I woke up with a start as something poked my side. Glancing up, I realized it was Matilda as she tapped on her wrist, giving me the universal sign for time. I guess that meant it was time to get ready. Sitting up on the bed, I accessed my inventory and started equipping myself for the upcoming fight, my rifle cradled between my arms and my pistol in its holster around my waist. I slid the goggles over my head so I didn't activate any alternate vision forms yet. I heard George start struggling to get ready as I made my way out of the hut, following Matilda as she headed towards the wall.

“Good morning comrade!” Nikito said, his now familiar crazy grin making me chuckle slightly. What a crazy guy. He was so optimistic despite having been killed multiple times like I was. He was so confident that everything would be alright that I guess I was starting to believe him. “So Tony, first thing I want you to do is go ahead and take a look down that valley with your thermal vision, see if you can find anything yet. “We still supposedly have 15 minutes but I wouldn't put any stake in that just yet. Don’t want to trust anything these puppet masters say.”

“Can do” I said as I clicked the button on my goggles. The world of blues, reds, and oranges came to me once again and I could see a faint yellow blur far out of the very edge of the valley. “It looks like something is there but… It doesn't look like it's moving just yet. I’ll keep an eye out but I think they’ll rush us right on time.”

Nikito nodded in agreement. “ Good idea, we don't wanna get caught with our pants down so make sure you're looking at it not only with your thermal vision but also with your scope. We don’t know what those cats are capable of, maybe some sort of camouflage that can get around your thermal vision. We’ve been teleported twice since we were here so don’t rule anything out.

“I’ll keep an eye out, don't worry about me” I said.

“Georgia! Come on up we need you to go ahead and use your turret skill, it's almost time” Nikito hollered.

George was standing in front of the hut we’d been sleeping in and jumped at the loud noise. After he made his way up the rampart, George whispered something before looking around with his hand held outwards. “Where do you want me to place the turret? Once it’s placed it can’t be moved easily and I can’t create another until this one is destroyed or I deactivate it.”

Nikito looked around and thoughtfully observed the rampart. He pointed to the left of the gate before saying, “Right over there should do the trick. Whoever is going to be manning the gate should have a clear line of fire of the entire valley.” George nodded and tapped something invisible in front of him. With that, gray dust started swirling around us before forming into a large machine gun mounted on top of a tripod with a swivel attached to the base. Nikito got behind the turret and pivoted the barrel, the joystick looking handle easily allowing him to manipulate the large gun. He smoothly sighted various objects such as trees or rocks in the valley before pressing down on the trigger, causing streaks of gunfire to smash into a tree and obliterate it.

The first gun fire brought the other people running for top of the rampart as streaks of bright yellow gun fire tore up another section of the valley. “What was that?!!” Nick yelled out panickedly. “Are we under attack?!”

“Sorry comrades, just seeing how potent this turret really is.” Nikito called out, a sheepish grin on his face.

Akari shook her head in disgust. “Do you not have any more discipline than that?'' she said. “You need to tell us before you open fire on anything, especially since we will be in combat soon.”

Nikito looked suitably chastened but shook it off quickly. “Sorry about that but…. since you're all up here how about we go ahead and assign spots on the rampart so that we can get ready? Tony said he can spot the horde and they should start their attack in five minutes. I know I already laid out a plan before but let’s go over it again.” Everyone became grimly silent as the prospect of a life and death fight. I may have already died and came back, but that just made the idea of dying even more terrifying as I remembered the pain before I died. I was sure everyone else felt the same way. Except maybe Nikito, he was just downright crazy.

With everyone on the rampart, I realized how narrow it was. It couldn’t have been more than five feet across, making it barely large enough to squeeze two people side by side. I could imagine the chaos that could come from trying to run to and fro in the middle of a fight. Glancing at Nikito, I got the vague feeling that he would definitely shove me off trying to help a ‘comrade’ in trouble. Speaking of Nikito, he looked at me with a questioning eyebrow. “So where do you want to be Tony?”

I shrugged, unsure of where I’d need or want to go. "How about we get everyone else a spot and then I can choose my own spot afterwards. My rifle just needs a good line of sight after all.”

Nikito nodded before saying “all right then, let's do it that way. Nick, I want you to the right side of the gate opposite of the turret which I’ll man. Your assault rifle should have a high rate of fire and though it won’t compare to the turret, combined you should be able to handle the middle of the valley. You and I will be in charge of keeping the middle cleared. George, mount your gun on the left side of the wall. You’ll need to keep your side as clear as possible while I focus on the middle. I’ll help you if you need it though, so don’t be too anxious. Akari and Tony will be on the right side clearing out anything that gets close. Matilda, I want you to be with them as well but be ready because we might need you. Is that good with everyone?”

