They have tricked us! And we fell for it! Hurry, hurry, Hurry!
ell ran alongside Ais, as soon as the Loki Familia had noticed they had fallen into the trap, they had turned around. One of the biggest benefits of being a high leveled adventurer was the stamina and speed.
The party split up in two groups, all level five and six adventurers would run forward, level four and below would follow them. Finn handed over the commando of the group that would follow them to Raul. Since they wouldn´t be able to keep up, they would move as fast as they could.
Also, the stronger adventurers left everything except their water bottles and equipment behind, to be able to move as fast and easy as possible. Ais and Bell could run than the others, but they weren´t experienced enough to form a strategy when they arrived on their own.
Out of sheer necessity, Lefiya had to sit on Gareth´s shoulder, she would be slower than the others and Gareth didn´t even noticed her weight.
"You are pretty light Lefiya, are you eating properly?!"
"Of course!"
It would be a long way, but at level six, adventurers could run faster than a galloping horse. It took them one and a half day to come here, but they had mostly walked, back to Orario they would probably need around eight hours, evening dawned so they would arrive at the city in the early morning.
They just hoped it would be enough...
.
.
Orario was still on high alert since the attack, every tower and gate had adventurers guarding it, so they noticed the black cloud erupting from the sea immediately. Alarm bells rang from every tower in the south-west, mnessengers ran to Babel and the homes of the Familias.
Soon the magical alarm siren of Babel began to howl, every action in the city came to a hold again.
"PEOPLE OF ORARIO, A NEW WAVE OF MONSTERS IS COMING TO THE CITY, OUT OF THE DIRECTION OF MELEN! ALL CITIZENS AND GODS NEED TO SEEK SHELTER AT BABEL, THE NORTH-EAST OR THE COLLOSEUM! ALL ADVENTURERS, WE NEED YOU TO FEND OFF THIS ATTACK!"
Most of the people dropped the stuff they were carrying and ran for their lives. Adventurers ran back to their homes to get their equipment, not all of them would run to the walls. The biggest problem right now was, the Loki Familia or rather Finn Deimne wasn´t there, Finn was a master in leading various groups into battle, when a dire crisis fell over Orario, most Familias would act to his orders, just because they didn´t knew it better. Thankfully the guild handed out more informations and instructions, still...every Familia acted on their own way.
Ganesha send the biggest part of his Familia to the walls, under the command of Shakti. All of his level one adventurers remained by his side at first and were send into the city to help the citizens finding shelter. They led many people to the colloseum and made sure no one was left behind. After the first attack, Ganesha had ordered to store food and water in the colloseum, in case something like this happened again. The Freya Familia was one of the quickest to react, they had made their own plans to make sure Freya would be safe. Ottar moved to the walls together with Allen and the remaining Gulliver brothers. Hogni and Hedin would split up and take position at the sides of the attack, to make sure no monsters circled around Orario, but had to charge the city head on, the lower leveled members would take positions behind Hogni and Hedin, so that they wouldn´t need to turn around in case one monster escaped their slaughter.
.
Cries of panic filled the small Mansion that was the new orphanage, Maria tried to calm the children down but she had no chance. Some of them tried to hide under their beds, they couldn´t help this instinct...they were children.
A knock came from the door downstairs and it was opened gently.
"Heellooo everyone! I came to get you!"
"Syr!"
"It´s Syr!"
"Oh Syr, thank the gods you are here.." Maria sighed in relieve.
"Ehe, no need to panic, come we will all go to the pub."
She smiled in her usual gentle and calming way. "Come on now everyone, make sure everyone is coming, okay? You don´t need to be afraid, Mama Mia will protect us all and so will aaaaall the strong adventurers of Orario."
Maria and Syr went sure that every orphan came with them, before locking the door and walking calmly to the pub. It was very important for Freya that they all were safe, she wouldn´t risk getting them into danger again.
"Syr...I´m scared..." Fina, the young werewolf girl, pulled slightly at the skirt of Syr´s uniform.
