Okay, what the hell am I going to do, Darren thought to himself as he began charging towards the Wildling, it's freaking huge and none of the zerglings have this handled, none of my other units would get here in time after their gestation, and I have no idea how to fight this thing. I'm probably going to die.
And on that happy note, Darren rammed his body into the right side of the Rock Eater as it was distracted by the zerglings harassing it. A loud crunching sound and a roar of pain signaled to everyone that the resulting charge left some damage to the Wildling. It stumbled to the left, but it didn't tip over to expose its soft underbelly. The Wildling, in response to the attack, flailed its legs on the right side of its body which resulted in the deaths of a few zerglings. Darren recovered just in time as the Wildling's legs began stomping in his general area and dodged out of the way.
The Alpha turned in Darren's direction and it suddenly moved. Before he knew what happened, Darren was sent flying by the Wildling's charge and smashed into the trees outlining the clearing, breaking some in half in his flight. He laid on the ground dazed as he tried to figure out what just happened.
Ow, Darren thought as he mentally went over the damage to his body, slightly wiggling his toes and fingers to make sure everything still worked, Damn, thing hits like a truck.
He got up and saw that the Wildling was moving towards him, though at a slower pace than before. Whatever happened earlier seemed to tire the Alpha Rock Eater as it seemed somewhat sluggish in its movements. Quickly he sent the remaining zergling horde to distract the Rock Eater as he devised a plan to take down the Wildling.
How the hell am I gonna take this thing down? I crushed part of its hide on the right, but the damage looked superficial. I could try to hit it in that area again, but I'm not sure it would do anything, and I only surprised it earlier. I need a better distraction than the zerglings and something to end this quickly.
Darren looked around the area and his eyes fell upon Angie's father Jack. He was still standing guard at the gate with his spear looking at the fighting with a bit of worry. Whether it was because of the Wildling or the zerglings, he didn't know.
"Hey!" Darren yelled at the man, startling him, "I need some help taking this thing down! Can you distract it maybe?"
Jack seemed unsure for a moment, but he looked toward the Alpha then to his family up on the wall. He turned back to Darren with a determined look and nodded as he seemed to ready himself for a fight once again.
"Great! I'll get a path cleared for you and when you see your chance, take it and I'll take the Wildling down, got it?"
Jack nodded again.
Darren turned back to the zerglings harassing the Rock Eater and sent a command to make a path for Jack discreetly so as not to get the attention of the Wildling. Jack waited for his chance to strike as he inched closer to the Wildling currently trying to stomp on the zerglings pestering it from killing its prey. A small turn and Jack saw his chance to strike.
Quickly sprinting towards the Rock Eater, he came around from the left of it and steadied himself. The Wildling noticed the movement and began turning in Jack's direction just as Jack hurled the spear towards one of its eyes.
The spear struck true and lodged itself deep into the left eye of the Wildling making it roar in pain as it began stomping wildly and thrashing its head around in a vain attempt to dislodge the offending object. The Alpha Rock Eater's mindless thrashing killed several of the zerglings surrounding it in a vain attempt to kill the man that had grievously wounded its eye, but Jack's previous training as a soldier of the kingdom allowed him to fall back without injury. Jack retreated back towards the gate and looked over to Darren with a nod giving him the signal that he did all he could in the situation.
With a nod in return, Darren took one more look at the Alpha Rock Eater. Forming a quick plan, he ordered his zerglings to retreat back into the surrounding forests and to be ready in case Darren failed to kill the Wildling. As the zerglings carried out his orders Darren rushed towards the Wildling once again and aimed for the spear lodged in the Rock Eater's eye. The Wildling turned to chase after the zerglings, but in doing so gave Darren his opening to strike. With a quick leap, Darren launched himself towards the Rock Eater's head from the Wildlings newly acquired blindside and steadied himself on top.
The Rock Eater, feeling the newly acquired weight, began to thrash its head around to dislodge the obstruction that dared impede its will to crush the smaller creatures. Darren held on tight as he was shaken from one side to the other as he knew that he was in a prime spot to end this fight from continuing any longer. Slowly, he crawled forward on top of the Wildling's head, getting closer and closer to his target. Soon he grabbed the spear lodged in the Wildling's eye, and with a yell of victory, he plunged the spear deeper into the Rock Eater's skull and straight through its brain. The Wildling let out one last roar of defiance as it raised its head to the sky, then its body crashed to the ground as it died.
Darren, still holding onto the weapon lodged in the massive Wildling's eye, jiggled the spear around while sitting on the Rock Eater's head and, after making doubly sure that the Wildling was dead, hopped off it and pulled the gore covered spear out of the Rock Eater's head and held the spear in both hands. He did a quick mental count of the remaining group of zerglings he brought with him and found about half of his forces left from the fighting. It would be a small drain on his army, but he figured he could rebuild everything and them some in a day.
