Chapter 008:

“Hurry it up you lot,” Zac yelled at the villagers working on the wall, “The Goblins could be here any time and we need this wall finished now!.”

Zac was barking orders towards the panicking villagers. News of the attack had spread like wildfire. Anton was shocked that instead of hiding away most had come out to help. Even Jonathan now had a small army of villagers to help him and it was already showing results.

Anton and Verona were at the north section of the wall, both standing on top of a larger section of the wall and looking towards the north. Negative thoughts continued to swirl in his mind.

I have fucked up, pretty badly. Um, we've got enough weapons amongst us, hopefully. Nothing that can be done now except to push forward. What happened to that woman as well, Dala?

“You've got a strange look there,” Verona said after watching Anton think.

He tried to keep his face as still as possible, bringing his hands up to feel his expression. It was quite a screwed up face. He wondered how many other times he had made an odd face but nobody bothered to ask him.

“Just wondering how much disaster I've brought upon everyone here.”

“It was gonna happen sooner or later.”

She shrugged and turned her attention northward.

He was sure they would be coming, but when, he had no idea.

Watching the villagers move the stone did make Anton feel a little bit uneasy like he wasn't pulling his weight. At the moment he had just assigned tasks and assumed that they were being carried out. Probably not the best style of leadership.

He looked out towards the horizon and could still see nothing.

With a quiet sigh, he jumped down from the wall and jogged over to the nearest rock pile.

The other villagers furrowed their brows as he approached.

“Where do you need a hand?”

They looked at one another. One was about to speak but Anton cut him off.

“They aren't here yet and standing here waiting there until they do is driving me nuts. Besides, it's always good to get some exercise.”

“Alright then. Grab that edge.”

The villagers were moving a particularly large stone to plug a gap.

Anton grabbed his side and all together they lifted it.

It was not as heavy as he had expected, but only by the tiniest amount. Though, with much heaving and grunting, they got the stone into position.

He saw Verona getting smaller stones and helping out as well.

This continued, even with two more full loads of stone being delivered, until the sun was high in the sky. The wall stood much prouder. Not taller but now thick enough that it would not fall over by being pushed on. It also ran further around the village, not completely yet, but it was still an impressive feat.

His fingers were red, sore and chaffed, and his muscles were tired from moving the stone. While he was tired, he also felt quite good about his efforts. He saw that the other villagers were also tired.

Zac loudly announced that there would be no more building today, that they had pushed themselves very hard today and they would need their strength.

With that done, Anton returned to his position wall. The sun was getting quite hot and sweat was falling off him in great beads. He knew his face and body was red from the heat and he knew that he was very thirsty.

A noise approached him, Verona. She too was red in the face and judging by the way her clothes stuck to her, quite sweaty.

“Anything yet?” she asked.

“No. I'll get some people to go over the ridge to tell when they're coming...And we need some water.”

Anton felt something bump into him. This time it was Zac, with three large pottery jugs filled with water.

Neither asked if they were for them. They took it from his hands and sculled the water as if they were moments from death. Anton only took a big gulp before stopping, Verona kept on going until it was completely empty.

“Well, I see that you're doing well then.”

“Yeah,” replied Anton. “Been a while since I did any manual labour, I think. Thanks for these”

Zac nodded.

“Good for your body and mind. Just got to wait for them now.”

“You still not going to fight?”

Zac shook his head and crossed his arms.

“I told you before that I’ll defend my home and this village. Take what you will from that.”

Anton could not reply properly to that.

“Time to get some rest then.”

He turned to Verona.

“Go find somewhere in the shade to take a nap. There are a few things I need to get done then I'll be back.”

Verona nodded and all three parted ways.

---[]---

The archers and armed villagers rested in what shade they could find, trying to get what sleep they could. It was hard them all of them, even Anton, with the knowledge that monsters were possibly on the way to kill them. The waiting was the real killer.

Anton arranged for a few people for lookout duty and one of the scout groups had volunteered to wait at the last ridge for advanced warning. Those few on sentry duty that Anton could see moved with shaky and unsteady movements. He wanted to say something to make them relax a bit, but this current disaster felt like his fault.

Anton and many others had taken resting in what little shade the remains of the buildings provided. The radiant heat of the sun was still quite harsh, and the waiting silence only added to the stress.

