Overrun
Poised at the head of the stairs up the ramparts, Valor swung his heavy double-headed greataxe just as the first three screeching goblins reached him. With his Crystal-infused might, he barely felt the impact as swept the weapon in a horizontal arc before him. The heavy bladed weapon crushed as well as slashed, sweeping three goblins right off the edge of the stairs to fall down into the rest of the milling horde fifty feet below. Only one of them wailed as it hurtled down, the other two already dead from the weapon's strike.
Counting two seconds in his head allowed another trio of goblins come in range before Valor delivered the reverse stroke, sweeping the blade back left across his center and splattering another clutch of goblins against the stone wall.
Gritting his teeth, Valor kept up the cadence of weapon swings, careful not to over swing and throw off the rhythm. The goblins came roughly three at a time up the narrow stairway, and at each two-second interval, Valor slaughtered them.
He was certain that under normal circumstances, goblins would have run from him in terror after he killed them so easily, but in such a huge horde it seemed the little buggers had been infected with some kind of killing frenzy. Like locusts, they kept swarming despite the losses, but Valor had the timing now and simply continued to sweep his mighty axe back and forth.
Lord Rumsley, standing up the ramparts away from the head of the stairs, had touched the fuse of the first of his little black bombs to a burning part of his beard before dropping the explosive strait off the edge of the wall walk. The thing seemed to fragmentize in a blast of fire down at the bottom of the stairs, blowing ten tightly packed goblins to pieces but barely harming the stonework.
There was a lot of noise. From the throats of thousands of goblins came a cacophony of screeching, hooting and wailing. And, even through Valor's killing cadence, some of the cretins managed to stab at him with their crude little spears before he slaughtered them. Flimsy little weapons with jagged stone heads, the spears glanced off more often than not, the goblins weak enough that there was no real danger of any of them penetrating his armor. Still, his half-plate provided less protection at the joints and Valor felt small wounds get through. Scratches really, but they did their part to gouge at his stamina, which drained slowly due to his years of training.
Some time later, his first real aches came at the shoulders and upper arms, the driving forces for his sweeping strikes. The greataxe was larger than any normal man could have lifted easily, being ogre made, and its weight was taking a toll on Valor's arms, Crystal-blessed strength or no.
The Chosen of Earth started panting lightly and then called out for Kelden to start doing his part. The boy had stayed back behind the other defenders, tense and waiting for Valor's command. Truce had had only a handful of white mages training in its chapel, and only one of them, Sister Nadine, was fully trained, and currently with Commander Rainhart's defenders at the top of one of the other six stairwells. Kelden was a lad of only twelve; his robes still plain white without the red triangles. Valor heard him shuffle up to his flank, the boy making sure to stay far enough back to not interfere with the warrior's broad weapon strokes.
"U…Um, I'm here Lord Valor… uh, just give me a second," the boy stuttered as he began to chant softly under his breath. Behind Valor, he couldn't see what the boy was doing, but suddenly a pale green whorl of energy soon spiraled around Valor, lessening the fatigue in his arms and mending the scratches in his flesh. The effect wasn't nearly as potent as Valor remembered from Sana-Lynn's healing but it was better than nothing.
Still, the aching in his arms soon returned stronger than ever and then even crept down into his legs. Locked in stance as he was, his thighs and knees were starting to cramp. Kelden cast again, and the minty-hued light swirled down around him once more. However, as agonizingly slow minutes slogged on the half-trained boy's dozen or so healing spells were quick to have diminishing returns.
Sweat soon beaded on Valor's forehead, his breathing becoming ragged.
"You're almost exhausted… um, Lord Valor. You should pull back and let the other defender's hold the head of the stairs," Kelden advised.
"Aye," One of the other defenders said gruffly. "We didn't come out here to look pretty in our armor while you did all the work, my Lord. Let us have a little of the fun, eh?"
Through clenched teeth, Valor grunted, and then turned and leapt up back onto the ramparts just as the defenders and the still-climbing goblins met in a crush.
Breathing raggedly, Valor saw that both sides were in a stalemate. The defenders had the high ground and were much better armored but the invaders' sheer weight of numbers meant that each loss they suffered was soon replaced, therefore the Chosen of Earth got only about thirty seconds to catch his breath before he banished his greataxe to summon another weapon.
Now on the wall overlooking the stairway angling down toward the goblin-infested bailey below, Valor was out of range for his greataxe to strike. Therefore, he would have to go fishing, the name of a maneuver one of his many weapon instructors had taught him.