Freya knelt down and gently patted Fina´s head. "You don´t need to, there are heroes in this city that will protect us you know? I´m sure Bell and his friends will be back quickly and defeat all the bad monsters.
He protected you from the monster that one time, remember? I´m sure he will be there for us again."
"Okay..."
"Come now, Mama Mia, Lunor and Chloe will protect us."
"Where are Ahnya and Ryu?"
"Hehe, they are defending the city...don´t worry."
"Will they be okay?"
Syr grinned. "Don´t worry Fina, they are the strongest in the pub after Mama Mia!"
Even if she said that, Freya became sick with fear for Ryu and Ahnya.
Come back safely to me, you two.
.
.
Ryu closed the last straps of her outfit, Asfi had changed it for her a bit, due to her body maturing a bit...it became a bit tight around the chest. She probably wouldn´t grow very much aynmore, in the past it didn´t bothered her much...but a little bit more would make her happy...because of a certain someone.
Astrea had tried to cheer Ryu up, that a big chest wasn´t as great as she thought. The goddess described to her that she had problems with her own, when she wanted to take something from a top shelf, it happened sometimes that she knocked things over on the bottom shelf...Ryu had even seen this before. Or when Astrea had carried papers, she had suddenly lost an important document...it was stuck under her chest.
Ryu got really flustered when she showed her goddess where the document was. But Ryu couldn´t help but feeling at loss when they sat at the breakfast table, Astrea wanted to take a bit sugar...and knocked over her cup with her chest...the same had happened to Syr once...it frustrated Ryu a little bit...maybe a bit more.
When Astrea sat down at her desk, she unconsciously put her chest down on it...but she said they were useful for keeping a book open...
But what really brought Ryu down to her knees...when she watched her goddess going down the stairs...Astrea had to be careful since she had problems seeing her feet sometimes...
"That doesn´t make me happy at all, lady Astrea!"
Ryu even had small tears in her eyes when...her goddess gasped surprised...and her breasts...bounced.
Kuuuh!
But Ryu still loved her goddess...she just refused to talk to her about that matter in the future...
"Ryu...you look so beautiful...that I can see you in this again.."
Astrea smiled with tears in her eyes, standing in the door of Ryu´s room.
"Lady Astrea?"
The voice of her goddess told her that something was very wrong.
"*Hic* My little one..."
Before Ryu could react, Astrea stepped to her and put her arms around Ryu, sobbing loud. After the first moment, Ryu returned the hug.
"You will come back to me yes?!"
"Lady Astrea...I left you once...I won´t leave you again...I promise."
Astrea was afraid of losing her children again...she still mourned Alise and the others...would do it for many years. But losing her children now...would break the goddess.
Both heard silent steps.
"Captain..."
"Chief..."
Ciel and Viana waited at the door, Astrea waved to them, pulling her two new children into the hug too, just a bit more careful because of Viana´s armor.
"You all come back to me! Promise me that! Ryu!"
"Yes, we will."
"Ciel, Viana, you too!"
"We will, lady Astrea.
"Of course we do, mylady."
Eventually Astrea was able to let go of them, she still had tears in her eyes.
"Ryu, you are the captain...you are a big sister now. Take care of your little sisters. And you Viana, Ciel, listen to what your big sister says, okay?"
All three nodded, so far Ryu had never thought about it like this.
A big sister...me?
For Astrea, her children were her daughters, daughters of justice and sisters to each other. Ryu rememberred how Alise had led them in the past.
Alise...please lend me your wisd-...your strength!
The small Familia went down the stairs together. Ryu used the white garment that her Familia had gifted to her before the last big fight in the dark times, Ciel used her white, clerical robes and Viana her full plate armor with the hydra-like helmet and her strange spear.
The dark elf got Lyra´s old room, Ryu and Astrea got really nostalgic, since strange sounds and smells came out of that room again. She had promised to do her predecessor honor.
Now it was time for Ryu to act like a captain, fighting was something entirely different when she had two people following her orders.
"Okay listen up, we will escort lady Astrea to the pub, then we w-"
A knock on the door interrupted her.
Ciel opened the door, outside waited a god and adventurers.