Verona sat next to him, head resting against his shoulder, her spear resting against the wall to the opposite side.

She was snoring lightly, moth slightly agape with the tiniest amount of drool running out her mouth. Anton turned towards her, she nuzzled into his shoulder as he moved. Right now she looked beautiful, in a wild sort of way.

He lightly brushed the loose hair out of her face. Her skin still felt slightly sticky from the dried sweat.

If he was honest everyone reared of sweat and most people smelt like they hadn't showered in weeks, to which he seemed to be following. No one complained though. He hadn't even heard of anything like a shower or bath. It was probably a low priority right now.

His mind drifted back to the woman leaning on him. For some reason he would like to see her with a proper hairstyle, something other than self-cut. Perhaps some loose braids that hung down her back, something. He tried to picture it and thought she would look beautiful.

Verona slid along his shoulder, the spear moving dangerously close to his face. He pushed it away gently. Unfortunately it was enough to wake her. She mumbled something as she stretched her limbs and back. Her villager clothes were no longer clinging to her body, though it was little relief for him.

As she bent backwards and forwards, Anton could see through a gap in the top her clothes. Judging from the way her flawless white skin flowed outwards from her chest, he guessed that her breasts were a lot larger than he thought.

They must be a C cup at least. They....no, focus. There'll be ...Damit! Focus!

Anton shook his head violently to focus. He hoped at times like this, that he would not get so distracted, but he always did. Thinking back to Jonathan's reaction to describing her mother, her family could be quite distracting. A bit of him wanted to ask the other guys to see their reaction.

Verona finished stretching, slumping back against the wall, her clothes returning to normal. Anton tried his best to not let her know he was looking. She appeared not to have noticed.

For a moment she looked still looked sleepy, her eyes still half closed. The next moment she snapped awake, grabbing her spear and standing up in one sudden movement. She could only just see over the wall.

“Are they coming?” She asked desperately asked, jumping up try and see further. The other resting villagers started to stir after hearing Verona.

“Nothing's here yet,” Anton said loudly to placate both Verona and the villagers. They took it well, most lying back down to try to get some more rest.

Verona slumped disappointedly and returned to sit next to Anton.

“What happened then?” she asked while massaging her shoulders.

Anton looked forward, as her clothes were becoming loose again.

“Your spear was about to carve my face. You woke when I moved it.”

“Oh, sorry. I didn't...”

Anton waved her rapidly flustering face.

“It's okay, you were asleep.”

She seemed to relax after hearing that, stretching out once again.

“How much longer?” she asked, “I want to get this over with.”

“No idea Ver, most people probably wish that this was never happening.”

She smiled at him using his knick-name again.

“Oh, by the way.”

Anton pointed towards his lips. Verona looked on confused for a moment before touching her own lips. She flared red after realising she had been drooling during her sleep, quickly trying to use her sleeve to remove it.

That explains what was on my right arm when I woke up.

“I thought I didn't do that anymore.” she looked downward, bringing her knees up to her chest.

Anton started rubbing her head. “It's hardly the worst thing you could do.”

She looked a little less anxious.

Anton looked at her feet. They were still dirty and bare. If this fight was going to happen there could be broken and sharp objects everywhere. Some of the other villagers appeared to have something on their feet, even if they were just wrapped in cloth.

Anton was still waiting for some sort of armour from Jonathan as well. Expecting it to be done instantly was a bit foolish on his part, especially with other weapons needing to be made. However, it would be a better use of their time to at least find out.

“Come on Ver, we're not getting much rest here. I want to go and see about your armour. Maybe even something to wear on your feet.”

He saw her look at his own old earth shoes then to her own. Anton got up, brushing the dust off his clothes.

“Where did you get yours anyway?”

Anton stopped in his tracks.

Do I really want to reveal something like that? I can probably trust her...probably. I don't think she has any bad intentions. If we survive this, it'll be good to tell someone about this.

“Don't know, I really don't know. Comfortable though.”

Verona wore an odd expression, like she didn't believe him entirely. He couldn't tell if she was able to read him already. She seemed quite tough and a quick learner. Her faced changed back to her usual grin.

“Well, I'm just going to get them then come back. You don't have to come if you don't want.”

Verona stood up and grabbed her spear.

“Lead on then.”