Still gulping in air, his arms aching like fury, Valor summoned a long spear with a sharply hooked head. He then went down on one knee at the edge of the wall walk and jabbed down at an upcoming goblin. He half-skewered it, lifting the little bugger up before turning the weapon and unhooking the little beast. Screeching, the goblin fell into a clutch of his ascending fellows knocking some down, pushing some off, and stuttering the advance. However, with ever more goblins rushing up from below, this was momentary only, other little beasts coming up from behind to simply trample over the one's that had fallen on the stairs.
Not nearly as effective as his sweeping strikes with the greataxe, fishing was, however, much less draining on his flagging stamina. Still, the momentary disruptions weren't enough as the little green monstrosities just kept coming.
More time passed and Valor was panting hard, his arms nearly numb with fatigue. He shook sweat from his short brown hair, the silvery highlights more prominent then ever.
"Here, Lord Valor," Kelden said, standing over Valor as he sat wiping his brow. The boy was offering a small leather flask. "A potion, my Lord, to restore your strength. Sister Nadine had a stock of them made for us healers so we could keep casting longer, but you look like you need one. I can't believe you fought for so long."
Valor nodded thanks, but pointed at the defenders still pressing against the goblin onslaught. "Keep your eyes on them, boy!"
The lad jumped, but turned and did so, holding his white staff in both hands as he began to chant another healing spell for those in the press.
Wasting no time, Valor pulled the stopper from the flask and swallowed the potion. It tasted pleasantly of mint and soon, the aches of his muscles waned greatly, but did not disappear. Immediately, Valor stood, taking up his hooked spear but suddenly paused.
This wasn't working, the enemy was too great and Valor had no idea when Sana would appear with her aid. Looking down, the warrior spotted a trio of trolls down farther back beyond the press of the goblin swarm. They seemed to be lifting their huge crude clubs menacingly while bellowing at the smaller greenskins in an effort to drive the goblins on.
With a new plan in mind, Valor banished his spear and summoned his bastard sword and kite shield in twin flashes of light. He then ran up to Count Rumsley.
The old engineer was cackling madly as he lobbed another explosive down below into the goblin mass. For all the bombs obliterated a good ten goblins at a time, they had practically no effect on the horde as a whole. "Lord Rumsley, do you think you could use your bombs to help me get those three trolls' attention. I'm going to try and engage them."
The engineer stopped what he was doing and lifted the thick goggles from his flinty eyes. "Are you daft, lad, look at the size of those brutes. They'll smash you bloody flat!"
"I can handle them, Lord Rumsley, but I need your help to get their attention over all this screeching. You see how the goblins avoid the trolls, going around them. If I can draw the trolls to the foot of the stairs, I can give the defenders a reprieve."
"Aye, lad, but then you'll have to fight them. I've no bloody doubt the goblins would stay clear of such a fight, but those monster's look as strong as ten men and there are bloody three of them."
Valor nodded sharply. "I've fought worse and managed to survive, I can fight these." He truly hoped so. "I just need help getting them over to the foot of the stairs so I can keep my back somewhat close to the wall."
The old man replaced his goggles, silent for a second before giving a raucous laugh. "Well, they're a bit outta throwing range, but I do have me mallet. Okay, boy, wait by me and I'll try and get them over here before our lads are overwhelmed."
Tense, Valor swallowed a heavy lump in his throat going to one knee again, trying to shore up his strength. He would have to jump down straight from where he was. It was a fifty-foot drop, but Valor was sure his enhanced strength could handle the impact. Again, he hoped so anyway.
"Take heart, whelp, that Sana lass will come through. Besides, there ain't no bloody way I'm letting these sneaky snots steal a single drop of my sweet hooch," he declared, before taking up his large wooden mallet in one beefy hand. He then grabbed a black bomb with his free hand, stuck the fuse to his beard until it sizzled, then tossed the bomb up in the air before batting it out toward where the three trolls stood.
It fell just short of the first troll blasting a clutch of goblins to pieces but doing the hulking creature no harm. Still, the great blast got the attention of the three large greenskins.
It wasn't enough though. "Lord Rumsley, another one!"
The old man nodded, then brought up another black orb, touched the fuse to his still-smoking beard, but threw this one up higher, giving him enough time to grip his mallet with two hands so he could knock the bomb farther than before.
This one exploded among the trolls. The three beasts growled and bellowed, but it seemed were not much damaged. Their heads did swivel angrily toward where Valor and the engineer stood upon the walls and one pointed its huge club up at them.