"Ganesha?"
"Astrea...thank goodness you are still here."
"Why are you here?"
"To make sure you are going to be safe, I assumed that your children will go to the walls, so I came to get you."
Despite the dire situation, Ryu saw her goddess smiling...abashed.
"Th-Thank you..."
It wasn´t the first time that Ryu noticed how...close...her goddess and Ganesha were...not that she complained.
"God Ganesha, I thank you for escorting Lady Astrea."
Ryu bowed in front of the sturdy god.
"No problem, do you entrust her to me?"
She didn´t needed to look at her goddess to see how happy these words made her.
"I do, please take care of her."
Ganesha nodded, his children outside formed a circle, there were no monsters inside the walls so far, but better safe than sorry.
"Ryu, Ciel, Viana...keep an eye on each other!"
"We will!"
There was one last thing that Ryu had to do before they went to the walls. Before Astrea turned around, Ryu drew her new sword "Justice Lumina", the other one...the "Sacred Oath"...was still on her back, Ciel raised her rod and Viana her spear.
"""By the blades and wings of Justice!"""
Astrea´s expression changed, many emotions washed over her face, mostly pride. She raised her own sword that she kept at her hip.
"By the blades and wings of Justice! Go, my daughters!"
The newly formed Astrea Familia turned around and ran in the direction of the walls. No one would be left to protect the Stardust Garden, but protecting people was more important.
"Astrea, let us go."
"Yes, bring me to the colloseum."
Astrea had as much experience as Ganesha to take care of people, and the sight of her would let many people smile. Dire situation or not...Justice had returned to Orario.
.
.
"Okay everyone listen up!"
Lily stood on a small box and handed out orders, since Bell wasn´t there it was her job to form a plan for the party. Daphne would lead them in combat since she had the most experience of the remaining people.
"Nahza, Terry and Snorri, you will escort the gods to safety, Nahza you will stay with them, you two will come to the wall then, except the situation there demands otherwise. Daphne, you are the vice-leader of the party so you have the commando until Bell returns, leave the talking to other Familias to me, so you can focus on the fight.
We don´t know how far the situation went already, we will see it there."
All of them nodded and Daphne took over.
"Okay everyone listen, the supporter will carry as many potions with them as we have here, don´t carry them into battle but leave the biggest part behind the wall. The supporters of the Ganesha Familia will probably be there and they have more experience in large scale battles. Since Bell is away for now, I will take his spot in our formation. Welf and Ouka, you and me take the frontline until Terry returns, then we four will do it.
Cassandra and Haruhime will stay in the rear line and help where needed. Lily, Asuka, Mikot and Chigusa, you will be our second line, Mikoto I need you to keep an eye on our middle and rear guard, and you Lily to keep an eye on the situation. Snorri when you return you will stay with Cassandra and Haruhime, in case a monster breaks through. Questions?"
No one reacted.
"Fine, get ready to move out."
As soon as the alarm siren of Babel echoed over the city and the announcement of the guild came, they had started to get ready, knowing what happened. No one needed to say a word about the time of the attack, it was obvious that this was a trick of the monsters. They weren´t the only people shocked about this fact.
Lily shouldered her big backpack and new weapon, a repertier crossbow. Actually, it was way bigger than a normal crossbow and looked almost like a small spear thrower. Due to her great strength she had no problem to wield it, but she needed to stand still, in case she needed to move, Lily would use the small crossbows at her wrists.
The supporter also wielded every magic sword that Welf had made lately, after the first monster attack he had nearly worked non stop.
Hestia carried a big bag, filled with food and water.
Bell...where are you...hurry!
.
.
From the top of Babel, it looked fascinating how Orario reacted to the attack. Like a colony of ants, the adventurers flooded to the place on the walls where the monsters would attack. Some got to the walls faster than others and the situation there changed every minute.
Parties of adventurers arrived there and stared in horror at the scenery outside the walls. Soon their biggest problem became apparent, Orario had no standing army and the individual Familias were not good at coordinating with each other. Parties only had experience with their members, not with a wide scaled attack.