---[]---

Jonathan's blacksmith was still busy despite, or perhaps because of, the impending disaster. Outside the blacksmith stood a wall of basic spears. Anton could hear many strikes of metal on metal. There were at least three people at the forge including Jonathan, the other two were also hammering metal as well.

His two children were outside covered in soot, red in the face and breathing heavily. Two other people were working the bellows for the forge. When they saw Anton and Verona they lost their exhaustion and ran behind the blacksmith wall.

“Did you do something to them?” Anton asked. She seemed to complete miss what Anton said.

A few moments later they emerged with a set of leather armour. To be more accurate it was a chest, arm and leg set. They ran straight towards Verona and handed it to her.

It was a very dark brown colour, the skin looked like leather but he not seen a cow, only those Ix beasts. He probably didn't want to know.

“Dad's really busy at the moment. We were told to bring it to you...but...we got tired and forgot.”

Both tried to look as innocent as they could, they seemed to be pulling it off.

“Thanks, you two.”

Anton placed his hands on both of their heads and recited a healing prayer. The looks of exhaustion on their faces lifted as he felt the mana flow. Both looked surprised at each-other, then at Anton, a little bit of awe in the faces.

“We'd better get back. See you later Uncle Anton and Verona!” shouted Shawn as he grabbed Joclyn's hand. She nodded and waved before following her brother.

“Since when are you an Uncle?” Verona asked, twisting her body to face him.

“No idea. We'd better get this sorted then.”

Verona nodded in agreement.

They walked off the side of the road opposite the blacksmith.

Anton studied the armour. It appeared to be relatively strong and not very flexible, as Anton ran his finger over it to test its strength. There were leather straps from both sides of each piece of armour. There was a metal clip to hold the straps and armour in place. The clip looked quite complicated though a bit old and rusted, probably recycled from something else. Anton hoped it wasn't salvaged from something important. They appeared to work by allowing the straps to enter one way easily and would pinch down, stopping it from coming loose until the clip was undone.

It seemed simple enough.

They moved off the main road and just into an alley on the other

“Alright, we might as well start with these two. These look like leg pieces.”

She grabbed one and Anton took the other. They quickly got the leg and arm pieces on without much issue. Each piece was put on tight but not enough to restrict movement.

Anton made Verona practice all the movements with her spear to check. She swung it around without any difficulty.

“Absolutely fine. Feel a little tight but I don't think they'll move. Just need the chest piece now.”

Anton was somewhat dreading this part. The talk that morning and what he had seen before had influenced how he thought. He had to focus now.

He picked up the chest piece. It was quite heavy.

Verona took and held it on her chest while Anton tightened the straps over her shoulders and her waist. He could feel the heat from her body as he made sure every strap was tight, her body jumping ever so slightly as he touched her skin through the clothes.

Please let this end...And this is meant to be the easy part.

A few moments later Verona looked like she was done. She rotated her shoulders and performed the same movements as before, though she had a look of disappointment. After placing the spear against a wall, she started to fiddle with the armour near her shoulders.

“What's wrong?”

She continued to fiddle with her shoulders. “Just feels a bit weird. I think the straps around my chest are a bit tight.”

“...Right.”

Anton loosened those straps, allowing Verona to check it was right. Eventually, she seemed quite comfortable and happy.

“'kay, what do you think?”

She turned around, leaning the spear over her shoulder. To Anton, she actually looked like a soldier.

“The first proper soldier this village has seen in years I think.”

A look of pride washed over her face. She twirled the spear, just like the first time they met, before thumping it down.

“I knew I'd look awesome. Can't wait to meet those little yellow bastards now.”

She looked around to make sure no-one was watching, rushing forward and hugging him. The force nearly knocked him over and forced him against the wall.

Anton was so startled that he poured mana into his hands for an instant. She didn't move or try to attack him, he placed his hands on her shoulders.

“Thank you, for everything,” she started, keeping her face covered by his chest, “My...my mother....”

She sounded like she was about to say something very important but a high pitched clanging reverberated throughout the village.

Anton didn't know what that meant, but a villager running past made it very clear.

“They're here! Yellow Goblins have been spotted approaching!”

“Damn it. Verona?”

“Hm?”

Verona was still hugging him, now looking straight up at him. Her eyes had the faintest hint of red.

“Tell me later, okay? It's time already.”

“Right, I will.”

She stepped back and collected herself, slapping her cheeks.

