Chapter 1: The Engagement at Bellfront
Harken tore across the village, which was now burning brightly, the buildings aflame with crimson fire. Terrified people were running throughout the area, having packed whatever personal belongings they deemed important to them and ran out of their burning homes. Harken kept running in the opposite direction the people were fleeing, thankful for all the training he had to go through as a swordsman to grant him the stamina to endure this kind of situation.
The village sent word that they were being attacked, and Prontera had sent several platoons to help them out. This was a fairly common occurrence now which had been going on for a while. Dangerous monsters and creatures were appearing all over the world, attacking small towns and villages, as if trying to wear them out.
As a low-ranking soldier, Harken was not privy to the top-secret information his commanders were allowed to share, but it was pretty much common knowledge now that the feared Dark Legion has been resurrected once more, and the fabled Death Knight known as Aeris had been resurrected using some means of arcane, mystic magic, and he was back for revenge. As a kid, Harken had always listened to the events of the 2nd Rune-Midguard War, and how he had always regretted to not be able to participate in a war this epic. Now, he regretted even considering it.
Waves and waves of undead monsters and dark creatures had been attacking them throughout the year, and despite their efforts, their numbers never seemed to be able to dwindle. It was quite understandable, since an undead army was fueled by the deaths of the opposing army, and the more losses they suffered, the higher the chance for the undead to bolster their forces. It was pretty much like fighting a never-ending army.
At a distance, he saw a young girl trip on the muddy ground and fall flat on her face as she was running away from a raydric archer from a distance. As the animated body of armour sensed the fall of the kid, it took out an arrow from its quiver on its back and took aim. Without waiting, Harken dashed forward and jumped in front of the girl to shield her from the arrow attack, which struck him on his shoulder. Thankfully, the wound was not deep, as his shoulder pads managed to absorb most of the blow.
" Run, kid! Go, now!" he shouted. The girl, who was in tears, nodded thankfully and took off without wasting any time. The raydric drew out another arrow, before taking aim. Harken sprinted towards the monster as it fired the arrow, missing him by inches from his face. The second shot grazed his elbow, while a wild swing from his sword miraculously knocked the third from hitting him in his chest. Harken had seen his commanders effortlessly knock down flying projectiles with a mere sweep of their sword, which at times look easy. Harken figured that he had a long way to go.
After the third shot, Harken was close enough to strike his target before it reloaded. Most of the raydric's instincts were typical and straightforward, easy to see. Alone, they were usually of no threat to a standard swordsman. A whole squadron of them baring their weapons with full force can cause problems to even elite knights.
He swung his sword with all his might, the metal connecting with the raydric's helmet, knocking it clean off its head, or the point on the head of the raydric if it actually had one. As if decapitated, the body of armour merely dropped to the ground, shattering to pieces as it went.
" Craptastical shit!" Harken cursed.
Right at the distance, more zombies and raydrics marched on towards the village, obviously not enough for him to handle alone. Harken could estimate a hundred of these monsters walking across the land, the creaking of armour and constant moanings of the dead ringing loudly in the air. He gritted his teeth, knowing what he needed to do.
" Oi, Boss!" he shouted loudly.
" Dang it, I'm tired of having to hear 100 different callsigns for myself in 3 months," a person armed with two one-handed swords replied. " Can't we stick to one? I mean, I was just getting used to you all calling me Azy already."
Azaroth, Harken's superior, walked up next to him with a bored expression on his face, as if this was an everyday activity. It was now, but Harken figured only Azaroth could pull this off anytime of the day, the calm, cool and bored expression only Azaroth could pull. He cracked his neck, not before stretching his arms as if he got up from a good nap. Despite a combatant of a similar rank to a knight, Azaroth has yet to drop his swordsman attire: simple leather vests, gloves and shoes, and light clothing, with barely any armour to cover himself instead of covering himself in metal, steel and alloy. Arguably, their head commander has even funkier dress sense, as he walks into a fight dressed in black robes while wielding two broadswords at the size where using one for a normal person would seem impossible.
Next to him was his second-in-command, Vermillion, and for a member of the church, she had to be the most bloodthirsty monk Harken had ever seen in history. To put it frankly, she was so bloodthirsty it would make a hungry vampire look pale in comparison. The only reason Vermillion even bothered donning a cape and joining the army was so that she could have a legitimate reason to kill things.
" Man, this is so troublesome. These things never give us a break, huh?" Azaroth replied, drawing his swords. " Vermillion?"
" First dibs, suckers! Leave half these bastards for me!" she screamed like an excited child, not before running off towards her intended targets, who would meet their messy end very soon. Harken could only look as his second-in-command of his platoon ran off like an exploding rocket.
" Are you sure it's okay?" Harken asked, always worried about Vermillion's mad behavior.
" The minute she dies before I do, I'll give you one million zenny, on the spot. Failing that, you can count interest at 25% per annum," Azaroth replied. " Come on, kid, let's go kick some ass. Stay behind me though. Nirvana is going to have my ass if she sees you scratched."
" Oi, don't talk to me like I am made out of glass!" Harken snapped back.
" Oh, but I think you are…not that it is a bad thing, honest," Azaroth replied.
Both of them followed Vermillion from behind, who was already smashing through the undead ranks with utter indifference and a look of mad glee on her face. Vermillion cackling with laugher and giggles as she continued to beat the shit out of the raydrics and zombies, her fists punching holes in their bodies and faces. Azaroth whipped about, his two swords swinging in sharp, beautiful arcs as he started to slice apart the approaching zombies.