"Everyone! Stop gawking around and get into position!"
Shakti tried her best to keep things tidy, her Familia reacted to her orders, but most of the others Familia´s didn´t, they simply thought it would be more smart to rely on their own leaders. What followed...was chaos...adventurers got into each others way. The guild had forgotten to announce a leader for the defence of the city.
But thankfully, adventurers were quite pragmatic and followed a natural instinct...the herd instinct.
It started with the arrival of two smaller Familias, the Magni and Modi. Both had also no experience with large scale battles so they weren´t sure what to do, despite the fact that one Familia contained only of dwarves and the other only of elves, they got along quite well, some of their members were even friends.
"Oy Luvis, this doesn´t look good."
"I agree with you Dormul."
The wall was filled with adventurers who ran into this direction or that. The two Familias were not sure what to do until they saw a certain someone.
"This way!"
"Right behind you!"
Dormul followed Luvis and the two Familias right behind.
"Ms. Ankusha!"
Shakti turned around when Luvis called out to her.
"The Magni and Modi Familias?"
The elf continued. "Ms. Ankusha, could we rely on you to give us orders where to go? We don´t have any experience with such a battle!"
Luvis talked loud enough so that many adventurers could hear him. He did it for various reasons, they really needed the instructions of Shakti and he wanted to show the other adventurers, that even an elf would ask the captain of the Ganesha Familia for advice.
"Right, we rely on you, Ankusha!"
Dormul joined his friend, their Familia behind them.
Shakti nodded, a few Familia members were next to her. "Allright, move to the south, we need you at the outer edge of the attack."
"Understood, alright lasses, onward!"
Dormul led the march of the two small Familias.
"Boss Shakti, I-"
The Ganesha Familia member was interrupted when the leader of another Familia came to Shakti.
"Ankusha, can you give us a position too?"
She nodded and pointed to the edge of the western part. "Over there, hold this position, I will send more to you."
"Understood! Everyone, let´s go!"
It had started with these three Familias, everyone else that saw Shakti giving them orders, turned to her and asked for orders too. And since they saw this when arriving, the other Familias that came immediately went to Shakti, since they thought she was the leader around here.
Slowly, the adventurers formed a proper battle line.
.
"Shakti!"
"Lyon?"
Ryu jumped to the top of the walls, followed by her two fellow familia members.
"You have the commando here?"
"Sort of."
"Do you need us somewhere?"
Shakti looked around and thought for a moment, there was a reason why she was the captain of her Familia, not only because of her level.
"Lyon, I need you three as part of the central line and-"
"Ankusha."
Everyone froze when a giant of a man landed crashing next to the Astrea Familia. Ottar glanced only shortly to Ryu, he still knew her from the dark times, when their Familias had fought side by side.
"W-Warlord?"
"I came to inform you, my Familia will block the sides outside so that the monsters won´t circle around. Also one of us will guard the gate below our feet."
"G-Good to know."
"I assume you have a plan, tell me about it so we won´t get in your way."
Ottar did his best to work together with her, but he wasn´t used to it and his own Familia wouldn´t even listen to most of his orders...so... Shakti explained to him what she had planned, and where she hoped Ottar would fight.
"Understood, this matches with my intension."
Without another word...Ottar jumped down the wall...he would fight outside.
The others were silent for a few moments.
"S-So Shakti...where do you need us?"
"Right...I need you here by my side, Lyon."
"Understood, the Astrea Familia will fight alongside the Ganesha Familia!"
Ryu raised her voice for a reason, the Astrea Familia was still counted as one of the four big Familias of Orario. Everyone who saw that and Ottar´s action from before would acknowledge Shakti as the commander of defence.
Shakti wanted to thank Ryu, but then she noticed the "Sacred Oath" on Ryu´s back.
"Lyon...that..."
"Is it...okay for you?"
For a short moment, Shakti put her hand on the hilt of Ryu´s...or rather her little sister Ardi´s...old sword.
"Yes...use it to defend Justice...Lyon."
"I will."
.
.