“Pity about the shoes.”

Anton looked around but couldn't think of anything.

“Can you work without them?”

“Yeah, being doing it for years, ya' know? Now, let's go fuck em' up!”

She looked extremely excited, smiling with an intensity he had not seen before.

Anton couldn't reply as they both rushed over to the wall.

---[]---

By the time they reached the wall, the village was in a state of complete panic. The villagers that had been trained appeared to be doing better, but they did not have the fire and enthusiasm that the volunteers at the quarry had. They were barely holding together.

Jeff was at the front of the mass of villagers standing just behind the wall. His expression relaxed when he saw Anton and Verona.

“'Bout time you lot arrived.” He leaned in as they made their way through the villagers. “Everyone's terrified...and if I'm honest so am I...just a little.”

Anton didn't answer and moved to a position where he could see clearly over the wall. On top of the closest ridge he could see movement. They were definitely yellow beings.

“So, Jeff. How many people have we got?”

Jeff seemed to like getting orders in this time of crisis.

“Almost 400 here. I've sent quick people to get all the new weapons and armour we've got.” He looked down at Verona. “Hopefully they'll all look a bit like her.”

Verona chuckled, then looked over the wall as well, again using a stand.

“Come on, you little bastards.”

Anton looked at Verona, she looked like she was going to break the stone underneath her grip.

“Verona, I need you to be calm and think clearly.”

She nodded, relinquishing her grip.

“I'll try.”

Anton patted her on the shoulder before turning to the villagers. The runners had returned, each bringing stacks of weapons with them. There would have been almost 40 spears amongst them.

Anton turned to Jeff.

“Make sure those are distributed to the best fighters, so long as they want them.”

He looked back towards the villagers. Some had decent weaponry but some only had sharpened wooden sticks like Verona and some had things like hammers.

Too soon, I went too soon. I'll need to plan better in the future. Still, don't want them to rely on me indefinitely. They need to know how to fight effectively on their own, not that I have any intention of dying. I can't be telling them what to do, leading by the seat of my pants. If tomorrow comes, we'll need to figure something out. Nothing to do now but fight.

Anton didn't say anything as he watched the Yellow Goblins crawl over the ridge. There were probably four to five hundred of them. They didn't appear to have much in the way of weapons but he knew they shouldn't be underestimated.

He turned to face the villagers. From they were they could see the approaching monsters judging by their increasingly terrified faces.

They've been terrorised by these things and lost so many people. Even though we're more organised and better equipped...the fear is still there.

Anton was about to clear his throat but realised that he had no idea on how to make a rousing speech.

He stood upon the wall, cleared his throat loudly and hoped that he would not make too much of a fool of himself.

“Alright, nothing soppy or long today. We all know what's at stake, but we have better weapons and defences than before. If every works together, with some luck and girt, we'll come through this in one piece. So, have faith in yourself and the soldier standing by your side.”

The villagers didn't cheer, some applauded, but most just seemed a little bit happier.

That could have gone worse.

“Jeff, we've brought all the arrows up near each stand. We've even marked out how far we can accurately shoot as well.” It was the curt archer from the Quarry, Avery.

Anton looked outwards. For a moment he couldn't see anything but looking harder he saw a line of small rocks about 100 meters away.

“Excellent.”

“I was going to tell you Jeff, but I didn't want to interrupt the 'heroic speech'.”

Anton turned to see Avery looking very smugly at Jeff, who returned the look. Anton tried his best to not notice, while Verona continued to look out.

“Avery,” Anton began, “As soon as they get in range you and your squad can fire at will. You guys have enough arrows?”

“More than enough.”

“Good.”

Anton turned his attention back towards the Yellow Goblins. He could hear them marching now. They had finished coming over the last ridge and were approaching quickly. They were probably just under half a kilometre away.

“Alright, this is it. Everyone get ready.”

Their horrific chirping and growling was growing louder. Verona appeared to be getting more aggressive the closer and louder they became. Anton placed his hand on her head again. It didn't calm her down much, her calm breathing slowly becoming snarls.

Jeff motioned for the other villagers to moved up to the wall, an archer having to take the stand from Verona. She could just see standing over when next to Anton on a slightly higher part of ground. She still wasn't calm, though she no longer appeared to be getting angrier.

“Archers, fire at will,” Jeff yelled along the line, “When they make it to the wall, they'll try to clamber over. Kill them as they try.”