" Finished already?" Azaroth demanded loudly.
Harken thought he was speaking to him, but the sound of appraching footsteps told him he was quite mistaken. The rest of their platoon had caught up to him, with Vardred leading the rest of them. Brek started to cast his spells all over the place, fireballs and sharp ice spikes started to rain down on their enemies. Sandy and Vardred charged to the front, their swords flashing as they tore apart the zombies that stood in their way, Sandy promptly crushing a raydric with her shield with utmost ease.
" Well, well, well, it was not like there was much to deal with really," Vardred laughed as he turned around to face another target, his two handed-sword spinning about in a wide arc to lob the zombies upper body off.
" Yeah, and why don't you try to slow down sometime? Not everyone has your energetic spring," Nirvana snapped, coming up and firing a few arrows, her words mostly directed at Harken.
" How can you be tired? You are younger than me! What are you, an old woman?" Harken snapped back angrily, only to start dodging arrows fired in his direction from her. " Hey, cut it out, you crazy woman! I'm not as close as dead as these zombies are!"
" How's the evacuation?" Azaroth asked.
" Just as planned. All the villagers have been moved," Vardred replied.
" Excellent. Alright, here are my orders: Attack all enemies until there are none left, or we are forced to retreat!" Azaroth replied.
Charing forward. Azaroth joined the fray with Vermillion, both his arms striking at ridiculous speeds at the nearby zombies and raydrics. The zombies moved too slowly, and were spaced out a little, so Azaroth had no trouble at all picking them off one by one. In a flash, several arms were severed, the rotting flesh and coagulated blood flying all over the place, as Azaroth ripped the undead apart.
" Big cheese at 1 o'clock!" Harken shouted. " Correction: Big cheeses!"
Azaroth looked at the direction where Harken indicated. Three Wraiths were floating towards their direction, their skeletal frames waving about with their tattered, ragged cloaks that were wrapped around their bodies. However, Vermillion spotted them first, as she tore after them like lightning, her fists now sparking with fire and energy. Jumping on a raydric, she used it as a jumping stool to reach the Wraiths that were floating about 10 feet in the air.
The first one was assaulted by a flurry of punches, Vermillions hands moving at break-neck speeds as she pounded the undead creature until gravity took its toll on her body and she started to fall. The Wraith's front body was smashed into an ugly pulp, parts of its body falling apart. The other two immediately attacked Vermillion as she dropped to the ground, one of them biting her using the ugly jaw on its chest, but Vermillion yanked her hand so hard she detached several of its teeth, the incisors bouncing off the dirty ground.
Vermillion responded with a incredibly powerful punch, straight into the Wraith's gut, the arm piercing through the undead flesh and out through the back. The Wraith howled as Vermillion tore her hand out, the dirty guts and gore of the Wraith splattered all over the ground, dark brown mixed with caustic black. She then jumped on the remaining Wraith, not before gleefully tearing off its arm and body parts bit by bit, rendering it to shreds.
" …That was so anti-climatic!" Harken exclaimed.
" We can't hold them off forever!" Brek exclaimed.
Looking at the distance, Azaroth could see more undead creatures swarming towards their direction, almost numbering in the hundreds. It was highly unlikely in a battle of attrition using only about 10 men could he fight them all off, so he decided to call it quits. Besides, they have already came here to accomplish their main objective, which was to rescue all the villagers. No reason to stay any longer.
" Vermillion, wrap us out now!" Azaroth commanded.
" Do I have to?" she asked.
" I want the rest of the platoon out of here pronto. You can stay as long as you like, if you want, but I want that warp gate open!" Azaroth replied.
" Alright, sounds good enough," Vermillion cooed.
A single pillar of bright, white light appeared in the middle of where they were fighting, and one by one, Azaroth's platoon started to exit the area, entering the warp gate back to Prontera. Azaroth and Vermillion were the last to leave, with Azaroth jumping into the gate just as a multitude of undead arms came reaching out to him, while Vermillion instantly warped herself back separately.
As the incandescent light died down, Azaroth found himself back in the Pronteran barracks. The rest of his platoon were around the stables, all of them visibly tired from the mission. Azaroth took a quick look around them, making a headcount to make sure everyone came back, and Vermillion popped up right next to him just as he finished.
" Excellent, we managed to complete our objectives and come back in one piece. Save for the unfortunate loss of a farming village, houses and various personal belongings to the people we managed to rescue, we did a pretty good job," Azaroth replied, not before saluting the rest fo his platoon. " Now, if you would excuse me, I need to get the hell out of here before our Squadron commander cooks me alive! Ta-ta!"
The rest of his platoon members, save Vermillion, who was well aware of his slightly eccentric and impish habits, looked curiously as Azaroth started to sprint away, running off towards the town centre, out from the stables. Barely three seconds passed when all of a sudden, there was a loud bang, and jumping up in fright, they all spotted Melanie storming into the stable from the back door, her eyes and hair seem to radiate a certain killing intent.
" Where is that son of a bitch?" she shouted, her voice so potent even Vermillion felt compelled to step aside than try to annoy her by standing in her path. " I am going to kill that little rascal if that's the last thing I do!"
Writer's note: Dear me, it has been quite a while since I last updated this story. I apologise for anyone who was waiting for an update. I was terribly occupied with personal things. Hopefully, things should settle down, and I can keep with my regular updates again.