The crossbow thumped against Kat’s shoulder, unloading its payload into the furry body of a stallesp. The blot slipped past the creature’s half-donned armor and buried itself in its shoulder. It squealed and stumbled backward, hatchet dropping from its hands as it clutched helplessly at the arrow.

Its confusion only lasted for a half second before a lokkel thrust forward, spitting it on a war spear while blocking another stallesp’s wild swing with a warhammer on a metal shield held in the big lizard’s other two hands. As soon as the mole’s companion went down, the lokkel dropped their spear, reaching up with their top arm to grab the haft of the hammer. For an eyeblink, the lizard held the warhammer wide, leaving the stallesp exposed. Then their lower arm darted forward, claws exposed, to rip the enemy warrior’s throat out.

Kat slowed her jog toward the struggle to fold her bow up before clipping it to her back. A burst of stamina invested in Cat Step sped her up enough to catch up with the rest of her team just before they hit the line of stallesp.

It was hardly even worth their effort. The soldiers that had come to meet the lokkel forces were low level and poorly equipped, sacrificial pawns that ran out to meet the invaders with whatever weapons and armor were immediately on hand in order to buy the rest of their base more time.

Kaleek and Dorrik tore through them, not even bothering to use skills. Their blades flashed in the fake sunlight of the tower, moving too fast and striking too hard for the stallesp to effectively counter them. Even if one of their opponents managed to get a blade or a shield up in time, more often than not, the first blow was more than enough to spill them to the ground. After that, a quick follow up blow was all it took to finish the downed fighter.

As for Kat? She didn’t fare quite as well as Kaleek and Dorrik, but she did her fair share of damage. Her fighting style focused more on mobility, drawing an attack from an opponent and then finishing them with a flurrying of sharp, decisive blows while they were overextended. It didn’t lend itself well to the crush and clamor of the crowd, and it certainly didn’t let her overcome her opponents with brute strength.

Still, as yet more landing craft ground into the beach behind them, the delaying action in front of the galleon began to crumble. None of the stallesp ran, after all dying in the Tower simply meant not having a subscription until their sponsors could purchase them another, no actual harm would come to them.

At the same time, they didn’t put up nearly as much of a fight. The moles knew that their companions had left them behind as a sacrifice against a foe that outmatched them. Once they were outnumbered two to one they just didn’t fight with as much fire.

Barely two minutes from the start of the fight, the last stallesp fell on the beach. A quick glance at the galleon drew Kat’s mouth into a grim line. The moles swarmed over the ship, drawing its sails to try and catch enough wind to pull it away from the dock while a dozen or so pushed against the bottom of the harbor with long wooden poles.

Worse still, almost two dozen stallesp lined the deck near the gangplank, blocking entry. The actual wooden walkway to the ship itself was barely wide enough for three warriors at a time, meaning that anyone that led the way would be swamped by the defenders in no time.

A crossbow bolt whizzed into the sand nearby. Kat whipped her head to the side, taking note of a trio of stallesp manning each of the three crow’s nests that topped the ship’s masts. At any point in time, two of the sailors were frantically loading crossbows while the third aimed and shot.

Another arrow zipped downward, but rather than finding the beach, it buried itself in the throat of one of the lokkel. Kat ran to help them only for one of their comrades to wave her off. The downed lizard gasped once, choking on its own blood before the life left their eyes.

The other lokkel were right. A wood tier healing skill wasn’t enough to restore the number of hit points lost from an arrow to the throat. Her spell could heal a broken limb or a deep slash, but in the cases of a pressing injury, it was little more than a waste of mana.

“Lokkel!” Kat’s head whipped backward at Akkast’s shout. The reddish lizard stepped off of a landing boat onto the white-yellow sand of the beach. A huge recurve bow, crafted from monster horn and carefully lacquered until it gleamed in the sun held in their lower pair of hands.

“Tarmok and Kra’Tkrat have engaged the enemy spellcaster in the remaining fortress,” Akkast continued, striding purposefully onto the beach. One of their upper hands whipped out as they spoke, slapping a crossbow bolt from the air. “The way is open! We must storm the stallesp galleon before it can push off. If it makes it to open water, there’s no guarantee that we’ll be able to catch up to it and finish it, making this entire operation for naught.”

Their speech was cut short as an axe, almost as big as Kat’s torso, whipped through the air, slamming into the ground where Akkast had been standing with a geyser of sand. The lokkel finished their roll, coming up in a crouch with their bow at ready, their left two arms holding the weapon itself while their right two drew back the string.

Akkast fired, their arms glowing red and the air itself thrumming in Kat’s lungs as they released the string. The arrow screamed toward the galleon, producing a high pitched whine that made Kat’s teeth ache, even at a distance.