As he looked around the empty battleground he noticed Jack walking toward him while giving him a slightly wary look as if Darren would use the spear on him. Realizing that the way he was holding the weapon may have come off as threatening, he quickly held it out to the older man trying to show that he was handing the spear back. Jack looked over to the spear and back to Darren as he accepted his weapon back and placed the butt-end of the spear on the ground in a resting position.
"Thank you for saving us Magi," Jack said with a quick nod of his head to Darren. "This village and I are forever in your debt. May I ask for the name of the man who saved us and why you are here at humble Counter, sir?"
Darren wondered for a second about why he had been called a Magi until he remembered one of the things about this world's system of magic. The rare people who could perform magic were called Magi and were separated into three broad schools of magic that helped narrow down certain magical paths.
The first school was Conjuration magic which could vary from the conjuration of fire, water, and various other elements to the conjuration of common household items like clothing or furniture. Conjuration magic was the easiest of schools to learn as there were multiple spells that are easy to cast at a low cost to magi crystals. The downside of Conjuration magic was the difficulty due to the massive number of spells one needed to memorize.
The second school was called Restoration magic and it focused on how to use magic to heal. A Magi could heal wounds from a small cut to completely amputated limbs if their magic was strong enough and if they made it in time. Restoration magic used to be labeled as a subcategory of Conjuration magic until researchers found that when Magi healed others, the caster did not produce anything. Rather, the magic seemed to promote rapid healing in the body or at a localized point where the Magi focused on. Those who choose the Restoration magic school primarily focused on their studies rather than split their attention to another school if magic.
The last school was known as Summoning magic, arguably the hardest magic to learn and master as most, if not all, Magi who chose this school would usually spend their entire lives to perfect even a single spell from this school. Summoning magic was also extremely taxing as it required vast amounts of magi crystals and nearly all the reserves of magic that a Magi could wield to even power a single summoning. The creatures summoned could range from any living thing like rabbits, which could be used to spy on others, to demons and otherworldly beasts never seen or heard about. The most powerful and notorious Magi came from the school of Summoning magic as any otherworldly creatures summoned usually brought great harmony or destruction throughout the lands.
Each of the known races in this world had a form of racial specializations as well. Human and Dwarven Magi had a talent for Conjuration magic with Humans usually focusing on destructive purposes while Dwarves focused on their mountains and were more generally in tune with nature. Elves on the other hand were usually far more gifted with Restoration magic that they used to heal the land and to maintain its majesty from whatever may harm the nature within their borders. Summoning magic was equal for anyone who tried, though there are the occasional people who are more gifted in this school than others leading to the idea that Magi who focused on Summoning magic were the best of the Magi.
Darren realized that the soldier turned villager was still waiting for a response and he decided not to correct Jack's assumption that he was a Summoning Magi so as to make future interactions easier.
"My name is Darren Miller and I'm here only because of the Wildling pack. I was hunting them down and it was only by luck that I made it in time after finding out that your village was in the way. Also, if it wasn't thanks to you giving me the help I needed with the distraction and your spear being in the Rock Eater's eye, then we probably wouldn't be here talking right now. Really, it was because of you that we won today."
"You honor me, Magi Darren. I am happy to have been of service."
"Alright, I'm just going to get this out of the way. Just refer to me as Darren. I'm not the kind of person who needs all that special treatment."
"Um… are you sure Magi Darren?" Jack asked with a questioning look. It was secret that most Magi had a severe case of hubris as they were, as they said, "the gifted few" who could perform magic of any sort.
"Absolutely," Darren said attempting to show that he was genuine, "And while we're at it, may I ask what your name is? I'd like to know the name of the person who's spear I used."
The man in question straightened and fell into a salute that he seemed very familiar with. "I am Jack, a former soldier of King Indulf and Queen Catherine, rulers of great Aleria."
"Nice to meet you, Jack," Darren said as he held out a hand. Jack looked at the offered hand for a second before shaking it. When Jack looked back at Darren, Darren could see a small measure of respect in the man's eyes. After releasing Darren's hand, Jack gestured to the village behind him where the gates had opened with the rest of the villagers watching them.
"Please, let me introduce you to Counter. I'm sure that everyone would like to know who helped save the village," Jack said as he began walking toward the gates, "If you would follow me."
With a nod of his head, Darren walked alongside Jack. Discreetly though, he sent an order for the remaining zerglings waiting in the forest to patrol the area.
I want all of you to scout the area carefully. The fighting may have brought some unwanted attention to us. Alert me if anything catches your attention.