

“Huh, I was beginning to think she wasn’t a rogue,” I admitted offhandedly.

Behind me, I heard Lohgan scoff. “She’s no rogue. There’s no way they didn’t see her coming.”

Despite his snarky comment, the wood elf dropped back to help Brunhilde keep our enemies at bay, allowing us a clear route to our right while Zen ensured the enemies to our left were focused solely on him.

“I’ll go help the yeti!” Delphine yelled, and then she was gone too.

“There goes most of our team,” Dess commented, sounding slightly worried. “Three’s just about right for a fire team, isn’t it?”

“Don’t worry,” I told her. “Amid chaos, there is also opportunity.”

“Well, you wanted chaos… this chaotic enough for you?” Liara asked.

Despite their efforts, there were far too many enemies for just our teammates to distract. However, Lieutenant Doyle must have caught on to our plan because he didn’t take that rest we’d given him and was instead leading the charge into the remaining cluster of monsters that kept us separated from our target.

So, yes, Liara was right. Things were sufficiently chaotic now.

Within this chaos—calmly surveying the battle around him like he didn’t mind standing still while blades swished close by and projectiles zipped past his ears—was the blue-eyed man in the patchwork cloak.

He looked the same as when we’d first encountered him; clean-shaven sides with a long mane of curly hair fixed in a single braid behind him. He had a beard that was thick and curly, and the numerous scars marking his tanned skin were still very daunting to look at.

His fur cloak, which was thick and torn and weathered, was a patchwork of grays and browns and blacks layered over each other. I now suspected that this cloak was somehow connected to his monstrous form, and I wondered if ripping it off him would stop the transformation from occurring.

Underneath all that fur was a naked, muscular form that could have rivaled Doomsday’s rigidness if not his massive bulk. He was, in a nutshell, a very impressive specimen.

Dess, who was standing just to my right, whispered, “I’ve never seen a human give off such an ominous aura…”

It was something she’d said in the previous run too. Once again, I couldn’t help correcting her.

“He’s not human,” I whispered back.

Deep-set blue eyes over a browless forehead gazed at us with pure contempt.

“Hey, I’ve been looking for you.” I thought about it for a second, and then I added, “Sendimaðr …that means emissary, right?”

A frown replaced the grin he’d carried. And, just like he’d done with Mistress Lorelai, the emissary began spouting threats at me in a language I didn’t understand. Dess, however, did understand.

“He just said that he would skin you alive and then feed your dying body to his pups after he rips off your manhood,” Dess translated. “He’s very rude…”

“Yeah, well, Lorelai’s threats are better,” I replied.

In all honesty, those were pretty good threats. That thing about my manhood getting ripped off had even forced a shiver out of me. Couldn’t help it. Manhood threats were very cringe-worthy.

“Dess, you remember the plan, right?” I asked.

Dess nodded. “I’m to back you and Liara up while you go nuclear on his ass… how exactly are you going to… Oh. Wow!”

Both Liara and I were opening our grimoires up so that her white tiara appeared in full around her brow while a softly glowing golden light spread out from my chest.

“Are you ready?” she asked.

“Yeah…” My fingers brushed against the trinket hanging from its chain around my neck, and warmth flooded into me, instilling me with the confidence only a special grimoire could provide. “Here we go.”

And, on that daring note, both Liara and I jumped into the fray.