A stallesp stepped onto the open on the forecastle of the enemy galleon, clad neck to ankles in dull black armor and holding a tower shield in its left arm as big as its entire body. And its body was huge. The creature was easily a head taller than the lokkel around Kat, let alone the shorter stallesp. The worst part was that it didn’t look ‘tall.’ Instead the stallesp was built like a mountain, layers of muscle and fur making it look completely natural, like its companions were unnaturally short rather than it being an absolute giant.

It raised its shield casually, angling it slightly to the side in an almost dismissive motion just as Akkast’s arrow was about to strike. Wards flashed on the galleon’s deck, glowing white for a millisecond before shattering under the sudden attack, but it barely mattered.

The arrow exploded against the shield, emitting a screech that staggered half the battlefield. Other than the armored warrior, the stallesp on the forecastle collapsed bonelessly, occasionally twitching spasmodically as their nerves fired semi randomly. That said, the massive stallesp only took one step backward, its shield glowing red from the use of a defensive skill.

It pointed toward the beach with its left hand, and the axe buried in the sand near Akkast transformed into a lightning bolt, burning back through the air until it slammed into the stallesp’s hand, reconstituting itself in a shower of sparks.

“And that,” Kaleek said, nudging Kat in the ribs, “is why we try to avoid enemies with evolved classes and silver tier skills if possible. The three of us working together can probably take one down, but as big of a jump as iron tier skills are, an upgraded class and silver tier skills leave them in their wake.”

“But we must be prepared for that eventuality,” Dorrik cut in, nodding toward the battle at the front of the galleon. “There are a great number of stallesp, and it is possible that Akkast will need help. If possible, we should avoid evolved warriors, but if our help is needed, we must stand ready to provide that help.”

Kat nodded thoughtfully, turning her gaze to the gangplank as she chewed her restorative gum thoughtfully. The lokkel were doing their best, but this time they were fighting prepared foes. The stallesp guarding the entrance to the galleon were wearing full sets of armor and wielding weapons tailored to their individual fighting styles. The attackers were fighting hard, perhaps a little better than the stallesp defending the gangplank, but ultimately the problem was width.

Only three of the big lizards could attack the defenders at once, letting the stallesp hold the line, delaying the lokkel from boarding the ship where their greater numbers could be put to proper use. Of course, it wasn’t even an inevitability that the lokkel would be able to board the ship. Already the galleon was beginning to move under the combined effort of the wind and the sailors heaving at the poles plunged into the silty floor of the harbor.

On the ground, archers and wizards traded attacks with their counterparts on the galleon, but more often than not one of the big ship's wards would flare to life, deflecting an attack or absorbing it entirely. In short, they were playing a long game of attrition and waiting, one that they were likely to lose unless someone could break up the stalemate on the galleon’s deck.

Kat bit her lip, chewing fretfully as she glanced over the massive ship, trying to think of another option. Finally, she sighed. Lokkel were dying as she wasted time.

“I have a plan,” she said, eyes still on the galleon’s deck, “but it is very dumb and I’ll need backup.”

“Perhaps we should think this-” Dorrik began only for Kaleek to interrupt them.

“Already on board Kat.” She could practically see the grinning otter behind her.

“Kaleek,” Kat continued, turning around and putting a hand on the desoph’s arm as she cast Levitation on herself. “I need you to throw me at the ship.”

His grin spread, almost becoming painfully wide. The otter slammed his sword into the ground and reached for Kat as he responded; “Ever since you learned that gravity spell, I’ve been waiting for this moment. I thought you’d never ask Kat.”

She finished her second casting of Levitation as Kaleek picked her up, feeling herself lighten until she actually began to float slightly away. Doubling up on the same spell began to burn through her mana at an unsustainable rate, but she wouldn’t need both of the castings for long. The desoph’s fingers dug into her side, holding her in place as Kaleek pulled her down, rotating slightly to the side so that he would be able to get the maximum torque for his coming throw.

“Now Miss Kat!” Dorrik interjected, alarm in their voice, but Kat cut them off instead.

“Lokkel are dying and I can break the gridlock this way,” she offered, curling her body into a ball to cut down on wind resistance. “I should be able to clear things up within a couple seconds of landing, but I expect to have almost every other stallesp hunting me the moment that happens. Just promise to pull me out of this mess as soon as possible and everything will be fine.”

Before the lokkel could reply, Kaleek spun once, rotating like a discus thrower before launching Kat’s less than weightless body toward the stallesp galleon. For a brief moment, she could feel her lunch churning in her throat, and then the sensation of acceleration ended.

Kat opened her eyes. She was already halfway to the stallesp ship and steadily rising higher into the air. One of the archers manning a crow’s nest took aim at her only to duck back under the wooden railing when a trio of ego shards from Dorrik peppered the air around him, buying Kat the half second she needed to cut off the second instance of levitation.