As nods of assent greeted his vision, he smiled. “Good. Now Nick, I know you have those grenades. The cats are fast and I doubt you’ll be able to hit them with a grenade. The bears in wave two, on the other hand, are much slower but also much stronger and hard to kill. Save those grenades for either that wave or the mystery wave. Remember to alert us before throwing a grenade and also to pull the pin. Wait till whatever monster you throw at is close, about thirty feet or so, and make sure you’re loud enough that we hear you. If the monsters get that close then after the grenades me and Akari will jump down from the palisade and slow them down. I doubt the leopards will be slowed down by the wall and the bears will knock it down. Akari and I will be in charge of distracting them once Nick’s grenades are gone. Matilda, if we end up in melee combat you need to be ready to heal us and drop that shield if we are looking bad off.”

Matilda gave him a double thumbs up before her eyes widened and she pointed behind him. I realized I wasn’t keeping an eye on the entrance of the valley and I whipped my head around. Dust rose from the entrance of the valley, signaling the start of the invasion. “To your positions everyone” Nikito said with surprising calm. “Get ready for a fight.”

Pulling my rifle out of my inventory, my reticle activated as I ran to my spot on the far right of the rampart. I could sense Akari taking up position to my left even as I sighted up one of the leopards in my scope. I used the logs from the rampart as a brace in order to steady my shooting, kneeling as I got my first glimpse at the enemy. They were running in a full out sprint right at us, dust clouding some of my vision though I could see the leopards at the front quite clearly. Lining up a shot on one of the leopards heads, I noticed that my reticle was aimed lower than the actual sites of the scope. Still, I trusted the reticle so I pulled the trigger once it was lined up. Once again the rifle kicked into my shoulder, causing my vision to jerk violently. The leopard I was aiming for stumbled, with a red 80 covering my vision. “Turn off damage numbers” I said in irritation, then continued to fire. The leopard that had stumbled cause the ones behind it to slow down, but most of the other leopards were too agile and jumped over the slower leopard.

I pulled the trigger after lining up a shot, cursing my slow speed and the immense recoil as I continued trying to slow down the charging mass of leopards by slowing the leaders.

I could hear the sounds of gunfire start up as my comrades started up their own barrage. Comrades? Nikito was starting to rub off on me. I ignored everyone else as I focused on my job. BANG! Another leopard stumbled. Switch to a different target and pull the trigger. BANG! This time the leopard’s head exploded into a fine mist, a brief flash of red all that remained of the leopard’s head. I could see the other’s gunfire striking the charging horde of leopards. The fire was inaccurate but numerous. The sheer volume of bullets, regardless of the accuracy, was enough to get lucky as some of the leopards started flinching and yowling.

The sounds of pain echoed hauntingly off the mountain ridges while the sound of thundering gunshots was the background. I fired again and again every time I had a shot ready. The reticle bounced up and down as I fired frantically, causing me to miss the occasional shot despite my previous accuracy. Without the time to line up a proper shot, I felt desperate and it was showing. Despite my efforts the cats got closer and closer. The gunshots, on the other hand, became more accurate as the distance closed.

I was able to catch a glimpse of what the machine gun turret could do as I saw two leopards ripped completely in half as the bullets punched right through their bodies like it was nothing. The closer the cats got the more damage my sniper rifle did. Often a bullet would punch right through my target as pistol fire had damaged whatever shields these creatures had. As I continued firing I started keeping track of the leopards I had killed. Five, then eight and then thirteen. As I looked for another target I realized there weren’t any on my side. I managed to catch a glimpse of one but a burst of machine gun fire killed it as I locked onto the target.

Removing my eyes from the scope I surveyed the battlefield. I hadn’t realized how close the leopards had gotten, one of the corpses was within that thirty foot mark actually, though the second closest was at least fifty feet away. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was my side that the cats had gotten the closest to. Afterall, the weapons with the highest rate of fire were on the other side. We had two pistol wielders and a hunting rifle, while the other side had a mounted machine gun turret. George had done well along with Nikito and Nick, the middle group of leopards hadn’t made it far at all. Honestly, I’d put it down to Nikito’s skills more than anything. There was some slight movement from one of the leopards that had fallen, sound of a pistol echoed out which caused the movements to still. It was over, we had won.The system seem to agree with me as well as a blue screen popped up.

Congratulations! You have defended against the first wave!