As Ottar told Shakti, the Freya Familia took various positions, but would mostly fight alone without talking much to others. Hedin Selland and Hogni Ragnar would fight outside of the walls, like Ottar, the Gullivers somewhere else.
For once no one would be around Freya to protect her, but Ottar told them she was save where she was.
Tsk...why am I the one defending this dumb gate...
Allen leaned against the wall of the doorway with his arms folded. His spear leaned next to him and a few members of the Ganesha Familia waited nearby. They kept their distance to him and would fight against monsters that would make it past Allen...if there were any.
He would have preffered to fight outside, where he could move around all he wanted.
Why aren´t the shitty prums here to defend this gate! They are small enough for that!
The Gulliver brothers were some of the few people shorter than Allen, so of course he had to pick on them.
"Hey what are you doing here, go to the wall."
Allen didn´t opened his eyes, but his ears twitched when he heard the voices. Someone answered them and he heard steps coming closer. A person stopped in front of Allen, surely looking up to him, because he was around half a head taller.
At first he didn´t said anything, but the person waited in front of him without saying something.
"What do you want...Ahnya."
Ahnya Fromel stood in front of her brother, wearing her full armor, which meant a short brown skirt, a white tunic, a short red cape and on her right arm a golden shoulder guard, as well as a golden bracer on her left arm, her fighting style didn´t allowed much armor, with her golden spear leaned against her shoulder.
"Obviously fighting, Nya." She shrugged her shoulders, but looked at him serious.
"And why here? There are many places you could fight."
He noticed how serious she was...and because she was in his presence, since she dropped her normal speech pattern, she knew he didn´t liked her normal way of talking.
"But you are here, Allen."
"That´s your reason? Go and fight together with your small friends!"
"No."
"You littl-"
Allen opened his eyes and stopped. Ahnya showed no sign of fear towards her brother, but he noticed that her hand had clenched around the shaft of her spear.
"You are my family, Allen. Ryu and her Familia can defend themself, Mama Mia and the others will protect Syr. But you..."
"I what? Am weak? Not strong enough? Not able t-"
"You are alone, because we are from the Freya Familia."
It was a simple fact, Freya Familia members didn´t fought together much. Maybe next to each other without attacking the other...in most cases...but never as a team. Only two people had fought as a team for a while, then one of them just followed the other.
"And you think I can´t fight alone, huh?!"
"I just want to keep your back free."
"Just go, Ahnya. I´m better without you."
"No."
"How many times do I need to tell you the same thing?! Isn´t one time enough to penetrate that thick head of yours?!"
"I´m sorry..but..."
Ahnya didn´t raised her voice, nor did she react much to Allen´s shouting. She didn´t needed her fine nose and sensitive ears to hear the difference in Allen´s voice, to know that he was only worried about her without showing it.
"But?!"
Ahnya smiled slightly up to her brother, but her ears and tail dropped in a sad way. "I´m one of the two Vana...and you are my big brother that I love very much. I don´t want to lose you, and Syr doesn´t want too."
Allen couldn´t lash out to her words, not with that expression on her face.
"Hah...you haven´t let your skills get rusty, right?"
"Huh?" Her ears and tail twitched up again.
"Act as a bait, a wall or watch my back while I fight or something like that. Don´t stand in my way and make yourself useful."
Basically he said. "Stand behind me or remain by my side, but don´t risk anything, little sister.
"Meow can do nyat! Meow will fight alongside nyou!"
"And dropp that dumb cat-like talking!"
Ahnya´s tail swished from side to side and her ears twitched, insanely happy. "No meow!"
"Tsk, do as you wish! But keep up the pace and don´t fall behind or I´ll kill you myself! Embrace what it means to be a Vana, don´t think about anything else and just mow down the monsters!"
"Hehe.."
Ahnya took the spear from her shoulder and waited next to her brother.
"Hey Allen."
"Hm?"
She smiled up to him.
"I really love my family. Friends, siblings or lady Freyna, they´re the most important thing I have in the world!"
Up to this date...Ahnya still loved her goddess, not knowing that she spent almost every day with her as one of her best friends.
