Chapter 5: Chapter 5 – [Hold the Line]

The room was in chaos.

A ragged group of [Guards] and servants were arrayed in a spear formation, nervously watching the main doorway. The [Guards] were steadily holding their weapons at the ready, but the servants were just barely staying on their feet, leaning on their spears with exhaustion.

There had been a fight, and there had also been casualties. Corpses lay in front of the formation, drenched in a vast pool of blood. The enemy had been fought and pushed back, but Fayette could hear the shuffling ahead. More would be coming.

She took in the haggard formation, then swished her eyes towards the escape hatch right behind them. It was open.

[Lord] Castella was nervously pacing by the hatch, watching as two [Guards] were lowering an elaborate chest down. He did not look like a calm leader at all. He was looking around with agitation, eyes wild. Fayette could hear him nervously muttering to himself, but couldn’t make sense of the words.

Bernhard was standing by him, rapier at the ready to guard against any threats. Fayette felt a surge of anger that he was not among the formation—what the hell was going on here, were lives being sacrificed for the sake of some box?

Fayette began to walk forward and her steps echoed into the room. She did not know what her plan was, but she knew she couldn’t allow whatever this was to continue. She felt at the mop in her hand, grit her teeth, and looked at the harangued [Lord]. What if I just-

She did not have time to finish her thought, as the [Lord's] head twitched to her. There was a moment of fear in the look, but it gave way to recognition. He looked at Fayette and Clara, some calculation passing behind his eyes.

“Ah, excellent, more of you survived.”

Fayette felt her anger bristle at the flippant remark, but she did not get the opportunity to give a tongue-lashing. Footsteps sounded ahead. A lot of them.

The [Lord’s] gaze twitched to the doorway and his mutterings grew more frantic. “No, too risky, too risky, I have to—” He patted Bernhard on the shoulder. “We’re leaving, [Oathsworn Guard].”

The [Guard Captain] fell into step behind him and the [Lord] began to lower himself down the hatch. Fayette was disbelieving, did the man truly intend to just... leave? While leaving everyone here to secure his back?

“Hey, what the hell are yo—” She began, but the man turned and gestured towards Fayette and Clara.

“You two, join the rest. [Secure retreat], [Hold the Line].”

A power settled over her, and Fayette felt her objections die in her throat. Her steps changed direction, and before she knew it, her gaze had been torn from the [Lord]. She tried to resist, but it was like a vast invisible current was guiding her along, not allowing any deviation. To her horror, she realised that she was walking right into the spear formation.

She had never heard of or felt something like this. Could a [Ruler] skill just... command people? Just like that? It felt surreal, like she was just an observer in her own body. A throbbing in her head filled her mind with an urge to get in the formation and stay there.

Inside her mind, Fayette trashed and raged, but the compulsion was stronger. She inevitably found herself walking to stand amongst the others, mop pointed towards the door. The kobolds’ steps were getting closer. She tried to turn her gaze from the door, to shout at Bernhard to stop this, to curse the [Lord], to do anything, but it was useless.

A horde of kobolds turned the corner. The corridor was instantly crowded with the short creatures, the horde led by a taller one standing in the middle. Its eyes gleamed with savage pleasure, and it pointed the horde forward, staying at its rear to direct them.

As soon as Fayette began to think of fighting the enemies in front of her, she felt the compulsion strengthening her, like a mountain was holding her in place, steadying her footing. It felt wrong. She saw the [Guards] stand straighter and steady their hands, turning into a formidable iron wall. The skill fit like a glove for the warriors, something natural, something that was right.

The skill did not suit the servants—they looked like a mockery. Oh, the compulsion forced them to stand straight and hold their spears steady alright, but they had no skill with the arms, their bodies had not been trained for this. Gangly [Maids] and [Cooks] brandishing spears did not seem too intimidating against the approaching horde. It looked like a sick joke.

Fayette did not even have a spear—she had her mop. The [Head Maid] standing next to her had picked up a spear from somewhere, which she was nervously looking at. Did the skill register my mop as a spear-equivalent? Probably better this way honestly, with my [All-Purpose Cleaner] I can—

Fayette’s thoughts paused as she felt at the mop in her hands. In her two hands. Where was her bucket? She tried to tear her gaze away from the approaching monsters to search for it, but the compulsion seemed to be intensifying. As everyone readied their spears, Fayette felt like she was becoming one part of a whole—she felt the mass of the others pulling her along.

What the hell! This is idiocy! This is what I made that stuff for! With a bucketful of the stuff, I could have—

Fayette did not have time for more cursing—the horde was on them.

The kobolds rushed into the spears, headless of the danger as they lashed out with sharp claws. The waiting [Guards] responded with skills of their own. Spears glowed with power and strength, misses turned into hits, some even conjured ethereal shields for protection. The servants meanwhile could only hold their spears steady and pointed forward—they had no skills for this.

The kobolds did not seem afraid of Fayette’s mop, they kept their eyes only on the spear lashing out from beside her. Big mistake. Fayette felt satisfaction as she landed a hit on one’s face, spreading the liquid all over the monster’s eyes. It screamed as its face began melting down, which allowed a spear to take it in the neck.

