The Ratkin had magic as strong as our weapons but lacked the will to use it. They wanted to enslave us and protect us from the hordes (which would grow progressively dangerous); we were their assets, and they did not want our value to decrease. It was only after our decisive strikes that they retaliated in fear of extermination.

Wilfrid Pember - Historian - The Start of the Apocalypse

____

Silas reacted instinctively, tilting his spear on its side and positioning it to intercept the blade. The sword drove into the shaft, splintering it but failing to snap it. Surprised that its attack had been stopped, the ratman couldn’t react in time as Silas chopped down, slicing through its head down to its stomach.

Chaos broke out around him as people pointed their flashlights to the hidden corner of the cavern, revealing thirty ratmen advancing towards them. Yelping and shouting echoed through the cave as the men at the front hurried to build a shield wall, but it was too late as the ratkin crashed into them, washing through their ranks like the wind bleeding through chain links.

Adrenaline cleared Silas’s mind as his heart thumped rapidly, bringing a cauldron of primal anger to the boil. The surrounding screams deafened him as he thrust and swept in desperate rage, his figure a blood-streaked blur under the dappled lighting. He swiftly cleared through the left-wing and was moving to the centre when he spotted three tall ratmen standing in the far back, watching the battle take place. They wore partial metal plate armour and wielded cruel morning stars and large tower shields.

Noticing his gaze, the one in the middle seemed to have a word with the other two, waking them from their stasis. They advanced with confidence, relaxed in their demeanour. Despite the countless ratmen lying at his feet, these new ones gave him a looming sense of danger. Of course, he could flee, but with the men and women around him desperately fighting for their lives, cutting and bleeding all the same, he didn’t entertain the idea for more than a second.

Suddenly, a large fireball shot towards the armoured ratmen, threatening to scorch off their fur. They calmly lifted their man-sized shields and absorbed the attack, smirking back. Silas had hoped Lazzaro’s fire magic would come in handy, but it appeared these monsters were well trained to deal with magic.

Now only a couple dozen strides away, the leading ratman addressed him. “So it’s you. You who’s been making a mess here,” it said, sneering through its helmet. It didn’t speak English but Silas understood its words all the same.

Spinning around to see who was with him, Silas spoke with haste. “Sabine, take the one on the right.” He spotted Bandana Dom lifting his head for a breather beside her. “You too. Lazzaro, support me.”

“Two of us for yourself? How greedy,” the ratman said, getting a good laugh out of its two brethren.

Silas ignored its taunt and sprinted forward, building up momentum before lunging, striking hard against its tower shield; his Weakness Vision barely lit their bodies up due to the giant shields they protectively held in front. Figuring he would have to deal with those first, he began to rapidly pound away at them like a gatling gun, keeping both of the ratmen at the edge of his reach. Even as his strikes chipped away at their shields, his true purpose was to force them to make a move in frustration.

It was just so as the ratman on the left, clearly tired of the harassment, pushed its shield up at the right moment, catching his spear and pushing it up with it. Grinning to see the ploy had worked, the monster dashed in to smash him down. Unfortunately for it, Silas instantly recalled the spear and struck, grazing its cheek. It hissed and sprung at him, bashing its morning star down but not before he leapt back. Fear flashed through its eyes as it spotted his spear coming yet again, puncturing through its chin.

Attempting to pull his spear back, Silas blanched with terror as he realised its tip was lodged in the skull, just as the second ratman was upon him. Rolling back, he dodged a wide blow and barely shrank away from the follow-up. He tried to pull out his backup axe, but the monster used this moment of distraction to pull forward again. Putting all its weight behind the blow, it clubbed his left arm, crushing through muscle and sinew and bone. Bellowing, he hurtled back, stomach folding up from the wracking pain.

The armoured ratman grinned gleefully as it chased after him, its shining eyes focused on his staggering figure. In its battle lust it didn’t spot the fireball blazing its way until it was too late. The fire collided and scorched its whiskers and seared its flesh. Shrieking, it flailed at the flames and tried to run away, but Lazzaro kicked its legs and tripped it over. Hitting it again and again, the ratman’s screams weakened until eventually it lay there lifeless.

The third and final armoured ratman died from Bandana Dom’s chop, but not before it had smashed Sabine halfway to death. After this, the remaining ratkin were ganged up on and broken down. Humanity prevailed but at a steep cost.

****

Sitting in the open-air porch of his house, Silas had his head against a wooden pillar as he watched the lashing rain, thoughts drifting through his mind like the gloomy clouds above. It had been five days since the ambush in the cavern which had left six of the twenty-two fighters dead and nine injured. It had been his call, and it had ended in disaster.

