Author’s Note

Since this chapter is relatively short and my laziness is extremely high, I’m just gonna put it all in a single post. To thank me, you should white-list my site for adblock :P. Anyway, enjoy the feast of blood and souls or some such bullshit.

Here’s some music lmao.

***

Part 1: Thomas Rust

Salmon Creek Village was meant to be an easy conquest. A few veteran members of the Rusty Saber Bandits went along to make sure that everything happened smoothly. They could be differentiated from everyone else, because they sat atop slowly trotting horses. Everyone else had to walk along the snowy path and try not to fall behind.

Of course, the steeds that the veterans rode weren’t very impressive. Out of the ten mounts, one of them was an actual warhorse… However, it had already been through many battles and was covered in wounds that never healed properly. Five of them were emaciated riding horses, that seemed like they could barely move. While the other four were donkeys.

Two oxcarts trailed behind the group of forty men, who were all wearing winter clothing and not much protective gear. Only a dozen of them had bows, while the rest wore old, rusty iron swords or sabers on their waists. The ten leaders were given decent weapons: pikes, lances, spears, even a steel bastard sword.

However, when they reached the gates, the person at the very front of the group grumbled “What the fuck?! Why the hell is there a goddamn wall around this shithole?! This wasn’t here three months ago!” They hadn’t even sent any scouts in the meantime.

Their boss was a middle-aged brown-skinned man, in his forties or fifties, who had burn scars all over his face. His head was covered in long scraggly grey hair, while his beard was practically nonexistent. There were a few areas that weren’t burned and had some patches of black hair growing, but overall, he was quite intimidating.

“Boss… We don’t have any siege equipment with us… We didn’t even bring any hooks and ropes.” A fat pale-skinned man on a donkey was nervously explaining, as he looked up at the archers in the distance. If they had to try and climb the walls, then it was possible that by the time they made it to the other side, they wouldn’t be able to fight off the angry villagers.

Thomas Rust was the second cousin of the actual leader of their bandit group, Anthony Rust. When he grimaced, his expression terrified many of his subordinates.

“Alright, listen up you bastards! There’s only five guards! So what if they’re shootin at ya?! Just think uh all that pussy waiting for ya inside! I heard there’s plenty uh virgins too! The more of ya who die, the less competition there’ll be when we’re splitting the loot! Now go, archers, kill those fuckers up there! The rest of ya get movin!”

Once the group of forty men eagerly charged forward, arrows started flying back and forth. A man who was hit in the left eye fell down onto his knees and let loose a bloodcurdling scream. Then one of the young men at the top of the four-meter high watchtower was pierced through the chest, falling down over the back of the platform.

As dozens of bandits in grey and brown fur or leather began struggling to climb over the palisade, a massive blast of wind shook the whole area. There was a deafening noise, as if a bomb had gone off and the whole area was swept up in a huge cloud of snow.

“What?! How is that possible?!” Their boss wasn’t the only one who was screaming in shock. Everyone who was far enough away from the walls and gate, could see an enormous silver tower that seemingly appeared out of thin air.

Part 2: A Divine Fortress

“Listen up! Everyone quickly retreat inside of the stronghold! Now! Hurry up!” Henry’s roar brought everyone back from their shock and confusion. The two huge wooden double-doors were wide open and incredibly inviting for the villagers who had gathered near the gates. There were many who were still in their homes, either hiding or sleeping.

Since he knew that a lot of people were too afraid to leave their houses, he yelled “Look! God has delivered to us a holy fortress with which to defend ourselves! So stop screwing around and hurry inside! Do you want to be locked out?! Do you want to be left here to be raped and tortured by the bandits?! Now get your asses inside!”

He was standing in the middle of the huge staircase, in front of the open double-doors. Even with his huge body, there was still plenty of room for men, women, children and elders to pass by on either side. With his current elevation, combined with his ridiculous height, it was possible for him to actually see over the top of the village gate. Thus, he was the first to notice that those bandits weren’t frightened or deterred at all.

In fact, he could hear their leader ranting and raving, “There’s a fucking entire tower made of silver! We’re gonna be rich! Hahahahaha~! Go~! Hurry up and get in there before they close the doors! Imagine what divine treasures might be kept inside?! Hahahah~! Shit! I’ve never been so happy to go on a routine village extermination in my entire life!”

***

Meanwhile, both Yuri and Azra were sitting on opposite sides of their glowing crystalline chessboard. They were wearing their winter clothing, but there were also two other people in the bedroom.