It was a good kill, but more came. There was something to fighting as a unit that made you lose yourself in it. Fayette thrusted and parried, mind not registering anything except her mop and the monsters in front of her.

She was not completely reliant on prodding with the mop – Fayette had some other tricks to play too. She spread the [All Purpose Cleaner] on the floor in front of her, but the monsters endured the burns on their feet and continued on. She tossed the odd fork to distract a creature, but again it was only a distraction. The fight felt like it had lasted an eternity, but it could not have been but a few moments before Fayette realised the grim truth.

We are not winning this.

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One by one, people were getting caught out. The [Guards] were expending their protection skills, and once they ran out, the formation began to crumble. The servants had been mostly kept up by support skills from the [Guards], and once those ran out, so did their luck.

The [Guard] standing on Fayette's left took a slash to the gut and fell down. A [Stablehand] was dragged out of the formation, screaming as the monsters pounced on him. Bit by bit, the line was thinning. Fayette knew she needed to do something, but her feet were glued to their places, stubbornly holding the line.

Hold the line, hold the line, hold the line! The compulsion in her mind shouted out. Fayette's mind roiled with fury, gathering up a storm. No, this is stupid, these orders are bad. Does a servant really have to follow if their master gives idiotic orders, orders that will doom them? No, I refuse. I refuse! I refuse!

Fayette lashed out, pushing all her willpower into resisting the compulsion, and suddenly, she felt it break. She felt the world around her rushing back into focus as she broke through. She no longer felt like she was one with the formation, and the assault on her senses almost made her tumble.

Suddenly the smell of death, desperate screams and fearsome monsters felt more real, more close. There was no longer any ability coating her, shielding her from the reality of the situation. Fayette steadied herself with [Maid’s Poise] and felt control return to her legs.

She ran back.

It was a frantic scramble. Her absence in the formation would cause trouble, maybe even death, but she had to do this. The [Maid] tumbled out of the formation, right next to her bucket. It had been waiting right there the whole time, just a few steps away.

Fayette crouched over it and took out a glowing piece of blue metal from her pouch. It was a brittle thing, leaving crumbs in her hands and pockets as she fished it out. When she had experimented with it previously, she had been careful with the dosage—this time she would not be. She tossed the whole thing in.

The mixture began to foam and bubble, and a yellow gas started streaming out. Fayette took a step back from the bucket, then hefted it up using the shaft of her mop. Best keep the stuff as far away from her as possible.

She readied herself for a throw, then swung the mop over her shoulder, catapulting the steaming bucket over the battleline. It landed right in the doorway, on the head of the leading kobold.

The liquid drenched it, it screamed, and then the gas began spreading.

“Don’t get the gas on you!” Fayette shouted out as she rushed back to the fight. She no longer felt the skills binding her, so fighting in the formation no longer felt as stable and sure as before—but the formation was not much of a formation anymore anyways.

The kobolds in the back tried to get away from the gas, but the ones in the front didn’t give way, and the backline was soon covered in it. Their scales began to scald and blister, and their screams were silenced by the bloody vomit frothing forth from their mouths. It did not take long for them to collapse onto the ground, dissolving into puddles of blood.

The kobolds at the front felt the pressure from behind them lessening, but did not realise that something was wrong—they were too focused on the fighting in front of them. That suited Fayette fine.

“Push them in the gas, but don’t breathe it in!” she shouted as she prodded one of the creatures into the cloud. The remaining fighters clued in quickly and began pushing monsters back against the spreading gas—if there was one thing that blasted skill was good for, it was something like this: boxing enemies in.

The rest of the fight was surprisingly easy, so easy it made Fayette even more furious. The monsters fell to the gas before they realised the full danger of the situation, falling back as they didn't realise just why the pressure behind them had let up. Soon not a single kobold was left standing, and there was a moment of silence in the room.

The survivors stepped back and eyed the cloud nervously, but the issue was resolved soon. The one other remaining [Maid] pointed at the cloud, and used an ability. “[Clear Air]”. She then collapsed onto the ground, breathing raggedly.

The gas began to dissipate away, and everybody breathed in a sigh of relief. The battle was over.

[That’s a lot of cleaning, nice combo! Experience shared with party!]

[Level up: You have reached level 9!]

[1 Skill point gained!]

[Progress towards next level: 80%]

Fayette collapsed onto the floor and looked at the survivors. Some had survived, many more were dead. Clara’s corpse was splayed out on the floor, guts spilling out of her open stomach.

Many of the [Guards] had survived, but it was not them who Fayette focused on. As she looked at the trembling [Maid] and [Cook] who were all that remained of her fellow servant staff, she felt the rage inside her condensing into something colder.

Her eyes were drawn to the escape corridor’s entrance which had been right behind them the whole time. She thought of the [Lord] who had thoughtlessly tossed her away like a piece of trash, who had taken control of her body.

There would be hell to pay for this.

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