Despite the grim situation, Ahnya was as happy as she wasn´t in a long time.
Allen looked towards the still broken gate and took his own spear.
"We are the Vana, followers of the goddess of love. Use your weapon, show me your skills...and prove that you are worthy of her love!"
It was the first time that Allen didn´t scolded her for not being worthy of being called a Vana. Ahnya and Allen Fromel stood side by side, readying their silver and golden spears.
For the first time in years, the Vana siblings would fight together.
.
.
Lily ran up the stairs to the top of the walls, followed by the Familia. Whatever she wanted to say when she saw Shakti handing out commands was forgotten when Lily looked over the parapet.
She stared in shock, as every other adventurer that came before her. The land between Melen and Orario...was alive. Hundreds over hundreds of monsters swarmed towards the walls. All of them came out of the sea and dashed towards Orario.
It was the reason why the biggest part of the people of Melen were still alive, the monsters didn´t cared for them...almost as if a greater consciousness would guide them.
Every single monster looked like a mixture of land and sea monster, similar to the ones that had attacked Orario befor, but only similar. Their scales glistened damp, instead of horn combs they had long fins on their heads and backs. Most were six feet long, although there were a few larger specimens. Every single monster had long, curved claws ... perfect for climbing walls ... or eviscerating adventurers.
Their scales had various colors, a deep blue or green, some even purple. In the back, there were a few Miasma turtles and a line of alpha monsters, seven of them. The monsters screeched and roared as they rolled toward the walls in a huge scaly wave.
And behind all of the monsters...was their queen. Not visible for now to the adventurers, covered in a large cloud of Miasma, but they all heard the growling of a titan.
"Wha..."
"Hestia Familia!"
"Huh?"
Lily turned to the side, a few people were walking towards them fast.
"Ms. Ankusha?"
Shakti stopped in front of them, a few members of various Familias followed her, they all were fast runner to deliver her messages to their Familias.
"Good to see you, I have waited for you."
"For us?"
"For you all, but especially you, Arde."
"M-Me?" Lily blinked perplexed.
"Yes, I need you as my vice-commander."
"What?!"
All of them looked baffled.
Shakti simply continued. "I heard about your accomplishments in Knossos. When I talked to him, Braver spoke highly of you and told me you are a good commander, nearly a genious."
"B-But ah that..."
"Arde, I don´t have much time, will you help me or not? I need people here who have an understanding of tactics, strategy and command."
Lily looked over her shoulder, not sure what to do. It was Daphne who made the decision for her.
"Ouka, you are second in command now, Lily will work with Ankusha."
"Understood."
"Ankusha, where do you need us?"
Shakti nodded thankful and pointed to the right. "You will fight over there, your Familia will fit perfectly between the Loki and Astrea Familias. I won´t lie to you, we expect the main wave in your direction, but we need the strongest adventurers to fend off the stronger monsters, while Arde and I work on a plan to take that thing in the cloud down.
Talk to Vanagandr of the Loki Familia and the Gale Wind, they have the most experience over there."
"Understood!"
Daphne waved the others and they jogged to their part of the wall, Lena joined them there, she was at Bete´s side until now. Lily sighed and went with Shakti, if she wanted to or not...Liliruca Arde was now the second in command for the defence of Orario...maybe the whole world.
.
.
The sour wind waved towards the walls of Orario...hundreds of adventurers filled the walls. A lone figure with an enormous black sword on his shoulder waited in front of the walls. The monsters shrieked and screeched, but waited about three hundred meters away from the walls. More and more monsters came behind and next to them, filling their ranks with numbers that went into the thousands...not one living adventurer had ever seen a bigger number of monsters.
While the biggest part of the monsters were not that strong, they had the advantage of sheer number. If they had to sacrifice twenty monsters for a single adventurer, it was nothing... Most of the monsters weren´t heavily armed, covered in thick scales but not enough for the strongest adventurers, they relied only on their claws. In adventurer terms, they would call these monsters a "Glass Cannon"...and they had no instinct for self-preservation ... only obeyed their queen.