The second wave will commence in 10 minutes. All loot will be suspended until this wave has ended.

Nick let out a groan as he collapsed onto the parapet. “Man those things were tough. There was so many of them, it felt like it was never going to end! I can’t imagine what that last one is going to be like with a thousand of whatever they’ll be. Nods of agreement met his statement. Nick pointed out towards my side of the valley. “I mean, just look how close they got to Tony!”

Nikito shook his head in disagreement. “That isn’t true, yes they got fairly close. A large group of fast animals in a full on rush nearly got to our fort but none of them even reached us. It means that we were able to take them out within that mile from the valley entrance to us. Good job comrades, I couldn’t have picked a better team for this job.”

Embarrassed, I turned on my thermal vision and took a glance down the valley to try and spot the incoming wave of bears but the cooling bodies of the cats made it hard to distinguish. “How does the battlefield look Tony?” Akari asked, noticing my movement.

I shook my head, “I can’t make out the next wave, the heat from the bodies are obscuring my vision.”

Nick, having wandered over towards me, slapped my back in reassurance. “No use in crying over spilled milk man. If those cats couldn’t climb into the valley, I doubt some big old bears would be able to do it.”

Though I agreed with Nick, I wanted something more tangible than just conjecture. Without the thermal vision, I used my scope instead to zoom into the valley entrance. Some brown fur was just visible, proving that the bears were at the entrance. Keeping an eye on the timer now counting down in the upper right corner of my vision, I realized we still had about eight minutes. “I can see them with my scope, they’re gathering for now. Let's take a break and then be ready to face them.”

“Good plan comrade!” Nikito said with a grin. “Remember what I said about the grenades Nick. Akari, if I jump down I expect you to use your best judgement on whether to get onto the turret or to join me. Matilda, remember the dome and healing. George? Tony? Just keep up the goodwork. The bears are big and tough but they’re also slow. So long as we do what we did with the leopards I have no doubt’s we’ll be fine.”

All of us slumped onto the parapet with that said, exhaustion from the fight already setting in. Though short in time, the intensity of the fight had been no joke. My shoulder ached slightly from the rifle’s recoil. Still, I kept an eye out on the valley entrance. I’d embarrassed myself last time by letting Matilda do my job for me. This time, I’d be better. The timer had just hit eighty seconds when I saw the bears start moving. “The bears are moving! Time to get ready!” I called out. I could feel everyone tense up at my cry, gunfire from the turret already pounding out a steady rhythm though it was pretty much guaranteed to not hit at this distance.

Sighting on a bear I fired and hit it right in the head. Unlike the leopards, the bear jerked its head but continued onwards at a steady loping pace. I fired again and this time the bear stood on two legs and appeared to roar at the sky. The faint echoes of its roar confirmed my suspicions a split second later. I kept shooting at the bear and it took me four more shots to the head to finally kill it, the head exploding into a gory mess. Nikito wasn’t kidding, these things were tough. It had taken me two shots to kill a leopard where these things took at least six. That was with all headshots too! The others weren’t nearly as accurate as me. Basically, these things had three times the health of a leopard but were much slower. It was going to be a race to see if we could kill them all before they reached us because I doubted the walls would be able to hold the bears back. A tree off to the side of the valley showed the scale of the bears in comparison. Gulping, I continued to focus on one bear at a time, killing as many as I could. My focused fire by itself took out five bears before they were close enough for the others to finally hit them with any accuracy. This time I didn’t become focused on just my side of the battlefield, instead I kept tabs on everyone else as well.

Nick was just holding his trigger down and spraying the horde, flashes of light came from tiny holes put in both sides of his gun’s barrel. Nikito, on the other hand, was letting out bursts of gunfire on targets, sometimes letting out long streams of gunfire as he made a sweeping motion with the turret. He was the very model of a perfect soldier. I saw at least ten bears dead in the middle of the field with even more of them staggering as the sheer volume of bullets started to affect them. Akari and Matilda were both firing off shots with their pistols. Every shot made Matilda flinch, making me surprised that she was even holding onto it, but she had a determined look on her face as she continued pulling the trigger. Akari looked like she knew what she was doing as she sighted targets and calmly fired her gun. I could barely see George on the far side but based on the way his side of bears was going, he was doing just fine.

As the bears started dropping one by one, I felt like we were making progress. Then, the bears all roared in unison, a rolling explosion of primal anger. As though they were all one animal, they charged. I had thought their speed before was decent but this was just ridiculous! The bears were almost as fast as the leopards. It was like watching a mudslide come right for you, a mass of brown fur and angry claws ready to tear you apart. Panicked, I just started pulling the trigger on my gun whenever I could find a bear, focusing more on trying to slow them down then kill them.