Out of the handful of prisoners they had rescued from the cavern, not one was particularly helpful as they were all either old or disabled. Silas figured the ratkin had noticed the missing patrols early on and reacted quickly by transporting any fit and healthy prisoners to elsewhere while keeping the weak as bait for the ambush.

According to the rescuees, the three heavy infantry ratmen were recent additions who had come after the missing patrols had been noticed. It appeared the ratkin had underestimated Riverside by sending so few troops, but such a fact made Silas worry more than relax. Based on how methodical and intelligent the ratkin leadership had acted so far with their patrols, traps, and rapid responses, he reckoned they would learn from this failure by scouting out the village and sending a fitting force to crush them very soon.

Still, it hadn’t all been doom and gloom as they had scavenged precious food, armour, and weaponry from the ratkin outpost. Aside from that, they had found tens and tens of people wandering around the area in the last five days, pushing Riverside’s citizen count to over 200 with 51 being combat focused.

1. Silas Wycliffe - level 27 - Duellist

2. Grace Volta - level 26 - Valkyrie

3. Iris Azer - level 24 - Healer

4. Lazzaro Toscani - level 23 - Fire Mage

5. Sabine Gantzmann - level 23 - Pugilist

6. Ruby Baker - level 22 - Assassin

7. Dominic Wood - level 21 - Squire

8. Elise LeBeau - level 19

9. Josh Thompson - level 19

…

232. Elsa Johansson - level 1

The notable additions were Grace, an attractive blonde, and Ruby, a shady-looking woman who fittingly wore a cowl. In addition, Bandana Dom had become a Squire, essentially a warrior who could take more hits and bite back harder than otherwise. Josh and Elise were also very close to getting their classes. He hoped once more people got classes that there would be a person who could help locate his siblings.

Silas hadn’t spoken much with the newcomers as he had initially been recovering from his wounds, and after being healed by Iris, he had spent most of his time practising his mana control using the exercises he remembered and trying his hand at rune constructions.

Through practice, he had increased the duration of his runes from three hours to twelve, making them far more usable. His attempts at imagining different runes other than the muscular chest one had failed, but he figured it was just a matter of time rather than a dead end.

His mana control improving, he had also started to wonder whether he could finally do proper magic like Mia. He had asked Lazzaro for advice, and although the aged mage had taken good time out of his schedule to aid Silas, it hadn’t amounted to much. Still not giving up, however, he had tried Iris next, catching the short girl after she had finished healing the last injured person. She had listened much but replied little, instead writing down her response that her mana naturally knitted together injured flesh when she poured it out. There was no thought or effort behind it.

Disheartened, he had moved to leave when she caught his sleeve and pointed at another message. Can you teach me to fight? It turned out his preconception that she had some sort of offensive magic was wrong; rather, she was practically helpless in a melee and had only survived so far through luck and her healing. As such, some of his time was then spent training with her and eventually Josh as well when the blond spotted the two and asked to join.

With time, they moved onto hunting as Silas remembered how Aengus had said the best supplement to training was actual combat experience. The surrounding monsters weren’t particularly challenging, but they provided the village with a stable food source and contributed to his class activities.

Class: Duellist - Level 2

Quests: Duel the Armoured Bear (F-2), Duel the Swamp Troll (F-3), Duel the Giant Falcon (F-3)

Activities: Solo kill F-1s, Solo kill F-2s, Solo kill F-3s

Abilities: Weakness Vision (next ability available at level 5)

The activities added experience to his base level and class level, while the quests only added experience to his class level. He had killed a few F-3s (at least he thought they had been), which was why his class had levelled up, but he hadn’t even thought about starting on any of the quests yet. This was because he expected them to be far more dangerous than the average foe, and besides, he hadn’t a clue where he could find any of these named monsters.

His training and engraving and hunting had been put on pause for today, however, as it was now a week since they had founded Riverside. Back when he had finished the tutorial, the System had warned him that settlements were subject to weekly horde attacks as per one of the functions of the Test of Merit, and something told him its warnings weren’t to be ignored…

____

Kasim Taylan, the Jester, was originally a magician from Turkey. High at the time of the Apocalypse, he chose the extreme tutorial by accident. Fortunately, the setting quickly sobered him up; unfortunately, what he saw horrified and broke him. Eventually, Vivienne Durant, the Beastmaster, cycled into his group, and by his own account, carried his ass to safety. The two went on to develop a close relationship even as Kasim descended into insanity.

However, despite his disarming facade, Kasim has fearsome combat ability, particularly with knives. Despite this, he is rarely hostile to any that encounter him and seemingly more interested in travelling Idroa and entertaining its inhabitants. He only visits places once with a few exceptions, the foremost being Léonois because of his friendship with Vivienne.

…

Stefan Sommer - the Chronicler - Heroes and Villains of the First Age