Valor nodded sharply. Excellent, they were coming over. Each nearly fifteen feet tall and well muscled, the ponderous creatures trundled up, actually squashing a number of squealing goblins until the smaller creatures shied off, clearing from their path. Still, the trolls stopped short of where Valor wanted to engage them. Before he jumped down, the warrior was going to have to bring them closer.
The old man readied another bomb, but Valor raised a gauntleted hand. "No, Lord Rumsley, save the bombs for the goblins." He could see that the trolls had thick leathery hides. "I doubt they will be much effected by piercing blasts."
The engineer grunted. "Oh, they'll be plenty affected, lad, especially now that their closer."
Valor locked his gaze on the trolls. "No, save your bombs, I'll get them closer then jump down to engage them."
"You're gonna bloody jump down this distance, whelp, have you lost your bloody wits?"
"I can handle it, Count Rumsley!"
"You ever gonna call me, Cid, boy, bloody nobody calls me 'Count Rumsley'."
Valor knew what he was going to have to do to get the trolls to come closer. Hearing all the expletives from Gantz, Robin and Lord Rumsley had given him a cache to draw on. Still, Valor shook his head. He really didn't wish to foul his tongue with such dastardly language, but this situation called for it. Still, he was going hate himself for this…
Waving his bastard sword so morning light glinted off of it over his head, Valor took a deep breath. "Hey you stupid… uh… sons of bastards, bring your… scummy hides over here so I can… um… shove my bloody sword up… your… your bloody bungholes!"
The old man cringed. "Yikes, lad, that was the weakest attempt at taunting I've ever heard."
Valor's jaw tightened, but he stood firm. Of course, the warrior doubted greenskins understood the King's Tongue, but the taunting seemed to have some effect. The monsters stomped and growled angrily, bellowing back in their own rough language, which Valor didn't know.
The old engineer joined in. "Oy, ya bloody buggered bung-stains, come to pappy—yeah, that's right, I'm yer bloody daddy—now come splinter yer shins at my neck of the woods, you dung-mucking, runt-herding, bung-licking, shite-fer-brains!"
Appalled, Valor swallowed his dismay at that particularly vile strain from the old man, forcing his focus to remain on the task at hand. The engineer's potent words seemed to have far more effect than Valor's had however. The three monsters reared back and roared, waving their huge crude clubs angrily before trundling over in a haphazard charge toward the walls.
This was it and Valor readied himself. He had no experience leaping down into combat like this. By all rights it was a terribly foolish way to enter combat, even with his enhanced strength, but Valor knew he would need another weapon to make the most of the falling momentum. He banished his bastard sword and shield again, summoning the greataxe once more.
Readying himself, Valor leapt out into the open air, aiming at the foremost troll that was looking up at him with beady eyes under a thick sloping brow.
Time seemed to slow with the wind rushing about the Chosen of Earth, his greataxe poised over his head. The monster actually managed to raise its club as if to parry, but Valor brought his massive axe down with a roar and the heavy steel weapon splintered the troll's club like kindling before crushing the beast's skull and continuing down to cleave the monster in twain. Valor's boots then hit the ground, sending a painful jolt throughout his body. His knees would be aching for days, but he had no time, immediately summoning his sword and shield as another of the trolls swiped its club at him in a full-armed swing, bellowing loud enough for five angry bulls.
Valor raised his shield to catch the blow, the impact jarring his already sore arm and skidding him back several inches to bump against the wall. A normal man would have been crushed by such a blow, armor and shield notwithstanding. The Chosen of Earth was convinced that not only did the Earth Crystal's blessing enhance his strength and stamina but also reinforced his armor and weapons. It was the only explanation for why his shield was only slightly dented instead of having been completely shattered.
Still, Valor wasn't sure how many such blows he could take. Sure, the trolls were weaker than the monstrous four-armed demon Baigan, which Valor had fought in Castle Cornelia, but he had also had Sana-Lynn healing him and Robin attacking as well. Gantz had also come in time to wound the demon grievously before Valor himself had finished it off. Here, Valor had no support, and his stamina was lagging badly. At least he was armored this time.
Luckily, the two remaining trolls did not coordinate well. Having jammed himself up against the stairway, his back to the wall, the hulking monsters were blocking each other from attacking in tandem. Still, Valor could not dodge such brutal strikes, and had to take each jarring impact from the troll bearing down on him.
The large monster bellowed and growled, its whole presence assaulting Valor, though not nearly as much as each massive swing of its club. The thing seemed frustrated that the puny human before it was not already paste and put even more effort into its next blow.
An overhead strike, Valor was able to barely dodge this one, though another came right after it, a full-on side swing. Valor winced in agony, banishing his bastard sword, and switched his shield to his less battered arm before another huge swing knocked him against the wall.