He looked towards Anton, to see if he was right. Anton nodded in agreement.

“Jeff,” Anton started, “Where are the other villagers?”

“Spread out throughout the rest of the village. There's only two hundred of them that can fight properly though. The rest are in the large buildings and all have weapons just in case.”

“That should be enough. I'll start using magic when they're in range.”

“Hurray, those lightning bomb things. You going to make them join together and blow everything up again?” Jeff asked.

Totally forgot about that. Definitely won't be doing that, especially as I don't understand magic at any real level.

“Not this time, something much more simple.”

Jeff nodded and headed towards the western part of the wall where Avery had headed off as well. This left Anton Verona and with several villagers.

The Yellow Goblins spread out in an even manner. Between each Goblin there was enough room for another three more. They were spreading out, like they knew formations.

There probably a little over 400 in total. This put them on an even footing at least relating to numbers. Anton hoped the larger size, strength and superior weapons of the villagers, as well as himself, would win the day.

The Yellow Goblins started to advance forward. Confusingly, for mindless beasts, they kept their formation, but they seemed hesitant to break into a run.

Not stupid at all. Perhaps something like at the quarry will help.

He waited until they reached the stones, holding back his magic. Verona and the neighbouring villagers kept looking to him, wondering why he wasn't using his mana yet.

They continued to get closer, Verona pulling on Anton's sleeve with a worried look.

“Just wait.”

He turned towards the archer, Verona looked as well. The archer was pulled the bowstring back as hard as he could, the strain was evident in his arms and face. He released the arrow.

It flew forward like a dart, soaring through the air. It connected with a Yellow Goblin at the front of the pack, its deformed head crumpling and the one behind it being in a shower of blood, bone and brain. The others barely seemed to notice or care and continued to advance.

The sound of bows letting loose their arrows sang along the wall. Not all of the arrows found their exact mark, but each let out the satisfying sound of hitting flesh.

The archers grabbed arrow after arrow and fired as often as they could. Yet the Yellow Goblins did not break like the Rock-Rats even after losing more and more. Almost fifty had been felled and yet still no reaction.

“Something's wrong,” Anton said in a hushed tone.

“Why aren't they charging?” Verona asked.

He looked down at Verona. She appeared to be trying to figure out the same issue as Anton.

“At this rate, they'll be cut down so much that they won't be able to fight properly.”

Verona grunted in agreement.

Anton started to look left and right along the wall. He couldn't see anything trying to sneak around in the distance and if they had people around the village they couldn't sneak up on them. So what were they planning?

He continued looking around but couldn't see anything, his attention turning back to the Yellow Goblins. The arrows appeared to be having less effect for they were using their dead as meat shields.

It's still not enough for them.

He looked to the right again.

He missed that several Yellow goblins had stopped and knelt down.

Verona did not.

Her brows furrowed as she tried to make sense. Those few Yellow goblins appeared to stretch something. She knew what that meant, she had just seen it right next to her.

“Get Down!” she yelled, driving the but of her spear into Anton's leg, causing it to buckle.

“What?!” Anton managed to yelp as he fell down.

He stopped his fall with his hands and looked angrily at Verona. He was about to yell something. A sharp sound came from above him, followed by dust falling onto Verona who kneeled down where he had just stood.

He didn't realise what just happened until he heard another noise.

A villager at the back of the line gargled then slumped down, falling onto his back. An arrow protruded from the back of his neck and blood was everywhere.

Both remained stunned for a moment.

“Archers! They've got archers!” Anton yelled, “Get down soldiers!”

The villagers near the slain soldier had only just realised what had happened. Some were still stupefied by the blood that appeared on their faces. They quickly realised it came from their downed friend.

Everyone along the line, except the archers, dropped down. The sound of arrows chipping away at the wall continued to ring out.

“So that's why they weren't worried. Clever little bastards.”

“What do we do now?” a nearby villager asked.

Anton looked up. The arrows were continuing to skid along and over the wall.

They must only be about 50 meters away. What they lack in range their bows make up for in speed.

“Agh!”

The archer nearby got struck by an arrow in his arm, quickly falling back. Anton looked down the line, everywhere else was doing better than here. It didn't look like anyone had been killed, some wounded though. Perhaps they knew he was a mage?