“GRENADES OUT!!” I heard Nick yell off to my left. The bears were that close already?!! A loud BOOM rang out followed quickly by two more as his grenades went off in quick succession. One of the explosions was on my side, catching two grizzlies on their side as they charged. The force of the blast threw them off their feet, neither of them stirring after landing. A different bear who had been farther away stumbled to its feet, blood streaming down the side of it as the bear shook its head. A quick glance of the battlefield revealed just how bad off we were. Fifteen bears by my count were still charging at us, though some of them were bleeding showing the damage they had taken.

“TAKE CONTROL OF THE TURRET MATILDA!!!” I heard Nikito before I saw him jump off the parapet. I fired on some of the bears that were bleeding even as Nikito’s shouts ran at the bears. Bashing his shield with his axe, shouts of “COME FACE WHAT MOTHER RUSSIA HAS BUILT!” and “STUPID BEARS! COME AT ME!” rang out. All the noise served its purpose as some of the bears, about seven of them, turned to attack Nikito. Even as they charged, Nikito suddenly sped up at an inhuman rate in the opposite directions of the bears.

One bear had died already to my rifle and I switched targets while this was going on, two of the bears getting dangerously close to my wall. The sound of the turret resumed as someone, Matilda I assumed, started firing at the bears. Akari jumped down, a blade swinging from one of her vambraces to rake down the face of a bear that had reached the parapet. Even as the bear turned towards the annoying pest it slammed into the wall, causing me to stumble from the impact. I quickly got to my knees and fired at the bear that Akari was fighting. It stumbled from the hit to the back of its head but a blade struck into its forehead, causing the bear to fall over dead. A wire attached to the thrown blade retracted it back to Akari’s vambraces even as she engaged the second bear while I continued firing. She paused for a second before she crossed her arms, both blades falling to the ground as they spooled out of her vambraces. Suddenly the blades lashed out like deadly whips in a blindingly fast flurry, striking the bear multiple times within seconds. The onslaught ended as quickly as it began, the bear falling to the ground with multiple deep wounds covering its body.

Turning my attention to the bears chasing Nikito, I saw a glowing blue dome surrounding him even as he was collapsed in the middle of the field. A pistol was in his hand firing at some of the bears. There were only five bears now chasing him, all of which were currently attacking the shield. Turret fire struck one bear causing it to roar in pain before collapsing. I joined in the assault, desperately trying to save Nikito as I saw the shield start to flicker. A sudden jolt threw off our fire for a split second, causing me and Matilda to have to target the bears again. We had killed two of the bears but that time cost us as the shield collapsed. The other two bears made quick work of Nikito, a giant paw the size of a wheelbarrow crushing him underfoot.

I killed one of the bears shortly after Nikito died and Matilda killed the other one. Focusing for the first time on the far side of the wall, I realized that a section of it was bowed inwards, ready to collapse and George was nowhere to be seen. A bear reared up and smashed its front paws into the wall, causing another jolt and the wall bowed inward dangerously with a creak. A blade struck the neck of the bear, attracting its attention elsewhere from the sturdy wall. Running down the rampart I saw there was only three bears on the side and Akari was currently lashing out with her blades at all of them even as she ran circles around them. She struck up her pose again and the blades lashed out like a whirlwind, killing two of the bears that were chasing her. My bullet struck the other bear in the chest, causing it to soundlessly collapse to the ground. It was over. The blue screens must have agreed with me as one popped up before me.

Congratulations! You have defended against the second wave!

Reward: Four levels earned. The third wave will commence in one hour.

Waving the message away, I ran towards the far end of the wall. What had happened to George!? Was Nikito alright!? One of my questions was answered as George made his way up the parapet stairs. “That bear knocked me right off the parapet.” George said to answer my unasked question. Akari was standing where Nikito had been and she saw my hopeful gaze. She shook her head sadly. He hadn’t survived.

The middle hut behind us flashed blue suddenly, causing me to turn around. From the entrance came Nikito, his familiar grin there but it seemed off somehow. It felt forced. “See comrades? I told you it would be alri- oof!” He never got to finish his sentence as Matilda tackled him with a hug. “Matilda, I’m alright. You can let go of me.” She shook her head and clung even tighter. He sighed before glancing around. Nick stood next to me, simply looking at all the bear and leopard corpses out there. Akari was still making her way towards the gate while George was doing everything in his power not to look at Matilda and Nikito.

“Well,” I said, “does anyone know how to level up?”