It was hardly any consolation that no more goblins were climbing the stairway, since the presence of the trolls had scared them away. That was good, that meant the defenders could rest.
Suddenly, another greenish whorl of light wrapped about him, easing some of the warrior's fatigue and negating a bit of the pain from battering wounds.
Right, of course, Valor did have some support in this fight. Kelden could concentrate on healing him now that the defenders had cleared the goblins from the stairway. It was too bad the boy's heals were so weak. It wasn't his fault, of course, he was only half-trained, yet in his pain, Valor couldn't help but feel resentment, irrational as it was. Fear battered at him as well, far more than anything he had felt when facing Baigan. No matter how powerful the demon had been, it had been alone in its rampage. Even if Valor managed to overcome the trolls, he could never stand up to thousands of goblins. There just weren't enough defenders. The warrior knew it instinctively; he just hoped Sana-Lynn came through soon. He couldn't take much more of this.
Hedged in and mired in pain and fatigue despite the continuous heals; Valor could not find an opening to counterattack when a sudden explosion shook him. It must have been one of Lord Rumsley's bombs aimed at the other troll behind the one looming over Valor. The explosion seemed to temporarily stun both the creatures.
Summoning a heavy flanged mace in a split second, Valor slammed the weapon down on the broad foot of the troll with all the strength he could muster. With a satisfying crunch, the troll's foot spurted blood and the monster gave an agonized bellow, dropping its club to stutter backwards. It then slipped in the blood of the cleaved corpse behind it and fell so heavily to the ground that Valor's teeth rattled.
Standing back on the first few steps, Valor looked up at the old engineer. Lord Rumsely wasted no time flinging another bomb down into the fallen troll's gaping mouth as it continued to bellow in agony. "You buggers might have hides thick enough to shrug off shrapnel, but try bloody eating one!"
The next explosion blew the troll's head into a visceral mess and its flailing limbs thumped to the ground, twitching only once.
Almost immediately, however, the final troll rushed up to meet Valor with another mighty full-armed swing of its club. The warrior raised his shield and was jarred hard enough that he felt his arm bone fracture. A torrent of agony almost overwhelmed him except another heal suddenly eased the pain enough that he could breathe again. Torment rebounded throughout his flesh, however and his knees buckled. His battered shield took another monstrous blow and this time Valor couldn't even find the strength to scream in agony.
Blackness clawed at his vision. The next blow he took would be his last.
Suddenly the shouts of the other defenders sounded as twenty armored men with swords and shields rushed passed Valor to confront the troll. Its next sweeping strike crushed two defenders, but the others were already surrounding the creature, stabbing at its unarmored feet and legs.
His vision swimming, Valor could not rise from his knees, huddled as he was on the first few stairs of the stairway. He tasted blood in his mouth and knew he was missing teeth from so many jarring impacts, but it was the agony in his shield arm that sapped all the strength from his body. His right side was pure jagged pain radiating out from his crushed arm. He could do nothing but slump back against the stairs and watch through half-lidded eyes as the defenders managed to take down the troll, but not before losing two more of their number to the monster's overwhelming attacks.
Still, as soon as the final troll was felled, the goblins no longer shied away and swarmed toward the defenders in numbers that would drown them.
As the green tide came on, Valor knew this was it. They would all be overrun…
That is when the rumbling began.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIII
From out of the flood the white mage emerged.
Sana-Lynn was now at the center of a massive whirlpool, its walls a thousand feet high before the illusion vanished, and she found herself beneath the Citadel once again.
It was here she had been all along, down in this massive cavern nearly two miles square, deep beneath the earth. The whirlpool's water had turned into a huge swirling funnel of bluish-white energy being channeled from the glowing crystal plinth that stuck out of the ceiling hundreds of feet overhead.
Sana stood directly beneath the glowing pillar and raised her white staff above her head. Buffering winds swirled around her, as the radiance of the energy vortex she stood within suddenly sprouted tendrils of power that flowed toward the glowing crook of Sana's white staff.
Her honey-blond hair blowing about wildly, Sana braced against the winds buffeting her from the energy funnel. The loose material of her white robes flapped about as well, but the girl forced herself to stand solidly, raising her staff even higher above her head.
The Holy surged within her stronger than ever before, resonating with the roaring energy vortex. As the magical tendrils touched above her staff, there was a spectral burst and the entirety of the cavern seemed to lurch.
The Elemental Orbs reappeared hovering just slightly above and before the white mage, glowing their individual colors strongly; yellow, red, blue and green.