He could hear the Yellow Goblins still moving. The wall was not completely filled in. There was a gap near the bottom to which Anton crawled towards.

Through the crack, he could see the mass of Yellow still approaching. He could not see their horrific faces but he knew that they were enjoying the fear.

Not if I have anything to say about that.

Anton stood up so his head was just beneath the wall. He focused the mana into his hands and formed as many fireballs as he felt safe, around 20.

Verona and the villagers turned slightly away from the flame, wincing and raising their hands to shield themselves from the heat.

He felt that he didn't have time to explain, standing as quickly as he could.

Another arrow flew past he head. The Yellow Goblins were shocking accurate for mindless beasts, or they just had so many it didn't matter.

Pushing as hard as he could the fireballs flew straight towards the Yellow Goblins, using his hand to guide them.

Each fireball slammed into the goblins, their bodies erupting in flame. Neighbouring goblins were horrifically burned and forced to the ground. Their advanced stopped.

Or Anton had hoped.

He was so distracted by the success of the attack that he forgot to duck back down behind the wall.

A surviving archer goblin fired an arrow straight at Anton.

He saw it at the last second but could not dodge it in time. The arrow impaled itself into his left outstretched arm, carving through his flesh.

The pain was excruciating, probably far worse than what he felt at the quarry. Though his concentration was broken, as he fell back in reflex, he could hear the Yellow Goblins continuing to burn.

Verona and the other villagers looked quite concerned at his wounds. She grabbed the exposed arrowhead with both hands. Anton nodded, to which Verona pulled it through with all her might.

“Ah!” Anton whimpered as the arrow was completely removed.

“Toughen up you big baby,” Verona said teasingly, inspecting the bloody arrow.

Anton healed his wound to a usable state.

When he stopped his arm looked like it was still damaged. He didn't want to waste too much mana on himself.

He looked along the wall. Most of the other archers were still firing arrows though many villagers looked utterly terrified. It was a lot more difficult than he had expected.

I should have had allot more to do with the training and building. Guess this is what I get.

While Anton was lamenting about his usual lack of input, a cry rang out from the Yellow Goblins.

The arrows stopped flying.

“They're charging!” Anon heard someone yell.

He looked down the line to see Jeff standing, trying his best to get others back on their feet. Sam was there too helping him.

Anton couldn't help but feel a little dejected, seeing that his section was basically broken after seeing him go down.

“You heard him! Get ready!” Anton barked.

All the villagers and Verona raised their weapons, as if Anton's yelling had given them back some strength.

“Spears Front!”

Anton hoped that the spears could kill them as they tried to clamber over.

He stood up as well.

The Yellow Goblins were swinging their weapons wildly as they charged. There were still a couple hundred coming, smouldering goblins still hobbling to attack.

Anton readied himself to fire another round of magic blasts.

“What is that?” one of the villagers asked.

Behind them, coming over the hill, was another moving mass of yellow.

Fuck.

There were nearly the same number of Yellow Goblins again, and these looked just as eager except they hadn’t lost anyone.

“This is going to be a shit day. Get ready everyone!”

The first charge of Yellow Goblins were a few meters from the wall. Strangely, the only thing that Anton could think of was how each looked nearly identical.

They clambered up the wall, using its uneven surface to gain footholds.

The first Yellow Goblin leapt over the top, its deformed face smiling as it raised its crude axe above its head.

A spear flew past Anton's head and straight into the goblin's. Its face crumpled under the strength of the attack. He glanced down to see Verona already retracting her spear, the Yellow Goblin continuing its forward momentum along the wall and falling between them.

He was about to say something when four more clambered up in front of him.

From his peripheral vision, he could see it happening along the whole wall. Even the goblin archers had stopped firing and were climbing to join the scrap.

They started to leap at the villagers once they reached the top. Some impaled themselves on the waiting spears, most not even realising they had been killed. Others landed on the heads of the villagers, clawing and ripping with an bestial ferocity.

Anton thought, before this moment, that being so small they would be weak. He hated being so wrong, especially in something like this.

More and more climbed over, taking advantage of the chaos to run past and into the village itself. Several dozen made it through before Anton realised.

Anton formed lightning balls again, big enough to kill only one, throwing them as a Yellow Goblin made it to the top of the wall. Each sizzled at the lightning surged through their frail bodies, parts of their skin boiled and burst under the surge.