She began to descend slightly, angling toward the galleon’s deck even as she began to charge Gravity Spike. At the front of the ship, the huge stallesp traded blow for blow with Akkast, deflecting or absorbing one magical arrow after another on its enchanted tower shield while casually tossing its battle axe across the almost five hundred pace distance in order to keep the lokkel from properly setting their feet for a full attack.

Both sides were spending stupendous amounts of resources. Even far above the ship’s deck, the hair on the back of Kat’s neck was standing on end as mana and skills began to warp and melt the galleon below.

But that wasn’t her problem. Kat unleashed Gravity Spike on the tight cluster of stallesp guarding the entry ramp just as she cut the mana to her final casting of Levitation.

None of the wards activated. The arc of Kaleek’s throw had taken Kat well past the boundaries of the galleon, and the same functionality that let the defenders fire out with impunity failed to recognize Kat’s spell as an internal attack.

She hit the deck, tucking her head and shoulder into a roll to help bleed the momentum of Kaleek’s throw as her enchanted armor absorbed the brunt of the concussive trauma. A second later, Kat was on her feet, a half dozen or so of the stallesp sailors gaping at her in surprise.

Without waiting for a response, Kat reached into the bandoleer built across her chest guard, drawing a well balanced throwing knife and hurling it with all her force at the back of one of the stallesp guarding the gang plank.

The dagger sank into the back of the alien’s neck, jerking it forward a half step before it slumped lifelessly to the ground, joining the five or six stallesp that had been in the area of effect for Gravity Spike.

Reflexively she jerked to the side, letting a fist sized glob of fire magic soar past her and gutter out against the deck planks. Kat began running, activating Cat Step to keep her movements fast and erratic as she threw another knife into the unsuspecting back of a stallesp holding a halberd.

It stumbled backward, screaming in agony as it clutched at the offending knife, and the cluster of stallesp guarding the entry ramp broke. One of the warriors stepped backward to dodge a sword strike from a lokkel, only to trip over the twisted corpse of one of its companions, crushed into a wreck of flesh and bone by Gravity Spike.

The lokkel took advantage of the opening and lunged forward, killing their opponent and surging into the gap created by Kat’s spell. Just as the other stallesp prepared to kill the interloper, Kat’s second dagger hit, drawing their attention and pulling the injured stallesp out of formation.

Before the rest of the stallesp could recover, another lokkel jumped into the opening slamming its tail into one of the two remaining stallesp blocking the gangplank and sending the mole tumbling into the ocean with a distressed scream.

Then the defensive cordon came tumbling down. Stallesp began to fall, cut down by lokkel steel and spells, and as their numbers thinned they were replaced by lokkel. In a matter of seconds, the impasse reversed and the attacking forces poured onto the galleon’s deck.

Kat was hardly in a position to care. Above her, enemies leaned over the edge of their crow’s nests, sniping at her with their crossbows. Even as she swerved in a serpentine pattern across the ship’s deck, other stallesp began to open fire with spells and arrows.

Within seconds of landing, her entire world morphed into a blur. Kat fell into her instincts, letting her reaction attribute take over as she ducked under globs of acid and danced aside to avoid arrows crackling with frost or electricity. Stamina flowed out of her body like water as she pushed Cat Step to its limits.

Kat leaned backward, letting a sling bullet, practically humming with mana, zip past her face only to explode into flame and stinging shrapnel against one of the galleon’s mast. She winced, diving behind a barrel filled with wet sand. One hand touched her face, drawing a bright spike of pain as her fingers came away damp with her own blood.

The deck shuddered under her feat. Without bothering to look, Kat Leapt to the side a fraction of a second before a stallesp warrior clad in greyish black armor bulldozed through the barrel, sending sand flying everywhere before it slammed into the wood wall of the aft-castle just behind where she had been hiding. It spun around, beady eyes fixed on Kat as she landed about ten paces away.

The stallesp was wearing full body armor, its pink nose and eyes visible under a rimless half-sphere of metal connected by a chain under its chin. It lifted both of its hands, each wrapped in a gauntlet made of golden metal and ending in a pair of forearm-length spikes.

It slammed the handguards together with a loud clang and lowered its shoulder. Kat squared her feet, letting out a deep breath as the stallesp erupted in red light and rocketed forward.

She flowed to the side, grimacing as the stallesp seemed to shift in mid air. One second it was a blur, speeding toward her former spot, and the next was traveling right at her. It didn’t bother to slow or change direction, instead spending stamina to track Kat by brute force through an unknown skill.

Kat dropped onto her back, curling her right leg upward so that her knee touched her chest. Just as it reached her she finished casting Pseudopod, the tentacle of water reaching out and grabbing the stallesp by the back of its neck and pulling it downward and off balance.