One of them was a meter tall little girl with grey skin and white hair, who was wearing thick fur and leather to cover most of her tiny body. While the other one had the face of a rat, with black fur covering everything but his hands and feet. He didn’t wear any clothing and was essentially naked, but surprisingly, he didn’t feel that cold.

Yuri murmured “Perhaps I should have chosen the Goblins to inhabit my territory instead? These Ratkins seem rather accustomed to temperate environments.”

Azra snickered, wondering “So what’s the deal with that new chess piece you got? Can it do anything yet?”

A message from DC suddenly appeared to answer his query.

[For now, both of you should take control of your avatars. The battle has begun and neither of you possess any units aside from your avatars. Any enemies killed by these villagers will not count towards your battlefield merits. I am opening the warmap now.]

A large three-dimensional holographic map showed the two of them that silver castle, along with the entire village and its surroundings. However, it quickly focused down onto the gateway, which was currently being unbarred from the inside by several bandits. All of the villagers had already entered inside of the empty great hall and locked the giant wooden double-doors.

Part 3: Battle Plans

“Henry, what do we do now?” Asked a short old pale-skinned man with a hunched back and a spear in his right hand, as he stared out the wide-open window. It was a little too small for a normal-sized person to squeeze out or into, but there was plenty of room for Henry to shoot his longbow. There were a few more windows around the front of the keep, on the great hall’s level. Other archers were currently firing their arrows, but the bandits had wooden shields and they took cover within the nearby houses.

Overall, there were still around forty men in total. Meanwhile, there were only ten male villagers capable of fighting. Five of the women could swing a sword, including Joanna, but the rest were all small children or handicapped elders.

Henry sighed, grumbling “If we had enough time to gather up all our things and move into here, then we would be able to last a long time but… We were so rushed that we have no food, no firewood, no water, barely any ammunition or weapons… If they hide in our houses for a few days, we’ll all be too weak to fight and most of us would probably freeze to death!”

One of the doors at the back of the huge room suddenly opened up. Upon seeing the two ‘monsters’ that appeared, many of the women and children started screaming, running towards the door in terror.

“All of you, shut the fuck up!” The grey-skinned woman was in the lead, with the hairy rat-man following closely behind her back. He was almost an entire foot taller, but he was still only the size of a child.

Ailyn scanned the various humans with her large blue eyes and quickly saw the giant man near the window. When Henry suddenly aimed his nocked arrow at Reaper, the little girl yelled “Stop looking at us like that! You’re in our house, the least you could do is thank us for saving your lives by not pointing your weapons in our direction! Shit!”

The furry black Ratkin walked out in front and casually stated “Indeed, Henry Lucas is correct… We expected to have more time, yet our situation is not totally unfavorable. This is a very large structure. The archers should be deployed to the third and fourth floor. There is no reason to drag this out either. Those who cannot or do not wish to fight, should go down to the storage room for your own safety. The rest of you will stay here with the two of us and fight the enemies as they pour in through the front.”

Henry sighed, then turned around and fired his arrow out the window. There was a loud scream of agony, as he shouted “Everybody listen to them! People disappearing, weird magical towers appearing out of nowhere, strange tiny monsters, it’s not like I have any idea what’s going on either! But this isn’t the time to think about pointless things! We need to kill these Rusty Saber Bastards and we can worry about what happens afterwards, if we’re still alive to think about it later! Now go! Anyone with a bow or any kind of archery skills follow the little demon girl upstairs! Everyone who can’t fight, go downstairs! The rest of us are staying here!”

Part 4: Promises

Joanna was clutching a long butcher’s knife in her right hand, as she looked up at her son and muttered “In case I die, I want you to promise me something Henry…”

The hall was nearly empty, with only seven people left inside. Aside from Henry and his mother, there was that old man with the spear, a bearded middle-aged man with an ax, a young man who had a horrible scar across his face, a teenage girl with dark-brown skin, and that strange naked Ratkin. Everyone else had used the spiral staircases in the corners of the keep to either go up to the roof or down into the storage cellar.

Henry sighed, as he unsheathed his greatsword off of his back. Then he grumbled “Mom, don’t worry, I won’t go crazy and get myself killed trying to seek vengeance against the Rusty Saber Bastards.”

However, she immediately scolded “You idiot! You better fucking slaughter all of those monsters! But that’s not what I want you to promise me!” She took a deep breath and calmed herself down, before seriously demanding “You need to find a beautiful wife and have a lot of children. You’re already twenty years old! I can’t believe someone as big, strong, handsome and talented as my son isn’t even married yet!”