Suddenly, the bluish energy stabbed down into Sana-Lynn, and the girl swayed on her knees, the Holy and this new power synergizing within her. The sensation was like two rivers roaring throughout her flesh, flowing and converging into a mighty torrent. The girl grit her teeth, lowering her head and closing her eyes as she fought from being swept away by such immense power. She was binding the Holy with this other power, creating something new…
A vast voice resounded throughout the mighty cavern: "DEFENSIVE PROTOCOL INITITATED."
Suddenly, the torrent of power rushing through Sana-Lynn smoothed into something gentler yet somehow even more intense.
The power no longer felt a weight forcing her down, however... indeed, the Chosen of Water felt buoyant. As she stood straight, the girl lifted her chin as her eyes slowly opened, both flaring with radiant light.
The entirety of the massive cavern was now lit and the two squire miles of machinery that surrounded Sana-Lynn came to life just as the Orb of Earth shone even stronger, its yellow light a beacon so fierce that it outshined every other light source around it. The rumbling, grinding and clanking of miles of machinery suddenly revved up, all of it seeming to harmonize into some vast industrial symphony within only minutes.
Then the Fire, Water and Wind orbs glowed to match the Orb of Earth and the entirety of the energy vortex flowed down into the four artifacts, where their individual colors combined into a starry radiance that sent a shockwave of pearlescent power throughout the mighty cavern.
The rumbling started soon after, as a dozen massive armatures suddenly lifted from the ground and lowered from the ceiling before coupling together. Then, systems of cogs hundreds of feet tall began spinning, some faster than others, but all working in a grand syncopation that added to the industrial symphony.
The vast voice resounded again: "INITILIZATION COMPLETE. PROCEED TO CHARGE?"
Sana gave merely the barest hint of a nod. She then became pure radiant energy and her and the Elemental Orbs disappeared once again.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIII
The goblin horde had stopped dead as the rumbling continued and then increased. Even from where Valor slumped at the edge of death, he could see the fear on the little cretin's faces. Whatever was happening was scaring them deeply.
Even in agony, the Chosen of Earth admitted his own unease, as the earthquake seemed to only grow stronger. The green tide then started shrieking and wailing before rushing haphazardly back toward the gates, trying instinctively to get away from… whatever it was…
Something immense was happening...
Valor could feel a kind of resonance with whatever it was and that is when the Citadel began to lurch upward. Yes, the entirety of the massive silver structure began to rise even higher out of the ground that its thousand foot reach. It also began to change.
Once seamless, the mighty structure suddenly split along a thousand different seems, huge gouts of steam blasting from multiple ports. Sections shifted and decoupled while others twisted and linked, and the thing seemed to sprout multiple new structures, like turrets and domed towers, buttresses and minarets.
Valor's teeth rattled from the vibrations of the metamorphosing Citadel high overhead, though it seemed to complete its transformation in what seemed very little time for such a vast structure.
If the warrior didn't know any better, he would have said the thing looked vaguely humanoid, very vague indeed, but there nonetheless. At the very top, he spied what he thought looked to be a crowned helmet with a visor. Shining through the gap in that visor was a single glowing point, like a shimmering white eye.
It seemed to Valor as if that single cycloptic sensor was staring down at them all.
Then radiant light began to build around the eye, energy being drawn into an ever-growing orb of power.
Suddenly, Valor found himself surrounded by a shimmering white forcefield. It instantly reminded him of the Shell that Sana-Lynn had once cast around him the time Robin had tried to blast him with her fire.
These protective fields suddenly surrounded the other defenders as well, the men looking about themselves bewildered.
Now the Chosen of Earth was certain. "Impeccable timing, Sana-Lynn."
IIIIIIIIIIIIIII
The holy summon, Alexander, unleashed its power in a shrieking blast, a ray of pure white energy lancing down and carving a mighty swathe though the earth.
Smaller beams burst out from the primary ray, white explosions gouging glowing holes in the earth, blowing apart defensive walls as if they were made of parchment, and burning goblins and trolls from existence. The battering ram was utterly consumed by the primary beam, incinerated to nothing but charred air.
It was over in less than a minute, the green tide obliterated, while every defender, alive or fallen, had been fully protected from Alexander's wrath by fields of shimmering white power.
Slowly, as the protective fields faded, the remaining defenders ran to each other, gathering together in elation and wonder at what had just happened. Before they knew it, the holy summon had vanished in a great mass of spectral motes that slowly faded away, leaving no trace of the Citadel either above or below the earth.
Quietly, the Elemental Orbs replaced themselves in their chosen Light Warriors' hidden containers, their power going dormant once again.