Chapter 65: 64: Hope

The monster wave began to let up, the snow began to fall, everything seemed well, Nero was being beaten, pushed back as his body began to deteriorate. Yet, at the same time, at one end of the wall, things were not well, as Kaitlyn, arguably the strongest adventurer, was now kneeling on the ground covered in blood surrounded by monsters. 

Feeling his consciousness leave him, Jayce, who had thrown his spear in a last ditch effort to secure Kaitlyn’s life for now, tumbled to the ground, falling into the snow as Josephine ran up, guarding his body while killing the monsters that ran forward. 

Sasha, with a rushing stream of thoughts running through her head, burst through the monsters, holding off the last two human chimeras working to kill Kaitlyn, staying on the defensive until Rachel arrived. 

With Rachel arriving a few moments after her, Sasha sent a flurry of stabs towards the two human chimeras, pushing them back for just a moment before beginning to speak, her words an almost unintelligible, rapid-fire stream, “Okay, Rachel, go for now. I can handle these two. Carry your love to the gates to get emergency treatment. Afterward, please pick up my husband too. Thanks.” 

Sasha’s exact out of breath words registering a second after she had sheathed her swords and picked up the bloody Kaitlyn, Rachel asked, bewildered, while adjusting Kaitlyn’s position, “How... How did you know I love her?” 

“It’s obvious to anyone with eyes within two cities, so get moving,” Sasha retorted within a second, leaping back into battle, not sparing another word while focusing the last bits of her energy towards the battle. 

“Got... it.” Rachel nodded, running off with Kaitlyn, weaving through the path that she had just cleared through the monsters. 

“You can’t die... stay awake,” Rachel begged as she ran towards the gates, feeling her arms getting soaked in blood, “I still have so much to say... please... please...” 

Feeling several warm tears begin to run down her face, one chilled by the wind and dotted with the now sprinkling snowfall, Rachel’s sprint that kicked up small heaps of snow behind her burst through the wall of knights, coming to a stop near the medical tent that had been set up in front of the gates. 

“Please... survive,” whispered a shaking, tearful Rachel as she placed Kaitlyn down onto a stretcher before she ran off, letting the medics swarm over the bloody Kaitlyn while she clung onto the hope in her heart that everything would end well.

Pulling out her sword once more, Rachel slaughtered her way through the now-thinning monsters, getting to where Josephine was guarding Jayce’s body. 

“Thanks,” Rachel called out to Josephine who was clearing a wide area around Jayce’s body, “I got him, so you can continue what you were doing!” 

“Got it!” Josephine called back, sending a monster’s head flying with a spinning kick before running off. 

Her sword sheathed once more, Rachel, carrying the much heavier Jayce, weaved her way through the monsters, returning to the medical tent, placing the passed out Jayce onto a stretcher near Kaitlyn. 

“He’s passed out from over-exerting his holy power,” Rachel informed one of the doctors as she ran back into battle, letting them know to just let him lay there as he didn’t have any wounds. 

And so... as Rachel ran off, her hair blowing in the wind, her sword drawing clean lines between the monster’s heads and their bodies, the snow continued to fall, covering the blood-stains that dotted the battlefield with a fresh layer of snow. 

With that, the monster wave came to an end after the Swords of Execution succeeded in killing Nero, his final corpse mutilated after the long fight. Along with that though, were a number of injuries to several of the adventurers, with Kaitlyn’s being by far the worst. However, as the last of the monsters were cleared out, as the land was layered in a fresh blanket of white, the adventurers returned to the city, victorious with not a single death among those who participated.