"Ellie!" Carlos shouted, "Go to de waus and apply asse much pressure as you can! Do not let a single Tremor get near de waus!"
"Yes sir!" She affirmed. "Team Alas! You know what to do!" She shouted as she led off the group of soldiers up the walls.
"Carter!" Carlos called, "Get ready! I'm going to open up de gates! Me and de Touros wiu clear de way for de esseekers, you and your group wiu have to esstick with defending de gate untiu it closes! Afterwards try to support Ellie's group from de ground! Men! We go off now!" There was no hesitation from the soldier's cheers.
That is, until the gates opened.
The walls did a very good job of blocking off the destruction from outside. The forest was completely engulfed in flames with smoke rising up to the top, blocking off the sky. Creatures made of lava shaped into humanoid figures roamed the floors, leaving behind trails of lava behind them. Creatures of rock and magma flew across the sky, some getting shot down, others weaving around and finding things to melt causing more fire to spread all over the ground. If one was observant enough, they would be able to see worms crawling around in the dirt, only poking their heads to spit lava out of its mouth as if it were a fountain.
As for the heat, they all could feel it. Morey thought it was stuffy before in the village, but in the gates it's like getting the full blast of a heater right into the face. The hot air blew everyone in front of the gates back, but they held their ground.
Carlos, undeterred by the heat, held up his weapon, a dull grey halberd with a green bandana tied near the top of the staff, and yelled, "Men! We are here today to protect not only the homes and the livelihood of the people here! But the delicate balance of villages and wilderness that we had spent generations fighting for. We are here to take down this disaster like all others before us! If these eruption monsters get through and make it to the tunnels, then the other villages will be in jeopardy! But even worse than that are the horrors that will come to us if the dragon manages to get to this village and sniff the villagers out! That is why I will not tolerate any form of prejudice against the seekers with us! They are the best chance at taking down that monstrosity! So I want you to clear the path for them, they will not lift a finger until they reach the dragon!"
Some of the soldiers blanched, while others looked angry at the revelation, but they still held up their weapons nonetheless and gave out a war cry. Carlos smiled, tightening his grip on his weapon. Morey and William were both unsure of what to make of the response.
The army consisted of forty men, all sporting similar sets of armor, although some had more metal plates than others. Those with heavier armor were positioned on the outside equipped with tower shields that went from their shoulders to their knees and greatswords that were nearly double the length of Morey's favorite saber. A second layer of men were positioned behind the first equipped with a buckler shield, a personal favorite of Morey, and long iron spears. Those in the center wore the lightest armor, mostly equipped with leather, with only metal plates on their arms. The last ten people had a mixture of bows, crossbows, and two people wielding staffs.
The staff wielding duo were both clearly very nervous if the shaking was any indication. They wore different clothing compared to the rest of the army, instead of wearing the same old leather clothing that others sported, they wore simple brown cloaks that went up to their chins, along with that, they had a simple brown cap resting on top of their heads each with a different letter, J and R. It did well to hide their faces, but did little to hide the shaking.
"I-I don't like this…" the one with the J hat complained.
"Yeah… I figured that we would have an easier time here in this nowhere village, but now look at us! We're going to die! And for what? A couple of seekers?" The one with the R hat snarled. Morey tensed at the statement and was ready to say something until William grabbed his shoulder.
"Don't. Escalate." He whispered.
Morey only let out a low growl.
"For all we know, they might run out on u-" began R before they were cut off by Carlos.
"You got somefing to essay?" a gruff voice asked.
"Erm...well you see..."
"If you have de energy to bad mouthe our best betsse at survival, then you have de energy to fight!" Carlos roared, making the cloak wearer jump.
"But...!"
"No buts garrotos! We have a large battle ahead and any frome of mutiny wiu not only cause your deathsse, but de deathsse of everyone here! So essteel yourself, and just forre today, put aside dat bitterness and effocus on the monsters ahead!" He then turned to the rest of the group, "Same goes for the hest of you! If any of you effeel hesitant to lend yourre strength to dese esseekers den turn around hight now! I have no need forre men who wiu endanger de lives of not only de essoldiers here willing to effight, but de villages we arre supposed to protect!"
Carlos' speech was enough to silence the dissonance in the group, as no one spoke up in opposition anymore, instead focusing on the gates.
Carlos smiled, "Good! Den let'sse get dis show on..." before finishing, he pulled out his halberd and covered it in a blue liquid, which then turned into a blue wisp, and if Morey couldn't feel the cold being emitted from the blade, he would have assumed it was fire.
"...De…" the lieutenant then raised his blade...
"HOAD!" And with a final roar he jumped forward and swung his weapon down, unleashing a blizzard towards the roaring fire, dousing everything in its path leaving the charred forest now covered in ice and snow. The unsuspecting monsters were either left twitching with an ounce of life or frozen solid.
Morey was left in complete awe, his mouth left wide open at the sudden display of power. 'And this guy isn't even a top dog…' he thought. From the looks of it, no one else was really all that surprised over the jarring display either.
"Ja...Don't hely on dat attacke too much, I only havve two bottlesse left, now….get in positions!" Carlos shouted.
The soldiers complied to the lieutenant's order, surrounding Morey and William around them, all getting ready to defend them. It was an alien feeling to Morey, suddenly he was being treated like VIP, even if most of those people defending him didn't really like him.
But they were only doing this because they expected him and William to take down something that was ten times more dangerous, or more if the way people reacted to the word dragon was any indication.
It felt… good to not be treated like a freak, but, at the same time, he knew he shouldn't be happy about it.