“Seriously Mom, we could both die in a few minutes and that’s what you’re worried about?! Ugh… Don’t worry about me. When I meet the girl I’m meant to be with, I’ll know right away.” Right when Henry finished talking, the back door opened up and that beautiful grey-skinned Goblin entered the hall.

Ailyn walked over and took the long butcher’s knife out of Joanna’s hand, ordering “You’ll only get in the way if you stay here. Go downstairs with the others. There are way too many annoying pussies down there and they need someone with a bit of charisma to keep them from freaking out too much.”

Henry hugged his mother tightly and said “They really do need someone like you down there. Besides, I’ll be able to fight much more freely if I don’t need to worry about you getting hurt.”

Reaper grabbed the rusted machete out of that dark-skinned girl’s hands and she screamed in shock. The Ratkin scanned the woman’s body while sniffing around her waist, “It would be illogical for you to stay here. Your life is very valuable. It would be incredibly wasteful to lose a fertile human female during such an insignificant skirmish.”

The goblin girl muttered “Yuri, you are so fucking creepy sometimes…” Then she yelled “Alright, the two of you need to hurry the hell out of here, now! We’re opening the doors in two minutes! Lock and bar the other doors as you leave! Even if they manage to overtake this hall, they definitely won’t make it any farther!”

Part 5: An Opening

After the two women nervously left, Henry walked over to the doors and prepared to lift the giant piece of wood out of the iron fittings. It would basically be impossible to roll a battering ram up the stairs, so under normal circumstances, the gate would never be breached.

The middle-aged man with the ax had a tan and he wasn’t nearly as tall as Henry, yet he was still fairly muscular. The young guy with the scarred up face was skinny, but at least six feet tall. Then there was the old man with the spear, who seemed like he was emaciated.

All four of them had to struggle just to lift that huge, thick wooden plant up out of the slot. The two tiny creatures just stood back and watched. Once that archaic lock was removed, all they had to do was push a little bit and the doors were flung open.

Ailyn smirked, then pulled her fluffy white hood up over her ears. Her body was rather weak against the cold, but it wasn’t unbearable with the heavy winter clothing. Those bright-blue eyes faintly glowed in the dim torchlight within the room. She couldn’t help but tense up when her overprotective puppetmaster thought about how much danger the avatar was in.

However, Reaper placed his pink left hand on her shoulder and whispered “Calm down Azra. Remember what Grandpa taught us. Don’t think about anything or anyone else. Never stop moving until all of our enemies are incapacitated or dead.”

***

“Look! The fucking doors are open! Hurry and get your asses in there before they close them again!” The first person to notice was their leader, Thomas.

A chubby Asian man riding an emaciated white horse yelled “Let’s go!” He got down off of his mount and tried to lead the charge, but he slipped on the ice halfway up the stone staircase. Although he didn’t die from the fall, he was impaled through the gut by his own short sword on the way down.

Jeers and cackling could be heard from the windows on the third floor and the battlement, as arrows began striking the charging bandits.

“Those cocky bastards!” Thomas was furious, but he wasn’t foolish enough to enter the vanguard. Instead, he picked up a shield and started walking up the stairs with the nine remaining veterans surrounding him.

“Agh~! Gah~! No~?!” A myriad of cries and screams rang out from within the main hall, as he finally approached the open double-doors. However, what greeted him wasn’t a room filled with gold, jewels and other riches. No, he witnessed a scene of carnage similar to what he normally caused during a village extermination.

Of course, the disemboweled, bisected and eviscerated corpses strewn about didn’t belong to villagers. The bodies were piled up so high that he couldn’t even enter the building.

Part 6: Bloodshed

The first three bandits were only able to enter the great hall for a moment, before all three of their heads flew up into the air. Their bodies spasmed on the ground, as copious amounts of blood poured out of their necks onto the floor.

A tenth of the remaining enemies had been decapitated in a single swing. However, the people outside weren’t able to stop their momentum at that point. They were all running up slippery stairs and if they didn’t move quickly, they would get trampled, shot, or stabbed in the back. It was a situation where retreat was impossible.

Three more men poured in, but this time one of them used a shield to block the greatsword. Although he was pushed back outside, the other two managed to make it into the room. However, one had his head sliced down the middle by a large wood-cutting ax. The other guy was stabbed in the throat by a broad spearhead.