Six purple eyes shone in the black cloud, the only sign of the monster inside.
Even with standing shoulder on shoulder...the adventurers in the city felt uneasy. A question was in all of their minds...how to defeat so many monsters.
.
Ryu relaxed her fingers, her swords were still sheathed, now was not the time for close combat. Ciel behind her prayed, it was no magic, just a psalm to calm herself down...it even helped the adventurers around her. Viana stood there in her full armor and was slightly amused about the similarity of the scales that covered her plate armor and the ones from the monsters.
"Medusa´s blood! The gates of Tartaros has opened and brought sheer madness into the world!"
Her way of talking never changed. Her right hand was covered by a gauntlet that ended in massive metal claws, she held a glass orb in it, filled with red mist. While her fighting style with poison and gas made Ryu sick...it was very effective.
At least she had sworn to Astrea to only use her special weapons only against monsters.
Some adventurers shivered as if from the cold, they felt more than just uncomfortable at the sight of them ...thousands of monsters had marched up ... and waited. It was easy to see...most adventurers feared for their lives. Even organized like that, with the backup of all of Orario...all the gods watching them from Babel or the colloseum...many lost their courage.
While Shakti was a good commander, as well as Lily...they weren´t as good as Finn in giving encouraging speeches...and no god was here to cheer up for the children.
.
.
The question still remained in the air...
.
.
How shall we defeat all of them...
.
.
Six purple eyes shone in the dark cloud...waiting...lurking...enjoying the taste of fear in the adventurers. This monster was highly intelligent, it understood on a natural level the importance of catching up to the target quickly ... and also of waiting to make the prey nervous. Not only that, the first attack had shown the monster that people feared what they couldn´t see, that was why it still remained in the cloud...also because it was the perfect protection against that beast in front of the walls...the one with a huge black sword.
Unseen by the adventurers, the titan class monster took a deep breath...and roared. The roar echoed over the lands towards the city, every monster joined the roar and a thundering noise washed forward.
A few adventurers made a step back, they almost went mad with fear.
.
Wumm!
.
It started at the edge in the south, where two Familias who were friends and rivals were positioned.
.
Wumm!
.
A new noise came from there, echoing over the walls.
.
Wumm!
.
It started with Dormul Bolster. He was a dwarf...as much dwarf as a dwarf could be, like many other dwarves he preffered to use hammers in battle. Dormul wore dual hammers in battle.
.
Wumm!
.
Since the shafts were too short, Dormul hammered the them on the parapet. Again and again he hammered his hammers in a rhytm on the parapet. Soon, one by one, his Familia members joined him and started to hammer on the parapet or the wall. Luvis Lilix the elf, friend and rival of Dormul...hammered his sword on the parapet too...soon his Familia members joined them and two Familias hammered their weapons on the wall.
.
Wumm! Wumm! Wumm!
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It happened like a wave, starting at their position, more and more adventurer fell in with them. Weapons of all kind, swords, hammers, axes, crossbows and more were hammered onto the walls. The wave arrived the Ganesha Familia and they joined, all too happy. The Astrea Familia fell in, followed by the Hestia Familia and the Loki Familia. The adventurers behind the walls, the supporter and healer fell in, down at the gate, Ahnya Fromel joined the rythm...looking at her brother for some moments...before he joined too.
Even Ottar down in front of the walls...joined the hammering rythm. All adventurers on the walls hammered down their weapons faster and faster, a counter to the collective roar of the monsters in front of them.
Again it started with Dormul...a wordless scream came from him, very soon a new wave washed over the wall. All adventurers hammered down their weapons and screamed in unison. Yelled out their challenge to the monsters.
The gods watched from Babel and the colloseum...felt excited with their children...watched over them from afar.
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With a last loud roar...the titan ordered the monsters forward.
In a screaming wave of scales, claws and death...they started their attack.
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Authors Note: Cliffhanger won´t take long, Next chapter comes tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Around weekend comes the ero chapter with Cassandra and Daphne. And the one that gets the next ero chapter...will be Lunor...she deserves Bell´s love too.