It stabbed downward with one of its gauntlets as it fell and Kat’s arm twisted to the right, slamming into the side of the metal with enough force to bruise her to the bone. The blow deflected just enough to miss her, turning the wooden planks of the deck into sawdust just to the left of her head.

Then Kat’s leg kicked upward, planting itself in the center of the stallesp’s chest and pushing with all of her might even as she began focusing her mana on casting Levitation once again. The stallesp gave a surprised squeak as Kat’s kick and its momentum launched it through the air, her spell catching it a moment later and extending its arc.

She jumped to her feet, ignoring the pain radiating from her face and arm as she activated Cat Step once again. A trio of shurikens rocketed into the wood where she was laying, a fourth embedding itself in her calf with a bright flash of pain that stole Kat’s breath.

The agony almost stopped her. Every instinct in Kat’s body screamed that she should collapse and grab the bloody wound, but her sense of self preservation won out. If she stopped, her attacker would finish her in a matter of seconds. Kat’s only hope was to keep moving and count on her companions to protect her back.

The deck blurred under her, Dorrik bellowing a feral challenge behind her as they launched a flurry of ego shards at the stallesp that had attacked her. Behind Kat, the tenor of the battle had changed strongly in the lokkels’ favor. The precious seconds where she occupied most of the defenders’ attention were enough to turn the tide, and now almost half of the galleon was in the lizards’ grasp.

Kat reached the gauntlet stallesp just before it touched down, cutting the mana flow to Levitation and casting Overpressure as she stabbed downward into the back of the creature’s neck. Her arm glowed red for a brief second, empowering Penetrate as the blade slipped through her opponent’s spine disabling them an eyeblink before the wound erupted into a volcano of blood.

She fell to one knee, agony rippling across her face as Kat pulled the throwing star from her calf and began muttering the words to her healing spell. A handful of seconds later, the bleeding stopped. The wound still hurt like hell, but Kat didn’t have the luxury of taking more than a short break to catch her breath.

Standing up, she surveyed the battlefield. A handful of lokkel were on the deck, twisted into heaps along with a dozen or more stallesp. The remaining moles were being pushed back, only holding their ground in small clusters around higher leveled warriors.

Her gaze fastened itself upon Kaleek. The desoph was leading a trio of lokkel against six stallesp. One of furry aliens lay dead at their feet, opened from shoulder to hip by a single slash from Kaleek’s greatsword, but at some point a higher level stallesp, wearing robes and wielding a metal bladed whip that seemed to move and writhe with a life of its own, had joined the enemy, rallying its companions and holding the big otter at a standstill.

It didn’t exude overwhelming power the way an avatar with an evolved class would, but Kat couldn’t help but notice some of the dents in Kaleek’s heavy plate as the creature’s whip coiled backward like a snake, spitting sparks of red and blue as it prepared to strike. It might not be completely out of their reach, but there was no question in Kat’s mind that it had at least a couple of levels on their team as well as the gear and iron tiered skills to match.

Kaleek looked up, making eye contact with Kat. He inclined his head slightly, tipping his sword toward the stallesp. One of its allies swung a maul at the otter, but he simply grunted, lowering his shoulder into the blow and letting the red glow of a skill encompass his side.

At the same moment, the robed stallesp lashed out with its whip, the strip of sharpened metal coiling around Kaleek’s sword and jerking it to the side as a crackling ball of purple lighting sprang into existence in the creature’s off hand.

He didn’t say anything to Kat. Kaleek didn’t need to. Her thrown dagger hit the stallesp square in the center of its back. Unsurprisingly, the cloth armor flashed with light and mana, stiffening a second before her weapon hit and absorbing the blow.

It turned, half facing Kat as it raised its hand to unleash the bolt of lighting only for Dazzle to erupt in its face. Kaleek released his blade, jumping backward as the stallesp shrieked in surprise, jagged lines of destruction erupting from its hand and ripping a gaping jagged hole into the deck below.

Kat snapped her right foot outward, cracking it into the back of the alien’s knee, disrupting its balance. It swiped sightlessly toward her, its hand still coated in crackling and jumping sparks of purple energy.

She ducked under the blow, allowing Crippling Blow to guide her movements as Kat drove her knife into the unprotected side of the alien’s neck. The blade burned red as she activated Penetrate to power her attack through its thick, corded muscles.

It tried to scream, a hollow gurgling sound due to the gash her blade had opened in what passed for the alien’s windpipe. At the last moment, it recovered from the disorientation caused by Dazzle, its eyes alighting on her in surprise, anger and resignation.

Kat ripped the dagger free, spraying a crescent of blood across the cluster of stallesp.