It didn't stop them, each death barely seemed to phase them.

He knew that they were evenly numbered, at least before their reinforcements arrived. Along the stretch of wall there should have been roughly one Yellow Goblin to a Villager, yet Anton's area was being swamped.

They could easily be running along the far side of the wall then climbing at his area. At least them targeting Anton would take the pressure off other areas.

Anton knew that the next wave would soon be on them, they wouldn't wait.

Another surge of ten Yellow Goblins climbed over. Anton fired the lightning bombs and killed them.

The villagers near Anton's section recovered in the brief moment that Anton afforded them.

The few that made it through were beaten and hacked to death by the angry villagers. The villagers anger and inexperience was quickly breaking any semblance of formation. More were starting to get over and through alive.

He was starting to feel better and confident.

Anton felt something hard crash onto the back of his leg. His hand instinctively reached down and grabbed something warm, the arm of a Yellow Goblin. This one wielded a wooden club.

He poured mana to his hands, summoning flame just onto its hand. It ignited, the Yellow Goblin's flesh burning and charring in an instant. The monster howled in pain but did not recoil, instead using its free hand to club Anton again, this time in the side of his chest. This attack did little damage but took his breath away. The goblin finally collapsed.

He saw three Yellow Goblins stop their race to the centre of the village, turning back to attack him. These did not have wooden clubs but stone axes.

They ran with a speed that Anton thought impossible. He raised his hands, ready to attack. Three lightning balls formed in-front of him. They were larger than they probably needed to be but, wounded and threatened as he was, hitting the villagers around him was not a concern right now.

With about a meter before reaching him, they raised their weapons to strike.

Something blocked his view. It was Verona, covered in blood, her spear raised to attack.

The three stopped, little plumes of dust kicking up from their feet.

Verona did not stop nor hesitate. She charged at the goblin in the middle, thrusting her spear into its face, killing it instantly. This left the surviving two either side, with only under a foot of distance between them. Her face that Anton could see was smiling.

She retracted the spear, bringing it in her arms and close to her body.

Both goblins were just in front of her either side, both swung their axes down at her. She lept back, allowing the axes to swing down just missing her. Instead of thrusting she swung the spear over her head, the metal edge slicing their necks open. The but of the spear came within inches of hitting his face.

Blood gushed out, smearing the ground and her in their blood. Both bodies slumped to the ground.

Anton sat stunned at what he had just witnessed.

“You okay?” she asked between deep breaths.

Despite the chaos of the surroundings Verona was looking increasingly happy, the red goblin blood smearing her body. Her face was wild, more-so than he had ever seen before. Her armour had many white scratches on each piece but none had penetrated.

“Yeah.”

Verona helped him up.

“I've been chasing them down.” she gestured towards the centre of the village.

There were nearly a dozen goblin corpses.

Anton patted her roughly on the head.

“Good job.”

He looked along the line again.

Most of the goblins that had stayed to fight at the wall were dead or dying.

Though the villagers were in quite a sorry condition themselves, they were barely hanging on. They would take a serious beating when that next wave hit. He wondered how many had died.

Anton looked over the wall.

The next wave of Yellow Goblins had broken into a run and was only a few hundred meters away.

A villager bumped into him, still fending off a lone Yellow Goblin. It bit her on the arm. She shouted in pain but still managed to bring a large stone hammer onto its head, caving it in with a single hit. It still didn't let go despite being dead, the villager having to tear it off with her spare hand.

“We can't take much more of this, and we don't know how many made it through everywhere else. You've got to do something!”

The villagers looked very tired and wounded, even though the battle had been a few minutes so far. It was probably one of the longest minutes of their lives.

She was right though.

Anton nodded in agreement, Verona looked on as if she had no idea what they were talking about. She still seemed to have near limitless physical and mental energy.

Two Yellow Goblins dove down from the roof of the buildings directly behind, only a few meters away, and ran towards them. Verona, seemingly without thinking, moved herself to intercept them.

She thrust spear and killed the one on the right before it had even made two steps. Her momentum carried her forward, spinning completely around on her foot and bringing her right fist crashing into the other Yellow Goblins' temple. The force was enough to dislodge its left eye, now half dangling out of its socket.

Both slid onto the ground, twitching momentarily before dying.