The young man with the scarred face wielded two hunting knives… At least he did, until an arrow flew in through the door and was embedded in the right side of his neck. He didn’t die instantly, but after he fell back, both of his weapons were taken by the two who hadn’t started fighting yet.

Reaper murmured “What a waste… We could have earned another soul if he had survived.” Then he ran over to the tiny window on the right side of the doors and jumped up onto the ledge. He turned around and whispered “I will eliminate the archers.”

Ailyn yelled “Yeah, be careful out there!” Then she ran forward and stabbed a man in both eye sockets. He had tried to avoid the spear, sword and ax by rolling into the room, but it left him defenseless against the tiny woman.

The entrance of the keep had turned into a meat grinder. Bodies piled up around the door and the people outside practically had to crawl over or push the corpses out of the way. Thirty against six might sound unfair, but defense always has a massive advantage over offense.

Without any siege equipment or strategy, there really wasn’t any way for the bandits to possibly win. Thomas and the eight veterans that surrounded him, charged through the corpses. There was a huge dark-skinned old man with a tower shield and a bastard sword, who managed to block and push back Henry. Then a skinny Asian man with a rapier swiftly stabbed the emaciated spearman in the chest several times. As for the middle-aged man with the ax, he was decapitated by Thomas directly.

“What the fuck is this little cunt supposed to be?! Some kinda mutated gnome?!” He glared at the tiny grey-skinned woman who was wearing a bloodsoaked cloak and holding a knife in each hand.

However, it didn’t take long before he was startled by the screams behind him. The moment he turned around, he saw a black shadowy creature weaving past those veteran bandits and stabbing them in the groin, anus, heels or spine. It was so fast that he jumped backwards in terror.

Thomas wanted to warn his men, but he couldn’t speak. He felt as if his entire body instantly went numb. Then the tip of a butcher-knife poked out the front of his neck and he slumped down onto the ground.

Part 7: Time

Goblins and Ratkins were small. They didn’t have very long to live. Under normal circumstances, they would be considered Demi-Humans because of their overall inferiority. Yet, there was something about the two races that was greatly overlooked. They were absurdly fast.

Of course, most Goblins and Ratkins didn’t have the mental capacity required to fully utilize their innate speed. They could run away really quickly or charge forward, but their capacity for complex techniques or skilled movements was usually incredibly low.

They didn’t have the time to learn. They also didn’t have the patience or motivation to waste time with such things. At the age of seven, they stop being children and are overwhelmed by an intense desire to procreate. That’s all they want. To mate, reproduce, eat, sleep and if they still have time in the day left, there were plenty of other things that needed to be done.

When would Goblins or Ratkins ever have ten to sixteen years that could be spent on honing martial arts? Azra and Yuri were different though. Their minds were able to imagine movements and abilities that their human bodies simply didn’t have the agility or flexibility to achieve.

Once the fighting started, it was if time slowed down to half of its normal speed. When that rapier was stabbing towards Ailyn in response to her execution of Thomas, Azra felt as if time was moving even more slowly than before.

The goblin-girl abandoned the butcher’s knife and used the large hunting knife in her left hand to parry the incoming sword. Then she leaped forward six feet in the air, doing a backflip to avoid an errant arrow, before slashing open the right side of that man’s throat.

At that same moment, she witnessed Henry’s greatsword slowly sliding through that beefy dark-skinned old man’s waist. The leather armor wasn’t durable enough to stop the sharpened steel from passing through. However, she noticed that it almost looked as if the entire sword was vibrating.

She ran forward and saw the black furred Ratkin disemboweling a short, skinny man who was trying to stab Henry in the back. Ailyn rolled to the side and then threw her knife through the air. It spiraled a few times, before plunging into the last remaining archer’s wide-open mouth.

He fired one final arrow, aimed towards Henry’s left temple. Fortunately, he noticed in time and managed to block it with his greatsword. After that, Reaper swept through the bodies that were laying on the ground, making sure that everyone was dead. Azra’s avatar wasn’t able to leave the building, so Yuri had to do all of the work.

When Henry was about to leave, Ailyn said “Don’t worry about finishing them off. The battle is over… Let everyone else know that it’s safe now.”

The giant looked around the room and quickly found the bodies of the three other men from the village, he carried the corpses over to the back wall and muttered “Paul, Grandpa Johnny, Uncle Caleb… I’m sorry for not being strong enough to protect you.”

Ailyn walked over and patted him on the left shoulder with her blood-soaked glove, “I’m sorry for your loss… Oh shit.”

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