Verona recovered her spear and rushed back to Anton's side, brimming with pride and energy. There was no revulsion or disgust at what she had just done. If he was honest, she looked like she wanted to kill more.

Christ, she's scary. Anyway, if I have fire and lightning magic, there must be something more that I can do. I need a little help here gods, if you can hear me.

The line of villagers had been rebuilt as best it could along the entire line. A few were trying to motivate them back into action. Most of the archers were still able to fight and had taken up their positions again.

Anton wanted something to break the Yellow Goblins.

A strange fire lit itself within Anton. He felt compelled to outstretch his hands, as if he was catching a giant ball. His movements did not feel entirely his own. It felt strangely similar to when he first used the prayer magic, a god helping to guide his actions.

Everyone looked strangely at Anton yet no-one uttered a word.

He entrusted himself to the feeling, feeding the mana not to his hands but all along his arms and chest. It was taking almost all his mana but he had little choice but to trust this.

The Yellow Goblins had just crossed the range markers.

The mana formed a thin line along his outstretched hands and chest, folding in on itself becoming tighter and tighter. The pressure from the mana felt like it was going to crush his arms.

A thought ran through his head; to imagine the entirety of the field outside the village engulfed in flaming pillars, swallowing everything in a cleansing flame.

The mana felt hot, not just the usual heavy.

An instant later the mana felt as if it was ripped from him, along with his breath.

He had no idea where it disappeared to, and the Yellow Goblins were now half-way past the range markers.

The grass began to crackle and shrivel underneath the Yellow Goblins feet.

Is that it?

The Yellow Goblins only just started to notice the changes as some started to look at the ground.

Random patches of the ground started to glow red, quickly expanding in size. Fire burst from the ground, engulfing the approaching hoard in dozens of pillars of roaring flame. The force was so great that the entire hoard was thrown into the air. Their screams of being roasted alive were soon drowned out by the roar of the flames.

The light and heat were so great that most of the villagers had to shield themselves with the wall.

Anton stood arms still outstretched, transfixed at the level of destruction he had just unleashed. Verona let out a sharp gasp in surprise. He knew he probably looked like someone who worshipped fire.

Every villager looked on with a mixture of awe and fear. Only a few Yellow Goblins had not been consumed by the flames, they looked confused and scared.

“Fire at will!”

Anton felt the effects of using so much mana. He quickly started feeling somewhat groggy, but he knew that it was Jeff shouting.

A volley of of arrows slaughtered the few remaining Yellow Goblins before they could regroup as the fires began to subside.

A cheer rang out through the villagers, though it was cut short by an ear-piercing shriek coming from the centre of the village.

The pillars of fire soon dwindled and then vanished, only leaving the smoke from the corpses on the field.

All seemed to remember in an instant that many Yellow Goblins had made it through.

Anton turned to where he heard Jeff. He could see him running towards him, looking extremely happy.

“Why didn't you say you could do that earlier? That was bloody brilliant!”

The other villagers shouted in agreement.

“Yeah...Yeah.”

Anton felt increasingly queasy, though he knew that he still had to keep fighting.

Verona offered her shoulder to lean on again, which Anton took.

Anton turned to Jeff.

“Everyone that can still fight...no, most of you...head into the village and kill every surviving Yellow Goblins. Those that stay, tend to the wounded.” Jeff agreed, passing it to others.

The villagers that were not too wounded to fight effectively, around 250 of the original 400, started running towards the centre of the village.

There was a certain tired optimism in them.

Jeff was about to depart when Anton grabbed him.

“I need you to show me where that Karak fruit tree is first. I'm not feeling so good.”

Jeff nodded, waving over six departing villagers.

“We'll all make sure that you get there. Your 'friend' there can kill anyone we meet along the way.”

“Sure...The rest of those staying...keep a lookout and make sure that no more are coming.”

Jeff grabbed a few more villagers, pointing towards the wall. They seemed somewhat hesitant to be stuck back on the wall. The smell of charred flesh and grass was wafting over.

Anton, Jeff, Verona and the six villagers headed towards the centre.

“How many do you think made it through? We had dozens charge through where we were.” Anton asked.

“No idea. A few through our area. They seemed to attack like crazy where you were. Perhaps to take out our mage or something?”

“Maybe...they're a lot smarter than anyone gave them credit.”

There was another scream in the distance.

“And we need to hurry.”